Dear Parents, Carers and the St Joseph’s Community,

God of all creation, as we journey together in this Great Southern Land, we pray for healing, forgiveness, and unity, creating a path of goodwill, with justice and compassion. Jesus, through the power of your love, You have given us the courage, wisdom, and strength to share our gifts and talents in humility. In peace and understanding, we reconcile with each other. Creator Spirit, we come together in prayer and thanksgiving for the many blessings we have received. Allow your Spirit to wash over us and give us strength to walk together as one.

In the lead up to NAIDOC Week which will be celebrated during the school holidays (4-11 July), this week, we have been fortunate enough to have Katrina Cambridge, the Aboriginal School and Community Officer from Catholic Education with us at school. Katrina has been working with each class to create artworks using eucalypts leaves. These impressive creations will be displayed in each classroom.

Our NAIDOC celebrations will continue on Thursday with a Prayer Celebration led by 1 Purple and 5 Blue at 9:15am. Students will then spend the rest of the day rotating through Aboriginal Storytelling, Yalunga Games and Bush tea and spices tasting activities.

Thank you to Mrs Alison Nesci for the amount of time, energy and enthusiasm she has put into ensuring NAIDOC week is recognised in such a special way at St Joseph’s.

Compass Parent Portal

By now, we anticipate that all households are signed up to the Compass Parent Portal. If you are having any issues logging in/accessing the Portal, please email me amy.doszpot@cg.catholic.edu.au. Next term, we will continue to expand the functions available through the Portal beginning with the inclusion of online permission notes for school excursions. Please note, from Term 3 no communication will be sent via SZapp, all alerts, including the School Newsletter will be via the Compass Parent Portal.  

Social and Emotional Learning

To finish off the school term, this fortnight students have been spending time reflecting through mindfulness colouring, on a particular area of Social and Emotional Learning that we have focused on this term. Students have been reflecting on how and why they may need to continue to work on this area as well as identifying successes they have experienced.

To help with future planning for SEL, I would be grateful if you would be able to take a couple of minutes to answer 4 quick questions in this short survey.

Carpenter Chronicle

Our budding journalists have once again been busy this term finding all the best scoops to share with you. Thank you again to Mrs Ryan McGee for providing the students with this wonderful experience. Click here to read the latest edition of the Carpenter Chronicle.

OZ Harvest by Year 5

During Term 2, Year 5 have enjoyed taking part in the OZ Harvest FEAST Program - Food Education and Sustainability Training. Along with Sue and Gemma from OZ Harvest, Mrs McGee lead us throughout the term, training us in how to be more sustainable with our food, teaching us tips and tricks to reduce food waste in our homes.

A big thank you to Mrs McGee, Sue, Gemma, Julie-anne Wilson, Miss Martens and Mrs Viney for their help and support during the program, we couldn't have done it without you all! Please click on this link to see our recipes and food photography.

 

I hope you enjoy the change of pace during the school holidays and if you are travelling, please stay safe!

Yours in Christ,

Amy Doszpot

Assistant Principal 

amy.doszpot@cg.catholic.edu.au 

National Reconciliation Week

The NAIDOC 2021 theme – Heal Country! – calls for all of us to continue to seek greater protections for our lands, our waters, our sacred sites and our cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration, and destruction. Country that is more than a place and inherent to our identity.

Country that we speak about like a person, sustaining our lives in every aspect - spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, and culturally.

NAIDOC 2021 invites the nation to embrace First Nations’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia's national heritage and equally respect the culture and values of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders as they do the cultures and values of all Australians.

St Joseph’s Sacramental Program

Sacrament of the Eucharist

Holy Communion is scheduled for Sunday 15 August. Enrolment in this Sacrament is for Year 4 students who have made their First Reconciliation, as well as any Year 5 or 6 students who were unable to make this Sacrament previously.

Date of Sacrament:      Sunday 15 August

Time:                          12:00pm

Registrations:               Opening online at the end of Term 2 on the Parish website:

https://www.stjosephsoconnor.org.au

Sacrament Retreat Day:Tuesday 10 August (for all Year 4 students)

Please note registrations for this Sacrament will close on Sunday 4 July. If you have any questions regarding registration please feel free to email me.

Sacrament of Confirmation

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be held on Wednesday 28 October. Enrolment for this Sacrament is offered to students in Year 6, who have made their Reconciliation and Holy Communion. Further information regarding enrolments and preparation for this Sacrament will be provided in Term 3.

Date of Sacrament:      Thursday 28 October

Time:                          5:30pm

Registrations:              Opening online at the end of Term 3 on the Parish website:

https://www.stjosephsoconnor.org.au

Sacrament Retreat Day:TBA

All enrolments and payments must be done via the St Joseph’s Parish Website (not the school Qkr! account). Workbooks will be provided to each student enrolled and are to be completed at home, with their parents.

St Joseph’s Winter Appeal

Thank you for all the generous donations towards our St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal. Tomorrow morning during our NAIDOC Week Prayer Celebration we will be presenting the donation of food to a representative from St Vincent de Paul. If you would like to contribute, tomorrow morning before school will be the final opportunity to donate.

Important Term 2 Dates:

Important Term 3 Dates:

Michelle Vuli

Religious Education Coordinator

michelle.vuli@cg.catholic.edu.au

Sally Adams

Defence School Mentor

Sustainability in Action

Parliament of Youth Excursion

As our presentation at ANU before ACT legislators is happening tomorrow, the Parliament of Youth put their action to the test by assessing sustainable practices at The Front Gallery Cafe in O’ Connor. Their mission is to certify cafes that promote sustainable standards, such as eco-friendly take-away supplies and efficient waste management systems. They were particularly impressed by The Front’s attention to composting and even solving a milk waste problem by making their own cheese. Parliament of Youth hopes to continue their labelling process next term and promote our local cafes that keep the future of Canberra youth in mind.

World Environment Day

In celebration of World Environment Day, the Stewardship Team organised a fun competition to keep our school clean. Each class was given a re-used shopping bag to collect as much rubbish as possible. Congratulations to the winning class, 6 Silver, for earning the top prize of 20 Greenie Points. However, The Greenie Points contest winner was 3 Black, due to their lid cleaning determination! The prize is pizza and a movie!

Cooking Concludes

Our cooking classes have concluded, but the conversation about food waste will continue to change the way we think and do things. Years 5 and 6 created a yummy Asian noodle salad, and had a few take-aways to share:

“I will use less ingredients when I am cooking and be more aware of the stuff that is about to go off,” said Violet W.

“Next time I cook I will use more staples while cooking and pay more attention to my carbon footprint,” said Jacob H.

“I will use things that are in the back of my pantry and be more aware of what I am doing to the earth and how I could do things differently,” said Daniel G.

“Children are our greatest treasure. They are our future.” Nelson Mandela

Ryan McGee

Sustainability Coordinator

ryan.mcgee@cg.catholic.edu.au

Happy birthday to these students celebrating their birthdays this week and over the holidays:

Congratulations to this week's award recipients. 

Students receive their award at Friday morning assembly at 8.50am. Parents are again welcome to attend this assembly, but photos will continue to be taken each week and shared via SZapp. 

Thanks to our lovely new volunteers for making this possible. If you have a spare half-hour each week or fortnight and could help out please email nicole.mahar3@gmail.com

New stock in now

We've got lots of brand new stock in the shop to make sure your kids are as warm as toast. Fluffy new polar fleeces, long pants and long-sleeve tops, warm beanies, gloves and even socks are all available now. We've also got a fresh supply of backpacks, lots of hats and PE gear too.