NAPLAN 2023 

This week and next, students in Year 3 and Year 5 will be participating in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) from the 15th – 27th March. NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It tests the types of skills that are essential for every child to progress through school and life. The tests cover skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. As the majority of the tests are online, St Joseph’s has developed a timetable which spreads the tests out over the fortnight. Below is a copy of this timetable. Please be aware that it may be adjusted and changed as required. We thank Cate Anderson and Dee Milgate for the coordination of these tests.  

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL) 

Do Your Best: Learn and let others learn! 

During our Do Your Best focus, students are learning how to do their best through learning and letting others learn. At St Joseph’s we highly value learning and we are focused on our own desire to be active learners. We do this by fostering a great love of learning and mastering new skills. PBL lessons over this fortnight will outline ways each student can make an effort to be a creative learner. Lessons will also focus on the importance of how our behaviours impact the learning of others in the classroom too. 

In the classroom we are highlighting the importance of respecting others’ right to learn by working quietly, listening, staying focused, asking for assistance and challenging ourselves. We aim to complete our set work tasks with quality and attention to detail. When working collaboratively we are learning to be great listeners, to take turns and ensure we actively contribute. This means that we respect different points of view and we are inclusive of all members in our group.  

If you have an opportunity, please discuss these concepts with your children.  

Students are enjoying taking their class tokens to the colour house boxes and watching the numbers rise. 

Special thanks to our dedicated Sports Captains for counting our tokens. 

This week marks some special saint’s feast days. Today, Friday 17^th March is St Patrick’s Day. St Patrick was a missionary who brought Christianity to Ireland. He was also attributed to the eradication of all the snakes out of the country and he used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

On Sunday 19^th March is St Joseph’s Day, which we celebrated today. St Joseph was Jesus’ foster father, chosen by God, to care for and protect Mary and Jesus on Earth. We started our celebration with a whole school liturgy in the Church led by Year 5 and read the story of St Joseph as the reflection after the Gospel. I thank the teachers, Mrs Anderson and Ms Collins, for preparing the children to lead us in celebrating the Saint our school is named after. Students have made a white lily to take home to their families and share in the story of St Joseph.

Project Compassion Fundraiser

It is wonderful to see the school community enthusiastically supporting our fundraising for the communities in Africa and Asia. The Zooper Doopers have been a huge hit with the students and it’s been very challenging to keep up with the demand. With the difficulty of purchasing a supply of Zooper Doopers, I have had to rethink the way we sell them. As of 21^st March (Week 9) we will be selling them to the infants children on Tuesday 21^st, Stage 2 on Thursday 23^rd March and Stage 3 on Tuesday 28^th March (Week 10). Hopefully this way we will be able to keep up with the demand. I wish to thank our Year 6 Student Councillors and Cooper who have graciously given up their time at Recess to assist me. To date we have made $120 from selling the Zooper Doopers, with all proceeds going to Caritas.

Donna Morgan
Acting REC

As part of our approach to problem solving at St. Joseph’s we use a variety of strategies to support students. One strategy that we use is ‘Newman’s Prompts’ or ‘Newman’s Analysis’ which is a research-based approach to teaching Mathematics, especially problem solving.

What are Newman's Prompts? Newman's prompts were developed by an Australian language educator, Anne Newman during the mid-1970's. They were designed as an error analysis tool to provide teachers with a framework to consider the underlying reasons why students are answering worded questions incorrectly. Newman identified five basic steps that students typically work through to solve written word problems. This approach supports students working mathematically in all aspects of numeracy learning.

What we know from Newman’s study is that when a student makes a mistake in problem solving, it is not necessarily because of flaws in the processing skills. Students could have also made an error in the reading or interpretation of the question, the identification of which strategies to employ, or in the final communication of the answer.

By using Newman’s prompts we can identify where our students are going wrong in problem solving, so that we can accurately assess where they need assistance. The regular use of the prompts also gives our students a framework for solving problems and gives them opportunities to both understand and use mathematical language effectively.

Here are the 5 steps:

Kindergarten Music Lessons

Kindergarten Students have been attending Music Lessons in the Music Room once a week during middle block on Thursdays. We have been learning to sing the solfege scale with hand signs, how to keep a steady beat on our body and instruments and how to read/write simple rhythms using ta, ti-ti and zaa.

Our Kinder students are settling in nicely to music lesson routines and are making fantastic progress with their learning already!  We always have so much fun during our Music Lessons. I am happy to report they are always beautifully behaved and leave with big smiles on their faces.

I am so impressed with their ability to sing along with songs I play on the guitar or ukulele. They have also shown wonderful self-control knowing when it is time to play or hold their instruments still.

Please enjoy some photos from our time together this term in the Music Room. I look forward to sharing more fantastic learning in term two when we begin our instruments of the orchestra unit. 

The Recorder

This term students in Years 1-6 are learning to play the recorder. There are so many benefits to learning the recorder and I love seeing all of the students’ smiling faces when they finally accomplish playing their first song and earning their first coloured belt. I would like to share my top three reasons for choosing to teach recorder at St Joseph’s Primary School.

The Perfect Choice
At St Joseph’s Primary School we are fortunate to have plenty of classroom percussion and tuned instruments including bucket drums, ukulele, guitar, xylophones and glockenspiels and a whole assortment of non-tuned percussion instruments for our whole class ensemble rhythm work but there is something special about the recorder.

It is unique in the way it needs to be played. Being a woodwind instrument breath control and finger strength are combined. This skill can then be transferred to learning other wind instruments in the future! It’s a perfect beginner instrument and often motivates students to try new instruments. The recorder can be played beautifully when control and technique are learned through self-control and practice. I love giving students their ribbon belts every time they progress throughout their learning journey. As they level up through the black belt recorder program, they earn different coloured belts until they earn their black belt in Year 5 or 6 and are named a Master of the Recorder. Each level has a different coloured belt and students are highly motivated to earn their next belt colour as well as move their icon on the Wall of Fame in the Music Room.

A Brain Work Out!

When learning to play an instrument students also learn to be musically literate. When playing the recorder kids need to read the note and then remember what finger positions to use for that particular pitch. They also need to interpret the symbols to recognise their value for how long to play them. While playing the recorder they are using creativity and problem solving skills which enables their brain to complete a huge workout. Playing music is one of the only activities that lights up the entire brains network and strengthens the bridge between the left and right hemisphere. Learning the recorder is certainly an interesting way of learning to interpret notation independently while also being able to create beautiful melodies. Some Year 6 students have been improvising and exploring how the recorder can be played to mimic the Mandalorian Theme Song. The haunting flute solo in the show’s opening credits have helped inspire students to create music from memory and it’s exciting to hear them accomplishing a lovely tone on the recorder. 

Overcoming Difficulties in The Learning Pit
Learning an instrument can be challenging. When students are faced with a task that they cannot complete quickly that takes time and effort the analogy of the learning pit is a great way of helping students visualise their learning journey.

St Joey’s school community have been talking about “The Learning Pit” and learning how to play the recorder has been a wonderful opportunity to help students develop resilience to be able to continue trying to learn even when they feel challenged.

At times this term I have witnessed many students feel forlorn and have even witnessed some students come to the conclusion that “it is impossible to learn how to play the recorder properly”. But…after a few weeks of practice I started noticing some wonderful moments. Students were finally starting to work out how to hold the recorder to ensure each hole was covered completely. They were then able to play clear notes and control the pitch of their instrument. The joy on their face said it all. I have loved celebrating with them as they feel accomplishment and share their success with their peers.

Mrs Emily Butler
Creative Arts RFF Teacher

Cross Country 

Our annual cross country was another success, and first and foremost, I would like to thank Amanda Vickery and Nicole Doyle for their assistance and organisation of the day. They take on this role for the love of not only their own children, but those of the wider community. We as a school are SO appreciative of their time, energy and support for the day, and it wouldn’t have been the success it was without them, so thank you!  

They also recruited many parent volunteers for the day – an amazing turnout! Because of the support of the parent community, it was also the reason for a successful cross country. I loved to see the energy and enthusiasm of the parent volunteers, along with their encouragement of students, the way they enabled students to push that little bit further, dig that little bit deeper and get themselves ‘out of the pit’ to challenge themselves. It doesn't matter whether they came first or last, or somewhere in between, the fact they pushed themselves, gave it their all and tried their hardest, it is the effort that matters. It really is.  

Well done to all the students who participated. We hope you enjoyed the day. 

Please congratulate the following students who have made it to the Diocesan Cross Country which will be held at Maitland Park on 10th May: 

Winter Trials

Students from St Joseph’s have been trialing for many sports recently such as Rugby League, AFL, Netball and Soccer. The following students are to be congratulated for progressing through to the next round in their prospective sport:

Polding Rugby League Trials:

Sidney M U 12’s
Jack J U 11’s

Polding AFL Trials:

Callum VH, Jacob F and Max L

Polding Soccer Trials:

Evan B, Felix P and Darcy W

We know you will all do us proud. Congratulations, boys, for making it this far.

Swimming

We have had another successful season of swimming, with so many students attending the Diocesan Swimming Carnival.

The following students made it to the Diocesan Swimming Carnival at The Forum, Newcastle:

William D, Vincent M, Archie D, Harrison C, Sidney M, Byron S, Ava K, Isla K, Alexandra S, Sophia S, Ava K, Audrey O, Ella W

Please congratulate the following students who have made it to the Polding Trials which will be held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre on Thursday, 30^th March:

Ava K – Jnr 50m Backstroke (1^st) and the 200m Individual Medley (1^st)
Vincent M – 10 yrs 50m Freestyle (2^nd)
Archie D – 11 yrs 50m Freestyle (3^rd)
Byron S – 12/13yrs Backstroke (2^nd)
Senior 50m Freestyle Relay: Jacob F, Sidney M, Archie D and Byron S (2^nd)

Cricket

The State Cricket Championships were held on the 7^th to
the 10^th of March in Ballina, NSW.

My team Polding ended up finishing 5^th out of 14 teams all across NSW. We had 2 wins and 2 losses. CIS were the winners of the carnival beating Hunter in the final 30 runs. The whole experience was amazing and I had a lot of fun.

By Callum VH

Rugby Union Trials 

Experienced 11 and 12 year olds (Year 5 and 6) students have the opportunity to attend Diocesan Rugby Union Trials. There are no regional trials for union and no exemptions for 10 year olds.

Please take the following into consideration before putting your child's name forward: Are they registered to a club for 2023? Have they been playing rugby union for several years? Do they fall into the required age bracket? Are they consistently one of the better players in your club side? Does their coach acknowledge their strong performances throughout the season? Have they previously received end of year club awards such as best and fairest, best back or best forward? These are indicators that your child may be suitable to trial.

If they meet the above criteria, please email the office at admin@merewether.catholic.edu.au. A compass alert has been sent out with the required form to complete, expressing your child's experience/interest in attending the upcoming trial by Friday 28th April (no late submissions will be accepted).

Please note that pathway sporting opportunities may include travel. The Dio Rugby Union Trials are being held on the 24th May with a back-up date of 31st May. The venue is Marcellin Park, Lorn.

Paul Kelly Cup

The Paul Kelly Cup will be held on May 4^th in Warners Bay. The following students have been selected to be a part of the Paul Kelly Cup team for 2023:

Jacob F, Callum V, Harry H, Sidney M, Toby B, Max L, Gus M, James S, Byron S, Darcy W, Ollie H, Jai B, Evan B, Max O, Archie D and Louis B.

More details will be shared shortly.

Zoe Parish – Touch

Our very own (and extremely talented) teacher, Zoe Parish, competed in the National Touch League last week, representing the Hunter Western Hornets, which was made up of players from a huge area including the Central Coast, Mudgee, Maitland and Nelson Bay. The competition was held in Coffs Harbour from the 8^th to 11^th March. They played numerous pool games over the three days, finishing 2^nd in the table after the preliminary rounds. They faced the NSW Northern Eagles in their semi-final and after being down 3-1 at half time, dug deep, fought hard and worked together as a team to bring it back for a 7-6 win! A nail biter of a game! It was a high paced, extremely competitive match. This led them to the Grand Final playing Brisbane City Cobras. Again, it was try for try in another fierce, competitive game but unfortunately, the Hornets took a loss in an exceptionally close final, 6-5 at the final whistle. While they didn’t quite get the chocolates, finishing silver medalists in the country is a great achievement.

Zoe plays representative touch Football for Wallsend, playing the position of link. Well done, Zoe! It is wonderful to have such a skilled and passionate athlete on our staff.

Emma Cook
Sport Coordinator