Term 1 Week 9

What's on at St Joey's

Principal's Messages

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Last week was a week of celebrations with the Feast Day for our patron, Saint Joseph and also Harmony Day. It was lovely to celebrate with parents and grandparents with our liturgy and picnic to honour St Joseph as a wonderful example of loyalty, steadfast faith, hard work and fatherhood. The Sisters of St Joseph founded our school in 1927 in the original church buildings and 4 demountables in Milson Street then relocated to this new site in Shelton Street in 1975. We are deeply grateful for the legacy of our religious sisters and for their dedication to Catholic education which still thrives today. 

Harmony Day was celebrated on Friday with students leading us in an assembly and a re-enactment of the book “Our House” by Michael Rosen. Our actors performed a wonderful presentation of the story which shared the theme, ‘we all belong’. It was great to see students dressed in their traditional cultural dress or the colour orange which symbolises harmony. We all strive to include others, and treat each other with respect, remembering the messages of Jesus to ‘love one another’ and to treat each other how we would like to be treated. 

Last week we farewelled our Learning Support Teacher Mrs Amber Christie as she begins maternity leave and awaits the arrival of her baby. We wish Amber, Richard and Maddie much love and happiness with their growing family. 

We keep our students involved in the sacramental program in our prayers. They have recently received the sacrament of Reconciliation, a beautiful sacrament of love and forgiveness. They will continue to journey through the sacramental pathway with Confirmation and First Holy Communion in the coming months. Thanks to Mrs Paff for her commitment and support of the program. If you are interested in your children receiving the sacrament of Baptism or if baptised, the other sacraments, please contact the parish on 4943 4153 or talk with Mrs Paff or myself.

This week we enter Holy Week, the most important time in our church calendar where we remember the events of Easter, the life death and resurrection of Jesus. On Holy Thursday we will reflect and pray together with a quiet prayer service at 10:30am. You are welcome to attend if you are free. If you would like to read more information about how and why Christians celebrate Easter, please follow this link: https://cathfamily.org/holy-week-explained/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cathfamily-Mar-24-30-enjoy-your-week-with-god 

Also see below for our Parish Easter services and times. 

Huge thanks to all for the generous donations to our Easter raffle. Over $1600 was raised through QKR ticket sales and will be used by the P&F to support school resources and activities. Thank you to our P&F volunteers, Lisa, Brooke, Nicole and Tracey for their organising of the raffle prizes. Each class will have 10 prizes to be won on Thursday. 

We held our P&F AGM on the 11th March. I take this opportunity to thank our outgoing members, namely Kellie Grice, Fiona Wade and Natalie Evans who have all children in high school now. These ladies have given many years of service to our committee and will be greatly missed. Congratulations and thanks to the following volunteers who continue to support this organisation by volunteering their time. We are very grateful to: 

Outgoing 2023 Committee 

President – Lisa Evans 

Vice President & Secretary – Kim Smith 

Treasurer – Kellie Grice 

Uniform Shop – Lindsey Dragosavljevic, Hannah Smith & Caroline Keegan 

Fundraising – Katie Turnbull, Nicola Gillies, Kim Smith, Brooke Sievert, Fiona Wade & Natalie Evans 

Incoming 2024 Committee 

President – Lisa Evans 

Vice President – Katie Turnbull 

Secretary – Kim Smith 

Treasurer – Lisa Evans 

Uniform Shop – Lindsey Dragosavljevic, Hannah Smith & Caroline Keegan 

Fundraising – Katie Turnbull, Nicola Gillies, Kim Smith & Brooke Sievert 

Congratulations and all the best to our talented athletes competing in the Diocesan Winter Sport Trials this week and Polding Trials next week. We are very proud of you all and can't wait to hear all the news about each event. 

Well done to our Year 3 & 5 students who completed the NAPLAN assessments last week. We look forward to receiving the results and reviewing areas of strength and areas for development for these cohorts. 

Wishing all our students, families and staff a happy and holy Easter. 

God Bless, 

Kate Drake 

Assistant Principal

Learrning & Growth in 2024

Since the beginning of 2020 St Joseph’s has experienced great excitement and growth with our participation in the Leading Learning Collaborative (LLC) initiative introduced by the Catholic Schools Office. LLC centres on the work of Canadian educationalist Lyn Sharratt and the teachings in her book, ‘Clarity’. Sharratt focuses on 14 parameters (or principles). The framework is growth oriented.

Our focus on this work is largely in the areas of Place Value and Writing as is identified in our School Improvement Plan.

The LLC framework encourages children to take autonomy for their learning and there are 5 critical questions which teachers and leaders regularly ask their students to check their understandings of the expectations of a task they are working on:

*What are you learning and why?

*How are you going?

*How do you know?

*How can you improve?

*Where do you go for help?

In addition, Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are co-constructed with learners which gives them a clear understanding of the expectations of a task and through the use of ‘Bump it Up Walls’ children can work towards improving and changing their work to gain their best possible grade. It has been so rewarding this year to hear the excitement amongst teachers and children talking about their learning and how they are progressing.

As a leading school in the Diocese, St Joseph’s has been selected by the Catholic Schools Office to host Dr. Lyn Sharratt at our school on Thursday 4th April to showcase our growth and learning in the classroom. I look forward to sharing the celebration of this event with you in the coming newsletter.

Warm regards

Kathryn Hill

Assistant Principal

Office of Safeguarding

Please see the link to the Child Safety Handbook - A resource for parents and carers from NSW Police Legacy

Primary Coordinator

PBL - Positive Behaviour for Learning focus – ‘Live Like Jesus - Play Fairly’.

As we enter the last 3 weeks of term, we will focus on playing fairly. This is not only at times on the playground but also for classroom play and interactions at home with siblings and at sporting events. We will revisit the elements of fair play throughout the next few weeks including:

• Play should always be fun and safe.
• Choosing to always cooperate.
• Following established rules 
• Being resilient and adapting to the changes within the game
• Reflecting on how the play went, whether it was fair/unfair and what could be done differently next time.
  

Our PBL procedures involve 'catching students' doing the right thing and praising them for this and even rewarding with our merit awards with the weekly PBL focus. The policy involves teaching and reteaching of our expected behaviours through the use of our SJC values. But naturally children are continually learning and growing, so at times we need to address conflicts or negative behaviours that impact on learning or personal interactions in the classroom and playground.

This term we have been trialling the use of a 'SJC Reflection Sheet' as a tool to engage students in self-reflection about negative interactions or behaviours. This has replaced our previous major and minor slips. A staff member will sit with the student or group of students and discuss the incident, identifying what happened, why and how it happened and what could be done in the future to prevent it happening again. The discussion will focus on restorative strategies to encourage taking responsibility for actions and for how our actions have affected others as well as what to do next time if faced with a similar situation. The students may receive time off the playground, a community service task eg pick up papers or in more serious events time out of the classroom to complete work, suspension or partial attendance.

One of the most effective strategies for promoting positive behaviours is home school partnerships and parents and teachers working together to encourage the best in our students. If your child brings home a reflection sheet, we strongly encourage you to engage in a discussion with your child about the issue and to contemplate strategies for handling similar situations better in the future. It is a tool to communicate with you what has happened but also to allow your engagement with the discussions to promote positive behaviours. Please sign and return the reflection sheet to school, so we know you have engaged in this process. In more serious incidents, parents will be called to meet with the class teacher and or principal to discuss further strategies to support the student moving forward. We will ask for parent feedback on the reflection sheet next term.

Kind regards,

Frances Courtney - Primary Coordinator

News from the Religious Coordinator

St Joseph’s Day- Art Winners

Last Tuesday we enjoyed a beautiful celebration for St Joseph’s Day. As well as a liturgy and picnic, we announced the winners of the St Joseph’s Day art contest this year. See below for winners.

Holy Week

This week we observe Holy Week. It is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Holy Week, is the most sacred time of the year for Christians. During this special time, we remember

Jesus’ sacrifice for humankind to redirect people towards love and mercy through following His teachings.

We pray as we move through Holy week.

Walk with me, Jesus, walk with me.

The way isn’t always easy, you see.

But your love, it reaches up to the sky, and carries me, so that I can try.

The way isn’t always easy, you see. Walk with me, Jesus, walk with me.

Amen

Class News

Drama

Drama, Drama, Drama!

Year 1 and 2 students have been having a wonderful term in drama with Mrs Savage learning about masks and puppets. Look at the fabulous expressive theatre masks we made! We also made up our own short stories using puppets to present to our class.

Mrs Karyn Savage

Sport News

Good Luck to the following athletes triallig at Diocesan and Polding events this week:

DIOCESAN TRIALS

Frankie - Hockey

Alice & Avalon - Netball

Flynn & Sophie - Soccer

Tanner, Marlo & Kobe - Rugby League

Tanner, Alex & Kobe - Rugby Union

POLDING

Lochlan - AFL

Kalani, Leni, Billie, Sophie, Jeremy, Avalon - Swimming

Hall of Fame

Billie won State medals on the weekend. She was 1st 🥇 in 100m backstroke in 1.17.17  & 2nd 🥈 in 50m backstroke in 35.37 which was over 2 seconds faster than the Diocesan record she recently beat. Well done!

Hub

Happy Birthday to the following students

We wish the following students a very happy birthday.

School Fees

School Fees statements for the 2024 school fees have now been issued.

There are several payment options however, Compass Pay is NOT our preferred method due to the large fees that Compass charge the school. Direct debit is an easy option, and these can be set up to be weekly, fortnightly or monthly. A form to do this is available from the office. Fees can also be paid via BPay, over the phone using a credit card or in person at the office. If you have a health care card of pension card you can apply for a concession on your fees. Please contact the office if you have not already done so. If you are experiencing financial hardship and require assistance, please contact the office.
Thank you to those families that have started payments towards this year’s school fees. Our preferred payment methods are BPay, direct debit or credit card. If you choose to use Compass Pay, please double check the amount before you submit the payment. Refunds can no longer be given for incorrect amounts paid unless your account is in credit.

Thank you, 

Amale Yi

P&F News

Thank you for supporting our EASTER raffle. Over $1600 was raised. Prizes will be drawn in classes on Thursday.

Good luck to all!

Our term 2 meetings will be:

Monday 13th May 6pm

Monday 17th June 6pm

All are welcome to join us!

Canteen News

Kelly our Canteen Officer would love to see you if you have a spare couple of hours to assist in the canteen. Volunteers need to be registered with our CSO, by following this link: https://www.mn.catholic.org.au/people/volunteer/

Once cleared please sign up for a shift. The children love to see you here

https://signup.zone/Qw4zoS2aGaYyYspRn

Uniform Shop

Softshell jackets have arrived at school – remember to get your order in while stock is available.

Sports shorts, polos and skorts – we are still waiting for delivery of some sizes and apologise to those families who are still waiting. As soon as they arrive we will send any outstanding items home with the children. Please email chl.uniformshop@mn.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions about these orders. These are coming from a brand-new supplier and will include an improved make of our school sports shorts.

Volunteers – we are always on the lookout for anyone who is interested in helping in the uniform shop. Anyone who can spare a small amount of time on Tuesday or Friday mornings 8:30 -9:15am please get in touch!

Winter uniform: St Joseph’s will transition into winter uniform in Term 2 (usually the end of May). Limited stock is available now with more arriving early in Term 2 – please allow extra time for all winter uniform orders as we manage deliveries of stock and space. Get in touch early for any custom sizing.

Girls Winter:

Option 1:

Navy tunic (three box pleated)

White long sleeve blouse (cotton or brushed material)

School Tie (straight or pre-tied loop style)

Navy tights/stockings

Option 2:

Navy slacks

White long sleeve blouse (cotton or brushed material)

School Tie (straight or pre-tied loop style)

White socks

Boys Winter:

Long dark grey trousers

Blue long sleeve shirt (cotton or brushed material)

School Tie (straight or pre-tied loop style)

Grey school socks

Jumpers:

Fleece pullover with emblem

Fleece zip up jacket with emblem

Softshell jacket with emblem

All enquiries to email: our volunteers. Shop open Tuesday and Friday at 8.45- 9.15am

chl.uniformshop@mn.catholic.edu.au

ORDER via the QKR App

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. 

These holidays we are excited that our centre is offering VACATION CARE on site. See flyers below!

Please contact Michelle for further information.  

MICHELLE BIRCH 
NOMINATED SUPERVISOR | ST NICHOLAS OOSH    
P 0429 435 571     M  0429 435 571   
Email michelle.birch@stnicholasmn.org.au   Visit us online www.stnicholasoosh.org.au  

Guitar and Band.

Healthy Eating Snippets