Week 6 - Term 1 Newsletter 2022

Principal's Message

After the traumatic events of last week, it has been pleasing to see that almost all of our students have returned safe & well. No doubt this flooding has impacted a number of our families through displacement, isolation or damage to property during these floods. Please know that you are and have been in our thoughts and prayers, and we will be doing what we can as a school community to assist you in the recovery process.

Please be aware we have several staff that can assist either your children or yourselves if you feel further support is appropriate. Including:

• Skye Pullen (Family Connect Worker) - can help with Disaster payments and/or connect with the appropriate organisations if impacted by the flood
• Juana Mead (School Chaplain) - able to support students with their well-being if struggling to transition back to school routine
• Kate Naylor (School Counsellor)- provide sessions focussed on grief for students if significantly impacted by the flood event

Additionally, I have been made aware of a fully furnished 2-bedroom accommodation in Maclean,  available for any of our families that have temporarily been displaced due to the floods. I thank the generosity of one of our school families for offering this support. Please contact me directly if this may be of assistance.

Parent Forum AGM

Next Tuesday, 15th March (5:00-6:30 pm) we will be holding our first Parent Forum gathering for 2022 in the School Library. While I acknowledge that 2021 & Covid-19 restrictions did not allow this group to meet regularly or be involved in any School community events last year, I hope this will improve as the year unfolds.

It would be wonderful to start the year with a good group of families sharing their voice and expectations for the year ahead. Whilst most of our Executive Positions are filled, we are always looking for new parents who would like to be involved in 'Parent Voice & Parent Community', which is the main focus of our Parent Forum. 

It would be lovely to see some new faces & I look forward to seeing as many of you there. If you have any questions or want an item added to the agenda, please contact Nicky Venn, our Parent Forum Chairperson (nickyvenn@icloud.com).

St Joseph's Feast Day
As you may be aware, I am pleased to let you know that we will be celebrating the Feast Day of St. Joseph on Friday 18th March as a school community. Whilst we normally celebrate this day out at Brooms Head, unfortunately, the tidal charts are working against us this year, and the recent floods have significantly impacted the beach at this stage. As a result, we will celebrate this day at Wooli Water Park. 

This will be a lovely day where students & teachers participate in a Liturgy followed by a day of fun on the water slides and activities together with a BBQ lunch. Due to the easing of COVID Guidelines, parents and families are ABLE to attend. An online permission note was sent out on Tuesday containing more details of this event. 

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Please be advised that our Term 1 Parent-Teacher interviews will be held in Week 9 this term (Monday 28th - Thursday 31st March). Please note Interviews are strictly 20 minutes and spaces are limited. All parents/caregivers are encouraged to attend these meetings to discuss your child’s transition into the new school year and together set important learning goals for Term 2 and identify ways we can each best support your child.

Information will be sent out early next week via our Compass APP. Interview times will be booked through the COMPASS PORTAL.

If you have any issues with the booking process, please ring the School Office on 66452340, and we can book you in.

Fundraising Support - St Joseph's Woodburn

As you may be aware, St Joseph's Primary Woodburn is one of several catholic schools within our Lismore Diocese that was significantly impacted by the floods last week. Unfortunately, for this beautiful school community, the school was inundated with floodwater, with the river levels reaching the roof height of all school buildings. The school has been deemed non-operational indefinitely and the majority of the school families have been displaced. This community is now beginning the long road to recovery with regards to their own homes and their school. Through my discussions with the Principal, we have decided that all those families displaced during this disaster would greatly appreciate a 'care pack' of some sort.

I would like to acknowledge the wonderful efforts and energy thus far from Kerry Cook, Bel Chapman, Bec Upston and the rest of the Parent Forum to start this initiative and invite as many people in our school community to support this initiative. The plan moving forward is to tackle this with two initiatives: 

• a raffle composed of prizes generously donated by local businesses 
• & approaching possible larger companies (i.e. bunnings & Target/Kmart etc.) for small amount vouchers.

Following the conclusion of the raffle, all money raised will go to purchasing goods for these 'care packs' along with any vouchers sourced by companies. Unfortunately, this recent natural disaster has left this beautiful school community, its 105 students & families devastated. I am very proud of the support shown by our school community and various other schools within our Diocese. 

Please find attached a LINK where you can purchase online tickets and a promotional poster to share.

I trust you have a settled and safe weekend with your families.

Kind regards

Dale

Leaders of Learning

Learning in the Early Years

When you visit our classrooms at St Joey’s, you will notice Learning Intentions and Success Criteria on the Weekly Planner and displayed around the classroom.

LEARNING INTENTIONS describe what learners should know, understand, and do by the end of a lesson, session, or unit. These are written in language the children understand. We often use the phrase “We are learning..”

SUCCESS CRITERIA are for the students to know if and how well they have met the learning intention. These are developed WITH the students. We use the phrase “We can...”

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

• Ensure all teachers and students know what they are going to learn and where they are heading. 
• Provide the basis for feedback.
• Assist students and teachers in tracking and assessing student progress. 
• Help students understand what improved performance looks like.

Learning In Primary

Well it certainly is great to be back at school learning together after what feels like a bumpy start to school with students in COVID isolation and a week or more for some, of flood isolation. I hope everyone has managed to stay safe and well given the conditions of last week. Classrooms are humming along nicely and our students have slotted straight back into learning demonstrating great resilience and flexibility as lessons were adapted or adjusted to incorporate the lessons from ‘flood week’. 

An important feature of lessons at our school are when the students explain or demonstrate what they know, or how they solved a problem, or a strategy that was efficient.  Reflecting on your own learning and listening to others reflect is a way to see alternative pathways or solutions to problems.  There are many ways to learn, many ways to end up with the same final answer, and many ways to think. At our school, we value how students think and learn. We know that collaboration in today’s world is beneficial to improve, and working with others is essential in many occupations and careers.  It’s wonderful to see our teachers valuing each student and how they learn, giving them opportunities to share their knowledge and skills, and celebrate the many pathways that lead to success.  Our classrooms are places where the students ‘do the work’, and the teacher is not the ‘giver of knowledge’, but a facilitator or a guide who plans tasks and sets up the learning environment so that all students can learn, and all students experience success. 

Mrs Mullins

Mission & Values

First Holy Communion and School Parish Mass

Yesterday our First Holy Communicants participated in Confession at the church with Fr. Nicolas. Confession or Reconciliation is part of their preparation for their sacrament on Sunday, which coincides with our School Parish Mass at 8:30 am at St Mary’s Church, Maclean. Tea/coffee and cake will be served after Mass to celebrate with our Parish and school community. All families and friends are warmly invited to attend. We pray for these communicants as they prepare for this special sacrament: Billy Opalniuk, Reef Crofton, Harry Cook, Kavanna Corcoran, Alexander Frame, Huon Mclennan, Thomas Hourigan and Ziggy Venn.

Ash Wednesday Liturgy - Project Compassion For All Future Generations

This week we celebrated the beginning of the Season of Lent with a liturgy for  Ash Wednesday, which fell last week during the floods. The liturgy is our launch of Project Compassion, an annual fundraising campaign run by Caritas Australia that spans the six weeks of Lent every year. Project Compassion brings together thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. Each classroom has a money box in which donations for these communities can be gifted.

Our School and Mission Captains did a wonderful job in the liturgy, and it was lovely to be able to gather once more as a whole school. Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through prayer, we come closer to God, to live as Jesus teaches us. Fasting, or going without something, shows compassion for people in need. Sharing what we have, or ‘almsgiving’, is a sign of justice to say our thanks for all that God has given us. These are some of our Foundational and Mercy Values.

Lent is a time of preparation for the season of Easter, the most important time in the Church’s calendar. 

Jesus brought the promise  of hope to all people so that we may “Have life and have it to the full.”   (John 10:10)  As we live into that fullness, may we also act with love and hope, now and for all future generations. 

Mercy Value: Compassion - We are present for others in their time of need.

A community in which this universal charity reigns, is capable of surmounting all difficulties. Catherine McAuley (2017). “A Shining Lamp: The Oral Instructions of Catherine McAuley”, p.70, CUA Press

During this Season of Lent, there is a lot to pray for; at home those devastated by the flood, and overseas for Ukraine families who are under attack and displaced by war. Petition and Intercessory prayers ask God to act. Why do we do that? What good does prayer do? If God is good, why doesn’t God just make the ‘good’ thing happen? 

Prayer doesn’t change God, but it changes us. The primary end of prayer is to have a relationship with God. God can achieve things alone, but He wants us to participate as co-workers. We get to know God better when we work alongside God to will goodness into our world. And that kind of prayer and relationship definitely changes something… it changes us. So this Lent, let’s become a co-worker with God and pray. After all, there is so much to pray for right now.

Proclaim Lismore 'Wildfire' is an Australian Catholic Worship Band created in 2018 within the Diocese of Lismore (CSO). In response to the devastating flooding of our Diocese, they have composed a new song, ‘Moments’  as a prayer of solidarity as we come together as a Diocese to support each other. Wildfire will be performing live at our school in Week 9 this term. Please click the link to listen to their new song;  Moments (Lyric Video).

Kayla and Emily in Year 6 have composed a prayer for the people affected by floods.

Incitare Retreat

Due to flooding, the retreat has been postponed to a later date to be confirmed.

Mrs Mullins

Class Awards

Congratulations to the following students recognised at this fortnight's Awards Assembly:

Principal Awards:

• Kindy - Tamika Cleary-Walker
• Stage 1 - Sophie Green
• Stage 2 - Hailen Capp
• Year 5 - Huon Mclennan
• Year 6 - Jack Robinson

Congratulations to the following students recognised at this fortnight's Awards Assembly:

Principal Awards:

• Kindy - Tamika Cleary-Walker
• Stage 1 - Sophie Green
• Stage 2 - Hailen Capp
• Year 5 - Huon Mclennan
• Year 6 - Jack Robinson

Class Awards:

Class News - Stage 2

Stage 2 has been a hive of activity during this first half of Term 1. We have been busy learning new skills and having lots of fun developing creative ways to use technology and demonstrate our understanding across key learning areas. 

• Religion: students have used Jamboard to digitally collaborate with their peers and respond to the Ten Commandments by writing, drawing and using royalty-free web sourced images. 
• PE: students have used SeeSaw to record videos of themselves performing fundamental movement skills before peer-reviewing one another utilising a mix of voice recordings and text. 
• Maths: students have had a hoot participating in Kahoot! This interactive learning platform engages children in formative and summative quizzes built by our teachers. 
• Science: Students completed a Virtual Reality tour of the Harwood Sugar Mill and created an animated flowchart for sugar production using Google Slides. 

We are so proud of our Stage 2 students who have shown perseverance, problem-solving, collaboration and creativity while developing their digital skills. These young learners are well on their way to becoming responsible, respectful, and critical technology users for today and tomorrow’s world.

Mrs Mclennan and Miss Ross

S2 Virtual Reality Tours

Pastoral Care - School Counsellor

Character Strengths: LOVE

What is LOVE?

Love means you value close relations with others. You see the importance of sharing and of caring for living things. If you are growing love you might try smiling more, offering to help and being a good listener. With love, you find out what is important to others.

What does it look like in our school?

• We are a friendly class that smiles at people when they walk in the door
• We listen to our friends and to our teacher
• We play the favourite game of one of our friends because we know they adore it
• We offer to help someone who is having a difficult time

To learn more about character strengths and to access the resource that these “Exploring Character Strengths” Newsletter articles have come from visit:

 https://growyourmind.life/

Kate Naylor

School Counsellor & Art Therapist

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

St Joseph’s will be participating in Project Compassion. Spanning across the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world. 

We get involved by watching the stories of Project Compassion, hosting fundraisers, joining a Caritas Conversation, and downloading resources.

Your generous support can help to change the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Join us this Lent to raise much-needed funds for people living in poverty.

Together, we can make a difference now and For All Future Generations. 

Each class has a donation box where students can donate to this fundraiser.

Please share Anatercia's story | Project Compassion 2022 with your families and friends.

Ms Mead

School Sport

Basketball

We are thankful that our students have been able to begin our Basketball program for the remainder of Term 1 today. The Staff from Raymond Laurie Sports Centre will be coming to the school to teach our Infants students some foundational basketball skills. Our primary students will walk down to the Maclean Indoor Sports Centre to participate in activities and games to develop their basketball and teamwork skills. In wet weather (like today!), Primary students will have basketball at school.

Polding Tennis Trials

We would like to congratulate Matias Ward. In between all the weather and chaos of the last week, Matias and his family were somehow able to make the journey out to Gunnedah to participate in the Polding Tennis Trial. The standard of tennis at this level is exceptional, and Matias did extremely well to finish in 6th place, just missing a spot in the team that will compete in the NSWPSSA tennis trials. We are incredibly proud of Matias and the perseverance and commitment he has displayed throughout his journey. Good luck with your future endeavours in tennis Matias.

Mr Hitchings

Library News

Book Club was sent home with students this week, and the current issue (2) closes on the 23rd of March. I’m sure we all remember the excitement of exploring the Book Club catalogues looking for our next adventure, as Scholastic has been bringing children's publishing to Australian children for more than 50 years!

Unfortunately, we no longer accept cash at the school for book club orders. However, ordering online is easy with the LOOP App by logging on or creating an account at scholastic.com.au/loop. Early birds who purchase items before midnight Friday night can receive $5 off by using the code LOVETOREAD, and every order placed earns the school free books and learning resources. 

While it seems like a big statement to make, numerous studies have consistently shown that exposing your child to reading materials for 10 minutes every day can positively shape your child’s future. And this doesn’t just include complicated educational texts- any reading materials, be it comic books, novels, picture books, recipes, magazines, or the back of food packets, all count towards your child’s daily reading goal.   

If you have any questions regarding placing an order online, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email at bobbie.waghorn@lism.catholic.edu.au or check out the Scholastic website for the Parent’s Guide to Bookclub. 

Mrs Waghorn 

You are never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child. Dr Seuss

Notes Sent Home

Community Notices