Week 6 - Term 3 Newsletter 2022

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Thank you for another great week of learning at St Joseph's. We have been definitely busy with a number of events occurring. Seeing so many families at our Book Week Parade this afternoon was lovely.

Book Week
A big thank you to the ridiculously amazing efforts of Mrs Waghorn, who not only transformed our School Library into a place where reading is/was celebrated but led several initiatives this week, including the Book Fair, Book Competitions & Book Parade, as part of celebrating National Book Week. I thank Mrs Waghorn for her tireless energy & commitment to our school & the wonderful work she does in ensuring we foster a love of reading in all our children.

Father's Day Celebration
Just a reminder that next Friday, 2nd September, we will not only be holding our Father's Day Celebration for all fathers, grandfathers & other significant men in our student's lives, but we invite all parents to stay for a combined "Build a Burger" lunch with the students.

Our celebration liturgy will occur at 12:00 pm, followed by lunch (at approx 12:30 pm).

All students & fathers (Dads eat for free!) burger orders must be completed by next Wednesday, the 31st, through our school Compass App. We look forward to your attendance as this is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our Dads and build community amongst our parents.

School Spelling BEE

Just a reminder that as part of celebrating the wonderful learning in our classrooms, the school would like to highlight the importance of spelling and the great spellers amongst our students.

Students will participate in elimination rounds to be held within classroom learning time next week, with the Top 4 students from each stage moving on to compete in Stage-based finals (i.e. Year 3&4). Our Spelling Bee Finals will be held on Friday 9th September at 2:00 pm (Week 8) in our amphitheatre, and we would love to have as many parents as possible join us in this event. Please note all students competing in the final rounds will be revealed prior to the day.

Hard copies of our Spelling Bee List Words were sent home, and PDF versions of each Stage's words can be found on the Newsfeed of Compass.

School Improvement Parent Survey

Just a reminder that our School Improvement Parent Survey closes next Wednesday, 31st August. At this stage, we have only had 11 people complete this survey, I would really appreciate families yet to complete a survey to do so. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process. 

Please use the following LINK to complete the survey.

We value the role of parents and carers within our school community, and we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership further to improve student learning and wellbeing in our school. The survey is anonymous and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. When the survey window opens, you can access the parent survey on your computer or mobile device.

Kind regards

Dale

Leaders of Learning

Supporting Reading Comprehension

This week, we have celebrated Book Week at St Joey’s. This is a wonderful time to celebrate reading and all things to do with books!

An important part of reading is comprehension;  understanding, and interpreting what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to: 

• (1) decode what they read; 
• (2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and 
• (3) think deeply about what they have read. 

One big part of comprehension is having a sufficient vocabulary or knowing the meanings of enough words. Readers with strong comprehension can draw conclusions about what they read – what is important, what is a fact, what caused an event to happen, and which characters are funny. Comprehension involves combining reading with thinking and reasoning.

What parents can do to help at home (no matter what level your child is reading)

• Hold a conversation and discuss what your child has read. Ask questions about the book and connect the events to their life. For example, say, "I wonder why that girl did that?" or "How do you think he felt? Why?" and "So, what lesson can we learn here?".
• Help your child connect what they read and similar experiences they felt, saw in a movie, or read in another book.
• Help your child monitor their understanding. Teach them to continually ask whether they understand what they are reading.
• Help your child go back to the text to support their answers.
• Discuss the meanings of unknown words.
• Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.
• Discuss what your child has learned from reading informational texts.

Mrs Bailey & Mrs Mullins

Mission & Values

MERCY VALUE - Service  

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”               - Hebrews 13:16

Service is showing leadership through actions to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and communities. It calls us to make a positive difference in each other’s lives and is about helping others. You help others because it is what God wants you to do, and you don’t ask for anything in return. This week, two of our students demonstrated service when they saw rubbish on the ground while playing in the morning. They left their game to pick up the rubbish and put it in the bin. They did not make a fuss or ask for a reward for doing so. Other examples of showing service include helping younger children on the playground, writing a new prayer and sharing it with friends and family, or helping out at home without being asked. 

Thank you, and well done to Hudson Ardrey and Harry Cook for demonstrating service by showing leadership and making a positive difference in our school community. 

First Holy Communion Preparation

Ash Hitchings and Reece Bennett have begun preparing for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion this week. In this sacrament, we remember the Last Supper, that final meal Jesus shared with his disciples. At that meal, Jesus gave us the Eucharist so that we could remember him in a special way. We become one with him, and we become one with each other. As a community, we become 'the body of Christ'. This will be held on Sunday, 11th September, in conjunction with our School Parish Mass.

All families and friends are warmly invited to attend this very special mass, commencing at 8:30 am.

Father’s Day Photos.

Father’s Day is fast approaching, and I would very much appreciate a photo of each of our students with their special male/person/s for our traditional Father’s Day slideshow, which is always a highlight of our school celebration. Please send these to louise.senz@lism.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible, as it takes a bit of time to put the slideshow together. Thank you to all those who have emailed their photos through. 

Religious Education Save the Dates

• Week 6, 7, 8 - First Holy Communion Preparation Classes (in school time)
• Week 7 - Father’s Day Celebration (Friday, 2nd September, 12:00 pm)
• Week 9 - Parish School Mass and First Holy Communion (11th September, 8:30 am)

Mrs Senz

Class Awards

Our Principal's Award winners are:

• Kindy - Elyse Upston
• Stage 1 -  Lila Salter
• Stage 2 - Brock Camilleri
• Year 5 - Liam Dahlenburg
• Year 6 - Tasmyn Norris

Our Class Award winners are: 

Class News - Stage 2

Stage 2 has been a hive of activity during this first half of Term 3. We have been having lots of fun with our English unit 'Animal Safari', learning new text types and developing our informative writing skills. The students have thrived on being immersed in rich experiences as a stimulus for our writing, allowing us to construct:

• Remarkable recounts and information reports about our excursion to see the animals at the Macadamia Castle. 

• Detailed descriptions of a Blue-tonged Lizard after getting up close and personal with 'Josh', the Blue-tongued Lizard, when he visited us in our classroom.

• Precise procedures after getting our hands dirty making Australian Native Bird Feeders.

We are sure you will enjoy reading some of these snippets as much as we enjoyed writing them. 

'Josh was as slow as a lazy seal sunbaking in the hot summer sun. He looked like a wet soggy log just after it had heavily rained. (Amelia Green - description)

'He eats the raw egg with his tongue, slowly licking it like a kid savouring an ice cream.' (Roman Hickling - description)

'The Tawny Frogmouth has a large, broad head. Their grey speckled coloured feathers are superb for camouflaging against the tree bark' Shilo Grivins - Information report)

'The wombat's main food is juicy grass, tough roots and hard bark. It can take fourteen whole days to digest a single meal!' (Roo Coulson - Information report)

Mrs Mclennan & Miss Ross

School Sport

NRMA Sea Breeze Motors Primary Tennis Championships 2022

Matias Ward, Kayla Ellis, Tasmyn Norris and Josie Chapman will be attempting to defend St Joseph’s title at the NRMA See Breeze Motors Primary Tennis Championships, which will be held next Monday, 29th August, at the Ryan Park Tennis Centre in Maclean. They will be competing against other Clarence Valley schools, and the competition is looking very strong, with Yamba Public recently finishing 3rd in the NSWPSSA Tennis Knockout. I am sure our team will be up for the challenge and will make the St Joseph’s School community proud with their efforts. I have seen team members on the courts regularly training with our local tennis professional Alan Jurd, so they will be prepared. Good Luck, team!

Upcoming Sporting Events

Stage 3 Clarence Zone Netball and Soccer Knockout:

The Clarence Zone will hold the annual Netball and Soccer Knockout event on Tuesday 6th September (Week 8) in Yamba. Each school in the Clarence Zone can enter a team in both events, with the winner going on to the Lismore Diocesan Netball and Soccer Knockout.

Yamba Touch Association Touch Gala Day:

Yamba Touch Football will hold the Primary Schools Touch Gala Day on Friday 16th September (Week 9) at the Angourie Sports Fields. This event will be for all students from Stages 2 and 3, focusing on participation and inclusivity. All teams will get to play several games to ensure plenty of time on the field for all students. Throughout this term, we have been running a Touch Football program to prepare our students for this event, so it will be great to see them put their skills into action.

Mr Hitchings

Pastoral Care - School Counsellor

SETTING BOUNDARIES

Personal boundaries are the limits and rules we set for ourselves within relationships. People with healthy boundaries can say “no” to others when they want to, but they are also comfortable opening themselves up to intimacy and close relationships.

Boundaries should be based on your values or the things that are important to you. For example, if you value spending time with family, set firm boundaries about working late. Your boundaries are yours, and yours alone. Many of your boundaries might align with those who are close to you, but others will be unique. Know your boundaries before entering a situation. This will make it less likely you’ll do something you’re not comfortable with.

To complete an exercise on setting healthy boundaries see the link below:

See the link below for more information on boundaries.

Kate Naylor - School Counsellor & Art Therapist

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

Fundraiser

The national colours of Ukraine were splashed over St Joseph's on Wednesday. Our students wore blue and yellow while eating blue and yellow jelly. 

Congratulations to all our families. We raised just over $180. We will send these funds along with our Mercy value of courage (Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong) to the Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need to help refugees fleeing combat zones. 

Once again, our SRC were incredible, serving our students alongside our staff. 

Thank you to all our families who helped raise awareness and funds for this cause. 

Thank you to all staff and students for making this day possible. 

Ms Mead

School Chaplain

Library News

Book Week

What a fabulously fun Book Week it was! A big thank you to all students and families who purchased books through this year's Book Fair; the proceeds go towards purchasing more books for our school library, which is appreciated and will be enjoyed for many years to come. 

As well as exploring the great books in the Book Fair, students had fun in the library with activities ranging from Book Bingo to Scavenger Hunts, and we even played a game where we could learn some of the book titles in Spanish thanks to the help of our wonderful volunteer Sue Winter. 

Book Week concluded with our Book Character Dress-Up Parade today, which was wonderful to share with our families and friends after a couple of years of not having parents on site due to restrictions. Thank you again to everyone involved!

Pastoral Care - Family Connect

Parents NSW Vouchers expiring in October

Parents NSW Vouchers were launched in February 2022 to reward and thank eligible NSW households for their efforts to support learning from home in 2021. Until October, one person from each household can apply for 5 x $50 vouchers, worth $250 in total - eligible householders can apply here:

The 5 x $50 Parents NSW Vouchers can be used:

• 7 days a week, including public holidays
• at participating businesses that offer arts, tourism and recreational activities
  
• at Stay NSW businesses for accommodation bookings
  
• until 9 October 2022.
  

The vouchers can be used locally at recreational venues like the cinema and bowling and for accommodation bookings across the state. Many holiday parks will accept vouchers that can be redeemed for a future booking. It can be helpful to contact businesses directly to inquire, even if your chosen activity or accommodation provider is not appearing when you search participating businesses on the Service NSW website.
If you would like any more information on how to access the vouchers or other support for families, feel free to contact me.

Skye Pullen - Family Connect Worker

0417004779 or skye.pullen@socialfutures.org.au

Community Notices