Term 1 Week 8 2023
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Welcome to Week 8.
Last Friday 17 March we celebrated the Feast of St Joseph (Our Patron Saint). St Joseph was the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus Christ. He worked as a carpenter and provided for his family teaching Jesus the value of hard work. He was loyal and committed to supporting his family and was quiet and humble. As members of our school community, we celebrate the love and care Joseph had for his family and remember the special bond he had as a carer and protector of Jesus. We at St Joseph's ask all students to act with kindness and respect towards ourselves, each other, and the environment as St Joseph did.
The school has a wonderful celebration starting with in class activities related to St Joseph before moving to the Church to participate in a liturgy with Father Wilbur. Although the day was extremely hot the students listened and reverently participated in this important part of our Catholic community.
A big thank you to Mr O'Connor, Mr Winning and Ms McIver, and the Year 6 students who organised and executed a range of activities for the students to participate in. A great deal of fun was had by all and the creative way each house created actions for the song St Joseph (Andrew Chinn) was a wonderful celebration of our school community.
Tell them from Me Survey
Early in Term 2, we will be inviting students, parents, and teachers to provide feedback on their experience of our school using the online survey "Tell them from me". You will have experienced this survey for the first time last year.
This survey will open on April 26 and close on May 12.
The link will be sent to you in Week 1 next term and we ask that you take some time to complete this survey as we value parents' voice to ensure we are working collaboratively in partnership with you.
The Tell Them From Me Parent Survey is anonymous, voluntary, and easy to use. It is based on a comprehensive questionnaire covering parents' perceptions of their child’s experiences at home and at school.
Insights into parent and staff communication, activities and practices at home, and parent voice on the school’s support of learning and behaviour all build an accurate and timely picture that schools can use for practical improvements.
Research Behind the Survey
The TTFM® Parent Survey is based primarily on Joyce Epstein’s framework for fostering positive relations between the school and the community. Successful schools foster greater communication with parents, encourage parental involvement in their child’s schoolwork, and enlist parents to volunteer at the school and participate in school governance. This survey provides feedback on parents’ perceptions of the school’s support for learning, positive behaviours, and the promotion of safety and inclusion.
More information will follow on how to access the survey.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - Teaching & Learning
As you know from previous newsletters, NSW introduced a new Mathematics and English Syllabus this year for K-2. The new Mathematics and English syllabus for Years 3 -6 will be introduced in 2024. As a result of this it is important that you understand what your children are learning and how they are learning within this syllabus so over the next few weeks I will explain a few of the concepts contained within the new syllabus.
MATHEMATICS: At the beginning of every lesson the children participate in a maths warm up section for 10 mins. What is a Warm-Up and why is the Warm-up important? “Warm-ups are specific to preparation for the lesson. It is about getting ready for the Rich Task. Preparing cognitively with quick mental responses to a stimulus based on a topic. The Warm-up is an opportunity for formative assessment to inform the learning and teaching in the Rich Task section, as well as identify the areas where students need more opportunities and practice.
"Using a Warm-up helps get the lesson off to a good start. It gets them ready to focus. The Warm-Up is the first part of a structured lesson approach, which is a High Impact Teaching Strategy. After
completing the Warm-up, teachers will then launch into the Rich-task section of the lesson by
articulating the goals (Learning Intention and Success Criteria) of the lesson". (Dr Paul Swan 2022).
The Warm-up/Daily Number Sense part of the lesson prepares students for the Rich Tasks by
developing Number Sense. MAI data is one source of data that supports planning and
differentiation within the Warm-up and Rich Task sections so that students are positioned to access the learning.
ENGLISH
The K-2 English syllabus has a new structure that highlights the foundational literacy skills and reciprocity across outcomes, making clear the essential knowledge, skills and understandings for English. The Units of Work that the Dept of Education have carefully structured to be delivered, are based around two components that both support explicit and systematic teaching:
- Component A (Foundational literacy skills)
- Component B ( Conceptual understandings of the subject English)
Sounds-Write (the program that the K-2 teachers have just completed) fits into these units of work as it is an effective approach to phonics that explicitly and systematically teaches the alphabetic code in a set sequence. The explicit instruction of Sounds-write targets the development of foundational literacy skills.
SoundsWrite has been based upon and considers the limits of a learner's working memory and how to transfer new learning into our familiar or long-term memory, which we talked about in our previous newsletter. Due to this, lessons can seem repetitive and tiring for students. It is important to keep the end line within sight but also understands that beginning readers need practice and a great deal of it. As educators, we are implementing high-quality instruction that reduces the working load of a task so that students can develop the ability to think and process more complex information over time. Remember "Explicit teaching of alphabetic decoding skills is helpful for all children, harmful for none, and crucial for some." C.Snow and C. Juel (2005) Harvard School oF Education.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL - Mission
"My name is Joseph, I grew in love in this Holy Family".
What a Feast Day we had on Friday! We talked about celebrating everything that is wonderful about our school, and celebrate we did! Students and staff alike had a great time gathering in houses to create actions to the Andrew Chinn song, "My Name is Joseph", before perfoming for the school. A definite highlight was Mrs Loughhead's cameo as the Angel Gabriel. It was an awesome experience having students from Kindergarten through to Year 6 getting involved to learn a little more about Saint Joseph and showing off a little House Pride in the process. We then ventured to the church for a beautiful liturgy with Father Wilbur. Father Michael was worried we might need a new roof, such was the excitement and volume of everyone singing our final song on the day. After lunch, our Year 6 students continued a long-standing tradition of running games for all of our students. It was inspiring to see their leadership and enthusiasm throughout the day and I thank Miss McIver and Mr Winning for their guidance with our students. I'm already looking forward to next year!
This Saturday evening, Stage 3 students will join with students from Saint James' to lead our Parish Mass. It would be wonderful to see as many families there as possible to celebrate together.
We are also already busy working on plans for our Easter Liturgy and activities on the final day of school this year (6th April). We will begin our day with a liturgy commencing at 10:15am. Students will then be invited to grab their Easter Bonnets for the annual parade. We'll then draw our Easter Raffles and announce the winner of our Guess how many Easter Eggs competition. During lunch, our Mini Vinnies team members will be running markets and games as a final Project Compassion fundraiser. Baked goodies, home-made jewellery, lucky dips, egg and spoon races and more will be available for everyone to get involved with. We would love as many parents and family members to join us for the morning. After lunch, we will have an alternative program with Easter craft and activities to see the term out.
Finally, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with our school's Positive Behaviour Support Team this term. We are excited to be planning our end of term Rewards Day for the House with the most Gotchas. This will be announced to everyone soon. It brings us all great joy being able to recognise and highlight the many wonderful things students are doing every day to Make Jesus Real in our school and positively reflect our values of respecting self, others and the environment.
Unfortunatley, we also need to address some of the unacceptable behaviours. The leadership team, with support of the PBS team, are seeking to address an issue with inappropriate physical contact occuring with some students. We are adamant in our views that St Joseph's needs to be a safe and loving environment for all students. If any student is engaging in aggressive physical behaviour or contact that is intended to cause harm or could potentially cause harm, they will be withdrawn from class and the playground immediately. Students in Kindergarten and Year 1 will be withdrawn for half a day and students in Years 2-6 will be withdrawn for a full day. This will be extended in the rare events of repeated indiscretions. Parents will be contacted as soon as is practically possible. While this is an infrequent issue at the moment, we feel this is an important step in ensuring students are aware that any sort of physical aggression is not accepted at St Joseph's and will give us time to reinforce this message and ensure the safety of everyone within our community. As always, if you have any questions regarding our wellbeing and behaviour policies, please contact me at the school and I would be happy to talk with you.
On a personal note, I am relishing the opportunity to get to know more of you as I see you around the school. Thank you also to those expressing concern for my recent knee injury and also for those that are quick to remind me I'm not getting any younger - a message my loving wife has also delivered unequiviocally.
God bless,
Ryan O'Connor
St Joseph's Feast Day
LEADER OF PEDAGOGY
NAPLAN
Well done to Years 3 and 5 for completing the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)!
NSW’s Test Administration Authority will provide individual student reports (ISRs) to schools to distribute to parents/carers. The release dates of results are yet to be determined by ACARA, but typically, these results take approximately three months. The same ISR report format is used for every student in Australia. The school will notify you when the reports are being sent home. Individual student results are strictly confidential.
Attached is a general NAPLAN infographic.
Mrs Victoria Atkinson
SPORT NEWS
Diocesan Winter Sport Trials
Nine students from Years 5 and 6 recently travelled to Grafton and MacLean to compete against students from the three other Catholic Zones in a number of winter sports. All children showed great skills and sportsmanship against some very tough competition, under very hot conditions. Well done for representing the Tweed Zone and St Joseph's.
Children who attended the trials were:
Netball: Pippa Cook
Rugby League: Marcello Scott, Aidan Muir, Ezekiel Browning, Mason Keating, Zeke Bishop, Will Preston, Bowie West
Soccer: Noah Kotek
Congratulations to Zeke Bishop, Bowie West and Noah Kotek who were selected on the day in the Diocesan team for their respective sports. The boys will now compete at the Polding Trials next Term.
Well done boys, and we wish you luck at the next trial.
Cross Country
Children in Year 2 to 6 will compete at our school cross country on Friday 24h March, starting at 9:30 at Recreation Park. Parents are welcome to come along and cheer the students on.
KINDERGARTEN 2024 ENROLMENTS
In order to streamline the enrolment process across the Lismore Diocese, the enrolment process for 2024 Kindergarten students is changing.
Student enrolment forms will need to be completed via the school website by April 6th, 2023.
Parents will be contacted when an online enrolment form has been received in order to book an interview. Interviews with our School Principal will then commence early in Term 2.
Acceptance letters for Kindergarten 2024 placements will then be issued by the 30th of July 2023.
Parents of siblings at St Joseph's Primary School wishing to enrol them for Kindergarten 2024, are urged to complete an online enrolment form as soon as possible.
We will be holding an Open Morning for future students on Tuesday the 28th March 2023 at 9.30 am.
Please direct any enquiries to Sue & Toni in the office (0755362519)
EASTER RAFFLE
Thank you to those who have donated items for our School Easter Raffle to be held on Thursday 6th of April during our Easter celebrations. Items have been wrapped and are causing quite a stir amongst the children popping in to the office. Donations are still being received if anyone would like to send in a chocolate egg, bunny, wine or other prizes. The children should have taken home their raffle tickets to sell today. All money can be returned to the office.
$1 per ticket or 6 for $5.00.
Thank you again for your generosity and good luck!
RENAISSANCE
Lismore Symphony Orchestra presents our Renaissance concert: an afternoon of music which inspires reflection and hopefully revival of culture, spirit, and music. This event will see the LSO collaborate with organist Warren Whitney, the Murwillumbah Philharmonic choir and St Carthage’s Cathedral choir. St Carthage’s Cathedral will be filled with the sounds of music by John Williams, Beethoven and Sibelius, among others, before finishing with selections from the epic Organ Symphony by Saint-Saëns. Do not miss our triumphant return on April 2!
ST AMBROSE COMMUNITY FAIR
SAINTS NETBALL
