My light is pressed by darkness round;

It is not easy to stay upright, strong and sound!

The Dragon, lurking, would devour

My shining radiance with his power.

But I, remembering how on winter's Holy Night,

In darkness shone the Midnight Sun that is the world's true Light,

Need have no fear of dragons wild

For I am led by the Holy Child.

Dear GHSS Families,

Welcome back to Term 3!  I hope all our families were able to enjoy a restorative break and were not too plagued by the many winter illnesses doing the rounds.

Term 3 coincides with the Noongar season of Djilba which can bring the second rains, but also the start of the clearer and warmer days.  Wildflowers begin to bloom, bringing a burst of colour across the land.  In particular you will see the flowering of creams and yellows of cujong (golden wreath wattle or Acacia saligna) blossom in the jarrah forest and coastal areas, while mungart (jam wattle) is prolific further inland.

The wannang (peppermint or Agonis flexuosa) also bursts into full flower, with cascades of beautiful, tiny, creamy-white flowers covering its weeping branches.  This signals that it's time to go fishing for the blue-swimmer crab near the coast and estuaries. There are also still some vivid and striking blues, like the kummock (Australian bluebell creeper or Billardiera heterophylla), which will fruit later in the year.

As the days start to warm up, we start to see and hear the first of the newborns with their proud parents out and about providing them food, guiding them through foraging tasks and protecting them. The woodland birds will still be nest bound, hence the protective swooping behaviour of the koolbardi (magpie) starts to ramp up and if watched closely, so too do the djidi djidi (willy-wag-tails) and the chuck-a-luck (wattle birds) to name a couple of others.

Our Djilba Festival is set for the last Thursday of term, September 28th, finishing at 12.30pm, with Friday being a  Pupil Free Day as staff take the opportunity to engage in their own professional learning ahead of the Term 3 break.

It is also time to start gearing up in our plans for our Spring Fair in November.  This is a great way to promote our school and the success of the day depends on parents working in collaboration with the staff and children to showcase our best selves.  If you have skills to offer in the area of assisting with planning we would love to hear from you!

Class 6 & 7 parents, please mark your calendars for Friday August 18th, to meet after school and hear about our plans for high school next year.  We shall be distributing enrolment packs on this day also.  If you are unable to attend, we will send a pack home after the meeting.  If you already know that you will be leaving us, we would really appreciate you submitting your withdrawal form as soon as possible to assist us with planning for next year, and by the end of this term at the latest. 

Book Week is fast approaching - only 2 weeks away!!  A reminder that we are promoting books and literature and prefer to avoid TV-inspired costumes so scan your bookshelves for inspiration!  I can't wait to see everyone in their costumes on Friday 25th August.

Jacqui Hollingworth

Principal