Dear Parents and Caregivers
Welcome back. This week I write on my way to Canberra, where I join our Year 6 and Year 7 students who are about to embark on a great learning experience. On Monday morning we had a false start with our flight being rescheduled due to an engineering matter. The week should be action packed with the students visiting Parliament House, Government House, National Electoral Education Centre, Museum of Democracy, Australian War Memorial, Royal Australian Mint and the Australian Institute of Sport amongst many other places.
Year 6/7 students sitting in the Senate Chamber in Old Parliament House, Canberra
New Students
We welcome 3 new families who have joined the St Joseph’s Memorial School community this term. I trust that we will welcome them in true St Joseph’s Memorial spirit, ‘in all things love’.
Staffing
Mrs Amanda Murfitt (Teacher 5B) has taken a position in the St Mary’s Unit at Cabra College. This is wonderful news for Amanda as she accepts a position for four days per week pursuing her passion in Special Education. Over the holidays Mr Tom Siinmaa was appointed as Mrs Murfitt’s replacement. Mr Siinmaa is delighted at the prospect of working alongside Mrs Lisa Clark as 5Bs teachers. Mr Siinmaa has previously worked in a TRT capacity at our school and brings with him a wealth of experience to St Joseph’s Memorial from teaching interstate and his athletic pursuits. We welcome Mr Siinmaa to our community.
Staff Learning
On Monday of Week 1, our staff participated in a retreat at the Bethany Centre called ‘Children Close to the Mystery of God’. It was a wonderful opportunity for our collective staff to develop as one. It gave us the opportunity to not only appreciate children’s unsurpassable value in the Catholic Tradition - that every child is of inestimable value - but also see again the Mystery of God’s love revealed in children’s experience, even amidst life’s brokenness and fragility. Mrs Vassallo-Wakefield writes more in the APRIM section.
Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop
Please join us for a Whole School Mass on Wednesday 8th August at 9:15am in St Ignatius Church as we celebrate the Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.
St Mary has been described as a fighter, a feminist, an educator. She was undoubtedly a person who was so empowered by her self-belief and faith that she wasn’t afraid to respectfully tackle authority - despite the personal cost to her. There is however more to the story than that; she recognised God’s gift in everyone she met and tried to respond appropriately. As a result of this, her energy inspired others to share her dream. She looked beyond the apparent failures around her. Despite the hardship and resistance she faced St Mary refused to be weighed down by them. Instead she could recognise these as part of God’s plan in which she had to play her part with energy and trust. I hope that we continue to honour her vision, not just in education but as a nation to ‘never see a need without trying to do something about it’.
Josephite Leaders Gathering
This Wednesday Mrs Vassallo-Wakefield will be attending a gathering of Josephite Leaders at the Bethany Centre in Kensington. The day is always an interesting insight into the Josephite Tradition in Education and the frontiers Mary MacKillop crossed, and what Mary would have thought of her legacy in 2018. Having been on the planning committee the day aims to identify the impact the characteristics / core values underpinning a Josephite approach to education have in the circumstances of today and further understand God’s mission expressed in the ministry of Catholic Josephite education. Leaders present will contribute to develop ‘a charter’ for Josephite education.
The highlight will be our Year 4 students who will present a dramatisation of the Mary MacKillop story ‘The difference an Exercise Book Made’. In the Mary MacKillop Museum there is a child’s exercise book.
Some years ago, an old man presented the book to the Sisters of St Joseph. He told them that he cherished it above all his possessions. lt was given to him from Mary MacKillop when he was student, at the school in Russell Street, Adelaide. One day when Mary was visiting the school she noticed that he was misbehaving. She asked his teacher about him. Sister explained that the boy's family was having difficulties because his father was in prison, and the boy was ashamed of this.
Mary called the boy aside. She explained that she understood how difficult it must be for him and his family. Then Mary gave him, as a gift, the new exercise book.
Mary said to him, “I want you to do your best work in this book, so that when the display of the children's work is held, your book will be open for all to see. When that time comes, your father will have served his sentence. When he sees your work he will feel so proud of you. He will point it out to others as his boy's work."
This made such an impression on the boy that he tried to follow Mary's advice.
On the day of the school display, it was not his father who was pointing out his son's work, but the boy insisting that his father come to see his book. "Dad, look at my work."
The man then told the Sisters that in this way his relationship with his father was mended, "l thank God for Mary MacKillop. She was wise and good."
He went on to say, "After I left school I was able to secure a job that was well paid. I decided that l too, would rnake an effort to provide an education for some boy, whose family was in poor circumstances. Each year I make a contribution to a special fund, to cover the cost of the fees, of a student at the Christian Brothers College. I told the Brothers that I did not wish the boy to know who was paying for his education. I hope that the boy, when he reaches manhood, will not pass by a person in need, without hearing God's call to help in whatever way he can."
Flu Season
Unfortunately Term 3 has proved to be the time when the wider community is effected by colds and influenza. The viruses that cause colds and flu are spread in 2 main ways: by breathing in the fine droplets that are expelled from the nose and mouth of someone who is sick when sneezing or coughing; and by touching your mouth, nose or eyes with fingers that picked up the virus from a surface or object touched by someone who is sick. We hope this 'Cold and Flu Season' is kind to us, however we can collectively reduce the spread of respiratory infections if they arise through encouraging our young people to;
• wash their hands often and avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth,
• cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don’t have a tissue use their upper arm or sleeve,
• stay home if they are sick.
2018 SJMS Quiz Night
The P&F meet tonight to discuss the plans for this years Quiz Night. If you haven’t already booked your table and/or purchased your tickets, please ensure you do so as soon as possible.
God Bless
Brady Stallard