Father’s Day

Yesterday we celebrated Father’s Day with a very special Liturgy hosted by 4L.  I hope that all of our St Joey’s Dad's and those that take on a father figure role have a wonderful Father’s Day this Sunday.

Dear Significant Men in the lives of children,

Keep on doing whatever those “big” things are that you do to show your kids you love them, but don’t overlook the “little” things that show your love for them.  After all, the little things ARE the big things.

http://bcewaystopray.weebly.com/praying-fathers-day.html

Sunday’s Gospel Reading

John 6:60-69 - Simon Peter confesses his faith that Jesus alone has the words of the eternal life.

When a child is baptised, the parents speak on behalf of the child in professing the faith in which the child is to be baptised. The parents promise to teach their child this faith so that they may one day accept this faith as his or her own. In the example of Simon Peter, we learn that each person must also make his or her own profession of faith in Jesus as the one sent by God to save us. We pray for our children as they mature in the faith that they may learn that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life and that they may choose to follow the way of Christian discipleship.

As you gather as a family, talk about promise that parents make at their child’s baptism to teach their child about Jesus and the faith of the Church. Talk about the importance of this promise to your family and about some of the things that you are doing to try to honour this commitment. In Sunday’s Gospel we heard Simon Peter speak about what he had come to believe about Jesus. Together read Sunday’s Gospel, John 6:60-69. Pray together that each person in your family will grow in his or her faith that Jesus is the one sent by God who alone has the words of eternal life.

https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/liturgical-year/sunday-connection

Altar Servers

Fr Joseph is looking for more Altar Servers to help with weekend Masses.  Altar servers may also assist at whole school and class Masses.  If your child has made their First Eucharist and is interested in becoming an Altar Server, could you please send me an email by Tuesday 11th September.  

My email address is: ajones13@sjnwtsv.catholic.edu.au.

Seana and I will be running some training sessions early in Term 4.  

Homeless Sleepout

On Friday night some of our Mini Vinnies kids participated in a homeless sleepout with other students from Marian School and St Joseph’s Mundingburra. The evening was designed as an education time where the students could learn more about the very challenging problem of homelessness in our society.   

I thought that the sleepout was a good opportunity to raise awareness about the homeless situation. We raised heaps of money and donated lots of pillows and blankets. I didn’t know how homeless people felt until that night. We learnt about the three types of homelessness. Primary homelessness involves people living on the streets (rooflessness). Secondary homelessness is where people stay at other people’s houses and are moving around all the time (couch-surfing) and tertiary which is staying in unsafe housing.  For dinner we had a simple meal of soup and bread. We had to act from  the perspective of a homeless person and think about what are some of the ways people end up homeless and what their story could be. We participated in some interesting activities where we made masks with different words on them to say how homeless people might feel. We were shown images and we had to relate it to homeless people and then we acted it out. Photos were taken of us looking like we were homeless on the streets. We made prayers and put them in the prayer circle.  After the activities we said our prayers and went to sleep.  The sleeping conditions weren’t comfortable but that is how some sleep every night. For me the sleep out was a great experience to learn about this important matter. If you see a homeless person, you don’t have to cross to the other side of the road, approach them, invite them to your house or talk to them. Just think about how they got there, say a prayer for them and you can always donate to St Vincent De Paul. – Ginger Cox (Year 6)

Optional Parent Teacher Interviews Term 3

Interviews are optional and are a great way to receive feedback regarding your child’s progress.  If teachers have concerns regarding your child’s progress, they will request an interview.

When:  Tuesday, September 11^th 3.00- 5.30pm and Wednesday, September 12^th 3.00- 5.30pm.

Where: Bishop Putney Hall

How to Book: Parent Teacher interview bookings are now open through the Parent Portal of Compass. Please select a 10 minute timeslot with your child’s teacher. 

If using your phone to make this booking, please ensure that you are using the latest version of the Compass App to ensure you have all the features that have recently been added.  (You may need to update the Compass App on your phone if you haven't done this recently.)

It is also important that you close the App and re-open it prior to making your bookings or going to the App to change a booking.  This ensures that any changes that we make to the settings or schedule for Parent/Teacher Interviews transfer through to your phone.

Information on how to reset your compass password can be found here.

If you are experiencing difficulty booking - please call our office for assistance.

Bookings will close at 3pm on Monday 10th September 2018.