Celebrating Grandparents Day

Morning tea was provided by the P & F group.

On Friday 24th October our school and parish community gathered to celebrate with Father Paul Cahill the gift of our grandparents.

That our grandparents are living the life of St Joachim and Anne (Grandparents to Jesus and Parents to Mary).

We started our celebration of the Mass with this introduction:
Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. The child asked God,

Child: “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”
God: Among the angels, I’ll choose one for you. Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”
Child: “But tell me, here in heaven I don’t have to do anything, but sing and smile and be happy.”
God: “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you everyday. And you will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.”
Child: “And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don’t know the language?”
God: ”Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care your angel will teach you how to speak.”
Child: “I’ve heard on earth that sometimes people make wrong choices. Who will protect me?”
God: “Your angel will protect and defend you.”
Child:” If I am to leave now , please tell me my angels name.”
God: “Your angels name is not important. You will simply call your angel Grandma, or Grandpa.”

We reflected after communion with a song: “A Song for Grandma and Grandpa” from YouTube.

The mass ended with the Grandparents being blessed by Father Paul. We processed out to the song “Right here in my heart” by Michael Mangan.

After celebrating Mass with our parish family, grandparents gathered on the playground to read their favourite story to their grandchildren.

They read stories form the library, they brought their own favourite stories or they told stories from their childhood.

The school band provided entertainment during morning tea. Thank you for the great performance. Thank you Miss Margaret for your great work.

Children and grandparents thoroughly enjoyed themselves and what a delight it was to see children and grandparents enjoying reading and listening to stories.

Over 100 grandparents were present and the energy, dedication and love reflected in them could be seen in the smiles on the children’s faces.

Written By

Our Lady of Mt Carmel | Wentworthville
www.olmcwentworthville.catholic.edu.au

01 Jun 2026
From Facebook
By age three, a child's brain has built most of the language pathways it will ever use. The raw material for that construction is words. Heard words. Spoken words. Repeated words. And not all words count equally. Research on the "word gap" found that children in language rich homes hear 30 million more words by age three than children in language poor homes. That gap predicts vocabulary size, reading readiness, and even IQ. The difference is not intelligence. It is exposure. Here is what does not count. Television playing in the background. Arguments. Chaotic noise. The brain filters out sounds that are not directed at the child. What counts is face to face interaction. Narration of daily life. And most efficiently, reading aloud. Five minutes of reading a day exposes a child to vocabulary they rarely hear in conversation. "Curious." "Enormous." "Whispered." Words that build the architecture for later reading comprehension. You do not need hours. You need consistency. One board book at bedtime. One silly rhyming book in the morning. That is it. The catch up window is real. Early intervention is more effective than later remediation. But it is never too late to start. Read to your baby tomorrow. Their brain is listening. #theparenting #readingaloud #fblifestyle #languagegap #earlyliteracy

01 Jun 2026
From Facebook
Congratulations to today’s award winners. It is always great to acknowledge the efforts of our children.