Friday 13th July 2018

On Wednesday, we celebrated the feast day of St. Benedict, the Patron of Europe, who introduced a special way of reading the Bible to Europe in the 6th Century. In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus sends out his friends on an urgent mission with the instruction to heal and to share his message with all who will listen. Regularly listening to Jesus reminds us what's really important in life and how much we are loved by God. We are all called to be witnesses to the Gospel and to be spirit-filled evangelisers. The fundamentals of a messenger of Jesus Christ are: to be firmly rooted in prayer; have a passion for Christ; never cease to be a disciple; be ready to give reason for our hope and is prepared to be guided by the Holy Spirit. St. Benedict reminds us, 'Listen carefully to his Master's instructions.'

You should have received your child's en of year reports today which you will notice has been altered slightly based upon the feedback from parents last year. A reminder that this coming Monday (16th July) is the school's Open Evening for parents which will take place from 3.30pm-5.30pm. This is an opportunity to look through your child's work and meet with your child's class teacher. There are no formal appointment times for this session. We hope to see you on Monday.

Congratulations to St. Luke's house for winning this year's School Games Day. The Key Stage 2 event was held on Monday and was well-attended by both parents and family members. We will review this year's event to assess how it can be made even better in the future. Many thanks for your understanding in having to reschedule the Key Stage 2 event but it proved to be the best decision for the children in terms of their health and safety.

Change4Life and Disney, with the support of Sport England, have joined forces to launch a brand new Train Like A Jedi programme that will take children on a galactic adventure and inspire them to get more active. At the heart of the programme is an exciting Star WarsTM themed follow-along video, featuring British taekwondo athlete and double Olympic gold medallist, Jade Jones. In the video, Jade guides children through 12 Jedi moves that have been specially designed to increase heart rate, improve physical skills such as balance and agility, develop confidence and emotional resilience, and help them to master the ways of the Jedi. Over the summer and beyond, children will be encouraged to take part online and at home, in the classroom and through partners nationwide. Your child should have brought a pack home today.

A final reminder to please come along and support our annual Summer Fayre tomorrow. All proceeds raised go to enriching the children's school experience. Thank you for all the donations sent into school. We hope that you can join us tomorrow.

There are some big family events taking place during June & July for Under 5's and also for the whole family to enjoy, these details are as follows:

Events for the Whole Family

•Saturday 23 June - Saturday 29 July - The Black Country Festival 2018 Events: http://www.black-country-festival.co.uk/whats-on

All other events can be found on our website, if you click on the 'Events - what's on' section, the information will be on there. Any further activities and events we hear throughout the year will be uploaded onto our directory, so it's always worth checking this out on a regular basis.

http://fis.dudley.gov.uk/fsd/

Pupils at St. Joseph's are growing to be attentive to their experience and to their vocation; and discerning about their choices they make and the effects of those choices.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for always being ready to listen to us. Please help us to listen, understand and act on your words and to be good listeners to each other too. Amen.

Evangelization: Priests and their Pastoral Ministry. That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in the friendship with their brother priests.