Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3! It was so lovely to be greeted by all the happy, smiling faces on Tuesday when the students returned to school ready to launch into another term.

On Monday, our staff returned to work for a Professional Development Day centered on Curriculum Reform. We are all continuing to explore, engage and embed our new NSW syllabi for English and Mathematics at St Joey’s.

We finished the week beautifully with our Grandparents Mass, morning tea and classroom visits today. Thank you to Fr Paddy, Mrs Salmon and Mr Pratt for the mass this morning, dedicated to the Feast Day of St Anne and St Joachim who were Mary’s parents and Jesus’ Grandparents. In 2021, Pope Francis declared this Feast day of St Joachim and St Anne ‘World Grandparents Day’. Pope Francis mentions, 'How important it is to have intergenerational exchanges and dialogue, especially within the context of the family. Children and the elderly build the future of peoples children because they lead history forward, the elderly because they transmit the experience and wisdom of their lives'. Our Grandparents are such special role models in the lives of children and families. We are ever so grateful for them and the love and support they provide. It was so heartwarming to have so many grandparents join us today and we appreciated that some grandparents travelled long distances to be here. Happy Grandparents Day!

Junee Shire NAIDOC Celebrations

Yesterday Mrs Vergano and I had the pleasure of taking our Aboriginal students to the local NAIDOC Smoking Ceremony at the Community Centre, followed by morning tea and activities in the Junee Recreation Centre. Our students were involved in assisting with the ceremony in different ways. All the students were wonderful ambassadors for our school and were so proud to be sharing in their Aboriginal culture. Thank you to Junee Shire for inviting us and providing morning tea and activities for the students to engage in.

School NAIDOC Week

We will be celebrating our school NAIDOC week from 5th - 9th August (Week 3). There will be a special whole school NAIDOC assembly on Friday 9th August at 2pm in the hall for all families to attend. Each class will be presenting a performance based on Aboriginal culture. All are welcome to attend and support our school NAIDOC celebrations,’Keep the Fire Burning’.

SJJU Social and Fundraising Committee

There will be a Social and Fundraising Committee meeting next Wednesday 31st July, starting 6pm at Merv’s Cafe. All parents welcome as are children. It is a good way to meet other parents, have a meal together and share ideas to best support your child’s school and education. We will be discussing the upcoming social and fundraising events for Terms 3 and 4 as well as an update on funds raised to date.

A big thank you goes to Karen Fish for her organisation of the Pie Drive. We appreciate the time and effort she has put into this fundraiser and next Friday 2nd August, the pies will be available to be picked up from the hall after assembly. A final figure for this fundraiser will be published in the next newsletter.

The Australian Government Department of Education has advised us that they will collect certain information about our school, staff and student body as part of the 2024 Non-government schools census collection. Please click on the below tab to read more information regarding the census.

If at any time you have any celebrations or concerns you would like to share, please do not hesitate to come and see me, call or email me scotta3@ww.catholic.edu.au.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with families in providing quality Catholic Education of the students in our care at St Joseph’s, showing Compassion, Respect and Commitment in all we do.

God Bless,

Angela Scott

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