Students from St Gabriel's Primary at Bexley have been packaging Christmas puddings, crackers, bons bons, biscuits, tea/coffee, decorative candles and lollies to create Christmas gifts to help families in need celebrate Christmas this year.

They packaged nine hand-made hampers for the St Vincent De Paul Society Christmas Hamper Collection and had them blessed during a special Christmas appeal Mass held on 23 November.

Religious Education Coordinator Mary Donohoe says it's the first year the school has participated in the appeal.

"We hope that the students learnt about the spirit of giving to one another, especially during this goodwill Christmas season," she said.

A representative from the St Vincent De Paul Society said each year they work closely with schools to prepare food parcels and gifts to deliver to those people and families who may be struggling on low incomes and finding Christmas a particularly stressful time. 

Last year they were able to reach over 420,000 homes with 35,000 hampers due to the generosity of some schools like St Gabriel's.

This year, over 50 Catholic schools in Sydney donated a number of hampers to both the St Vincent De Paul Society. Other schools donated to the 2007 Christmas Hamper Drive run by Centacare Catholic Community Services.

At St Michael's Primary, Belfield students spent time preparing in hope, dance, song and prayer, in the true style of the spirit of Advent.

Religious singer-songwriter and composer John Burland spent the afternoon leading the students in a celebration of the birth of Jesus through song, dance and prayer using material from his own musical, 'A Christmas Star' on Thursday 13 December.

Principal Judy Gastin said the musical workshops gave the students the opportunity for learning, spiritual development and celebration, which had been varied from previous school Christmas celebrations.