ABOUT - Term 1 Week 10 - 4 April 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that counts."
-Winston Churchill

'MELANOMA MARCH' FUNDRAISER - A HUGE SUCCESS!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our 'Melanoma March' fundraiser last week.  We are excited to announce that we raised $4,367.55  for Melanoma Institute of Australia.  What an outstanding effort! Well done and thank you to everyone for their generosity and a huge thank you to our Year 6 leaders for this wonderful fundraising initiative.

CONGRATULATIONS TOM!

Congratulations Tom McIsaac, who won GOLD in the Multiclass Senior 50m Breaststroke and BRONZE in the Multiclass Senior 100m Freestyle at  the NSW Catholic Primary Schools Polding Swimming Championships in Homebush yesterday.  Tom will now compete at the NSWPSSA Swimming Championships at Homebush next Thursday, 11 and Friday, 12 April.  What a great achievement Tom and we wish you the very best of luck next week.  Well done also to Alana Spora who competed in the 12 years 50 m Breaststroke.  Alana came fifth in her heat and fifteenth overall.   It is a wonderful achievment to reach this level of competition. 

DIOCESAN CROSS COUNTRY

We held our St Joey’s Cross Country Trials at school today.  Well done to those students who participated. Your efforts during training, in the lead up to today, and at today's trials was amazing! A note will go home next week to those who are selected to compete at the Diocesan Cross Country event to be held at Coolah  next term on Tuesday, 7 May.  The nine and ten year old competitors run two kilometres while the eleven and twelve year olds run three kilometres. Good luck to all our runners.  

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD MASS

Next Monday, 8 April - 10:30 a.m.

The Annunciation of the Lord Mass will be celebrated next Monday, 8 April at 10:30 a.m.  Year 2 is preparing the Mass and all are most welcome to attend.  Please bring a plate to share for morning tea which will follow the Mass.

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 next Monday, 8 April 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!

PEACHEY / RICHARDSON FOOTY & NSW NETBALL CUP IN COONAMBLE

We have 70 students playing either rugby league or netball in Coonamble next Tuesday, 9 April.  The rugby league players will be participating in the Peachey Shield and the Richardson Cup, while the girls will play in the NSW Netball School Cup.  We all look forward to a day of fun, friends and fitness.  The students competing include:  Cruz Hazelton, Tom Mudford, Hannah Peart, Charlie Jones-Copelin, Sterling Newton, Lochie Thomas, Liam Cosier, George Meers, George Taylor, Billy Jeffery, Ryle Walker, Tiaki Diamond, Laycee Hazelton, Michael Vermeulen, Jack Howard, Charlie Cruickshank, Bella Hammond, Dusty Jordan, Layla Walker, Archie O'Connor, Mack Hutchison, Darcy Adams, Mitchell Beaton, Oscar Medd, Jarvis Glennister, Charlie Howard, Tex Mudford, Braxten Towns, Jackson Towns, Harrison Newton, Akhiro Baker, Harry Thurlow, Connor Jones-Copelin, Bayley Dent, Andrew Standing, Bill Ryan, Oli Chandler, Oliver Peart, Archie Valler, Kurt McBurnie, Lucas Riley, Keaghan Lummis and Mitch Cosier and Tom McIsaac (who came along to support us), Mackenzie Harvey, Bridie Moeris, Isobel Barry, Madeleine Foran, Harper Wykes, Alice Peart, Regan Godber, Pearl Mudford, Maci-Jae Lomax, Rose Howard, Katie Colwell, Estelle Hazelton, Hannah Meers, Neve Walker, Caitlin Younghusband, Clancy Larkin, Arabella Chandler, Heidi Colwell, Bella Ferguson, Claudia Harrison, Milla Morris, Jessie O'Connor, Indy Thomas, Lucy Zell, Lottie Duffy, Alana Spora, Kellie Hutchison, Isabelle Peart.

APRIL P & F MEETING

The April P & F Meeting will be held at school next Tuesday, 9 April at 5:30 p.m.  Everyone is most welcome to attend.

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE - LET THE MUSIC MOVE YOU

All students will attend the school performance, "Let the Music Move You" next Wednesday, 10 April at 2:00 p.m.  From lullabies to heavy rock, capella to pop, this performance focuses on music and movement and how the two are integrally linked.  It is designed to engage students both as an audience and actively in the performance.  We hope the students enjoy this performance.

ANZAC DAY

Our school has once again been invited to participate in the annual ANZAC Day March and an invitation is extended to all students from Years K-6 to represent our school on ANZAC Day.  St Joseph’s has traditionally had a fantastic representation at this march and hopefully as many students as possible will give up an hour or so of their time to represent their school on such an important occasion and show respect for those who served our country.  Children need to assemble in Bridge Street at 10:30 a.m. or they can come to Mass at 9:00 a.m. after which staff members will walk them down to Bridge Street.  The march will proceed down Bridge and Miller Streets to the War Memorial for the service at 11:00 a.m.  Students are required to wear full summer uniform.

MOTHER'S DAY STALL

Thank you Morgan Adams who has again offered to take on the role of coordinator of the Mother’s Day Stall this year.  Each year parents are asked to donate gifts for the Mother's Day Stall.  This gives the children the opportunity to purchase a gift for their mothers and grandmothers that they have selected themselves, whilst raising money for our P&F Association.  The stall will be held on Friday, 10 May.  This may seem a long way off at the moment, but with the school holidays in between, it will come around very quickly!  Your contributions can be sent in at any time and left at the school office.  If your gifts could be wrapped in clear cellophane, that would be greatly appreciated.  The Mother’s Day Stall is a fundraiser for the P & F Association, but most importantly it gives the children the opportunity to bring in their own money to purchase a gift for their mothers and grandmothers that they have selected themselves.  Prices at the stall range from $1.00 to $5.00 and we aim to have enough gifts for each child to purchase at least two gifts.

CHAIR COVER WASHING

We still need volunteers to help wash the chair covers that were used at the Ball.  There are many that need washing and many hands make light work!  The covers are located in the otto bins in the school hall, so come and get a dozen or fill a garbage bag!  It all helps.

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.

YEAR 5 PLACEMENT IN AN OPPORTUNITY CLASS IN 2025

Applications are open for those Year 4 students who would like to apply for Year 5 entry to an opportunity class in 2025.  Applications are open until Monday, 20 May.  Parents can apply and access more information by clicking on the below link.  All candidates need to sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test on Thursday, 1 August 2024 to be considered for placement in an opportunity class.

'SLOW DOWN IN MY STREET' STICKERS

All students have today received a 'Slow Down in My Street' sticker from Transport NSW.  These stickers can be placed on your wheelie bins as a reminder to all motorists to slow down as they drive around our town.

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Ted Johnston for always sharing his bright and happy smiles with everyone, Josie Burke for being a kind and thoughtful member of Kinder, Freyer Williams for an excellent effort with home reading and Darcy Morrissey for always sharing interesting and informative news.

YEAR 1: Jock Cruickshank for being an enthusiastic member of Year 1, Thomas Riley for great work in writing tasks, Bridie Jordan for putting a big effort into morning reading and Hugh Meers for making positive contributions to class discussions. 

YEAR 2: Evie Adams for great improvement in her daily fluency tasks, Annabelle Foran for reading each morning with beautiful expression, Lexi Glennister for great improvement in her daily fluency tasks and Indiana Jeffery for working diligently on all tasks.

YEAR 3: Charlie Jones-Copelin for working hard with his spelling each week and Lochie Thomas for consistently making positive contributions to class discussions.

YEAR 4: Taylor Alexander for approaching work with an interested attitude, Liam Millstead for great contributions to class discussions, Pearl Mudford for being polite and courteous and Alice Peart for always giving 100% effort.

YEAR 5: Darcy Adams for asking clarifying questions to improve his  understanding in Mathematics, Oscar Medd for working hard identifying and ordering the correct phonemes and Mack Hutchison for an improved effort and accuracy in our fluency sprints. 

YEAR 6:  Kurt McBurnie for excellent participation and contribution to class discussions, Oliver Peart for consistently achieving 100% in his weekly Spelling test, Lucas Riley for consistent growth in our weekly fluency sprints, Chloe Alexander for a confident and conscientious effort to improve her fluency and expression and Connor Jones-Copelin for improved application to complete his homework.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Kinder enjoyed cheering on all their friends during the cross country trials today. In our classroom this week we revised the events of Holy Week and worked on our Portfolio task. We wrote some great stories about a dinosaur after reading the book,  "There’s a Diplodocus at my Door". In our Literature unit we are looking at the characters in the story,  "We are Going on a Bear Hunt" and we researched some information about bears. Area of objects is our focus in Maths this week and we enjoyed comparing different surfaces and ordering them according to their size. Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

It sounds like everyone had a wonderful Easter break and are ready for the last two weeks of term 1! This week in English we have been researching different animals to write our own information reports. We have been exploring the ‘ur’ and ‘ea’ sounds in Phonics and discussing how each digraph creates a single sound in words. In Maths we have been working on our counting up to 100 and continued comparing the weights of different objects using equal arm balances. Year 3 was very interested to learn about ANZAC Day and created some beautiful artwork to remember the soldiers. We hope you have a great weekend! Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

It sounds like everyone enjoyed a lovely Easter break. We have had a busy short week where we have been preparing for our class Mass on Monday. We hope some of our family and friends are able to join us to celebrate the Annunciation at 10:30 a.m. In Science we have been learning about how our community uses water and how we can save water in our own homes. We had some fun with the Bluebots in Digital Technology where we learnt how to code. We are working towards programming the Bluebots to reach a certain destination which relates to our novel that we are reading in Library time. We have been completing fluency reads each morning where we have been trying to improve our accuracy and words read in one minute, everyone is making great improvement. Have a lovely, relaxing weekend ready for a busy last week of term.
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We hope everyone had a great Easter! We’ve enjoyed a short week this week. It was a great effort today from all the superstars who ran in the cross country. We have continued writing an informative text on Antarctica this week. The students have gathered information to compose paragraphs written in their own words about this awe-inspiring continent. In Maths we’ve explored the strategy of bridging to the decade to add two digit numbers and we used the bar model to represent solutions to addition problems. We thank everyone who attended our Mass this morning. The students prepared well and participated beautifully. Have a lovely weekend. See you in Week 11!
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

It sounds like everyone enjoyed a lovely Easter break and received a visit from the Easter Bunny! We’ve continued looking at the events of Easter and Holy week in Religion. We’ve continued our work in English on informative texts and have written an information report about Mercury. We’ve completed our Essential Assessments in Maths and have been learning to partition, rearrange, and regroup numbers to solve additive problems. In Art we made a cute bunny pattern artwork which we’ve displayed on our classroom windows. Congratulations to all the cross country runners today, you were all awesome! Have a great weekend!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

We are having a fabulous short week here in Year 5! We hope you all had a lovely Easter long weekend. In Maths we wrapped up our unit on fractions and moved onto 'three dimensional objects', where we first looked at identifying 3D objects and their properties. We are continuing to read our novel, “The Wild Robot”.  This week we reflected on our predictions of the book we made at the beginning of the term and discussed  our new predictions. In Grammar we are learning about concrete and abstract nouns and how to identify them in sentences. We will move onto writing our own sentences using them next week. In History we are looking at the timeline of Australia's Federation and the impact Sir Henry Parks had to Australia. In Science, with Miss Harvey, we are working on an information slideshow about an animal who adapts to its environment. Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

 We hope you had a wonderful Easter break! What a fabulous short week we are having in Year 6!  In our literature unit we have continued our novel study, focussing on Ancient Gods & Goddesses and exploring what they would be now. In Grammar we finished off our ‘Appositives’ topic  by completing sentence building activities and challenging ourselves to construct our own written text including both restrictive and non-restrictive appositives. In writing we have wrapped up 'Information Reports' by constructing one final free choice information report about a farm animal of our choice. In Maths we have been learning about 3D shapes and volume, with a focus on spatial structure. We especially enjoyed our Digital Technologies lesson this week as we learnt more about coding and how it all works. Have a safe and wonderful weekend! The countdown is officially on….. 6 more days of school until holidays!
Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD

FMX FREFFSTYLE BMX SHOW

As a part of Gilgandra Youth Services School Holiday Activity Program, please see attached Promotion for a FMX Freestyle Motocross show at the Gilgandra Showground on Thursday, 18 April 2024.

This will be a wonderful event for all families to attend during the school holidays. Details are on the flyer and to secure a ticket (and to gauge numbers attending) they are asking that families register (for free) on 123Tix or via the QR code.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS AT THE LIBRARY

The Library is running three fun activities during the school holidays:

• LEGO® Club
• Engineering at the Library, and
• a special Crafty Storytime for older children
  

All of these activities are free of charge. Places are limited, so bookings are essential.