ABOUT - Term 2 Week 1 - 2 May 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do a little. Do what you can."
-Sydney Smith-

WELCOME BACK

Welcome to a new school term. Hopefully everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing break and we look forward to another fruitful and fun-filled term. 

ANZAC DAY

Once again the students of our school made us feel very proud when they participated in the ANZAC Day March last Thursday. Thank you very much to those students and staff who represented the school so well. It is a very important day and I am sure everyone appreciated your participation.  Lest We Forget!

POLDING WINTER SPORTS TRIALS

We wish Heidi Colwell, Isabelle Peart, Lucy Zell (soccer) and Akhiro Baker (rugby league) the best of luck when they compete in the NSW Catholic Primary Schools Polding Winter Sports Trials being held in Tamworth tomorrow, Friday, 3 May. It is a fantastic achievement to reach this high level of competition. Congraulations Heidi, Isabelle, Lucy and Akhiro. 

DIOCESAN CROSS COUNTRY

Best of luck to our competitors in the Diocesan Cross Country event which will be held next Tuesday, 7 May in Coolah. Our competitors include: Tom Mudford, Liam Cosier, Sterling Newton, Aaron Robin, Hannah Peart, Madeleine Foran, McKenzie Harvey, Mary Lesslie, Michael Vermeulen, Charlie Cruickshank, Rose Howard, Katie Colwell, Regan Godber, Alice Peart, Bill Ryan, Harrison Newton, Oliver Peart, Isabelle Peart, Heidi Colwell, Alana Spora and Lucy Zell. 

"Go Joey's"

MOTHER'S DAY LITURGY - YEAR 1

Year 1 will celebrate a Mother's Day class Liturgy next Thursday , 9 May at 10:30 a.m. in St Joseph's Church. Everyone is welcome to attend. Please bring a plate to share for morning tea which will follow the Liturgy. 

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.  The stall will be held next Friday, 10 May and we are extremely short of gifts at this stage.  Please support this P & F fundraiser by donating some gifts for our stall!  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.

MOTHER'S DAY RAFFLE

In conjunction with Mother's Day Stall there will be a raffle with three wonderful prizes.  First prize is a blackboard dinner voucher from Gilgandra Services Club with second and third prizes being gift vouchers from the Rustic Barrow and Victory Lap Sports.  Tickets will be $2.00 each and a book of 5 tickets will be sent home tomorrow. The raffle will be drawn at the conclusion of the stall on Friday, 10 May. We would like to thank Claire Harvey from The Rustic Burrow, Matt & Kellie Zell from Victory Lap Sports and the Gilgandra Services Club for their kind donations to our raffle.

MOTHER'S DAY STALL - WORKING BEES

There will be two Mother's Day working bees held in the lead up to Mother's Day Stall, to wrap and price gifts for the stall. The first working bee will be held tomorrow, Friday, 3 May from 9:00 a.m. to approximately 12:00 p.m. and the second working bee will be held next Thursday, 9 May. Please come along if you can. You may be able to come for an hour or two, or stay the whole time. Any help would be greatly apprciated. 

WELCOME MISS DANN

We welcome Miss Alex Dann to Joeys this term in her capacity as a prac student in Year 2.  Miss Dann has been working at St Joey's since last year as a Teacher's Aide, so it is wonderful to be able to give her the opportunity to complete her practicum at our school as part of her university course to become a primary school teacher.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Children may wear either summer or winter school uniform for the beginning of this term. It is a personal choice, depending on the weather. 

SACRAMENTAL PARENT MEETING

A Sacramental Parent Meeting for all parents and children in Years 3 and 6 who will be receiving the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation this year, will be held at school on Thursday, 9 May at 6:00 p.m. During this meeting Fr Nam will explain the significance of these sacraments and lead parents and children in a prayer session. We will also outline the programs that we will teach at school and organise how the days will run.  All parents and children in Years 3 and 6 are welcome to attend. 

WALK SAFELY TO SCHOOL DAY

Walk Safely to School Day will be next Friday, 10 May. Objectives of the day are: 

• To promote the health benefits of walking and help create. regular walking habits at an early age. 
• To help children develop the vital road-crossing skills they will need as they become mature pedestrians. 
• To ensure that children up to the age of 10 years of age held an adult's hand when crossing the road.
• To reduce the car dependency habits that are being created at an early age and which will be difficult to change as children become adults. 
• To reduce vehicle emissions to help tackle climate change and improve air quality. 

We ask you to discuss with your child the health benefits of walking  as well as safety rules. 

PRIMARY SPORT - TERMS 2 AND 3

Sport for the primary students will be held on Fridays in Terms 2 and 3. Therefore all Years 3-6 students will need to wear their sports uniforms on a Friday. Infants sport will remain on Thurday. 

2024 TERM 2 PLANNER

Please find below our Term Planner for Term 2.  A hard copy of this Planner is also going home to each family today for those who would like to display it on the fridge or other convenient spot.  Please be aware, that as the term goes on, there may be changes to dates or times, or certain things may be added to our ‘What’s On’.  Always check the newsletter for any changes or additions.

PORTFOLIOS

All children took home their Term 1 Portfolios for the holidays. Hopefully you have been able to look at the children's work. Could all the portfolios be returned to the school as soon as possible so we can start putting the Term 2 work into them. 

TERM 2 CANTEEN ROSTER

MORE HELPERS ARE STILL 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 has been emailed to all staff, parents and students.  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.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Welcome back!  It was great to see everyone’s smiling faces after the holidays. Kinder has been busy learning about the story of "Mrs Wishy Washy" and talking about the sequence of events in the book. We began our new literature unit for the term called, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". We enjoyed reading the story and writing about some of the favourite foods that the caterpillar munched through. The sound of the week was 'o' for octopus, orange and oblong. In Maths we have been exploring groups that are equal and not equal. We read "ANZAC Ted" to reflect on the brave men and women who fought in all wars. Thank you to the children who were able to march with the Joey’s students on ANZAC Day last week. Lest We Forget. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

Welcome back to Term 2! It sounds like everyone enjoyed the holidays. We certainly have enjoyed hearing about all the wonderful things you did.   Thank you to everyone who represented our school at the ANZAC Day March. This week Year 1 dove straight back into learning as we started our new English unit by reading the book, "Spoon" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Scott Magoon and discussed how readers build understanding of a text by looking for hidden meanings. In Maths, we explored 2D shapes and sorted them according to their different attributes. In History, we enjoyed watching a short clip of ‘Back in Time For Dinner’ about life in the 1950’s. The children were amazed at the old fashioned ice chest and boiler to wash the clothes. They were a little disgusted to see them eating tripe for dinner! Thank you to all those who have emailed a photo for Mothers Day. If you haven’t emailed one in, I would like to have all photos by tomorrow please. Enjoy the weekend!
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

Welcome back - it sounds like everyone had a busy and fun filled holiday. We wrote a recount about our holidays and have been focussing on elaborating on our events. We have been working on 2D space and position this week during Maths, where we have been learning to give precise directions using the correct terminology. In Religion we have been learning about the Easter season and the events after Jesus’ resurrection.  This week we welcomed Miss Dann to Year 2, she will be in our class for the next 4 weeks, observing and teaching some lessons. We hope Alex enjoys her time and finds it both enjoyable and rewarding. Have a great weekend!
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

Welcome back! We’re looking forward to a fantastic term ahead of us. Many thanks to those who returned the sacramental meeting note handed out on Monday. It will be great to see those of you who can make it next Thursday. Also, thank you to those who sent us a copy of a celebration photo. The children enjoyed sharing their memories of these celebrations and writing about them. Our English Unit this term is centered around Favel Parrett’s novel, "Wandi", which is about a lost dingo cub. The children have loved reading the first few chapters, determining the argument presented by the author and writing a description of dingoes using coordinating conjunctions. In Maths, we’ve begun our length unit by making our own metre rulers using paper strips and using these to find things in our environment that measure approximately 1 metre. We also added 10 centimetre increments to our strip and measured the length of our jumps using metres and centimetres. We drew a potrait of a dingo during Creative Arts. Many thanks to those who attended the ANZAC Day Mass and March. Have a top weekend!
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

Welcome to Term 2! The children have been eagerly sharing stories about their holidays. Some have been jam packed whilst others enjoyed a slow paced break.  Thank you to those children who made the effort to attend the ANZAC Day service and march with the school. In class we have read our new book, "Ned Kelly and The Green Sash". We are learning about authority of text and exploring argument and perspective. Pronouns have been our Grammar focus and we have identified pronouns used in a passage from our story and also listed which noun they are referring to. We had great fun in Maths as we played Battleship to consolidate our learning on grid references. Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. We’ve jumped straight back into our normal routine in class. In Grammar we are learning all about the different plurals and the many different ways words change to make their plural. In Science we started our new topic, ‘Out of this World’. We will explore the solar system and what things make up our solar system. In Religion we read "You are Special" by Max Lucado and discussed how other people's opinions can affect us both negatively and positively. We also discussed how we can deal with people's negative opinions and thoughts and what God says about us in the Bible. We also started our new book study this week. We are exploring the book, "One Small Island" by Alison Lester and Coral Tulloch. The book discusses Macquarie Island and how humans have damaged the island and the process  to restore it to its natural state. Have a great weekend!
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

Welcome back to another action packed term with many things to look forward to. This week, we have consolidated our knowledge of integers and enjoyed a fun game called Elevators. We also created our own fraction wall to deepen our understanding of fractions, decimals, and percentages. In Grammar, we revised adjectives and will endeavour to use them to write descriptive passages in Text Types. In Science we investigated liquids, solids and gases and how some things can be all three at different stages. During History, we used our knowledge of the levels of government to complete a quick Kahoot and in Art, we worked on something special for our mums for Mother’s Day next week. Thank you to the wonderful Year 6 students who represented our school at the ANZAC Day March - true leadership on display. Have a great weekend.  
Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD