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Dear Families
Happy St Patrick's Day.
May God give you…
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.
What a wonderful day we had on Tuesday for our Athletics Carnival at the Joe Carmody Track! Thank you Taryn for organising a fantastic day. Thank you parents for your help! The gazebos were a great addition and we loved the coloured decorations on each of them too. Thanks Narelle and parents for doing this for us. Thank you to the student leaders who taught the teams the chants, this added to the fun of the day.
May God continue to bless and guide us in our learning together.
Trish Mulqueen
Cultural Diversity Week 19th to 27th March-Connecting Through Culture
Cultural Diversity Week invites us to reconnect, share and express ourselves creatively through this year’s theme; ‘Connecting Through Culture’. Schools play a critical role in strengthening multicultural inclusion in our community by providing an environment where acceptance of diversity, knowledge of other cultures and an understanding of global and local issues can be developed.
By providing a safe, inclusive and welcoming classroom environment, teachers can also help students feel a sense of belonging and connection – to their school, their community and to Victoria. There are many ways teachers and schools can help foster community harmony and encourage positive attitudes towards cultural diversity.
A Prayer for Multiculturalism
My dear Lord, we are amazed by the way of your creation.
You created us all different but in Your own image,
And you said, "It is good!" with full satisfaction.
You scattered us in different languages,
Now we can see that you are gathering us back.
People are moving into safe places to live,
Forming multicultural communities together.
Lord, we look up to you, searching for Your work.
Show us Your ways, O Lord.
Guide us in Your truth.
Teach us how to live altogether in harmony and in unity.
We are all different, but together, we are one people. Amen
This Saturday 19th March the catholic church celebrates the Feast Day of St Joseph (the worker). Our school is named after St Joseph. So in a special way we plan to celebrate this day on Monday 21st March. We will start the day with a liturgy at school in the Mary MacKillop room at 8.55am. After this we will have class group workshops with Ezra a dance instructor from Dance Curriculum. He is particularly cool and engaging. We have seen him at 'The Young Leaders Day' in Melbourne and we were totally impressed with him, so we invited him to our school. We plan to present our dances to the school on Monday at 3pm in the Mary Mac Room or outside depending on the weather. You are welcome to join us if you are triple vaxed (I'm sorry to say this but these are the present rules that we need to operate under). We will also film the presentation so that all parents can see it.
Gippsland Primary Health Network (GPHN) has funded a number of FREE Parent Webinars presented by clinical child psychologist Kirrilie Smout. Kirrilie has had 25 years experience in working with children and families, is the author of two books about children and mental health and regularly consults with national bodies about child mental health concerns. She is the Director of Calm Kid Central, an online program of courses to help children manage emotional health challenges. This is a great opportunity for parents. The first one was on Tuesday night and the next one is Monday 28th of March 2022 at 7pm (ADEST) - “Calm and Confident Kids”- learn to help children with a tendency towards worry or anxiety - or who are dealing with difficult life situations. I highly recommend these webinars. Please see attached flyer for more information.
National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence in Schools
On Friday 18 August 2023 , St Joseph’s School will once again participate in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). We are all invited to
wear orange to school to show our support for this very important day. This is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, and will be celebrating 13 years of action, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying. The NDA theme for 2023 is 'growing connections'. This theme supports research findings that strong school community connections and social skills are protective factors in the prevention of bullying and help enable positive, help-seeking behaviours in students.
If you would like to purchase a Tshirt to support this day, you are able to through the office. Tshirts are $15 and $3 from each Tshirt goes to the school. Order forms are available from the office.
Shrove Tuesday is next week February 21st. The Christian tradition of Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday) is about using up all the sweet spreads and ingredients in the house to make pancakes, so then we won't be tempted to eat the sweet ingredients in Lent, which starts the very next day. You might like to share this background story if you enjoy pancakes on Tuesday with your family.
Next week, on Ash Wednesday, we start the church season of Lent. Lent is a time of reflection in our lives. Everyone is invited to Mass in our church on Ash Wednesday at 10am. At Mass we receive the ashes (that is, a sign of the cross is traced on our foreheads to remind us of our commitment to God).
God knows what is in our hearts and is inviting us into a deeper relationship with God. We are challenged to identify that thing in our lives that we need to change. Lent is a time of prayer, penance and almsgiving (acts of kindness). It's about giving our life more meaning. On Friday 24th March we will meet together as a faith community to participate in our Lent Liturgy. It will be in the church at 3pm. You are welcome to join us.
Lenten Prayer
Lord, Teach me a new freedom.
Freedom to reject comparison
And to embrace uniqueness.
Freedom to cut ties with greed
And feast on love.
Freedom to abstain from over indulgence
Freedom to leave behind selfish thoughts
And to focus on the needs of others.
Freedom to fend off insecurity
And to embrace grace.
Lord, at this time of Lent,
Thank you for the freedom you bring. Amen
Lent culminates in the church season of EASTER.
Each year our Gr 5/6 class dramatizes the Easter Story and every year it is particularly well done and very thoughtful and moving. We are hoping to really promote it this year as it is the story of our faith. It will be presented on Wednesday April 5th in our church at 2.15pm. We hope you are able to join us. After this we will come back to the Mary MacKillop Room and draw our Easter Raffle.
P & F (Parents & Friends) News
Our P&F group met last week and planned a number of activities:
- Our AGM is Monday March 28th at school. 6pm pizza and wine and 6.30pm meeting. Everyone is welcome.
- Sausage Sizzle Wednesday 30th March (sausages $2 Primas $1). More information to come.
- Hot Cross Bun Lunch Thursday April 7th (hot cross buns $1). More information to come.
- Easter Raffle draw on the last day of term Friday April 8th around 12.45pm in Mary MacKillop room.
March
Fri 18 National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence
Storytime 9.15am
Whole School Assembly Gr 5/6 Learning Presentation 3pm
Mon 21 St Joseph’s Day Special Celebration including liturgy & dance workshops
School Advisory Committee 5.30
Wed 23 Young Leaders Day Gr 6
Fri 25 Storytime 9.15am
Fri 25 Lent Liturgy in church 3pm
Mon 28 P&F AGM 6pm pizza 6.30pm meeting
Wed 30 Sausage Sizzle lunch (sausage $2 Primas $1)
April
Fri 1 Storytime 9.15
Thurs 7 Hot Cross Bun Lunch (buns $1)
Fri 8 Storytime 9.15
Gr 5/6 Easter Presentation midday in church
Last day of Term 1 1pm dismissal
Mon 25 ANZAC DAY holiday
Tues 26 First day of Term 2
Fri 29 Storytime 9.15
May
Fri 6 Storytime 9.15
Mother’s Day Liturgy 2.30 church Followed by afternoon tea at school
Tues 10 on NAPLAN online this year
Fri 13 Storytime 9.15
Whole School Assembly F/1 Learning Presentation 3pm