ABOUT - Term 1 Week 10 - 10 April 2025

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

"The very first Easter taught us this: that life never ends and love never dies."
- Kate McGahan

HAPPY & SAFE HOLIDAYS

Tomorrow, Friday, 11 April, is the last day of Term 1. We hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday and return refreshed and ready for Term 2 on Tuesday, 29 April, as Monday, 28 April is a Pupil Free Day.

HOLY & HAPPY EASTER

We wish everyone a holy and happy Easter.  Easter Mass times are below and it would be wonderful if as many families as possible could attend attend at least one Mass during Easter as Holy Week is the most important week in the church year.

EASTER MASSES AT ST JOSEPH'S CHURCH

HOLY THURSDAY MASS

All children are invited to join the Offertory Procession during the Holy Thursday Mass next Thursday, 17 April at 6:30 p.m. in St Joseph's Church.  This Mass is where we will offer our Project Compassion boxes.

PUPIL FREE DAY - Monday, 28 April

The first day back at school in Term 2, Monday, 28 April, will be a Pupil Free Day.  During this day staff will continue their work on the implementation of the new English and Maths syllabuses.

CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

As mentioned in last week's About, our school cross country was held last Thursday.  The results are as follows:  9 years boys - 1st Sam Luckie, 2nd Thomas Colwell, 3rd Samson Starr, 9 years girls - 1st Piper van den Ende, 2nd Grace Johnston, 3rd Caroline Taylor, 4th Annabelle Foran, 10 years boys - 1st Jack Howard, 2nd Liam Cosier, 3rd George Taylor, 4th Aaron Robin, 10 years girls - 1st Hannah Peart, 2nd Harper Wykes, 3rd Mary Lesslie, 4th McKenzie Harvey, 11 years boys - 1st Charlie Cruickshank, 11 years girls - 1st Rose Howard, 2nd Katie Colwell, 3rd Alice Peart. Congratulations to you all.  These runners will compete in the Diocesan Cross Country to be held in Coolah next term on Tuesday, 6 May.

KINDER COOEE LODGE VISIT

On Tuesday, our Kinder 'Easter Bunnies' visited Cooee Lodge to spread some Easter cheer to the elderly residents.  They were magnificent singing their special Easter songs and the residents loved seeing them perform.  Well done Kinder!

LIAM HENRY & ISAAH YEO RUGBY LEAGUE & NSW NETBALL SCHOOLS CUP

FOOTY STARS

Congratulations to our four teams who participated in the Liam Henry & Isaah Yeo Rugby League Gala Day held in Coonamble on Tuesday.  No scores were kept, however our teams had a great day and participated with wonderful school spirit.  Well done to all the players - you were all champions!  Special mention to Clancy Larkin, Bella Hammond, Liam Cosier and Sterling Newton, who were chosen as the Joey's players of the day for each team.  Thank you to those parents who came along to transport and support the children.  GO JOEYS!

NETBALL STARS

St Joey's had a fabulous day at the NSW Netball Cup in Coonamble on Tuesday. Both teams showed great improvement in skill as the day progressed. It was a busy schedule with the  Years 3/4 girls playing 6 games and the Years 5/6 girls playing 8 games. Congratulations to all the girls on your sportsmanship and positive attitudes throughout the day. You were all wonderful representatives of our school. A huge thank you to Olivia Amiet and Eliza Larkin for being our umpires for the day. We couldn't have done it without you!

APRIL P & F MEETING

Thank you to those who came along to our P & F Meeting on Tuesday evening.  It was reported that our Debutante Ball raised over $10,000.00 which is an amazing result!  Thanks again to Bianca Williams and Jemma Burrell for all their hard work and organisation skills to ensure such a successful Ball.  Our P & F has agreed to donate money to our school for two new marquees, new footy and netball gear, ski biscuits for St Joey's Day and to help families whose children go on to represent our diocese in their sporting achievements.  This is made possible through the ongoing work of our families.  Thank you to you all!

PORTFOLIOS

All children will take home their Term 1 Portfolios tomorrow, Friday, 11 April. We encourage all families to take the time to look at the children's work. All portfolios need to be returned to school early next term so the Term 2 work can be placed in them. 

CHAIR COVER WASHING

We are onto our last otto bin of chair covers to be washed.  It would be wonderful to have all of the covers taken before the school holidays.  If you can help out, please grab some from the otto bin in the school square.  Thanks to everyone who has helped out already with the washing of the covers.

ANZAC DAY

Our school has once again been invited to participate in the annual ANZAC Day March and an invitation is extended to all students from Years K-6 to represent our school on ANZAC Day.  St Joseph’s has traditionally had a fantastic representation at this march and hopefully as many students as possible will give up an hour or so of their time to represent their school on such an important occasion and show respect for those who served our country.  Children need to assemble in Bridge Street at 10:30 a.m. or they can come to Mass at 9:00 a.m. after which staff members will walk them down to Bridge Street.  The march will proceed down Bridge and Miller Streets to the War Memorial for the service at 11:00 a.m.  Students are required to wear full summer uniform.

MOTHER'S DAY STALL

Each year parents are asked to donate gifts for the Mother's Day Stall.  This gives the children the opportunity to purchase a gift for their mothers and grandmothers that they have selected themselves, whilst raising money for our P&F Association.  The stall will be held on Friday, 9 May (Term 2, Week 2).  This may seem a long way off at the moment, but with the school holidays in between, it will come around very quickly!  Your contributions can be sent in at any time and left at the school office.  If your gifts could be wrapped in clear cellophane, that would be greatly appreciated.  Prices at the stall range from $1.00 to $5.00 and we aim to have enough gifts for each child to purchase at least two gifts.

MOTHER'S DAY RAFFLE

In conjunction with Mother's Day Stall there will be a raffle with three hampers up for grabs!  Tickets will be $2.00 each and a book of 5 tickets will be sent at the beginning of Term 2. Thank you Morgan Adams for organising the prizes for the raffle.

PROJECT COMPASSION

At the beginning of Lent a Project Compassion box was sent home to each family. Project Compassion is a Lenten program that Caritas Australia focuses on each year.  Caritas Australia is a Catholic agency for overseas aid and development.  We hope that whenever you have been emptying your pockets you have been able to drop a few coins into your Project Compassion box.  Your donations could go towards improving health and education or aiding an emergency crisis somewhere in the world. 

Please ensure your boxes are returned to school by tomorrow, Friday, 11 April so that we can present all our donations during the Holy Thursday Mass next week.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Children may wear either summer or winter school uniform when they return to school next term. It's a personal choice, depending on the weather. 

PRIMARY SPORT - TERMS 2 & 3

Sport for the primary students will be held on Fridays in Terms 2 and 3. Therefore all Years 3-6 students will need to wear their sports uniforms on a Friday. Infants sport will remain on Thursday. 

TERM 2 PLANNER

A Term 2 Planner is going home to each family today.  It is possible that there may be changes throughout the term, with additions or changes.  Any changes or additions to our Term Planner will be advised in our weekly newsletter.

SCHOOL ZONES REMINDER

A reminder to all our parents that school zones remain in place for the safety of our children and families. School zones operate on all gazetted school days, which are all the days the school is open, even pupil free days. School zones for our school will end on Friday, 11 April and will resume on Monday, 28 April. 

FOOD HANDLER TRAINING LINK FOR CANTEEN VOLUNTEERS

Please click on the below link to undertake the Food Handler Training required to be completed by all of our canteen volunteers. 

www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/training/food-handler-basics-training 

GILGANDRA FILM FESTIVAL 2025

Our school has once again been invited to be part of the Gilgandra Film Festival.  a 'How to Make a Documentary' brochure was sent home with all students in Years 4-6.  

Students from all years are invited to participate in this year's Film Festival, not just those in Years 4-6. The brochures containing instructions and suggestions on how to put together a documentary for the festival are available for any other interested students from the school office.  All films need to be uploaded by this Sunday, 13 April.

Below is an invitation for our school community to attend the Gilgandra Film Festival on Friday, 2 May at 5:00 p.m.

YEAR 7 2026 ENROLMENTS AT ST JOHNS COLLEGE DUBBO

Enrolments are now open for St Johns College Dubbo for those Year 6 students who would like to attend St Johns College in Year 7 next year.

All enrolments must be received by tomorrow, Friday, 11 April.

Interviews will take place at the College during the first few weeks of Term 2.

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Sophie Howard for always being kind and helpful to her Kinder friends and Colt Budworth and Hunter Hutchison for enthusiastically singing our Easter songs during the Cooee Lodge visit.

YEAR 1: Jordee Burgers for working so hard during Handwriting to write and reflect on her ‘Zz’s’, Charlie Burrell for effectively using his writing skills to identify and add nouns to sentences and Evelyn Easman for determination and focus while applying a variety of spelling strategies during Phonics. 

YEAR 2: Bridie Jordan for working hard on finding ‘L’ sounds in the classroom and Liam Mellor for being a kind and helpful friend.

YEAR 3: John Erick Badon for settling into Joey’s with enthusiasm, Caroline Taylor for always “Giving Of Her Best” and working hard, Indiana Jeffery for consistently working hard and contributing to class discussions and Samson Starr for making fantastic contributions to our ‘Explorers’ discussions in History.

YEAR 4: Lochie Thomas for working hard during Maths Operations, Ryle Walker for an improved effort in History and Amelia Altmann for being a reliable and responsible class member.

YEAR 5: Taylor Alexander for taking considerable care to produce beautiful artwork, Oliver Buckley for reading fluently and accurately and Bella Hammond for great understanding and application of Maths strategies.

YEAR 6: Chloe Heffer for excellent problem solving skills in Maths and Estelle Hazelton for readily participating in class discussions. 

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Congratulations Kinder for your beautiful singing, fantastic actions and cute bunny smiles that you shared with the residents of Cooee Lodge on Tuesday. Our visit certainly brightened their day and we were very proud of you all. We are excited to be taking home our portfolios tomorrow that have examples of some of the things we have been learning in Kinder. Remember to return them early next term. As it is the end of term, homework finished on Wednesday and will begin again in Week 1. During Religion we have been reflecting on the events of Holy Week, which includes Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday. We invite our family and friends to attend any of the Masses being offered by our church during this special time. Thank you to everyone for their hard work this term and we wish you all a Happy Easter and a safe restful holiday.

Mrs Alison Newstead & Mrs Julia Jeffery

Year 1

The final week of our first term of Year 1 is coming to a close. This week we’ve enjoyed learning about rhyming words by changing the ‘utensils’ which run away at the end of “Hey Diddle Diddle”  and making the cow jump over something that rhymes with them. The students drew some great illustrations to match the changes they made. We also completed a ‘venn’ diagram to make comparisons of the characters ‘Spoon’ and ‘Fork’ from the picture book, “Spoon”. Yesterday we watched the Easter episode of “Bluey” and used it to discuss elements of narratives such as characters, settings and events. We then wrote our own story about Easter morning. During Mathematics we enjoyed sorting numbers from 1-50 and using popsicle stick bundles to explore how many 10’s were in multiples of 10. We finished up our Lent and Holy Week unit by reading about Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Then we sequenced the events of Holy Week and demonstrated how much we have learnt by completing a quick quiz. This week was a review and assessment week in History. We hope you have an enjoyable Easter and we hope to see as many of you who can make it at the ANZAC Day March during the holidays. Happy Easter!

Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Haylee Barry

Year 2

This week Year 2 has written descriptions of the Easter bunny. They had to describe what they think he/she looks like, how he/she moves and special features he/she  may have to help him/her deliver eggs to every child in the world. We are hoping that the Easter Bunny may be able to squeeze in a visit tomorrow to our school to deliver some eggs!  During Maths we have been looking at ‘o’clock’ and ‘half past’ on our digital and analogue clocks. We have also looked at symmetry, where we created a symmetrical drawing of the Easter bunny. During Religion we continued to discuss the events of Holy Week and the sacrifice of Jesus. We also discussed ANZAC Day and the brave men and women who fought for us and our country. We are able to honour these people by participating in the march and service during the holidays. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and come back well rested for a busy Term 2.

Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

Woohoo, we made it to the last week of term! It’s not long now until school holidays begin. We have started writing our sequel to “Fantastic Mr Fox”. The ideas flowing around the room are absolutely incredible. We are hoping to finish these narratives before the school holidays and have been working very hard. In History we drew a map of an area we know well. The majority of us drew our homes. It was a tricky task and took some time but it gave us a good idea of the difficulties in drawing maps. On Tuesday we ventured out to Coonamble for a fun day playing sport. Everyone “Gave Of Their Best” and played with great sportsmanship. Those who stayed at school had fun dancing in Year 5. In Digi Tech with Mrs Jeffery, we did some Easter coding. It was a fun activity and got our brains working hard. Have a fabulous and safe holiday everyone, and we’ll see you all back in Term 2.

Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 4

It’s nearly the holidays! We are all looking forward to the Easter break but also can’t believe how quickly the term has flown by! This week we’ve been looking at the structure of informative texts and also informative paragraphs. We have read information about Mercury and used this to write a paragraph following the structure. In Maths we are finishing our unit on ‘Solving Additive Problems’. We have painted some cute bunnies in Art and made some fancy Easter cards. Congratulations to those students who attended the football and netball gala day in Coonamble on Tuesday. It was a great day! Have a happy, holy and safe Easter. See you in Term 2!                                        

Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

On Wednesday many of our classmates travelled to Coonamble for the football and netball carnival. Congratulations to all the students who participated with enthusiasm and good sportsmanship. We are enjoying hearing our “All About Me” speeches this week, with many students learning something new about their peers. In Spelling we have been revising previous misspelt words from this term and have been consolidating our knowledge of simple, compound and complex sentences in Grammar. During Geography we discussed cultural works and how the Aboriginal people used symbols and imagery in artworks to communicate knowledge from one generation to another. With Easter quickly approaching we have been spending time creating a crazy Easter egg character and painting Easter eggs in beautiful colours. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a very happy Easter.

Mrs Meichelle Schier

Year 6

We have had another wonderful week in Year 6. In Maths we have been busily revising chance and conducting chance experiments, whilst predicting frequencies of outcomes. In English we have continued with our Genre focus. We discussed how context and perspective form different styles of text types. In Religion we have been learning about basic human rights, people with a mission and exploring some fast facts about Lent. We have also finished the term with some topic assessments, in which all students performed well!  Only one more day until the holidays, YAY! Have a safe and wonderful break. Joke of the week…. Why did the egg go to school? To get an         egg-ucation!

Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD