Between the Easter weekend, the death of Pope Francis and ANZAC Day, it’s been a very significant 10 days. Service and Sacrifice are a common theme between the three events. Jesus was executed because he preached a Gospel of Inclusion, Love and Service. Pope Francis lived that out and called us all to live more simply and faithfully. We commemorate the ANZAC tradition for the courage and sacrifice of so many, for others – for us. May we all continue to be inspired by those individuals and events.

Big Names at Shalom in May – on Thursday May 22 Australian Basketballer Lauren Jackson will be at Shalom working with our students. That evening, in our theatre, she will give a presentation to the wider Bundaberg community. Hers is an amazing story.

The following night, Tom Busby, of ‘Busby Marou’ fame, will be performing in our theatre. Tom will be offering an ‘acoustic concert’. This event was scheduled earlier but was interrupted by Cyclone Alfred.

This is two great nights and I hope that many Shalom families and families in Bundaberg make the most of this opportunity to be inspired and entertained by these two wonderful talents. The link for tickets to each event –

Empowering Women’s Evening with Lauren Jackson:

https://www.trybooking.com/DAEBG

Tom Busby concert:

https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/21c0996e-d5f4-400d-a606-cce153f9a5de

The Federal election is almost upon us. If you would like to know more about how the policies of the major parties affect Catholic Education, please read the following from Ms Jacinta Collins who is the Chair of the National Catholic Education Council -

How do the major parties and candidates score on Catholic Education priorities?

We are now in the third week of a five-week election campaign period, and as the 2025 Federal Election approaches on 3 May, Catholic Education has released a Federal Election Scorecard to highlight where political parties and key independent candidates stand on issues of importance for Catholic schools.

The scorecard has been developed for families and staff to easily identify the education policies and commitments of the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal National Coalition, the Australian Greens, and key independent candidates on five key areas: funding certainty, support for faith-based schools, sector-neutrality, addressing disadvantage, and early childhood education.

While the major parties largely support our priorities, the Greens received a clear X from us because they leave Catholic schools isolated and excluded from their policy commitments.

Their focus is on public schools alone, and their proposed policies to further top-up public school funding will adversely affect Catholic schools in real terms.

The Greens' announcement of free lunches for public school kids costing $11.6 billion over the next three years, is the latest example of their ongoing failure to recognise the character of the Australian school education system.
They’ve failed to acknowledge Catholic school families in their cost-of-living proposals — assuming only public school families are doing it tough, which is untrue and unfair.

The Greens have also consistently advocated and voted against Catholic schools having the ability to preference and employ staff who support the Catholic ethos, despite strong and growing public support for faith-based schools.

I encourage you to read and share the scorecard with Catholic school families and staff so our communities can be as informed as possible on polling day.

Shalom Parents & Friends has for many years, struggled to attract attendance at meetings. I can’t remember having more than a handful of interested parents attend a meeting in many years. There is no point continuing a structure that is not fulfilling a need. A proposal has been put forward to amalgamate the P&F and the College Board. The Board is made up of Shalom parents and, occasionally, past parents. The proposal would have one extra member of the Board nominated as the liaison to the Parents & Friends body as we have known it. I would welcome any feedback from parents on this proposal.

Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
Daniel_McMahon@rok.catholic.edu.au