Week 6 - Term 3 Newsletter 2023

Principal's Message

Dear Families and Friends,

Thank you for another great week of learning at St Joseph's. We have been definitely busy with a number of events occurring. Seeing so many families at our Book Week Parade this afternoon was lovely.

Book Week
A big thank you dedication of Miss Alesha Tipler, who has not only turned our School Library into a hub of reading celebration but has also spearheaded numerous activities this week. These initiatives encompassed the Book Fair, engaging Book Competitions, and the vibrant Book Parade, all in alignment with this year's National Book Week theme. 

I extend my heartfelt gratitude for exceptional efforts in nurturing a profound love for reading among our students since taking over from Mrs Waghorn. This years theme "Read, Grow, Inspire" encapsulates the essence of how books and stories hold the power to nurture young minds, fostering personal growth and igniting sparks of inspiration. Her efforts amplify the significance of National Book Week, enriching our students' experiences and sowing the seeds of a lifelong love for reading in our library.

Father's Day Celebration - Monday 5th September
Just a reminder that to start Week 8, we will not only be holding our Father's Day Celebration for all fathers, grandfathers & other significant men in our student's lives, but we invite all parents to stay for a combined "BBQ" lunch with the students.

Please note that due to a clash with the booking of Stage 3 Camp to Brisbane, our Father's Day Liturgy will be held on Monday 4th September (Week 8) - which is the day after Father's Day. In past year's we have celebrated our Liturgy on the Friday leading into the weekend, however this year that is not possible. 

Our celebration liturgy will occur at 12:00 pm, followed by lunch (at approx 12:30 pm).

All students & fathers orders must be completed by next Friday, the 1st September, through our school Compass App. We look forward to your attendance as this is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our Dads and build community amongst our parents.

School Spelling BEE - Thursday 14th September

Just a reminder that as part of celebrating the wonderful learning in our classrooms, the school would like to highlight the importance of spelling and the great spellers amongst our students.

Students will participate in elimination rounds to be held within classroom learning time next week, with the Top 4 students from each stage moving on to compete in Stage-based finals (i.e. Year 3&4). Our Spelling Bee Finals will be held on Thursday 14th September at 2:00 pm (Week 9) in our amphitheatre, and we would love to have as many parents as possible join us in this event. Please note all students competing in the final rounds will be revealed prior to the day.

Hard copies of our Spelling Bee List Words were sent home, and PDF versions of each Stage's words can be found on the Newsfeed of Compass.

School FETE - Saturday 9th September

Just wanted to remind everyone in our school community to spread the word within our township about our upcoming Fete to be held on Saturday 9th September from 3:00 - 8:00pm. This day will be a wonderful day of "building community" in our school as well as assisting the Parent Forum in raising funds for our intentended canteen refurbishment. Rides, markets, food stalls, live bands and even FIREWORKS all part of the day!

Can I also encourage all families to make contact with your class parent reps to asisst with a 1 hour shift on one of our school run stalls.

Kind regards

Dale

Upcoming School Dates

• Father's Day Stall (Monday 28th August)
  
• Stage 3 Camp (Tuesday 29th Aug - Friday 1st September)
• Father's Day Liturgy & Lunch (Monday 4th September)
• School Public Speaking Finals (Tuesday 5th September)
• St Joeys Spring Festival (Saturday 9th September)
• Zone Public Speaking Finals (Monday 11th September)
• School Spelling Bee Finals (Thursday 14th September)
• Yamba Touch Gala Day - S2 & S3 (Friday 15th September)
• Last day of term for students (Thursday 21st September)
• Staff Development Day (Friday 22nd September)

Leader of Learning

How you can help your child develop good work habits 

Children spend an enormous amount of time at school each day, often for over 13 years!  Good work habits, learned early will allow your child to feel successful and happy at school and build strong foundations for the future. Here are three key steps to help your child develop good habits for academic success in primary school:

Establish a Consistent Routine: Create a daily schedule that includes dedicated study periods. Consistency helps children understand the importance of regular learning. Designate a quiet and organized study space with all necessary materials readily available to minimize distractions.

Balance Study and Play: Encourage a healthy balance between study time and playtime. Physical activities and hobbies are important for cognitive development and preventing burnout. Celebrate small achievements to boost your child's confidence and motivation.

Teach Time Management: Introduce tools like a daily planner or to-do list to teach your child effective time management. Break tasks into smaller steps, prioritize them, and allocate time accordingly. Focus on their efforts and persistence, nurturing a positive attitude towards learning.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Bailey

Mission & Values

Mercy In Action Award

Congratulations to our Mercy In Action Award winner this fortnight, Bella Camilleri. Bella receives her award in recognition of displaying the Mercy Value of Respect and Compassion demonstrated in the way she consistently treats others with kindness and understanding. Bella's actions inspire everyone around her to be more caring and considerate. Through her genuine interactions and willingness to help, she exemplifies the values that build the strong and harmonious community we have at St Joseph’s.

Father's Day Liturgy Photos

Father's Day is just around the corner, and we're excited to celebrate and honour the special fathers and father figures in our Joey’s community! We believe that family is at the heart of our school, and we want to make this Father's Day a memorable one.

As part of our Joey’s tradition, we are putting together a slideshow to be showcased during our Father’s Day liturgy. This slideshow will be a tribute to the amazing fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, and father figures who make a difference in the lives of our students. We invite you to participate in this special presentation by sharing a photo to be included.

Please email your photo to me deborah.mullins@lism.catholic.edu.au by THURSDAY, 31st of AUGUST, allowing me a few days to collate and finalise the video. Please indicate who is in the photo so that I can include the names for each family.

Our slideshow is the highlight of the liturgy for the children, and we would love every family to be represented.  The Liturgy will be held on Monday, 4th September.

Again, thank you for helping us make this Father's Day celebration truly special.

Sacramental Program - First Holy Communion

First Holy Communion will be held in Term 4, Sunday, 5th November, due to a date clash with the fete. Our First Holy Communicants will receive Reconciliation on Thursday, 7th of August, Week 8 this term, and a refresher will occur in the same week as communion next term.

Our communicants this year include:

• Marlie Cook
• Jack Kirkland
• Caide Schlyder
• Tate Anderson.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mrs Mullins

Class Awards

Our Principal's Award winners this week are:

Our Class Award winners this week are: 

Class News - Stage 2

After our exciting excursion to Summerland Farm (Ms Zietsch got her pat of the miniature donkey!!); Stage 2 were tasked with their first information report to be around plants. The students either selected from a list of weird and wacky plants or chose their own and began their research, looking at books, websites and videos for their information. Below are some excerpts of the reports and facts that the students learnt about these special flora from across the globe.

“These interesting plants look like a trumpet with a lid. But it’s not, the plant has sticky glue to trap the insects.The insects drop into the sticky glue like substance and quickly close up. Some have more than one mouth and some don’t stay alive. They have a lot of parts. And they also grow like a vine.”

-Jack Kirkland: Tropical Pitcher Plants

“Cherry blossoms have very short life spans, they can live up to 14 days. They bloom for 4 months. They also  can be used for matcha, sweets, mochi, and cakes. Also they  have 600 species, some cherry trees can live up to 40-50 years, there is a cherry tree named Jindai Zakura that is believed to be over 2000 years old!”

-Jessika Dalton: Cherry Blossoms

“The Venus Flytrap is a carnivorous plant. Which is close to a Sundew but in it is its own genus.It is the only plant in its species. Its scientific name is Dionaea Muscipula.”

-Cooper Want: Venus Flytrap

“This wonderful plant eats a lot of insects like flying insects,spiders,and grasshoppers! The Sundew gets the insects attention from the clear stuff on the top of the red whiskers, the insects goes on the Sundew and the insects won’t stop stepping on the red whiskers. In a blink of an eye the Sundew curls like a cocoon and traps the insect.”

-Alexia Dawes: Sundews

In STEM, students in Stage 2 have been exploring the many uses and fantastic creations of LEGO. 

Briefly investigating the TV program ‘Lego Masters’ with their insane and intricate builds and places such as Lego Land in Melbourne and the UK where they have ‘MiniLands’ featuring amazing model scenes, buildings and landmarks from around the world.

I asked the students to choose a local (Clarence Valley) building or landmark they could recreate with our school LEGO. While they were limited with colour selections and pieces; the imagination the students applied was UNREAL! Have a look at what they created!

Ms  Zietsch, Mrs McLennan & Mr P

School Sport

Lismore Diocesan Athletics Carnival:

The Lismore Diocesan Athletics Carnival was held at the Coffs Harbour International Stadium on Tuesday 15th of August. The weather was glorious and there were some impressive performances throughout the day. We are also proud of our students who travelled to Coffs Harbour to represent St Joseph’s and the Clarence Zone. Jessika Dalton who was competing in the Junior girls division placed 3rd in high Jump, 5th in the 100m and 6th in the 200m. In the 11 years Boys high jump Reece Bennett finished 8th. 

Upcoming:

The Clarence Zone soccer and netball knockouts will be held on Wednesday 6th September at the Angourie sports fields and Raymond Laurie Sports Center. This event is for Stage 3 students and the winner of each division will progress to the Lismore Diocesan Knockout which will be held in Grafton later in the month.

Mr Hitchings

Pastoral Care - School Chaplain

SRC Funday

“It is that time of term again” time for our SRC funday! The last day of school. 

We have decided with the help from Mr Layland that our fun day this term will be a talent quest. 

We invite all of you to bring your best talent to our St Joeys talent quest, whether that be singing, dancing, magic,comedy, or your best hidden talent! We encourage you to perform as an individual or with a group, whatever fits your performance.

To enter the talent quest you need to fill out your details on our sign up sheet. If you need help please find our src representatives to help you. 

Rehearsals will be starting very soon so be quick , sign up today!

We will tell you more about the SRC fun day over the coming weeks.

National Teachers Assistants Day

National Teachers Assistant  Day will be celebrated on Monday 28th August. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the hard work and efforts of TAs.

Fathers Day

Along with holding our Father's Day Liturgy for all fathers, grandfathers & other significant men in our students’ lives, we invite all parents to stay for a combined "Sausage Sizzle" lunch alongside the students. 

This will be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the significant males in our lives and build community amongst our parents. More information will be on the compass App.

Ms Mead

Pastoral Care - School Counsellor

Counselling Connection

Gratitude is powerful. 

Practicing gratitude and positivity has numerous benefits, improving physical and mental health, relationships, self-esteem, and even sleep.

There are many ways to incorporate gratitude into daily life.

Try incorporating daily gratitude rituals in your household.

A favorite in our family is High, Low, Buffalo. At dinner each night, each family member shares:

 The high point of their day

 The low point of their day

 Anything else they'd like to share

This ritual helps us focus on the positive without ignoring the negative and fosters a wonderful family connection.

Bel Chapman - School Counsellor

Library News

What a fabulously fun Book Week it was! A big thank you to all students and families who purchased books through this year's Book Fair; the proceeds go towards purchasing more books for our school library, which is appreciated and will be enjoyed for many years to come. 

Book Week concluded with our Book Character Dress-Up Parade today, which was wonderful to share with our families and friends. 

Miss Alesha

Parent Forum

Mitre 10 BBQ

Come on down to Maclean Mitre 10 this Saturday 26th August and grab a bacon and egg roll, a sausage sandwich, and some yummy home baked goods as well as raffle tickets for your chance at one of our awesome prizes including a $1000 luxury getaway at the beautiful Yamba Surf!!

We are also seeking donations of baked goods to sell at the BBQ. Drop off on the day or 

Next Week's Drive - Lucky Dip

This week we are seeking donatiosn for lucky dip prizes. We are asking families to donate something in a  brown paper bag - we are not asking for items to be purcahsed, it can be something from around the house that would be suitable for the lucky dip.

Square Reader

For the Joey’s Spring Festival we are hoping to offer card payments at a few of our stalls. We have one Square Reader to use and we’re hoping others might have one they would be willing to let us borrow for the day. 

If you can help out with this can you please contact Sarah Hourigan by email: sarah@ajh.net.au

We would need the reader by Friday 8th September so we can connect to the iPads and they will be ready to go back home with you on Monday 11th September (unless you want to collect at the end of the festival). 

All readers will need to be labelled clearly so we know who to return to. 

Thank you in advance for any help with this. 

The Parent Forum Team

Community Notices