"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." — John 6:51 Eternal Father, You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, as the true Bread from Heaven, who offers Himself for the life of the world. As our students receive the Most Holy Eucharist for the first time, may they come to a deeper understanding of this sacred mystery. Grant that, nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, they may be united more closely to the Paschal Mystery and conformed more fully to the image of Your Son. Through this Sacrament of unity and charity, may they grow in communion with the Church, living as faithful disciples and witnesses to the Gospel. Amen

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This week, our Year 4 students will celebrate the Sacrament of First Eucharist, an important milestone in their faith journey. Receiving the Eucharist for the first time draws them into a deeper communion with Christ and allows them to participate more fully in the sacramental life of the Church. It has been a joy to witness the students' active involvement, supported by their parents, throughout the recent faith formation sessions. Today’s First Eucharist retreat marked the final stage of their preparation, offering students the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to share a special meal with their families in celebration of this sacred occasion. We invite all families to attend mass on Saturday evening at 6pm in support of our students.

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Having a conversation with your children around strangers or people they do not know

In response to events reported in the media, we encourage you to have regular conversations with your children regarding keeping themselves safe.

There are resources on the web including the Daniel Morcombe Foundation and Child Abuse Prevention and Education Australia. The following information has been adapted from the Child Abuse Prevention and Education Australia website that may be useful to share. It is found via the following link https://www.cape-au.com/blog/strangerdanger  

Strangers are people who aren’t part of our safety network and that they aren’t our friends. We don’t know them, haven’t met them before with our parents than they aren’t our friends. We don’t go with them because they aren’t our friends.

Scenario or role play with questions like –

WHAT COULD KIDS DO IF?

Someone they don’t know or isn’t their safety person asks them to go with them in their car.
The answer might be yelling NO, runaway and find their safe adult/parent. Get them to act it out.

- Reinforce that they are never in trouble if they say ‘NO’ to an adult or someone older that they don’t know or if they ever feel unsafe.  

Safe adults won’t make them feel unsafe or hurt them and won’t ask them to do something like leave their school, playground and won’t offer free things or give you something without talking to your parents first.

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Rostrum

Following an audition process, Annabelle F in Year 6 was selected to represent St Joseph’s at the Rostrum regional final on Tuesday evening at Turner Primary School. We congratulate Annabelle on her ‘Shortcuts’ speech and for her excellent performance.

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Vinnies CEO Sleepout

Thank you to our school community for their generosity and support of the Vinnies Sleepout. Our lolly guessing competition, won by Elsie in Year 3, raised an additional $135 towards Mr Tarrant’s sleepout tomorrow night. It is not too late to make a personal donation towards this very worthy cause.

https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/camerontarrant/act

Current donations from the St Joseph's community to the Vinnies Sleepout is an incredible - $7476.

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Week 9 Can and Bottle Recycling Drive

After a warm-up collection in Week 4, we will be once again collecting cans and bottles for recycling in Week 9. Historically our can drive (run by parent volunteers) has been a very successful initiative to both raise additional funds for the community council but also to reduce land fill in our community. We look forward to some friendly competition between house groups in this round to collect as many cans and bottles as we can.

The collection schedule is:

Please place recyclables in the bins or boxes alongside the trailer so they can be counted each day.

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Dads and Grandads State of Origin Night

A reminder that this evening is our Dads and Grandads State of Origin gathering tonight in the hub. The evening will commence at 7:30pm with nibbles provided. BYO drinks.

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Parent Teacher Conferences

Bookings are now open for parent teacher conferences which will be held throughout Week 9. Please use the Compass app to book a time to discuss your child’s growth and achievement this semester. End of semester reports will be available in Week 10.

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Yours in Christ,

Beth Hawkes

beth.hawkes@cg.catholic.edu.au