Dear parents, carers and the St Joseph’s community,

This evening, there are 27 candidates from our Year 6 cohort and the St Joseph’s Parish making their Sacrament of Confirmation. This important and special occasion in the children’s faith journey brings them into full participation in the Church. Through this sacrament, the candidates receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Fortitude, Counsel, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. These gifts are not to be hidden or ignored but celebrated and acted upon. Through this, they bear fruit, the fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. These are qualities we want to see in our children, as they grow and engage with the world around them. Please keep our candidates in your thoughts and prayers at this time.

Pride in our school

Over the past month it has been wonderful to see the fulfillment of planning for our Nature Playground, new school signage, installation of new AV equipment in the Hall and a new boundary fence to complement our new school building and playground. While these practical and much needed additions are important, they simply highlight the great pride we can all have in our school and wider community. I started the year speaking with the staff about St Joseph’s being a ‘beacon’ in the area, a place of surety and safety during a difficult time. I want St Joseph’s to be known and valued for what it offers to those who are part of the community, and for others to recognise what makes it special.

Tournament of the Minds (TOM)

On Saturday St Joseph’s had three teams entered in the TOM Regional Finals at Australian National University. This tournament required the teams to work collaboratively on various challenges that were only presented on the day. The students had a set amount of time to prepare their responses and to practice presenting their solutions to a judging panel at the end of the day. We could not be prouder of the effort that students have put in over recent months preparing for these challenges and are thrilled that one of our teams won the Language and Literature category on the day! They will now compete at the Nationals to be held here in Canberra later in the year. Thank you to Tiffany Fletcher for her incredible dedication to support the students, and to Ryan McGee, Melanie Stratford and Jake Kucher for supervising teams during the tournaments.

Fete Updates

ALERT! - The uniform free day next Thursday has been moved to Wednesday 21 September due to the public holiday for a National Day of Mourning.

A flyer was sent home yesterday seeking raffle donations. Please see the below information regarding grade-specific donations.

Athlete's Foot

This week Ashleigh from Athlete's Foot visited St Joseph's to present the school with $500 worth of vouchers! This came from our partnership with Athlete's Foot who contributes $5 from all St Joseph's sales, amounting to $250, which they then matched with a further donation of $250. Thank you to Athlete's Foot. These vouchers will be used to support a number of families within our school, as well as our upcoming school fete.