Dear Parents and Carers

The term continues to move along quickly and with the disruption at the start of the year, it is hard to believe that we are only four weeks away from the end of the term.  Again, I am very grateful for your patience this term. 

This week we marked the beginning of Lent with a beautiful Ash Wednesday liturgy, where all our students received ashes.  We were very grateful to Fr. Joseph for attending and celebrating our Liturgy. A big thank you to 6B and Ms Dani for preparing and leading the celebration.  Well done. As part of our staff Lenten journey, we began by taking part in a Lenten reflection.  The reflection looked at the Gospel of Luke detailing the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness.  During this time, he was tempted by evil to put God to the test, but he resisted.  In reflecting on this story, one of the questions asked was, what are some of the challenges/ temptations imposed on us by society/others today?  Which of these leads us away from being who we are meant to be?  There were many interesting discussions that took place on topics from parenting to the school curriculum, and everything in between. 

The discussion I was part of looked at why we are who we are as a Catholic school.  Catholic schools face challenging times.  The Royal Commission and other more recent events have highlighted significant issues that must be addressed. There is a significant decline in people and students that regularly attend Mass services, and in a world where we are spoiled for choice, there is no doubt that if we don’t like something then it is very easy to find something out there to cater to exactly what we want.  These are all challenges for our Catholic schools, and it would be easy in some instances to give in to pressures and for the core beliefs of our faith to take a back seat to popular opinion.  The core message of Jesus, the gospel values of love, compassion, justice, community, hope, reconciliation, inclusion and promoting life in abundance, these values as lived out in the life of Jesus are why we are who we are at St. Joseph’s.  It isn’t just in Religious Education lessons that students come to understand and appreciate gospel values.  It is in the way we as a community choose to live out these values in our everyday interactions with students and each other.  It was in relationship with others that Jesus was best able to demonstrate these values and we, as a Catholic community, are called to do the same.  It was a great discussion and I am once again reaffirmed by the wonderful commitment of our staff to The St. Joseph’s Catholic school community.

The challenge this Lent is perhaps not to look for something to ‘give up’ like the standard chocolate or coffee, but to consider something that tempts or pressures us away from being the people we are called to be in our daily lives. 

Finally, this week congratulations to the many students who took part in the sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday night.  It was wonderful to see so many students and families attend. Congratulations to all involved.

Have a great week

Tim

Reconciliation

Congratualations to all of our Sacramental Program students who made their First Reconciliation on Tuesday night.  A special thank you to Fr Joseph who presided over our liturgy and to Fr John and Fr Francis who helped the students make their First  Reconciliation.

Project Compassion

On Tuesday 5th May, Erica, Thomas, Toby and I attended the launch of Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion campaign for 2019.  The theme for this year is “Give Lent 100%”. Bishop Tim talked about hope and acknowledged that each and every one of us can play a part in the important role of giving this Lent.  He explained to us that we don’t have to give something up for Lent, instead we could add something to our lives. Schools present, each gave two coins showing their appreciation for Caritas and what the organisation has achieved.  After Bishop Tim’s inspirational speech, we enjoyed a scrumptious treat of pancakes, celebrating Shrove Tuesday. The students present participated in a student rally, played team building exercises and had fun singing lots of different songs together.  The day was an amazing experience, inspiring us to actively do something for others this Lent.

Meg Burbidge.

Icy Cups

As part of our fundraising efforts for Project Compassion we will be selling icy cups each Monday, Wednesday and Friday after school during Lent.  Icy cups will be sold for 50c each and will be available near the Prep playground.  

Bishop Tim's Lenten Pastoral Message

Please see Bishop Tim's Lenten Pastoral Message to the Diocese below.

Lenten_Pastoral_2019.pdf

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God bless.

Amanda

SJS PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK

This week, we are spending time in our classrooms talking about RESPECT in the classroom context.  Our students know that to be the best learner they can be they are encouraged to be respectful.  Respect is caring about people. We show respect by speaking and acting with courtesy.  When we are respectful, we treat others as we want to be treated. Respect includes showing pride in our own work and in our school community  

We have also been discussing what it means to be a “Joey’s kid”. 

From Year 6: 

“A Joey’s kid is respectful to everyone and lives the school motto. They are compassionate, caring and show great sportsmanship. Joey’s kids strive to do their best by knowing the way, showing the way and going the way. A Joey’s kid builds peace and includes everyone”.

Here is what our Year 1’s think:

LIBRARY MATTERS

http://readiscover1.blogspot.com.au/

Junior Librarians: Every year children in Years 4-6 have the opportunity to apply for the position of junior librarian to help run our library.  They are responsible for assisting with lunchtime activities and classroom borrowing.   As always we receive a large number of applications which is wonderful to see.  This tells me that the library is highly valued by our children. Congratulations to: Gwyneth, Thomas, Caitlyn, Violet, Greta, Gemma, Aria, Bridget, Mahalia, Emma, Zahara, Sera, Elise, Ashlin, Julia and Tom.

Book Club:  Brochures have been given out to children during class. They must be completed by March 18^th. Look through and circle books that you may like.  You are able to order online.  Ensure you enter your name, year level and homeroom.  You may also order with cash.  Please ensure you fill out the order form in detail and hand into the office.  Encourage your child to order quality books for their home libraries.  It is also a great way to buy friends gifts.  All your purchases raise money for our library to purchase books for free.  Book club goes out 3 times a year. 

Words Wednesday:  Students in years 4-6 are invited to team up and participate in a fun quiz each week.  The team with the highest points will win a book prize.

Readers Cup:  Children will be asked to nominate next week.  They will participate in our in-school competition.  The winners will represent their region.

Happy Reading

Belinda Walker (Teacher Librarian)