Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s difficult to find the words to express my deep gratitude for the many messages, words, cards, prayers and offers of support over the last two weeks. The love, compassion and kindness of our school community has been overwhelming and I can’t thank you enough.  I know too, that Cooper’s family are extremely thankful for the immense support that has been forthcoming from our school community at this very difficult time.

On Monday, it was with heavy hearts that we gathered with Cooper’s family and friends to celebrate his life and give thanks for the many ways that he touched our lives. A beautiful little boy who was inquisitive, creative, gregarious and wise beyond his years. He was loved beyond measure and will be forever missed.

May Cooper’s family know the peace and strength of God’s compassionate and

consoling presence at this time of loss and sadness. 

Eternal rest grant to him O’Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

May he rest in peace.

Amen.

To support you and your family at this difficult time, Headspace will be presenting a parent/carer forum on Grief and Loss next Tuesday 30 August at 7:00 pm in the library. All parents/carers are warmly invited to attend and I ask that you please register your attendance here.

Yours sincerely
Andrew Heffernan
Principal

There where you are you will find God. - Mary MacKillop 

Year 6 Mass with Bishop

On Thursday 11 August Year 6 students travelled to All Saints Catholic Church in Shellharbour City to celebrate Mass with Bishop Brian, along with 11 other schools in the diocese, from Milton to Fairy Meadow. The theme of the Mass was ‘Gathered As One’, Bishop Brian spoke in his homily about how we are one community, that we need to continue to care for creation and rejoice in the wonders that the Lord has given us. After the Mass, the students had lunch together, played games and participated in some dance battles with the DJ. Year 6 enjoyed the opportunity to engage with students from other diocesan schools.

World Day of Prayer For The Care Of Creation

​​In 2015 Pope Francis established September 1, 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 1 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." 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.

For further information please go to the website https://seasonofcreation.org/

Parish Sacramental Program

We keep in our prayers the Year 3 & 4 students who have begun preparations to receive the Sacrament of First Holy Communion (Eucharist). Lesson booklets need to be stamped at Mass on the following weekends: Saturday/Sunday 27 and 28 August and 3 and 4 September. Practise for First Holy Communion will be held from 4-5 pm on Wednesday, August 24 and 31 and the workshop day is during school hours on August 25.

Diary Dates 

• First Holy Communion Workshop Day - Thurs 25 August 
• Year 1 Mass 9:30 am - Fri 26 August 
• Reconciliation (Year 3) - Friday 26 August
• First Communion Practise 4-5 pm - Wednesday 31 August
• World Day Of Prayer For Creation - Thursday 1 September
• Year 5 Mass 9:30 am - Friday 2 September
  
  

Prayer Intentions

We pray for all families in our school community who are in need of our prayers, as well as our country and world.

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.
St Joseph, pray for us.
St John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Renee Maguire
Religious Education Coordinator

Diocesan Athletics Selection Trials

Congratulations to the students who represented St John’s at the Diocesan Athletic Selection Trials on Tuesday 16th August at the Kerryn McCann Athletics Centre.

The following students placed in the top two in their event and will now represent the Wollongong Diocesan at the Mackillop Trials on Wednesday 21 September at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush.

As you will be aware Wollongong is hosting a international professional cycling race - the 2022 UCI Road World Championships. 

The race will run from Sunday 18 - Sunday 25 September 2022 and is organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body for cycling, in conjunction with Events NSW and Wollongong City Council and supported by a range of government and local community organisations.

You may be aware that a number of Catholic and public schools across Wollongong will be moving to remote learning during the event (Week 10, Term 3). 

Please note that the UCI cycling event will NOT impact access to our school and we will remain open as usual in the final week of term. 

While appreciating the economic and community benefits of such an event, we also acknowledge the significant disruption that will arise for local residents, business owners, local schools and parishes due to road closures, highly restricted location access and the flow-on impacts to transport services, routes and timetables.

Depending on where you live, it is possible you may be personally impacted by road closures. We encourage you to review the list of road closures and advice for affected local residents on the UCI website: wollongong2022.com.au/resident-information-road-closures/ If you believe that road closures or other impacts of the event will prevent your child from accessing school in Week 10, Term 3, please contact the school office as soon as possible to discuss this further.

Life Education is Australia’s largest provider of preventive health and drug education to school children. Together with Healthy Harold the giraffe, Life Education has been empowering children and young people to make safer and healthy choices for more than 40 years.

The Life Education program provides valuable lessons exploring healthy eating, personal safety, physical activity, positive relationships, cyber safety and the impact of alcohol and other drugs. All modules are age and stage appropriate and aligned to the NSW PDHPE syllabus and the Australian school curriculum.

All classes have enjoyed the opportunity to visit the Life Education van as well as seeing Healthy Harold!

To the following students who are celebrating their birthday in September — we wish you a very happy birthday and hope you have a great day.

We look forward to seeing you.

Lisa Doherty, Maree Kissell and Tracey Scapin
Organising teachers

Last week was National Science Week and the theme this year was 'Glass - More than Meets the Eye'. In Gunyah, we celebrated by looking at the properties of glass and how it is made and recycled. We participated in some glass themed experiments and had lots of fun! We made exploding volcanoes in a glass cup and created fireworks in a jar using oil and food colouring. We had so much fun!

Book Club - Issue 4 is now available to order from. All book club orders MUST be placed online at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or by using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

All orders must be submitted online by Monday 5 September 2022. All orders will be delivered to school and sent home with your child.

Lots of books to choose from including titles at $5 and under and each order helps earn free books and teaching materials for our classrooms. 

The P&F Father's Day Stall will be held on Friday 2 September. All students will have the opportunity to purchase a gift on the day, with gifts ranging in price from $1 - $7. Students are encouraged to bring a reusable bag for their purchases, as often is the case, school bags are not big enough!

Helpers are needed to help set up on Thursday 1 September from 3:00 pm and with sales the following morning from 8:30 am. If you can assist, please contact Jodie Maloney on 0404846106. Thank you in anticipation.

School photos will be held on Tuesday 13 September. Envelopes for orders have been distributed and must be returned to school on the day and handed to the photographer by the students. It is important that all envelopes are returned even if payment is made online. School photographs will be taken in winter uniform, as the official change over date is Wk. 1 Term 4.

For any families wishing to purchase a sibling photo, please ask your child to collect a sibling envelope from the school office. These envelopes must also be returned to school on 13 September and given to the photographer on the day.  

Please ensure that if purchasing both an individual photo and sibling photo and paying cash, the money is enclosed in each envelope and not combined in one envelope, as the envelopes are kept separately. Thank you.

As photos are scheduled to be taken from 8:30 am - 2:30 pm, it is imperative that children arrive at school on time and not be signed out early. The schedule can not be adjusted on the day to accommodate for children/families who arrive late or leave early.