Principal's Message
What a joyous week this is for all of us! A school filled with children and staff is a truly wonderful thing. A week or two of less noise and hustle and bustle is a delight but when it stretches on for as long as it did the novelty soon wears off. I hope you and your children are settling back into the routine that comes with school attendance. No doubt the children have been very tired at the end of each day, which is to be expected. The teachers have certainly found this is the case for them.
Our return to school was quite fitting this week. On Wednesday it was Universal Children’s Day and today it is World Teachers Day. How wonderful it is to acknowledge both our children and teachers this way, this week.
We hope these photos of our Monday morning welcome to the children make you feel as happy and warm inside as we did, when greeting the children and watching them walk down the red carpet, through our balloon arch and over our welcome bridge all to the accompaniment of celebratory music. We know there were a few dance moves and incredible smiles from many parents as they dropped their children off!
Children’s Week
The National Theme for 2021 is based on UNCRC Article 15 -
Children have the right to choose their own friends and safely connect with others.
Children’s Week celebrates the right of children to enjoy childhood. It is also a time for children to demonstrate their talents, skills and interests.
Designated by the nations of the world, Universal Children’s Day, Wednesday 27 October calls society to a greater response to the plight of many millions of children around the world who are denied the basic necessities of a happy childhood and the education to develop their capacities. It also calls us in Australia to consider those conditions in society which affect the lives and future of our own children. More information can be found here: https://www.childrensweek.org.au/
World Teachers Day
Teaching is noble work. It's the profession that creates all other professions. The theologian, Tom Groome, suggests that “teaching is a vocation to love—often stretched and tested to the limits”. This year, teachers have truly been stretched and tested, but they have maintained their commitment to faith, hope, and love. Teachers are superheroes and their superpower is the power to create a better, brighter future tomorrow by providing positive learning experiences in the lives of young people today. Our teachers here at St Joseph’s have definitely done this throughout the course of this extraordinary year and for this I am truly grateful, and I am sure this is also the case for all our families.
COVID Safe Practices
No doubt you are aware, as are we, of the number of families and schools in our local area where COVID is having a direct impact. We encourage you to please follow our practices regarding pick up and drop off. No parents are allowed on the school grounds, other than to collect your children from OOSH. This means no walking to the bike shed or lost property boxes when you are inside the gate. It also means that you do not get out of your car to put children in. If this is not possible, you need to walk to collect them or you wait until the end of the Kiss and Ride line of an afternoon. If you are collecting your child from the back of the Parish Centre, you are required to stand apart from other parents and hold up a name card to enable fast collection to happen. Please do not be rude to our staff members or refuse to follow these practices. It is embarrassing for your children, uncomfortable for all concerned and is not in the best interests of all our health and safety.
Please remind your children each morning to 
sanitise as they walk through into the school grounds; we have touch free sanitising stations at each gate. Remind them also to sanitise or wash their hands before eating and after going to the toilet. The teachers remind the children of these practices and also give them time as they enter the class to do this, but as you know, children need to hear things regularly to help them to develop a habit.
Home Learning Survey and Conversations
Thank you for the insights you have been sharing with your teachers about your children and their learning and any concerns or goals you have for them over these remaining weeks of Term 4. This information is incredibly useful in various ways for our teachers and in turn for your children so please ensure that you have completed this survey over the weekend.
Remember, if you have more than one child you need to enter your responses for each child on their own survey form for their class otherwise the teachers will not have access to what you have written. (If you have made a mistake with entering your children’s information it is okay to go back in and submit another form.)
Don’t forget, if you receive a call from an unknown number over the next week or two, it is likely to be one of the teachers. We ask that you answer the call and engage in a brief discussion with them around your children and the transition back to school.
The survey links are:
Kinder Gold Survey
Kinder Blue Survey
Year 1 Blue survey
Year 1 Gold Survey
Year 2 Blue survey
Year 2 Gold Survey
Year 3 Blue survey
Year 3 Gold Survey
Year 4 Blue survey
Year 4 Gold Survey
Year 5 Blue survey
Year 5 Gold Survey
Year 6 Blue survey
Year 6 Gold Survey
And the babies keep on coming!
We are so thrilled to let you all know that this week Tracy Pursehouse had a baby boy. He weighed in at a healthy 8.13 pounds and is 52 cm long. Tracy, Simon and big sister Sandy are absolutely besotted with their young man and both baby and mum are doing well. Congratulations to you all. We look forward to discovering his name in the near future.
Extracurricular Activities
Unfortunately we are still unable to host band, guitar, choir and vocal lessons, piano and violin, drama, French and Mandarin lessons at the moment. We will inform you of when this is possible.
P&F News
There will be a Zoom P&F meeting on Monday 8th November. We are unable to have our hybrid style meeting on site due to the COVID regulations in place. We will share with you the agenda and Zoom invitation next week.
Our Golf Day is fast approaching. Please contact the office, by Tuesday 2nd November, if you would like to participate in this fun day out in the Hunter Valley next Friday 5th November. See flyer for details.
Canteen
The canteen will re-open, for lunch orders, next week on the usual days: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
As no volunteers are allowed in to assist, we have needed to make some modifications to the menu in order for only one person to be able to manage.
- Monday - Pies, sausage rolls, dim sims, chicken tenders, garlic bread, salad bowl, sandwiches and only toasties
- Wednesday - Pies, sausage rolls, dim sims, chicken tenders, garlic bread, salad bowl, sandwiches and only pizzas
- Pies, sausage rolls, dim sims, chicken tenders, garlic bread, salad bowl, sandwiches and only chicken burgers
Drinks will be available along with chips & popcorn on all days. At this stage there will be no recess opening.
Library Books
This week to assist the children to locate any Library books they have at home, the Library staff sent home overdue slips with the details of books that the children have borrowed. As their last borrowing day was some time ago it was felt that the children may have forgotten the names of the books they borrowed so these slips were printed to help them know what they were looking for. All children have been able to borrow this week regardless of them still having books at home. Some slips also showed a cost for the book. This amount was not a fine and nor did the slip request any payment of fines or replacement costs. The children were asked to get parents to write on the slips if the books haven’t yet been located. We ask that you encourage your child to locate these books and return them as soon as possible in order for us to restock the library.
Have a terrific weekend. Please keep taking COVID-safe precautions so that we can all stay safe and remain at school and work.
Karen