Dear Parents and Carers,

We will warmly welcome Dr. Judi Gurvich our school reviewer this Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th. Review is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all of the achievements we have made over the past four years together, whilst inquiring into areas we can continue to strengthen. I am so proud of all of the community working for the common good of every student in our school and I look forward to a wonderful review week.

We have begun to look at our 100 year celebration planning and I ask you to consider being on one of our sub committees to ensure the year is a memorable one.

History and Archives Committee ( “The Story tellers”)

Events Committee ( “The Gatherers’)

Liturgy Committee (“The Celebrators”)

Communications and Marketing Committee (“The Megaphones”)

Finance, Fundraising and Commemorative Committee (‘The Enablers”)

The St. Joseph’s story is upfront and centre in all that we do every day in our school.

Our school mural depicts the story of our school over the years. Mary Mackillop at the forefront and our connection to HMAS Cerberus along with our sustainability focus and Catholic Social teachings our narrative underpins our actions daily.

At St Joseph’s, our Catholic identity is lived through the Josephite charism of simplicity, courage and service. It is nurtured in the five dimensions of our Faith Framework, Prayer, Learning, Celebrating, Belonging and Living and expressed through the Catholic Social Teaching in the relationships we build, the way we honour the dignity of every person, and the way we work in partnership with our Westernport Parish.

This week's faith and wellbeing focus is building a sense of belonging through our Catholic Social Teachings and inquiring through exploration and creativity.

Kerry Colliver, Maria Milan and myself attended the MACS RE symposium Inspired by Faith last week at the Melbourne Convention Centre. It gave me such motivation to keep building our wonderful contemporary faith environment. The keynote speakers were amazing and really highlighted the need to connect our faith in inspiring ways and to keep the focus on the human person never losing sight that every person is made in the image of God, perfect and individual.

The year 6 dinner was a wonderful example of our faith in action. It was a night full of celebration and building a sense of community and belonging. We focussed on the Sacrament of Confirmation highlighting the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to guide our lives. Next Saturday we will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Brendan’s in Somerville with our Parish schools and we congratulate Grace Zerbe on this special occasion.

This week we celebrate 100 days of Foundation and I wish our amazing Prep students the best week full of fun and celebration of all they have achieved this year.

Finally, I remind parents of our parent action plan for solving an issue. I highlight that it is against MACS parent code of conduct for any parent to approach another parent or student to discuss an issue that has occurred at school. Please approach a staff member and they will assist you in solving the issue.

Our school theme reminds us: "Every footprint matters—Our footprints, our choices, our future."

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

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