Faith in Action

You will be very aware that our local community was affected not so long ago by devastating floods that impacted on homes, businesses, families and individuals. Our recent weather has caused some anxiety in people as the feelings are close to the surface once again. We are praying that the sunshine that has appeared will continue to dry our soaked land and draw away the water that the rain has left us with.

Unfortunately, there are other communities who are now in this situation in the north of our state, many who are connected to us through our Diocesan school system. Communities who many of us know personally and professionally have been devastated, as you will have seen in the media. Around one quarter to one third of schools and their families in our Diocese of Lismore have been affected in various degrees.

As our faith calls us to understand and give to those in need (particularly in this season of Lent), we are requesting your support where possible as a faith community to assist those suffering this devastation. The effects on these communities is currently so great, that donations of basic essentials such as food, toiletries, clothes etc. from those of us who feel drawn to help is not possible. Evacuation centres and charities are working through how to receive and supply these to those in need. The most practical support that we can give at this time is financial. If you are in the position to be able to help those in need, there is an appeal coordinated through the Diocese of Lismore that we are asking support for. As you will know, our St Agnes’ Parish and Diocese respond readily to need at any time not only for those who are in our Catholic schools, but for others in communities who we don’t even know. If you are able to support the appeal, please do so in this way:

Bishop Greg's Diocese of Lismore 2022 Flood Appeal (https://www.lismorediocese.org/)

Click on the link which will provide details, or simply use the bank details below. 

BSB: 037-889
Account No: 1061 5829
Account Name: DOL Flood Appeal 

Please also continue to pray for those who are helping and those in need at this time. Thank you for your generosity of spirit, prayer and support.

CELEBRATING OUR FAITH

The Season of Lent - a Season to grow, reflect and find a better way of building the Kingdom of God today. 

This week we began the Season of Lent with our St Joseph’s Ash Wednesday Liturgy. Thank you to Mrs Davies and the Year 2 Team for their leadership and organisation of our beautiful celebration.  

Lent is a great opportunity to grow as a family. As a family, you may like to consider engaging in family Lent time. A great place to begin is simply talking about Lent as a time to grow and do good for others so we can grow closer to God. 

What would doing good for each other look like in your family? 

Is there a way you can engage in a community social justice or charity project together? 

Could you try giving something up as a family?

Maybe you could nominate a day of the week to just drink water through the day in solidarity with those who have no access to clean water? 

Incitare

On Tuesday a group of Year 6 school leaders engaged in the Incitare program which equips students to be faith leaders in our parish and school community. The program challenges students to ‘go forth and set the world on fire’ through engagement in a range of faith formation activities, opportunities to share ideas, experiences and work with youth ministry leaders from the Parish and MacKillop College. We look forward to sharing our experiences with the school in the coming weeks. 

Learning Together

Helping Your Child Read At Home

Thank you for your support in developing your child’s reading skills. You may have childhood memories of reading lessons. Some people will remember these lessons with delight, while others may remember struggles, the difficulties and the barriers that the print on the page seem impossible to read. Learning to read can be one of the most exciting experiences but it can also be filled with fear and frustration. It is important to remember that not everyone learns to read at the same time and as adults we can all support our children. 

Students at St Joseph's are encouraged to bring home a combination of books from the Library as well as texts selected in the classroom from our traditional home reading sets. When Home readers are sent home, parents often comment that the book their child brings home is ‘too easy’. The readers we send home are to allow the children to be able to read for pleasure and build fluency, whilst at school their reading choices are set to enable their teacher to observe reading behaviours and teach them how to use their reading and comprehension strategies. 

At school, children are encouraged to learn the sound the letter makes rather than the letter name to start with. They learn the letter sounds along with a short rhyme and an action to help make these more memorable. The students learn to recognise the letter and make its sound. As your child reads, they will be ‘decoding’ the words they read by making the sounds they see, eg: s - a - t and then blending them together to form the word, sat.

Our aim is to teach children to read for meaning where they can understand the messages in the story, as well as being able to decode the words. 

Watch this quick for some helpful reading tips for home.

Whole School Prayer and Celebration Assembly

How wonderful is it that we can welcome our families back onsite. As a result of this change, we would like to extend a warm welcome to our families to join us on Friday afternoons for our Whole School Prayer and Celebration Assembly.  

We would ask that if you would like to join us you arrive at school from 2:10pm and adhere to the current COVID-19 Guidelines. This requires signing in and out at the front office using the digital QR Code and maintaining 1.5m social distancing while in the MPA. The Prayer service will begin at 2:20pm and conclude by approximately 2:50pm. 

We look forward to joining together as a school community each week in Prayer and celebration.  We hope you can join us.