Welcome all our new and existing families to 2025!  

As always at school, time is flying by. I can’t believe we are halfway through Term 1 already! The students and staff have all settled into the year nicely and are smashing goals.

St Joseph’s Parish

Please join us for our weekly Parish Church liturgies at the following times:

• 6pm Saturday
• 8:30am Sunday

Fr. Dariusz Osinki, our Parish Priest, joins us on the third weekend of each month.

Sacraments

A reminder that we are running our Sacramental program this year and to please see me if you are interested in Baptism and/or Reconciliation, Communion & Confirmation. Baptism is an option for students in Prep to Year 6 wanting to be baptised Catholic. Reconciliation, Communion & Confirmation (all three Sacraments are done together) are for students in Year 3 to Year 6, who have been baptised in the Catholic faith before our Sacramental Weekend in August this year.

There will be a Parent Information Session about the Parish Sacramental Program at 4:30pm on Saturday 15th March at the Parish Church where interested parents are to attend and receive information and paperwork needed for their child to complete the program. This will be run by Fr. Dariusz (Parish Priest).

Week 1 & 2

St Joseph the Worker

For Religion, each class focused on learning about our patron saint, St Joseph the Worker. What an amazing man, who was so humble in his role. St. Joseph's life was that of an ordinary working man, yet his ability to see and communicate the presence of God made him extraordinary. Although the Bible doesn't tell us a great deal about him, we can learn a great deal about the type of person St Joseph was from his actions.

We know from the things he did that St Joseph:

• Listened to God in his dreams and married Mary (He was obedient to God)
• Protected and cared for Jesus and Mary (He was courageous and loving)
• Put the needs of his family first (He was selfless and a provider)
• Was a skilled craftsman and worked hard to provide for his family (He was a worker)
• Acted quickly and when needed to protect his family (He was a man of action)
• Was able to hear and respond to the voice of God when he faced difficult decisions (He was humble)

 St Joseph was the man closest to Jesus. No other person in history, aside from Mary, was closer to Jesus or knew him better than Joseph. St Joseph worked side by side with Jesus teaching him carpentry. Not only did he teach Jesus a trade, but Joseph’s love and faith taught Jesus important lessons about dedicating one’s life and work to the service of God and others.

Our School Values

The students have learnt about our school values of Justice, Humility and Compassion, and how they can be just, humble and compassionate. Below are our school values icons. These came about from students’ ideas of how to visually represent each of our values. Thank you to Miss Rachael for helping to digitalise these designs last year.

Week 3

MTSS-E

This year we are working with the school community on our Multi-tiered Systems of Support & Engagement (MTSS-E). MTSS-E has three tiers, hence the name ‘multi-tiered’. This year our focus is on our Tier 1 practices for Engagement. Tier 1 is known as the ‘Universal’ practices, universal meaning what we provide for all students. This involves setting up whole school systems and practices to enable a unified approach to student engagement by all staff. It includes universal, evidence-based teaching practices.

Our Tier 1 focus is Engagement. Student engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism and positive connections that students have when they are learning. This is achieved when students are provided the environment and support to become fully invested, have desire to learn, display a willingness to do the work, and want to gain a round understanding of the topic.

The MTSS-E observation focus for Term 1 is:

• Establishing Expectations & Routines
• Building Positive Relationships & The Classroom Environment

By the end of this year, it is anticipated that we will have embedded the following Tier 1 systems and practices for Engagement at our school:

• A defined, unified staff approach to facilitating ongoing student engagement
• 3-5 whole school values
• A matrix of expected student behaviour
• Documented procedures (routines) for ensuring predictability across school settings
• Systems and practices for acknowledging students for demonstrating expected behaviour
• Systems and practices for collecting, summarising and sharing incident data
• Defined evidenced-based strategies for engaging students
• Definitions of minor and major behaviours to support appropriate continuum of responses
• Systems for collecting data on the implementation of the Tier 1 practices
• An updated Whole School Behaviour Support Plan (WSBSP) that reflects these updated systems and practices

 Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations

On the 13^th February it was the 17^th anniversary of the historic National Apology to the Stolen Generations. This Apology was delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in the Federal Parliament on 13 February 2008 and was a historic moment for reconciliation and truth-telling in Australia. It is estimated that as many as one in three Indigenous children were taken from their families between 1910 and the 1970s as part of formal government assimilationist policies. It is important for us to acknowledge this event and for all Australians to better understand our shared history and the traumatic injustices committed against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the past.

On the 14^th February we celebrated Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day has its origins in ancient Christian traditions, stemming from the actions of Saint Valentine, a third-century priest who defied the Emperor's orders by marrying young lovers and left behind the enduring phrase, 'From your Valentine'.

Week 4

Opening School Mass

On the 17^th February we celebrated our Opening School Mass as a community led by our Parish Priest Fr. Dariusz. It was a hot morning in the church and the students were amazing and reverent in their responses, singing and listening. We welcomed our new students and staff who joined us this year and presented our 2025 Year 6 Leaders with their Leader badges. We look forward to a wonderful year of learning, fun and prayer together.Week 5

New family members

At our Week 5 Assembly we welcomed some new babies into our school community. These were families who were with us last year and added new additions to their families over the Christmas school holidays. Congratulations again to the Bakes, Cardelli, Christie & Poi Poi families. We loved meeting your little ones.

Week 6

Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day)

Tuesday 4^th March is Shrove Tuesday, better known by the students as ‘Pancake Day’. As the day before Lent, Shrove Tuesday is seen as the last day of fun and excess. Followers saw it as a day to use up all their fats and eggs, with pancakes being a good way to use them up — so the pancake-eating tradition began. This year, our Year 6 Leaders are making pancakes for all the students in the school. This is an example of ‘servant leadership’ where we demonstrate being good leaders by serving others, just like Jesus did.

Ash Wednesday

Wednesday 5^th March is Ash Wednesday. This is the first day of Lent and we will celebrate this event with a Liturgy where we have ashes placed on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. Ashes are placed on our foreheads for two reasons: a personal act of remembrance and as a sign for others. The ashes come from the burnt palms from last year's Palm Sunday celebration, which begins Holy Week.

Lent

Lent is a time of fasting, almsgiving & praying. During the Lenten Season, we ‘fast’ by giving up things we can do without, we ‘alms give’ by giving to those in need and we ‘pray’ more during Lent. Lent is represented by the colour purple and lasts for 40 days.

Ideas for the 40 days of Lent:

Fasting:

• Give up something (e.g. an app you spend too much time on, TV)
• Have less of something you enjoy (e.g. sweets, soft drink)

 Almsgiving:

• Donate to Project Compassion fundraisers at school
• Donate items to the local Community Centre
• Donate your time to help others or the environment

 Praying:

• Morning prayer to begin your day
• Mealtime prayers to thank God for all you have
• Evening prayers dedicated to others in need

Yours in faith,

 Julie Dore

Assistant Principal Religious Education (APRE)

jdore@cns.catholic.edu.au