Friday 8th December 2017

Advent is the season of preparation and hope, culminating in the celebration of the birth of Jesus, which brings us the good news that we are loved unconditionally by God. This Sunday's Gospel is also filled with hope. John the Baptist points away from himself towards Jesus. John makes it clear that it is Jesus that the people should follow: the hope of the world. Pope Francis reminds us, "Hope is a strength, a grace and a gift from God." This season of hope is a great opportunity to be spiritually refreshed, to get rid of everything negative in life and make it altogether possible: to look forward knowing that God is with us. So let's use this season of Advent to make a fresh start and to be filled with hope.

A reminder about the advice from the DGfL Senior Development Manager in Dudley regarding safe usage of social networking sites. Parents and carers have a responsibility to ensure their children are responsible users of technology, including online services. Many primary aged pupils are creating their own You Tube channels and posting content. Content includes videos and comments.. The content and language used within these comments are becoming an increasing cause for concern. Children believe that they can post any comments to social media sites and often take pleasure in trying to make their comment 'worse than' the previous comment.

It starts off as 'just a joke'. Unfortunately, this 'banter' may quickly escalates to a point that the content may be considered offensive, threatening, indecent or constitute 'harassment'. There are laws in place that protect individuals (including children), against 'offensive, threatening, indecent and harassing comments and we know of instances where the police have become involved. This can potentially have a devastating effect upon the whole family, including the child or children involved in this type of incident. Please support us to ensure our children are responsible users of technology and fully understand the implications of 'risky' online behaviour- including posting content and commenting on content. If it is not acceptable off line it is not acceptable online. For further information please refer to the following: https://www.internetmatters.org/. To use You Tube a Google account needs to be created and users must be 13 years of age. Any users using this site or any other social networking site are breeching the terms and conditions of usage although this is not illegal. Parents and carers can also activate 'Restricted Mode' which will screen out potentially objectionable content that they may not want to see. Follow this link for further details: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/174084?hl=en-GB

As Christmas starts to creep up on us, many of our towns in the Dudley Borough will be holding events to switch on the Christmas Lights in the next couple of weeks.Below is information about events that we know about so far:

•Saturday 9th December - Brierley Hill

All the information about these events can be obtained by clicking on the following link below:

http://www.dudley.gov.uk/see-and-do/events/christmas-events-2017/

Children in St. Joseph's School are growing to be learned, finding God in all things; and wise in the ways they use their learning for the common good.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the hope and light you bring to our lives. Please help us to bring light and hope to others as we journey through Advent. Amen.

We have decided to support two worthy causes during the month of November. Firstly, we are asking for donations of men's toiletries and socks to support the Birmingham Sanctuary Charity to help the homeless. Also on Friday 15th December we will be supporting Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day. We are asking for a £1 donation to wear a festive jumper. For further details please go to the following website:https://christmasjumperday.org/. In addition to this, a small group of children in Year 6 are organising a raffle for Jude Marrey to raise funds to buy much needed equipment. Thank you for your continued support to those in need in our local community and beyond.

Apologies for any confusion earlier this week regarding the change of date to the end of term Mass. Even though the parish Christmas bulletin states that Mass will take place on Wednesday, we have always planned for this to go ahead on Tuesday 19th December (9.10am) so that Mrs Cangiano and the Mass Band are able to perform. Thank you for your patience with this matter.

Parents will only be notified by the text messaging service and on the home page of the school website by 7am if the school was to be closed prior to the start of the day. Please ensure that the school office have an up-to-date mobile contact number so that you are able to receive this information. If you would like further information about how to access the school website as an app on your smart phone then please contact the school office.

If you have a business and would like to place an advertisement in this year's Pyramid Concert programme then please contact Mr Mallinson at Hagley High School via the following email address - fmm5@hagleyrc.worcs.sch.uk. Our Year 5 children have been working hard in preparation for this special event and will continue their final preparations after the Christmas break. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to perform at a first class venue in front of a large audience. The concert will take place on Thursday 15th February at Birmingham Town Hall starting at 7pm. Tickets are £10 and are available from the school office. Please support this event as future funding for next year and beyond is uncertain.

A reminder that the children of St. John's House may come into school on Tuesday in clothing the colour of their house (red). Fr. Des will also celebrate Mass with the children in the hall at 2.15pm. Parents, family members and parishioners are very welcome to attend.