Week 10 - Term 3 Newsletter 2022

Principal's Message

Dear Parents & Carers,

Thank you for a lovely last week of Term 3, despite bad weather and an impromptu Public Holiday, we were able to get in our Golfing Experience Day, SRC Fun Day and our Handball Championships. A special congratulations to the following students who took out or Handball Championships on Wednesday:

• Kindy Champion: Rose Mclennan
• Stage 1 Champion: Zion Coulson
• Stage 2 Champion: Hugo Simpson
• Stage 3 Champion: Jack Robinson

Term 4 Pupil Free Day

Just a reminder that next term, staff will have a Professional Development Day focusing on embedding Aboriginal perspectives into our teaching curriculum. During this day, staff will engage with Aboriginal Elders to learn about our local history and sites of significance. This experience will better equip us to acknowledge and support our local Indigenous community and incorporate an Indigenous perspective in all we do. 

Students return to school on TUESDAY 11TH OCTOBER. 

School Fees
Please note that all outstanding school fees for Term 3 must be finalised by Wednesday, 16th October (Week 1, Term 4). Thank you to those families who continue to pay their school fees on time. It is greatly appreciated. Whilst I acknowledge fees can sometimes place financial stress on families, school fees are our main source of income and necessary for our school to be a sustainable organisation.

If any family requires an extension on their term fees, please contact me to discuss a suitable payment arrangement or an approved payment plan that acknowledges your circumstances. To assist with the payment of school fees and other costs (i.e excursions/sporting events), the school accepts payment via Compass Pay, and Direct Debit. The School Office has an Eftpos Merchant Facility available, allowing families the opportunity to pay using a Credit/Debit Card.

Correct School Uniform
When we return in Term 4, it is important that all students present to school wearing their correct school uniform (SUMMER). Please see our Parent Handbook for our Uniform Expectations as a number of our students are starting to wear black shorts that are not 'Plain black' shorts with various brands/logos.

Again, thank you for a lovely term. I trust you will have a safe and rewarding break with your families, and look forward to seeing you again in Term 4.

Kind regards

Dale

Leaders of Learning

I don’t know how they teach maths at school now!
I have often heard this statement made by parents, so this week I am including some PL (Parent Learning) on a topic we all know well…addition and subtraction.
Being ‘good’ at adding and subtracting is a useful life skill for everyone, and being able to do it  ‘in your head’ is really useful. We teach our students age-appropriate, efficient strategies for addition and subtraction together with estimating a reasonable answer.  I have included some strategies from our Maths Syllabus so that next time you are doing maths with your child...you can impress them with how ‘smart’ you are! 

Mrs Bailey & Mrs Mullins

Mission & Values

Mercy Value - COMPASSION

As God’s Chosen ones, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.   - First Letter of Paul to the Colossians 3:12

The mercy value of compassion is about loving and caring for your family and friends and showing kindness to people who are sad or upset to help them feel better. The mercy value of compassion is about feeling that you can make a difference. You can show compassion by being a good listener, looking for ways to help others in your community, sticking up for people if something is unfair, looking for people being left out and inviting them to join you, forgiving those who hurt you and sharing your belongings. 

It was a pleasure to have morning duty early this week and witness compassion everywhere I looked. I saw students inviting others to join in their games, listening to each other as they talked about their weekends, and making sure games were fair for all. I couldn’t find anyone to single out because everyone was showing compassion in some way. Well done, St Joseph’s!

First Holy Communion    

Congratulations to Ash Hitchings and Reece Bennett, who made their First Holy Communion in St. Mary's Church on Sunday, 11th September.  We thank Fr Nicolas Maurice for celebrating the Mass with us and family and friends who came along to support Ash and Reece in preparing and celebrating this most special sacrament. 

A BIG thank you also goes to Luca and Gabbie,  who not only attended our Parish School Mass but assisted by taking on reading and prayers of the faithful.

Feast Day of the Sisters of Mercy.

This Saturday, the 24th of September, we celebrate the Feast Day of the Sisters of Mercy. St Joseph's Maclean was first opened in 1899 by the Sisters of Mercy, who had arrived in Maclean the previous year in 1898. The Sisters of Mercy were started by Catherine McAuley in Ireland, and they developed a set of six Educational Values, which we have on display throughout the school. They include; Compassion, Justice, Respect, Hospitality, Service and Courage. We at St Joseph’s strive each and every day to enact these values.

To celebrate this feast day today, students took part in a whole school liturgy. Thank you to our Year 6 leaders for leading us through such a lovely liturgy.

Save the Date

Week 3  - Exuro retreat for year 5 students (Friday, 28th October)

Mrs Senz

Class Awards

Our Principal's Award winners are:

• Kindy - Xavier Foscarini
• Stage 1 - Kyah Horan  
• Stage 2 - Meesha Ellis
• Year 5 - Alexander Frame
• Year 6 - Luca Quarello

Our Class Award winners are: 

Class News - Year 6

Year 6 have been working hard this term, building and refining their knowledge of the various types, structures and features of informative texts during their English block.

Smaller and snappier assessment tasks saw students write the following informative texts:

• An information report on a person, place or object that they are interested in or passionate about
  (I learnt a TONNE about a handful of footy players, turtles, the Royal Regiment of the AFD, Asian Elephants, Axolotl and Ford T Buckets)
• An informative presentation tying our Geography and Religion units together where students had to imagine they were a reporter for National Geographic magazine. Composing a detailed information report to feature in a magazine special edition dedicated to animals and their environments.
• A biography outlining the life of a famous/ notable person

In Religious Education this term, we have been looking at our call to be Stewards of Creation and Creation, a gift from God. We delved into Laudato Si, handed down by the Pope and immersed ourselves in the Yaegl Creation story and our connection to and through Creation and the land we live on.

Have a read of some of the beautiful prayers that Year 6 developed about our beautiful Earth and her importance!

There's 10 weeks left with this glorious bunch for Term 4; we’re going to make it the best time yet!

Graduation, here we come!

Ms Zietsch & Mrs Duncan

School Sport

Yamba Touch Gala Day:

On Friday, the 16th of September Stage 2 & 3 travelled to the Angourie Sports Complex to participate in the Yamba Touch Gala Day. It was a great day where students could put the skills we have been developing through our touch program throughout the term. More importantly, it was a chance for our students to interact and have fun with students from schools in the local area. Students played either 4 or 5 matches against teams from other schools with the main focus on fun and inclusion. This ensured all students got plenty of game time, allowing them to be active and work together as a team. Everyone had a great day, and I would like to thank all the staff and students for representing our school in this community event that helps develop relationships between schools and students from the area.

Lunchtime Launch it Program:

On Tuesday, NSW Golf Professional Luke Woods came to St Joseph’s to allow our students to participate in the state-wide golf program “Lunchtime Launch It”. Each class attended an hour session where they were given the chance to experience some foundational golf skills: chipping, putting and driving. Attempting to chip into an umbrella and putting were fun for the kids, but the stand out was definitely the golf simulator that saw the students competing to see who could hit the ball the furthest with a 7 iron. The students were able to hit 3 shots and see how their shots compared to their peers on the Interactive whiteboard as it gave them data. Throughout the day, they had a leaderboard going, and Golf NSW are hoping to get a live leaderboard started on their website, allowing students to see how they compare to students from schools all over the state. The students had a great day and we are hoping to get Luke Woods back to visit the school soon.

Mr Hitchings

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

Handball Competition

The St Joseph’s handball competition was the icing on the cake for a fun-packed day. The cheering was heard throughout the school! Thank you, Mr Layland, for organising a great event for all to enjoy. Congratulations to the winners and participants.

SRC FUN Day

The SRC Funday games were thoroughly enjoyed by students, thanks to the wonderful teachers at St Joey’s. This was topped off with snow cones for all. What a great way to end the term. Great idea, SRC!

Ms Mead

School Chaplain

Library News

Clarence Valley Libraries

Don’t forget the Clarence Valley libraries offer a great range of activities during the school holidays. These events run at many locations, for different ages and all events are free! Check out the poster below for more information, and happy holidays to all.

Mrs Waghorn

Parent Forum

Cyber Safety Parent Night - SAVE THE DATE 

Please save Tuesday, 8th November, for an upcoming Parent Learning Night focused on Cyber Safety.

Through the assistance of Parent Assembly, we have been able to organise Simon Richardson, who works for 'Stay Safe on Social', a company that has presented to more than 300,000 students, their parents, and teachers about cyber safety issues (and to our school in 2019). You will learn vital information around: Social Media Awareness, Online Grooming, Digital Footprint, Cyber-bulling & harassment and much more. We look forward to seeing as many parents & caregivers at this event as possible.

Simon will present to our Parent Community on Tuesday 8th November from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm. We will provide pizza and babysitting to allow as many parents as possible to attend. RSVPs will go out in Week 1 next term.

CANTEEN FUNDRAISER Trivia Night

Are you smarter than a 5th grader!? Our school canteen is getting an upgrade and Parent Forum are raising funds to contribute to the refurbishment. Please support our school and come along to our fundraising Trivia Night - Are you smarter than a 5th grader?- on Friday 4th November at 6pm to be hosted by Dale.Get your family and friends together for a fun evening, dress up in what was popular when you were in 5th grade. There will be lots of prizes up for grabs, and prizes for the best dressed table and the best decorated table.
Bookings can be made through the front office, either register your table of 8 or register to be put on to a table. Family and friends welcome!The cost is $15 per head and don't forget to bring your spare change for games on the night.BYO drinks and nibbles.Unfortunately childcare is unable to be provided for this event.

Parent Retreat

Please see the below flyer and contact myself or the school if you'd like to express an interest in attending the Family Faith Retreat.

Lauren Kirkland

Chairperson of the Parent Forum

Community Notices