St Joseph's Primary School South Grafton eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are in our final week of parent - teacher interviews and I am so grateful to you and the staff for sharing your time and knowledge of the children. The more we communicate, the more the children benefit from our combined efforts. Please remember that the staff are always here to talk to you about your child so do not hesitate to contact us.

Building News From last week's newsletter you would know that we have a substantial grant to refurbish all classrooms. This will occur in two stages.

Stage one of the project will be for the Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms. During this time Kindergarten will be relocated to the Conference Room attached to the library. Stage 1 students will be in the hall.

Stage Two of the project will see Year 3 and 4 in the hall and Year 5 and 6 in the Conference room.

Once the plans are drawn up I'll be asking for parent input at the P&F Meeting.

Student Absences Please remember that the office needs to be notified of the reason for any student absence. This can be by phone, email or a written note sent in upon student's return to school. Examples of reasons could be that they are sick or have a medical appointment.

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

Assistant Principal-Anne Forwell

Bus Safety week

This week is Bus Safety Week. Each year, Bus Safety Week raises awareness for all road users on how to stay safe on and around buses. There is a 40km/h speed limit for traffic passing a school bus that is picking up or setting down school children. The speed limit is for all traffic travelling in the same direction as the bus, whether the bus is stationary or moving. The 40km/h speed limit must be observed when the rear ‘wig-wag’ lights on the bus are flashing. Flashing headlights on these buses also alert oncoming motorists that children are close.

We ask you to please talk to your child about:

Waiting until the bus has gone to cross the road safely.
Not getting distracted by a mobile device.
What to do if they get on the wrong bus or off at the wrong bus stop.

More Road Safety tips can be found at: https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/downloads/keeping-our-kids-safe-around-schools.pdf 

Leader of Evangelisation- Donna Bancroft

Shrove Tuesday

St Joseph’s students and staff celebrated Shrove Tuesday with feasting on pancakes supplied by the school to remember Jesus’ journey into the desert before His resurrection. It is the traditional feast day marking the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, involves three key traditions for Christians known as fasting, almsgiving and prayer.

Ash Wednesday

Last Wednesday was celebrated with Mass and marked the commencement of our Lenten journey; an opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life. Ash Wednesday is a day of prayer and is a special time as it comes just before Easter. It is a time to think about how we can improve our own behaviour and discuss the things Jesus did during his time on Earth. Lent is a time of self-denial and helping others. In this way, the Church prepares for Easter and provides time for us to contemplate the mystery and grace of God's mercy. How will you grow closer to God this Lent as Jesus invites us to a ‘change of heart’?

Beginning of Year Mass and Induction of School Leaders:

We also welcomed last Wednesday, Father Joe, who commemorated St Joseph’s Primary School’s beginning of Year Mass and Student Leader Induction Ceremony for 2021. Father blessed the new school candle and school leader badges for 2021 and made welcome the Kindergarten students who are new to our St Joseph’s School community.

Year 6 Leadership Positions 2021

Student Name	Role for 2021
Jason Burling and Isabelle Pye	School captains
Saffira Barnier	ES1 SRC Leader
Monique Rogers	Stage 1 SRC Leader
Archie Steel and Zylan Dobra	Stage 2 SRC Leaders
Emily Hyde	Stage 3 SRC Leader
Ivy Lloyd and Kyra Barrett	Library Leaders
Eve Pullen, Nicholas Beard and Annabella Fordham	Sport Leaders

Leader of Catechesis-Joe Stewart

Incitare

A letter has been sent home with our Year 6 students outling the details for this student discipleship and leadership formation program. This reflection day will be held at McAuley Catholic College on Friday, 5 March. Our students will be joined and work with the other Year 6 students from St Mary's Grafton, St Joseph's Maclean and St James Yamba. The CSYMA class at MCC will assist and facilitate on the day. We hope our students have a great experience and are eager to see the strategies they will learn about and implement in our St Joseph's school community.

K-2 Instructional Leader- Larissa Deleiuen

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and ‘smartness’ can be learned and that the brain grows from experience and effort. The opposite, a fixed mindset, is the idea that you are smart, or you are not. When a person has a growth mindset, they accept challenges, see their efforts as worthwhile, and are open to learning from mistakes. Our goal is for children to thrive on challenges and see failures, not as a sign of low intelligence, but as a learning opportunity. It is important that children's encounters with learning are positive. Even if you don’t feel confident with writing, reading, maths etc., you can still make a huge difference to how your child’s confidence and ability develops. How can you help? Be positive about learning. Don't say things like "I can’t do maths" or "I hated reading at school", “I always found writing stories difficult”; your child might start to think like that themselves. Adding “yet” when they claim they are “not good at this” is a way to respond: “You are not good at this yet.” Ask questions that focus on their effort and choices and get them to reflect on satisfaction of that effort for example, what did you learn today? What mistake did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today? Model this yourself as you share about your day. Praise your child for effort rather than talent - this shows them that by working hard they can always improve.

Parent_s_Guide_to_a_Growth_Mindset.pdf

Sport Coordinator-Emma Davis

School Swimming Carnival Results

Congratulations to the following students who were announced as age champion at our school swimming carnival:

Junior Girl: Isla Johnson

Junior Boy: Jackson Grieve

11 Years Girl: Isabelle Pye

11 Years Boy: Noah Brockwell

Senior Girl: Eve Pullen

Senior Boy: Nicholas Beard

Phillips House Team was the winning house on 225 points. The award was excepted by the Phillips Year 6 Leaders Nicholas and Ivy.

Dioeasan School Representative

Good luck to Isabelle Pye who will be representing the school this week at the Lismore Diocesan Swimming Carnival in Murwillumbah, Isabelle will be competing in the 11 Years Backstroke.

Miniroos School Gala Day

A reminder to Stage 2 and Stage 3 students who have signed up for the Miniroos School Gala Day on Tuesday 9 March, to return their note and money to the school office by Tuesday 2 March 2021.

Gumbaynggirr Language-Liz Hegedus

Giinagay ngujawiny - Hello You Mob

Indigenous HSIE lessons in Kindergarten the past two weeks have been about families.

The students are learning how all families are the same, but a little bit different.

We have learnt how Indigenous families are very important in how they identify and connect with each other. Indigenous families have many family members and each person has a role in regards to kinship, values and responsibilities. Indigenous families rely on and nurture strong family ties as a means of passing on their cultural beliefs from one generation to the next.

Kindergarten have acknowledged and shared who they have in their families. They have learnt all about their families and how each family member has a role to play. They also acknowledged the different activities they love to do together as well as with their extended families. The students then drew a beautiful picture of their family. The idea was to draw their immediate family who they live with and love very much,and yes some even included their pets.

Darrundang -Thankyou Liz Hegedus

Weekly Merit Awards

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

Kindergarten Heston Tribe-for beginning to use full stops in his writing. Ruby Woods-for writing about her favourite animal from the book 'I Went Walking'. Tyler Colby-for using ten frames to organise his collection of blocks to accurately count the amount. Finn Lihou-for using spaces between his words when writing. Mason Montford-for using signs and labels in the classroom to assist him with writing.

Stage 1 Joy Tough-for a thoughtful illustration of her friendship with God. Baden Ballard-for showing resilience when sounding out words in his writing. Eli Woods-for his focused attention while listening to classroom discussions. Xavier Alford-for finding, using the correct mathematical language. Marley Thrupp-for consistently demonstrating a commitment to his learning. Tahnaya Boers-for her continuous effort in class learning. William Fallon-for listening attentively and contributing to class discussions. Heath Gilmore-for settling in well to Stage 1 and the St Joseph's school Community.

Stage 2 Sheba Bowman-for her engagement in Mathematics. Aidan Knox-for his engagement during writing and mathematics tasks. Koby Hayes-for engagement in learning during Mathematics and English. Miranda Scully-for keeping our playground clean and being a steward of God's creation. Jackson Grieve-for his excellent attitude towards learning. Lara Forwell-for her excellent attitude towards learning. Nate Finlay-for his improved focus on learning. Rose Coelli-for her great sportsmanship during the swimming carnival.

Stage 3 Archie Steel-for his positive enthusiasm, athleticism and sportsmanship during class sport. Zylan Dobra Garrett-for exceptional manners and a positive entry into our St Joseph's community. Kyle McCann-for the mature way of dealing with a tricky social situation and supporting his peers. Sophie Van der Vlist-for keeping our playground clean and being a steward of God's creation. Ivy Lloyd-for consistently helping in so many small ways to the leadership team and having such a large and positive impact. Saffira Barnier-for enthusiasm and participation as a leader in our school swimming carnival. Sophie Van der Vlist-for perserverance during mathematics when creating factors and multiple chains.