Dear Parents and Carers,

Happiness

Last week the focus for our Principals award was kindness – a characteristic of our schools Patron Saint St Joseph.  Kindness was also the focus of staff prayer this week.

I am always intrigued to listen to podcasts/read books about stories of extreme resilience and about everyday people overcoming great adversity.  I am not sure whether many of you have heard the story of Kath Koschel – professional cricketer and founder of Kindness Factory.  I listened to a podcast on 'No Filter' where she was interviewed about the many obstacles she has faced in her life and I am now reading her book Kindness – What surviving on the kindness of strangers taught me about perspective, connective and happiness.

The blurb reads:

Kath Koschel has faced almost unimaginable hurdles.  In her mid-twenties, she broke her back and was told she may never walk again.  Shortly afterwards, she lost her beloved partner to suicide.  Then, just as she was piecing her life back together, she was hit by a car while cycling and forced to re-learn to walk a second time.

In the midst of these harrowing experiences, Kath created the Kindness Factory on social media to share her small acts of kindness.  Her idea went viral, prompting millions of kind deeds around the world.  In 2016, Kat put her belief in kindness to the ultimate test, leaving home with nothing but a change of clothes, her phone and a toothbrush – no food, money or water.  Her goal? To see how long she could survive on the kindness of strangers.  Her journey took her to every state in Australia, where she met with people from all walks of life to share her kindness manifesto.

I guess it always good to get a different perspective on things.  Sometimes it is great to do a little reality check – the problems and issues that we all face can seem big to us at the time, however when we see other peoples adversities they can seem trivial.  No matter what choices and issues we are faced with – we always have the choice to act/respond in kindness.

Have a lovely week,

Kirsty Beavan

Principal

Palm Sunday

This Sunday is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. A few days later Jesus was arrested and sentenced to death. The key events of Holy week are:

• The Last Supper
• Jesus is arrested
• Jesus appears before the priest, Herod and Pilate
• Jesus is crucified
• Jesus dies and is buried

Easter Liturgy and Easter Parade

We look forward to our Easter Liturgy on Thursday 6th April at 10.30am. After the Liturgy, we invite families to bring morning tea to have with their children. At 11.30am we will have our Easter Hat Parade. We ask that children make their hats at home.

The Easter Raffle will be drawn after our Easter Hat Parade on Thursday      6 April. Tickets will be sold until Wednesday 5th April.

Stacey Braun

Religious Education Coordinator

Western Region Cross will be held on Friday 28th April (Term 2 week 1) in Grenfell.

Students who qualified for the event have been sent a Compass will be required to accept the invite to participate by Friday 31st March.  This will allow Miss Soulsby to enter those participating.  If you do not wish your child/ren to participate please "decline" the invite.

School Fees for Term 1 are now due. 

We ask that parents please set up your school fee payments via Bpay, it is our preferred method.

You will find this Bpay biller code and reference on your statement or please contact the office if you have any questions.

We thank you for your co-operation in this matter.

Starting from Term 2 our newsletters will now be published Tuesday's on a fortnightly basis in weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 of term.  

This term the Uniform Policy is under review.  Last night at our Community Council meeting we started the process.  All parents, staff and students will be given the opportunity to share their thoughts on the current policy.  For parents this will be in the form of a parent survey which will be emailed out to all families next week.

To shed some light on Policies that are implemented by schools, the majority of school policies are provided by Catholic Education – they are devised by the legal team and Policy analysts and advisors to ensure that all schools are compliant with current legislation – such as the Discrimination Act and Education Act to name but a few.  Catholic Education Canberra/Goulburn does not have an overarching policy for uniforms it is a school based policy.  After parents, staff and students have all been consulted, the policy will be updated and Catholic Education will advise again that the policy is as it should be.

Please take the time to put forward your thoughts and views if you have any suggestions or changes that you would like to see.

Anzac Day - Tuesday 25th April – which is obviously a Public holiday and this year it is the day before Term 2 commences. 

It would be great if we could have as many students as possible to march if they are around – some people may be away due to the fact it is the last day of school holidays. 

If parents could just email the office if they would like their child/ren to participate so that we have a rough estimate of numbers.  It is usually full winter uniform for the march – however the weather can be unpredictable, so we will put a facebook post up prior to the day as to what uniform is preferred.

Mrs Dean will again run the Premiers Reading Challenge for the students.  It has now commenced and logins will be the same as previous years, Mrs Dean will send out those logins for any students who don't have them.  

Adelong Liturgy Roster - January - June - 2023

Keep up to date with events happening at St Joseph's via our electronic school calendar (please note dates can be subject to change).