Dear Parents

Safeguarding Audit 2023 Feedback

You may remember that we were one of three schools in the diocese engaged in the external audit to measure the diocese’s compliance against the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards. The audit report has now been published and  Bishop Michael Kennedy wrote to us personally to offer his thanks for our involvement and work in this field and I would like to share this with you.

“I write to you and your staff, as one of the three Diocesan schools that directly contributed to the Diocese’s outstanding results. Through your online submission of evidence during August and September 2023 and then undergoing an on-site ‘field audit’ in November, the staff, students and parents of St Joseph’s Merewether were instrumental to the Diocese achieving a 98% compliance rating… I ask that you let those who were involved in your school’s contribution to the ACSL audit, know of this letter and of my gratitude to them and to you, as their Principal.

To all the staff and community members of St Joseph’s Primary School Merewether, I want to acknowledge you all for having been so committed and diligent in your efforts and having given so generously of yourselves, your time, energy and intelligence. Through your labours and prayers, you have helped the Diocese to demonstrate to the families of our Catholic schools system and the general public, that we are genuinely committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable persons. Thank you.”  

Leading Expert Teaching 4 Expert Learning Symposium – Michael McDowell

Nearly 120 of our Principals, Assistant Principals and Education Officers came together last week for a two-day symposium led by Michael McDowell. Michael is an experienced educational leader and author with a demonstrated history of working in the field of education with substantial results in student learning. The two days explored knowledge, understanding and techniques to build our collective efficacy as a System of Schools committed to improving the faith, learning and well-being outcomes of our students. Nicole Charnock and I were a part of this, and we have come away with some great learning and ideas for implementing into our school to further improve our teaching and the students’ learning.

Feedback Wanted

In October 2022, the Diocesan Trustees authorised a review of the Religious Education & Spirituality Team supporting schools, and the Diocesan Pastoral Ministries team.

They want to hear directly from our schools and families as well as our clergy, our parishes and our people on this matter.

You’re welcome to share your feedback, vision and voice. Please click here to answer a few questions.

Class News Feeds

If you have not yet accessed your children’s Class News Feeds on Compass, from last week, where the teachers have shared with you what has been occurring in their classes throughout this term, I encourage you to do so.  Please invite your children to view the images as well and ask them to tell you about the different experiences that have been shared with you.

Class Parents

Each year we ask for volunteers from each class to take on the role of Class Parent.  The idea of “Class Parents” is to establish a link between the classroom teachers and the parents of the students in their classes. We view this network as a positive part of the pastoral support system at St Joseph’s. We would like our class parent network to be up and running as soon as possible so we are recruiting now.  The Class Parent Expression of Interest Form outlines what the role looks like.  Please take  a look at this and if you are interested please complete the form by next Friday 15^th March.   You will be supported in the role, you will work with a team and it is not an overly time consuming role (unless you want it to be). It's a great way to connect with people but to also make a difference in our community.    

Happy International Women’s Day to all our girls, mums, grandmothers, sisters, nieces, aunts and female elders.

“Here's to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.”

Karen  

LENT ~ 'a time for renewing faith, hope & love' (Pope Francis)

We are encouraged to put our compassion into action this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. Each class received a Project Compassion box and students are encouraged to give generously to help others in need. One way we are able to do this as a Catholic Community is by supporting Project Compassion run by CARITAS Australia. I challenge our classes to participate in the Water challenge to show solidarity of how families from other countries live their daily lives.

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday 19 March - Feast of St Joseph - Year 3 will be leading the school community to celebrate The Feast of St Joseph in the Church at 9:15 am on Tuesday 19 March. All are most welcome to attend this significant celebration!
• Friday 22 March – Harmony Day Liturgy – Mrs Nobel, Ms McGinlay and our EALD students will lead the school in worship celebrating the diverse cultures in our school and our nation.
• Monday 25 March – Palm Sunday – We will acknowledge the beginning of Holy Week at morning assembly with a prayer service
• Thursday 28 March – Holy Thursday – we will acknowledge the final hours of Jesus’ life before his crucifixion.
• Tuesday 2 April – Resurrection Liturgy – we welcome back the Alleluia we buried before Lent and celebrate Jesus rising again.

Donna Morgan 
Religious Education Coordinator  

Working Mathematically

At St Joseph’s we value all aspects of mathematics. We continue to work collaboratively to develop students’ working mathematically skills. The Working Mathematically processes that are in the NSW Mathematics K-10 syllabus are:

• communicating (oral and written)
• understanding and fluency
• reasoning
• problem solving.

Students learn to work mathematically by using these processes in an interconnected way. The coordinated development of these processes result in students becoming mathematically proficient. (https://curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/mathematics/mathematics-k-10-2022/overview)

When students are working mathematically it is important to help them to reflect on how they have used their thinking to solve problems. This assists students to develop ‘mathematical habits of mind’.

At St Joseph’s we use the teaching model of ‘Launch, Explore, Summarise,’ to engage students in their learning. Students are provided with a prompt or a problem and then they work through an exploration phase to solve the problem. We recognise that problems can be solved in a variety of ways. We value the creativity and thought processes that the students use during this process. At the end of the lesson we ‘summarise’ the lesson by sharing student work samples and discuss the different strategies and processes that were used. During the summarise part of the lesson we also take the opportunity to reteach skills and clarify any misconceptions. We also provide students with opportunities to master number facts to ensure they can work efficiently and effectively during problem solving tasks.

Did you know that students only need to learn these multiplication facts in order to answer all multiplication facts up to x9?

Figure 1https://twitter.com/Fiona_Foley/status/1427916686263427074

Leanne Skinner  
Primary Co-ordinator and Pedagogical Mentor  

Polding swimming

Last Tuesday 20 students from St Joseph's participated in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocesan Swimming carnival at the Forum. The students formed part of the Central Team and competed well, displaying sportsmanship and determination. We congratulate Archie D and William H who have progressed to the Polding Carnival in Sydney for individual events. We would also like to congratulate the Senior Boys Relay Team- Archie D, Joseph C, Gabe F and Jack J, who came first at Dio and the Senior Girls Relay Team- Ava K, Ava K, Clara P and Katie M who also came first. We wish them every success at the Polding Carnival which will be held on Wednesday 3rd April 2024 at the Aquatic Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

Diocesan soccer

Our soccer star skills were on display on Thursday 22^nd February at St Pius X for the regional soccer trials. Our tough competitors showed sportsmanship and skills honed by hours of practice and dedication to the sport. The selectors had a tough job with the amount of talent on display and we would like to congratulate Louella D, Beatrice P and Evan B on reaching the next level. They will attend the Central Region Diocesan trials on the 28^th March.

Good luck and let your feet do the talking!

Diocesan netball

On Thursday 22^nd February our budding netball stars attended the regional netball trials held at the Newcastle Netball Courts. The competition was fierce, and the skills displayed were outstanding. We would like to recognise all the girls who attended and congratulate Jersey F, Eve M and Lily G who have been selected to attend the Diocesan netball trials on TBA.

Good luck girls and remember to put your best non-pivot foot forward!

Touch Football Junior State Cup

The Northern Conference Junior State Cup for Touch
Football, took over the rural town of Dubbo on the 23^rd5^th February with our own Toby B leading the Newcastle City U12 boys team. The team faced a grueling 11 games, with 10 wins and a draw taking them through to the grand final. Unfortunately, Toby and the team couldn’t come away with the win, but they had an amazing weekend away together with friends, enjoying camaraderie, a bit of healthy competition and learning some valuable life lessons.

We are very proud of Toby’s achievements in a highly competitive sport. Well done and congratulations.

Oz Tag Junior State Cup

On the 23^rd and 24^th February Maya V, Lila K, Bridget K, Vinnie M, Lily G, Lola M and Jersey F travelled to Coffs Harbour to represent Newcastle in the 2024 State Cup Oztag tournament. The Under 11 girls (Maya V, Lila K and Bridget K) managed to win 2 out of 6 games and unfortunately missed out on the quarter finals. Vinnie M’s team, the under 11 boys won 2 games, drew 2 games and lost 2 games and just missed out on the quarter finals, yet they came extremely close.  The under 12 girls (Lola, Lily and Jersey) came out winning 3 out of 6 games, but just missed out on quarter finals.

On the 16^th and 17^th February Hugo S, Hudson S, Finn C, Joe C and Sam G went to Penrith to play in the Junior Oztag State Cup winning 2 out of 6 games and unfortunately were unsuccessful in making the quarter finals.

We are so proud of the amazing effort all the students gave across these weekends and would like to congratulate all involved!

International Day of Happiness is a global event arranged by the United Nations annually on March 20^th. It serves to remind us that being happy is a human right and worth celebrating! For more information click here.

To celebrate the upcoming occasion, St Joseph’s will be completing a whole school challenge throughout the month of March that focuses on positive actions and connections with each other to build a happier and stronger school community.

Each class is currently in competition to complete a range of weekly challenges at school and at home that promote happiness. The teachers and children have been asked to document the completion of each challenge with a photograph.

Well done to 3 Blue, 2 Gold, Kinder Blue and Kinder Gold for completing challenges this week and spreading happiness within our school community!

If your child would like to enter a photograph from a challenge card completed at home, please send to admin@merewether.catholic.edu.au with the subject line: IDOH Wellbeing Challenge

By sharing this challenge with families, we are hoping it will strike up important conversations about how you incorporate self-care practices, pursue your passions, and prioritise your happiness and mental health within your family.

Please visit our school website to view this week's SchoolTV edition – Happiness and Gratitude.

P.S - Happy International Women’s Day to all of the beautiful mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters and friends within our Joey’s community!

Chloe Coe
Wellbeing Coordinator

P&F Funds

We had an incredible 2023 where $42,000 was raised from events and our canteen has also been generating a healthy profit.  We’d welcome your input into how these funds are spent to enrich the learning environment of our students.

We’ve attached a breakdown for all our 2023 events, as we feel it’s important to feedback to the school community on some great results, and once again thank you for your generous support.

Some events are held to bring students and families together (and not necessarily used as fundraisers, such as our Mother’s and Father’s Day events) and other events are to raise funds (such as Parent Ball and Colour Run).

We’re looking to strike a good balance between friend-raising events (socialising) and fundraising events this year. Why not come around to our next meeting on 25 March to hear what exciting events we have planned for 2024.

Can you spare some time to help on our canteen which is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays? Our new Canteen Co-ordinator Anna Aird would love a couple of helpers, and the kids love to see a familiar face behind the counter.

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please contact the school admin@merewether.catholic.edu.au or sjpandf@gmail.com