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Last week I attended an overnight Siloam at the Redemptorist Retreat at Galong, a small town near Boorowa. Siloam takes place once a term for Principals within our system and allows for spiritual reflection and a little social down time. Our focus this year has been on truth, beauty, and goodness. This time we unpacked the parable of the Good Samaritan.
One reflection that was shared with us was from Pope Frances’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti - a call to universal fraternity and social friendship. Pope Francis says -
We are called to change the world. “Each day offers us a new opportunity, a new possibility. We should not expect everything from those who govern us, for that would be childish. We have the space we need for co-responsibility in creating and putting into place new processes and changes. Let us take an active part in renewing and supporting our troubled societies.” 77
While there is always a great deal that I take from these moments of Siloam, I feel this insight from Pope Francis informs our purpose as a school, and more broadly, for us all. We need to be active in our responsibility in creating and putting into place new processes and changes that have a positive impact on those around us and I pray that we do this here at St Joseph’s. As parents and teachers, we have a wonderful responsibility to provide this new opportunity and new possibility for the children in our care.
Father’s Day
We can’t wait to welcome all of our dads and grandads and the special men and others in our lives to our Father’s Day Breakfast and Prayer Celebration on Friday morning. Please make sure that you have RSVP’d via Qkr! So that we can have enough bacon and egg rolls ready to go!
Don’t forget to also purchase your tickets for the ELC Father’s Day Raffle – these are also available on Qkr!
Carpark
Once again I remind all parents and carers to take every care and precaution when using the carpark. It is very important that the attached guidelines are known and followed, to ensure everyone’s safety here at St Joseph’s.
Trivia Night
Only 10 more days until our School Community Council Olympics-themed Trivia Night. This promises to be another fantastic night with fabulous trivia, great prizes and lots of laughs. There are still tables available or if you are looking to join a table, please get in and purchase your tickets via Qkr! Thank you to the volunteers and helpers who are currently working away on ensuring it is a great night!
This fundraising effort will go towards further improvements in the playground, this time focused on the area at the end of oval closest to MacArthur Ave. We have some great ideas for some passive play and seating areas.
School Community Open Meeting
Save the date! Wednesday 11 September 6.30pm
Our next School Community Council Open Meeting will include –
- An an opportunity to see our new LEGO Spike programmable STEM equipment and how it will be used in the upper grades.
- A high level look at the recent NAPLAN data that shows St Joseph’s is continuing to do very well.
- A chance to hear more about the school’s focus on the Science of Learning and how this is used in the classroom to improve student outcomes
The evening will be low key but informative. All parents and carers are warmly invited to come along and to enjoy some drinks and nibbles in a social setting.
More information to come next week.
Behaviour Learning
In recent weeks, the staff have reviewed the Behaviour Learning Statement of Practice to better support students in their learning at St Joseph’s. Throughout the year I have shared with parents the various priorities and areas for attention to ensure students are able to learn and enjoy their time at school.
The changes to the Behaviour Management Statement of Practice, which is linked below and available on the school website, will better inform parents when behaviours are needing to improve. Students are well aware of the expectations at St Joseph’s, but in the coming days I will speak with each grade about how we will better communicate with parents and also reinforce the positive behaviours we want in our school.
Please take some time to read the Statement of Practice. I am happy to receive feedback as we continue to work together to support the students.
Have a great end to the week.
Yours in Christ,
Cameron Tarrant
Holy Spirit
As parents we try to figure out or remain focused on our children’s strengths and weaknesses. Often we refer to these as their talents or ‘gifts’. But, is this really the most important thing for us to be focused on. God; has gifted each of us with spiritual gifts that we as parents need nurture and develop in our children. The Holy Spirit gifts us with seven gifts. The Catechism of the Church explains, “The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC1830)
Wisdom: Help us to look at all God does and to love one another as God loves us.
Knowledge: Helps us judge the correct thing to do and use resources to the fullness of live to be more fully alive like God.
Understanding: Helps us to see clearly and deeply about the good in God’s messages.
Fortitude: Helps us to do what is right and stand firm even in the face of opposition or suffering.
Piety: Helps us to show respect and reverence towards God, ourselves and others.
Counsel: Helps us to make a good choice at the right time by asking ourselves, “Will this help me to be more like Jesus?”
Fear of the Lord: Helps us to delight in God’s presence and not want to turn away from God who loves us.
These gifts are given to us in baptism, but sealed and strengthened through the Sacrament of Confirmation. We must distinguish between our strengths (talents) and God’s gifts from the Holy Spirit. God’s gifts are a blessing that can be used to inspire others and spread the love of Jesus to others. We are all encouraged to use these gifts and encourage our children to use these gifts in all areas of their lives, at school, out in public, at home and even with their brothers and sisters. Perhaps instead of focusing on our children’s strengths and weaknesses we should we be more attuned into how our children are developing their Spiritual gifts from God.
Confirmation Prayer for these students
As the Confirmation candidates prepare to Sacrament of Confirmation, please keep them in your prayers by praying the following prayer with your family.
Heavenly Father, God of power and of love.
We pray all the children who are preparing
for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith, hope and love
and may they come to know you as the one true God
who loves them without limit.
May their hearts welcome you gladly;
May their ears hear your voice in the scriptures;
May their eyes see you in all things;
And may they proclaim your glory
as they walk in the ways of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Saviour.
Amen.
Parish Masses – 9:15am
Each week classes are attending Parish Masses on Tuesday and Thursday at 9:15am. The students are now proclaiming the word (the readings), altar serving, reading the Prayers of the Faithful and singing a song. Parents are most welcome to attend. The following classes will be attending mass in the next few weeks.
Week 6
Thursday 29th of August: 6 Lime and 2 Yellow
Week 7
Tuesday 3rd of September: 3 Black and ELC
Thursday 5th of September: Year 6
Week 8
Tuesday 10rd of September: 3 Navy and ELC
Thursday 12th of September: Year 6
Fathers’ Day
A Father's Day Prayer
Dear God,
We thank you for the gift of Fathers. We thank you God for giving us St Joseph, Jesus’ father, as a role model.
We pray for Your blessing, love and strength to be poured out over all fathers in this world, and we ask for your courage, patience, from your Spirit to fill them. We ask that you always help them to stand strong, to be men of faith, and to continue to pass on their knowledge to their children. We ask that you fill their hearts with love, compassion, joy, faithfulness, and fill their lives with peace.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
.
With the Holy Spirit,
Kirstie Buckley
Religious Education Coordinator
Sustainability in Action
Kitchen Garden Wrap and Roll
Today, 5 Blue was able to enjoy the fruits of their labour with some delicious rice paper rolls. Students have been working hard preparing and harvesting our kitchen garden, and were delighted to share a meal with friends.
“Life begins the day you start a garden”- Chinese proverb
Ryan McGee
Sustainability Coordinator
Book Week Wrap Up
We had an amazing week celebrating Book Week last week. We started the week with a fantastic parade with so many great Book Character costumes. The students and staff looked incredible and all the effort put in was really worth it on the day.
After the parade, students rotated through three activities in multi-age groups. This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to work with a range of students from a variety of year levels and work with different teachers.
The activities they got to participate in included, learning some magic tricks for our ‘Reading is Magic’ theme, creating a book bird from recycled book pages inspired by the New Illustrator winner, ‘Hope is the Thing’ and drawing their own 'Concrete Garden’ inspired by the shortlisted Bob Graham book. It was a glorious day outside and all the students were enthusiastic and engaged.
After second break, students got to spend some time with their buddy classes doing some shared reading. It was so lovely to see the older students sharing their love of books with the younger ones. We also had Kathy Talbot from the CE come and share a book with a few classes during this time.
Throughout the week we also had the Scholastic Book Fair which was well supported by our community. Thanks to the generosity of our families, we raised over $1500 worth of books for the school. A huge thank you to everyone for your support! Thanks also to also the families that sent in money on Wednesday with their child’s ‘Reading Buddy’ toy to raise money for the Story Dogs program.
The students were also lucky enough to have a range of authors visiting throughout Book Week (and in Week 3), with RA Spratt visiting Years 3 to 6, giving a funny and insightful look into what it is like to be an author as well as reading from her books, and singing them a song accompanied by her ukulele. Amelia McInerney visited students from the ELC to Year 2, and students got to participate in a range of activities including writing their own story, acting out ‘My Bird Bertie’ and doing a ‘Book Chook’ dance. Finally, award winning author and scientist Bjorn Sturmberg came and shared his book about renewable energy, ‘Amy’s Balancing Act’ with the Year 4 students on Friday. Check out the WIN news story!
It was such a fun, book-filled week that both the students and teachers enjoyed and I’d like to thank all our families for their support and enthusiasm throughout the week.
.
Liz Mihalopoulos
Library Teacher
The highlight for our families over the past two weeks was definitely the visit by the C-135 Helicopter from the ADF Joint Helicopter School at HMAS Albatross in Nowra, on Friday 16th August. A wonderful opportunity for our Defence students but also for all the school to see, learn and ask questions. Many thanks to LTCOL Patrick Schadel and his air crew for such a great morning.
Kids Club has been fun with extra ‘teddy’ members during Book Week, crafting, eating choc chip biscuits and this week some special Father’s day craft.
Next week we have an opportunity to take some of our year 6 Defence students to the Australian War Memorial for a Commemorative Ceremony.
Resources
ADF Families - Teddy Bears Picnic - Friday 20th September, 10am
Join the DMFS Family Liaison Officer for a Teddy Bears Picnic at the Botanic Gardens!
They will provide a picnic morning tea, and you can bring your favourite teddy bear. Meet at the Paperbark Treehouse Playground, just a short walk down from Pollen Café at the Botanic Gardens. Fri 20 September, 10am, Clunies Ross St, Acton
RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/an-adf-familiesevent-teddy-bears-picnic-tickets-99810615136
Family Archery - Saturday 28th September, 10am
Bring the family for a fun morning out at Tuggeranong Archery Club. Sat 28 Sep, 10am-12pm (arrive at 9:30am to setup) 299 Soward Way, Greenway. https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/1002124149307?aff=oddtdtcreator
Closed in footwear required. Ages of children required on registration
Have a great week,
Lisa Bauer
Defence Support Mentor
Congratulations to the Week 6 award recipients.
| Foundation Red |
Alex B Henry D |
Foundation White |
Nicholas O Finn L |
| 1 Purple |
Japnoor D Ignatius O |
1 Teal |
Eli T Kobi P |
| 2 Magenta |
Dut K Aurora B-B Francesca S |
2 Yellow |
Beatrix M Thinley C Tyler B |
| 3 Black |
George P Kathrine McG Saxon McC |
3 Navy |
Manseerat K Dion B |
| 4 Gold |
Tilly McG Eloise McG |
4 Green |
Jackson M Charlee F |
| 5 Blue |
Delphi U Marial W |
5 Orange |
Karma L Lucy M |
| 6 Lime |
Aidan M Sebastian R |
6 Silver |
Kathy A Marcos C |
| Sustainability |
Evelyn H |
Happy birthday to these students who celebrated their birthday this week:
| Julia Y |
| Olivia M |
| Elsie C |
| Mia B |
| Aliir A |
