Friday 6th December 2019

Buying presents, decorations and planning our Christmas meal are all good ways of preparing for Christmas. But through all these preparations we do need to keep in mind the real reason for these festivities .  It is important that we spend some time preparing ourselves too.  In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear John the Baptist calling the people to repent and to prepare themselves for Christ's arrival. Christian 'repentance' is a wholly positive experience when we invite God into our lives, change some of our ways or even our direction in life.

To mark our journey of preparation during Advent, all children and staff are allowed to wear an item of purple clothing, eg. hat,scarf,socks,hair bobble,t-shirt on Monday 9th December. Purple is a sign of penance, preparation and sacrifice.  It is also the colour of royalty, signifying the coming of Christ the King.  

A reminder that each class is creating a reverse calendar in order to collect items for the local food bank and St. Chad's Sanctuary.  The items for each class to collect are as follows: Reception - shower gel; Year 1 - gloves; Year 2 - tinned food; Year 3 - cereals/dried fruit; Year 4 - deodorant; Year 5 - chocolate and Year 6 - toothpaste and toothbrushes. 

Thank you to Mrs Cangiano and all the children who performed at the Music and Mince Pies event earlier this week.  It was wonderful to see so many children taking part and playing such a range of instruments so well.  Thank you also to our team of volunteers who supported with refreshments prior to the event - a total of £80 has been raised for St Chad's Sanctury.  Chris Jones, the Head of Music at Dudley Performing Arts, also presented Mrs Cangiano with the Music Mark membership certificate in recognition of the school's long standing commitment to the value of music education as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. 

During the next fortnight there will be a number of performances as part of our preparations during Advent. In terms of taking photographs during these performances, these should be of your own child.  We also ask that there is not flash photography during any performance and that there is no persistent standing to prevent any distractions for the children. Thank you for your continued support.

On Friday 13th December, children and staff can wear a Christmas jumper to school.  We ask that your child brings to school a £1 donation which will be given to the charity Save the Children.  Thank you for supporting this event.

Parents are invited to a Christmas Celebration event at Hagley Catholic High School on Thursday 19th December starting at 6.45pm.  This is an opportunity to prepare spiritually during the season of Advent and a time to come together and celebrate as a faith community.  The evening will begin with carols played by the school's orchestra, followed by a celebration Mass at 7pm.  During Mass, Fr. Des will bless the school's crib and also any cribs from your own home, so do bring these along for a blessing.  After Mass, there will be refreshments and a Christmas Market in the gym, with all proceeds going to support the pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2020.  Please can you respond to the follwoing link confirming how many seats you require on the evening:  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/rHCHSMass.

Mrs J Jenkins, one of our teaching assistants at St. Joseph's, will be retiring at the end of the term.  She will be in school on the last day (Friday 20th December) and we will say thank you for her 13 years of dedication and service to the children and families of the School after our end of term Mass (starting at 9.10am).

Thank you to the four boys and four girls from Years 5 and 6 who took part in a swimming Gala at Wollescote School yesterday. It was a wonderful opportunity to see our talented children competing in this sport.   

St. Joseph's is developing its online presence as an addtional communication method to parents through Twitter and Instagram.  This will enable parents to keep up-to-date with what events and activities are happening in school. Further details to follow shortly.

Living God,
you walk alongside us
and speak to us throughout the Scriptures.
Your Son, Jesus Christ, listens to our hopes and fears
and shows us how to live for one another.
Send us the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds
so that we may be your witnesses throughout the world. Amen.

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

The Future of the Very Young:That every country take the measures necessary to prioritize the future of the very young, especially those who are suffering.