ABOUT - Term 1 Week 4 - 22 February 2024

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Act as if what you do makes a difference because it does!
- William James

WESTERN REGION SWIMMING CARNIVAL

It was a fantastic day at Coonamble last Thursday for the Western Region Swimming Carnival. We were thrilled to hear that Alana Spora and Thomas McIsaac were both awarded Runner Up Senior Girl and Boy  Champions at the carnival.  Well done to you both!  Congratulations to all the Joey’s students who swam so well.  Special mention to the following students who were awarded placings and will now swim at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival to be held in Dubbo on Wednesday, 6 March:  Alana Spora - 1st 12 years Freestyle, 1st Senior Breaststroke, Thomas McIsaac - 1st 100m 11-13 years Multi-Class Freestyle, 1st 50m 13 years and under Multi-Class Freestyle, 1st 13 years and under Multi-Class Breaststroke, Oliver Peart - 1st Senior Breaststroke, Hannah Peart - 1st 9 years Freestyle, Lottie Duffy - 3rd Senior Breaststroke, Bella Ferguson - 3rd Senior Butterfly, Tom Mudford - 3rd 9 years Freestyle  and our Senior Girls Relay team came 2nd comprising Claudia Harrison, Isabelle Peart, Alana Spora and Indy Thomas.  Well done to you all!

P & F ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Many thanks to those who attended our P & F AGM held at school on Tuesday.  Our  P & F Association is a vital part of St Joey’s School and we look forward to working closely in association with them again this year.  Congratulations to our elected office bearers:

President: Jodie Peart  Senior Vice President: Grant Zell Vice Presidents: Scott Beaton and Damien Jordan Secretary: Chris Riley  Treasurer: Simone Beaton.  Just a reminder that you are all invited to our P & F meetings.  There are only five more meetings this year.  The meetings go for about an hour and then everyone is invited for refreshments. So come along and have a good time while supporting your P & F Association.

YEARS 1 AND 4 SUNDAY MASS - This Sunday, 25 February

Our Years 1 and 4 classes are preparing the Mass to be celebrated in St Joseph’s Church this Sunday, 25 February at 9:30 a.m.  Everyone is invited to attend.

ST JOHN'S COLLEGE VISIT

The Interim Principal of St John's College, Mr Raymond Wooby, will be visiting our Year 6 class next Monday, 26 February at 10:00 a.m. to speak with the students about the college.  Mr Wooby has extended an invitation to any interested Year 6 parents or carers who would also like to attend.

MOORAMBILLA SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TOUR

Moorambilla Voices Artistic Director, Michelle Leonard is currently touring Central and Far Western NSW facilitating free workshops for school students from Years 3-12.  In each workshop the children are taught music theory and sight-singing and participate in movement, drumming and percussion.  A workshop will be held at our school next Tuesday, 27 February for all students in Years 3-6.  From these workshops gifted children who show outstanding natural capacity are selected to participate in the Moorambilla Voices' annual program. The program consists of residential camps in August and September where students work alongside professional musicians and composers to create original compositions and culminates with a concert at the Dubbo Regional Theatre.

KINDER WELCOME LITURGY - Thursday, 7 March - 10:30 a.m.

We can’t wait to officially welcome our Kinder class of 2024 at the Kinder Welcome Liturgy which will be held on Thursday, 7 March in St Joseph’s Church at 10:30 a.m.  Everyone is invited to attend, especially the family and friends of the Kinder children and their Year 6 buddies.  It is a fantastic celebration where we get to learn a little more about the newest members of the Joey’s family.  Morning tea will follow the Liturgy and we ask our Year 6 parents to please bring a plate.

CITY OF DUBBO EISTEDDFOD

INDIVIDUAL ENTRIES

A number of our students choose to perform an individual poem at the City of Dubbo Eisteddfod each year.  Entries are now open.  This is separate from our school verse speaking choirs in which all children from Years 1 to 6 participate. The teachers will assist any children wishing to enter the eisteddfod with their selection of a poem.  Transport to individual events must be arranged by the parents.  The proposed dates for the eisteddfod are 17 to 21 June.

KINDER/YEAR 1 NURSERY RHYMES

At the City of Dubbo Eisteddfod, Kinder and Year 1 children (six years and under) are invited to enter the singing section – Nursery Rhymes in Costume.  In the past, children who have entered have enjoyed it greatly and gained much from the experience.  If your child wishes to enter you must be prepared to take your child to Dubbo on the day and prepare the costume.  Parents are to help their child select a nursery rhyme and we will then assist them practice at school. The proposed dates for this section of the eisteddfod are 11 to 12 June.

If your child wishes to participate in either of the above individual sections of the Eisteddford, please click on the link below, complete the note and return it to Mrs Hodge or Mrs Fuller at school no later than Wednesday, 13 March.  Alternatively, you can send a hand written note to school with the relevant information or contact the school and we can send home a hard copy of the note. The age of the child shall be taken as at 31 December, 2024, ie, the age the child is turning this year.  We will advise definite dates when the program is printed.

2024 SCHOOL FEES

The 2024 school fees have been generated.  Statements will be emailed to all families next Friday, 1 March.  If you do not receive your Fee Statement next Friday, please contact Mrs Hodge.  The Statement will show the fees for the whole year.  Please note that the first instalment (Term 1 fees) are due on Friday, 15 March.

If you have a current Health Care or Pensioner Concession Card, you may be eligible for a 30% discount of school fees.  If this applies to you, please contact the office as soon as possible.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School photos will be taken on Monday, 11 March (Week 7).  Last week, each child was given an envelope with full details regarding price and products available. To order your photos online go to www.advancedlife.com.au before photo day and enter our school code: 7Q9 5JT KQZ at the top of the page.  Then just follow the prompts.  You do not need to return your child’s envelope if ordering online.  You can also make payments by cash or cheque which must be returned in the envelopes provided.  A separate envelope must be used for each child.  ALL PHOTOS NEED TO BE PAID FOR PRIOR TO PHOTO DAY.  The money for photos may be returned to school at any time.  If you have more than one child at school and would like a family photo taken, special envelopes are available from the office.

WELL WISHES FOR MRS COLWELL

Our well wishes are with Mrs Colwell as she recovers from surgery which she underwent earlier this week.  Donna will be continuing treatment and we look forward to seeing her on the mend and back at school soon.

RISE YOUTH FESTIVAL

RISE Youth Festival will be held from 11-12 July 2024 and is for young people in Years 6 to 9. The festival is full of fun, friendship, small group challenges, workshops, games, music and lots of opportunities to encounter Jesus. 

RISEN (Year 10- Year 12) will be held from Friday, 22 to Sunday, 24 March 2024, commencing at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and concluding after lunch on Sunday. This weekend is designed for those in Years 10-12 and will be a great chance to go a little deeper in reflecting on life and how faith is part of this. Participants also receive formation so that they can be part of the Youth Team for RISE. RISEN will be held at Shalom House of Prayer Carcoar.

Please click on the below links for further information and to register for these events.

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Daniel Herbig for finding practical solutions when sorting and classifying objects in Maths, Freyer Williams for making thoughtful predictions during Maths, Charlie Burrell for working carefully and quietly in the classroom and Saddler Newton for taking time when colouring in and presenting his work.

YEAR 1: Alfie Mudford for writing an interesting sentence in our class book, Ally Wykes for correctly identifying odd and even numbers and Piper Lummis and Jock Cruickshank for working hard during Phonics.

YEAR 2: Molly Adams for working hard on her tricky Maths number jigsaw, Annabelle Foran for completing all work with effort and a beautiful smile, Caroline Taylor for always creating such thoughtful and detailed illustrations and Billie Toomey for trying hard to sound out tricky words during Phonics.

YEAR 3: Harper Wykes and George Meers for writing a fantastic description of a setting using the five senses, Billy Jeffery for displaying an enthusiastic attitude towards reading and Sterling Newton for consistently making contributions to class discussions.

YEAR 4: Pearl Mudford, Archie O’Connor, Oliver Buckley and Alice Peart for writing detailed narrative orientations from a different perspective.

YEAR 5: Estelle Hazelton for working hard writing engaging sentences that include alliteration and Tex Mudford for writing an engaging descriptive text about drought. 

YEAR 6: Alana Spora for wonderful sentences to distinguish different homophones, Isabelle Peart for great application of her knowledge of integers to complete tasks, Heidi Colwell for working positively and cooperatively in group activities and Mitchell Cosier for identifying types of sentences quickly and accurately.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

It has been very busy in Kinder this week with the exciting arrival of homework! Our classroom has been buzzing each morning as we read our books and receive a new one to take home. Remember to return your homework every day even if you didn’t get a chance to read. In English this week we have read "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and continued with our sequencing and summarising of the nursery rhyme. We love our new interactive number chart, especially finding numbers before and after, counting forwards and backwards and choosing the missing numeral. Have a lovely weekend. Mrs Alison Newstead & Miss Lisa  Harvey

Year 1

This week  Year 1 has been learning about narratives. We discussed the main features of a story and began planning our own narrative. In Religion, we continued our unit on Baptism and talked about the symbols used in the celebration, while in Maths we explored all the combinations of adding single digit numbers to 10 and estimated and measured different lengths using informal units. In History we looked at the yearly calendar and discussed how people round the world mark special days. We identified each student’s birthday and researched different days such as ANZAC Day, NAIDOC Week and the Feast Day of St Joseph. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing you at Mass on Sunday.  Mrs Julia Jeffery

Year 2

Year 2 has worked very hard during this short week. We created detailed monsters in Art and have been writing descriptions about them, trying to use compound sentences and descriptive language. During Maths we have continued to learn about different ways we can solve number problems and counting quantities using grouping strategies. We conducted an experiment in Science and had to determine what different clear liquids were, using our senses. We took a step back into the past and looked at old images from the 1955 flood in Gilgandra. We were amazed at how much our town has changed over the years. We also used Google Earth to find our school and where we live. Have a lovely weekend!  Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We hope your children enjoyed the long weekend and many thanks for covering all the books that went home on the weekend. In class we’re continuing our work on narratives by exploring how we can improve our writing by describing the setting and characters. We’re planning and writing our own narrative by the end of the week. In Maths our focus has continued to be place value with our work heading from hundreds into thousands and tens of thousands! During Religion we’ve read about and discussed the 'Creation' story. We’ve even worked out some things we would create. Just a reminder for students to read for homework in a bid to reach their reading goal by the end of the term. Have a great weekend.  Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Swade Wilson

Year 4

During Religion we have revised the story of Moses. We have been reading about the ten commandments and applying them in our everyday lives. In Maths we are learning to extend the application of the place value system to tenths and hundredths. During Digital Technoligies with Mrs McIsaac the children have been discussing and using algorithms. We are enjoying our History unit, 'First Contacts' and watched a clip about Aboriginal people, their culture and discussed a timeline of Australian history. Thank you to those families who are attending our class Mass on Sunday. I look forward to seeing you all there. Have a wonderful weekend!  Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

It has been yet another busy week in Year 5. In Grammar we began learning all about clauses and how to identify them in sentences. In Text Types we have been working on descriptive texts and how to write an engaging description that allows the reader to be transported. We have also been learning how to include figurative language into our writing with a focus on personification. In History we have been looking at Australia's democracy and how other countries have influenced Australia’s decision making and our government. During Maths we looked at Egyptian hieroglyphics and how the Egyptians used symbols to represent a wide range of things. We learnt how to read some hieroglyphics and then incorporated them into some number sentences. Have a lovely weekend.  Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 6

Another busy week is whizzing by! We hope you all enjoyed your extra long weekend and are beginning to feel more settled into the school year. In English we have been busy writing our 'Kinder Buddy Profiles' as well as exploring simple and compound sentences in Grammar. We have also introduced fluency sprints into our daily routines with all students seeing improvements in their fluency results.  Maths has challenged our thinking as we revise and revisit decimal fractions and other ways to represent numbers. We are loving our Science unit about 'Food and Fibre' with Mrs McIsaac and look forward to these lessons each week, while in History we have continued learning about Australia, further exploring democracy and government systems. Students are reminded that homework has commenced and it is expected that it’s completed throughout the week and brought back to school no later than Friday for marking. We hope you have a safe and happy weekend.  Mrs Meichelle Schier, Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD

GILGANDRA JUNIOR RUGBY LEAGUE & NETBALL REGISTRATIONS

Registrations are now open for Gilgandra Junior Rugby League & Netball for the 2024 season.

Netballers should register through PlayHQ by searching for Gilgandra Junior Rugby League & Netball, whilst the footy players should register through MySideline and search for the same.

Alternatively, there are links on the Gilgandra Junior Rugby League & Netball Facebook page that will take you straight to the registration portal.  Registrations close on 28 February 2024.

FOSTER CARERS

Have you ever thought about becoming a foster carer?  Click on the below link from Challenge Community Services to find out more.

NEW ENGLAND GIRLS SCHOOL ARMIDALE OPEN DAY

New England Girls School in Armidale is hosting a campus tour (open morning) on Thursday, 29 February from 9:30 a.m. to help interested families get to know their school better.  During the tour, you will learn about the amenities the school has to offer and how they support students with various opportunities.  You will also meet some of their students and faculty members with a chance to ask questions. If interested, please click on the below link which will take you to an RSVP form.

FARRER MEMORIAL AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOL OPEN DAY

Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School is holding an open day on Wednesday, 6 March from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  There will be scheduled information sessions, school and farm tours and an optional boarding tour.  Registration is essential by visiting www.farrer.nsw.edu.au.  Please see further information in the attached flyer.