When I deliver the Morning Assembly on Monday and Wednesday I say to the children about how it is their choice as to how their day will go. I often remind them that they make the choice to be happy and to make others happy too.  We often hear about how one act of kindness can make a person’s day but makes us feel good as well.

I recently read an article by Max Lucado, ‘100 Happy People’ the article talks about a challenge to make 100 people happy.  I’m going to give this challenge a go!

‘You might not find the cure for cancer. You might not crack the code on global warming, world hunger, or tainted water. But you can do this, you can make people happy. This mission requires no Ph.D. or M.D. It demands no funding or travel. Age, ethnicity, and gender are not factors. You don’t have to change jobs or change cities or change neighbourhoods.  

You can do it, make a hundred people happy!  Intentionally….  Purposefully….   Practically. You can increase the number of smiles on our planet. You can lower the anger level in your city. You can cause a hundred people to sleep better, laugh more, hum instead of grumble, walk instead of stumble. You can lighten the load and brighten the day of one hundred human beings! 

Suppose you actually took the “Happy People Challenge” To make one hundred people happy over a 40-day period? Here is how it works…..

Set out to create “100 extra mile moments” between now and Christmas, in which you intentionally seek to make someone happy by doing something more than you would typically do.

Keep a journal in which you list the names of people and ways you tried to brighten their day.  Make note of the moment. What did you do? What did you learn? What was the setting?  

Happiness-givers are made, not born. The inertia of self-centeredness has a strong pull. That is why the Bible has so much to say about sharing joy. Heaven knows, we need all the help we can get and God gives it!’

‘God calls you to make definitive choices, and He has a plan for each of you: to discover that plan and to respond to your vocation is to move toward personal fulfilment.’                   Pope Francis, World Youth Day, RIO 2013

2023 School Fees – We are in the final stages of setting the 2023 school fees and will communicate this information to you early next week. I am very mindful of the impacts any fee increase incurs on families and have therefore carefully considered what would be most appropriate for the year ahead. In setting 2023 fees, we have worked hard to strike an effective balance between our essential work of providing an excellent education for our students and keeping any increase manageable for families – especially given the current economic environment.   

Staffing – We welcome Youngmin Jin, Emily Hudson & Benjamin Munroe to the St Monica’s Classroom Support Team. Your children have already embraced their presence around the school!

Grounds person / Maintenance Officer – Would you or someone you know like to work at St Monica’s? We are seeking a person who is interested in looking after the school grounds and undertaking small maintenance jobs on a Part-time basis (30hrs per fortnight). Click on the following link to apply: Catholic Education Careers (cg.catholic.edu.au)

Peace and blessings to all families,