Dear Parents, Caregivers and Families,

Book Week, more than just a parade

I talk to the students regularly about being life-long learners. Reading is a regular homework activity that should be completed every night. Regular reading boosts a student’s performance in school, increases the amount of words students know, raises their self-esteem, builds good communication skills, and strengthens brains. While this exemplifies the importance of regular reading, what I witnessed at this week’s Book Week Day, was a vibrant and engaging community event. The purpose of Book Week is to bring children and books together, however, I saw an event that brought our St Joseph’s community together, albeit for a day. It was great to see all the happy smiling faces from both our children and their parents, carers and families. The Principal was seen to be a bit ‘wimpy’ though!

I would like to thank and congratulate our St Joseph’s community for getting into the spirit of this event. Well done everyone!

I encourage you to please have a look at the importance of reading to kids at bedtime, link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPYD3Y0c9Mc

Celebrating our Spirituality as one community

On the 15^th of August, the students and staff of St Joseph’s and St Paul’s, together with residents of Vincent Court and parishioners, celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This significant feast day recalls the spiritual and physical departure of the Mother of Jesus Christ from the earth, when both her soul and her body were taken into the presence of God. We thank Father James for celebrating the Mass for us, and St Paul’s for their hospitality.

School Fees 2026

2026 School Fees and levy are now released. School fees play a large role in the functioning of St Joseph’s, and pay for water & electricity usage, general school maintenance upgrades & cleaning, the canteen, School admin, learning resources, staff professional learning, classroom equipment, IT resources & equipment, stationary & photocopiers, security and much more. School fees in 2026 will be $1780 per year, plus the Family Levy of $860 per family (across K-12 at St Joseph’s and St Paul’s). I thank all families who pay their fees promptly upon the invoice due date. Please contact myself if you are having trouble paying your fees.

Being Kind

At today’s assembly I spoke to the school community about, being kind. I mentioned how being kind to others makes us happy in a number of different ways. I challenged all students to be as kind as they can to others over the weekend and throughout the next week, as doing something kind to someone will make you feel better about yourself, and put you in a better mood. I encourage you to please continue this conversation at home.

Video Games Classification Ratings

Parents, families and caregivers, I feel it is important to bring to your attention my concern that some students are playing video games and reading literature which is well above primary school age classification. Several popular video games such as the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ franchise, has a classification ranging from MA15+ (for medium level animated violence, Adult themes, strong drug use, sexual references), to R18+ (for drug use), while ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ and ‘Poppy Playtime’ are rated M (for horror themes).

I ask all parents, ‘do you know the games your children are playing and do you know their classifications?’

An R-rated film may contain, adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, while, titles given an M rating may have content that includes, intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

Due to the interactive nature of computer games and the active repetitive involvement of the participant, computer games may have a higher impact than similarly themed depictions of the classifiable elements in film, and therefore greater potential for harm or detriment, particularly to minors.

Classifications

M - MATURE  

Material classified M is not recommended for persons under 15 years of age.

MA 15+ - MATURE ACCOMPANIED

Material classified MA 15+ is considered unsuitable for persons under 15 years of age.  It is a legally restricted category.

R 18+ - RESTRICTED

Material classified R 18+ is legally restricted to adults.  Some material classified R 18+ may be offensive to sections of the adult community. 

Please see the links below for more information;

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2012L01934
https://www.classification.gov.au/classification-ratings/what-do-ratings-mean
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ (although this is a U.S. site, it may give you a sense of the appropriateness of the title).

As always, I thank you for your ongoing support.

Guy Campbell
Driving Excellence in the Macleay

Thankfully, every wedding reception I have attended has had a seating plan which placed me in a specific place so I didn’t have to make achoice where I sat. Contrast that to the dilemma posed by Jesus to the Pharisees when he is sharing a Sabbath dinner. Having noticed that they vie for positions of honour closest to the head of the table, Jesus teaches us the value and importance of humility. The positions closest to the head of the table indicated influence, power and position in Jewish, and Roman society. And humility was not a virtue attributed to the Pharisees.

It is humility that is the central theme running through both our First Reading and the Gospel today. The Trappist monk, Thomas Merton once said, “pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” To be humble and real is to be aware of, and appreciate the God given gifts of both yourself and the other people you connect with. And the advice from the Book of Sirach is, “be gentle in carrying out your business and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.”

Humility is also one of the essential virtues of St Vincent de Paul and of the Society. In the Rule 2.5.1, five of Vincent’s virtues are identified as being essential for members to promote love and show respect for the poor. “Humility, accepting the truth about our frailties, gifts, talents and charisms, yet knowing that all that God gives us is for others, and that we can achieve nothing of eternal value without his grace.” Possibly this is what Merton means by being real. Being reflective and self-aware and honest about who we really are before God.

Luke ends this gospel passage with an invitation that is radically different to both the dinner Jesus was attending and the wedding feast theme of his parable. His direction is to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind to our party with no expectation of having the invitation returned.  (Reflection in part by Greg Ryan)
Sourced from: https://cms.vinnies.org.au/media/wyqh0odx/0325-spiritual-reflection-guide-may-2025-digi.pdf?folder=nsw__publications-nsw__spiritual-reflection-guides&path=wyqh0odx%2F0325-spiritual-reflection-guide-may-2025-digi.pdf

Prayer

Lord, be with us as we meet our brothers and sisters in need.
Let us be your face, hands and words to those who need your presence
and welcome embrace.

Amen.

Sourced from:  https://cms.vinnies.org.au/media/aeudns1a/srg_may_sept_2024_web.pdf?folder=nsw__spiritual-reflection-
guides&path=aeudns1a%2Fsrg_may_sept_2024_web.pdf