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- Principal's Report
- Easter Litugy & Stations of the Cross
- K1 Decorating Easter Biscuits
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- K/1 Class News
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- Mini Vinnies Report
- Gifted Education Lead School
- ASPIRE
- Swimming Championships
- Sport
- Pastoral Care News
- Easter Mass Times @ St Joseph's Catholic Church Gloucester
- St. Joseph - Our Patron Saint
- NAPLAN Online
- What parents should know about tweens
- Helping children who have been affected by floods
- Parenting Programs
- Easter Bunny Hunt
- Community Notices
Dear Parents,
This week we reflect and celebrate Holy Week. As a school we have reflected on the importance of Holy Week through class liturgies, reflection, Project Compassion and today students walked through the Stations of the Cross. The message of Easter is one that brings hope, new beginnings and eternal life.
In the past week our community has experienced devastating floods and some of our homes and businesses have been effected along with most families being impacted in one way or another. It has been amazing how so many peope have come together as a community to help and support each other.
If you or someone you know is looking to enrol their child into St Joseph's for 2022 enrolments have now opened. Please ring 65581555 or follow the links on our website for an enrolment package.
Enjoy your time over the holidays. I wish our students, teachers, parents and carers a wonderul, safe and happy Easter break. We look forward to seeing you all back on Monday 19th April for Term 2.
Peace & Best Wishes,
Amy Maslen
Principal
June | |
Friday 25th | Final Day Term 2 |
July | |
Week 1 - Monday 12th | Pupil Free Day |
Tuesday 13th | Students return |
Thursday 15th | Library |
Friday 16th | Sport |
Week 2 - Monday 19th | Shared Table - Chicken Fried Rice |
Thursday 22nd | Library |
Friday 23rd | ASPIRE K-6 Excursion to Newcastle |
Week 3 - Wednesday 28th |
Diocesan Athletics Kindergarten 2022 Social & Emotional Session with School Counsellor - Alison Perry. |
It has been a busy end to the term. The students have all done an amazing job throughout the term and I am very proud of the achievements that they have made so far this year. Many of them are striving hard to reach their goals in Numeracy and Literacy and it is wonderful to see them talking about having a goal. Every student in our student always gives their best effort everyday day which is all that we can expect from them. I hope that everyone has a fantastic Easter break.
We have had a very busy and fantastic start to the year with everyone working exceptionally well in Term 1.We are very proud of how all students have settled in to the new school year. It is wonderful to see so many students that are striving to acheive the best results they can and work towards their goals. With a great start and a positive attitude towards learning we are certainly in for a great year ahead. We hope you all have a safe and happy Easter and we look forward to seeing you all in Term 2.
Dear Parents and Carers,
Thank you for all your support through the term. As you might know we did a fund-raiser today for mufti clothes. We raised $36.30 and all the money is going to brain cancer. Thank you for your support it is much appreciated.
Mia Barnes & Ruby Blanchard on behalf of the Mini Vinnies.
This year St Joseph's has implemented a focus on Gifted Education and how we can identify and support our students in this area. Miss Prosser is coordinating this initiative which is supported by the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools with a number of other schools in the Diocese.
Anne Keen visited our school in March to find out more about the program and below is the article Anne wrote for the Gloucester Advocate.
'Being able to support students to reach their full potential is a goal for many teachers, and St Joseph's Primary School Gloucester has taken a big step toward making that more viable.
The school has been named a Gifted Education Lead School (GELS) in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.
What that means is the school has a little bit of additional funding and training support to help identify their 'gifted' students. Once identified, the school's Gifted Education Mentor will support the teachers in providing learning to extend these students and keep them engaged.
According to principal Amy Maslen, the school applied to be a part of the program as it links in well with its improvement plan.
"We already have embedded literacy programs and now we want to focus on a growth in mathematics," Amy explained.
Being a Gifted Education Lead School provides a platform to help achieve further academic success.
In 2017, after the Catholic Schools Office (CSO) reviewed its gifted program, it opted to roll out the new GELS model, selecting a few schools at a time to run it.
It adopted professor Franoys Gagné's Differentiating Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) which indicates that "giftedness" or the existence of high-ability alone won't produce high achievement.
Gagné's model suggests that although high ability is the primary component of "giftedness", a plan to develop this ability allows for high achievement.
An additional benefit of the program for St Joey's is that it also provides support for the staff to help identify gifted students and training around how to integrate the extension programs into the classroom.
Unlike the NSW Department of Education's Aurora College virtual school which provides rural students with extension learning outside the mainstream classroom for core subjects such as English and mathematics, the CSO program offers an integrated learning approach.
Leading the initiative is teacher Victoria Prosser, who is excited about the prospect of what the program can bring to their school community.
"We are really good at identifying students who need support. But being able to identify gifted students means we can give them more opportunities," Victoria explained.
"It's all about knowing our students and what they need to reach their full potential."
The program will allow teachers to focus on the importance of differentiation and better cater for gifted students'.
As part of the ASPIRE program for drama, dance, visual art and music, our Year 5&6 students were selected to attend a workshop at St. Clare's on the 11th & 12th March. Students split into their chosen groups and at the end of the second day joined together for a small performance. Well done to our team of students who represented St. Joseph's beautifully.
Congratulations to our amazing Swimming Relay Team; Aiden Blanchard, Mia Barnes, Rory Ashby and Xanthe Fenning who qualified for the Polding Championships at Homebush on Monday 22nd March. Unfortunately due to the weather conditions our team was not able to compete but we look forward to being able to send our team for next year. We think they are champions to get to this level. Thank you to parents and families who supported our team.
Our focus this term has been on Cross Country which we hope to run early next and will be confirmed on the first week back. Following this we will be having an Athletics focus in the lead up to our Athletics Carnival in Term 2.
Mini Vinnies:
The Mini Vinnies have had a busy Term 1 with lots of activities and projects.
Over the past few weeks, they have been making large Easter Cards which will be sent to residents of the Aged Care home.
We have also enjoyed having Loretta Heffernan from the Myall Deanery Family Ministry visit the school on Mondays to help us with Gardening, making Easter Cards, Easter food and our Easter Egg Hunt. Loretta says she loves coming to St Joseph’s because the students are all so lovely!
On the last day of term, we had our Easter Egg Hunt. The Mini Vinnies assisted the younger students as they excitedly searched for their Easter goodies.
Canteen:
The students as always are doing a great job in running the Canteen. Led by our School Leader, Aiden, they are great models of customer service and efficiency. Thank You to Year 5’s and 6 as well as to Year 4’s who have enjoyed a few days of training as “apprentice” Canteen helpers.
School Signboard:
Please remember to have a look at the School Signboard near the front entrance. The information changes each week and includes a Happy Birthday notice for anyone having a birthday that week.
Project Compassion:
During the period of Lent, students have been donating coins to the appeal which supports special projects overseas. The appeal ended today and we counted our totals by constructing a coin line. Thank you for all your support and especially to students who have been donating some of their change from their Canteen purchases.
Easter Mass Times @ St Joseph's Catholic Church Gloucester
Holy Thursday (1st April) - Mass 5:30pm
Good Friday (2nd April) - Stations of the Cross 2:30pm
Good Friday (2nd April) - The Passion 3pm
Easter Sunday (4th April) Mass 9am
St Joseph-our Patron Saint
On Friday 19 March the Church celebrated St Joseph’s feast day. Previously, on the feast-day of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception (8 December 2020), in his Apostolic Letter titled Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis dedicated the current liturgical year (from Advent 2020 to the start of Advent 2021), to St Joseph.
What is so special about Saint Joseph? It is truly amazing to realise that God the Father trusted St Joseph so much that he entrusted both Jesus and Mary to Joseph from the time of Mary’s pregnancy and throughout the formative years of Jesus’ childhood. This is a truly great sign of hope for us all – God acts in our human history through people and events - God the Father trusted Joseph, a human born with original sin like us, with the care and upbringing of his only Son, Jesus.
Four times God’s will is revealed to Joseph by an angel in a dream. Each time Joseph’s positive action follows straight away. He took responsibility for Mary and Jesus, made them the centre of his life and served them lovingly. Each time, Joseph declares his own “fiat” (his unconditional yes), like Mary did at the Annunciation. The 1st time, he takes pregnant Mary to himself unconditionally. The 2nd time he accepts the plight of a refugee by fleeing by night to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod’s soldiers. The 3rd time he returns with Jesus and Mary from Egypt when the angel tells him that Herod has died. The 4th time, he accepts the warning not to settle in Judea but to go to Galilee. Reflecting on these difficulties and challenges, Pope Francis writes: “Nor should we think that believing means finding facile and comforting solutions. The faith Christ taught us is what we find in Saint Joseph. He did not look for shortcuts, but confronted reality with open eyes and accepted personal responsibility for it.” Joseph displayed “creative courage…in the way we deal with difficulties.” No wonder “Saint Joseph is invoked as protector of the unfortunate, the needy, exiles, the afflicted, the poor and the dying.” “Joseph found happiness not in mere self-sacrifice but in self-gift.”
All 4 Gospels tell us that Joseph was Jesus’ legal father. The rest of our knowledge of Joseph, including the 4 dreams, comes from Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels. From these we know that Joseph was “a just man,” “a carpenter,” that he believed Mary became pregnant by the power of God and that he cared for Mary. He witnessed Jesus’ birth, as well as the devotion paid to Jesus by the Shepherds and the Magi, and the prophetic testimonies of Simeon and Anna when Jesus who was 40 days old was presented in the Temple. When the twelve year-old Jesus was missing when the Holy Family were returning to Nazareth from Jerusalem, Joseph returned with Mary to Jerusalem to search for Jesus and found him talking with the teachers of the Law in the Temple.
Pope Francis’ reflection on the fatherhood of Saint Joseph includes the following insights:
- “Joseph never made himself the centre of things…but focused instead on the lives of Mary and Jesus.”
- “The logic of love is always the logic of freedom…Every child is the bearer of a unique mystery that can only be brought to life with the help of a father who respects that child’s freedom. A father realises that he is most a father and educator at the point when he becomes ‘useless’ , when he sees that his child has become independent and can walk the paths of life unaccompanied. When he becomes like Joseph, who always knew that his child was not his own but had merely been entrusted to his care. In the end, this is what Jesus would have us understand when he says: ‘Call no man father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven’ (Mt 23:9).”
Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter commemorates the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX’s proclamation of St Joseph as “Patron of the Catholic Church”. In 1955, Pope Pius XII proclaimed St Joseph, “Patron of Workers”. Pope John Paul II in 1989 proclaimed him; “Guardian of the Redeemer”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church names St Joseph the “Patron of a Happy Death”. Pope Francis tells us that every day for over 40 years he has recited a prayer to St Joseph. He gives us this prayer in a footnote to his Apostolic Letter.
We can feel blessed and privileged that our church, school and parish in Gloucester are named after Saint Joseph. He is an unassuming yet great example to us of so many Gospel virtues and values. He was trusted with the care of Jesus and Mary by God the Father, and he lived up to this amazing trust. We would all do well to imitate Pope Francis in praying daily to God through Saint Joseph.