Dear Parents & Carers,

I trust all of our families had a safe and happy Easter. Holy Week and Easter is a sacred time for all Christians where we all take the time to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made to protect his people. Throughout Holy Week we remembered these events through liturgy that highlighted the main events of Jesus' last remaining week on Earth. Our Holy Week liturgy on Thursday was a beautiful liturgy that highlighted the importance of Holy Week and Easter. We also held our Easter Hat Parade and Egg Hunt in the afternoon. Thanks to all those who were able to join us and Mrs Clare, Miss Jensen and staff for your coordination. 

Please note there a number of excellent webinars and workshops available for parents listed in the newsletter this week, including Social Media Screen Time (Information Session at Gloucester High School), Anxiety Coach (Webinar) and an online event on Tuesday 9 April with internationally respected child development expert and author, Karen Young. Karen will be speaking on the topic ‘Behaviour, Big Feelings, and Self-Regulation’, providing parents and carers with valuable insights and practical strategies to support their children and teenagers.This event is free for all parents and carers to attend and is brought to you by the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’s peak parent body, the Federation of P&F Associations. If you cannot attend the webinar at the designated time, you are encouraged to still register, as a recording of the event will be available to you on demand, for one week after the event. To register, please visit www.mn.shor.tn/KarenYoung Please see the attached flyer for more information.

As the term draws to a close, with next Friday 12th being our final day for Term 1, I would like to say thank you to all community members especially parents, carers and students for their continued support for St Josephs. Thank you also to all the teaching and support staff at the school, who have worked tirelessly to ensure all students receive the best education possible. 

It would be wonderful to have as many of our students at Gloucester ANZAC March if families are in Gloucester on 25th April. Please see further below for details of the ANZAC March.

I trust all of our families have a safe and happy Term 1 break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday 29th April.

Peace and Best Wishes,

Amy Maslen

Principal

Congratulations to Eli Fenning, Lola Forbes-Collins, Remi Ashby and Sienna Forbes who represented the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese and attended the Polding Swimming Carnival at Syndey Olympic Aquatic Centre, on Wednesday 3rd April. The students swam in the Small Schools (PP5) 4x50 Freestyle Relay and took 15 seconds off their Diocesan Swimming Carnival time. Congratulations to our team!

    

All students are invited to attend the Anzac Day march on Thursday 25th April. Students participating in the march should assemble at 10.15am outside Club Gloucester in Denison Street. The march will proceed along Church Street, up Hume Street to the Memorial Clock Park for the ceremony which begins at 11am.
Students should wear full summer uniform. It would be great to have a good- representation from students at our school.

Our next FACE meeting will be held simultaneously with our Play-based learning/Successful Foundations Talk on Thursday 2nd May at 10am in the school library. This meeting will be the educative component and will allow parents from K-6 to learn about the play-based learning approach to early years. All parents welcome. 

Next Thursday 11th, Minni Vinnies, and member organisers Deacon, Ella and Charnae will be having a fundraiser for World Wild Life Fund (WWF) and Sea Turtles. A message from Minni Vinnies regarding the day;

• Bring money (small change is fine including 10c, 20c, 50c and $1 coins)
• Support WWF adopt a turtle
• Dress up in green, blue, yellow or Dress as turtle
• Activities on the day
• Lollie jar, bracelets, turtle art, turtle shaped food, movie, turtle hunt, turtle painting raffle
• Thank you from Deacon, Charnae and Ella.

Please see the website that the students have created for their Fundraiser;

https://deaconcarmody.wixsite.com/gloucesterminivinn-1?_sm_au_=iVVPF2PFD7H4q2H74JcJFKHfqt2TC

Enrolment forms are now available at the office for Kindergarten for 2025.

"I'm going to Big school" shirts are available with the enrolment package.

St Joseph’s Primary School endeavours to provide a safe environment for students, including students with severe nut allergies. The number of children with food allergies in Australia is increasing and it is estimated that 1 in 20 have a food allergy and 1 in 50 have a peanut allergy. The most common food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews etc) cow’s milk, soy, seafood and eggs. The health and wellbeing of students at this school is carefully considered in all activities. Parents are requested not to send food to school that contain nuts, especially peanuts. This includes products such as peanut paste, most nuts, peanut cooking oil and other foods that may contain nuts.