Dear Parents

Lots of excursions, incursions, Christmas and end of year preparations have been taking place over this term.  It is quite unbelievable that in just over 4 weeks another school year will come to an end.  We would love for our whole school community to come together to celebrate the year that has been and to get into the spirit of Christmas by joining us on the evening of Thursday 8th December for our Christmas Picnic and Concert.  The picnic starts at 5:00pm and the concert at 6:30pm.  If you are unable to join us for the picnic, students will need to be on site to get ready for the performance by 6:15pm.  The children are enthusiastically practising their items for the concert and are looking forward to performing for you. Friends and families are welcome to join you. Feel free to bring along your own picnic, or alternatively you can pre-order a picnic or buy from one of our food and drank vans on site.  Please see the back of this newsletter for details.

Last fortnight, we had the pleasure of a new young principal for a day.  His name was Mr Tommy Beebe and he very capably led the school for us.  Tommy, from Year 5, was the winner of “Principal for a Day”, one of the fundraising initiatives at the Spring Ball held at the end of last term.  Tommy, with growing confidence,  led our Monday morning assembly, as well as MC’ed  our Choir and Band concert held in the hall later that afternoon.  He also responded to staff questions, assisted with Year 6 Retreat preparations, undertook various administration tasks as well as accompanied a younger class on an excursion to the post office. Tommy did a great job as principal and I would be more than happy to hand over the reins to him again if we were in need of another principal in my absence.  Congratulations Tommy on a job very well done!!

ASPIRE

I am thrilled to announce that we have a very strong and talented group of students who have been selected for ASPIRE, the diocesan’s performing arts programme, for 2023. We are so proud and excited for:

Vocal Ensemble - Leila Wadell

Drama  - Felix Pasvolsky 

Aspire Actors Program

Grace Connors

Ava Knox

Sophie Maher

Lola Mantle

Ivy Smith 

Congratulations to you all. We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences next year and, most of all, getting to see and hear you perform.

Kinder Expo

Last week saw the completion of our 2023 Kinder transition program.  All our new Kinders were here, having a great time with  their buddies.  At the same time their parents came along and engaged in our Kinder Expo. Our Expo consisted of around 14 different stands in the hall, each one focusing on a different aspect of school life her at St Joseph’s – Learning Support, Student leadership, uniforms, canteen, P&F, Gifted Opportunities, Performing Arts ….  The morning was a vibrant, relaxed, and informative one for all and the feed back form the incoming parents was incredibly positive and rewarding.  The morning ended in an opportunity for the new families to network with one another and some of our current Kinder parents as well.  This was over a delicious morning tea provided by the current Kinder families and I would like to say a very big thankyou to all those who baked, sent food in and who served and chatted on the morning. You really enhanced the morning and helped to make the new families feel very welcome.  Thanks also to all our other parent volunteers – we couldn’t have done this without you.

Student Safety

Cyber Safety

It won’t have escaped your attention that in recent weeks there have been

Medicare and Optus hacks. In light of this, and of some recent inappropriate use of technology by some students, both at school and outside of school, we would like to share the Cyber Safety Project resource with you.  This online resource is suitable for both children and families.  What we are noticing is that students are not fully understanding the knock on effects of some of their online actions and that not all parents are as digital savvy as their children.  If you would like to enhance your children’s cyber safety then please take a look at these webinars and activities:

Cybersafety Project

Lollipops

It has come to the teachers’ attention when they are on playground duty that an increasing number of students are bringing lollipops to school.  Despite reminding the children that they are required to sit down and eat, lollipops take a while to finish and many children want to go off and join their friends to play.  This poses a serious risk for them when they are running.  We do not want an accident to occur whilst they are running with a stick in their mouth, so we ask that you keep the lollipops for home and explain to your children these reasons.  Thank you for your support with this.

Class Parents

We would like our class parent network to be up and running as soon as we get back to school next year.  So, we wish to recruit now for our 2023 class parents! Please take a look at the types of things a class parent could do on the Class Parents Expression of Interest form and if you would like to try your hand at this role please complete the form and we will be in touch.  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.   

Volunteers

As many of you know, it takes a considerable amount of time to have to be cleared as a registered volunteer. If you feel that at some stage in your child’s time, here at St Joseph’s, you may wish to help at a carnival, on an excursion, at the canteen, at a disco…then we strongly encourage you to begin the process now. For some of our parents, it has taken a term for the process to complete, so we would really appreciate it if you get the ball rolling now so that for the start of next year you are ready to help out in the various ways that are available to you. It is very disappointing for us to have to say that we are unable to accept your offers of help and involvement with your children due to not having the clearance.

The Volunteer Registration Form, which includes a police check form can be located a here.

You are also required to read the Diocesan Volunteer Policy and Code of Conduct. A Working with Children check is not necessary.

Lord, continue to be a light for us, giving us hope, direction and courage. May we now live our lives treasuring the memories of those special people we have known
and loved and help us to bring light and hope to others. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord,

Staff Retreat Day Formation Day - “ Just in a Day” 

On Friday we, as a staff, had a day of reflecting on the spirituality of Australia’s first Saint, Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary is known for the saying: “Never see a need without doing something about it”. There is so much more to her spirituality that speaks to the heart of a deep and very Australian connection with God and God’s people. We spent time in moments of personal reflection. We worked in collaboration to support many organisations in our community. We explored how Mary’s faith can speak to us and our school community today through the lens of our Josephite charism as we worked to support and help others. The opportunities to serve included experiences with The St Vincent De Paul Society, Landcare NSW, The Mission to Seafarers, Mum’s Cottage and Ronald McDonald House. We are looking forward to a continued partnership with these community organisations throughout the year ahead.

Term 4 Fundraising - The Mission to Seafarers

This term we are supporting The Mission to Seafarers. This incredible organisation really needs our support. Our visit to the centre gave us so much insight into the absolute need the seafarers have for this support the workers offer. We are reaching out for your help. Each class will have a donation bucket with the items each class will collect. The staff from the centre will be at our Monday morning assembly on 5th December to address the students. Our staff will then help the mission on Wednesday after school to pack the care packages for Christmas for all the seafarers on the vessels visiting our port before and during the Christmas season.

Mission to Seafarers

Newcastle - Mission to Seafarers

We have allocated suggestions for each grade. Please place in collection buckets in the classroom. Please donate gift cards directly to the office. Closing date for all donations is Friday December 2, 2022.

Please note-

• To uphold the dignity of those receiving the goods, please ensure that all food items are not due to expire for at least the next 6 months. All items must be nonperishable and tins not damaged or opened packaging.
• Look out for packaged food with a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or above. The more stars, the better!

Kindergarten Blue - Chocolates

Kindergarten Gold- Men's deodorant- spray or roll on

Year 1 Blue - shaving cream and nail clippers

Year 1 –Gold- soap and combs

Year 2 Blue-Antiseptic cream and lip balm

Year 2 Gold - sunblock

Year 3 Blue- new men's socks

Year 3 Gold- new warm men's gloves

Year 4 Blue - decks of playing cards and stress release balls and fidget toys (the discount stores are great for these)

Year 4 Gold - men's beanies

Year 5 Blue- toothpaste and toothbrush

Year 5 Gold – new puzzles

Year 6 Blue- Christmas cake

Year 6 Gold –small torches & batteries

Extra Donation bucket in Office- small headphones, Doritos, sealed lollies, small writing pads

Parish Bulletin

Parish Bulletin - Christ the King

Student Leadership 2023  

The process of selecting our Student Leaders for 2023 begun last week.  Please see the proposed timeline of events below: 

Monday 21 November 

Year 5 students vote and determine 10 girls and 10 boys 

Tuesday 22 - Friday 25 November 

Staff vote to narrow 20 children to 10 - 5 boys and 5 girls – the Student Leadership Team of 2023 

Monday 28 November 

Student Leadership Team for 2023 announced 

Nominees for Sports House Captain to complete speech at House Team Meeting 

Students in Years 2-6 vote for Sport House Captains 

Tuesday 29 November 

Sports House Captains announced 

Thursday 1 December 

Student Leadership Team will write a short speech at school 

Speeches presented to the whole school 

Years 2-6 vote 

Captains and Vice Captains and their parents are informed  

Captains and Vice Captains for 2023 announced 

Wednesday 14 December 

Passing of light between 2022 Leadership Team and 2023 Leadership Team at the End of Year Mass.  

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) 

This week we congratulate the Blue House who have won our Term 4 (Weeks 1-5) Positive Behaviours for Learning Token Tally, with an impressive 412 tokens!! As a reward, the Blue House have chose to have an out of uniform day. 

We will continue to promote our positive behaviours across the remainder of Term 4. This will culminate with an overall winning house for the year. The winning house will be announced in Week 9 and will receive a Pizza party as their reward. 

Our PBL focus this fortnight is Care for All - Caring for God’s world. This unit highlights the importance of caring for our environment, our school, our home and our community. Throughout this learning students will reflect on the words of Pope Francis;  

“We are stewards, not masters of our earth. Each of us has a personal responsibility to care for the precious gift of God’s creation.” 

Below are some of ways we can care for God’s world. It may be a way to begin a conversation with your child/ren. Why not set a goal over this next fortnight to really focus on how we demonstrate care for our environment.

LIBRARY NEWS

The last day of borrowing was Monday 21st November. All books will need to be returned on Monday 28th November.  

If any books are lost, the replacement value can be paid at the office. 

Happy reading!

Year 3 Blue

3 Blue have been busy learning, exploring and taking risks this term. We have recently warmly welcomed a new student, Mina, to the 3B family. As we approach the end of the year, we have been reflecting on all of the amazing experiences we have had as a class and can’t believe our time together is soon coming to an end.

Take a look at some of our recent highlights!

English 

We have been polishing our skills in sentence structure and have been producing some quality simple, compound and complex sentences.

Mathematics

We have been exploring fractions including a half, quarter, fifth and eighth. We were given guidelines to create a class flag and created some amazing designs. 

Religion

In Religion we have been learning about significant Catholic individuals who have served the needs of others in the history of Australia. We enjoyed creating a presentation on a variety of individuals such as Caroline Chisholm, John Bede Polding and James Dixon.  

Creative Arts & Science

We created some beautiful artworks of the Planets in our Solar System. Some would even say, OUT OF THIS WORLD!  

HSIE-Geography

In Geography we have been researching Australia’s neighbouring Countries. We created some awesome post cards and wrote to our families from all around the world!

Sport

We have been walking to National Park every Thursday to partake in some fun sport activities led by SFX High School students.  

School Support Dog

For one of our brain breaks this term, we had the pleasure of being Mrs V’s assistants when training with our beautiful school support dog, Remi. We enjoyed the responsibility and the special experience with her. Don’t tell anyone, but we are Remi’s favourite class in the whole school! 

Remembrance Day

We respectfully led the school Liturgy for Remembrance Day and created some beautiful poppies dedicated to the brave soldiers who died fighting to protect our Nation. Thank you to all of the parents who attended and supported us on this day. 

Swimming Carnival 

Please note the change to the swimming carnival venue and date. Due to construction work at Lambton pool, we have had to relocate to The Forum and therefore change the date. Please take note of the new date and venue for St. Joseph’s Swimming Carnival.

Entries close November 11.  Details regarding how to enter are on Compass.

Venue: The Forum, Newcastle  

Date: Tuesday 13 December (Week 10)

Emma Cook 

Sport Coordinator

School Fees

We remind you that all outstanding accounts need to be finalised by 30 November.  

2023 Class Preparation

Teachers are soon to embark on the work of creating class lists for next year and many hours are spent on this task.

Please be assured that teachers use their professional knowledge of students and their judgement of what is best for each individual child when considering groupings. 
In assigning students to classes, teachers are asked to consider the following criteria to ensure an even spread of: 

• learning abilities 
• gender
• grade levels
• learning partners - these are not necessarily social friends but students they enjoy and work well with. Students may be asked for their input in this area.
• friendship groups - it is uncommon for students not to be with at least one of their chosen friends 

A great deal of consultation occurs in grade teams and with the leadership team before lists are finalised. If you have thoughts regarding your child’s learning needs and placement for next year, please share these in writing. I ask that these are sent to the school admin email admin@merewether.catholic.edu.au by no later than Monday 28th November.

Writing an email of consideration does not guarantee that the class lists will reflect your requests as we also have faith in the judgement and decisions made by the teachers who best know these children in the learning environment. Please do not make requests based on teacher preferences.

If your child/children will be leaving us at the end of this year and moving to a different school for 2023 please email us at  admin@merewether.catholic.edu.au, once again by Friday 25th November, to let us know so that teachers are aware of this prior to them sorting out class groups for next year.  It is a legal requirement that if a child changes schools the parents/carers inform us of the change including the name of the new school where they will be enrolled.  Thank you for your assistance with this.
 
We are aiming to hold our ‘step up’ afternoon where the students get to meet their 2023 teachers and mix with their new class group, in the last week of school.

Christmas Concert