Chappy's News
Dear students, staff, parents, caregivers and extended school community,
I am sad to share that I will be leaving my role as the chaplain at Dayboro State School at the end of this term. I have accepted a teaching position at another school for 2024. It is a very bittersweet moment for me, as though I’m excited for the next chapter in my career, I have grown to love this school and the people in it. I will greatly miss seeing you all at the school gate or around town.
I am someone who has always lived in the suburbs of Brisbane, so this has been my first experience of being a part of a small town community. It really is special and I must say that I’m pretty keen to move out of the “big smoke” now! Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even move to Dayboro?
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for allowing me to be a part of this school. The admin, teachers, staff, parents, students and extended community have been so welcoming and become like family to me. I have been honestly SO blessed by my 2 years here. Thank you to all of the people who have trusted me to be a ‘helper’ in their lives. What an honour to walk alongside you.
I also want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me in my role. Chaplaincy is a service that is much bigger than the ‘chaplain’ themselves. There is a committee of volunteers behind the scenes who put in hours of work to raise approximately 70% of the chaplain’s income. Chaplaincy receives a small grant from the government, but is mostly funded through regular donors and fundraising. The committee also fundraise money to put towards resources for wellbeing programs, to send me to school camp as a helper and to provide community enriching equipment such as the 9 Square in the Air game or the Gaga Ball pit. They give up their free time to come in to school and put on chaplaincy events like pancake day or to help supervise SUPA club. These volunteers also pulled off the recent (and fantastic!) Dayboro trivia night at very late notice. Most of these generous volunteers don’t even have their own children currently attending Dayboro State School. They simply care about investing into the lives of the young people in this school. I am so grateful to each and every one of them.
The local chaplaincy committee are currently seeking people to fill the following roles from Term 1 in 2024:
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
General Committee Members
If you are keen to keep the chaplaincy service running smoothly at Dayboro, I encourage you to think about whether or not you can join the team. Many hands make light work. The meetings are held once a term straight after school. Keep an eye out in the newsletter for more information next year, or you can contact Mrs Douglas or Mrs Ryan, who also attend.
Thank you to the Dayboro Church, Dayboro Uniting Church, St Aidan’s Anglican, North Pine Anglican Church and Bridgeman Baptist Community Church for providing learning resources, volunteers, afternoon teas, warm clothes, food hampers, frozen meals, Christmas hampers and much more to families at our school. Thank you also to the team at Helping Hands, who donated supermarket gift cards to chaplaincy that were passed on to families in need.
If you know of someone who might make a wonderful school chaplain at Dayboro – please encourage them to apply! Prior work and life experience can often be taken into account in regards to qualifications, so don’t count yourself out. I am very hopeful that the next chaplain will be a great fit for this school and a big blessing to everyone here. You can send any enquiries about this to:
rachael.woodrow@suchaplaincy.org.au (e-mail account valid until the end of term)
Well, that’s all from me for now. Merry Christmas and have a great holidays! Don’t forget to say “hi” if you ever see me around town.
Chappy Rach