This week’s Gospel:

Matthew 22:34-40

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to put him to the test, one of them put a further question, 'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?' Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.'

St Jude’s Feast Day

Tomorrow is the Feast of St Jude. St Jude was an apostle and cousin of Jesus. Jude bears the name “Thaddeus” which means amiable and loving. St Jude is usually represented wearing a picture of our Lord on his breast. This custom stems from the miraculous cure of Abagaro, King of Edessa, a leper. In Edessa, by his eloquent presentation of the truths of the Gospel, Jude converted many to Christ. Tradition states that he was beaten to death with clubs and a broadaxe. His body was brought to Rome and is now honoured in St Peter’s Basilica.

Jude is the author of one of the Letters in the New Testament. In his letter he warns listeners of false teachers and emphasises the importance of faith as the foundation of life.

Jude is also the patron saint of hopeless and desperate cases. He has obtained many graces for his clients in grave necessities. His feast day is celebrated on 28 October. Our student’s will be participating in the morning Mass. 

Grandparents Day / Feast Day celebrations

Tomorrow we will also be celebrating both Grandparents Day and our school Feast Day. We would like to extend an invitation to all Grandparents to come to St Jude’s and spend some time with their grand children.  Details of this event can be found in previous newsletters.

Parent requests for 2024 classes

Soon we will begin allocating students into their class groupings for 2024. This is quite a complicated process which involves ensuring that they have a friend in their new class as well as making sure that academic and social needs are evenly spread across the year level. If you have a request, please forward it to me cameron.reed@cg.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible, preferably by Friday November 17. There is plenty of movement of staff across the system, as a result, staffing will probably not be finalised until just before One Up Day, so please do not put in a request for a particular teacher.

Walkathon

Thank you to Mrs Henderson, our Camp Australia helpers and all volunteers who came and assisted on what was a wonderful sunny day. Thank you also, for supporting the school by sponsoring your child. Funds raised will add to the monies already raised and enable us to complete the work on the shelter shed floor as well as upgrade the netball court. We are currently negotiating stage 2 and are hopeful that it will be completed before the end of the year.

Trivia Night

Approximately 80 members of our community gathered last Saturday night in our school hall with a focus on all things trivial. It was a wonderful evening of social banter and high levels of intellectual challenge. Thank you to Gemma and Peter who were the driving force behind this event.

Community Council events

A reminder that we have a community council meeting tonight in the school library. Starting at 6pm. There is a great deal to discuss and update. The link to the meeting, if you want to join online was circulated yesterday afternoon.

School Fete

Our sister school, St John Vianney’s is holding their fete on November 4. It is always a wonderful event and an opportunity to pick up some plants, a great sausage and lots of other treats. Details will be displayed on our electronic sign.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

Cameron

St Jude's Feast Day Mass and Grandparent's Lunch

Tomorrow, Friday 27 October, we will celebrate our school Feast day and Grandparents day which both land on the weekend. 

We will celebrate with Mass at 9am. Please be aware that our Church has limited space when the whole school attends and so it will take time to organise the students and grandparents who wish to join us.

At 10am, Grandparents are invited into the classrooms. 

At 10.45am, Grandparents and all students will head outside for a BBQ picnic. Classes will be seated in different areas around the school, however to accommodate families with multiple ages, some students can move to their sibling's area. Grandparents will be served a sausage, or are welcome to bring their own lunch.

Christmas Eve Mass - Nativity 

Each year, Fr Michael celebrates Christmas Eve Mass with a Nativity at the Gospel. Thank you to those who have already responded. There are still plenty of places left, if your child/children are interested in playing the role of Mary, Joseph, Wise Men, Shepherds or Angels, please contact Brigitta at the school, or Danielle at the Parish to let us know. There will be a practise before the end of the term. 

ELC NEWS

Happy Birthday Luke H

Mango Fundraiser – Orders Close Monday!

Once again the ELC are hosting the Mango Fundraiser.  Trays can be ordered on Qkr for $27 each.  Orders close on Monday 30 October.

Walkathon

Thank you to those parents who were able to join us for our walkathon. Please remember to return your sponsorship forms and money.

St Jude’s Feast Day / Grandparents Day / SJV Sideshow Ally

We look forward to celebrating St Jude’s Feast Day and Grandparents Day tomorrow, 27 October.  Mass is at 9am then grandparents are invited to our open classrooms at 10am.  At 11am we will then head off on our Excursion to SJV sideshow alley and pizza lunch.

On Monday 30 October, the Stingrays grandparents are invited into the classroom between 9am and 10am for grandparents day.

Kinder and ELC Orientation

Orientation morning for St Jude’s 2024 Kinder and 2024 ELC will be on Wednesday 8 November and One Up Day is on Wednesday 13 December. St John Vianney’s 2024 Kinder Orientation will be on Wednesday 1 November. More information has been emailed.

SJV Fete

The SJV Fete will be on Saturday 4 November.  It is always a fun family day so be sure to come along. There will be jumping castles, laser tag, rock climbing, super slide, raffles, yummy food, a plant stall and much more.  ELC families can pre-purchase ride wrist bands for $25 (a $5 discount). 

Week 3

What a busy term!

The crazy season is well upon us with events such as Walkathon, Grandparents Day, Feast Day, and Carols occurring this term. In the Library, it’s the Reader’s Cup Competition. I’m anticipating a wonderful experience when accompanying St Judes’ Book Club students to St Monica’s Primary School in Evatt on Friday. These students have been busy reading the selected titles in readiness for the upcoming challenge. Good luck to these devoted readers!

The number of borrowers is consistent and at a high level. Way to go readers!

Remember – Read, Grow, Inspire.

Thank you to the Cooper family for the kind donation of preloved books.

Have a great week,

Donna Gordon

Walkathon

Thank you to everyone for your support last Friday in making the annual St Jude's walkathon such a success. We were blessed with warm weather, wonderful supportive parents and bubbly, happy students. A special thank you to Katrina and her band of merry helpers in the canteen who were able to produce 400 hotdogs in record time. Thank you very much to families who have already returned their sponsorship money. We ask all sponsorship money to please be returned to school by next Friday 3 November for your child/ren to be included in the raffle. Students will receive 1 raffle ticket for every $5 returned to school. Payment can either be made by cash or via Qkr! (Under Community Council tab).  All money raised will go towards refurbishing the netball court, with work to commence on this and the shelter shed floor early December. 

Talented Gymnasts 

Congratulations to Charlotte R  and Heidi T on a fantastic achievement at their recent Gymnastics State Titles competition. Charlotte (level 7) and Heidi (level 6) were extremely competitive, both performing beyond their expectations, bringing home an array of medals and a trophy each for placing in the top three of their respective levels! Well done girls!!! St Jude's is very proud of you.

Thank you very much to the volunteers who assisted in preparing 420 hotdog meal deals for last week’s Walkathon. You help is greatly appreciated; we couldn’t have done it without you!

Canteen Volunteers – Week 4

Wednesday 1 November – E. Dimanoski & E. Weatherald

Thursday 2 November – J.Long, R. Buckley & I. Wilson

Friday 3 November– S. Monges, S. Devonport, E. Eyles, R. Arnold & G. Cabot

Grandparents Day – Tomorrow - Friday 27 October

Normal Canteen Menu will be unavailable. As it is Grandparents/ Feast Day each child will be provided with a Sausage and Juice for lunch.  

If you would like to volunteer in the Canteen, please get in touch katrina.howden@cg.catholic.edu.au

Uniform shop open:

Tuesday 31 Oct 2:30pm - 3:15pm

Wednesday 8 Nov (Kinder Orientation) - 8:30am - 11:00am

***THE UNIFORM SHOP TABS ARE UPDATED - CHECK THEM OUT ON QKR!***

For any and all uniform needs, orders can be placed via the Uniform Shop tab on Qkr!, or via email to: uniform.stjudes@gmail.com for any second hand items. **Please do not make payment for secondhand items, until we reply to your request confirming stock is available. 

If there is ever an issue with an order, please email the uniform shop and we will endeavour to fix this as soon as possible. Similarly if items are missing from Qkr! or marked 'stock not available', please let us know and we can order stock with relatively quick turnaround times. 

Next Community Council Meeting

The next Community Council meeting will be held today at 6pm in the school hall and online. All are welcome.

2024 Fete

We held another successful fete meeting this week. We will look to create a separate fete section in this newsletter, until we do this, fete updates will be in the Community Council section.

Trash & Treasure

The shed will be open for collections for the trash and treasure stall for the fete. At this stage we are accepting books, dvds, cds and small hard toys. Items must be in good condition, if you wouldn’t take them please reconsider. If you also have bread crates that would be much appreciated. The shed will be open on Friday 3 November from 3-3.30pm (located in the middle of the car park). We ask for caution when in the carpark as this will coincide with pick-up. Further collection dates will be released, and as we get closer, open to other items such as soft toys and clothes.

Calling all green thumbs!

Interested in helping to prepare for the garden stall at St Jude’s fete in 2024? The next few months are ideal for propagating plants to sell. Please contact jeanette.swayn@gmail.com or jennieholbrook1948@gmail.com if you are able to assist in any way (e.g. supply plant material to propagate, pots, potting mix etc. ) your assistance will be appreciated.

Trivia Night

Thank you to everyone that attended the trivia night. The night was a great success with lots of laughs and conversation. We hope everyone had a great time. A special thanks to Peter Lilley and his brother for running such a wonderful event. Additional thanks to Nick Fairbairn for his assistance in organising and super (hero) decorations.

School Disco – 17 November

We are very excited to offer a school disco this term. It has been a number of years since we have had one, and it is something that many families have requested. Specific timings will be confirmed soon, however there will be two sessions held on the evening of 17 November – one each for the junior and senior grades. We will need volunteers on the night to provide general supervision, noting this event is not being run by school staff. Please contact the Community Council via email if you are able to assist.

Important Dates

Many thanks,

Gemma Cabot

Stjudes.scc@gmail.com