ABOUT - Term 2 Week 6 - 6 June 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Christ's Body and Blood is our spiritual food on our journey to heaven.
All thanks be to God for this great blessing.

BEAUTIFUL FIRST HOLY COMMUNION CELEBRATION

A beautiful Mass was held on Sunday morning in St Joseph’s Church as the parish and school community celebrated with the First Holy Communion class.  The church was filled with family, friends and parishioners to share this special time with these children.  Following Mass a wonderful celebration breakfast was held in the school hall. Congratulations to the parents, Fr Nam, Mrs Colwell, Mrs Haling and Mrs Wilson for preparing the children so well. It was wonderful to have the support of so many, the school community for attending Mass and decorating the church and hall, the Year 2 parents who assisted at the breakfast and the family and friends of the First Communion Class who joined in the celebration.  Congratulations to our 2024 First Holy Communion Class:  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.

JUNIOR JOEY'S VISIT RESIDENTS AT COOEE LODGE

Our Junior Joey's have been visiting the residents of Cooee Lodge in small groups each fortnight this term and will continue to do so for the remainder of the term.  During their visits our Junior Joey's spend some time with the residents.  This is a wonderful initiative for both the elderly residents and our students.

GOOD LUCK JACK & FREYER - KINDER NURSERY RHYMES - CITY OF DUBBO EISTEDDFOD

We wish our Kinder superstars, Jack Jeffery and Freyer Williams, the best of luck next Wedneseday, 12 June as they perform a Nursery Rhyme at the City of Dubbo Eisteddfod.  To get up and perform on your own already makes you both champions!  Well done Jack  and Freyer!

SOCIAL MEDIA ISSUES

It has come to our attention recently that students are interacting via various social media platforms, eg, Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tik, etc.  There has been a lot of focus in the media lately regarding the legal age and the negative effects of using social media at a young age. The law states that children under 13 years of age should not be using social media. This is in place to protect them from a variety of potential issues. Our students, your children, are very important to us and we want to keep them safe. Please see below two fact sheets  for your information. 

PRIMARY ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

The St Joey’s Primary Athletics Carnival will be held at McGrane Oval next Friday, 14 June.  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. Thanks to all those parents who have offered to help.  Below is an updated roster, from which you will note the events that still need helpers.  We are also short of canteen helpers.

If you are able to assist in any way please write your name down and return the roster to school or alternatively just phone or pop into the office and let us know.

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL LUNCH ORDERS DUE NEXT TUESDAY

As previously mentioned, there will be a special Flexischools canteen lunch order for the Athletics Carnival on Friday, 14 June for primary children (Years 3-6). Manual lunch order bags are also available from the school office upon request.  Athletics Carnival lunch orders, need to be placed by 9:00 a.m. next 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 (next 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. 

RITE OF COMMITMENT FOR CONFIRMATION

During Mass on Sunday, 16 June, the Year 6 Confirmation candidates will be participating in a Rite of Commitment for Confirmation.  During the Mass the students will be stating their commitment to prepare themselves for Confirmation.  Their families and the parish are asked to support and pray for the Confirmation candidates.

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 went on sale on 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 on Thursday, 23 May.  Tickets can be purchased from the DRTCC Box Office or ordered online by following the below instructions:-

1.  Visit http://drtcc.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/sales (if this link doesn't work, please copy and paste it into your browser)
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!

EISTEDDFOD PERMISSION NOTES REQUIRED ASAP

There are still a number of permission notes that have not been returned to school with regards to attendance at, and travel to and from, the City of Dubbo Eisteddfod on Wednesday, 19 June in Dubbo.  We need this information as soon as possible so that we can organise buses to transport the children.  

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 tomorrow, Friday, 7 June.

CHANGE OF UNIFORM FOR THE EISTEDDFOD

Just a reminder that at this year's City of Dubbo Eisteddfod, girls are to wear MAROON TROUSERS, NOT the tunic that has been worn in previous years. 

The 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.

CANTEEN HELPER NEEDED ON DAY OF EISTEDDFOD

Would anyone be free to help out in the canteen on Wednesday, 19 June?  This is the day of the eisteddfod and it would be wonderful to have someone help out who is a Kinder parent or isn't attending the eisteddfod. If you can assist, please let the school office know or email t.fuller@bth.catholic.edu.au.

If we are unable to find someone, we will need to close the canteen on the day of the eisteddfod.

CHICKEN POX

We have recently received notification that three students have been diagnosed with chickenpox. Whilst the cases are limited, it is important for you to be aware of the symptoms for chickenpox. Chickenpox usually begins with fever, fatigue and loss of appetite followed by a generalised rash a day or so later and starts as itchy red spots but rapidly progresses to blisters. A person is infectious from two days prior to the onset of the rash until the blisters have all crusted into scabs, usually about five days after they appear. Children with chickenpox must not attend school until all remaining blisters have become scabs then exclusion is no longer required. Please seek medical attention if unsure.

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 Wednesday:

KINDER: Evelyn Easman for working well in Mini Lit groups, Ellis Starr for “Giving of His Best” in all activities, Charlie Freeman for fabulous sentence writing in our Literature unit and Tessa Hamilton for a super effort with her homework.

YEAR 1: Claire Barry for cooperating with her peers during group work, Bill Pagan for wonderful work in Maths Warm Up, Thomas Riley for trying his best in Grammar and Bridie Jordan for happily offering to help with classroom jobs.

YEAR 2: Indiana Jeffery for a wonderful effort during eisteddfod practice, Samuel Luckie for great answers in Comprehension Groups, Lola Newton for her enthusiastic contributions to our class discussions and Parthiv Rajesh Nair for being a keen Mathematician.

YEAR 3: Hannah Peart for always showing great care with her school work and Sterling Newton for creating great sentences each week in Sentence a Day.

YEAR 4:  Liam Millstead for fabulous results in our 'Representing Whole Numbers' assessment, Jack Howard for providing thoughtful contributions to our Ned Kelly discussions, Mia Buckley for a great image depicting salience in our Ned Kelly unit and Regan Godber for a fabulous effort with home reading.

YEAR 5: Caitlin Younghusband and Mitchell Beaton for producing wonderful 'Hybrid' texts that incorporated many textual features.

YEAR 6:  Chloe Alexander for writing a wonderful descriptive passage of a cloud, Isabelle Peart for working conscientiously in Maths to achieve great results, Lottie Duffy for a super effort towards her reading goal and improved reading fluency each week and Oliver Peart for consistently challenging himself during Maths and asking questions to clarify information when required. 

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

We welcomed Angel Dinto to the Joey’s family this week and have been showing her around our school. Kinder has been very busy revising concepts covered so far this term in Literacy and Numeracy and is doing a great job with some testing. Everyone has enjoyed the new Literature unit called “Floof”, about a mischievous and fluffy cat that makes us laugh. We have been writing some great adjectives about different fluffy, wooly and shaggy animals. Kinder enjoyed the school performance on Tuesday and will need a long weekend to recover!  Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

We can’t believe we have almost finished week 6! This term will be over before we know it. Year 1 has been working very hard this week. We have been completing a lot of assessments in all key learning areas. In English we started reading "Do Not Open This Book" by Andy Lee and compared it to our text from last week. We looked at how Andy and Mo used the same persuasive features in each book. In Maths, we completed our Essential Assessment and finished our unit, ‘Exploring Area’. We have had a lot of fun in Science this term with our unit about mixtures. We became chefs and mixed together some ingredients to make slime and looked at what happens when a variety of household substances are mixed together. On Tuesday we enjoyed the school performance, ‘It’s a Mad World’. The performer kept us entertained with his funny show demonstrating some of the circus skills he teaches children at the Flying Fruit Fly Circus in Albury. Have a great long weekend!
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

We have been enjoying our library novel, "Gooney Bird Greene" and showing our typing and formatting skills to Mrs McIsaac in Digital Technology. We watched a clip about koalas during our literacy session and wrote notes about what we learnt. Students then had to use this information to compile their own information report and we look forward to sharing these with you in our portfolios at the end of the term. Our focus during Maths has been subtraction and in particular using the jump strategy to solve problems. We melted ice during Science in our hands and timed how long it took to start melting… brrr, it was cold! Have a lovely long weekend, see you all next week!
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

A massive thank you to all those who helped out with our preparations for First Holy Communion last Sunday. It was a beautiful Mass and it meant a lot to all the Year 3 students who we thank for their diligent preparation and reverent participation. We have concluded this unit by making a list of needs in the school and parish community, where we can make a difference through prayer or action. In English we have been working on a persuasive speech about the importance of sanctuaries. Year 3 has come up with some convincing arguments they are attempting to write into well structured paragraphs. We should have these finished this week in order to present them throughout next week. In Maths we have begun our 'Multiplicative Relations: Multiplication' unit by generating and describing patterns, recognising the significance of the final digit of a whole number in determining whether a given number is even or odd and relating doubling to multiplication facts for multiples of 2. For Visual Arts last week we began a rainy day artwork of a person out in the rain which we completed today using watercolor paints. Eisteddfod preparations are in full swing and the Year 3 students are to be commended on their application during practices. Have the best long weekend and we will see you on Tuesday.
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

We are concluding our Ned Kelly unit by writing a persuasive piece based on "The Last Stand". The students have chosen a character from the story and are presenting the events from the chosen character's perspective. They are trying to include elements such as quoted speech, rhetorical devices, topic specific vocabulary and modality to strengthen their point of view. I am very impressed with what I’m reading so far! During Maths we are continuing to learn to partition, rearrange and regroup numbers to solve additive problems. In particular we have been looking at finding the missing number in equations. We will be completing our end of unit assessment on this topic before starting our new unit. In Art we have looked at the Opera House and have completed a directed drawing of this spectacular building. We will complete further artworks which include the Opera House. I’m hearing lots of stories about huts that have been started, still 3 weeks before they are due at school! Enjoy the long weekend!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

What a cold week it has been! This week we started our new novel, "Spotlight" which is all about poetry. We started by learning about the author, Solli Raphael and watching some of his slam poetry. We spent Tuesday afternoon at the ‘It's A Mad World’ performance. We laughed the whole time, the performer was so funny. In Grammar we are looking at the different types of verbs. We started by looking at what a verb is and identifying them in sentences. We have been working hard completing our Essential Assessment Common Grades this week and our Term 2 Spelling test. In Art we have been working on our  ‘Wheat Field with Cypresses', a Van Gogh inspired artwork. They are starting to look amazing. Have a great long weekend and see you all Tuesday!
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

For the next few weeks, our writing focus is narratives. We will endeavour to explore our imaginations as we apply figurative language and our own creativity to write engaging stories. In Maths we are using formulas to find the perimeter and area of rectangles and are investigating how area and perimeter relate to each other and how they can be used to help solve problems. This week we have been looking at the Sacraments of Initiation in Religion. We have discussed the links between Baptism and Confirmation and the rituals used in both celebrations. In Grammar we are consolidating our knowledge of adverbs and continue to complete a variety of mid term assessments. We all enjoyed the school performance on Tuesday where magic tricks, juggling and amazing balancing skills had us all impressed. Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Haylee Barry & Mrs Donna Colwell

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