ABOUT - Term 4 Week 9 - 12 December 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

HAPPY, HOLY & SAFE CHRISTMAS

As this is the last About for the year we would like to wish you all a happy, holy and safe Christmas.  Thank you to everyone who has supported our school during the year.  The last day of term is next Wednesday, 18 December.  School resumes for all students on Tuesday, 4 February 2025.

CHRISTMAS MASSES

Christmas Eve
Tuesday, 24 December - Tooraweenah                  5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 24 December - Gilgandra                          6:30 p.m.

Christmas Day
Wednesday, 25 December - Gilgandra                    9:30 a.m.

POOL PARTIES

Everyone had a great time at the pool today during our annual pool parties, with some yummy party food enjoyed by all, followed by the primary students opening their Kris Kringle presents and the infants students being delighted when Santa paid them a visit with a special treat!

YEAR 5 LEADERSHIP SPEECHES

We congratulate all our 2025 Student Leaders following the presentation of their leadership speeches earlier this week.  The standard was excellent and we are sure these students will continue the Joey’s tradition and be fine leaders in 2025. 

LEAVING FAMILIES DINNER

This Evening - 5:30 for 6:00 p.m

We look forward to spending an evening with those families leaving St Joseph’s this year at our Leaving Families Dinner, to be held this evening, Thursday, 12 December at 5:30 for 6:00 p.m. in the school grounds.  This is our way of saying thank you to those families for their involvement with the school over the years.  Please feel free to stay on while the children go off to the social.

K-6 SCHOOL SOCIAL

Tonight, Thursday, 12 December - 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

All students are invited to our school social to be held at the Gilgandra High School Hall tonight, Thursday, 12 December from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.  Parents are most welcome to stay or to leave their children at the social and collect them at 9:00 p.m.

YEAR 6 PICNIC

Tomorrow, Friday, 13 December

Our Year 6 students are sure to have lots of fun at the Dubbo Waterslide and tenpin bowling tomorrow.  This outing is the school’s way of saying thank you to our Year 6 student leaders for leading our school so well this year.  We thank you for "Giving Of Your Best" and may God bless you in your future endeavours.

INFANTS SWIMMING LESSONS

Our school based SwimSafe program for our infants students concludes tomorrow, Friday, 13 December.  We hope that the children have enjoyed participating in the lessons with their friends and have improved their water confidence and swimming skills.  We thank Alicia Heffer and her swim instructors as well as the Gilgandra Panthers for the use of their bus.

KINDER COOEE VISIT

Kinder will be spreading some Christmas cheer next Monday, 16 December as they visit the residents of Cooee Lodge.  We are sure they will bring a smile to many faces during this special season.

YEAR 6 GRADUATION MASS & MORNING TEA

Families and friends of our Year 6 students, as well as any other St Joey’s families who wish to attend, are invited to the Year 6 Graduation Mass at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday, 17 December in St Joseph’s Church.  Following Mass, a morning tea will be held for our Year 6 students and their parents. Please bring a plate to share for morning tea. 

END OF YEAR PRESENTATION CEREMONY

Our school community is invited to attend our annual end of year presentation ceremony to be held at the Gilgandra High School Hall next Tuesday, 17 December commencing at 12:00 p.m.  We look forward to sharing this  celebration of our school year with you.

OUT OF UNIFORM DAYS

Next week there will be two out of uniform days:

ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL YEARBOOK

The school Yearbook will be available for collection from the school office following the end of year presentations next Tuesday, 17 December, or given out to the eldest child in the family on the last day of school.  A huge thank you once again to Lara Zell for the tremendous amount of work that has once again gone into the yearbook.  We thank our P & F Association who generously provides a copy for each family.

LAST CANTEEN DAY

Next Monday, 16 December will be the final canteen day for the year.  Please ensure you send your child with a packed morning tea and lunch next Wednesday, 18 December.  Thank you to all our canteen helpers for your assistance throughout the year.

FAREWELL MRS McISAAC, MR LANGES & MRS CHANDLER

We farewell Mrs McIsaac, Mr Langes and Mrs Chandler next Wednesday and thank them for their dedication and support to the students of St Joey's during their time here.  We wish you all the very best for the future.

WELCOME MRS BEATON

We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs Simone Beaton to our staff.  Mrs  Beaton will take on the role of Finance & Clerical Assistant at St Joey's in 2025 and will will be working three days per week alongside Mrs Hodge and Mrs Fuller.  Simone comes with many talents and we look forward to working with her.

LIBRARY BOOKS

A final reminder that ALL library books are to be returned to the library urgently.

SAVE THE DATES

Below are a few important dates for you to add to your calendar for Term 1, 2025:

SUPPORT FOR THE BISHOP'S CHRISTMAS APPEAL - HELPING OUR NEIGHBOURS IN SANTO, VANUATU

As we approach the season of Advent and prepare to celebrate the joy of Christmas, we are reminded of the call to extend our love and generosity to those in need. This year, the Bishop's Christmas Appeal will support a very special cause: the rebuilding of a school in Santo, Vanuatu, which has been significantly impacted by hurricanes and an influx of families seeking refuge from a nearby volcanic eruption.

The school in Santo plays a vital role in the local community, providing education and stability to children whose families have been displaced. However, recent natural disasters have left the school severely damaged, making it challenging to provide the necessary facilities for learning and growth.

Your support for this appeal can make a meaningful difference, helping to build classrooms, provide essential resources, and restore hope for a brighter future for these children and their families. 

Every contribution, no matter how small, is a step towards bringing joy and opportunity to those who need it most this Christmas. Donations over $2.00 are Tax Deductible and can be made through the Diocesan Website https://bathurst.catholic.org.au/help-build-a-future-support-the-bishops-christmas-appeal/

Thank you for considering this opportunity to share the spirit of Christmas by supporting our neighbours in Vanuatu. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the lives of many.

A short video is available here with more information https://youtu.be/ne52VuNWx0Q

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 five 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: Charlie Freeman, Eliza Hancock, Ellis Starr, Freyer Williams, Charlie Burrell, Teddy Kelly and Arthur Peart for a fabulous effort during swimming lessons.

YEAR 1: Ally Wykes for wonderful work in number activities in Maths, Bill Pagan for being a caring and respectful student, Claire Barry for participating enthusiastically in all areas of school life and Lachlan Foran for always striving to achieve his best.

YEAR 2: Piper van den Ende for great grooving at our school social practices, Parthiv Rajesh Nair for his consistent contributions to our class discussions and Annabelle Foran and Billie Toomey for great enthusiasm during our Science lessons.

YEAR 3: George Taylor for always being a kind and courteous member of Year 3 and Isobel Barry for always being a polite and studious member of Year 3.

YEAR 4:  Mia Buckley for helping others with their Christmas sewing and Dusty Jordan and Charlie Cruickshank for showing perseverance with their sewing.

YEAR 5:  Darcy Adams and Clancy Larkin for fantastic work creating graphs based on the data given and Mack Hutchison and Oscar Medd for great work identifying abbreviations and acronyms. 

YEAR 6: Connor Jones-Copelin for gaining greater speed and accuracy during tricky Math tasks, Akhiro Baker for excellent class participation and having a positive attitude towards tricky concepts, Kellie Hutchison for swiftly completing Problem A Day & Operations with accuracy and Keaghan Lummis for receiving feedback and taking on extra responsibilities with a more positive attitude.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Wow, can you believe it is nearly the end of the school year? It has been another very busy week and the Kindergarten students have been amazing! They have continued to practise their dances for tonight’s social with lots of smiles and enthusiasm, although a little weary from all the lessons in the pool each day for the intensive swimming program. Well done to everyone for improving your water safety skills and swimming strokes during the last week. Let’s hope you have some energy left for dancing tonight! We enjoyed our class pool parties today and we were very excited to have a special jolly visitor to the park who handed out some yummy treats. Sadly, we said goodbye to Tessa today who is moving to Queensland and will have a new school in 2025. We wish Tessa all the best and we will miss her. We would also like to thank all the Kindergarten parents and guardians for their wonderful support during your child’s first year of school. You should be very proud of how far they have come, we definitely are. We have loved teaching Kindergarten. Merry Christmas everyone and have a lovely relaxing holiday.
Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

It’s hard to believe the year is nearly over, and what an incredibly busy week it has been for Year 1! Our intensive swimming has come to an end and we would like to thank our swimming instructors,  Alicia, Isabella, James and Olivia. We thoroughly enjoyed listening to our future school leaders as the Year 5 students delivered their policy speeches. We congratulate them on their outstanding efforts and look forward to seeing them grow as leaders in 2025. Our dance rehearsals for tonight's social have been in full swing and are excitedly looking forward to the evening. Today we celebrated all our hard work over the year with a pool party. It was a great way to celebrate the end of Year 1, have fun and cool off. We enjoyed a picnic in the park and even had a surprise visit from Santa! Finally, we would like to thank Year 1 for the fantastic year we have had, each day brought new challenges, triumphs, and discoveries. Thank you for entrusting us with the privilege of being a part of your child's educational journey. We would like to wish each and every one of you a happy, safe and enjoyable Christmas and we look forward to what 2025 has in store for us all.   Merry Christmas!
Mrs Julia Jeffery & Mrs Prue Best

Year 2

What a week it has been as we head into the end of the year! It has been a great two weeks of swimming where the children have made super progress with their swimming skills. Thank you to Alicia, Isabella, Olivia and Camilla for your expert instruction. We also thank the Panthers for a loan of their bus, it certainly saved our little legs. We have been busy with our dancing this week and look forward to spending the night with our friends tonight at the social. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for a lovely year. You really should be very proud of your children and their hard work, effort, kindness and big smiles. I hope you all have a happy and holy Christmas break.
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the pool party today. We ate our lunch at the park, shared party food and had a swim at the pool. Kris Kringle was a hit and we thank all of you for kindly contributing to the gift exchange. In the classroom we wrote some letters to Santa where we not only told him what we wanted for Christmas but also what ‘nice’ things we had done this year to deserve these gifts. In Maths we practised trading in 3-digit subtraction and sketched the nets of some 3D shapes. During Religion we read about the Annunciation where Mary found out she was going to have Jesus and the Visitation where a pregnant Mary visited her cousin, Elizabeth, who was also pregnant. Our Christmas raffle is going well with the students working hard in these last weeks of school to receive raffle tickets. We thank all our wonderful families for a fantastic year and we hope that you all enjoy the well deserved break over Christmas and to all the students, good luck in Year 4!
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

It’s hard to believe we are in our last week of school and my little friends are about to enter Year 5! All the children seem to have enjoyed participating in their chosen Knowledge Explosion activity for the past two weeks. We enjoyed a lovely day today celebrating our class parties and swapping KK presents. The excitement continues tonight with our school social. We have enjoyed a wonderful year in Year 4. The children are a lovely group who have grown academically and socially. You, their parents have much to be proud of! Thank you for your continued support and I wish you all a happy, safe and holy Christmas and a wonderful 2025!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

What a fun week we’ve had! Congratulations to everyone for presenting their leadership speeches. You all spoke wonderfully and should be very proud of yourselves. In Science we had a great time completing Christmas Science experiments and designing a new toy. We have finished our Term 4 novel, "The One and Only Ivan".  The last few chapters were bittersweet and some of us shed a tear. Maths this week was tricky. We have completed a range of time reaction tests and worked through some mathematical problems that tried to stump us!  We all had a great time during the second week of  Knowledge Explosion. Thank you to everyone who ran a group, we all came back buzzing. We have been busy practising our dancing moves this week, ready to have so much fun at the social tonight. The countdown is on for the end of year - only 4 days left! Thank you for such an amazing year, it has truly been one of the best! Have a wonderful and safe holiday.
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

Last Friday we had our Canberra Excursion Expo. It was so much fun reliving all the adventures we had together. We enjoyed listening to the leadership speeches this week and we congratulate all of our fellow Year 5 friends on their excellent deliveries. You will all make wonderful school leaders next year! Today was pool party day! We exchanged gifts with our KK’s, enjoyed a picnic in the park and had a free swim, with many beach balls, adding to the fun. Tonight we say farewell and thank you to many families at our Leaving Families Dinner and afterwards we will enjoy some dancing at Year 6’s final St Joey’s School Social, sharing a memorable moment together at the end of the night with a special song and war cry. Tomorrow we are very excited to be travelling to Dubbo for Ten Pin Bowling and some water slide time at the Dubbo pool. We would like to thank all of the family and friends of Year 6 who supported us and their child through the final stages of their Joey’s journey. We would also like to thank our wonderful class of 2024 for a magnificent year, we have truly enjoyed teaching each and every one of you and you have all left a special mark on our hearts. Have a wonderful and safe holiday break and we wish you all the very best as you begin your high school journey!  Merry Christmas!
Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Donna Colwell, Mrs Haylee Barry

ALTAR SERVERS ROSTER

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD

TOORAWEENAH LIONS SCHOLARSHIPS
Applications Now Open

Applications for Tooraweenah Lions Club’s 2025 scholarships are invited from Tooraweenah district students.  The scholarships are for students entering Year 7, worth $250, or those commencing first year of tertiary studies (university or TAFE), worth $750.
To receive an application form please email: a.alison@bigpond.com
Please forward completed applications to: Tooraweenah Lions Club, PO Box 23, Tooraweenah 2817
Applications close on Friday, 23 February 2025. Successful applicants will be announced by 8 March.