Dear parents and carers,

This week has seen us return to regular face-to-face classes.  The children have worked their way back into routines of the school day well.

We have also welcomed 4 new children to our school.  Welcome to Cayless, Madyson, Jarryd and Indy.  We trust that you will enjoy learning with us at St Joseph’s.

The children have made lots of observations about the extra cleaning and hand washing.  It is great to see that our children have developed a routine of regular hand washing.  As we all know, the extra hand washing is drying out the children’s hands, to help with this, we have sourced hand cream from the pharmacy to help stop our skin from drying out too much.

We will continue to follow guidelines as advised by both the Australian Government, NSW government and NSW Health and Catholic Education previously sent out to families.

Please be aware that children who have runny noses, coughs, cold or flu like symptoms will be sent home from school and we ask that they stay at home until the symptoms have cleared.

Before we encountered the disruption caused by the covid-19 virus, we had been working with the children on being mindful of the ways in which we work together.

At present we are focusing on taking care of property.  This can be as simple as tidying up after yourself when you have finished using some equipment.  It can also involve taking on responsibilities to ensure that regular jobs are completed safely, including organising equipment from the sports shed for use at play time, or helping in the garden or putting the flags up correctly.

Next week, we will move on to look at how we can be considerate of others.

We also learned just prior to the disruption that we were successful in winning a $2000 grant to continue to renew resources in the Library.  This grant was made possible by the Australian Government’s Local Schools Community Fund program.  Some new titles were added just before the covid-19 disruption.  We will be adding more new title to the library in the coming weeks.

We encourage you to ensure that all your child’s clothing is clearly labelled, this helps us to return items that have been misplaced.

Thank you to everyone who has sent through items for our uniform pool, this is appreciated!

Kinder 2021 – many families are already beginning to plan for 2021.  If your family has a younger sibling at home who will start school in 2021, please collect an enrolment form from the office to complete and return in preparation for next year.

If you know of a family who would like more information about St Joseph’s, please invite them to contact us at school.

Library –all Library session will be held on Thursdays.  All children will need to bring their Library books and bags on Thursday.  I encourage you to make use of Library bags as this helps to protect books and keep them in one place.  It is expected that ALL children use a Library bag.

At present many of our popular titles are out on loan, please return those books that you have finished reading, so that we can make these available for other children. 

National Simultaneous Storytime – this year we will again participate in the National Simultaneous Storytime, this year’s story is Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas.

This year we will participate in a virtual way with the children from the pre-school. 

It has been lovely to see the children coming back to the “new” routines of school this week.

Take care and stay safe,

This is so true. I have been amazed at how wonderful that sound is as it permeated the through the whole school during play times this week. I have missed that infectious sound that brings with it so much joy and happiness. I guess that old adage is true; “Absence does make the heart grow fonder.” This week my prayer is one of gratitude. 

A Prayer of Gratitude 

Stretch your arms high and wide above your head.

Thank you, God, for the gift of another day. 

Hold arms out from your sides. Gesture to the left and to the right with your arms stretching outward.

God bless the people all over the world. 

Stretch your arms out straight in front of you, slightly apart, palms up. God, I give you all I am and all I have. 

Pull your hands close together and cup them as a container. I open myself to receive the gift you have waiting for me in this new day. 

Bend over, reach down, and touch the floor, or the ground. I touch this planet, Earth, with reverence and gratitude. 

Stand up, cross hands over your heart, and bow.

God, may I be united with you throughout this day. I am aware of your love strengthening me and shining through me.

Amen

Prayer retrieved and adapted from

https://www.sosj.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/003755_fede.pdf

Treasure the little things and count your blessings.

Thank to everyone for sharing your work this week, our classrooms have been looking very different in a great way, everyone is working hard – thank you to everyone for your creative efforts with completing your learning this week.

Here are just a few samples of what we have been seeing around our school this week.