Dear Parents, Carers and the St Joseph’s Community,

“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

On Monday and Tuesday I was in Galong with other leaders in Catholic Education to participate in a Spiritual Formation program. During this time, we were encouraged to remove distractions in order to be truly present and to open ourselves to God with all our heart, mind, soul and heart. Whilst I reluctantly handed over my phone, the feeling of release and surrender allowed me to slow down for personal prayerful renewal. Over the two days we spent time breaking open, reflecting on and responding to the theological gifts of Faith, Hope and Love. These gifts are given to us freely from God but we should also stop and consider where we might need to receive these gifts more openly in our own lives. In very simple terms, my take home points from my time in Galong were; Faith is a surrender, it is a trusting confidence in God, Hope allows us to receive the strength of God and Love is the result we see from faith and hope. Over the holidays, I put to you a challenge, take some time to ignore the buzzes, the beeps and the many other distractions that we are bombarded with and open yourself to some time with God to receive the gifts of faith, hope and love.

Our school has been invited to participate in the 2019 Governor-General’s Design Challenge held during National Science Week. As part of this challenge, four student representatives from Years 5-6 will be selected to showcase their work at Government House on 16 August. Students will be required to design and build a Lunar Landing Module to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. If you are in Year 5 or 6, and are keen to take up this challenge (or would like a fun project over the school holidays), please email Annette Carroll at annette.carroll@cg.catholic.edu.au  for further information.  Also, keep your eyes open in Term 3 for other exciting whole-of-school events for National Science Week.

Congratulations to Fatima who are our winning House for Term 2. On Friday, members of Fatima will share in a pizza lunch, provided by the school. All students, from all Houses, should feel very proud of their efforts in earning house points as part of our School Wide Positive Behaviour program. Early next term, Houses will set new benchmark rewards as we begin a new tally.   

Last Saturday’s Trivia Night was a resounding success. The hall was filled with around 180 trivia buffs and the likes of Angus Young, Freddy Mercury, the Blues Brothers and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were also spotted amongst the crowd. A huge thank you to Tiffany Fletcher, Ian Moes, Grace Koucheravy, Julia Pollock, Iain Slatter, Cate Signor and Lee-Anne Owens for their hours of preparation to ensure the success of the night. Thank you also to the many parents and companies who donated such fabulous prizes. Trivia Night Sponsors  

This week, we are please to deliver the first edition of our school Newspaper, the Carpenter Chronicle. Thank you to Mrs McGee and Mr Stephens for starting this initiative and to our dedicated team of student reporters.

Hello! Welcome to the Carpenter Chronicle! We here in the Newspaper Team have worked really hard spending one break a week working on these stories. We really hope that you enjoy reading it! We think that it is important that we write this newspaper because it is difficult to know what’s happening around the school and sometimes there are important things we miss on a daily basis. We have two excellent teachers that help us improve our writing, Mrs McGee and Mr Stephens. We really like going to Newspaper Club each week because we have a chance to be creative and do something that we are all passionate about. We are a small but mighty team and we believe that we can achieve great things if we just work hard.

- Zoe Pearson and Renee Marks, Senior Members of the Newspaper Team

Click here to read the Carpenter Chronicle  

It has been a busy, busy term and I thank all of our amazing teachers for their hard work, I congratulate all the remarkable students on their amazing efforts and I hope you all enjoy the change of pace during the holidays. Don’t forget to take some time away from the distractions!

Yours in Christ,

Amy Doszpot

Assistant Principal

Liturgical Season: Ordinary Time

Liturgical Season Colour: Green

This coming Sunday we in the Gospel (Luke 10:1-12,17-20) Jesus sends out 72 people to announce the coming kingdom, to go ahead of him to every town and place he plans to visit, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus acknowledges it will be difficult. They are to bring nothing with them and the response they will receive may be positive or negative. They are to eat and drink whatever is given them and are to stay in one house. A key theme of today's Gospel is discipleship—its challenges, its difficulties, and its rewards. Sharing in the mission of Jesus is difficult, but everyone is called to do it, not just some who are trained for ministry. 

Sacrament of Confirmation

Students in Year 6 can now be enrolled in the Sacrament of Confirmation at the link
below. Please add the Sacrament of Confirmation and preparation session dates and times to your calendars. A reminder that the Sacrament of Confirmation will take place with Archbishop Christopher Prowse on the last Sunday of the holidays before Term 4 commences. 

Please enrol at http://bit.ly/sacraments2019

If you do not have a Google account you can use your child’s school account to register. Please contact Father Paul  if you have any questions about the Sacrament of Confirmation at: paul_nulley@hotmail.com 

Social Action & Justice

Last week interested children brought home some information about our market day on 8 August.  Children can work on their own, in friendship or family groups to contribute to our Market Day.

This year we have been asked to support the building of an additional toilet block as the academy has outgrown the existing facilities. This building works which will significantly improve the conditions for the children at the academy will cost $2 500. 

Student Prayer Focus

Our Student Prayer Focus over the coming month reconnects us with our focus scripture for 2019: Matthew 28:16-20. In our focus scripture the disciples are commissioned and Jesus tells them that he is with them always. 

Just as the disciples were commissioned, we too are invited to  “go and make disciples of all nations” and in doing so are Glorifying Christ with our lives.

How will you Glorify Christ with your life this week?

In classrooms this week you will see that green leaves are once again being added to the trees in each class prayer space. The green leaf symbolises Ordinary Time. On each leaf of a word or phrase is written which symbolise how each class member will work to glorify Christ with their lives during the week. 

Melanie Stratford

Religious Education Coordinator

melanie.stratford@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Sustainability in Action

A special thank you to Bunnings Warehouse for donating new compost buckets, bins, brushes and a can crusher to our Sustainability Program.

Coming Term 3: Compost Bin Decorating Contest!  We look forward to seeing the  creative compost creations!

Ryan McGee

Sustainability Coordinator

ryan.mcgee@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Year 2 enjoyed making ANZAC slice this week. I think they were the neatest cooks so far from all the grades that have visited the canteen. Well done year 2. Hope you enjoy eating it as much as making it.

We celebrated the end of term in Defence Club with a lego and hot wheels creation. I hope you all have a restful break and stay warm.

Sally Adams

Defence Support Mentor

sally.adams@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Volleyball News

We had a brilliant end of term Volleyball session for the Year 5 & 6 team on Monday. We said our goodbyes to Apech who has been a wonderful addition to the coaching staff and said thank you to Rachel for her continuing enthusiasm and expertise. Apech leaves us to take up a professional contract in the Czech Republic. Congratulations Apech and congratulations to the winners of this term’s awards. Looking forward to next term!

Happy birthday to these students celebrating their birthdays this week and during the holiday break.

Emma P

William C

Yaanih N

Zakariah P

James A

Levi I

Conor McG

Luke D

Jordan L

Nate R

Layla F

Sophia S

Vasili P

Amy D