Dear parents and carers,

Creator of All, By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of creatures who praise you in their being. You placed us into right relationships with each creature so that we could listen to their voices and learn how to safeguard the conditions for life. But we turn in on ourselves and away from our co-creatures. We fail to listen to the cries of the poor and the needs of the most vulnerable. 
In this Season of Creation, we pray that you call to us with the sustaining fire of your Spirit. Breathe upon us. Open our ears and move our hearts.
Fill us with the hope to quench the fires of injustice with the light of your healing love that sustains our common home. Amen.

In 2015 Pope Francis established 1st September as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, encouraging the Catholic community around the world to pray for our common home. The day is inspired by Pope Francis' landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls on "every person living on this planet" to care for our shared Earth.

The Season of Creation begins on September 1st and the theme and invitation of this year’s season is "Listen to the Voice of Creation." In his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation 2022, Pope Francis calls us to use the season to "cultivate our ecological conversion” and to pray together in “the great cathedral of Creation”. He warns that we are reaching “a breaking point" and must act decisively so that "we and future generations can continue to rejoice in creation’s sweet song of life and hope." Today we raise to God our thanks for the marvellous works that have been entrusted to our care, and we ask for God’s help as we take action to protect our planet and all of its creatures.

Parish 200 Year Celebration

I would like to pass on my thanks to those families who were able to support the Parish celebration on Sunday. It was a wonderful community event that brought out the best that this parish and school can offer. The COLA was transformed into a beautiful setting and our students who played a part in the Mass made a significant contribution with their skills and their positive attitude. The dance group that performed as part of the entertainment were brilliant and received great applause from those watching. A big thank you also to those parents who ran the BBQ as part of the sumptuous food available on the day. If you would like to watch a video of the event you can visit this link https://youtu.be/YJ47mS5Re0s

Fr John and the Parish were extremely pleased with the day and look forward to organising similar events in the future.

NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK

National Child Protection Week invites all Australians to play their part to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. This year, National Child Protection Week occurs across Australia from 4-10 September. In 2022, National Child Protection Week will continue to embrace the overarching message:

Every child, in every community, needs a fair go.

To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy.

To celebrate and raise awareness of this important work, CatholicCare Wollongong is running a competition, 'What makes you feel safe?'. Participants can win a $200 gift voucher. There is a flyer included in this week's Newsletter.

Staff Development Day

The next Staff Development Day will be held on Friday 14 October. Please note that this will be a Pupil Free Day.

Wishing you all a happy and safe week,

Paul Moroney

Principal

FATHERS DAY- SUNDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER

We hope that all fathers, grandfathers, uncles and other men in the lives of our children have a Happy Father’s Day on Sunday, 4 September. It is a day for people to show their appreciation for fathers and father figures. 

Year 1 will be leading a special Father’s Day Liturgy at our Monday morning assembly, 5 September. We hope many of our fathers and grandfathers will be able to attend.

Lord God, who is Father of all,

send your blessing down on these men who are fathers.

For those who in the night worry for their child,

grant them your comfort.

For those who in the day work and struggle to provide for their child,

send them your strength.

For those who mourn a child,

hold them in your love.

For those who play, laugh, sing and dance with their child,

you share in their joy.

Lord God, who is Father of all,

walk with these fathers, in the light times and the dark.

Bless them, and may they each be a living symbol of your fatherly love;

a symbol to their children and all who they encounter.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

FRUIT AND VEG MONTH

This Fruit & Veg Month is being held from Monday 29 August to Friday 23 September. Eating enough fruit and vegetables is important for a family’s health and wellbeing. Doing it together as a family can help make it easy and fun! Use the handy guide below to find out how much fruit and veg we should be eating daily:

Take the Fruit & Veg Month Family Challenge to help every family member eat more fruit and vegetables! Click on the link to access the challenge- Family Challenge.

Happy Birthday to the following students and staff who are celebrating their

birthday this week ,  28th August - 3rd September

Listening

KG: Aarva T: for always listening to teachers and peers with concern and care

1G: Anaiah M: for listening to others and sharing her kind words of encouragement

2G: Oliver C: for listening to the needs of others just like Jesus would.

3G: Emily P: for listening to Jesus with the ear of her heart

4G: Mathias A: for always listening carefully to the needs of others.

5G: Daniel B: for listening to his class members and teachers just as Jesus has taught us.

Week 6 - Awards: PRIMARY 

Murrawa Shield

Archie is a young Dunghutti Gamilaroi Boy in Year 1. He has a strong connection to his Aboriginal culture and has enjoyed learning the skills in crafting a shield. Andrew is the Aboriginal Educational teacher and provides opportunities for these activities to happen at St John’s. The first step in crafting a shield is selecting the right tree for its bark. Archie and his friend Owen went with Andrew to learn which tree would be suitable and why. Once they had decided on the right tree, they planned how to cut the bark from it. This was Andrew's job to cut the bark from the tree and Archie and Owen helped. It took a lot of hard work and time to remove the bark and Andrew used a traditional stone axe. The bark was heavy and wet and they covered the scar with white ochre so that it can heal and also to say thank you to the tree. They had to scrape the flaky bark off with a sharp rock and shells. Archie and Owen worked together in shaping it correctly and putting two holes in it for the handle. They then waited for the shield to dry. Together they painted it in orange ochre and charcoal and glued the handles using traditional glue. The design was six mountains to represent Archie's family members and the Murrawa fidgety lizard which is Archie's totem. The shield took about 10 weeks to make and Archie was proud to share this experience with Owen and Andrew.

 

We are looking for some dress up clothes that you or your kids may have outgrown for our lunchtime dress up corner. It could be old smaller suit jackets, old bridesmaid dresses or costumes kids have grown out of. Thank you

Change of uniform

With the weather starting to change, from now until the end of term, children are able to wear either the summer or winter school uniform. Please do not send them in a combination of both (eg long pants with short sleeved summer shirt).

From the start of Term 4, all children will need to be wearing the summer school unifrom.