ABOUT - Term 4 Week 5 - 14 November 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK



BEAUTIFUL REMEMBRANCE DAY MASS

Thank you Year 5 for leading the whole school in a moving Remembrance Day Mass in St Joseph’s Church on Monday. Our Year 6 leaders attended the service at the Cenotaph and paused to remember all the men and women who have fought to make our country what it is today and those who didn’t make it back home.  Our school leaders then laid a bouquet of flowers in their honour.  Lest We Forget.

YEAR 2 RECONCILIATION

On Tuesday afternoon our Year 2 students made the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in St Joseph’s Church.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a special time for us to admit when we have done wrong in our lives and say sorry to God.  It helps deepen our relationship with God and helps us grow to become better people.  To celebrate this special sacrament, Year 2 will prepare the Mass on Sunday, 24 November at 9:30 a.m.  Our whole school family is invited to join with Year 2 on this special occasion.  Please keep our Reconciliation class in your thoughts and prayers:  Evie Adams, Molly Adams, Charlie Budworth, Thomas Colwell, Annabelle Foran, Elsie Howard, Indiana Jeffery, Grace Johnston, Georgie Kirkwood, Samuel Luckie, Frankie Medd, Lola Newton, Parthiv Rajesh Nair, Isabelle Sandry, Samson Starr, Caroline Taylor, Billie Toomey, Piper van den Ende, Lisa-Marie Vermeulen, Edward Woodrow.

YEAR 6 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Tomorrow, Friday, 15 November, Morgan O’Reilly, from NSW Western Local Health District will be attending Joey’s to speak with our Year 6 class as part of their Personal Development Program.

WELCOME EMILY - CSU PRAC STUDENT

For the past 3 weeks, our Year 1 class has enjoyed the presence of Miss Emily Goddard in their classroom.  Miss Goddard is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Education at Charles Sturt University and tomorrow sees her complete three weeks practical placement at our school.  We hope Emily has enjoyed her time at St Joey's and we wish her well with the remainder of her studies and her future career.

KINDER TRANSITION DAYS

The third and final Kinder Transition Day will be held next Tuesday, 19  November to assist the children’s transition from preschool to Kindergarten.  It has been wonderful welcoming our Kinder class of 2025 into the Joey's family.

NOVEMBER P & F MEETING

The November P & F Meeting will be held next Tuesday, 19 November.  As this will be the final meeting for 2024,  the meeting will be held at the Services Club at 5:30 p.m. Our P & F has made a wonderful contribution to our school in 2024 and we would like to thank and congratulate the hardworking executive and members of the P & F Association who have coordinated fundraising activities, assisted at these activities, helped out in the canteen and attended the meetings.

"THE SUPER SCIENCE CIRCUS SHOW" SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

Next Wednesday, 20 November at 2:00 p.m., all students from Kinder to Year 6 will be attending the school performance, “The Super Science Circus Show”, an incredibly inventive, interactive and educational show that uses the fun of circus, comedy and magic to inspire scientific inquiry into the natural, physical and material world.  Our students will join the Ring Mistress and her cast of characters to question the HOW and the WHY of circus.  We hope the children enjoy this performance.

YEAR 3 MASS

Next Thursday, 21 November - 10:30 a.m.

Year 3 will celebrate a class Mass next Thursday, 21 November 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 Mass.

KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION

The Knowledge Explosion, for all children in Years 3-6, will be held in Week 8 on Wednesday, 4 December and Week 9 on Wednesday, 11 December between 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.  The Knowledge Explosion exposes the children to new activities that they may not otherwise have a chance to experience.  This year the activities include:   earring making, cooking, aqua aerobics, boxing, lawn bowls, sand art, coding, painting, Christmas craft and  Meccano.

SCHOOL BASED SWIMSAFE LESSONS

Our school is once again participating in a school based swimsafe program run by Gilgandra Learn to Swim.  These lessons are for children from Kinder to Year 2 and are held during school time with qualified Austswim instructors.  The children will be involved in the swimming lessons for nine days from Monday, 2 December to Friday, 13 December.  Please note that children will NOT participate in swim lessons on Thursday, 12 December as this is the day of our end of year school pool parties.

This year, enrolments must be done online by clicking on the below link.  Please ensure this is done by Friday, 22 November.  When completing the online form, please ensure that you select the "School Swimming Program" option under the "Program Type" heading.

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, the school will be covering half the cost of the swimming lessons this year, meaning our infants' families will only need to pay $43.00 (this does not include pool entry). 

Thank you to all the families who already registered their child online for the lessons.  Please don't forget to also pay the sum of $43.00 directly to our school, by cash or cheque. Payments may also be made via BPay, Direct Deposit or via the Compass portal, no later than next Friday, 22 November.  If anyone has any queries regarding payment, please contact the office.

We hope that through this program the children will enjoy participating and improve their water confidence and swimming skills. 

CANTEEN HELPER STILL NEEDED FOR NEXT WEDNESDAY, 20 NOVEMBER

We are still in need of a canteen helper for next Wednesday, 20 November.  If you can assist, please contact the ladies in the office on 6847 2828.  If we are unable to find a second helper for this day, we will have no choice but to close the canteen.

CWA COLOURING & WRITING COMPETITIONS

The CWA Gilgandra Evening Branch has invited students from our school to participate in a colouring competition for children in Years K-3 and a short story competition (200-400 words) for Years 4-6 students.  The 2024 topic is Microchiropteran Bats (or microbats for short).

We have today sent home a colouring in competition stencil with all students in Years K-3, for those who would like to participate in this competition.

For those Years 4-6 students who would like to participate in the short story competition, your story should be written in the first person with yourself as the topic (ie. you are the bat).  The story needs to be provided in a digital format,  typed and emailed to school, or typed, saved on a USB stick and the USB then sent  to school.

Completed colouring in stencils and short stories, need to be returned to school by next Tuesday, 19 November for judging at branch and group level before being forwarded for judging at State CWA level.

POSITION VACANT - FINANCE & CLERICAL ASSISTANT

33 hours per fortnight, commencing Term 1 2025

Applications are invited for the above temporary/part time position.  The finance & clerical assistant plays a crucial role in shaping the first impressions of our school, serving as the initial point of contact for students, parents, and visitors alike. Positioned at the heart of the school’s daily administration activities, this position reports directly to and collaborates closely with the Principal to ensure a welcoming and efficient front office environment.  Duties include managing phone calls and emails, reception tasks, assisting with administrative tasks, providing support to students and staff.

Applications close on Tuesday, 26 November 2024.

POSITION VACANT: ASSISTED TRAVEL SUPPORT OFFICER

The Department of Education currently has a position to fill to assist with the transport of a student with additional needs to travel safely to and from school.  This position is for three days a week.

Further information about this role is contained in previous newsletters or can be found at:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/astp/atsos  

All successful applicants need to obtain a Working with Children Check, obtain the necessary proof of identity and complete the Expression of Interest form online.

HOW TO APPLY: The EOI and documents should be sent to ASTP at atso.astp@det.nsw.edu.au

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Evelyn Easman for a super effort when completing portfolio tasks, Eleanor Foran for working hard to read the hour and minute hands on a clock, Paddy O’Connor for a super effort to learn about digital and analog times and Noopura Rahul for trying hard to identify times on an analog clock.

YEAR 1: Piper Lummis for being a kind and friendly classmate, Lachlan Foran for wonderful work with number activities in Maths, Clark Baker for writing detailed stories to entertain the reader and Hamish Burrell for trying his best with measurement in Maths.

YEAR 2: Evie Adams for great classifying of 2D and 3D shapes, Indiana Jeffery for great involvement in Science discussions about animals and Isabelle Sandry for setting out her work with care and effort. 

YEAR 3: Manu Binu for great understanding of the difference between weather and climate, Tiffany Fong for consistently “Giving of Her Best” in all areas of her school work and Meenakshi Binu and Liam Cosier for creating excellent sentences using homophones.

YEAR 4:  Will Luckie for great improvement in Mathematics, Georgia Riley for a great effort completing Literacy Pro quizzes, Katie Colwell for a great effort to include literary techniques in her writing and Charlie Cruikshank for approaching tasks in a confident manner.

YEAR 5:  Mitchell Beaton for working hard converting different time zone times, Charlie Howard for great work identifying and adding the correct article into sentences and Caitlin Younghusband for fantastic contributions to our class novel discussions.

YEAR 6: Indy Thomas for consistently contributing to all class discussions, Jessie O’Connor for producing high quality work with care, Kurt McBurnie for applying problem solving strategies in Maths and Mackenzie Skinner for consistent application and contributions during Grammar.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Another busy week has flown by in Kinder and we have been working hard on completing assessment tasks in Maths and Spelling. The focus in Spelling was 'consonant/vowel/consonant' words that have the ‘a’ sound in the middle (cat, Sam, bag, ban). We read the funny story of "My Cat Maisie" by Pamela Allen and we discussed the use of adjectives to describe Maisie. In Science we sorted things that move in the playground and in the classroom and we talked about how the speed of the air can change the speed of things moving, like our fans in the classroom. Thank you Year 5 for a beautiful Remembrance Day Mass on Monday. Kinder wore their poppies with pride. Finally a big thank you to everyone who was able to come along and celebrate our Creation Liturgy this morning. Well done Kinder on your lovely singing and reverence in the church. Have a fantastic weekend everyone.
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

Wow, it's Week 5 already! We can’t believe how fast this term is flying by! We began the week with a beautiful Mass prepared by Year 5 to remember those who have fought and died for our country. This week in English Year 1 unpacked the structure of a reader’s theatre and discussed the purpose and intended audience of this type of text. We introduced the reader’s theatre,  "Peace and Quiet – Ha!" and discussed the characters and how they are represented in the text. In Maths we finished our unit on measurement and began completing some Essential Assessments online. During Geography Miss Goddard showed us how to use rice to create a map of our own ‘made up’ country. We then discussed the importance of labelling a map and included some natural and non-natural features. Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

Thank you to those families who came along to Reconciliation on Tuesday afternoon. This is an important step in your child's faith. Year 2 began preparing for our Reconciliation Mass on Sunday, 24 November and we look forward to celebrating this milestone with our family and friends. Our focus in Maths has been 3D shapes and volume where we have been identifying the characteristics of shapes. We have also been looking at the volume and capacity of different objects and discussing formal and informal units for measuring. Year 2 has completed some assessments this week and I am very proud of their achievements. Thank you to Year 5 for preparing the lovely Remembrance Day Mass on Monday. We discussed the importance of this celebration in honouring the brave men and women who went to war to fight for the freedoms we are able to enjoy today. Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

Year 3 has been busy completing a range of assessment activities this week. The students have worked hard on these tasks and have achieved well. During English Year 3 read the book, "Malala’s Magic Pencil", which is based on the  inspirational life of the author, Malala Yousafzai who as a child in Pakistan, made a wish for a magic pencil that she could use to redraw reality. The students then imagined they had a magic pencil and wrote a paragraph about what they would do with their magic pencil to make the world a better place. In Maths we hefted a half kilogram mass and estimated the mass of various objects around the classroom to the nearest half kilogram. We have begun preparing for our Mass next week and took photographs of ourselves performing acts of kindness in the classroom and on the playground. We hope you enjoy your weekend.

Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

We have been busy completing our assessments this week for end of year reporting. Amongst assessments we have been discussing the images of God that are present in the Bible along with our own image of God. In Maths we have been learning how to draw 3D shapes on isometric dot paper which proved a little tricky at first. We’ve also drawn perspective of 3D shapes. During English we discussed time travel and wrote a letter to our future self. We’ve also revised quoted speech. In Art we looked at works by the artist, Dean Russo and created our own tiger artworks in his style. The children used the colour wheel to select their colours to use within the design focusing on complementary and contrasting colours. Enjoy the weekend!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

Wow, we’re half way through the term already! This week we have been busy. In Grammar we are learning about modality and modality verbs. We identified them and wrote sentences where we had to change the strength of the modality. In Geography we learnt about Mt Erebus which is found in Antarctica. We learnt that it is one of the tallest volcanoes in Antarctica and creates caves underground with its steam. In our novel unit we read how Ivan came to America and was forced into captivity. We completed a writing task from the perspective of Bob, the dog, on what he is thinking and feeling about the current situation in the novel. We have been working on decimals this week in Maths. We have ordered them and placed them on number lines to consolidate our understanding. Have a fantastic week. 

Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

On Monday Year 6 attended the Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph. We were very proud of the students who conducted themselves with reverence and respect. Over the next two weeks we will be completing assessment tasks for our end of year reports and the students will present their explanation slides to the class. In Maths we investigated timetables and elapsed time and completed a flight delay task (which we are sure will come in handy in the future!) "Queenie in Seven Moves" by Zanni Louise is our novel this term. This week we looked at the theme of homelessness. We reviewed statistics on homelessness in Australia and then brainstormed and wrote a cause-and-effect paragraph to consolidate our understanding of this basic human right. During Religion we used the Bible to find examples of Jesus healing people and in Art we have carved a simple picture into a piece of foam in preparation for creating a print. Have a great weekend.
Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Donna Colwell, Mrs Haylee Barry

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