ABOUT - Term 3 Week 2 - 1 August 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

"A book is a gift you can open again and again"
- Garrison Keillor

BEAUTIFUL CONFIRMATION CELEBRATION

A beautiful celebration was held in St Joseph’s Church on Sunday as sixteen candidates were presented to  Bishop Michael McKenna and Fr Greg Kennedy for the Sacrament of Confirmation. The whole Year 6 class completed the Confirmation program and it was wonderful to see classmates, other members of the school community, parishioners, family and friends in church on Sunday to witness this important step in the faith journey of these young people.  A celebration breakfast was held in the school hall following Mass.  Our Year 6 Confirmation class consists of: Chloe Alexander, Jocelyn Altmann, Akhiro Baker, Arabella Chandler, Oli Chandler, Heidi Colwell, Mitchell Cosier, Bayley Dent, Lottie Duffy, Bella Ferguson, Claudia Harrison, Kellie Hutchison, Lily Johnson-Honey, Connor Jones-Copelin, Keaghan Lummis, Kurt McBurnie, Thomas McIsaac, Milla Morris,  Harrison Newton, Jessie O'Connor, Isabelle Peart, Oliver Peart, Lucy Profke, Lucas Riley, Mackenzie Skinner, Alana Spora, Andrew Standing, Indy Thomas, Harry Thurlow, Archie Valler, Holly Wykes and Lucy Zell.
Many thanks to Mrs Colwell, Mrs Schier and Mrs Barry for preparing the children for this Sacrament, to the staff and students of our school for their reverent participation at Mass and fantastic help in decorating the hall, the Year 5 parents for serving the morning tea and the parents of the Confirmation class for working with the school during this important time.

YEARS 5/6 CANBERRA/SNOWY EXCURSION

The Years 5 and 6 students, their teachers and parents had a sensational time in Canberra and at the snow last week.  Our travellers arrived back at school at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, a little weary, but with many stories to tell of their experiences.  Congratulations to all the students whose excellent behaviour during the trip was constantly commented on by the many guides and a big thank you to our teachers, Mrs Colwell, Mrs Schier and Miss Dobson, as well as the parents who attended, who all ensured everyone had a safe and happy excursion.  The students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia's history, culture, heritage and democracy.  The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education.  To assist with the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding to our school in the sum of $75.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program.  The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

BOOK FAIR

Our annual Scholastic Book Fair was held this week and was a huge success.  Thank you to the families who attended the book fair.  Your support enables our school to purchase new books for our library which the children and staff greatly appreciate. 

BOOK FAIR COMPETITION

In conjunction with the Scholastic Book Fair, the library ran a competition with students having the chance to win a book fair voucher.  Congratulations to the following students who each won a voucher to spend at the book fair:

K-2 - Guessing Competition (from part of the book's cover)
Kinder - Paddy O'Connor
Year 1 - Claire Barry
Year 2 - Edward Woodrow

Years 3 & 4 - Colouring Competition
Year 3 - Harper Wykes
Year 4 - Michael Vermeulen (winner), Mia Buckley (highly commended)

Years 5 & 6 - Boggle (find as many words as possible)
Year 5 - Caitlin Younghusband
Year 6 - Lucy Zell (winner), Bayley Dent (highly commended)

YEARS 3-6 FANCY DRESS SOCIAL - "I'M A CELEBRITY"

THIS EVENING, Thursday, 1 August
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

We hope you have your "I'm a Celebrity" outfits ready because tonight is our fancy dress social for all students in Years 3-6.   Come as a famous movie or television star, sporting star, YouTuber, singer or performer.  The options are endless - because let's face it, everyone's a celebrity!  The social will be held in the school hall from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. There is no cost and supper is provided - just bring yourself and get ready to dress up in your 'I'm a Celebrity' outfit! 

JEANS FOR GENES DAY - Tomorrow, Friday, 2 August

Tomorrow, Friday, 2 August is Jeans for Genes Day and we have decided this would be a great opportunity to help raise money to prevent childhood disease.  We are asking all students to wear jeans to school tomorrow and bring along a gold coin donation.  If you don’t own a pair of jeans, just wear a pair of casual pants.  With their jeans, infants students will wear their normal school shirt, jumper and school shoes, while primary students will wear their sport shirt, jumper and joggers.  We look forward to an enjoyable day and raising lots of money for this worthwhile cause.

PUPIL FREE DAY - NEXT MONDAY, 5 AUGUST

There will be a pupil free day next Monday, 5 August.  Kristi Ryan, Consultant from Catholic Education Diocese of Bathurst will inservice the staff on further developing the new English Curriculum.  The staff look forward to a productive day.

WESTERN REGION ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

St Joey’s will send a strong squad to the Western Region Athletics Carnival to be held in Dubbo next Tuesday, 6 August.  Participating schools include St Joseph’s Gilgandra, St Brigid’s Coonamble, St John’s Baradine, St Lawrence’s Coonabarabran, St Mary’s Dubbo, St Mary’s Wellington and St Pius X Dubbo.  Best of luck to all our athletes: Lisa-Maree Vermuelen, Molly Adams, Annabelle Foran, Thomas Colwell, Sam Luckie, Edward Woodrow, Hannah Peart, Mary Lesslie, Madeleine Foran, Jack Howard, Tom Mudford, Ryle Walker, Katie Colwell, Rose Howard, Regan Godber, Michael Vermeulen, Charlie Cruickshank, Dusty Jordan, Chloe Heffer, Clancy Larkin, Holly Wykes, Charlie Howard, Mitchell Beaton, Mack Hutchison, Isabelle Peart, Heidi Colwell, Bella Ferguson, Akhiro Baker, Harrison Newton, Kurt McBurnie, Oli Chandler, Liam Cosier, Tex Mudford, Darcy Adams, Alana Spora, Estelle Hazelton, Claudia Harrison, Alice Peart, Harry Thurlow, Layla Walker, Bella Hammond, Archie O'Connor, Oscar Medd, Indy Thomas, Lottie Duffy, Lucas Riley, Neve Walker, Jocelyn Altmann, Thomas McIsaac.

ICAS WRITING & DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES COMPETITIONS

The ICAS Writing Competition will be held next Wednesday, 7 August and the ICAS Digital Technologies Competition on Thursday, 8 August for those children who have entered these competitions.

ST MARY MACKILLOP MASS

Year 4 is preparing a Mass in honour of St Mary MacKillop which will be celebrated in St Joseph’s Church next Thursday, 8 August at 10.30 a.m.  St Mary is a very special saint at our school as she co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph, the order that started our school back in 1909 and we look forward to celebrating this special day together.  Everyone is most welcome and morning tea will follow Mass so please bring a plate to share.

NAPLAN RESULTS

The Year 3 and Year 5 NAPLAN results were sent home on Monday with each child.  Once again the school was very pleased with the overall results of our students.  If any parents would like to discuss their child's results with their teacher, please contact the school so we can arrange a meeting.

SCHOOL FEES

School Fee Statements will be sent home tomorrow, via email.  Term 3 fees are due on Friday, 16 August.  If anyone is experiencing difficulty with the payment of school fees, please make an appointment to see Mr Gibbons to discuss any issues.

CANTEEN HELPER NEEDED FOR FRIDAY, 9 AUGUST

We are in need of a canteen volunteer for next Friday, 9 August.  This is the day of the Soccer Gala Day in Dubbo, so the majority of our primary students will be absent from school.  It will therefore be a relatively quiet day in the canteen.  If you are not attending the soccer in Dubbo and can help out on canteen, would you please contact the school office ASAP.  If we are unable to find a helper, we will have no choice but to close the school canteen on Friday, 9 August.

PICTURE PLATE PROJECT

Last term a note was sent home to all families giving the children the opportunity to create a Picture Plate as a fundraising initiative of our P&F Association. 

If you indicated on the note that you would like your child to create their own plate at home and have not yet collected the template, please call into the school office ASAP, as completed templates and payments are due back to school on Friday, 19 August (Week 4).  Unless instructed, we would prefer not to send the template home with children, to avoid any marks or creases showing on the final design.

Those students creating their design at school, will meet with Mrs McIsaac in the library during lunchtime on Monday, 12 August (Week 4).  If your child is creating their picture plate at school, would you please call into the school office and arrange for payment ($25.00 per plate).  You can also pay over the phone via EFTPOS.

LUNCHTIME CRICKET PROGRAM FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS

Cricket NSW is offering our primary students in Years 3-6 the opportunity to participate in a lunchtime cricket program aimed at developing their cricket skills in a fun and familiar environment. There will be four weekly sessions that will take place each Monday during lunch at school, commencing Monday, 12 August.  Although there is no cost to participate in the program, you will need to register your child via the following links:

Girls - https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/406c1e

Boys - https://www.playhq.com/cricket-australia/register/478ef8

A flyer was also sent home today with a QR Code to register if you would prefer.

NEW OUTDOOR SEATING

We have been able to acquire additional outdoor seating which is wheelchair friendly.  The purchase of this seating was made possible through the Diocesan Wellbeing Funding.  

NEW COMMITTEE REQUIRED FOR ST JOSEPH'S DEBUTANTE BALL

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, our current ball committee has decided that it is time for them to hand over the reins to a new committee.  We are therefore in need of volunteers to take over the running of the debutante ball to ensure that this major fundraiser for our P&F Association can continue next year.  If you can assist, would you please contact the ladies in the office as soon possible. 

ENROL NOW FOR KINDER 2025

Enrolments are still open 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.

For those families who have already collected an enrolment pack, please ensure the relevant paperwork is returned to school ASAP and you contact the office to book an enrolment interview with Mr Gibbons.

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Noopura Rahul for happily settling into our Joey’s family, Saddler Newton for an excellent story about our book character, 'Meg', Kobi Hammond for being a clever mathematician using number bonds to 10 and Jordee Burgers for a big improvement in following directions. 

YEAR 1: Ally Wykes for making a fabulous start to Term 3, Henry Foran for putting effort into his colouring to create a wonderful artwork of a garden, Jock Cruickshank for being a cheerful and friendly student and Piper Lummis for trying her best in Maths. 

YEAR 2: Annabelle Foran for providing great elaborations in her holiday recount, Edward Woodrow for providing thoughtful answers during Religion discussions, Parthiv Rajesh Nair and Caroline Taylor for working hard to master ‘trading’ in Maths.

YEAR 3: Amelia Altmann and Madeleine Foran for writing great character descriptions of Sonam, Liam Cosier and Sterling Newton for working hard to learn about fractions.

YEAR 4: Alice Peart for writing a fabulous free verse poem titled, "The Garrall" and Michael Vermeulen, LLeyton Lummis and Laycee Hazelton for writing fabulous free verse poems titled, "Playground".

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

This week we were focusing on the sound 'Ee'. We brainstormed words beginning with the sound and completed lots of fun activities. Our literature unit is titled “Wombat Stew” and today we looked at rhyming words and repetition of words embedded in the story. We are also looking at unique Australian animals and we wrote some fantastic stories about echidnas. The Paris Olympics is our Geography focus and we are keen to update Australia’s medal tally each day. Go Aussies! In Maths we continued with our number bonds and are covering the position of objects and following directions. We are looking forward to wearing our jeans for Jeans for Genes Day tomorrow. Don’t forget your gold coin donation. Have a lovely weekend! 
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

This week the Olympics has been a big topic of interest in Year 1. We spent some time on Monday discussing the Olympics, looking at the Olympic Rings and exploring France. Mrs Jeffery has even been counting in French during our Phonics each day.  In English, we enjoyed rereading the book, “A Year On Our Farm” and introduced a second book, “All Through The Year” by Jane Godwin & Anna Walker. We compared both books and identified the different activities each family do in each season. In Maths we continued our unit on data and completed some fun activities collecting information and displaying it in different ways. On Tuesday we visited the Book Fair and found some interesting books to read. Congratulations to Claire, who won our class guessing competition and received a voucher to spend at the fair. Thank you to Mrs McIsaac for all your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend! 
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

We have enjoyed reading our Library novel, “Freckle Juice” with Mrs McIsaac - it has provided lots of laughs and leads us into learning about algorithms in Digital Tech. Our writing time has been spent reading and discussing the book, “The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs”, which retells the story from the perspective of the wolf who believes he was innocent and framed for the crime. We have been learning about the Olympic Games during Geography and watching different events at home. We have been keeping a tally of the medals won. Go Aussies! During Maths our focus has been ‘time’, where we have been using clocks to make time on the hour and half past. Year 2 has discussed Book Week which is in week 5.  Everyone needs to put their thinking caps on and dress as their favourite book character. Have a lovely weekend!  
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

Thanks to Mrs McIssac for organising a fantastic Book Fair on Tuesday. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to browse and purchase some great books. Year 3 has been learning about the concept of characterisation in English and how authors use a variety of techniques to build and develop characters in texts and intentionally represent characters in different ways. We have completed a character analysis of both Sonam from “Sonam and the Silence” and Bea from “Piano Fingers”. We wrote character descriptions of each character then a comparison of the two characters using conjunctions to include a variety of sentence types. We’ve continued our work on fractions by plotting them on a number line and finding fractions of a collection of objects. During Science we began our unit by listing living and non living things and comparing them by describing their characteristics. See you at the Primary Social tonight. Have a wonderful weekend. 
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

Year 4 enjoyed a wonderful afternoon planting trees for National Tree Day last Friday. In class we finished reading our novel, “Bindi” and culminated our unit on ‘Imagery, Symbol and Connotation’ by writing a poem titled “Fam Bam”. In Maths we are continuing with equivalent fractions and are learning how to change the numerator or denominator to make equivalent fractions. We  have been preparing for our St Mary MacKillop Mass next Thursday and are looking forward to celebrating with our family and friends. Don’t forget to wear your jeans tomorrow for Jeans 4 Genes Day. Have a great weekend! 
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

We are still buzzing after the Canberra Excursion last week! We had a fabulous time exploring Canberra spending a couple of days with our friends. Thank you to all the parents who helped make it a special week. This week we are settling back into our normal school routine. We’ve started a new novel, “August and Jones” By Pip Harry and are already intrigued as to what is going to happen. Our new unit in Religion is titled 'The Catholic Church in Australia'. We are going to explore the history of the Catholic Church and how it became a big part of our nation. In Maths we are looking at measurement and choosing the right device to measure different lengths. We did this through measuring the distance paper planes flew and measuring each other using our thumbs. Thank you to all those who came and helped with the Year 6 Confirmation Mass on the weekend. It made the day run smoothly and special for our Year 6 class. We are looking forward to seeing everyone's celebrity costumes tonight and your best dance moves. Have a great weekend! 
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

We have had a busy week as we return to our normal routine after the Canberra excursion last week. Our Confirmation on Sunday was certainly a special celebration, and we would like to thank Bishop Michael McKenna, Father Greg, our sponsors, families and friends for helping us celebrate this milestone in our faith journey. During class this week, we have been building our fraction knowledge and applying this to quarters, eighths and sixteenths. In Grammar we have been learning about conditional conjunctions and their application in our writing, and we have also been busily working on our Christmas Art projects in Art. We are so very excited for the Primary Social tonight, and are all looking forward to dressing as our favourite celebrities. Have a fabulous weekend!

Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Donna Colwell, Mrs Haylee Barry

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD

FARRER EXPERIENCE DAY - Friday, 27 September

Please see attachment with regards to an experience day that Farrer Memorial Agriculture High School is holding on Friday, 27 September for Year 5 students and their parents.