Week 8 - Term 4 Newsletter 2022

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

It has been a busy couple of weeks to finish off our year, from our Year 5 Leadership Speeches, Kindy Orientation Night, Gala Days to our wonderful Christmas Concert coming up next week and then our Year 6 Graduation & End of Year Prize Giving in Week 10.

2023 School Leaders

A special mention to both Billy Opalnuik & Dayla Chapman who, after conducting Year 5 Leadership Speeches this week, were appointed School Captains for 2023 along with Huon McLennan & Kavanna Corcoran who were appointed as Vice Captains. I look forward to working alongside these students and the rest of our Year 6 leaders in ensuring student voice continues to develop in our school. Please see below our other leadership appointments for 2023. A reminder that SRC Leaders from Year 2-5 will be selected in Week 2 - Term 1 next year.

• School Captains - Billy Opalnuik & Dayla Chapman
• Vice Captains - Huon McLennan & Kavanna Corcoran
• Bundjalung Captains -Reef Crofton & Seth Hausler
• Gibraltar Captains -  Lachlan Coulter & Reece Marchant
• Yuriygur Captains - Olive Ardrey & Liam Dahlendburg
• SRC Captains - Kayla Thomas Hourigan, Tate Anderson & Ezra Grivens
• Community Captains - Harry Cook, Alexander Frame & Bronx Hickling
• Mission Captains - Gabbie Quarello & Hudson Ardey

End of Year Events

Just a reminder of a number of our End of Year Events that are upcoming prior to finishing our 2022 School Year:

School Christmas Concert - Tuesday 6th December (6:00pm)

Our classes have been practising and rehearsing their items this term and we look forward to sharing these performances with our school community. All are welcome to attend with our concert beginning at 6:00pm. Parent Forum will be running a BBQ from 5:30-6:00pm for those wishing to purchase a sausage sandwich ($2) for dinner prior to the concert, both cash & eftpos facilities will be available. Please note that the BBQ will not be serving once our Concert begins, as to allow for all parents to be able to watch their children's performances.

End of Year Prize Giving - Tuesday 13th December (12:00pm)

This event is a wonderful time as a school parish community to acknowledge our school leaders and ensure we are centred on Christ. Following our End of Year Liturgy, we will be presenting our End of Year Awards that recognise students in all classes under the following categories: Academic Achievement, Faith in Action, and Learning Begins with Me.  All families are welcome to attend, please be aware that the Front Office will be in contact confidentially to inform parents if their child is receiving an award. Our Year 6 students will also be recieving their Graduation Certificates at this event. 

Year 6 Graduation -  Tuesday 13th December (6:00pm)

Our Year 6 Families will be coming together at the Maclean Pub, to celebrate and recognise the wonderful journey of our Year 6 students prior to heading off to secondary education. Please see Miss Zietsch if you have any queries regarding this event.

END OF YEAR FUND DAYS -  Wednesday 14th - Friday 16th December

To celebrate the end of 2022, the school will be finishing with "Activity Days" on Wednesday 14th - Friday 16th December (Week 10). These days will be fun-filled and a wonderful way to celebrate our school year and build a sense of community.

• Wednesday 14th - School Christmas Carnival
• Thursday 15th - Maclean Pool & Class Movie
• Friday 16th -  Yamba Bowling Club Activities Day

We are conscious of not placing unwanted pressure on families at this time of the year so there is NO COST  for any of these events, we just ask for a Gold Coin donation on the Wednesday for the Christmas Carnival. These events are available in Compass for permission to be given.

Kindy Welcome Night

Thank you to all our Little Joey's & Year 5 familes that were able to attend our 2023 Kindergarten Welcome Night on Tuesday. This was such a beautiful event & due to being conscious of so many new families in our 2023 Kindy cohort, we decided to make sure this night had a focus on "creating a sense of belonging & community". 

Thank you to all our Year 5 families who already had a busy day with Leadership speeches to attend on the night, as this assisted 'building community' with our new families. It was also a wonderful way for the students and their 'future Year 6 buddies' to meet, as well as their parents. After a lovely dinner & drinks, provided by the Parent Forum, the night concluded with our Kindy parents having an opportunity to meet with Miss Lovegrove in an Information Session. After such a fantastic night and great feedback, I dare say, that this night may become an annual event for our new Kindy families.

Kind regards

Dale

Leaders of Learning

Winding down and Winding up…Practice makes Perfect!

As the year winds down, there is always a big finale that we look forward to each year…The Christmas Concert. Each class is busy polishing, practising and perfecting their items in readiness for the night. Costumes have been planned, and I am sure all families have been given a list of simple requirements for their child’s performance. 

For some students, performing in front of an audience can be daunting, whilst for others, it is an opportunity to shine in the spotlight.  This week we are sharing some photos from each class; Kindy and Year 6 dancing together, Year 5 rehearsing their leadership speeches, S2 reciting poetry,  and S1 doing their dance.

Here are some tips to support your child as they prepare for the night.

1. Be encouraging - encourage your child to perform their best and engage in the dance/song.  
2. Be organised - ensure all costumes and props are gathered early and not left to find the day before.
3. Recruit a cheer squad - invite family and friends to come along and watch. It is always reassuring to see familiar faces in the crowd.
4. Celebrate -  A special card or a post-performance treat are all great ways to celebrate your child’s efforts and accomplishments.
5. Talk about the concert - Talk about what your child might expect to see, hear, and do; especially if they are new to the school.

Mrs Bailey and Mrs Mullins

Mission & Values

Mercy in Action - Acts of Kindness

As we head into one of the busiest times of the year, I think we can all benefit from some kindness from others. This year, we are posting an Act of Kindness each day on our Facebook and Instagram accounts together with some of our students who are helping to countdown to Christmas.  The kindness suggestions are very simple actions that don’t cost money, just a little bit of your time and effort.  Being kind encompasses all of our Mercy Values;

• Service, 
• Compassion, 
• Respect, 
• Justice, 
• Hospitality, and 
• Courage.

I hope that you can fulfil some of these actions in this season of Advent, and I also hope that you are the recipient of many.

Liturgical Calendar - Advent

What is Christmas really all about?

At this time of year, trying to navigate through and around all the hustle and bustle of gift shopping, meal planning, decorating, concerts and activities, holiday parties, family pictures and greeting cards, boxes, packages, wrappings, and bows, do you ever find yourself wondering the same question — “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

Sometimes we simply need to pause, taking a moment to catch our breath and reflect.

This week for our class prayer the students viewed an animation featuring Linus explaining to Charlie Brown exactly what Christmas is all about.  I hope you enjoy the simplicity of Linus and his response to Charlie.

Mrs Mullins

Class Awards

Our Principal's Award winners are:

• Kindy - Phoebe Senz
• Stage 1 - Oliver Want 
• Stage 2 - Emily Dahlenburg
• Year 5 - All of Year 5
• Year 6 - Emily Upston

Our Class Award winners are: 

Class News - Year 5

During Term 4, Year 5 have been exploring and composing a number of different poems to entertain their audience. When reading poems, they have identified poetic devices such as simile, metaphor and personification, which help to build a picture for the audience. So far, they have composed a ballad, limericks, blackout, and free verse poems that include these poetic devices. Here are some examples of their free-verse poems. The children had to choose a theme or topic, and then used an online tool called magnetic poems to compose them.

Mrs Senz

School Sport

Stage 2 & 3 Soccer Gala Day

On Friday, 27th November, Stage 2 and Stage 3 went to Wherrett park for a Soccer Gala Day run by Northern NSW Football.

St Joseph's had the opportunity to play against other schools in a round-robin, five a side format, using Mini Roos rules on a modified-sized pitch.

Despite the very hot weather, the children had a fun-filled day with many goals scored and many laughs had. It's always great to catch up with friends from other schools too!

Mr Hitchings

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

St Vinnies Christmas Appeal

We are still in need of your generosity as we continue to rebuild strength in the men and women experiencing disadvantage this christmas. 

Thank you for your generous donations so far. 

We are still needing to fill our hampers with non-perishable food, new toys or money. 

Hampers will be located in classrooms for students to place items. These hampers are given to families within Clarence to help make their Christmas a special one. 

SRC Student Representative Council

Our SRC are focusing on our end of year Christmas Carnival. Our wonderful SRC along with our year 6 students will be busy organising the day's activities. In pairs students will rotate the running of selected activities over a two hour period for all the students to enjoy. 

We invite all students to participate and wear Christmas clothes on the day.

Community Connect

A huge thank you to St VIncent De Paul for your generosity that you have given towards our Breakfast club throughout the year. This has provided ongoing work to ensure all students can fully participate in their learning at school and build happy and healthy lives. You have made Thursday mornings such a wonderful time for our students to gather together and serve others. 

Thank you to all our amazing students that have given up their playtime to volunteer in our Breakfast Club. Without your service this would not have been possible. You are so appreciated by our school community.

LAP

Thank you so much to our wonderful LAP volunteers for your kindness, time and effort you have shown to our students this year. We are so fortunate to have you as part of our school family and we hope to see you next year. 

We wish you the Merriest Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

A special thankyou to Sue Winter for your expertise in teaching us Spanish every Tuesday at lunch. We have thoroughly enjoyed learning another language with you. You are an absolute treasure. 

Ms Mead

School Chaplain