Term 2 Week 4 2022
From our Leadership
Dear St Joseph's Community,
The ability to read is one of the greatest gifts a child can receive. Children learn to read daily at school and also read for enjoyment. This year we have really concentrated all our human resources to ensure small groups focused on reading for 60 minutes daily. An example is that in Stage 1 and 2 no reading group is greater than 8 students and have the same adult for 60 minutes every day. During this time the students focus on decoding [how to read], comprehension [understand what is read], sentence structure [grammar] and looking for patterns in words to assist in their spelling. Already across the school we have seen amazing achievement levels and growth in reading.
Like any skill however, the more you do it, the better you become. This is where we need your help. Encourage your child to read each night. Our school library has many books waiting to be borrowed. If together we create a habit for every child it pays dividends for a lifetime.
Welcome
We welcome Benjamin Rutten and his family to our St Joseph’s community. It is always lovely to watch our students ‘make space’ in established friendship groups for new students.
May the Month of Mary, Jesus’ mother
May 24 is the Feast of ‘Our Lady, Help of Christians’ which observes a day of devotion to the Blessed Mother Mary. ‘Our Lady, Help of Christians’ is the Patroness of Australia and together we pray:
Almighty God, deepen in our heart our love of Mary Help of Christians. Through her prayers and under her protection, may the light of Christ shine over our land.
May Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. Grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.
Parent Assembly
Thanks to those parents who attended the parent meeting to decide the structure for parent voice in our school. It was decided to ‘retire’ the P&F structure for a new Parent Assembly model. So please come along to our next meeting, Tuesday, June 7 at 6:00pm without fear of getting a position or a job! Children are most welcome and we can provide a zoom link for those who cannot make it.
Last meeting we discussed:
- Class and optimum school size as we move into the future;
- Advertising/promoting our school especially on social media during enrolment time;
- Guiding principles for the spending of any fundraising;
- How do we know what our children are learning;
- Purchasing 10 new computers for students, to add to the 20 purchased by the school.
Actions from last meeting
- School has included in each newsletter learning intentions and success criteria for English [how do we know what our children are learning] plus will bring back to the forum other communication ideas
- Anne and I have ‘toyed’ with social media to push out enrolment information
- Our google search site will be updated in the coming weeks [advertising/promoting]
Student Reports - Semester 1
Later this term your child’s Semester 1 Report will be made available. More information will be provided detailing how to access these reports via COMPASS.
The Common Grade Scale shown below must be used to report student achievement in both primary and junior secondary years in all NSW schools. The Common Grade Scale describes performance and your child will receive an A, B, C, D or E for each subject area.
Common Grade Scale
A - The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations.
B - The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations.
C - The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills.
D - The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills.
E - The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills.
It is important to note that a C grade indicates your child has a sound knowledge of the content and skills required, therefore they are meeting the requirements of their grade level. In reading your child’s report we encourage you to focus on their EFFORT. At St Joseph's we encourage students to always try their best and we promote perseverance.
After reports are made available via COMPASS there will be family teacher meeting opportunities to discuss your child’s report.
Confirmation
Lessons for the preparation of the Sacrament of Confirmation have commenced. We have a small but very enthusiastic group preparing this year. Please keep in your prayers Noah, James and Mitchell as they prepare for this Sacrament of Initiation which will be held on Wednesday, 28 June.
Stage Masses
Stage 3 will attend the Parish Mass at St Patrick’s Church on Wednesday, 8 June. All are welcome to attend this Mass, particularly the Stage 3 parents.
After Mass, Fr Joe will answer all the questions from the children about their unit of work, the church and about the feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The children will also have the opportunity to be shown around the church and discuss the many symbols and sacred features that have helped form the traditions of the Catholic faith.
Incitare
On Wednesday, 1 June Year 6 will attend this Leadership through discipleship formation retreat. The day will be spent at McAuley Catholic College and they will be joined by the Year 6 students from St Mary’s Grafton, St Joseph’s Maclean and St James Yamba. We hope our students enjoy the experience and look forward to hearing about it when they return.
E-sports Competition.
On Wednesday, 25 May Stage 3 will have their first opportunity to compete in this online competition against other Stage 3 students in our Diocese. Whilst they compete online, they will also be face to face with their opponents through zoom. The first round of competition will involve the children displaying their driving skills in MarioCart. We wish our teams the best of luck and hope they have an enjoyable experience as they meet students from other schools that display similar interests. Next term, we will be competing in an online dance off competition.
Acting Principal-Danny Rankin
Assistant Principal-Anne Forwell
Leader of Mission-Joe Stewart
Stage 3 Songlines
K-2 Instructional Leader -Brooke Donoghue
100 Days of School
We have a date for your calendar! The K-2 100 Days of School Celebration will be on Monday, 20 June from 6.00pm - 7:30pm. More information to come.
Teaching and Learning: K-6 Learning Intention and Success Criteria Below is the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria the students will be working towards with their teachers for the next learning cycle. The Success Criteria for Week 5 is yet to be co-constructed with the students in their language, but these are the criteria we will be using for the co-construction.
Kindergarten English Learning Intention: We are learning to listen to and write texts that share a story to entertain an audience.
Success Criteria: I can
- create my own stories to share
- write from left to right
- use spaces between words
- start each sentence with a capital letter and finish with a full stop
- write the sounds that I hear in words
Learning Intention: We are learning to recognise what sounds letters make to be able to read and write.
Success Criteria: I can
- identify the sound that a letter or letters can make
- name words that begin with or contain a selected sound
- blend sounds together to form a word
- break words up into sounds to write words
Kindergarten Mathematics
Week 4
Learning Intention: We are learning to take items away from a collection to find out how many remain.
Success Criteria: I can
- separate an amount of objects and say how many are in each group
- take away part of a group of objects and say how many are left
- use materials from the numeracy area or my fingers to solve subtraction problems
Week 5
Learning Intention: We are learning to connect number names, numerals and quantities up to 20.
Success Criteria: I can
- read numbers to at least 20
- represent numbers using objects, pictures, words and numerals
- place numbers in order from smallest to largest
- estimate the number of objects in a group and count to check
Stage 1 English
Learning Intention:
We are learning to draw on a range of skills and strategies to read fluently.
Success Criteria: I can
- find nouns (proper and common) and verbs
- use the sound focus (f, ff and ph-Week 4; G,gg,h-Week 5) in my reading and writing
- use high frequency focus words in my reading and writing
- can find capital letters and sentence finishers in the text
- make meaning from tier 2 and tier 3 words
Learning Intention: We are learning to create factual information to use in an informative poster/pamphlet to inform our peers.
Success Criteria: I can
- distinguish between fact and opinion
- classify and describe an animal of choice
Stage 1 Mathematics
Week 4
Learning Intention: We are learning to give and follow directions to familiar locations.
Success Criteria: I can
- use the terms 'left' and 'right' to describe the positions of objects
- give and follow directions, including directions involving turns to the left and right
- give and follow instructions to position objects in models and drawings, eg 'Draw the bird between the two trees'
- describe the path from one location to another on drawings
- interpret simple maps by identifying objects in different locations,
- draw a sketch of a simple model
Week 5
Learning Intention: We are learning to group, partition and rearrange collections of up to 1000 in hundreds, tens and ones to help us count more efficiently.
Success Criteria: I can apply an understanding of place value and the role of zero to read, write and order three digit numbers.
Stage 2 English
Learning Intention: Students can plan, compose and edit a persuasive text so that they can convince the reader of their point of view.
Success Criteria: I can
- choose a way to plan my work.
- create an introduction to persuade the reader.
- write and explain 3 reasons to persuade the reader.
- write a conclusion to sum up my argument.
- use descriptive words to persuade the reader.
- use a hook to persuade the reader and get their attention.
- edit my work by re-reading and using the bump it up wall.
Stage 2 Mathematics
Learning Intention: We will be able to compare and describe features of two dimensional shapes.
Success Criteria: I can
- label and describe two-dimensional shapes.
- combine two dimensional shapes to create other two dimensional shapes.
- identify and name special quadrilaterals.
Stage 3 English
Learning Intention:
Students will use comprehension strategies to understand information and ideas so that they can evaluate the intended message.
Success Criteria: (using a variety of texts) I can
- summarise the key words and ideas.
- identify, answer and construct a literal question.
- identify, answer and construct an inferential question.
- identify, answer and construct an evaluative question.
- identify, answer and construct a reorganisational question.
Learning Intention:
We are learning to plan, draft and publish imaginative texts by choosing and experimenting with text structures and language features to entertain a specific audience.
Success Criteria: I can -write an imaginative text to entertain a particular audience.
- use text structures and language features such as metaphors, similes, alliteration.... to make my writing more entertaining.
- structure my writing in paragraphs with an orientation, one or two problems and resolution.
- use correct punctuation in my writing.
Stage 3 Mathematics
Learning Intention: We are learning to use mental and written strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. We are estimating and rounding numbers to check the reasonableness of an answer.
Sport Coordinator - Emma Davis
Clarence Zone Cross Country
Congratulations to all students who competed at the Clarence Zone Cross Country Carnival. All students represented the school with pride and tried their best.
A special mention to Aleah Jeffery and Callum Tait who placed in the top eight for their age group. They will now go on to represent the school at the Lismore Diocesan Cross Country Carnival next week. We wish them both the very best.
Gumbaynggirr Language - Liz Hegedus
Ginnagay Ngujawiny -Hello You Mob,
Stage 3 have been learning about the Indigenous leader Mr Charles Perkins and his greatest achievement 'The Freedom Fighters Bus Tour.'
The 1965 Freedom Ride - led by Uncle Charlie Perkins and his fellow students at the University of Sydney - was a significant event that drew national and international attention to poor living conditions faced by Aboriginal people and the racism that was rife in NSW country towns.
Why did the Freedom Bus riders occur?
During the 1960's many students were becoming involved in various protest movements fighting for social change including the protests against the Vietnam War and the feminist movement. However, many white Australians believed racism to be an issue that only existed overseas. In part, because of this the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) was formed by University of Sydney students. As an organisation to highlight the issue of racism in Australia. Uncle Charlie, who was one of only two Aboriginal students at the University at the time, was elected as the first president of SAFA.
The Freedom Ride toured through places like Walgett, Gulargambone, Kempsey, Bowraville and Moree, to name a few. Throughout the trip the students were confronted with shocking conditions and discrimination being faced by Aboriginal people, including poor health, housing, education and blatant racism and segregation.
Frequently during the 'ride' SAFA witnessed Aboriginal people being barred from community spaces and businesses including swimming pools, theatres and cafes. Shocked by what they were witnessing, SAFA organised demonstrations to protest the treatment of Aboriginal people at multiple places, including the Walgett Returned Services League, swimming pools in Moree and Kempsey and the Bowraville Theatre. In doing this, they frequently received hostility from white locals.
The 'Freedom Bus Fighters' bus tour drew lots of media nationally and internationally. People started to take notice and began to speak up for the bad treatment of the Indigenous people of Australia. This lead to the 1967 referendum where 2 significant items were voted on:
1. Australians voted to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the National Census.
2. The Commonwealth Government voted yes to including Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders when creating new laws.
Australia has come along way in changing their views and opinions of Indigenous people and hopefully the future will continue to be good for our youth of today.
https://youtu.be/lV4syIhRAdI (Charles Perkins life)
https://youtu.be/7EVrJBnE5y0 (Freedom Ride Bus tour)
https://youtu.be/JS3YJN3WED4 (Living Black)
https://youtu.be/qQqWqxO8uMY (Troy Cassar Daley song freedom ride)
Darrundang Ngiinda - Thankyou
Miss Liz Hegedus
IEW Indigenous Educational Worker
School Notes
Bell Times
| Morning | 8.50am |
| Lunch | 10.50am-11.40am |
| Recess | 1.40pm - 2.10pm |
| Afternoon | 3.10pm |
A Few Reminders
Assembly - A reminder that our school assembly takes place each Monday at 2:15pm. We warmly welcome everyone to come along and celebrate student achievements. Our Year 6 students lead the school in this assembly each week.
Students Traveling Home - Families are asked to please make sure the emergency contacts for their child/ren are up to date. Students are only to be collected by those who are on the emergency contact list. If you need to update this list or add more contacts to this list please contact the School Office as soon as possible.
Uniforms - Cooler days mean jackets and track pants and/or stockings/tights will make an appearance. Please ensure jackets are navy [no hoods] with school emblem. Hats will need to be worn. Leggings are also not desired. Clothing should be clearly labeled with a name so items can be returned if left on the playground. Already our lost clothing bin is full of jackets unlabelled.
Canteen - Thank you to those wonderful people who have volunteered for canteen duty. Canteen is now available Wednesday and Friday.
2023 Enrolments - Enrolments for Kindergarten 2023 are now open. We already have 10 applications from new families wanting to enrol in kindy 2023. We plan to cap enrolments between 16 and 20 students. We will offer a solid transition program a day a week during Term 4. If you already have a child enrolled in another stage an enrolment form must also be completed online for your kindy 2023 child.
Compass - Please ensure that you have access to the Compass app on your phone. All of our communication is streamlined through Compass. Compass offers many additional features and benefits, including a smartphone application (app) and comprises of the following features and functionalities, which make it a one-stop-shop for parents:
- Enter in explanations for full day absences.
- Update your family contact details.
- Download and view your child's semester reports.
- View news feeds of school announcements, alerts and updates.
- View the school calendar.
- Provide consent for events, and pay for excursions and school fees
- View and pay school fees- To view more detailed information about your account use the "Open in Browser" option from the menu, then go to Account from the Tools Cog. A breakdown of the fees billed will be shown through here.
If you need help with your Compass app, please get in touch.
Staff Development Days (Pupil Free)
Please find below our staff development days for the remainder of the year. These days are pupil free days.
- Monday 18 July (start of Term 3)
- Monday 10 October (start of Term 4)
- Monday 19th December (end of the school year)
- Tuesday 20th December (end of the school year)
As always we appreciate the support of our wonderful families as we engage in learning for the benefit of our students. Please note: the final day of the school year for students is Friday, 16 December.
School Events & Dates
TERM 2
WEEK 4
Monday, 16 May at 2.15pm - School Assembly in Mercy Hall
WEEK 5
Monday, 16 May at 2.15pm - School Assembly in Mercy Hall
WEEK 6
Monday, 30 May at 2.15pm - School Assembly in Mercy Hall
Wednesday, 1 June - Incitare - Year 6 at MCC
WEEK 7
Monday, 6 June at 2.15pm - School Assembly in Mercy Hall
Wednesday, 8 June at 9.15am - Stage 3 Mass at St Patrick's church
WEEK 8
Monday, 13 June - Public Holiday
Wednesday, 15 June - Athletics Carnival
WEEK 9
Monday, 20 June at 2.15pm - School Assembly in Mercy Hall
WEEK 10
Monday, 27 June at 2.15pm - School Assembly in Mercy Hall
Wednesday, 29 June - Confirmation
Merit Awards
Congratulations to the following students who received a Merit Award.
TERM 2 WEEK 3
Stage 1
Finn, Pippa, Skyla, Baden
Stage 2
Eli, Jack, Kruze
Stage 3
Callum
TERM 2 WEEK 4
Stage 1
Emily, Owen
Stage 2
Nate, Jhett
Uniform Shop
The uniform shop is located in the BrewHouse Village.
Opening hours:
Monday - Wednesday 10.00am to 4.30pm
Thursday 10 to 3.30pm
Email: fytexptyltd@bigpond.com
Ph: 0434 025 493
Canteen
CANTEEN OPEN WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
Volunteers are always welcome, please leave your details with our School Office.
