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- Message from the Principal
- End of Year Schedule 2022 & Start of School 2023 Schedule
- Catholic Identity and Mission in Our School
- Socktober, Friday 28th October
- Learning Support at St Joseph's
- Student Awards
- 4H Literacy Award
- Sports News
- Student News!
- News from the Enviro Team
- The Wellbeing Team
- Canteen News!
- St Joseph's OOSH & Vacation Care - Copy
- School Drop-Off and Pick-Up Zone
- How to Purchase your child's School Uniform
- 2023 School Travel Applications are now open
- COMPASS- School Communication Platform APP
- eSafety at Home
- BILLBOARD
- Newsletter Sponsors
How resilient are our children! Last week we saw kids bound and skip back to school with large grins and smiles. It was great to see the children again.
END OF SCHOOL YEAR SCHEDULE
With the completion of Week 2, we move closer to the end of the 2022 School Year. As such, I have outlined below the Schedule for the end of the 2022 School Year. This can also be found in the School Calendar. Please note the final day of the Year for all students, being Wednesday the 14th December 2022.
CONFIRMATION COMMITMENT MASS
This morning we supported our Year 3 students during their Commitment Mass in preparation for Confirmation on the 31st October. It was a pleasure to walk with our students along their faith journey.
As always, I thank you for your support in regards to your child’s ongoing learning.
Guy Campbell
Driving Education in the Macleay
This week, Jesus gives us an example of extreme lack of humility. Pharisees were seen as the holiest of the holy. So, it was easy for this man to see himself as better than the tax collector, who was a Jewish man working for the Romans against his own people. We are looking into his soul, as only God can do – and we don’t like what we see.
How often are my prayers for my own needs, rather than in thanks to God for God’s blessings. This is another of Jesus’ reversal stories, but because the Pharisees have such bad press through this and other of Jesus’ stories, we don’t get the same jolt out of it as would the original audience. We do not see that it is us, the good guys, who are being held in retrospection. How do I feel when I visit people who are unlovely, perhaps irresponsible, even ungrateful for my help? Do I say to myself, I would never be like one of these? It is said that the great saints always see themselves as most unworthy and sinful. Humility is perhaps the hardest virtue to acquire; it eludes us as we see ourselves attaining it. I guess it is about forgetting myself and thinking of others. The encouraging thing is that God does not expect perfect humility, as long as we try not to judge others.
Prayer is the song of the heart that makes its way to the throne of God, even when entangled in the wailing of thousands of souls. Kahlil Gibran
PRAYER
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
Those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.
Psalm 32
Sourced from; https://www.vinnies.org.au/icms_docs/333553_Spiritual_Reflection_Guide_September_2022.pdf
Catholic Identity and Mission in Our School
WITH MRS ERIN MCGOVERN
SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
Year 3 students are preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation where they will renew the promises they made at Baptism. Parents please continue to return all notes to school.
Reminder students will also need their Sacramental White Garment that they were given at Baptism. These can be purchased for $5 if needed, call the School Office.
Each student needs a Sponsor present on the night, and reminder sponsors need to be over the age of 14 and Baptised Catholic.
SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION- MONDAY 31st OCTOBER, 5:30pm, All Saints Catholic Church, Kempsey.
On Tuesday this week, four members of St Josephs Primary attended the Exuro Catholic Retreat held in Port Macquarie.
The daylong event was filled with exciting activities, meaningful conversations and multimedia presentations with the inclusion of surrounding local Parish Schools within the Hastings cluster.
The theme of Exuro was ‘Disciples’ and how to become a ‘Disciple of God’. To achieve this aim we engaged with other students to complete activities to follow in God's footsteps and these ideas were shared with and amongst other schools.
“Do noy let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for the believers in your speech, your conduct, your love, faith and purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)
MISSION EVENTS TERM 4
This term we have several Mission events that students have been participating in, or are upcoming
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Exuro- On Tuesday Mr Clay took some year 5 students to join in a Diocesan Faith Retreat, joining in with other students from Port Macquarie schools.
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Year 3 Retreat- As students in Year 3 continue to prepare for their upcoming Sacrament of Confirmation, all students in Year 3 will have the opportunity to engage in a Retreat Day to continue nourishing their faith and learning skills around resilience, friendship and kindness.
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Socktober- Next Friday 28th October, we will be hosting ‘Crazy Sock Day’. This is an initiative run by Catholic Mission that supports a ‘faith in action’ model where students are able to contribute a gold coin donation and bring awareness to those communities less fortunate living in poverty.
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‘One Million Children Praying the Rosary’- this week students from Kinder to Year 6 also engaged in a global awareness campaign through the simple yet powerful act of praying the Rosary. This initiative is aimed at bringing about world peace through the power of prayer with children.
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Sacrament of Confirmation Commitment Mass- Today Year 3 attended Mass at our All Saints Catholic Church and those students who will be making their Sacrament at the end of this month pledged their commitment to this important celebration, supported by their teachers and peers. The students stayed behind at the end and Fr James spoke with them about preparing for the Sacrament. It was a lovely Mass and we thank Fr James for his time.
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Class visits with Fr James and Macca- this week Fr James and his parrot Macca enjoyed a visit to Year 1 and had a chat with the students. Thank you so much for bringing Macca to meet the Year 1 children today. They loved your visit and, since they are learning about the importance of gratitude, they wanted to make some posters of Macca to say thank you. We thank Mrs Hart and Fr James for bringing the fun this week.
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Bishop Greg’s visit- next Monday, 31st October, we are excited to be hosting a visit with Bishop Greg. He will spend the morning visiting classrooms and chatting with students, before meeting with staff for a shared morning tea. He will then head up to St Paul’s for a visit before Confirming our Year 3 Students in the evening.
Learning Support at St Joseph's
WITH MS TRACEY DUNCAN
An estimated 1 in 10 children suffer from hearing loss which left undetected can lead to speech, learning and behavioural problems.
The World Health Organisation recommends that all children should have their hearing screened around the time they start school.
- Every child starting school should have their hearing tested and ideally again in Year 3 & Year 5 in line with NAPLAN.
- Any child identified with learning or behavioural problems should have their hearing tested.
In collaboration with the National Acoustic Laboratories, Sound Scouts have created an online hearing test app that delivers an immediate report, including the next steps if a hearing loss is detected. The app is FREE and is supported by the Australian Government, Hearing Australia and NSW Health. More information can be found at https://www.soundscouts.com.au
Term 4 - Weeks 1 & 2
Awards will be presented at our School Assembly on
Monday 24th October at 9.00am.
Parents/Carers Welcome!
CLASS |
MARY MACKILLOP AWARD Recognises Catholic attitude, behaviours & helping those in need |
ST JOSEPH Recognises positive actions witnessed within our school community |
CATHERINE McAULEY Recognises a growth mindset & effort in learning |
KTruth |
Peyton Watts | Dustin Buck | Hendrix Whitley-Berrigan |
KHonour |
Ivy Fraser | Fern Green | Archie Wade |
1Truth |
Daisy Abigall | Lexie Kirkman Dates | Magnus Johansson |
1Honour |
Cohen Davies | Chloe Sproule | Max Hanna |
2Truth |
Jackson Cameron | Max Delforce | Ezra Higley |
3Truth |
Hallie Edwards | Mason Gagnuss-Vale | Brooke Collingwood |
3Honour |
Phoenix Whitley-Berrigan |
Arlie Wade | Zane Jordan |
4Honour |
Finley O'Donnell | Gus Pearson | Molly Grace |
4Truth |
Hesham Lingamneni |
Londyn Sutton | Jason Micallef |
5Truth |
Honorah-Jane Akee | Sophie Woods | Emmie Dyson William Kane |
5Honour |
Peter Murray | Bonnie Frewen | Charlotte Hegerty |
6Truth |
Portia Hili | Chelsea Workman | Nell Westerman |
6Honour |
Dylan Micallef | Eliza Piggin | Harrison Shore |
Recently, Class 4H were presented with a Literacy Special Award for "amazing improvement in sentence and paragraph structure when writing persuasive text".
WITH MR MICHAEL WATTS
SWIMMING
The Year 2 Intensive Swimming Program - Students are off to a flying start with their "Learn to Swim" Sessions. It was good to see many of the students already on the journey with their swimming capabilities.
Years 3 & 4 are also doing weekly swimming to progress their water safety and Year 5 & 6 will complete five weeks of Elective Sports and then resume weekly pool visits.
Please note - We would like to continue to send the students to the pool when it is safe to do so, however, with the rain predicted over the term - we are asking that parents/carers pack a rain poncho in your child's bag together with their swimmers to allow them to walk to and from the pool in case of wet weather. If you would prefer your child not to swim in wet weather, please contact your child's class teacher.
NSWPSSA ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
INTERSCHOOL HORSE EXTRAVAGANZA
This year marks 40 years of Jump Rope for Heart! This year, we have an audacious goal for our students to log 40 hours of skipping across St Joseph's School. Can you help us reach our goal?
Register now and create your own secure webpage at https://www.jumprope.org.au/parents and join our skipping challenge.
When you register your child online you will receive access to additional skipping resources to help give your child a great reason to get away from the screen and get outdoors.
Thank you for getting involved in Jump Rope for Heart! Our Jump Off Day will be during Week 6 this term.
GEORGINA COLLINS -
PORT MACQUARIE SPEECH AND DRAMA EISTEDDFOD
At the end of last Term, Gina participated in the Port Macquarie Speech and Drama Eisteddfod and represented the school very well, she has brought her trophies and ribbons in to show you this morning, she was so proud of her results!
She received a number of 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings for Verse, Characterisation, Mime, Monologue and Prepared Readings, and received the Special Encouragement Award for her age level.
Gina made some friends from St Josephs Laurieton, and is hoping to team up with them for a Duo or trio next year.
GARDEN RENOVATION
During the October holidays our garden area has undergone a transformation. Thank you to the Edwards, Watts, Tarrant and Lewthwaite families for your hard work and vision for this area. Be sure to come and have a look and check out Farmer Joe who is ready and waiting to scare away the birds.
LUNCHTIME GARDENING GROUP
This week our lunchtime gardening group (and Mrs Patrice Martin) planted seedlings purchased from Amy O’Brien at “Our Alter Eco”, into our new beds and we can’t wait to share our home grown produce.
This area is a work in progress, if you have any suggestions or would like to help please contact the School Office.
We are currently looking for someone with fibreglassing experience to repair our "Cow" so that she can be repainted.
In the next few weeks the lunchtime gardening group will be preparing to set up a plant stall to help raise funds for the upkeep of the Garden area. Any donations of plants, cuttings, potting mix or empty pots would be appreciated.
SCHOOL TREE DAY
This year's tree joins our previous kindergarten trees which have been transplanted in the school grounds.
ENVIRO BANK BOTTLE RECYLCING
Thank You once again to the families who have been bringing in 10c bottles and cans. Last term we raised $233.10 however unfortunately we had 200+ items that were not 10c refundable such as a brand called Fitaid or were compromised due to the barcode being unreadable.
These items ARE NOT accepted, but can still go into your other recycling.
- Plain milk bottles or cartons
- Flavoured milk containers of 1L or more
- Glass wine bottles
- Glass spirit bottles
- Cordial bottles
- Pure juice containers 1 litre and over (comprising of at least 90% pure juice)
Students are reminded to bring your full bags to the Year 5 classroom to receive a ticket into the draw. Extra bags are available in the Sustainability Hub (canteen breezeway). This term we are encouraging every family to bring in at least 1 bag to help raise funds for our end of year reward day.
The winner of our Term 3 draw was Xavier Berrigan who will receive a bag of Enviro goodies at assembly next Monday.
How to enter the 2022 "What's in your backyard?" photo competition
Joining forces with Junior Landcare, host of Gardening Australia and Landcare champion Costa Georgiadis is calling on Aussie kids to take part in the ‘What’s in your backyard?’ photo competition and share with him why their backyard is important to them.
“Grab a camera, get outside, and snap photos of the flora and fauna in your backyard and tell us why they’re important to you!”
Costa, Junior Landcare Ambassador
Click here to find out more.
PARENT TALK NEWSLETTER
Parent Talk newsletter aims to provide parents and carers with relevant and timely information about developments in education, wellbeing, CCSP advocacy program and significant Catholic news and events.
Milk Shakes now available
$1.00 each
(Chocolate/Vanilla/Strawberry)
Lunch 1 only
(over the counter sales only - no pre orders)
Don't forget to order online via the COMPASS APP prior to 8.45am.
St Joseph's OOSH & Vacation Care - Copy
Joey’s welcomes students from Kindergarten to Year 6 from all schools in the Macleay Valley and surrounding areas. We provide high quality Before School, After School and Vacation Programs.
Joey’s is located in two dedicated classrooms on our St Joseph’s Catholic Primary Campus. The Program is headed by a qualified teacher and is supported by dedicated and experienced staff who plan and manage programs that offer both fun and educational activities.
The Before and After School Care may cost as little as $3 per day after the child care subsidy and Vacation programs as little as $8 per day. You can make both casual and permanent bookings.
To find out more and to explore the enrolment process visit our website at https://www.kmpplism.catholic.edu.au/out-of-school-hours-care
School Drop-Off and Pick-Up Zone
What is a School Drop-off and Pick-up zone?
- These areas are always on the school side of the road and are designated by “No Parking” signs.
- They provide a safe spot for parents and carers to drop off and collect their children from school by car.
- Drivers may drop off and pick up passengers legally within a two-minute timeframe without leaving their vehicle or turning off the engine.
A reminder to all parents that student drop-off in the mornings and pick-up at the conclusion of school is to occur within the designated School Drop-off Pick-up Zone, adjacent to the Hall. In order to minimise congestion and for safety reasons we ask that parents do not wait for children at this location, it is for quick and safe drop-off and pick-up only.
A reminder of the importance of keeping school and community members safe by:
- Parking safely and legally
- Always turning legally around the school
- Not double parking as it puts children at risk
- Not using manoeuvres such as U-turns and three-point turns
- Making sure your children use the rear footpath side door to get in and out of the car
- Reminding your child to stay buckled up until the vehicle has stopped in the drop-off and pick-up area
- Modelling calm, safe and considerate behaviour.
NOTE:
Please be extra mindful of the Bus Zone, Drop-Off & Pick-Up Zone and Disabled Parking Zones outside of the School and Church. Many parents have been fined for unwittingly entering these zones outside of designated times and/or without the appropriate permit.
The Drop-Off & Pick-Up Zone is for a minimum of 2 minutes.
Read LessCOMPASS- School Communication Platform APP
To learn more about the COMPASS Platform please click here
About the Compass Platform
The Compass platform is a web-based system that is accessible on any modern web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome & Safari) or by using the Compass School Manager iOS or Android App.
Parents have the ability to;
- Receive notifications about school events, news and information
- Enter an explanation for absences
- Communicate with your child’s teachers,
- Update your family contact details (mobile phone & email)
- View your child’s timetable and the school calendar
- Download and view your child’s academic reports
- Book parent-teacher conferences (parent/teacher interviews)
- Pay and provide digital consent for events (No more permission slips)
- Order lunches from the Canteen
- Pay school fees