Dear Parents,

Welcome back to Term 3.  We have another great term planned for your children and for yourselves.  There are excursions occurring for various grades, including the Great Aussie Bush Camp for Year 5, opportunities for our senior students to experience workshops at Newcastle University and opportunities for all children to further enhance their writing, special liturgies, our annual public speaking competition, Book Week and Grandparents Day as well as Trivia Night for the parents and our whole school musical extravaganza!

Please see the Term Planner attached to this week’s newsletter that outlines the various activities and events as they stand at this time.

Disco

“This is the best night I’ve had in weeks – no months, actually!” “All this dancing releases the endorphins and makes you feel happy” and “I love it because I get to wear make-up” are just some of the various comments I heard at least week’s disco.  The night was a great success with both age groups loving the DJ and all children having a wonderful night. The staff and parents were amazed at some of the dance moves we witnessed and are all wishing we had even half the energy of our children. Congratulations and a big thanks to all those parents who organised the disco and volunteered on the evening. It ran like clockwork and was a fabulous community event.

Playground Grant

As you are all aware we have made it to the voting round for the Service NSW Community grant.  If you have not yet voted please do so and remember that anyone 16 years and over and living in the Newcastle electorate can vote for our playground upgrade.  Once you have voted, please pass on our project details that were emailed to you last week, to as many colleagues, friends, acquaintances and businesses that you can. If you would like any posters or flyers to display and/or distribute please see staff in the school office.

Voting Details:   

Our project is called: A multipurpose all weather greenspace @ The Junction  

To view and vote for our project click on this link:  

Staffing Update

For the remainder of this year Mrs Lauretta Tonkin will be working in Kinder Blue on Miss Colvin’s REC executive release days.  Also for the remainder of the year we have Mr David Martin working with us as our groundsman. We are very happy to have both of them as part of our school community

Tokooliba

All parents and members of our community are invited to make use of our new sacred space, Tokooliba, meaning place of truth. Feel free to sit, think, rest and reflect. If you haven’t seen this space yet, please take some time to go over and admire it when you are next here at school. The striking Brolga that you see over by the natural playground and in the direction of the staff car park, will show you the direction to head towards.

Thank You

The Houston family are so very grateful for the support of our community and  would like to share their gratitude with you through the letter below.  Please continue to keep Mason, Mark and the family in your prayers

To all the wonderful people at St Joseph’s Primary School - Merewether

Five weeks ago, we experienced an abundance of love, care and support after the loss of our wonderful daughter-in-law.  As grandparents of the young person attending St Joseph’s we were inundated with generosity and concern for ourselves and our families.  The Principal, teachers and counsellor, the P&F and the office staff, the parents and students (our grandson’s friends) showed such kindness we were completely reassured he would be well supported when he returned to school.

Under the guidance of the class teachers (and parents) each child wrote a personal note to our grandson providing much needed comfort. They are now treasured.

The Mothers Club’s support was enormous and started many months ago, with beautiful meals, visitations, prayer circles and then on the saddest day of all, tables laden with food for more than 80 people. The flowers sent by the P&F were so beautiful and appropriate for the day.

It is overwhelmingly apparent that the sense of community at St Joseph’s is strongly fostered and imbibed.  It encompasses many facets and extends far beyond the school gates. We know, we shared in it and are so grateful for it.

With kindest thoughts

Robyn and Peter

(Grandparents of Mason Houston)

St Dominic’s Centre

St Dominic’s Centre is a systemic Catholic special school that enrols students from Kindergarten to Year 10 who have a moderate cognitive disability or are deaf or hard of hearing. St Dominic’s also accepts enrolments for students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 who meet the criteria of Autism Spectrum Disorder. If you would like to find out more the school is holding an Open Night next week, Wednesday August 7th from 4pm – 5pm.

WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ST DOMINIC’S CENTRE?

Come along to our Open Night!

You are warmly invited to attend our Open Night on Wednesday 7 August, from 4pm to 5pm.

Come and meet the St Dominic’s team, experience our purpose-built facilities and gain an insight into the programs we offer.

The Open Night will begin in our flexible learning space with a short information session about St Dominic’s and our enrolment criteria.

Students will then take you on a guided tour of our facilities before serving some light refreshments and giving you the chance to ask our specialist staff any questions you may have.

Students enrolled at St Dominic’s are also eligible for Assisted Travel, which is a government program that provides free travel by car to and from school within a 45km radius.

For more information and register your interest, please click here:

To hear from our transdisciplinary team about their work with our students, please click here

For all other enquiries, please phone 4968 1295 or email admin@mayfieldsd.catholic.edu.au.

We look forward to sharing our unique and vibrant setting with you!

With thanks

St Dom’s Team

Important Dates