Week 2 - Term 2 Newsletter 2021

Principals Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Welcome back to what is shapping up to be another wonderful term of learning and community. A big thank you to all the families and students who attended last week's ANZAC Day March. We could not have been more proud of the following students that represented the school:

Hudson & Olive Ardrey, Ella Boon, Hugh, Grace & Lawson Bell,  Sahara & Kahiah Cook, Lachlan Coulter, Alice Davis, Dayla Chapman, Maverick Fear, Mahala Hitchings, Thomas Hourigan, Sam and Jack Kirkland, Jason Maitz, Reece Marchant, Huon McLennan, Billy Opalnuik, Jack Robinson, Matias and Oliver Ward.

We are so grateful for the fantastic Parish School we are a part of and it was lovely to see all the siblings and parents join us in the commemoration ceremony. Thank you to both Maverick & Mahala for laying the wreath on behalf of our school. Also a further thank you to all the Stage 3 students for leading the school ANZAC Liturgy on Monday - this was an important time for us, as a whole school, to reflect and acknowledge those who have served our country.

PROCLAIM - Pupil Free Day - Wednesday 5th May

Please be aware that next Wednesday 6th May is a Pupil Free Day for all students.

Whilst I acknowledge the difficulty this mid-week PD day places on our families with the care of children, the Catholic Schools Office has mandated this day, so I apologise for the inconvenience this may cause for some of our families, as this is ultimately out of my control. That being said, this day is a chance for all staff in our Lismore Diocese to come together (albeit virtually) and grow in their personal & collective Catholic faith.

This scheduled Staff Development Day aims to reinvigorate staff with prayer, purpose, and passion towards a recommitment to their vocation and the call to Missionary Discipleship. Proclaim Lismore Staff 2021 is a pupil free day called for by the Bishop and entrusted to enhance and strengthen the foundations of Catholic culture in Catholic Education in the Diocese of Lismore.

This event will take place next week and will again see almost 3000 staff come together in 45 schools to refocus on their vocation and the call to Missionary Discipleship. The school appreciates your support of this day.

Statement of Intent: Our Shared Commitment

The role of schools in strengthening children and young people’s understanding of consent and preventing and responding to sexual assault and sexual violence among young people.

A Statement of Intent was signed on Friday, 26 March 2021, by the Government,  Catholic and Independent Schools to strengthen school-aged children and young people’s ability to form healthy relationships,  understanding of consent and harm prevention. The Statement acknowledges the key role of school staff, in partnership with families,  in supporting change.

This Statement is our system commitment, which recognises the innate dignity of the child and young person and their inherent goodness, ‘to enable each to achieve the fullness of life'.  The Statement acknowledges the key role of school staff, in partnership with families, in supporting children and young people to reach their full potential by strengthening their ability to form healthy relationships, understand consent and harm prevention. 

As a system of Catholic schools, we recognise our duties and responsibilities as educators and the growing concerns in the community in this area. We believe that each person is made in the image and likeness of God and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, religion or ethnicity.

At St Joseph's Primary Maclean, we believe in delivering a robust curriculum across stages. Healthy relationships and harm prevention is in the following PDHPE units:

• Kindergarten - Positive, Safe Choices
• Stage 1 - What Makes You, You
• Stage 2 - Personal Safety
• Stage 3 - Emotionally aware

The voice of parents/carers is valuable as the first and continuing educators of their children. We encourage families to complete a survey to support our future direction in driving cultural change around respectful relationships.

The survey is open until Friday, 7 May.

School Grounds Improvements

Over the last 2 weeks, you would have noted several changes and improvements occurring to our School grounds and did occur during our holiday break. These changes include:

• Student toilet block - which was completed today and will allow our students to feel safe in a more hygenic and clean setting. These toilets are also more open, allowing staff supervision when students are waiting to use the toilet cubicles.
• School security fencing will be finished over the course of the term and ensure our school grounds are secure and locked after hours and on weekends and ensure entry points are more restrictive and easily monitored.
• Library carpeting - our school library and adjacent meeting rooms have all been recarpeted, bringing a fresh new look.
• Undercover verandahs - these outdoor walkways adjacent to Stage 1 & Stage 2 classrooms have been re-sheeted and insulated. 

Mother's Day High Tea & Liturgy

A reminder to all our mother's, grandmothers and significant women in our students lives that you are invited to attend both our Mother's Day High Tea (10:30 am) and/or our Mother's Day Liturgy (12:00 pm) next Friday, 7th May. This is a lovely way to, as a school community, celebrate and show our appreciation to the wonderful women in our children's lives. 

The school will also be running a Stall on Tuesday 4th May and students are invited to purchase a gift for their Mother/Nan. Please note that all gifts will be $5 each & student will only be able to purchase a 2nd gift once all classes have attended the stall. This stall is only optional & if students have organised gifts elsewhere, please don’t feel obligated to purchase.

This term we welcome two 2 new students, Brock (Yr2) & Bella (K) Camilleri 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.

Lastly, on behalf of the school, I would like to sadly farewell one of our families, the Fear family (Maverick, Zhepplin & Paityn), as they make the move to Kyogle this weekend. We thank them for their involvement and time in our school community and whilst we are very saddened to see them go, we wish them all the best in their new adventures.

Thanking you

Dale

Leaders of Learning

Learning in Infants

It has been a dynamic start to Term 2 in our Early Years. Both Kindergarten and Stage 1 have learned about Anzac Day, its importance, and some of the traditions that surround the day. Kindy participated in our Anzac Ceremony, read and followed a procedure to make Anzac Biscuits. The highlight was obviously eating them at the end! Stage 1 toured Maclean Vet Clinic, listened to Doctor Nicole and Emily as they explained how they cared for all sorts of animals and wrote informative texts about what they learnt. The critical component in the learning for Stage 1 and Kindy is that the teaching is consolidated by experience. Experiences such as these are a vital part of the learning e do in the early years here at St Joey's. Excursions and hands-on learning like cooking engage all our senses, reinforce classroom learning which makes it easier for kids to learn - not to mention it’s just plain fun! 

Mrs Bailey 

Learning in Primary

NAPLAN

Year 3 and Year 5 are busily building their 'test literacy' in preparation for NAPLAN ( National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy). This means the teachers have been familiarising students with the types of questions they may encounter in the tests, strategies for selecting the best answer from multiple choice questions, time management and writing/typing fluency. NAPLAN is not a test that children can prepare for in the same way they might prepare for an end of term test. NAPLAN tests skills that develop and improve over time. These are skills that should be continuously developed throughout the year and not just in the lead-up to NAPLAN.

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about student progress.

Students will complete assessments in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy in Week 4, with catchup time allowed in Week 5 for absent students.   NAPLAN results are delivered to schools from mid-August to mid-September and passed onto families at this point.

If you are interested in viewing past papers to become more familiar with the tests, ACARA has them in PDF formats here.  One of the best ways to help your child prepare for NAPLAN is to have plenty of rest and encourage them to try their best.

Mrs Mullins

Mission & Values

Anzac Commemoration

On Monday, we held our Anzac Service, which was attended by RSL representative, Mr Steve Walton. Mr Walton passed his war medals around for the students to view and shared some very wise words about the opportunities a good education provides for a positive future. We would like to thank the Maclean RSL for their kind donation of funds to purchase library resources.

I would also like to thank Mrs Bailey for sourcing our handcrafted 'Unknown Soldier' from Shaun Flannery in Townsend and Mrs Waghorn for hand painting our ANZAC banner, which we proudly hung from our new fence.  The students were very respectful and reverent during the service, remembering our servicemen and women as each class laid a wreath in their honour.

Catholic Schools Week

Today we celebrated Catholic Schools Week with a liturgy, cooperative games and a BIG cake. We are so lucky to have such an amazing school with fantastic students, supportive families, in a great school community.

Catholic Schools Week is an important time of year where we celebrate the role of Catholic Schools in enabling students to achieve the ‘fullness of life’. It is a time when we acknowledge and give thanks for the exceptional learning and teaching that takes place in our school each day and all of those people who make Catholic Education possible. 

This year marks the 200th Anniversary of Catholic Schools in Australia and includes the feast day of St Joseph the Worker, which is celebrated tomorrow on the first of May.  The video below includes some video and snapshots of our liturgy and activities.

Sacramental Program

Our Sacramental program will commence this term for baptised students wishing to complete their sacraments. Bishop Greg has adjusted the program in response to COVID, and we are now offering Confirmation for Year 3 students and First Holy Communion for Year 4 students. I will send home further details for families next week.  If there are older students who wish to complete their sacraments, please feel free to contact me.

Mother's Day Celebration

All our special ladies are invited to attend our Mother's Day Celebration on Friday 9th May at 12:00 pm under the shelter.  We look forward to seeing lots of mums, grans, aunts and other special ladies there so we can acknowledge what an amazing job you do!

Mrs Mullins

Class News - Stage 1

Stage 1 has started this term with a bang! We have had our Cross Country and Colour Run, ANZAC Day, and we have even been on an excursion. All within the first two weeks!

This term in English, we are learning about informative writing. We have written fact files on ourselves, which we have presented orally in front of the class. This helped us decipher between fact and opinion and also helped refine our presentation skills.

On Wednesday, we visited the Maclean Vet Clinic to learn all about what a vet does, the different animals they look after and the tools and equipment they use. We will now use all this information to write informative reports. Thank you very much, Emily and Dr Nicole, for showing us around. There may even be a future vet or 2 in Stage 1!

In Maths, we have been exploring Chance. We went off into the playground to look at the chance of things happening in real life, such as will it rain today? What’s something that you think might happen today?

Great work Stage 1. We are very proud of how well you have all started off the term. 

Miss Moore and Mrs Senz

Class Awards

Congratulations to the following students recognised at this fortnight's Awards Assembly:

Principal Awards:   Alice Davis, Oliver Want, Liam Dahlenburg & Maverick Fear

Class Awards:

Pastoral Care - School Counsellor

Exploring Character Strengths – COMPASSION

What is Compassion?

Compassion is defined as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering”.

What does it look like in practice? 

Compassion is understanding and caring about someone who is in trouble  or is hurt. If you are growing compassion, you try to forgive someone when  they make a mistake as you care more about them than the mistake.  Compassion takes many forms but can look like:

• Noticing someone is sad, and we try and help them  
• If someone doesn’t mean to hurt us, we are quick to forgive them and move on  
• Someone falls over, we stop and check to see if they are ok  
• Someone accidentally bumps into us, they say sorry, and we  move on quickly  

How can we encourage Compassion in our children? 

When teaching compassion to kids, it is important to also teach the understanding that people experience compassion uniquely. Some people prefer a hug. Others might respond better to kind words. Also, different situations require different kinds of compassion. It is an abstract concept that kids have to learn in real-world settings in order to better understand its nuance.

The best way for kids to learn compassion is through watching models of this behaviour. Teachers, parents, and other adults need to behave this way for children to see it as valuable and find approval in copying it. Finding compassion in moments of adversity is a skill that all adults can work to master. The future generation depends on it.

Click here for some animations you can share with children.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”  Dalai Lama

Kate Naylor – School Counsellor & Art Therapist

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

Mother’s Day High Tea

Next Friday 7th May at 10.30 am, is our Annual Mother's Day High Tea. This is a special time for our school community to thank the wonderful women in our lives and show them how much they are loved. We can’t wait to spoil our Mums, Grandmothers and special women. We encourage as many ladies to attend, followed by our Mother's Day celebration at 12:00 pm. This day is proudly and generously funded by the Parent Forum, with our coffee generously funded by Botero.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is up and running again in Term 2. Every Friday wholemeal toast with cheese, vegemite, honey or avocado is available. Yoghurt, fruit cups, milk and porridge is also available. This is a free breakfast for all our students to enjoy. Breaky club is generously funded by St Vincent De Paul Maclean.

Project Compassion

What an amazing effort you all have made with this fundraiser! As a school community we have raised over $600. Thank you families! $600 can construct a water point to provide clean, reliable water for a community in Tanzania. Stage 2 raised the most and will be enjoying pizza this Thursday at lunch time.

Ms Juana Mead

School Chaplain

School Sport

School Cross Country 

Congratulations to all students on their efforts at our Cross Country Carnival last week. I hope all families who attended, had a wonderful day. Thank you to all our staff who also coordinated our Colour-Run following the races, this was a wonderful initiative to finish off the day in style. Please find below our age/event place getters for the day.  Also a special mention to Bundjalung who took out the carnival.  

• Kindy Boys - Oliver Want (1st),  Lawson Bell (2nd),  Kal-El Randall (3rd)
• Kindy Girls - Bella Camilleri (1st),  Kahiah Cook (2nd),  Noa Chapman (3rd)
• Stage 1 Boys - Jai Agic (1st),  Wiliam King (2nd),  Bailey Smidt (3rd)
• Stage 1 Girls - Alexia Dawes (1st),  Sophia Wright (2nd),  Alice Davis (3rd)
• 8 & 9yr Boys -Reece Bennett (1st),  Hugo Simpson (2nd),  Reece Marchant (3rd)
• 8 & 9yr Girls - Sahara Cook (1st),  Ivy Towner (2nd),  Lily Hancock (3rd)
• 10yr Boys - Sam Carroll (1st),  Reef Crofton (2nd),  Matias Ward (3rd)
• 10yr Girls - Dayla Chapman (1st) Kavana Corcoran (2nd)  
• 11yr Boys - Sonny Bennett (1st),  Ryley Bultitude (2nd),  Dane Campbell (3rd)
• 11yr Girls - Tasmyn Norris (1st),  Josie Chapman (2nd),  Emma Senz (3rd)
• 12yr Boys - Reuben Lewis (1st),  Maverick Fear (2nd)
• 12yr Girls - Ella Boon (1st),  Hailey O'Grady (2nd)

Zone Cross Country 

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Zone Cross Country at McAuley Catholic College in Grafton. Despite patches of rain, it was a successful day and our students put in some courageous efforts. Our students need to be acknowledged for the team spirit displayed as they cheered on all members of our team. 

Special mention to  Tasmyn Norris (1st Place) who qualified for the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival to be held again in Grafton, but later in the term (Week 5). We wish you all the best for a safe and successful carnival.

Creative Art Term 2

Term 2 Music - School Song

Welcome parents and caregivers!

2021 is the year we write, rehearse and proudly sing a St Joeys School Song... and you're here to help with your voice and ideas!

The intention is to gather 'voice' from our students, staff, and family/ school community. This contribution will ultimately help to inform the lyrics of a school song that will hopefully be with us for many, many years to come.

Including this, we are very honoured and happy to announce that we have been given permission by Uncle Billy Walker and the Native Title committee to use Yaegl language within this school song - paying our respects to the custodians of the land we gather on and the Yaegl people's traditions and songlines.  

We thoroughly appreciate your input and look forward to sharing this process with you as we go. Please find the link to the Google Form attached below. ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL SONG 2021

Maclean Show

The Maclean Show provided St Joey's the opportunity to showcase a selection of our talented student 'Archibald' portraits to the wider community. The feedback was amazing from our community and the shows judging panel. We would like to congratulate the following students on their places; across a variety of categories...FIRST - Ethan McLeanSECOND - Jason Maitz, Emily Dahlenburg, William King, Georgia Salter, Mackenzee DahlenburgTHIRD - Noa Chapman, Josie Chapman, Sahara CookHIGHLY COMMENDED - Bronx Hickling, Sonny Bennett, Cooper Want 

Mrs Zietsch

School News - School Banking

Due to Wednesday the 5th May being a PUPIL FREE DAY.

School banking will be processed  on Thursday 6th May.

Mrs Kathy Johnson

Notes Sent Home

Please find below links to the following School Notes that were sent home in the last fortnight:

Community News