Week 7 Term 2 2022

Gratitude    

I recently read a great article about gratitude from EAP Assist. Although, I have written about this topic before, it serves as a healthy reminder, that like any skill, it can be learned and strengthened. My recommendation is to read the piece below, and involve your child/ren in the conversation (at their level), so that it becomes part of their life and yours.

Each day, think of three things for which you are thankful. Make it a daily habit to visualise what’s good in your life. This can directly impact your mood throughout the day, as well as your sleep quality. In fact, research suggests this may be a useful tool when initiating treatment against depression. To make it more powerful, it is advised to devote at least ten minutes to this practice, rather than quickly coming up with ideas. Writing down these three things for which you are thankful, is a great way to complete this exercise, and it is useful to come back and read them at the end of the week. 

Start a gratitude journal. Journaling can be an excellent self-therapy technique. When you write, you use different parts of your brain and access memories and emotions from a new perspective. A gratitude journal has been proven to activate brain areas that are related to morality and positive emotions. People who could find purpose and feel grateful for the good things that come out of a challenging situation, show higher resilience, forgiveness, and detachment. Reading your own words of gratefulness can help you feel better when struggling to be positive.

Thank someone new every week. There are many people around us, and we are all connected somehow. How often do we take the time to express gratitude more consciously or thoughtfully? We might say thank you to the person who assists us at the supermarket checkout, or thank our partner for setting the table, but do we take the time to make it meaningful? Give yourself the purpose of choosing someone new each week and learn how to express gratitude differently. This could mean adopting a more conscious non-verbal communication (like eye contact and a smile), writing a thoughtful message acknowledging others’ behaviour and its positive effects on you, or saying thank you with a nice gift or gesture.

Meditate. When it comes to gratitude, meditation can take us as deep as it gets. Different guided meditations allow us to widen our perspective of life and our connection to ourselves and other beings. Meditation can promote acceptance, detachment, forgiveness, and thus, gratitude. We can also take this moment to imagine a specific situation for which we are grateful and let the feeling grow and become stronger.

Focus more on others' intentions. When you receive a gift or a nice gesture from someone, consider how they intended to bring good into your life. Take a moment to visualise their willingness to help you, make you feel happy, or be there for you during a challenging time. 

Final thoughts on gratitude
Without question, gratitude is a great emotion to cultivate. Hopefully, we can make it a habit that translates into a trait. Don't forget that practice and patience are key ingredients to our purposes and intentions.

St Joseph’s Payneham, celebrating 60 years

2022 is our school’s 60th Anniversary. During Term Three, we will be celebrating a Mass to honour St Joseph’s history and recognise where we are today. There will of course be cake for the children too.

Further, the P&F are selling commemorative St Joseph’s Payneham 1962-2022 umbrellas, to mark the occasion, which are currently on sale now.

Parent/Teacher Interviews, July 2022

Parent Teacher Interviews will be occurring face-to-face in Week 10 of this term, that is Monday 4 July until Thursday 7 July. You will soon receive the booking information.

School Uniform

Thank you for having your children wear the correct school uniform. The students look smart and professional when wearing the right attire. A reminder that students are able to wear a navy or dark blue rain jacket or parka during Term Two and Three, when conditions are cooler.

Also, the Uniform Committee, in liaison with School Board is discussing a new school uniform for St Joseph’s Payneham in the future. We’ll keep you updated of developments.

Parking, road safety, driver etiquette

School drop-off and pick-up times are busy for everyone. For everyone’s sake, we want this to happen in a safe and courteous manner, including not parking or stopping your vehicle in a ‘no parking/standing’ area. Therefore, please demonstrate consideration and patience, as well as travelling slowly around the school. Included in today's edition of the Parent newsletter is a digital version which explains the different road rules during school hours, (supplied by the Council). There are also hard copies located in the Front Office.

Keep Kids Safe on roads near school

COVID-19 update

As mentioned previously, under the Catholic Education SA COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Outcome, Workers, including staff, volunteers and contractors need to be COVID vaccinated i.e., have completed a course (being 1 dose of a single-dose vaccine, or 2 doses of a double-dose vaccine, in accordance with the schedule recommended by ATAGI) of a TGA-approved or recognised COVID-19 vaccine; or be considered medically exempt with a Medical Contraindication to Vaccination, which means one of the contraindications outlined in formal clinical advice from the Australian Department of Health to vaccine providers based on advice from the TGA and ATAGI.

Condolences

Sympathies are with the Ciccocioppo and Miller families (Sophie, 5V; Eliza, 4R; and Harvey, 2M) on the passing of their grandfather.
 

Wishing you well!
Simon Mechis

Friday Morning Mass

Each week, one of the classes joins the parishioners at OLQP in celebrating Mass. We are very excited that students will be involved as readers at these Masses. We would love it if you could all join us for these occasions. They offer a wonderful way for us to be part of not just our school community but also our parish. Thank you to Father Michael for supporting us in this.

Mass Timetable

Week 7 9:15am   - Friday 17th June - Year 3 Mass
Week 8 9:15am   - Friday 24th June - Year 3-6 Whole School Mass
Week 9 10:15am - Friday 1st July - Year 1 Liturgy

Feast of the Sacred Heart – Whole School Mass
June 24, 2022

Feast of the Sacred Heart is observed on June 24, 2022. The Feast of the Sacred Heart (properly the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) is a solemnity in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. It falls 19 days after Pentecost, on a Friday.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of the most widely practiced and well-known devotions, taking Jesus' physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity. The devotion emphasises the unmitigated love, compassion, and long-suffering of the heart of Christ towards humanity.

The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns.

Mass will be celebrated with the Years 3-6  classes at 9.15am in the Church- parents are welcome to join us.

Feast of the Holy Trinity

The Spirit will guide the Apostles to all truth.
John 16:12-15

Every time we make the sign of the cross we reaffirm our belief in a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although some people have difficulties with the gender-specific language of ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ and look for other ways to express this reality, all Christian people profess a belief in the one God who is experienced in three distinct ways. We are baptised ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ and we remind ourselves of this reality when we pray and when we bless ourselves or others.

The World Meeting of Families

The World Meeting of Families is an international gathering initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1994. The 10th World Meeting of Families will be held in Rome from 22-26 June 2022. The theme for this gathering is Family Love: Vocation and Way to Holiness.

The hope in this theme is to highlight family love as a vocation and as a way of holiness, and to understand and share the profound meaning of family relationships in daily life. This is one of the ways we celebrate Being Church Together!

In celebration of this global event, the prayer booklet Say a Little Prayer prepared by the Family Faith Formation Team will be distributed to schools as a gift to families on this special weekend.

This occasion is a wonderful impetus to assist your community to further develop relationship with families especially with the difficulties they are facing due to the pandemic.

Using Seesaw for Continuous Feedback

Seesaw is our online platform for ongoing assessment and feedback. This allows parents to see what their child has been doing in the classroom and what they are learning about. The main purpose of Seesaw is to allow parents and students to receive feedback on their learning.

Ingrid Douventzidis

Will you support Team SJP in fighting for Human Rights Equality for all, as we take part in the Act for Peace, RATION CHALLENGE?

From the moment we wake up on Monday the 20th of June until we go to bed on Friday the 24th of June, we will drink only water and eat just:

1. The contents of our ration pack (420gm rice, 120gm lentils, 60gm dried chickpeas, 120gm tinned sardines or tofu, 400gm red kidney beans, 215ml vegetable oil – this is the total amount of food, not per day!)
2. Extra rice and flour from the coupons (limited amounts!)
3. Any rewards we have earned based on the donation amounts
4. A multi-vitamin (optional)

Our goal as teachers, is to not only educate our students about the world and inequity of human rights, but to show them that standing up for your beliefs and taking part in making a change, is what allows us to work towards a better, equal future for all. In doing so, our students can realise any steps that are taken to fight for the rights of all, no matter how small or large, are steps in the right direction!

Currently our team includes: Michael Mastrangelo and Emily Parrella (Year 6), Jen Annetta (Reception), Adrian Mastrangelo (P.E), Tayla Carosi (Italian) Josie Nicolescu (OSHC and Canteen) and a number of Year 6 students.

When Michael and Emily presented their idea and goal to their Year 6 students within their HASS and Religion lessons, the students were humbled at the privilege of our lives in Australia and keen to support this initiative and idea. Currently, there are 6 students taking part in the 3 day challenge alongside their teachers, with the number set to increase! What fantastic leaders we have at SJP.

As you’d expect, living on rations is physically tough. Sugar withdrawals and hangriness are all real. But what often comes as a surprise is the emotional impact. For many young people and educators, the challenge brings into sharp focus the contrast between daily life for us, and for people in refugee camps. It shines a light on the injustice of the situation and it gives them a fresh perspective on how lucky we are.

If you could kindly spare a moment to read up, or even donate to this worthy cause, we thank you on behalf of our team and for the thousands of countless faces that your donation will support.

https://schools.rationchallenge.org.au/t/st-josephs-payneham

Yours in hope,
Team SJP