Week 9- Term 4 - 2021

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Due to the current COVID restrictions for schools, we are unable to finish the year with our usual School Christmas performance and attendance at the local Christmas Carols as a School. However, in order to have some form of celebration of finishing the 2021 School Year we have decided to have a family Christmas Picnic at the  School on  Wednesday 8 December 2021.  

Please accept this as a welcome invitation to attend. It will be held from 5.3opm - 8.30 pm. Families are invited to bring their own food, drinks (NO ALCOHOL), blankets and or seats. There will be Christmas songs and music playing and hopefully, some very jolly person in a red suit will be making an appearance.

At this stage we do have to abide by all the current COVID regulations on the night, that is, everyone must QR code to enter and all who attend must be double vaccinated. 

We hope this will provide a  great opportunity for us to get together, to celebrate that we made it through, and to eat, talk, laugh and say goodbye to 2021. 

Congratulations on your courage and effort Year 5!

The elected School Captains and Vice Captains will be announced at the Assembly next Monday morning. 

Next Tuesday  7 December, we will have a step-up morning. During the first 2 hours of the school day, 9.10 am- 11.10 am, the students will spend 'getting-to-know-you' time with their teacher for next year. The step-up day is an opportunity for students and teachers to get to know each other, their interests, goals and learning style.

It is that time of the year when we say thank you to the Parent Forum and in particular the Executive for their continued and consistent effort to be with us and support us yet again, through another very interesting year.  Unfortunately, we were unable to have our meetings in Term 4 due to the COVID guidelines in place. 

This year we sadly say goodbye to three of our Parent Forum Members. Tracey Bodley has been President of the Forum for the last 7 years and a Parent Forum member for 13 years. Gil O'Neill has been an Executive member for the last 7 years in the roles of Treasurer and Secretary and finally Helen Grissell who has been a consistently supportive member working closely with the Executive for the last 7 years.  

On behalf of the St Joseph's community, I thank you all for your tireless support, effort, input and promotion of our school. The last couple of years have been extraordinary years of cancellations, postponements and missed opportunities but through it all, you managed to help make St Joseph's a better place to be.  We truly have been blessed to have you and will remain grateful for all that you have done and given.  WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST FOR THE FUTURE. 

IMPORTANT DATES FOR THE REMAINDER OF TERM 4

The students in Years 1-6 will be required to attend the school for a Maths Assessment Interview on one of the first two days of school: Tuesday 1 February 2022 and Wednesday 2 February 2022 . Each student assessment takes approximately 30 minutes. All parents have been sent an email with instructions on how to book the MAI assessment online. 

The Best Start Testing for 2022 Kindergarten students will occur during the same time,  the MAI is included in that testing.
All students Kinder-Year 6 will commence normal classes on Thursday 3 February.

Gospel Reading
Luke 3 1-6 -  Jesus preaches repentance and baptises in the region of Jordan.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we read about John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord.  During Advent, we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth and we do this by making good choices. We should remember that when we make a poor choice, we can choose to turn back to God and ask for forgiveness. When we do this we will have peaceful hearts, and we’ll be ready to welcome Jesus this Christmas.

The 2021 Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal has commenced. This year’s Appeal reminds us that we all have the capacity to - ”Do something About it” and make a difference, during these COVID times at Christmas. Together we can assist people experiencing disadvantage within our community during the festive season. 

This year each class will be given an empty basket to fill with Christmas items suitable to give to a needy family in the community. A special request from the Evans Head St Vincent de Paul is that we provide non-perishable food only! For example tinned food, packet food, rice, pasta biscuits drinks, etc (No perishables or out of date food please!) This opportunity is a simple way your child/children can give to others. Thank you for your anticipated generosity and support of this initiative. 

All Class hampers are to be filled before Monday 13th December as the St Vincent de Paul members will collect them on that day!

The Mini Vinnies Advent Challenge – During Advent it is important to spread joy and happiness in the World.

Our Mini Vinnies President Charlotte Kinsella has initiated an action plan for Random Acts of Kindness during the Advent Season. She has designed an informative brochure, poster and recording sheet. She has invited members of the school community to take up this challenge.

The following quote is in her brochure:

“Unexpected kindness

is the most powerful,

least costly. and

underrated agent

of humankind”

In the brochure she has included many possible acts of kindness for example: wish someone a good day, tell someone how much that they mean to you, help out your parents. We hope many students, teachers and parents give the Random Acts of Kindness Challenge a go!

MAKING JESUS REAL  (MJR)  At St Joseph’s Woodburn we encourage our students to “Make Jesus Real’” and live the Gospel Values by the way they act in our school community, while at home and out in the wider community.

MJR at St Joseph’s Woodburn encourages our students to be WEST people - that is WELCOMING, ENCOURAGING, SAY SORRY when needed and be THANKFUl.  Being more like Jesus is about thinking of others and being generous to others. During ADVENT we all can contribute generously to the Mini Vinnies Christmas Hamper appeal.