Throughout Term 4 2018 Sport, a group of 33 girls did ‘Community Service’. The girls created beautiful Christmas cards and tags, learnt carols and a short Christmas play.

Accompanied by three teachers Ms Lee, Ms Donaldson and Ms Ghougassian, the ‘Community Service’ girls visited Landsdowne Nursing Home. The ‘Knitting Club’ girls and their relatives under the guidance of Mrs Canal created 42 beautiful blankets that were given to the residents. This is the last year for the blankets and we thank Mrs Canal for all her hard work.

At the nursing home the girls sang carols and performed the Christmas play. The blankets were put under the Christmas tree to be given out after we left as more than 60 people had come to watch the girls perform.

A very touching moment was when the girls sang Silent Night in English followed by the first verse in Vietnamese, Spanish and Arabic. The residents were visibly moved and sang along in their own language.

We had been asked if any of the girls spoke Spanish for an elderly resident who spoke very little English. Our Spanish speaking girls were amazing chatting to the gentleman in Spanish and really cheering him up.

The girls had lunch at the Nursing Home and then took part in playing Bingo with the residents, which was great fun, and became quite competitive.

Our girls demonstrated they were real Mary MacKillop women showing kindness and compassion to the residents and were highly praised by the staff at the Nursing Home for their willingness to interact with the residents in such a friendly way.

Ms Jacqueline Donaldson