Term 1 Week 6

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

School Lunches

Eating time (both lunch and recess) is an important time in the school day. We have designated areas where the children are supervised to ensure children eat the food that you, the parents and carers have prepared for them.

There has been a lot of wastage and so the children are now encouraged to take home the food that they do not eat so that you can monitor how much they are eating. Please check your children's bags at the end of each day and make sure the food is removed.

Beacon App

Telethon Kids Institute and Bankwest have launched Beacon - a cyber safety educational app designed to keep parents and carers up to date with trusted, tailored information, to help keep their kids safe online. Beacon will shine a light on the online world with:

• Articles and videos backed by the latest research
• Tailored content and alerts, unique to your family needs
• Create your own family agreement
• Help and services that are available to you and your family

With every good wish,                                                                                                                                                                Lee Denton                                                                                                                                                                                      Principal                                                                                                                                                                                        Masters of Education (Leadership)

Assistant Principal-Anne Forwell

Staff Development Days - Pupil free

There will be a pupil free day in week 9 of this term on Monday 22 March. 

There will also be a pupil free day at the start of Term 2 on Monday 19 April. The first day of school for all students will be Tuesday 20 April. 

Again we appreciate your support for allowing our staff to upskill so that we can provide the best possible education for your children.  Thank you to our wonderful families. 

A Focus on Mathematics 

Research tells us that in Mathematics, higher achieving students have a stronger flexibility and understanding of the relationships between numbers. At St Joseph's we are always working with students to build skills, understanding and connections, to help develop their sense of number as well as learning and remembering facts. 

For example, think about knowing 4 + 7 = 11 simply as a memorised fact. Now think about understanding that 4 + 7 = 11 because it is a 3 + 7 and 1 more (linked to knowing that 10 is an important number). The understanding of this relationship can help a student to think the same way when using larger numbers and when solving problems. 

To build this understanding teachers at St Joseph use materials such as MAB (blocks), bead strings and counters as well as having students draw numbers to make the maths visible. By seeing how numbers can be broken up and partitioned, leads  students toward eventually partitioning numbers mentally without the need for materials or pen and paper. 

Leader of Evangelisation- Donna Bancroft

Lent:

This week marks the second week of our Lenten Journey. Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. Jesus invites us to a ‘change of heart’.

Do you want to fast this Lent?

Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

Fast from worries and have trust in God.

Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.

Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

Fast from bitterness and fill your hearts with joy.

Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.

Fast from grudges and be reconciled. 

Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.

(In the words of Pope Francis, 2021)

Leader of Catechesis-Joe Stewart

Stage 3 Mass.

On Wednesday, Stage 3 celebrated our first Stage Mass for the year. Thank you Fr Emmanuel for your engaging presence and speaking to the children about the importance of prayer, fasting and almsgiving during the season of Lent. 

Incitare                                                                                                                                                                                              We wish our Year 6 students an enjoyable experience during their retreat day at McAuley Catholic College this Friday.  Photos and details of the day will be posted in next weeks newsletter.

Drum Band Rehearsals.

Last Friday our Year 3 students took up the sticks and put on the drums for their very first drumming experience. It was so impressive to see and hear the progress they made in such a short time. Thank you Graham McLennan for your time and support of our future drum band members.

K-2 Instructional Leader - Larissa Deleiuen

5 Questions to Ask Your Child About Their Learning

You, the families of our students, are our students’ first teachers. You are very influential in your child’s lives. “Parents and the broader community are important stakeholders, with parents and caregivers having roles critical to their children’s success. More often than not, they don’t know the questions to ask their children (...) when they want to know more about how their child is doing in school” Pam Betts 2017 as cited in Lyn Sharratt Clarity 2019. Lyn Sharratt, an expert in school and classroom improvement, suggests the following 5 questions to ask your child to help encourage more informative conversations about their learning. Try asking these questions of your child when they arrive home after school and see how much deeper your conversations about the day and their learning are.

Sport Coordinator-Emma Davis

School Cross Country Carnival 

The school cross country carnival will be held on Wednesday 17th March at McAuley Catholic College. This will be combined event with St Mary's Primary School. Placings will be recorded separately for each school so this will not affect qualifying numbers for the Zone Carnival.

Students will compete in the following age groups:

8/9 Years

10 Years 

11 Years 

12/13 Years

Kindergarten and Stage 1 students will partitipcate in tabloid novelty activities and then particpate in a shortened cross country course. 

Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions in place from CSNSW- Sport, parents are unable to attend this event due to it being held in a school venue during school hours. Photos of this event will be taken and posted on facebook. Results will be posted in the school newsletter.

The top 5 students in each age group will be selected to attend the Clarence Zone Cross Country Carnival which will be held on Wednesday 28th April at McAuley Catholic College.

Miniroos School Gala Day 

A reminder to Stage 2 and Stage 3 students who have signed up for the Miniroos School Gala Day that it is being held on Tuesday 9  March. Students are to wear their full school sports uniform, which includes school hat. Students will need to bring their own recess, lunch and water bottle for the day. All players must wear shin guards with soccer socks. The school is able to supply these if your child does not own a pair. Stage 3 teams will wear the school soccer shirts. 

Library/Book Club Coordinator - Anna Smidt

This week marks the beginning of the Premier's Reading Challenge. 

The Challenge encourages children and students from birth to year 10 to read a set number of books over the year and record their efforts online. Since the Challenge first began in 2005, more than 3 million students have read nearly 50 million books. 

It aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students, and to enable them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read, to read more and to read more widely.

Every St Joseph’s student has been registered for the challenge, so let’s get reading!

Gumbaynggirr Language-Liz Hegedus

Giinagay Ngujawiny -Hello You Mob,

Stage 2 have been learning about the different roles Aboriginal women perform within their family structure. Aboriginal women are known to be responsible for many roles, but are also respected and known as the 'Life Givers' and caretakers of their families.  They undertake roles such as healer, storyteller and the gatherer when they collect food, water and other items to help make tools and clothing.

Stage 2 are focusing on the role of the Aboriginal woman as a healer.  These women have extensive knowledge about the different plants and seeds available and which ones to use for healing. We learnt of  three different plants/seeds that are used to help when someone in their tribe is unwell.

The first medicinal plant is 'The Wombat Berry.'  The wombat berry plant (Eustrephus latifolius) produces seed pods that turn from green to yellow-orange when ripe. These pods contain many small black seeds surrounded by an edible, sweet, white pulp that is said to taste a lot like coconut. The roots of the wombat berry are also edible. For medicinal purposes a very small amount of the black seeds help to cure constipation.

The second medicinal plant is 'The Pigface.' Pigface (Carpobrotus glaucescens), or barridamam, grows on beach dunes and is very popular with the  Elders. The flower is bright pink, and when it dies, the fleshy base of the flower becomes the fruit, changing from green to purple. The tough outer skin is discarded and the sweet, juicy fruit inside is eaten raw. Pigface fruit was used in the past as a treatment for worms, and the gelatinous flesh of the leaves is used to relieve burns, stings, bites and rashes

The third medicinal plant is 'The Lillypilly.' Lillypilly - (jijmam) - Ball shape fruit when  it turns white or purple you can pick and eat it straight from the tree. You can also turn the fruit into a jam, cordial and juice drink.  The main benefit of the Lillypilly is if you are in the bush and have no liquid you can squash the Lillypilly into your mouth to quench your thirst.

Stage 2 are enjoying learning how the Indigenous people utilize the bush for their needs.

Darrunda Ngiinda -Thankyou

Miss Liz Hegedus

Weekly Merit Awards

               Congratulations to the following students who received                   Merit Awards this week.

Kindergarten                                                                                                                        Skyla Coelli-for following the physical domain statement of moving around the classroom safely.                                                                                        Amelia Fletcher-for sharing her knowledge of upper and lower case letters with the class.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Stage 1                                                                                                                                                                                                Charlotte Parry-Jones-for modelling St Joseph and treating each other with Kindness.                            Owen Trickett-for challenging himself building three-digit numbers using the MAB blocks.                Ethan Smith-for staying focused and on task in mathematics.                                                                              Sophie Pole-for her fantastic explanation of her imaginative writing idea about the wizard in The Magic hat.                                                                                                                                                                                      

Stage 2                                                                                                                                                                                              Callum Tait-for always being on task and engaged when learning.                                                                      Rowan Lloyd-for trying his best to stay focused in the classroom.                                                                      Skye Brennand-for setting some great goals to assist her learning.                                                                    Hugh brotherson-for his great story writing in English.                                                                                          Sheba Bowman-for happily helping to keep our playground clean.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Stage 3                                                                                                                                                                                              Thomas Awbery-for his engagement during Mathematics lessons and proving  his thinking when working with equivalent fractions.                                                                                                                                      Isabelle pye-for showing compassion and support for her Stage 3 team mates.                                            Archie Steel-for his focus on learning, his manners, positive attitude and leadership.                                                                                                                                                                                          

School Events & Dates

WEEK 7

• Tuesday 9 March - Soccer Gala Day Stage 2 & 3

WEEK 8

• Wednesday 17 March - St Patrick's Day
• Friday 19 March - St Joseph's Feast Day

WEEK 9

• Monday 22 March - Staff Development Day (Pupil Free)

Drama and Voice Tuition

If your child would like tuition in drama or vioce                                              please contact Maree Hickson on 0421 656 019

 Thank you

Thank you to the South Grafton Catholic Women's League for their generous donation to our school. Our students look forward to reading the new books purchased for our Library.

Notes Sent Home

Please find below links to the following School Notes that were recently sent home:

Canteen Roster