ABOUT - Term 2 Week 4 - 23 May 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

"Because she's one of us, a mother to us, we turn to her in our need;
but because she's the best of us, mother to Our Lord, she gets those prayers answered. 
So Mary is holy yet human and attracts our devotion as 'Help of Christians'."
- Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP

OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS MASS

A Mass in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians will be celebrated tomorrow, Friday, 24 May at 10:30 a.m. in St Joseph’s Church. Year 4 is preparing the Mass and all are most welcome to attend.  Please bring a plate to share for morning tea which will be served after the Mass.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

St Joseph's Church - Sunday, 2 June

The excitement is certainly building for the First Holy Communion class as this special day is fast approaching.  Our school community and parish are warmly invited to celebrate First Holy Communion at St Joseph’s Church on Sunday, 2 June at 9:30 a.m.  It would be fabulous to have lots there for this great occasion.  

A note went home on Tuesday with all Year 3 students providing details on what the children should wear, food that will be needed and the payment of $15.00 towards costs associated with the day.  If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the class teachers, Mrs Colwell or staff in the office.

Please keep our First Holy Communion class in your thoughts and prayers:  Amelia Altmann, Isobel Barry, Liam Cosier, Tiffany Fong, Madeleine Foran, McKenzie Harvey, Cruz Hazelton, Billy Jeffery, Charlie Jones-Copelin, Mary Lesslie, Bridie Moeris, Tom Mudford, Sterling Newton, Hannah Peart, James Riley, Aaron Robin, Ben Ryan, George Taylor, Lochie Thomas, Ryle Walker, Allie Claire Williams, Harper Wykes.

WORKING BEE TO CLEAN CHURCH FOR FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

There will be a working bee for Year 3 parents to clean the church in preparation for First Holy Communion next Friday, 31 May from 3:20 p.m.  We hope to see as many as possible there.

YEAR 2 PARENTS NEEDED TO SERVE COMMUNION BREAKFAST

It is traditional that the Year 2 parents help out with the First Communion Breakfast as the Year 2 children will be involved in the celebration next year.  A note was sent home on Tuesday to all Year 2 parents asking if they can assist in warming the food, preparing the drinks and setting out and serving the food, tea and coffee following Mass. If you are able to assist, would you please complete and return the tear-off slip to school by next Tuesday, 28 May.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY HARRY

It was with much excitement that we received the wonderful news that Mrs Morrissey gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy last Friday, 17 May - Harry Robert Morrissey.  Congratulations Jess and Jake.  We can't wait to meet little Harry!

DIOCESAN SPELLING BEE

Best of luck to our super spellers, Ben and Tiffany (Years 3/4) and Kellie and Claudia (Years 5/6), who will take on the best in the diocese at the Diocesan Spelling Bee to be held in Wellington next Thursday, 30 May.

200 m HEATS IN PREPARATION FOR ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

In preparation for the Athletics Carnival, we will be holding heats for the 200 m events at McGrane Oval next Friday, 31 May at lunchtime.  As this is a sports day, students will already be wearing their sports clothes and joggers.

PRIMARY ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

The St Joey’s Primary Athletics Carnival will be held at McGrane Oval on Friday, 14 June (Week 7).  This carnival involves all primary school students (Years 3-6).

We will need officials to help with the judging of the events and we will also need helpers to run the canteen. A Helper's Roster has today been sent home outlining all the jobs.  If you are able to assist in any way please write your name down and return the note to school by next Friday, 31 May.   

FLEXISCHOOLS LUNCH ORDER FOR ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

There will be a special canteen lunch order for the Athletics Carnival on Friday, 14 June.  This has been set up in Flexischools and is available for primary children (Years 3-6) to order from. Lunch order bags are also available from the school office upon request.  Flexischools orders, for the Athletics Carnival, need to be placed by 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 11 June, so we have enough time to order food for the carnival.

INFANTS CANTEEN ORDERS ON DAY OF PRIMARY ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

On the day of the Primary Athletics Carnival (Friday, 14 June), infants students who would like to order their recess or lunch using the Flexischools online service, will need to use the following Flexischools services when completing  their order:

Infants Recess Order for Friday, 14 June
Infants Lunch Order for Friday, 14 June

This change in ordering is only for the day of the Athletics Carnival.  If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the school office. 

CITY OF DUBBO EISTEDDFOD

All students from Year 1 to Year 6 will be participating in the verse speaking choirs at the City of Dubbo Eisteddfod on Wednesday, 19 June at the Dubbo Regional Theatre & Convention Centre (DRTCC). The order for the verse speaking choirs is as follows:

Commencing at 10:00 a.m.

Section 5300 – Years 1/2 – Infants (we are competitor no. 6 of 6 competitors), followed by

Section 5302 – Years 5/6 – Senior Primary (we are competitor no. 5 of 6 competitors).

Section 5303 – Small Schools (1 competitor), followed by

Section 5301 – Years 3/4 – Junior Primary (we are competitor no. 3 of 3 competitors)

We would love to see many family and friends in attendance at the eisteddfod to watch our wonderful choirs perform. 

Tickets go on sale TODAY, Thursday, 23 May - see below for instructions on how to purchase tickets.

PRE-PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE EISTEDDFOD

As mentioned above, tickets to the eisteddfod went on sale TODAY, Thursday, 23 May at 9:30 a.m.  Tickets can be purchased from the DRTCC Box Office or ordered online by following the below instructions:-

1.  Visit drtcc.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/sales
2.  Type in Search - Eisteddfod
3.  Select which session you wish to attend
4.  Payment of your tickets (Please note: you will have 20 minutes to complete your transaction).

We suggest purchasing your tickets ASAP to ensure that you do not miss out!

TRAVEL TO THE EISTEDDFOD

We have today sent home with children from Years 1-6 a permission note for your child to attend the City of Dubbo Eisteddfod on Wednesday, 19 June in Dubbo and advising us how your child will travel to and from the eisteddfod.  We need this information as soon as possible so that we can organise transport.

The cost for the bus to travel to Dubbo will be $5.00 per student.  Please ensure the tear-off slip and if your child/ren are travelling by bus, the money, is returned to the school office by Wednesday, 29 May.

CHANGE OF UNIFORM FOR THE EISTEDDFOD

At this year's City of Dubbo Eisteddfod, girls are to wear MAROON TROUSERS, NOT the tunic as has been worn in previous years. 

Just a reminder that children are required to wear full winter uniform which is as follows:

Boys:  Grey trousers, blue shirt, school jumper, grey socks, black shoes.
Girls:.  Maroon trousers, fawn shirt, school jumper, brown socks, black shoes.

ENROL NOW FOR KINDER 2025

We are now taking enrolments for our Kinder class of 2025.  If you have a child ready to start school next year, please call in and pick up an enrolment pack or phone the office and we can email a pack to you.

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Jordee Burgers for great sounding out, Charlie Burrell for terrific sorting of living and non-living things in Science, Kobi Hammond for using his great imagination in Writing activities and  Jack Jeffery for excellent sequencing of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” story.

YEAR 1:  Ally Wykes for using neat handwriting to create interesting stories, Mae Ryan for clever work in Maths Warm Up, Alfie Mudford for being a polite and respectful student and Henry Foran for completing his work in a timely manner. 

YEAR 2: Georgie Kirkwood for her great answers during Maths discussions, Frankie Medd for reading each morning with lovely expression, Madeline Merrett for always having beautiful manners and a lovely smile and Samson Starr for trying really hard with his handwriting.

YEAR 3: Charlie Jones-Copelin for enthusiasm towards eisteddfod practice, Tom Mudford for an enormous effort during Maths lessons and Billy Jeffery and Tiffany Fong for creating an effective persuasive poster.

YEAR 4:  Georgia Riley for writing creative sentences in Spelling, Will Luckie for great work partitioning numbers, Lleyton Lummis for showing great understanding of direct speech and Michael Vermeleun for confidently identifying tenths and hundredths in the place value system.

YEAR 5:  Clancy Larkin for writing a great discussion about ‘Why every family should have a pet’ and Chloe Heffer for improved confidence and accuracy  in Problem A Day and Operations. 

YEAR 6:  Bella Ferguson for consistently contributing to class discussions, Mitchell Cosier for learning and applying new Maths strategies quickly and accurately, Harrison Newton for creative thinking to solve Mathematical challenges and Holly Wykes  for her attentiveness and participation in Grammar lessons, especially when learning about verbs and verb groups.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Kinder has been learning about the tens frame and adding numbers together in Maths. We have been practising our counting and writing the numbers from 1-10. Information reports on pigs was very interesting and we discussed what they need, what they have and what they can do. The sound of the week is ‘h’ and we matched pictures to the sound. Sport has been focusing on the skills of jumping, running and skipping. We even tried out the long jump pit today! Everyone is looking forward to visiting the Life Education Van tomorrow and hopefully “Harold” will make a guest appearance. Thank you to everyone who came along to the Pentecost Mass on Sunday. We said goodbye and good luck to Josie today as her family embarks on a new adventure. We will miss you Josie and remember 'Once a joey, always a joey'.
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

Today, Year 1 was very lucky to visit the Life Education Van. We enjoyed listening to Healthy Harold as he taught us the importance of growing good friends and how positive relationships impact our lives. In Maths we have been busily completing our Maths assessments and exploring number patterns. During English we enjoyed reading our new book called "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" and looked at how the author used persuasive arguments and language to convince us to let the pigeon drive the bus. Our news topic this week was linked to our History unit and it was wonderful to see so many toys from the past being shared. We hope you have an enjoyable weekend!
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

We began our new literature unit this week where we are looking closely at the hybrid text "Great White Sharks". A hybrid text is where different types of texts are combined and we will be learning about both narrative and informational texts. We wrapped up our previous text, "Nian the Chinese Dragon" by creating our own colourful Chinese dragons in Creative Arts, they have certainly brightened up our classroom! We enjoyed visiting our old friend ‘Harold’ in the Life Ed Van today, learning about safety rules and why they are important. Our focus in Sentence A Day and Grammar has been adverbs, where we have been identifying these in sentences and trying to use them in our writing to make it more interesting for the reader. During Maths we have continued to learn about 2D and 3D shapes and have completed an assessment of our knowledge on these. Sadly, we farewelled Lexi today.  We hope she enjoys her new school.  We also say goodbye to Miss Dann tomorrow and wish to thank her for her involvement in our class over the last 4 weeks. We wish her well in her future career as a teacher. Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We are very excited about our upcoming First Holy Communion and have been busy preparing for this special day. We appreciate the many offers for help with our celebration. Robes went home today for the first communicants. In Maths we’ve focused on the connection between addition and subtraction by using addition number sentences to make subtraction number sentences. We also used ten frames to model the bridging strategy. During English we wrote a reflection of the novel “Wandi” and determined whether the author, Favel Parret achieved the purpose of her text. We then listened to an audio text and watched a video to determine their similarities and differences. These were both in an interview structure so the students then looked at the website for the Gorton Forest Sanctuary and generated questions that could be used to present the information in a Q&A style. They then wrote the answers for these questions in an informative paragraph. We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

Year 4 has been busily completing some testing for Semester 1 reports. During History we have continued looking at early settlement and in particular, the life of some convict kids. They had a very different life to the children of today. We all agreed we wouldn’t like to face the punishments they did!  In Science we’ve looked at chemical, physical and biological weathering. The children are creating slideshows to depict pictures of weathering. In Maths we are learning to partition, rearrange and regroup numbers to at least 1000 to solve addition problems. We are looking forward to visiting the Life Education Van tomorrow and also celebrating our Mary Help of Christians Mass. I look forward to seeing you all there. Have a great weekend!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

It’s been a busy week here in Year 5. Thank you to all those who came to our Pentecost Mass on Sunday. It was a lovely celebration of the Holy Spirit. In Grammar we have been learning about adjectives and how to order them correctly. We are wrapping up our discussion writing in text types and will be moving onto information reports next week. We will start by writing one on a planet of our choice. In Digi Tech with Mrs McIsaac we have been learning how to use Google Docs and all the tricks that will help us better use them. We have been learning about hybrid texts in our book study, focussing on how “One Small Island” is both a historical recount and an informative text. We are going to continue looking at this by creating our own hybrid text on either Uluru or the Great Barrier Reef. We visited the Life Education Van on Wednesday and learnt all about cigarettes and e-cigarettes. We discussed what they do to our bodies and what they're made from.  It was a  interesting experience!  We said goodbye to Jarvis this afternoon and we wish him well in the future.  Have a great weekend.
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

This week we continued to research our chosen saint and will present our report to the class using Google slides in the coming weeks. In Maths we investigated the Cartesian plane and how to track the coordinates when reflecting and translating shapes across the x and y axis. Auxiliary and modal verbs are our focus in Grammar and we completed a post-comprehension assessment to finish Cycle 1 of our comprehension groups. In Science we looked at the periodic table and discussed known and unknown elements. We were very excited to begin our new class novel, "Stormbreaker" this week and to visit the Life Education Van where we discussed respect for ourselves and others and strategies to maintain positive relationships on and offline. Congratulations to Mrs Morrissey and her family as they welcomed a beautiful little boy named Harry last Friday.  Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Haylee Barry & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER