Our school provides opportunities for students, staff and parents to know and celebrate their Catholic faith. This is done through the religious life of our school. Members of our community experience a rich liturgical and prayer life, celebration of the Sacraments, faith formation, social outreach activities, and opportunities to share faith with each other and with youth from other schools in the Archdiocese.
At St Gertrude’s Catholic Primary School Smithfield, we acknowledge parents as the primary educators of their children in faith. Our Religious Education curriculum allows students to gain a deeper understanding of Catholic faith and traditions, recognising God in their lives and the lives of others.
We value prayer and liturgy as an important part of school life with grade and whole school masses, prayer assemblies and prayer celebrations throughout each term. We encourage and invite parents to be a part of these celebrations.
Guided by our Family Educator, parents and carers are provided with a range of opportunities to connect with and live out their faith.nThese include pilgrimages, outreach programs, Masses, weekly prayer, parent workshops and links to parish Sacramental programs.
At St Gertrude’s we value the vital role parents and families play in the lives of the students. These opportunities are planned to nourish and support parents and families on their faith journey.
The Parish Sacramental Coordinator works closely with the REC and Family educator again to ensure celebration of sacraments is an integral part of shared mission of parish and school. The principal also attends the Parish Pastoral Council meetings again aligning the school and parish working together.
St Gertrude’s Catholic Primary School Smithfield is passionate about supporting those who are in need and is guided by the words of Mary Mackillop, ‘Never see a need without doing something about it’. Throughout the year, we support the St Vincent de Paul Society through our involvement in different appeals, such as the Vinnies Winter Appeal, Christmas Appeal and preparing toiletry packs for those in need.
Within our school, we have our student Mini Vinnies group who are active in bringing these whole-school initiatives forward. Led by the Family Educator, outreach activities such as fortnightly sandwich making sessions for St Vincent de Paul are organised for parents and carers to volunteer for; Night Patrol donations are also received. We also support Caritas through our Lenten appeal and other gold coin fundraising opportunities.