A Prayer of Remembrance

Loving God,

Thank you for the special people in our lives whom we are remembering in a special way during the month of November. We thank you for being a compassionate God who walks with us in our dark moments of grief and loneliness. We are thankful for all who continue to love and support us through our grief.

Lord, continue to be a light for us, giving us hope, direction and courage. May we now live our lives treasuring the memories of those special people we have known
and loved and help us to bring light and hope to others. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord,

Amen.

The Season of Advent

The time of Advent is the four week period of preparation for the season of Christmas. Advent begins the cycle of the Liturgical Year and focuses on the coming of the Lord. The first weeks offer a vision of the future, looking to the end of time when Christ will come again. The final weeks point more specifically to the birth of Christ. Christ, the promised one, is awaited with joyful expectation. The First Sunday of Advent follows the final Sunday of Ordinary Time and the season concludes on Christmas Eve.

Year 6 Retreat

The Year 6 retreat was a wonderful and very successful time for the children to spend together. There was a great deal of fun, laughter, discussion, prayer and even a few tears shed as the Year 6 students enjoyed their final time together as a class. Thank you to the students for their cooperation. Thank you also to Mrs Collins, Mrs O’Neill, Mr Nolan, Mrs Powell, Mrs Shaw, Mrs Temple and Ms McGinlay for their time and effort in ensuring that the retreat was a memorable experience for Year 6 2021.

Student Reflections

Wow! What a fun journey it has been in the Year 6 retreat. I got the chance to be with my friends and we all got to participate in fun activities like, building things in the sand, getting free time, eating lots of delicious food and most importantly, getting the chance to catch up with friends. We got to reflect on our past, present, and future. The surf club was a very beautiful place with an amazing view and where all the teachers took their time to tell us their journey, I felt much more confident going to high school with the retreat has helped me be more comfortable. Overall, the Year 6 Retreat was a very fun experience, I would love to have this experience again in the future. - Patrick

I liked how the retreat made us all feel a little close to each other and made this a very special day, it also helped prepare us for high school and reflect on all the amazing thins we did in high school. It also prepared us for the changes and transition into high school. - Ivy S

The retreat was a good time to reflect and connect with people in year 6. I liked how we got to do a lot of fun games like making sand sculptures on the beach and playing bingo before we went home. Overall, the retreat was great fun and I think everyone had a good time. - Dominic

The Retreat was a great time to reflect on our journey, and the teachers made it easy. We had lots of time to say positive things about each other moving into high school and we had lots of breaks in between work to play lots of fun sports like having a sand building comp within the teams. We also got to play bingo before we went home. I really enjoyed the experience. - Oliver M

The year 6 2021 retreat. The retreat was great. The chance to bond was a blast. The chance to have great people around like friend's and teachers. It is a great opportunity for people spending time together for the last times. My favorite part of the day was the group activities where we had to make different objects and making memories that last. - Chase

The Retreat was a respectful and reflective time, and the food was a great addition to the Retreat. We spent time happily collaborating on activities to share and reflect on our amazing 7 years at primary school. We enjoyed some well written and full of love letters from our parents and to finish off the day some bingo but best of all the winners of bingo won chocolate. - Zachary

Retreat was a time to reflect on the past seven years of primary school as we transition to high school and go our own way's. We did many fun activities on the retreat including the sandcastle competition to writing complements in other people's journals. We finished the day by eating delicious pizza and having a peaceful liturgy. - Sunny

Retreat was about reflecting on our past present and future and really taking in the past 7 years of primary school before we head off too high school. We contributed to many activities, from reading our parents letters to having a sandcastle competition. As we head of too high school, we will have really gotten to know ourselves and how we can get far and succeed in future years. - Sienna

Year 6 Graduation and Farewell Liturgy

This year we will farewell our Year 6 class of 2021 on Tuesday, 7th December. Year 6 and their parents will gather at The Sacred Heart Cathedral for their Graduation Liturgy. This celebration will be Live Streamed to school, families and the community. Year 6 teachers have planned a celebration for students on their return to school. For this occasion, students are asked to wear their full summer school uniform. That includes correct socks and shoes.

Here is the link for this very special event.  This is an unlisted link, and only those who have it will be able to view the live stream.

Families will be able to watch the recording using the above link at any point after the Mass is concluded.

SJSJ and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

Christmas is a time of hope and joy! This year has had its fair share of challenges once again, and at times it’s been tough to see the joy through the hardship. But as we approach the Christmas season, we're reminded to reflect on the good things, as well as the hope we can bring to others.

St Vincent De Paul continues to provide shelter, food, clothing, financial support, friendship and care for tens of thousands of people in NSW, but the need is still great, and we need YOUR help. Together, we can renew hope this Christmas. For the St Joseph’s Social Justice team Christmas Appeal, we will be collecting donations of non-perishable food items and gift cards. We are so thankful for your continued and unfailing generous support to our team in their work to support people in our local community.

We have allocated suggestions for each grade. Please place in collection baskets in the classroom. Please donate gift cards directly to the office. Closing date for all donations is Wednesday 1st December.

Please note-

• To uphold the dignity of those receiving the goods, please ensure that all food items are not due to expire for at least the next 6 months. All items must be nonperishable and tins not damaged or opened packaging.
• Look out for packaged food with a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or above. The more stars, the better!

Classroom Reflections 

Year 2

Our wonderful Year 2 students completed Formative Task reflections at the completion of their Unit-The Saints. During prayerful reflections throughout their class liturgy, the children strongly connected with the theme of we are called to be Saints, to love God and serve others. They wrote in their books and shared their hopes.

I hope I will become a priest ( 3 children- 2 boys and 2 girls)

I hope I will ….

pray a real lot...give heaps of money to the poor...be a good mother and tell my children about Jesus....start a charity....become  a famous football player and buy a house to donate to charity....become a famous chef and let poor people eat at my restaurant....become a nun...love everyone and be kind.

There is so much here that gives us all hope for the future. Thank you Year 2 for these inspirational thoughts and hopes.

Year 4

This week Year 4 spent time writing very special Christmas cards. These cards have been shared with our Parish Office and are going to be distributed throughout the community with the Christmas hampers prepared by St Vincent de Paul. We were so proud to a such a special part of communicating the Christmas message this year. We were very grateful to get the opportunity to support our Parish and the wonderful work of St Vincent De Paul.

We have also been super busy designing and building our very own stables and Nativity scenes.

Family Ministry Corner - Helene O’Neill