Dear Parents & Carers,

Congratulations to Eli Fenning, Elliot Banyer, Jack Butchers and Harrison Morton who competed at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival on Friday 6th August in the PP5, Small Schools Relay. We are very proud of your achievement and representation of St. Joseph's. A very big thank you to our parents for driving the team to and from the venue. The boys will go through to participate in the Polding Athletics Carnival on Friday 12th September. 

Last week we celebrated the Feast of St. Mary MacKillop. Mary MacKillop along with Father Julian Tenison Woods founded Australia's first order of nuns, the Sisters of St. Josephs. This order then established St. Joseph's Schools providing free education and support to families in need. Mary Mackillop was a remarkable lady who was then recognised as Australia's first and only Saint on 17th October 2010. On Friday, our school came together with students participating in a range of activities and created a beautiful range dedicated to Saint Mary. Students reflected upon how Saint Mary Mackillop encourages us to strive, persist and celebrate our success. They also recognised ways to demonstrate compassion and serve others before finally identifying how they can make a difference in the world today. 

During Week 6 we are holding Parent Teacher Interviews to discuss your child's progress, strengths and goals or areas for improvement. Timeslots can be booked through Compass or please contact the office or your child's teacher if you have any difficulty in booking through Compass. This is a great opportunity to touch base with your child's teacher and to support your child in their learning. 

During Week 7 we are also holding Father's Day Breakfast on Friday morning. Please save the date of September 5th from 8am as we very much look forward to welcoming Father's, Grandfather's or significant others to this morning. 

Our Book Week celebrations will be held in Week 8. On Thursday 11th September we will be holding the Meerkat Productions adaption on The Garden of Broken Things by Freya Blackwood, one of the Award Winning Books for 2025 and our parade will be held at 2pm. Parents and friends are most welcome to attend our Book Week Parade.

Peace & Best Wishes,

Amy Maslen

Princpal

TERM 3

School Photos are Monday 18th August.

Please ensure students are in full winter uniform - there will be no sport on Monday. Students need to return their photo envelope on the day to MSP. Photos will be taken from 9:10am. 

In Year 5/6 students have been learning about pi. They are able to explain and calculate the value of pi.Well done!

Not long now until the next Mini Vinnies Fundraiser, on Thursday 28th August. The Mini Vinnies team of Revel, Eli, Dakota and Talya will be running some special activities to raise money for the Charity "Sweethearts" which supports kids with heart conditions/ disease. The Mini Vinnies will be running a number of activities and a raffle, with more details before the day. The two main things are;

• Please bring along some gold coins to support the activities and raffle.
• There will be free-dress in the colour of Pink or Red.

We look forward to your support. Thank You from the Mini Vinnies.

(ATTACHED photo shows Eli and Revel preparing for the day)

Yesterday, Thursday 14th, students in Years 3&4 participated in the Todd Woodbridge Cup had a fantastic day at Gloucester Tennis Courts. It was a wonderful opportunity for skill developmetn and social fun with other local schools. Our students represented our school wih excellence and received a certificate of participation. A big thank you to Greg Billingham, Tennis NSW, Mr Gleeson and Ms Fitzgerald for their organisation. 

We have a number of sessions of Basketball at the Gloucester Recreation Centre over the course of Term 3. Our first session was last Monday, when Kate from Gloucester Basketball went though a number of skills and drills. Thank you!

Students in Year 4/5/6 have commenced a five week program, The Resilience Doughnut, run by accredited providers, MSS Services.

The resilience doughnut is a way of finding out the strengths that are in you and around you. As we go through life, everyone meets tough times. People who can get through the tough times are resilient. Resilience is being able to bounce back when the tough times come. Some of the time you can do this by yourself and other times you may need to use the strengths around you. The Resilience Doughnut uses a strengths approach – it identifies what is working best in a person’s life. The Resilience Doughnut aims to build the young person’s resilience by reinforcing what is already working well. By providing positive feedback to the young person about what is going well in their life, you are much more likely to build their positive self-beliefs, which enhance resilience.

During Week 1 students learnt about The Resilience Doughnut, which assesses an individual’s internal resources (“I Have”, “I Am”, and “I Can”) and how these interact with 7 different areas of life. Students we learnt about a boy called Sam and identfied his strengths. We also discussed how these strengths are working together and what Sam could do to improve his strengths.
In week 2, your child will complete this actvity and as a result be able to identify their own three key strengths, and how these can come together to form their very own ‘doughnut moment’.

Thank you to Clare and Michelle, the providers who are delivering the Resilience Doughnut. 

During Week 7 we are also holding Father's Day Breakfast on Friday morning. Please save the date of September 5th from 8am as we very much look forward to welcoming Father's, Step-fathers, Grandfather's, Uncles or significant others to this morning. 

The Father's day breakfast note will be coming out soon to RSVP for catering purposes on Compass.  Father's Day Breakfast cooked by staff will deliver a Bacon and Egg roll, tea, coffee, juice and newspapers to share.  This is a fun morning to share Breakfast with students.

Father's Day stall will also be held on the day for students to purchase gift/gifts.  Pricing will be $4 and $5 each for a fun range of gifts and money raised will go towards our FACE (Family & Community Engagement) fundraising at St. Joseph's Gloucester.  Please ensure your child has a bag or pillowcase to place items to take home.

We will be celebrating Book Week Thursday 11th September. This will be in week 8. The theme for this year’s book week is ‘Book an Adventure’.

The day will consist of the Meerkat Productions musical adaptation of ‘The Garden of Broken Things’ starting at 9.00am. Gloucester Preschool will also be attending this production at our school.

Lunch will be at the normal time of 11.10am – 12.00pm.

Local Author Therese Lloyd will be doing workshop activities between 12.00-1.30pm. Therese Lloyd is the author of Arki and the Cursed Caves.

Everyone is invited to come and watch our book character parade at 2.00pm.

Students are encouraged to dress up as a book character or in a costume to match the theme, with the theme being, ‘Book an Adventure’. Costumes do not need to be expensive, as many book character costumes can be created using everyday clothing.

Looking forward to seeing everyone for our Book Week Parade!

Adam McCann & Jennie Shultz