ABOUT - Term 1 Week 9 - 28 March 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

HE is risen!
Wishing everyone a delightful Easter,
filled with hope, joy and the wonder of God's blessings.

EASTER MASSES AT ST JOSEPH'S CHURCH

HOLY & HAPPY EASTER

We wish everyone a holy and happy Easter.  Easter Mass times are above and it would be wonderful if as many families as possible could attend the Masses as Holy Week is the most important week in the church year.

ST JOSEPH'S P & F DEBUTANTE BALL

The St Joseph’s P & F Debutante Ball was held in the Gilgandra Shire Hall on Saturday evening. The theme this year was the ‘The Candy Shop’ and seven stunning debutantes and their handsome partners came down the red carpet to be presented to Matron of Honour, Mrs Jeanette Cruickshank, Parish Priest, Fr Greg Kennedy, P & F President, Mrs Jodie Peart and Ball Committee Representative, Mrs Sarah Adams.  Ellis Starr and Eleanor Foran did a wonderful job as pageboy and flowergirl.  The hall was once again brilliantly decorated thanks to the hard work of the Ball Committee headed by Tracey Riley, Sarah Adams and Danielle Altmann. Miss Abigail Dobson did a wonderful job as compere.  Thanks also to Ash Walker who organised the drinks for the bar, Lib Walker for her wonderful array of food and David and Rebekah Makila who were fabulous teaching our debutantes how to dance in the lead up to the ball. The contribution to the night by so many of our school community was superb, from the hard working committee, to those who attended the working bees, went to practices, helped decorate the hall and erect the smokers' tent, served the food, worked on the bar and door, donated sweets, organised light and sound, attended the ball and helped dismantle everything!  This was a huge effort by a fantastic lot of helpers and our school appreciates the amount of time and effort that goes into such a successful evening.

CHAIR COVER WASHING

We need volunteers to help wash the chair covers that were used at the Ball.  There are around 180 to wash and many hands make light work!  The covers are located in the otto bins in the school square, so come and get a dozen or grab 100!  It all helps.

YEAR 6 STUDENTS PERFORMED AT SENIOR CITIZENS LUNCHEON

On Monday our Year 6 students attended the Senior Citizens Luncheon in the Shire Hall to do a rendition of their performance from Grandparents Day.  It was wonderful to see the joy on the faces of the elderly during their special lunch and we hope everyone enjoyed the Year 6 performance.  Thank you Year 6 for being such wonderful leaders of our school.

SENSATIONAL SPELLERS

Congratulations to our sensational Years 3/4 and Years 5/6 spellers who competed in the St Joey’s Spelling Bee Finals on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The audience was amazed at the students’ super spelling.  Well done!  A special mention to Ben Ryan and Tiffany Fong (Years 3/4) and Kellie Hutchison and Claudia Harrison (Years 5/6) who will now represent Joey’s at the Diocesan Spelling Bee to be held in Wellington on Thursday, 30 May.

KINDER COOEE VISIT

On Tuesday, our Kinder 'Easter Bunnies' visited Cooee Lodge to spread some Easter cheer to the elderly residents.  They were magnificent singing their special Easter songs and the residents loved seeing them perform.  Well done Kinder!

MELANOMA MARCH - YEAR 6 FUNDRAISER

What an amazing day we had today raising money in support  of ‘Melanoma March’.  We all wore green and/or yellow to school and the day started with everyone marching down to Miller Street and back to school.  At lunch time, we held a sausage sizzle.  Thank you very much to the St Joseph's P&F Association for paying for the sausages, bread and poppers, making our fundraising all the more profitable.

Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world.  One person is diagnosed with melanoma every 30 minutes and one person dies from the disease every 6 hours.  It is the most common cancer affecting 20–39-year-old Australians. Melanoma Institute Australia CEO, Mr Matthew Browne said, “Changing attitudes towards tanning and improving the community’s understanding about prevention, early detection, and year-round sun safety is crucial to stopping more lives being cut short by melanoma.” 

If anyone would still like to donate, you can do so by calling into the school office, scanning the QR code or clicking on the below link that you will take you to the St Joey's fundraising page.

Thank you to all our families, friends and the community who have so far supported this very worthy cause and thanks also to our Year 6 leaders for this fundraising initiative.

PROJECT COMPASSION

At the beginning of Lent a Project Compassion box was sent home to each family.  Project Compassion is a Lenten program that Caritas Australia focuses on each year.  Caritas Australia is a Catholic agency for overseas aid and development.  We hope that whenever you have been emptying your pockets you have been able to drop a few coins into your Project Compassion box.  Your donations could go towards improving health and education or aiding an emergency crisis somewhere in the world.  Boxes were due back to school today, however if you still have yours at home, please bring it to the Holy Thursday Mass this evening.

HOLY THURSDAY MASS

All children are invited to join the Offertory Procession during Holy Thursday Mass this evening, Thursday, 28 March at 7:00 p.m.  This Mass is where we will offer our Project Compassion boxes.

GOOD LUCK TO OUR SUPER SWIMMERS

We wish our super swimmers, Thomas McIsaac and Alana Spora the best of luck as they compete at the NSW Catholic Primary Schools Polding Swimming Championships in Homebush next Wednesday, 3 April.  They will not only be representing St Joey's, but also the Diocese of Bathurst.  Well done Tom and Alana!

YEAR 3 MASS - Next Thursday, 4 April - 9:00 a.m.

Year 3 will celebrate a class Mass next Thursday, 4 April at 9:00 a.m. (please note the earlier time).  Everyone is most welcome to attend.  Due to the early time, there will be no morning tea after Mass, however students can still bring a plate to share with the class at morning tea time.

SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY

Training for the school cross country is in full swing!  Cross country is for any students in Years 3-6.  Nine and ten year olds run 2 kilometres while eleven and twelve year olds run 3 kilometres.  The Joey's trial will be held at school next Thursday, 4 April at 11:20 a.m.  The Diocesan Cross Country will be held in Coolah next term on Tuesday, 7 May (Week 2).

Q & A SESSION WITH MR GIBBONS

Do you have any questions or need help with the following:

• Entering an attendance note on Compass.
• Online canteen orders through Flexischools.
• Viewing the school calendar.
• Viewing the school newsletter.
• Questions about school events.
• How things work in general at the school.

If so, we are holding a Q & A session with Mr Gibbons on Monday, 8 April (Week 11) from 3:30 p.m. in the school hall.  Please come along with your device (mobile, tablet, computer) and we will try to assist you in the technological world that we now live in!

TERM 2 CANTEEN ROSTER

MORE HELPERS DESPERATELY NEEDED FOR TERM 2!

We are in the process of putting together the Term 2 Canteen Roster.  Unfortunately, we were short of helpers in Term 1 with some volunteers doing 3 shifts to ensure the canteen stayed open.

We would love to see some new helpers step up and offer to help for a day in Term 2.  We can put you on with an experienced helper, who can show you how it is done.

If you can help out in the canteen next term, please complete the below form.

CANTEEN HELPER DEMONSTRATION

One of our Joey's mums, Prue Starr, has offered to demonstrate how the canteen runs during her next canteen shift, on Monday, 13 May.  It would be great to see as many people attend as possible, especially new helpers, as Prue guides you through the running of the school canteen and answers any questions you may have.

ANNUAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SURVEY

The annual School Improvement Survey will be emailed to all staff, parents and students on Thursday, 2 May.  The survey can be accessed for two weeks and closes on Thursday, 16 May.

The purpose of this survey is to provide all stakeholders in our school community with a 'voice' in how our school operates.  The survey is straight forward and your responses are collected, collated and used to inform our school where we are operating well and areas where we may need to improve.  This is an important tool that all schools in our diocese participate in each year.  Data from the survey, forms and guides our annual improvement plans for the following year.  We would be grateful if all members of our school community would participate in the survey.

MERIT AWARDS

Congratulations to the following students who received Merit Awards at Assembly on Tuesday:

KINDER: Jordee Burgers for trying hard with her handwriting, Edward Kelly for working hard in Mathematics and Kyro McKenzie for trying hard in Reading activities.

YEAR 1: Henry Foran for great work finding the area of shapes in Mathematics, Piper Lummis for being a polite and cooperative student, Alex Moeris for writing a wonderful recount about Grandparents Day and Alfie Mudford for making positive contributions to class discussions.

YEAR 2: Georgie Kirkwood for always offering to help with a big smile and Caroline Taylor for working diligently on tricky Maths Operations.

YEAR 3: Benjamin Ryan and George Taylor for excellent results in our Maths Unit Assessment and McKenzie Harvey and Madeleine Foran for writing great sentences using our sound words. 

YEAR 4: Tiaki Diamond for writing a terrific narrative, Charlie Cruickshank for his keen and interested approach towards his work, Rose Howard for using a wide variety of adjectives to describe her grandparents and Bella Hammond for working diligently in class.

YEAR 5: Jakirah McKenzie for consistently working hard to produce work that is neat and of a high standard and Mitchell Beaton for enthusiastic contributions during Mathematics. 

YEAR 6: Kellie Hutchison for enthusiastic and accurate contributions during Mathematics, Harry Thurlow for showing kindness and empathy towards younger students of our school, Thomas McIsaac for an awesome attitude and great participation in class activities and Arabella Chandler for being a helpful and enthusiastic member of Year 6.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

It’s been another busy and exciting week in Kinder. We began with our Easter visit to Cooee Lodge where we entertained the residents with our beautiful singing of 'Here Comes Peter Cottontail' and 'My Lighthouse'. Today we joined in the Melanoma March followed by a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny! In our classroom we have been learning about the real story of Easter and discussing the events of Holy Week. In Science we matched weather icons to their description and completed our History portfolio task. During Maths we have been investigating triangles and rectangles. We have completed some very cute Easter art projects to decorate our classroom. Have a happy and safe Easter!  
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

Year 1 was very excited to join with their Infants friends for a special Easter egg hunt today. There was much excitement as the children ran about hunting for eggs. In Art we made little baskets to collect our eggs and in Religion we have been learning about the events of Holy Week and trying to understand the meaning of Easter. In English, Year 1 used verbs and adjectives to describe different parts of animals and sequenced the parts of an informative text. During Maths we continued measuring area and used an equal arm balance to compare the weight of different objects. We hope everyone has a happy, holy and safe Easter.
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

What a fun day we have had today! Thank you to all of our families for the generous donations to our Melanoma March, it was great to march down the street and show our support for such a great cause. We also had a special visit today from the Easter Bunny, he was certainly very good at hiding our chocolate eggs. We wrote narratives this week titled ‘If I was the Easter Bunny….’, we can’t wait to share them with you in our portfolios at the end of the term. In Religion we read the Easter story which retells the events of Holy Week and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. We used our chromebooks to create a poster in Google Docs for Holy Week. We have been looking at 1 metre during Maths and identified things within our classroom that are about 1 metre, less than and more than 1 metre. I hope you all enjoy a holy and restful weekend with family and friends! See you in Week 10. 
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We thoroughly enjoyed marching for a great cause this morning. A big thanks to all those who donated and came dressed in yellow and green for the March for Melonoma Fundraiser. We also participated in the Stations of the Cross today to prepare ourselves for Good Friday tomorrow. In English we learnt that texts can differ in mode and medium and explored this by making comparisons between 'The Deep Sea' website and the picture book "Earth’s Incredible Oceans". We began our 'Additive Relations - Addition and Money' unit on Monday by using the equals sign to mean 'the same as', rather than to perform an operation and exploring associative property (when more than 2 numbers are added, the result is unchanged regardless of how they are grouped or associated). Last week we began an artwork of an emperor penguin on the Antarctic ice by drawing it. Today we used the double-dipping technique with blue and white paint to create varying tints of blue in the ice shelf. We hope you all have a happy and holy Easter and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday.
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

What great day we’ve had raising funds and awareness for melanoma. The children looked fabulous decked out in yellow and green as they marched their way around town. We then topped it off with a sausage sizzle. Thank you to Year 6 for organising such a wonderful day. In class we’ve been reading our informative text "Deadly Science" and have been learning about our solar system. We’ve read informative texts and watched digital media about Uranus and Jupiter. We took notes from both sources and will be writing our own information report about Jupiter. We’ve finished our Maths unit on Chance and Data and have begun our ‘Additive Relations’ Unit. During Religion we have looked at the events of Holy Week and are reminded of the importance of Easter. I hope everyone has a happy, holy and safe Easter.
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

Another jam packed week! In Maths we learnt how to add and subtract fractions, which was tricky to start off, but by the end of the week we can tackle them easily. In Religion we completed our portfolio task about the stations of the cross and discussed what Jesus would have been feeling and thinking during this hard time for Him. We looked at characterisation in our novel unit. Specifically looking at our main character, Roz and what characteristics she has developed since the beginning of the novel. We also looked at narrative talk and how our novel is written in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person to engage its audience. In Grammar we are looking at the different types of nouns, focussing on common and proper nouns. In Digi Tech with Mrs McIsaac we have been learning about binary and how the computer uses zeros and ones to create messages. Congratulations to all those students who competed in this week's spelling bee, you all did such a great job and spelt some very tricky words. Have a lovely Easter long weekend everyone and we'll see you all on Tuesday!
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

Year 6 showed great leadership as we marched down the street today to raise money for Melanoma March and prepared some yummy sausages at lunchtime. On Monday we entertained the senior citizens at their luncheon with our 'pop royalty' song and dance. Congratulations to those students who participated in the Spelling Bee on Wednesday and well done to Kellie and Claudia who will now go on to represent Joeys in Wellington next term. This week we have been learning about appositives in Grammar and listed the attributes of the Greek God, Ares, as part of our literature unit. In Maths we investigated 3D shapes and how to calculate the volume of these as well as identify and sketch the top, side and front view. We created some crazy caricatures in Art and decorated a festive easter bag (we hope the 'Teacher Bunny' will leave some treats for us!). Best of luck to Tom and Alana who compete at Polding Swimming next week. Have a happy, holy and safe Easter. Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD

Your Life Matters - Free Workshop for Gilgandra Community

Do you need time out?  Quest can help with a life-enhancing day to learn practical skills and strategies for living well in challenging circumstances.  Quest for Life is hosting this workshlp on Wednesday, 1 May from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Gilgandra CWA Hall.  Please see flyer attached for further information.

Gilgandra Shire Council's Towards 5000 Child Care Strategy and Community Health Vision

Gilgandra Shire Council is working to identify how they can better support the local childcare sector, to understand the current and future needs of childcare for ages spanning 0-12 years as part of the Council's Towards 5000 population vision, including early childhood, before and after school care and holiday care in the Gilgandra Region.  They would like to gain an understanding of the issues or challenges facing local childcare providers and associated stakeholders and what support GSC can provide into the future.  Please find below flyer from Gilgandra Shire Council with a link and QR code for surveys for those who would like to contribute to the future of childcare in our community.