Week 8 - Term 2 Newsletter 2022

Principal's Message

Thank you to everyone that helped support our 'Pyjama & Soup' Day yesterday. It was wonderful to come together as a school community and raise awareness of the difficulties some families face over winter. All proceeds raised from the day will support our SVDP Winter Appeal. This appeal is lead by our SRC leaders and is aligned to one of our school Mercy Values - COMPASSION. Additionally thank you to everyone who came down to the Maclean Showgrounds for our School Athletics Carnival, the weather was beautiful and the students should be proud of all their efforts.  Due to the event occuring today, all results will be published in our next School Newsletter.

NAIDOC Day Celebrations

Please be aware that in the final week of the term, we will be celebrating NAIDOC Week as a school community, with our Celebration Day occurring Thursday 30th June (please note that due to NAIDOC Week being celebrated during the holiday break, we felt it was important to do before the holidays). This day will focus on acknowledging and celebrating our local Indigenous culture, history and achievements. The day will be held out a Brooms Head Caravan Park and begin with a Welcome to Country, smoking ceremony, with students partaking in a number of activities that will allow them to gain a greater sense of understanding of Indigenous Culture, including Dreamtime story-telling, dot painting, indigenous games, as well as some important cultural landmarks within our local community.

Parents and family members are more than welcome to attend and join us in this wonderful school event! With Event Details & permission being sent out early next week via Compass.

Semester 1 Reporting

Please note that today Semester 1 reports will be sent home on Monday & that these will be distributed in digital form via the Compass App. The purpose of these reports is to provide you with a snapshot of your child's achievements and how well your child has learned what was expected the past semester. The grade allocated for each learning area will provide you with this information. As mandated by the Board of Studies, a grade scale of A-E is used. This scale is probably different to the one you will remember from your own school years. A to E grades don't rank your child but rather indicate whether your child is learning what is expected, doing better than expected or needs more help. The grade of C indicates that your child is 'on track' and has achieved what was expected at grade level. Other grades will indicate whether your child is doing better than expected or needs some extra support and consolidation. 

I thank all staff for their commitment to ensuring that students' reports are a true and accurate reflection of their progress and encourage you to make a time to meet and discuss your child's report with their classroom teachers if you have any questions or concerns.

St Joey's GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) ART Night

A reminder that in our final week of the term on Tuesday 28th June at 5:00pm, we will be holding our Annual School Art night, in which we will be able to show case not only our wonderful students talents but also the various creative arts opportunities they have been exposed during Semester 1. It would be lovely to see all our families attend this community building event.

A BBQ dinner will be available on the night, with sausage sandwhiches & water  

Lastly, last week we welcomed two 2 new students, Ezra (Year 5) & Shiloh (1) Grivens into our school. I trust they, and their family have enjoyed their start and we look forward to having them as part of our school community.

Dale

Leaders of Learning

As Mr Layland has been doing many ‘Learning Tours’ with our parent community this week for our new 2023 Kindergarten families, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share how writing is taught in every class at St Joseph’s.  We use ‘Whole School Agreed Practices’ developed by the staff following the Catholic Schools Office Guidelines, and all teachers follow the same ‘Writing Process’ which is displayed on a BIG PENCIL in each classroom. This approach provides continuity and consistency for our students.

Below is a breakdown of what occurs in a Writing lesson;

• Lessons are 45 minutes on 4 days per week.
• We follow our school’s agreed Writing Process - the Big Pencil.

Opportunities to write across in all Key Learning Areas will be utilised.

Through writing lessons, we also aim to teach two types of skills;

1. Authorial  Skills - genre, vocabulary,  language forms and features
2. Secretarial Skills - spelling, punctuation, grammar

This week we are showcasing some samples of writing from Kindergarten to Year 6 with some photos of different writing walls from a couple of classrooms.

Mrs Bailey & Mrs Mullins

Mission & Values

Mercy Value - Respect…Consideration and Esteem

Matthew 7:12  The Golden Rule

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Two dictionary definitions of respect include

1. an act of giving particular attention: CONSIDERATION
2.  high or special regard: ESTEEM

Respect is one of our Mercy Values and one of the Codes of Behaviour we have at St. Joseph's. We can show respect in many ways; one of the most simple and easy is using someone's name. Using a person's name in conversation creates a culture of respect, recognition and consideration, and it is something that I am encouraging our students. Our name is a big part of our identity; it means something, and when people use it, it makes them feel good. So, I encourage all students to use people's names to greet or thank them. It's simple and easy and a great way to show respect.

Wildfire Visit - Our School Song

On Thursday this week, we had the privilege to have Wildfire visit. 'Wildfire' is an Australian Catholic Worship Band created in 2018 within the Diocese of Lismore. We were very fortunate to have this very talented band work with our staff and students to participate in music workshops throughout the day and compose a school song. One of the sessions was for musically gifted students and the day culminated with Wildfire and our students gathering in the library for a final performance. It was an incredible musical opportunity, and we are very thankful to the band. No doubt you will see us singing our School Song at future school events.

Confirmation Candidates 

Just a reminder that Confirmation is occurring on Thursday in Week 10 at 5:30 pm at St Mary’s Church, Maclean.  Our Confirmation Candidates are; Marlie Cook, Jack Kirkland, Caide Schylder, Jacob McIntyre, Olivia McIntyre and Miss Zietsch. The student candidates will be participating in a retreat at school next Thursday to prepare for the sacrament. Details will be shared with the candidate’s families this week.

Class Awards

Unfortunately due to our Athletics Carnival Awards were not presented this week. These will be followed up next week and Award Winners will be published in our Week 10 Newlsetter.

Class News - Stage 2

What's Been Buzzing in Stage Two

Stage Two has had a busy and fun-filled Term 2. 

We have had a guest speaker from St Vincent De Paul, where Renee helped us unpack how the church lives the good news in our parish community. We also had the opportunity of creating questions for Renee to answer for us.

In the middle of the term, our local police liaison officer Jessica visited the school and spoke about online safety and bullying. The students were also lucky enough to do three rotations: dressing up in the police uniform, fingerprint testing and exploring the police car.

Stage Two has also finished their debates where students were grouped into teams and were either for or against a topic (e.g. Should all families own a pet?). Students all worked really hard in their groups and did a marvellous job working and persuading their point of view.

Mrs Mclennan and Miss Ross

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

St Vincent De Paul’s Winter Appeal

Dressing gowns, slippers and our winter pjs were a warm welcome to start our Vinnies winter appeal. Students and staff were snuggly in their winter pjs while dining on Taco in a bag. 

Our SRC served our school community in such a friendly and professional manner. It was a real production line. Well done SRC, an amazing job!

Thank you to all families that helped raise money for this fundraiser.

Giving to others activates an area of the brain linked with contentment and the reward cycle.

Student Representative Council (SRC)

On Wednesday our SRC met in the library to discuss ideas for the  term 2 fun day. 

There were some exciting ideas however,  It was decided that students will wear mufti clothes, enjoy a sports/craft morning, followed by a talent quest. 

This day sounds fun packed! 

More information will be available over the coming weeks. 

The SRC also discussed concerns about litter left in the playground and came up with solutions, as role models for our school, to combat this issue. 

I'm eagerly awaiting to hear about the ideas after they are implemented. Great initiative SRC.

Community Leaders-Parent connect

Thank you to all the families who are enjoying our Community Leaders afternoon tea on a Friday afternoon. 

After providing afternoon tea last Friday, one of our Community Leaders said with a huge smile, she ‘loved being a Community Leader!’

Research has shown that helping others has a wide variety of benefits: Being kind and helpful can make us happier, give us a sense of purpose and meaning, and even lower our blood pressure. 

Acts of kindness are linked to increased feelings of wellbeing. 

Thank you Parent Forum for funding this opportunity for all.

Ms Mead

Pastoral Care - School Counselor

DISCOVERING YOUR VALUES

What are Values

Values are your desires for the way you want to interact with and relate to the world, others and yourself. They are important principles that guide you and motivate you as you move through life. It can be challenging trying to gain clarity on your values. There is no "right way" to identify your values. Some people like to think about all the domains in their life and determine their values in relation to those domains. Others prefer to have 5 to 10 top values that they act on across all domains of their life.

 If you would like a list of domains to reflect on, consider:

• Relationships
• Parenting
• Friendships
• Career
• Education and personal growth
• Fun
• Spirituality
• Community and the environment
• Health
  

Ask yourself these questions:

• Q: What is important to you in each of these areas?
• Q: What personal qualities do you bring to these areas that you are happy about?
• Q: What personal qualities would you like to further develop in each domain?
• Q: How would you interact and behave if you were the "ideal you" in that domain?

Now pick your top three values in each of the domains.

You can also download a worksheet from:

http://thehappinesstrap.com/upimages/Values_Questionnaire.pdf

Kate Naylor – School Counsellor & Art Therapist

Community Notices