Our school provides opportunities for students, staff and parents to know and celebrate their Catholic faith. This is done through the religious life of our school. Members of our community experience a rich liturgical and prayer life, celebration of the Sacraments, faith formation, social outreach activities, and opportunities to share faith with each other and with youth from other schools in the Archdiocese.
The richness of the school’s Catholic identity and culture is expressed through our Religious Education curriculum, prayer, liturgy, Sacraments and in the lived response to the school’s mission of ‘Faith, Generosity and Love’. Every day we join as a community and begin our day with whole school prayer, which includes the reading of the day and various prayers. Throughout the school there are visible signs of our Catholic identity with prayer spaces in all classrooms and religious icons such as crucifixes, pictures and statues around the school.
We embrace and celebrate our wonderful multicultural community and provide many opportunities for parents and grandparents to be involved in the life of the school. Our Family Educator provides many opportunities for families to build their faith and engage in the wider Catholic Church.
The staff at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Rockdale engage in faith formation that engages the head, heart and hands.
They join together regularly to deepen their knowledge of the core beliefs of the faith; to pray as a community and reflect on their spiritual journeys; and to express their faith by reaching out to those in need within the wider community.
We have a strong relationship with the parish and work closely with the Parish Priest, assistant priests, Family Educator and parish community to continually strengthen and nurture that relationship.
We take a proactive approach to educating the school community about stewardship, poverty and specific social justice issues. We balance social justice initiatives and responses to encompass key areas of knowledge, education, advocacy and solidarity through prayer and action. Outreach includes an education program for the students as well as fundraising events.
The school community has helped by fundraising for the Charitable Works Fund, the Catholic Education Fund, Caritas, Night Patrol and the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.