Term 2 Week 10 2023
Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Carers
It's been another wonderful Term for us here at St Joseph's. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our fantastic staff who provide amazing teaching and learning opportunities for all our students. It is the dedication and quality of our staff that makes St Joseph's such a wonderful place to work.
Mini Vinnies Sleepout: Thanks to all the students who participated in this event on Friday night. Thankfully it was mild weather and the students enjoyed reflecting on what life is like to be homeless and that we all need to be respectful as sometimes circumstances aren't always as they seem. A big thank you to the staff who attended and to Mr. O'Connor for organising this event and the beautiful liturgy that was celebrated at the end of the night.
Lunch time Changes: Just a reminder that as of next Term, we will trial 40-minute lunch and 30-minute afternoon tea. This will not impact parents but will allow students two significant break times where they can socialise and eat. What it does mean is that students will not be going to Rec Park but will get two sessions across the road at the park on their assigned day.
Choir: This week our choir took out second place in the Murwillumbah Performing Arts Festival. We are very proud of their achievement and thank Mr. Friel for preparing them for this event.
Changes to assembly time: Next Term we will be holding assemblies on Fridays at 2.20 pm. This will enable parents the opportunity to attend when they come to pick students up at the end of the day and is a lovely way to end the school week.
Pupil Free day: Term 3 Monday 17 July. This day will enable staff professional development on the learning collaborative of Lynn Sharratt's work. We will share the day's learning with you all as the term progresses.
Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. God Bless and stay safe
Kindest Regards
Tracey
Assistant Principal's Learning & Teaching Message
REPORTS
By now, you should have received your child's Semester 1's report on Compass. According to our end of semester data the children have made great progress and their reports reflect that learning. Parents can email their class teacher, via compass, if they wish to have an interview to discuss their child's report.
A few parents were having a few connectivity issues getting the reports. I did contact the CSO and this is their reply:
This is an issue with their device, they will need to install a PDF viewer on their device to download and access the report (or use a desktop computer). A free PDF viewer is Adobe, available in both the Apple App store and Android Play store for free and is a trusted software.
They can also access Compass from a desktop computer to access the report, or you can download it from the student dashboard and email it to them - however, they will continue to have issues downloading PDFs shared by the school (not just reports) if they don't have a PDF viewer installed on their device.
I do hope this is helpful if you are having trouble accessing your child's report.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Last Wednesday, 21st June, was our annual Public Speaking competition whereby many families, friends, staff, and students had the privilege of listening to and watching 29 students deliver their outstanding speeches. The talent, articulation, communication, and confidence of all students were outstanding! Even though last year's speeches were sensational, these even topped them. Well done to everyone that competed, and you all should be very proud of yourselves.
However, there can only be one winner,r and it was a very hard decision for the adjudicators in every category. So congratulations to these winners:
Early Stage One: Charlotte Dowell
Year 1: Charli Hynes
Year 2: Rosie Meigh
Year 3: Zara Bolster
Year 4: Amira Kelly
Year 5: Ellie Swift
Year 6: Xavier Bolster
The highest point score winners from each stage will now compete in the Combined Tweed Catholic Schools Public Speaking Competition on Thursday, 10th August, at the South Tweed Sports Club. Those representatives from each stage are:
Early Stage One: Charlotte Dowell and Bowie Willoughby
Stage One: Rosie Meigh and Charli Hynes
Stage Two: Zara Bolster and Amira Kelly
Stage Three: Xavier Bolster and Ava Bolster
CONGRATULATIONS ONE AND ALL!
Public Speaking
Assistant Principal Mission
Hello St Joseph's Community,
CAN CAN DAY
I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that brought in items for our recent Can Can Day. The Mini Vinnies crew set a target of 1000 items and you have smashed it out of the park, bringing in a tick over 1500! John and the crew from You Have a Friend were so excited to receive all of the goods and wanted to pass on their thanks and remind you all that there are so many people in our community that desperately need this support so it will be greatly appreciated.
PBS REWARDS DAY
This week, Dalton House are off to the park for fun and games on their Rewards Day. Every day, our staff take the Joey backpacks out to the playground or have a stack of 'Gotcha' cards in their classroom to recognise the awesome behaviour of students that are exemplifying our PBS values of Respect Self, Respect Others & Respect the Environment. Each week, Sports Captains count the number of Gotchas and Dalton has now gone back to back in receiving the most throughout the term, earning them the Rewards Day. I'd like to give a big shout out and thank you to Mrs McLean who is a driving force behind this wonderful initiative and acknowledgement of the wonderful things our students do each day.
UNIFORM
Finally, a reminder from me about a couple of uniform expectations. Our PBS focus for this week is 'Representing our School'. We want students to recognise that whenever they don our uniform, they are representing our school throughout the community. Wearing the uniform properly and with pride is one way of showing their commitment to our school community. I ask families to please remember our expectations, particularly around hair, nails and shoes as we venture into the holidays. All haircuts are to be neat and tidy, with colour, mullets or extreme contrasts in length not permitted. Fake or coloured nails are also not permitted at school, so please keep this in mind for students' return on Tuesday 18th July. Finally, shoes are to be black leather shoes, not mesh or a blend. Having this standard means that families only need to buy one pair of school shoes that can be worn with both school uniforms. We thank you for your ongoing support regarding the uniform policy and implementation.
On a personal note, I will be absent for the first two weeks of Term 3. I am getting my knee reconstruction on Monday so I get to spend the holidays switching between bed and physio activities. I just want to pass on a heartfelt thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. I hope you all enjoy your family time over the break.
God bless,
Ryan O'Connor
Mini Vinnies Sleepout Experience
As I walk into the school gates I see Mr O’Connor, Mr Winning, Mrs Loughead, Mrs Tilley and Miss Sue standing there inviting me to join the St Joseph’s Sleepout 2023.
The event I am describing occurred on the evening of Friday the 23 of June 2023. The Sleepout was designed for the very fortunate students of year 5 and 6 to create an outlook of the unfortunateness of Homelessness in NSW. 22 students took up the challenge to learn and build empathy around this massive social issue.
The evening started with activities and games that were designed to help us understand the challenges that come from being homeless, and also to remind us about the importance of treating all people with dignity and respect. Then all of the participants moved to the staff room to enjoy a basic dinner while chatting to friends and classmates.
After dinner, we returned to the library to prepare to venture out to the great unknown (the handball courts) and sleep on cardboard for a whole night! (40 minutes..) During that time we acknowledge that over 160,000 people in Australia have the misfortune of doing this every night. The cardboard we were incredibly grateful for must have been used in 10 different ways! (and that was only for me.) It gave us a really good insight on how tough life must be for those that have to sleep rough each night. After that we answered some reflection questions and were so thankful for the warmth of the library and the happiness of being together. We finished this insightful night with a perfect liturgy, and created a beautiful prayer card for all the homeless people in the world.
Thank you also to the people that donated money to the St Vincent de Paul Society. We now know a little bit more about why this money is so desperately needed and how it would be spent.
Ava Bolster - Year 6
Sport News
NSW State Carnivals
Sam Cook recently attended the NSW Touch Football Carnival and Zeke Bishop attended the NSW 11 years Rugby League Carnival, as members of the NSW Polding Teams. Sam and Zeke showed great skills at their relevant carnivals, narrowly missing out on selection in the state teams. Congratulations on representing the Lismore Diocese and St Joseph's at such a high level.
Athletics Carnival
Our annual school athletics carnival was held last Friday at Walter Pete Oval Cudgen. It was great to see so many parents, grandparents and other spectators come along to cheer on our athletes. We had a record number of students participating in events on the day. Congratulations to all students on some outstanding performances on the track and also for their wonderful sportsmanship in cheering each other on. A big thank you to Mr. Wilson and Mr. Winning for arriving bright and early to help set up the tents. Also to Chey Shambrook and Danielle Duckworth who assisted with timekeeping, the day could not go ahead without the generous help from you all. The Tweed Zone Athletics Carnival will take place at Cudgen on Friday 28th July (Term 3, Week 2), notes have been sent out on Compass
Age Champions:5 yr old boy: Liam Taylor 5 yr old girl: Nola Scarpina
6 yr old boy: Wyatt Jones 6 yr old girl: Elise Borg
7 yr old boy: James McCoy 7 yr old girl: Zara Pennisi
8 yr old boy: Edward Ingham 8 yr old girl: Luna Carvallo Martin 9 yr old boy: Parker Goldsworthy 9 yr old girl: Elana Kotek
10 yr old boy:Lachlan Cook 10 yr old girl: Willow Millar
11 yr old boy: Noah Kotek 11 yr old girl: Elizabeth Steele
12 yr old boy: Sam Cook 12 yr old girl: Pippa Cook
Rugby League Carnival
The Tweed All Schools Carnival will take place on Tuesday 8th August at South Tweed Heads. A note will be sent out on Compass next term.
Netball
The Netball NSW School Carnival is on Wednesday 9th of August. We have over 80 students who have expressed interest in attending the carnival, we desperately need parent helpers to manage teams on the day. Please contact the office if you can assist. A note will be sent out on Compass next term.
That's A Wrap! -choir news
This week concludes the wonderful St. Joseph's Choir performance at the Murwillumbah Festival of Performing Arts. The students competed in the 'singing with actions' category and came 2nd place to an outstanding young choir from Murwillumbah Primary School.
The committee, teachers from other schools, and parents shared many positive comments about how great the kids were and how they loved the songs and singing.
I would like to thank Mrs. Teitzel for her help and expertise in working with the kids and choosing and preparing such an excellent repertoire. The kids absolutely loved working with you!
We look forward to hearing more beautiful singing and performances from our young musicians at St. Joseph's.
Singing and beyond!
Mr. Friel
Important Dates
MONDAY 17th July PUPIL FREE DAY
Tuesday 18th July Term 3 Commences for students
2nd August School Photos
10th August 9 am Combined Schools Public Speaking Competition
17th August St Joseph's Art Exhibition
18th August Grandparents Day