St Joseph's Primary School South Grafton eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week the students in Year 3 and 5 sat the NAPLAN tests. NAPLAN stands for 'National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy'. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) states that the tests' purpose is to determine if educational outcomes have been achieved by students and is used to inform government policy and curriculum planning.

Please know that the staff have been supporting the children by:

reducing anxiety about doing the test;
showing them practice tests so that they know how to do the test on-line;
teaching as normal - Teachers are covering the syllabus outcomes every day and this is all the children need to perform at their best. Some of the other schools teach only a narrow curriculum - only teaching what they think might be on the test, instead of having a well-rounded curriculum. The test should not be the only way we assess achievement and is a mere 'snapshot' of your child's learning. In other words it tells us what your child could do on that particular day. Your child's teacher assesses them all through the year so that growth can be determined, based on a variety of assessments.

Results should be available mid August - mid September.

Parent Writing Workshop

Many parents have completed the evaluation of the writing workshop. Over 80% of parents who filled in the evaluation gave it a 5/5! They also said that the time slot of straight after school was the best option for most of them. Suggestions: more than fruit to be supplied for afternoon tea!

It is not too late to have your say. The QR code for the evaluation is attached to last week's newsletter.

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

Assistant Principal - Anne Forwell

We’re Taking it in Our Stride on Friday 14 May 2021

Walk Safely to School Day asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around. It also gives you a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic. To help children develop vital road crossing skills children up to the age of 10 years should hold an adult’s hand when crossing the road.

Remember, Active Kids are Healthy Kids so if you can, get planning your own Walk Safely to School Day journey for Friday 14 May 2021! For more information visit www.walk.com.au

Dental Visit - cancelled

Due to unforeseen circumstances the dental health visit in week 10 of this term has been cancelled. We apologise for this. Any returned forms will be shredded to ensure confidentiality of student details.

Leader of Catechesis - Joe Stewart

Confirmation Program

Parents have been contacted and Enrolment Forms have been sent home for children who are eligible to receive this Sacrament. We had our first lesson on Thursday. It was wonderful for the older children in our school who have already been confirmed to explain the importance of this sacrament and how it has helped them to have a closer relationship with God. It was also wonderful to listen to their stories and hear them share their enthusiasm and joy!

To be able to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation you must be baptised, and be in Year 3 or above. Please contact the school if you require further information.

MJR

Making Jesus Real is not a program but is simply the way we do things at St Joseph's. It's the way we meet, greet and speak to each other. It is lovely to see the way our children enter the school each morning with big smiles and friendly welcomes. Each day has a different theme. Manners Monday, Thanking Tuesday, Winking Wednesday, Thumbs up Thursday and High Five Friday. Thank you to all our students for making our school community such a beautiful place to learn and live. Always remember that Gratitude is the best Attitude!

K-2 Instructional Leader - Larissa Deleiuen

Enhancing the Use of Technology in our Classrooms

We have been fortunate enough for the CSO to lend us 5 brand new iPads. This will assist us to enhance the use of technology in our classrooms. This is a goal for our school as outlined in our School Improvement Plan for 2021. These iPads each have an Apple Pencil that links wirelessly. These pencils set the standard for drawing and writing. They are very intuitive and precise. As the students take notes, draw their ideas and understandings on the iPad and not on paper, the teachers have the ability to save their work and refer to it at any time. Kindergarten students have loved using them especially when being the Reporter or the Photographer during Walker Learning. We are very appreciative of the CSO for allowing us to borrow such technology.

Sport Coordinator-Emma Davis

Rookie Rollers

This week students participated in their first session of the Rookie Rollers sport program. This program is designed to teach students the basic skills of lawn bowls using equipment designed for child use. Thank you to the South Grafton Ex-servicemens Club for the hire of their greens to run the program. Students will participate in another three sessions during Week 5, 6 and 7. A big thank you to Neil from Bowls Australia for running the program.

Kinder and Stage 1 at Rookie Rollers

Library/Book Club Coordinator - Anna Smidt

National Simultaneous Storytime Wednesday 19 May

This is a day held each year to promote the value and fun of books and St Joseph's will be joining in the celebrations. The book chosen this year is "Give Me Some Space" by Australian author Phillip Bunting and the day is going to be a blast!

Students are invited to dress up with the theme being in SPACE! If you don't have a costume, Miss Davies will be creating SPACE masks to wear so students may wear mufti/play clothes with their mask.

A parade of costumes will be held at 9.15 am followed by the reading of the book "Give Me Some Space" from space by astronaut Shannon Walker. Family and friends are welcome to watch the parade and listen to the book reading with their child/space critter.

After the book reading, students will space walk back to their rooms to participate in some space themed activities.

A note has been sent home this week from the canteen with a special SPACE MEAL DEAL to keep all the space critters energised. The meal deal needs to be pre ordered so check out the note for all the details.

Gumbaynggirr Language - Liz Hegedus

Giinagay Ngujawiny -Hello You Mob,

This week Kindergarten learn't Gumbaynggirr Language. Gumbaynggirr language is traditionally spoken between the Nambucca River in the south (southern dialect) and the Clarence River in the north (northern dialect) and west past Guyra (tablelands region). Each Aboriginal tribe have their own language. This is spoken as their first language in most tribes in Australia. The Gumbaynggirr language is very important to our area. It gives us our own language and identity which helps explain our way of life, how we speak, tell stories and how the language belongs to us.

Kindergarten have learnt 4 words and how to count from 1 to 5.

The four words are:

Giinagay (Hello), Durruy (Good), Biiway (No), Ngii (Yes).

The numbers 1 to 5 are:

Gurligan (1), Bularri (2), Guga (3), Daan (4), Marla (5).

Kindergarten are enjoying their learning of Indigenous Culture.

Durrundang - Thankyou

Miss Liz Hegedus

Weekly Merit Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received a Merit Award this week.

Kindergarten

Ruby Woods for using the sight word wall when writing. Tyler Colby for listening to the sounds he can hear in words when writing to help spell words correctly. Rubin French for using great reading strategies during guided reading.

Stage 1

Kamren Singh for staying on task during guided reading and showing growth in his reading. Joy Tough for trying hard to sound her words and showing growth in her reading. Harrison Light for his mature reading at the Mother's Day Liturgy. Charlotte Parry-Jones for her mature reading at the Mother's day Liturgy.

Stage 2

Miranda Scully for using a range of skills and strategies to independently monitor her reading. Sebastian Willis for demonstrating an interest in and enthusiasm for history. Sophie Hewitt for using efficient strategies to solve addition problems. Sheba Bowman for sharing her great thinking during our mathematics rich task. Rose Coelli for being a thoughtful and kind friend when another student was in need of support. Callum Tait for creating a great plan for his persuasive writing and giving creative reasons on why a wolf would be the best pet.

Stage 3

Jason Burling for consideration and solidarity with his fellow leaders when representing our school. Saffira Barnier for her increased particicpation in classroom discussion. Thomas Awbery for his use of tier two words when writing his character description.