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Dear Parents,
What a whirlwind this term has been. The calmer, quieter pace that we all came to deeply appreciate last year seems a long distant thing of the past. This term has been jam-packed with events - swimming carnivals, cross country, sports trials, professional learning experiences for the staff, Project Compassion and Lenten events, the launch of Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) and the introduction of tokens, the re-introduction of the band and choir, P&F meetings, parent information evenings, school enrolment tours, along with the regular day-to-day learning opportunities. This upcoming break is very well-deserved by all our students and staff.
I wish you all a happy and holy Easter. Let this Easter be a joyous one for us all. Let us prepare ourselves, to be worthy of the risen Christ.
We wish Stephanie Colvin well in the project that she is about to embark on next term. We know she will do an amazing job and we look forward to her coming back throughout the year and helping us pilot the new Religious Education units that she will be writing. We offer our congratulations and support to Mrs Donna McMillan who will be stepping into the Acting Religious Education Coordinator’s role in Steph’s absence. Donna is very excited and enthusiastic about this leadership opportunity and we look forward to working with her in this capacity.
Uniforms
Unfortunately, the girls shorts as an option for the summer uniform have not been available this term. They will be in stock later in the year when we begin to wear the summer uniform once more. Lowes apologises for the inconvenience. We will change into winter uniform next term. It is usually around Week 3 or 4 that we transition. We will wait to see what the weather is like on our return to school and then determine the final change over date. Navy trousers, to match the shorts, have been ordered for the girls for winter and it is hoped that by Week 4 of next term they will be in stock. If this is an option that your girls would like to take up please feel free to hold off purchasing the winter uniform. The same white shirt and tab tie as the tunic will be worn with the trousers. We will let you know as soon as they are in stock.
Easter Raffle
It is no exaggeration to say that a sea of chocolate eggs washed through our school this week. We are extremely grateful to all our families for your donations of eggs along with the purchasing of raffle tickets. There were too many prizes to count but I do know that there is a huge number of children going home with big smiles on their faces as a result of having a winning ticket in the raffle. I’d like to thank Angela Samuels with the assistance of Kristy Hatherly, Jodie Bruce, Tammy Wilson and Lauren Payne for the organisation, coordination, sorting and wrapping. Without their help the raffle would not have been possible.
Thanks also go to Lyndall Allen from Robinsons Real Estate for her organisation of the schoolwide colouring in competition. We congratulate the following students who won first prize.
Kindergarten | Louis Seysener |
Year 1 | Indiana Ware |
Year 2 | Bridget Kaczor-Byrnes |
Year 3 | Jersey Firman |
Year 4 | Stella Childs |
Year 5 | Aurelia Francis |
Year 6 | Eva Cootes |
Tabloids
St Joseph was definitely on our side yesterday when we managed to carry out the tabloid activities that had been planned as part of our St Joseph’s feast day celebrations. Blue sky and sunshine were very much the order of the day yesterday and our Year 6 students managed to lead the whole school in a fabulously fun and well organised variety of activities. The students did a terrific job of deciding on the activities, putting all the arrangements in place for them to happen as well as stepping up and leading the different activities. Great leadership Year 6! Thanks also to their teachers who assisted them in making this such a successful event. After all the recent rain, to have the whole school outside at the same time enjoying one another’s company and having fun together was fabulous.
Kiss and Ride
When you are doing afternoon Kiss and Ride pick-up please remember to display your name tags prominently on the sunvisor. As the teacher on that duty it is very challenging to have to supervise the children, keep the kids level down, read name cards, call out names, all whilst thinking ahead and working out which coloured cone to send children to and responding to children as well as monitoring the pedestrians on the footpath. When there are no name tags displayed or they are only held up for a few seconds here and there, and when we turn around they are no longer on display, it makes for a very challenging situation.
If you need further laminated name cards please contact the office at the start of next term or ask your child to go to the office to make the request.
The easiest and best solution to manage this situation is for you to permanently keep your name on the visor with a large elastic band or a bulldog clip. When you arrive in the Kiss and Ride zone then all you need to do is pull down the visor.
Remember, the use of name cards help you as parents and they help the staff as well. A much safer and more efficient practice is the result. I strongly encourage you to work at this next term.
Disco Fever
The P&F are organising their first event in 12 months. They are kicking off with a school disco early next term. There will be two sessions, the earlier one for infants and then one following this for the primary students. Save the date - Friday 14th May. More details will be provided in our first week back after the holidays.
2022 Kindergarten Enrolment
We have recently held school tours for families considering St Joseph’s for their children in Kindergarten next year. Our Year 6 students have been the very capable tour guides. We will continue with these tours next term. If you have a child who will be starting school next year or know someone who does please book in or encourage them to book in for a guided tour. Schedule tour dates are 22nd April, 26 April & 7 May.
Enrolment packs are available now from the office.
Important Dates
19 April | Term 2 Commences |
21 April | Newcastle Combined Schools Anzac Service (Year 6) |
21 April | Diocesan Touch Trials |
22 April | Student Lead Tours - Kindergarten 2022 |
26 April | Student Lead Tours - Kindergarten 2022 |
26 April | ANZAC Day Liturgy |
27 April | Diocesan Cross Country |
Please note the following dates are scheduled for Staff Development Days later in the year and subsequently will be Pupil Free Days:
Friday 18th June, Friday 25th June and Friday 16th July
Curriculum Corner - Renata Powell
NAPLAN Online Practice Test
Last week Years 3 and 5 participated in the NAPLAN Online Practice Test. This was an opportunity for the students to use the NAPLAN Locked Browser and experience NAPLAN style questions and ways to give responses. It was also an opportunity to test the NAPLAN platform and see if the system would cope with thousands of users on at the same time. All students completed the practice tests with commitment and diligence. As mentioned previously, the NAPLAN testing fortnight for 2021 is the 11th-21st May.
St Pius Information Session
A reminder for Year 6 parents that St Joseph’s is hosting the 2022 Year 7 St Pius Information Session. This will be held in the school hall on Monday, 26th April beginning at 6pm.
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)
We have had a very successful first term implementation of PBL at St Joseph’s. Students have enjoyed the explicit PBL lessons and we have seen much of their positive learning exhibited in both the classroom and playground. This term we have had a focus on:
- Act Safely – Using safe hands and feet
- Being Respectful – Including others
- Care for all – Care for the place you are in
- Do Your Best – Learn and let other’s learn
Dash Tokens were introduced at the beginning of the year. These have been a great way to instantly reward students when they demonstrate positive behaviour. Blue Sports Colour House were successful in accumulating the most tokens in the first half of the term. Students across K-6 in the Blue House enjoyed an out-of-uniform day in Week 6.
It is our pleasure to announce that the colour house which accumulated the most tokens for the second half of the term was the Green Colour Sports House. Congratulations to students in the Green House! Early next term we will be gathering as a group and deciding what the reward will be.
Well done to all for their efforts with our PBL this term!
Celebrating our Faith - Stephanie Colvin
Holy Thursday Prayer
Loving God,
You show us by example how to love others.
Today as we celebrate Holy Thursday, we remember when you washed the feet of your disciples.
Give us the strength to wash each other’s feet, not only in the ritual moment of today, but in all moments of our lives, particularly during these challenging days.
May we as a community recommit ourselves to the service of others.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Holy Week and Easter
Our school community will gather to celebrate Easter on two special occasions.
Today our Holy Week led by the Student Councillors recalled the main events of Jesus’ last days. This prayerful liturgy began with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This will be followed by remembering the time when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper, when Peter denied Jesus and when Jesus was mocked by the soldiers. Lastly, during our Holy Week liturgy we recalled the events of Jesus’ death upon the cross. Thank you, to the Student Councillors and Fr Peter Street for leading our liturgy for us.
On the first day of Term 2, Monday 19th April at morning assembly, we will gather under the COLA to joyfully to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. We will celebrate that Jesus, who was dead, now lives again! This means we may all rejoice knowing that Jesus shares His new life with us and we are filled with joy. Year 4 will be leading us in this liturgy.
Easter Mass Times
For further information in regard to Easter Mass times around our diocese, please click on the link below
https://www.mn.catholic.org.au/easter-mass-times
The Holy Season of Easter
This coming Sunday, Christians all around the world will celebrate the feast of Easter and contemplate the life, passion, death mystery and meaning of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
On Easter Sunday we will celebrate the feast of the Resurrection. We celebrate that Jesus, who was dead, now lives again! We celebrate his risen life, his new life, our new life. We can rejoice because He is risen from the dead. Jesus shares his new life with us, and we are full of joy. So, this Sunday find some moments of joy in your lives as a family.
Easter is not just this coming weekend, after Easter Sunday, the Easter Season continues for the next 50 days ending at Pentecost, the Church’s birthday. Let us all pray together in this holy season, that we will be inspired to actively participate in the liberation that God, the resurrected Christ, brings for all people.
We pray you and your family have a safe and happy Easter together – Alleluia!
Easter Vigil Mass
This Saturday 3rd April, at the Easter Vigil Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral at 8pm, Miss Zoe Parish will complete her RCIA, receiving the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion. This is a very special time for Miss Parish and we warmly invite the school community to join us in celebrating and welcoming Miss Parish formally into the Catholic community this Easter.
There will also be an Easter Vigil Mass here at St Joseph’s, The Junction commencing at 7:40pm.
Project Compassion
Thank you to everyone for your generous donation this Lenten Season for the great work of Project Compassion and Caritas Australia. On Harmony Day, with out-of-uniform and the orange ribbons, we raised over $547.00. From our class donations we raised over $420.00. Which give an overall donation of over $967.00 to Caritas.
ANZAC Day
In Week 2 next term, our school ANZAC Day Liturgy will be led held on Monday, 26th of April at 11:30am under the COLA.
ANZAC Day Commemoration Service at Merewether CANCELLED
In previous years, our Student Leadership Team and students K-6 have attended the Merewether-Hamilton-Adamstown RSL Sub-Branch ANZAC Day Service on behalf of our school. Unfortunately, due to local restrictions and advice from local law enforcement, this event has been CANCELLED for 2021.
Please see the Parish Bulletin for more details and registration for Masses in our area - https://www.newcastlecatholic.org.au/weekly-bulletins/
Winter Sport Trials
Congratulations to Isaac Flanagan and Gizelle Griffiths who have qualified for Polding Soccer and Chase Firman and Xavier Heaney who have qualified for Polding Rugby League and Elliot Mole & Chase Firman who have qualified for AFL PSSA State Championships. These trial events will be held during early Term 2. We wish these students all the very best for these upcoming events.
NSW/PSSA Championship Swimming:
We wish to congratulate all the members of our St Joseph's swimming team who participated in this week’s NSW/PSSA Championships at Sydney Olympic Park.
Harrison Coppola, Jacob Flynn, Byron Schmidt and Archie Doyle all represented in our Junior Boys Relay team with great pride and outstanding sportsmanship. These swimmers excelled on the day, overcoming nerves and channelling their excitement to accomplish personal best times in their events.
Harrison had an extremely busy meet, participating in 50m freestyle, the 200m Individual Medley, the 50m breaststroke, the 50m backstroke and the Junior Boy's Relay.
All of our St Joseph’s swimmers from the school level, right through until these championships, have been outstanding this swim season! We are exceptionally proud of all their achievements.
Harrison so far has made it to the freestyle 50 metre finals and finished 10th in the state he swam a PB of 32.67. He has qualified 6th fastest in the state to go through to 200 Individual Medley final today and took 4.89 seconds of with a time of 2.59.41 PB. He has swum 50 metre Backstroke today and came 13th in the state with a PB time of 40.59 which was 1.91 seconds of his PB.
The relay boys go had a fantastic swim with a time of 2.27.90 which placed them 6th in the state out of 39 teams taking another 3 seconds of their PB unfortunately they were then Disqualified due to a swimmer leaving the blocks prematurely but they all swum with great pride for St Josephs and tried so hard.
Diocesan Cross Country
The Diocesan Cross Country is scheduled for Tuesday 27th April 2021 (backup date 4th May). This event will be held at Maitland Park.
The St Joseph’s team will be supervised at the event by Ms Fiona McCalden.
8/9 Years | Boys | Girls |
Archie Doyle 8.33 | Lily Graham 10.12 | |
Felix Pasvolsky 8.58 | Adelaide Morton 10.32 | |
Evan Beacher 9.32 | Dearbhla Corcoran 10.54 | |
10 Years | Sidney Maxwell 8.54 | Isabelle Gill 9.40 |
Harrison Coppola 9.05 | Hannah Webber 9.47 | |
Xavier Minto 9.07 | Chloe Webber 10.39 | |
11 Years | Elliot Mole 13.37 | Edie Callinan 15.48 |
Spencer Smith 13.49 | ||
Hamish Stanger 13.56 | ||
12 Years | Eden Buxton 14.36 | |
Olivia Halverson 15.24 | ||
Lucia Minto 15.47 |
This is a SPECTATOR FREE event. Unfortunately no spectators can attend due to traffic and WHS requirements. Anyone turning up to the designated area that has been hired will be asked to leave. The Director of Schools and the Primary Schools Sports Association have endorsed this as a competitor only event to ensure the safety of our runners. Students will arrive by regional buses and be supervised by a teacher from their school. Results will be put up on the CSO website after the carnival for parents here
All students will be transported by bus. The bus will depart St Joseph’s Merewether at 8am. Please arrive at school no later than 7.45am. Students will return to school at the conclusion of the event for a normal school finish.
Qualifying times for this event are as follows:
Age Distance Qualifying Time |
Age Distance Qualifying Time |
Girls 8/9 yrs 2kms 13 mins |
Boys 8/9 yrs 2kms 11 mins |
Girls 10 yrs 2kms 13 mins |
Boys 10 yrs 2kms 11 mins |
Girls 11 yrs 3kms 16 mins |
Boys 11 yrs 3kms 14 mins |
Girls 12/13yrs 3kms 16 mins |
Boys 12/13 yrs 3kms 14 mins |
Paperwork for the NSWCPS carnival will be given out at the END of the Diocesan carnival. Successful runners will need to register on the CSNSW.SPORT website by the due date. If a student is unable to compete at NSWCPS carnival, please notify Bernadette Duggan on the day of the Diocesan carnival or within 3 days of its completion. The fastest 8 runners will represent the Diocese in each category at Polding on Tuesday 8th June at Eastern Creek.
Upcoming Dates
Diocesan Touch Trials: Wednesday 21st April
Diocesan Cross Country: Tuesday 27th April
School Athletics Carnival: Wednesday 5th May
Polding Cross Country: Tuesday 8th June
Central Region Athletics Carnival: Friday 11th June
Kindergarten News
Religious Education
In Kindergarten we have been learning about the church seasons of Lent and Easter. We have been exploring the different symbols that are significant during this season of the Church. We designed our own prayer spaces to include the symbols for this special time. We also preformed ‘Sing it Hosanna’ at the school Holy Week Liturgy.
English
We are tuning into sounds, rhyming and learning about the parts of words (syllables). To help us learn and deepen these skills we have loved reading a variety of books from Julia Donaldson. Such titles include Superworm, Room on the Broom and the Gruffalo.
Maths
We have been counting forwards and backwards, recognising numerals and learning about shapes. Here are some of our artworks we created using 2D shapes.
HSIE
Learning about each others' families and our past has been so fun this term! We have been working on our questioning skills to inquire about a friend’s family and their past. We have brought in artefacts, created a family tree and made family journals to share with each other. We love our families and how each of them is unique and special.
Science
We have been learning to ‘Let it Roll’ in Science this term. We have thought about how things move and the impact that surfaces have on an object's movement. We designed and made spinning tops, conducted a fair test and made a marble maze.
Parent survey:
Please complete the Successful Foundations parent survey here
School Photos
School Photos will be on 22 June 2021.
P&F News