By Anthony Barich
The legacies of the Dominican Sisters who founded Our Lady of Grace Catholic Primary School in North Beach and its current operators, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, were honoured at the opening of a $3 million upgrade on 18 June.
Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations Senator Christopher Evans officially opened a newly upgraded and extended multi-purpose hall (MPH) for school assemblies, sport, dance and performances which will be shared by the parents and the parish for parish and community activities like socials and Parents and Friends fundraising events.
The MPH includes a sound proof booth, a data projector and screen, a new improved canteen, an upstairs area to allow for more Year 6 classrooms, a music room, an interview room for the School Counsellor and a meeting room for reading recovery and tutoring.
In addition, the school now has a dedicated Art room and have extended the Early Childhood area to make it more inviting, safer and protected from the weather.
The $3,183,551 BER grant for the upgrades was part of the Federal Government’s BER (Building the Education Revolution), which Senator Evans said had led to 10 years’ worth of construction being done across the country in the space of a year, with 9,000 schools benefiting from the $16 billion worth of investment.
Catholic Education WA deputy director Mary Retel said at the opening that for a school to have two Religious Sisters as OLG does in Srs Irene Kubacki and Joseph Mazur was an “extraordinary gift” for the school.
She also noted that North Beach Fr Richard Smith, who blessed new crucifixes and hung them in the new buildings on the day, was obviously – and importantly – well immersed into the school community.
Fr Smith noted that OLG was in the best state it’s ever been in, in terms of facilities, adding that the staff have also contributed to its success.
Our Lady of Grace School, blessed and opened in 1954 by Archbishop Redmond Prendiville, was under the direction of the Dominican Sisters.
The school commenced with an enrolment of 46 children in Years 1 to 7 and currently has over 500 primary school-aged children.
In 1958, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth – an international congregation of Religious women, founded in Rome in 1875 by Blessed Frances Siedliska – were invited to take over the school when the Dominican Sisters opened a new school in Doubleview.
The Sisters’ charism is to extend the Kingdom of God’s love by imitating Jesus, Mary and Joseph, whose lives were centred in the love of God and one another, and by witnessing to that love through dedicated service to the Church, especially in her ministry to the family.
The Sisters are engaged in various apostolates including education, child care, pastoral ministry and care for the aged. Currently the congregation participates in the mission of the Church in America, Europe, The Philippines and Australia.