Term 3 week 7

What's on at St Joey's in August & September

Principal's Messages

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we enter Week 7 of the term we are grateful for the many extra curricular activites we have been able to participate in with our students and community. Book Week was a wonderful opportunity to immerse ourselves in literature and to reflect on our favourite book characters by dressing up. It was lovely to see so many parents and grandparents at our parade! Huge thanks to Mrs Tranter for the organising of our book fair, author visit and parade. The children looked amazing! So too did the staff!  We also enjoyed being part of the Newcastle Herald story and having an opportunity to showcase our school.

Yesterday we had 2 teams particpate in Tournament of the Minds; a program where students compete in problem solving, creative thinking and teamwork. Congratulations to our students who represented our school so beautifully and to Mr Fox for supporting these students in their preparations for the competition over the past few months. 

This week we will hold an important fundraiser to support Catholic Care, school Public Speaking Compettion, Diocesan Netball Gala Day and on Friday we will celebrate Father's Day with an afternoon of fun activities. I take this opportunity to wish all our fathers, grandfathers and father figures a very happy and relaxing Father's Day. Never underestimate the importance of the role you play in the lives of your children. 

We offer our deepest sympathy to the Ryman family on the loss of Andrew's Mother, Tia and Lani's grandmother. We also offer our prayers and thoughts to the Seymour family on the loss of Analie's father, Louis and Cameron's grandfather. We hope that your loving memories bring you comfort at this very sad time.

Anxiety and Attendance

With the impact of Covid 19 and lockdown periods we have seen an increase in students who are experiencing anxiety and this can be having a negative effect on their relationships and also school attendance. At St Joseph's we are committed to providing our students with safe, positive and supportive learning environments where they can feel encouraged and connected to staff and peers. We aim to stay connected to home with our regular communication between school and parents and offer our support to parents who are having difficulties with their children. Our Pastoral Care Worker, Maree Holmgreen and School Counsellor Gayna Turner are available for referral as well. I encourage parents to reach out to us for support if needed and we will work with you to assist your children. There are many great resources available to parents such as the Student Wellbeing Hub here: https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/parents/ 

Also, the Federation of Parents and Friends Association is hosting a free parent webinar this week on anxiety and resilience, with Dr Justin Coulson.  Sign up for the free link

God bless,

Kate Drake

Principal

News from the Assistant Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

Last year you may recall parents, staff and students Years 4–6 participating in an online Tell Them From Me (TTFM®) survey.  Schools in Australia and around the world have used the TTFM® survey to help them improve.

The data we received provided us with valuable feedback in relation to faith, learning, student engagement and wellbeing and will help to better inform our Diocesan system as well as our own school improvement agenda.

Thanks to input from you and from each of our stakeholders, here are our key learnings and key actions from 2021.

The 2021 TTFM survey told us:

• St Joseph’s is an inclusive school with staff catering to diverse learning needs
• Students being a victim of bullying is low (well below regional mean)
• Students feel safe at our school (above regional mean) 
• Parents see themselves as partners in learning with their students 

What we learned:

• Technology use identified as an area for improvement
• Students would like opportunities to participate in extra -curricular activities (especially after COVID)
• 65 families responded. 0/65 parents recorded that they used the newsletter as a platform for information to stay informed

What we did:

• Continued focus on PL for staff of Technology use
• Device audit completed.
• Financial commitment from school to purchase devices for classrooms in 2022/23
• Ongoing commitment to participate in varied extracurricular activities when possible (NB/ 2022 has been impacted by Covid cancelled events and staff shortage)
• New look digital platform using Schoolzine for newsletter which includes a current calendar
• Continued commitment to our PBL practices. Team review and fostering of a kindness culture at St Joseph’s.

Commencing 5 September 2022, you will be given the opportunity to participate in this survey. The survey takes approximately 15–20 minutes to complete.

As parents and carers of students in our school, we deeply value your feedback and encourage you to partner with us and complete this survey. The information we gather is critical to us and allows us to hear directly from you and gain insight into what you think is important about the work we do, how we communicate with you and where you think we need to improve.

As you can see, we use the feedback you provide us to action strategies for improvement.

We want all (children/young people) in our schools to thrive and we know that working together, listening, and sharing ideas helps all students.

If you have questions about this survey, please don’t hesitate to contact us via admin@charlestown.catholic.edu.au

Pick up & Drop off Procedures 

We have had a couple of near miss incidents in our turning circle. To ensure the safety of all students please follow the road rules and our pickup and drop off procedures. LMCC Parking Rangers have also been on patrol and although they did not book anyone last visit, they will be back and will be booking drivers not following the rules. 

Morning Drop Off  

Playground supervision commences at 8.25am. The Shelton Street pedestrian gate is opened at 7am when St Nicholas OOSH commences. Students and parents are to access the school via the pedestrian gate. Please do not walk through the carpark. Parents dropping and picking up students at OOSH may use the carpark until 8:10am and after 3:30pm. 

 Procedure for dropping off students after 8:55am bell. 

It is a requirement that students who arrive after this bell to be signed in via the kiosk by a parent. Please do not drop your students to the gate unsupervised after this time. 

Car pick up and Drop off procedures 

Please ensure you are familiar with our procedures and adhere to all parking restriction signs. Please do not block neighbours driveways and keep the bus bay clear. 

Science Week: Whole School Marble Run Challenge

On Monday the 15^{th of} August our school participated in a Science Week challenge day. The theme for Science Week this year was ‘glass: more than meets the eye.’ Students spent time in the morning learning about glass; how glass marbles are made and the First Nations use of glass. Then all students from K-6 participated in designing and building a marble run out of given materials. Each stage had their own criteria students were encouraged to meet when creating their runs. In the afternoon we showcased our marble runs and reflected on the day. Thank you to all students for their engagement in this creative, collaborative, and innovative STEM experience.

Science Week Marble Run Challenge

with every best wish,

Nikki Norley

Assistant Principal

From the Office of Safeguarding

Mandatory Reporting

‘Concerns for children’ is a term used to capture a wide range of possible situations or issues that directly involve a child or class of children and will likely adversely affect their safety, welfare or wellbeing.

All diocesan workers’ primary reporting obligation is to report their concerns for children to their supervisor or local leadership, e.g. parish priest, school principal, director of early education centre or CatholicCare programme manager.

Reporting concerns for children contributes to demonstrating the Diocese of Maitland Newcastle’s commitment to caring for and protecting children from abuse. ALL staff at St Joseph's have to adhere to the Reporting Concerns for Children Policy. This policy sets out the obligations for all workers of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle to report ‘concerns for children’ and the timeframes in which these reporting obligations must occur.

The workers or their supervisors MUST report the following types of concerns for children to the Office of Safeguarding, the secondary reporting obligation: •involve a criminal act or potential criminality

•constitute ROSH

•constitute reportable conduct under Part 4 Children's Guardian Act 2019

•constitute a ‘serious incident’ or ‘prescribed information’ reportable under Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW).

The failure to report concerns for children by a worker, is considered a failure to protect children. A worker who fails to protect children has committed a serious breach of the worker’s responsibilities to the Diocese.

Concerns for children are dealt with as confidential information, to protect all parties. Diocesan workers, supervisors and local leadership will not discuss concerns for children other than with:

•officers of relevant statutory authorities (e.g. Dept. Communities and Justice, Police)

•Office of Safeguarding personnel

•the Diocese’s senior leaders.

News from the Religious Coordinator

Sacramental News 

Last weekend 14 children: Kai R, Mefi T, Dominic P, Alice D, Ava T, Halle G, Olivia B, Luca M Sophie M, Sinead W, Harry S, and Sophie W.  Perri G and Julian K  became full members of the Catholic Church when they made their First Holy Communion, otherwise known as Eucharist. Being able to fully partake in the Mass provides these children with spiritual strength for their Christian journey and to be the best person they were created to be. Father Tony commended all of them on the respectful way in which they approached this sacramenent. Well done! 

Father’s Day

Please join us for a fun afternoon at SJC to celebrate our wonderful fathers, grandfathers, and father figures.

• When: Friday, 2^nd September 2022
• Schedule: 1:30pm Rotations of sports activities and games
• 2:45 Father’s Day Song and Blessing.

We hope you can join us.

Our school is hosting an out of uniform day on the 30^{th of} August to support Catholic Care Social Services Hunter-Manning.
 
This vital community organisation supports people in need by giving them access to hot nutritious meals and other services.
 
In recent weeks, demand for meals at their Community Kitchens has almost doubled and they need our help to support individuals and families doing it tough.
 
Please donate via QKR – your generosity will make a big difference in our community.

St Joey’s Cares

From time to time, families within our community need some support. One way we can provide this is by offering a cooked meal. If you are able to help out a family in this way, please register your interest by emailing clare.paff@mn.catholic.edu.au.

We will be holding an information session via Zoom tomorrow at 5:30pm.

Paff, Clare is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: St Joey's Cares

Time: Aug 30, 2022, 05:30 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:

    https://mncatholic.zoom.us/j/68478198247

    Password: 643796

Thank you for your consideration

The Season of Creation

The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to listen and respond

together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to

pray and protect our common home, the Oikos of God.

The Season “Celebration” begins 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the

Care of Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron

saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

At SJC we are joining in this global campaign by really focusing in on what we can do as a school community to look after our environment and being good stewards of creation by reducing rubbish in our school and raising awareness about our impact on the earth.

News from the Primary Coordinator

National Child Protection Week  

This year, National Child Protection Week (NCPW) occurs across Australia from 4-10 September. In 2022, National Child Protection Week shares a strong message to our families and communities-        Every child, in every community, needs a fair go. This year all Diocesan school have been asked to put together a display that shines a light on the importance of children growing up safe and supported. We will be working on our display over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!  

We will share some more information in the coming weeks on how we are recognising this important issue with our students. Below you will also find links to some resources you might like to explore with your children.  

       KINDERGARTEN - YEAR

   KINDERGARTEN - YEAR 2                                        YEARS 3 - 6  

Please also read our Diocese’s commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable persons.  

.

For the next 2 weeks of Term 2 we are focusing on the Keep our School Clean value of our SJC matrix.  

Keeping our school clean shows pride in our environment, as well as forming part of our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation.  

In class we will be talking about this focus value, and teachers will be reinforcing this with positive feedback and regular prompts for our students to assist them to demonstrate this behavior in all settings.  

PBL AWARDS TERM 3 Week 7

Congratulations to the following students: 

Have a wonderful fortnight!  

Kind regards,
Karen Nolan 

Happy Birthday to the following students

We wish the following students are very happy birthday for the month of August.

Sports News

Stage 3 had a brilliant day at the Touch Football Gala day today. We are very proud of their efforts, cheering, encouraging and manners. A huge thank you to our amazing parent helpers who were team managers and also helped cheer the teams on.

We are grateful for the St Mary’s Year 10 students who refereed our games today.

A fun day had by all.

Touch Football Gala Day

News from the Classrooms

Stage 3 Robotics Day

On Tuesday the 23^{rd of} August, 8 selected Stage 3 students participated in a robotics day at St Paul’s Gateshead. The day was run by Mr Able, a teacher from St Mary’s Gateshead. Students had an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the Lego Mindstorm Robots and the programming software used with them. They then participated in a range of challenges using this software and robots. The day ignited their learning in maths, science, and engineering. The students were engaged all day as they worked through real-life problem-solving scenarios.

2 Red had a great deal of fun dressing up for Book Week!

BYOD Options for  Next Year

Current Year 4 parents are invited to an information evening on Thursday 8^th September  at 5:30pm to discuss requirements for bring your own device learning in stage 3.

The meeting with be held in the year 3/4 , 4 unit.

We hope you can come along

Stage 3 Teachers

P&F News

Thank you for requesting to volunteer at St Joseph’s Charlestown.

However, before we can accept these generous offers, volunteers new to the role of volunteering or who have perhaps not been an active volunteer for a while due to COVID, will need to go to the diocesan website and complete the Volunteer registration form. There is a  link here to register your interest in becoming a volunteer at St Joseph’s. This is a Diocesan mandate, and all volunteers are required to complete this registration form online (unless you are already registered and cleared to volunteer by the Diocese). It has a Police check section that is mandatory. Once this registration form is completed and a police check is completed, then we will be notified by the Diocese that you are clear to volunteer here at school. This whole process can take a few weeks.

We ask that you follow the link to the website and complete the registration form ASAP so you can all come on site and be part of this amazing school community in many varied ways! 

Canteen News

If you are able to assist in the school canteen please email Natalie Evans nattthebatevans@gmail.com or 0400413448

Hub News

Stephanie Tranter,
Teacher Librarian

Aboriginal Education News

Aboriginal Education

It has been wonderful chatting with students following our amazing NAIDOC day. They are eager to recount the day to me and share their favourite memory. Students loved learning some Awabakal language on NAIDOC day, and it has been fun continuing this with some classes at school.

Some Awabakal words we have been using are

Kaayi (ky-ee) - Hello      

Nginowa (nin-o-wa) – Goodbye

Below is a fantastic website if you would like to practice more Awabakal words at home. Just be sure to select the ‘Awabakal’ language in the tab on the left-hand side.

https://50words.online/

Newcastle/ Maitland Catholic Schools Diocese Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan

I was very privlidged to participate in the recent Diocese launch of our Newcastle / Maitland Diocese Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan on Thursday 18 August 2022.

Our Diocese Reflect RAP is the start of our more formal reconciliation journey that recognises the work the Diocese teachers and staff as well as their agencies are doing as we journey towards reconciliation.

Joining me was Staff Callaghan who was integral to the wonderful success of our NAIDOC day. It was a pleasure to receive a beautiful book donated to our school, authored by Uncle Warren Taggart from Wonnarua Nation.

24^th August: The Wave Hill Walk Off

On 23 August 1966, Vincent Lingiari led 200 courageous First Nations stockmen and their families to walk off Wave Hill Cattle Station in the Northern Territory protesting the pay and work conditions.

The Walk-off took place 80 years after the British took over Gurindji lands, bringing cattle and farming that destroyed water and food sources, and Gurindji People’s livelihoods. These 80 years included massacres and killings, stolen children, and other abuses by the early colonists.

The group walked some 30 kilometres from Wave Hill Station to Wattie Creek where they stayed in protest for nine long years. During the years of struggle and protest, which made headlines across the nation, Vincent Lingiari toured Australia to lobby politicians and galvanise support. Victory was achieved in 1975!

The nation witnessed the first piece of land, in the form of soil, being returned to First Nations hands when then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam ‘handed back’ the land to Gurindji People.

In 1976, Vincent Lingiari was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to Aboriginal Peoples. He passed away in 1988 and is remembered as one of the "strongest and most inspirational Aboriginal leaders ever."

Script Courtesy of ‘Koori Curriculum’

Wednesday 7^th September: Indigenous Literacy Day

Indigenous Literacy Day is an opportunity to fundraise and advocate for remote communities to have equal access to literacy resources. Many remote families own fewer than five books and live nine hours from the nearest public library. 

Literacy provides a fundamental step of building context, comprehension and understanding, whether it is written, visual or auditory. For kids who miss that foundational step in their literacy journey, it has a lifelong impact. 

ILF’s three programs, Book Supply, Book Buzz and Community Publishing Projects, focus on ensuring access to quality resources, including books in First Languages, publishing Community stories and supporting Communities and families to lead the entire process to ensure leadership, ownership, and authenticity is held with Community Elders and residents.

Script courtesy of ‘Indigenous Literacy Foundation’

St Joseph’s Charlestown will celebrate this important initiative in the coming weeks with special in class activities for the children to participate in. 

Danielle Shaw

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teacher

Uniform Shop

All enquiries to email:

chl.uniformshop@mn.catholic.edu.au

ORDER via the QKR App

Healthy Eating Snippets

OOSH

The before and after school care at St Joseph’s is provided by St Nicholas OOSH, Diocese of Maitland Newcastle.  Open form 7am-8:30am and 3:00pm-6:00pm. 

Please contact Taylor for further information.  

TAYLOR CEFAI  
NOMINATED SUPERVISOR | ST NICHOLAS OOSH    
P 0429 435 571     M  0429 435 571   
Email taylor.cefai@stnicholasoosh.org.au Visit us online www.stnicholasoosh.org.au  

PCYC School Holiday Flyer

ASPIRE Music. Dance. Drama