Dear Parents,   

We have made it to the end of an incredibly busy, yet fulfilling year.  A year that has proved to be wonderful on so many counts.  Wonderful for the fact that we have had a whole year of school based learning, wonderful that all those new to our community this year have settled in well and shared their gifts and talents with us, wonderful for the great learning achievements and growth that has occurred across the school and wonderful for all the fun things we have managed to do this year, including excursions, carnivals, refurnishing,  and our musical.  We have a lot to be grateful for and to thank God for.  As we prepare for the coming of Christ, this Advent, let’s take some time as individuals, and as families, to stop and reflect on what each of us are truly grateful for this year.   

Thank you to those families who will be leaving our community this year.  Thank you for entrusting the care and education of your children to us.  It has been a great honour to care for and educate them and to share this role with you.  We wish you all the best in the future and hope you will hold fond memories of St Joseph’s throughout your lives.   

Thank you also to those staff members, who have shared their beautiful personalities and incredible range of skills with us, and are spreading their wings to try new things. We wish Miss Laura Slattery all the very best as she take up a new teaching position at Our Lady of Victories Shortland; we look forward to hearing Ms McCalden’s adventures when she returns after taking some leave; we thank Mrs Danielle Shaw for her contributions to making Indigenous perspectives a real thing here at St Joseph’s; we wish Mrs Joanne Standing the very best in her permanent position as Learning Support Teacher at Kurri Kurri and hope Howard Ward enjoys his break from teaching band here for nearly 30 years.   

I would like to finish off the year by saying what terrific experiences our children have had right up until the end of this term and how amazed I am that the staff and students have had this much energy right to the very end. Our Christmas Picnic and Concert were incredible and I felt such a sense of community and Christmas spirit, last Thursday evening. Thank you for your support of this night. Over the last two weeks the Year 3 students have surprised us all with their amazing acting talents as were showcased in last Wednesday’s  performance of 'Santa’s Magic Boots', Years 5 and 6 have captured our attention with their BECOME projects where they held an expo sharing their action research into potential careers for them in the future.  I can’t wait to see, if in about 15 years down the track, we do have any vets, interior designers, police officers, litigation lawyers, teachers and artists. Add a swimming carnival and reptile incursion into the mix and you have a snapshot of the last 10 days! 

Year 6 Farewell Liturgy 

We were so fortunate to have managed to secure Fr John for the Year 6 Graduation Liturgy and awards ceremony this week and to be able to hold it back in our own St Joseph’s church.  A very fitting setting for a farewell. We hope that our Year 6 children will keep the memory of this special occasion with them for a long while to come and that they will keep even longer the message that they will always belong and be welcomed by God, and that they will never be alone.  Our children have many challenges and triumphs ahead of them and if we can help nurture in them the realisation that no matter what, Christ will always be there for them, this may give them the strength and support they need to get through those toughest moments as well as help them to give thanks to God for the good that comes their way.  

There was a terrific atmosphere throughout this occasion, and we were so glad that families could share in this moment with their children.  My favourite moments were seeing the genuine shock and delight on award recipients faces, when they were taken by surprise; along with the moment when the Kinders presented their Year 6 buddies with a special gift they had made for them. It was very obvious that our Year 6 students valued the role they had in guiding the younger children.   

The handing over of the leadership light was also very touching and I thank Eleanor and Luca for the great work they did as leaders this year and we look forward to Chloe’s and Sid’s leadership next year.   

2022 STARTING DATES 

27 January       Staff Development Day  

30 January       Staff Development Day  

31st January    Year 1 - Year 6 Students commence/Kindergarten Teachers attend Successful Foundations Action Research Day 

1 February      Kindergarten families - Picnic and Play in Centennial Park  (optional) 

2 February       Kindergarten students commence (those with siblings to start at 9:00am. Remaining students to start at 9:20am) 

2023 TEACHERS 

Our staff for next year are:  

Kindergarten - Casey Stewart (KB),  Chloe Coe (KG)

Year 1 - Leanne Skinner & Carolyn Delore (1B),  Emma Cook (1G)

Year 2 – Gabriele Hawthorne & Anne-Maree Mantach (2B), Emilia Flaherty (2G) 

Year 3 - Chloe Murray (3B), Nicole Charnock & Belinda Parkes (3G)

Year 4 - Donna McMillan (4B), To be confirmed (4G)

Year 5 – Cate Anderson (5G), Alison Collins  (5B)

Year 6 - Zoe Parish (6B), Phoebe Parker  (6G) 

Learning Support Teacher  - Ellie Ryan (fulltime) and Sally Casey (part time Term 1) 

EALD - Alice Noble 

AbEd – Leah Temple  

Teacher Librarian – Dee Milgate 

Music, Dance & Drama: Emily Butler 

GEM – Gabriele Hawthorne 

We welcome Cate and Ellie to our staff for 2023 and welcome back Gina Pringle to the office. 

Please take note of the flyers at the end of this newsletter regarding back to school vouchers, ASPIRE opportunities and Friday night Bowls. 

May the spirit of Christmas bring you and your family love, joy and peace. Enjoy the summer break and all the very best for 2023. 

Karen

SPORT NEWS

Swimming Carnival

Our swimming carnival, held this past Tuesday 13^th December, was a great success! The forum was a wonderful venue to hold this event, with cover from the weather, spacious stands, comfortable viewing areas for the parents and excellent facilities!

Our students’ engagement, behaviour and support of each other was phenomenal. I am really proud of how our students carried themselves, cheering each other on, acting in a safe manner and helping out where needed.

It was so exciting to witness the extraordinary athleticism from all of our students. Whether you were the fastest on the day, or simply had the courage to give it a go, we were amazed at the determination of all students.

A few special thanks need to be handed out. As always, these events do not sun as smoothly if we don’t have the help and support of staff and our St Joseph’s Community.

To the parent helpers: A HUGE THANK YOU for taking time out of your day to help out with time keeping, marshalling or starting races. You were on your feet for a good part of the day with little breaks and you did this to support our children. Your time is very much appreciated.

Anne-Maree Mantach: Your passion for swimming and motivation to provide a safe and successful carnival is admirable. The time you spent (in your own hours) to organise heats, document programs and communicate roles for staff and parents is very much appreciated.  

Nicole Charnock: Your behind the scenes work and assistance in collaborating both with myself and Anne-Maree, is also very much appreciated. To booking the venue (and relocating from Lambton Pool in a mad rush with the construction impacting spectators!), your entertaining MC work on the mic and generally guiding our school through this event attributed to our successful day.

Staff: You all helped in many ways, whether it was supervising students with a ringing in your ears from their cheering, judging, entering results or taking photos, your time and support is also appreciated.

Year 6 Sport Captains: Thank you for assisting on the day to help with timekeeping. You did such a great job and were very reliable. We hope you enjoyed being part of the day for your last primary school carnival.

Congratulations to the following students who have made it to the Regional Swimming Carnival:

Regional Swim Team 2023

Touch Trials

Please congratulate our two superstars, Callum Van Huisstede and Toby Burgess on making it to the Regional Touch trials to be held early next Year. Toby will be new to our school next year, and sounds like he is bringing quite a few sporting skills along with him! These two boys have exceptional talent and we can’t wait to see how far they progress.

PSSA Winter Trials

Winter trials will consist of soccer, netball, AFL and rugby league. Nomination forms will be sent out towards the end of the holidays or early in Term 1. Please keep an eye out for these via Compass.

Upcoming Events

Regional Swimming Carnival

Date: Monday, 6^th February

Location: Mayfield Swimming Pool (due to the construction at Lambton and no availability at the Forum)

Staff: Mrs Mantach

Regional Touch Trials

Date: TBA but it will likely be in Week 2 of Term 1, 2023

Staff: Zoe Parish will be the convenor

Polding Trials for cricket, basketball and tennis

Date: 10^th February

Please check CSNSW/sport for further details.

Polding

This year, approximately 112 athletes were selected in Polding Teams/Squads. This means they generally were successful at school level, then regional level, Diocesan level and to Polding level. They then had to be selected at Polding to compete at a NSW PSSA event. Congratulations to the following students who were Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle 2022 Polding representatives:

Jacob F – AFL

Elliot M – AFL

Theo S – AFL

Evan B – Athletics

Oliver S – Athletics

Archie D – Athletics, Cross Country

Sidney M – Rugby, Rugby League

Spencer S – Rugby

Ava K – Swimming

Harrison C - Swimming

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL)

Congratulations PBL Yearly Winners:

We have compiled the final totals for all 4 terms this year and it is our pleasure to announce that the Colour House with the most tokens for 2022 is the Green Sports House!

The final overall totals for the year are as follows:

Green House: 2304
Red House: 2140
Gold House: 2110
Blue House: 2047

Congratulations to the students in the Green House for working so hard to uphold our PBL expectations throughout the year! To celebrate their achievements, the Green House was rewarded with the prize of pizza! 

Well done to all for their efforts with our PBL this term!

Safeguarding -eSafety Resources

Don’t forget the OoSG has produced a number of padlets to support parents in promoting safe online and physical safety messages with their children. Click on the following links to take you to these padlets.

Kinder to Year 2

Year 3 to 6

BECOME.ME Flipped Career Expo: Year 5 and Year 6

What a success our Flipped Career Expo proved to be! Students in Years 5 and 6 proudly showcased their Become.Me projects to share their killer questions, experiments and reflections on a career they are interested in. Thank you to our parent community for encouraging our students on the day, to our wonderful Year 5 and Year 6 teachers for their ongoing support shown towards their class during the program and to our amazing students for their positive and dedicated approach to their learning.

Would you like to know more about the Become.Me program? Research demonstrates that providing the time, tools and space to think about this helps students become more inspired learners today as well as improving longer term academic and career outcomes. You can read more about the program here:

https://www.become.education/

School Holiday Opportunities

Are you looking for something engaging for your child to participate in these school holidays that is aligned with the NSW Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus? The University's SMART program presents exciting Science Shows and delivers hands-on STEM workshops for primary school students!

Click on the link below to explore this opportunity.

SMART Program / Schools and community engagement / Faculty of Science / Faculties / The University of Newcastle, Australia

Children’s University

Children’s University Newcastle engages children in learning in its broadest sense. Participating children, between 7 and 14 years, are encouraged to discover new learning experiences outside of the classroom, in their local and regional community and on campus.

Click on the link below to explore this opportunity.

Childrens University

Have a wonderful, safe and happy Christmas everyone.

Kind regards,

Laura Slattery.