Dear Parents & Carers 

This Sunday, May 26th is National Sorry Day and the beginning of Reconciliation Week. It is a time to acknowledge and recognise members of the Stolen Generations. It is day for all people over Australia to say sorry for the actions that have robbed the First Australians of their life, law and language. 

Together we pray … 

 God, Mother of Mercy,  

Stir within us compassion and a deep desire for reconciliation.  

On this National Sorry Day,  

may this compassion and reconciliation be strong and true  

so that justice flows, action flourishes, 

 a difference is made and peace is accomplished. 

Amen  

We also ask that you keep Mrs Nicola Matheson (Year 4 Blue teacher)  and her family in your prayers as her father passed away from illness in this past week.   

Staffing Update

I am very happy to inform you that Miss Stephanie Colvin has been appointed to the Acting Religious Education Coordinator position while Mrs Renata Powell is in the Acting Assistant Principal Position.  Stephanie has commenced in this position and is very busily preparing for our first RE Curriculum Focus day which occurs next week with CSO staff.  Our congratulations go to Stephanie and we know she will be a great addition to our school leadership team. 

Mrs Donna McMillan is teaching 4Blue on a Monday for the remainder of the year and Mrs Belinda Person has stepped into the Gifted Education Mentor (GEM) roll – both positions that Ms Di Murphy previously held.  

In Week 7 Miss Holly Gralton will join us to teach Year 6 Gold for the remainder of the year.  We thank all these people for applying for, and accepting, these positions.  We wish them well and are very pleased with the stability that their appointments bring to our school and to the children. 

NAPLAN 

We have just about reached the end of NAPLAN for 2019.  We are very happy to say that our students were only very minimally affected on the first day by the reported  problems with the online testing and of these several have opted to resit the Writing test next week, after consultation with their parents.  

Thanks go to all the children for the calm manner in which they approached their tests and the effort they put into them. Thanks also to Miss Laura Slattery for the enormous work that went on behind the scenes to ensure that NAPLAN flowed smoothly and effortlessly for the students and teachers.   

Parent Teacher Interviews 

Reports will be sent home this term via Compass at the end of Week 9 and you are invited to meet with your children’s teachers to discuss these reports and future directions for Semester 2.  Shortly you will be able to go online via Compass and book your interview times.  Parent Teacher interviews will take place throughout Week 10, before and after school and on Wednesday evening, July 3rd, until 7:30pm.  

Uniform Update 

The Girls Winter Tunics in all sizes have arrived and are in stock at the Newcastle store along with the Tab Ties. Additonal Peter Pan Collar Blouses are on order. 

The Long Sleeve boys shirts with embroidery have also arrived into the store. 

All students need to be in full Winter Uniform by the first week of June.  

Term Planner

We have attached this term’s calendar of events with the newsletter. Please understand that the calendar dates and events are subject to change and that you need to regularly check Compass for the most up to date information. 

Volunteers

Thank you to all those who volunteer in so many ways here at St Joseph’s.  Your skills and time are invaluable to us.  As you are aware it is a requirement that anyone who wishes to volunteer throughout the year (reading in the classroom, canteen, excursions, carnivals etc) is required to have a Working With Children Check number which can be obtained from Office of The Children's Guardian.

In addition to this it is a requirement that all volunteers undergo a Volunteer Induction session as well as be issued with the updated diocesan Volunteers Handbook

We will be running two Volunteers Induction sessions over the next few weeks so if you think you may volunteer for something this year please come along to one of these.

Monday 3 June  6.20pm - 6.50pm

Wednesday 12 June 9.00am - 9.40am 

Karen McGinlay
Principal

Important Dates