Week 10 - Term 2 Newsletter 2022

Principal's Message

Dear Parents,  

Thank you all for another great term of learning; it is hard to believe we are halfway through the year already. I would like to commend all our families for their support throughout this Semester, as we are all very grateful. 

NAIDOC Day

Please note that due to the Protected Strike Action that took place yesterday, our school has rescheduled our NAIDOC Celebration Day until Thursday 28th July (Week 2, Term 3). We would love for as many families as possible to come and join us as we celebrate this day out at Brooms Head. This day will be a wonderful day to focus on acknowledging and celebrating our local Indigenous culture, history and achievements. As well as students taking part in a number of activities that will allow them to gain a greater understanding of Indigenous Culture, including Dreamtime story-telling, dot painting, and indigenous games. The day will begin with a smoking ceremony & aboriginal dance performed by our local high school students. 

Talent Quest 

Thank you to everyone who attended today to witness our St Joey's Talent Show for 2022. It was a wonderful afternoon; full of wonder, laughs, and awe! Congratulations to all our student finalists who performed on the day as well as classes who were able to perform the music items they have been practising all term.

PRIMARY

• 1ST PLACE- Josie Chapman and Emily Upston
• 2ND PLACE-  Huon Mclennan, Hudson Ardrey & Thomas Hourigan
• 3RD PLACE- Marlie Cook

INFANTS

• 1ST PLACE - Gemma Buckley & Max Cook
• 2ND PLACE-  Kyah Horan & Alexia Dawes
• 3RD PLACE- Alexa Steyn

Staff Development Day - Monday 18th July

Just a reminder that our first day back for students will be Tuesday 19th July. On Monday, staff will be undertaking Professional Learning that is being supported by the Catholic Schools Office and what is known as the 'Learning Collaborative'. This PL is based on research from Lyn Sharratt, and world re-known educational author & researcher who seeks to unpack effective strategies for improving student achievement and build teacher capacity to learn, teach & lead.

Thank you in advance to all our families for supporting our staff as they undertake our 4 Days of Professional Learning each year. We acknowledge the difficulty this places around care minding for families, however, these days are invaluable for staff in developing themselves as learners. If you need child care, please contact our Vacation Care, who will operate on this day.

Staffing Changes - Term 3

Next term we will be welcoming two new staff into our school community, Mrs Emalee Kinsella & Mr Ben Clarke. Whilst I acknowledge both teachers have had a couple of days working in classrooms in these final weeks of Term 2, both Emalee and Ben will be joining us in a more permanent capacity for the remainder of the year. Mrs Kinsella will be joining the Stage 1 Team alongside Mrs McMahon (formerly Miss Moore) on Mondays - Thursdays & whilst Mr Clarke will be seen relieving in most classrooms a couple of days a week, he will work in Year 5 on Fridays next term - replacing Mr Hitchings. This will allow Mr Hitchings to run our Friday Sports Program for Term 3.  

Sadly I would like to thank  and farewell the Hancock family (Lily - Year 3) who will be leaving our school community at the end of this term. We wish them well in their new school community and thank them for their involvement and partnership with the school.

 I wish you all the best over these upcoming holidays & trust that you enjoy this time with your families. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Dale

Mission & Values

Sacrament of Confirmation
The Confirmation Candidates participated in a retreat last week with St James students to prepare for their sacrament, which was held last night. The candidates renewed their Baptismal Promises and were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Congratulations to; Olivia and Jacob McIntyre, Marlie Cook, Jack Kirkland, Caide Schylder and Miss Zietsch.  Bishop Greg talked with the families about loving their children into life, so they grow up knowing they are truly loved. He also talked with the candidates about the gifts from the Holy Spirit that will help them know the difference between right and wrong and having the courage to choose the right thing. It was a beautiful evening, and I would like to thank all the families and staff for gathering last night to support the candidates as they move forward on their faith journey.

Stage 3: Walking Humbly with God

This term, Stage Three's Religious Education unit focused on how to love others. The students learned that love, as described by Jesus, is to treat others as you would like to be treated, serve others through your deeds, and treat people with respect and kindness. One of their tasks was to create a poster based on a quote by Thomas Aquinas, 'To love is to will the good of others."  I thought I would share a couple of their posters to celebrate their learning. 

I wish every family a happy and safe holiday and pray you receive love in abundance.

Mrs Mullins

Class Awards

Our Principal's Award winners are:

Week 8 Class Award winners are: 

Week 10 Class Award winners are: 

St Joeys Gallery of Modern Art

“Art has the role in education of helping children become like themselves instead of more like everyone else”

We would like to thank ALL staff, families and students for their attendance and fantastic display of artistic talents this week at our first St Joey’s GOMA. We are delighted that St Joey's can foster such creativity, individuality and pizzaz through all types of art. What a wonderful showcase we had!

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Lower Clarence Music Eisteddfod

On Wednesday 22nd June, our talented little school traipsed down to the Civic Hall to sing our hearts out to the community, committee members and highly regarded adjudicator Philip Sketchley! 

Infants choir won over hearts with their renditions of ‘This Little Light of Mine’ and ‘Shotgun’, Stage 2 wowed the audience with their classic ‘Home Among the Gumtrees’ and ‘Count on Me’, and Stage 3 belted out contrasting songs of ‘1000 Miles’ and ‘Riptide’.

Every teacher was incredibly proud to watch our students perform with actions and adorable smiles! 

Philip gave our school glowing feedback and comments, and each stage choir came away with a 2nd place win!

Infants - 2nd

Stage 2 - 2nd

Stage 3 - 2nd

The videos are available to be viewed on our Facebook page! Go check them out!

Ms Zietsch 

School Sport

School Athletics Carnival

We were blessed with a glorious day for this year's athletics carnival, held at Maclean Showgrounds a couple of weeks ago. I would like to thank all parents for helping and coming to support their children. The students really love having you there, and the support you gave the staff was a major reason for the event's success. Whilst we were forced to adjust to a new venue due to the ground conditions of Wherret Park, the space and viewing at the Showgrounds definitely provided further discussion around possibly returning there as a venue in 2023.

Most importantly, thank you to all students for your wonderful performance on the day. It was inspiring to see the effort you all put in. Thanks again, and I hope everyone enjoyed the day. Please see below a document containing a detailed list of final place getters in each event. We also wish all those students selected to represent our school at the Clarence Zone Athletics Carnival, which will be held on Wednesday 20th July (2nd day back in Term 3).

Age Champions in their respective divisions on the day:

• Junior Boys - Roo Coulson
• Junior Girls - Jessika Dalton
• Senior Boys - Ryley Bultitude
• Senior Girls - Tasmyn Norris

House Champions:

1. Bundjalung
2. Gibraltar
3. Yuraygir

Mr Hitchings

Pastoral Care - School Counsellor

Exploring Your Values

Building on the article from our last newsletter around values, this week I would like to share ‘Exploring Willingness and Commitment’. This is an exercise that can help you to isolate a meaningful value that you’d like to pursue in your life. It is a practical task that can assist to: Identify a practical step you can take toward achieving that aim - a “Committed Action” and then create a plan for overcoming obstacles that might arise along the way. 

You can download a worksheet from:

Kate Naylor - School Counsellor & Art Therapist

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

SRC Fun Day

After lunch and recess were sacrificed by students to perfect their acts, the big event arrived! 

What a way to end a fantastic term with free time in the morning then finishing up the day with our St Joseph's Talent Quest.

Our talented bunch of students showed off their skills. It was lovely to see student participation, from the talented magicians, energetic dancers, hula hoopers, beautiful singers and talented musicians; you all were amazing!

Great job by all.

Ms Mead

School Chaplain

Parent Forum

Term 2  -  Paint n Sip Social Night

On behalf of the Parent Forum, I want to extend a big thank you to all of the parents who came along, supported and enjoyed our first Paint n Sip evening. It was a lovely opportunity to meet other parents and build social connections which is a key goal of parent forum activities. I’m sure you’ll all agree that the participants outdid themselves, it was lots of fun to have our creations included in the exclusive St Joeys GOMA exhibition! We hope to make Paint n Sip evenings an annual event.

The Parent Forum Meeting for Term 3 will be held on Tuesday 2nd of August at 5:00 pm in the library. All parents are welcome. Lastly, on behalf of the parent community, I’d like to extend a big thank you to all teachers and staff for a wonderful Term 2 of learning and fun events for our children. We hope you all enjoy a well-earned break and some time for R&R.
I hope all families can find some time to enjoy the school holidays.

Lauren Kirkland

Chairperson of the Parent Forum

Library News

Thank you to all St Joey’s students for another great term in the library! I’ve been encouraging all students to “keep reading and not let their brains fall asleep” these school holidays. Each student has probably heard me say it at least a thousand times! 

That said, our students have access to a wonderful online library called SORA. I recommend you explore this fantastic free resource with your children. SORA has thousands of books, both text and audiobooks, including hundreds of Premiers Reading Challenge Books. I’ll pop the details below for easy access.   

I wish all our beautiful families a happy and safe school holiday. Keep reading, guys, don’t let those brains fall asleep!

STEP 1. 

Install the Sora App from the Apple App Store, or Google Play Store, or go to Soraapp.com. 

STEP 2.

Find our school. St Joseph’s falls under the ACEN (Australian Catholic Education Network)

STEP 3. 

Sign in with student details 

Username: bwaghorn.22

Password: 12345

Diocese: Lismore

Step 4. 

Browse the ‘explore’ tab and borrow a book. Your book will open so you can start reading it straight away. 

Step 5. 

Your books will be located on the shelf, along with information on your loans, holds, lists and history. 

• Select Open Book or Open Audiobook to read or listen to the book. 
• Select Options to renew or return the book. 

To watch a “getting started” video for the SORA app click the link here.     

Mrs Waghorn

Community Notices