ABOUT - Term 3 Week 3 - 7 August 2025

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

"Never see a need without doing something about it"
- Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop

PRIMARY FANCY DRESS SOCIAL

Our primary school students and their teachers had an amazing evening at the Primary School Social last Thursday evening. The theme was ‘In The World Of Spies, I’m In Disguise’ and we sure had a variety of spies turn up to party with us! We were visited by the Grim Reaper, Where’s Wally, a circus clown, some tradies, Mario and a beautiful pink unicorn, just to name a few.  We even had a group of very stern looking security guards in attendance to keep a check on the ‘goings on’! Fantastic school spirit was shown by all students as everyone counted down the Joey’s Top 20! We appreciate the effort of the primary teachers for organising the social and providing the music and lights.  It was a fantastic evening.

WESTERN REGION ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

Congratulations to all our athletes who participated in the Western Region Athletics Carnival held in Dubbo on Tuesday.  We were thrilled to hear that Katie C was named 11 years Girls Champion – well done Katie, what an amazing achievement!  Congratulations also to Thomas C who broke the Western Region Junior Discus record on the day - well done Thomas!  Unofficially, we can also tell you that our Senior Girls Relay Team came 2nd in their event - great job girls!  We are awaiting official results and will report on these in next week’s About.

SOCCER GALA DAY

We have 61 students from Years 3-6 competing in the St Laurence’s School Soccer Gala Day in Dubbo tomorrow. A transport note, detailing the teams and draws, was sent home yesterday. We wish the following students the best of luck.  We trust you will all ‘Give Of Your Best’ and have an enjoyable day:  Aabel Anoop, John Erick Badon, Thomas Colwell, Elsie Howard, Indi Jeffery, Grace Johnston, Georgie Kirkwood, Frankie Medd, Parthiv Rajesh Nair, Isabelle Sandry, Samson Starr, Caroline Taylor, Piper van den Ende, Edward Woodrow, Amelia Altmann, Isobel Barry, Liam Cosier, Tiffany Fong, Billy Jeffery, Charlie Jones-Copelin, Mary Lesslie, Bridie Moeris, Sterling Newton, Hannah Peart, Aaron Robin, George Taylor, Lochie Thomas, Ryle Walker, Allie Claire Williams, Harper Wykes, Mia Buckley, Oliver Buckley, Katie Colwell, Charlie Cruickshank, Tiaki Diamond, Bella Hammond, Laycee Hazelton, Jack Howard, Rose Howard, Dusty Jordan, Maci Lomax, Pearl Mudford, Archie O'Connor, Alice Peart, Layla Walker, Olivia Yates, Darcy Adams, Mitch Beaton, Ryan Faulder, Estelle Hazelton, Chloe Heffer, Charlie Howard, Mack Hutchison, Clancy Larkin, Jakirah McKenzie, Oscar Medd, Tex Mudford, Braxten Towns, Jackson Towns, Neve Walker, Caitlin Younghusband.

JEANS FOR GENES DAY

Thank you to everyone who donated money for Jeans for Genes Day today.  We raised $305.00 for this worthwhile cause which is a fantastic effort!  If anyone forgot their money today, it's not too late to bring it in tomorrow!

MOORAMBILLA RESIDENCY CAMPS

Eight of our students will participate in the 2025 Moorambilla Voices program, along with other talented singers from across the North West region of NSW, in a series of workshops that are being held during Weeks 4 and 5 in Baradine.  Congratulations to Allie Claire Williams, George Taylor, Caroline Taylor and Sam Luckie who will participate in the Birralii Residency Camp from 10-12 August, Archie O'Connor, Charlie Howard and Oliver Buckley who will participate in the Birray Residency Camp from 18-21 August and Bella Hammond who will participate in the Mirray Residency Camp from 21-24 August.

ICAS ENGLISH COMPETITION

The ICAS English Competition will be held next Wednesday, 13 August for those children who have entered this competition.

MATHS CONSULTANT VISIT - YEARS 2 & 5

Next week we have an international consultant, Mr Vince Wright, who specialises in Primary Mathematics, visiting our Years 2 and 5 classes.  Mr Wright is visiting 8 schools in our diocese to identify strengths and areas for potential improvement.

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION MASS

Next Thursday, 14 August, the whole school will be attending Mass at 10:30 a.m. to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption.  This is a holy day which celebrates Mary being taken into heaven body and soul.  Year 5 is preparing this special Mass. Everyone is most welcome and morning tea will follow Mass so please bring a plate to share.

CONFIRMATION - Sunday, 24 August

The excitement is certainly building in anticipation of the upcoming celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Sacrament will be administered by Bishop Michael McKenna on Sunday, 24 August at 9:30 a.m. This is such an important event at our school and we really encourage everyone to be at church on Sunday, 24 August to celebrate with our Year 6 leaders. It would be fabulous to have lots there for this great occasion. Please keep our confirmation class in your prayers: Darcy Adams, Mitchell Beaton, Ryan Faulder, Estelle Hazelton, Chloe Heffer, Charlie Howard, Mack Hutchison, Sophie Lacey, Clancy Larkin, Jakirah McKenzie, Oscar Medd, Adelaide Mudford, Tex Mudford, Braxten Towns, Jackson Towns, Neve Walker, Caitlin Younghusband.

WORKING BEE FOR YEAR 6 PARENTS TO CLEAN THE CHURCH

A working bee for the Year 6 parents to clean the church in preparation for Confirmation will be held on Friday, 22 August at 3:00 p.m.  It would be great if as many parents as possible could lend a hand.

TERM 3 SCHOOL FEES

The Term 3 Fee Statements were emailed to all families today with the third and final instalment for the year due next Friday, 15 August. Those families with payment plans in place, can just continue with their payments. Fees may be paid by credit card via the Compass Portal or by BPay or Direct Deposit with the BPay details on the Statements and direct deposit details may be obtained from the school office. Cheques and cash will also be accepted. Fee relief remains available for those parents who are facing financial hardship.  If you have not done so already, please contact the school for a Fee Relief Application. There are also Health Care Card and Pensioner concessions available. Catholic education will not be denied to any family due to financial difficulty. If anyone is having difficulty paying school fees, please make an appointment to see Mr Gibbons.

BOOK WEEK & INFANTS DRESS UP DAY

To celebrate Book Week this year, we will be holding a 'Dress Up Day' for all infants students from Kinder to Year 2, on Thursday, 21 August.  This year, the theme for Book Week is 'Book An Adventure' and we would love to see the infants students come to school as their favourite book character (adventurous or not!).  If you experience any problems with a costume for your child, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will try to help you out.

FATHER'S DAY STALL

ONLY 4 WEEKS AWAY

Our Father’s Day Stall is only four weeks away and will be held on Friday, 5 September. Thank you to Amanda Langlands who is the coordinator of the stall this year.  The stall is run along the same lines as the Mother’s Day Stall.  Each year parents are asked to donate gifts for the Father’s Day Stall.  This gives the children the opportunity to purchase a gift for their fathers and grandfathers that they have selected themselves, whilst raising money for our P&F Association. Your contributions can be sent in at any time and left at the school office.   Ideas for the stall include chocolates, keyrings, mugs, caps, pens, tools, hose fittings, car care items, beanies, socks, etc.  It would be wonderful if we could have enough gifts for the children to purchase 2 gifts each.  Please keep an eye out for presents no matter how big or small….it all helps!  If the gifts could be wrapped in clear cellophane, that would be greatly appreciated.  There will be a raffle run in conjunction with the stall.  Tickets are $2.00 each and a book of five tickets will be sent home as soon as the raffle prizes have been finalised.

KINDER ENROLMENT INTERVIEWS

Last week we commenced our Kinder Enrolment Interviews. It has been wonderful to meet with both new and existing families, as well as our new Kinder students who will commence in 2026.  These interviews have continued this week and will also take place during Week 4.

CANTEEN HELPERS NEEDED DURING WEEK 5

We are in need of canteen volunteers for Wednesday, 20 August and Friday, 22 August. If you can help out, please contact the ladies in the office. If we are unable to find a helper, we may have to close the school canteen on these days.

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 

CANTEEN POLICY

Please find below a link to the St Joseph's School Canteen Policy. Due to various changes with Food & Safety Handling, we have been required to update our school's policy. Would all of our canteen volunteers please take the time to read through this document to ensure they are aware of the changes that are now in force.

WHAT'S ON IN WEEKS 4 & 5

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER:  Levi Anderson for working super hard in Phonics, Adelaide Robinson for being a super word sleuth by using clues to work out words starting with ‘Ee’ and Olivia Wass for showing kindness to others.

YEAR 1: Charlie Burrell for measuring in centimetres with accuracy, Molly Armstrong for fantastic work writing a summary of an episode of "Do Not Watch This Show" and Ted Johnston for showing an exciting video for news.

YEAR 2: Hamish Burrell for being a thoughtful and considerate student, Henry Foran for writing a convincing response as to why Little Red Riding Hood framed the Big Bad Wolf and Ally Wykes for reading so beautifully we could listen to her all day!

YEAR 3: Edward Woodrow and John Erick Badon for super work identifying fractions of the same size, Annabelle Foran for writing a journal entry full of figurative language and Elsie Howard for adding fantastic descriptions into her journal entry writing.

YEAR 4: Alina Anoop, Amelia Altmann, Liam Cosier and McKenzie Harvey for all working diligently in Maths Mastery.

YEAR 5: Mia Buckley for displaying a great understanding of rotational symmetry and Liam Millstead for a wonderful cinquain poem about himself.

YEAR 6: Clancy Larkin for writing a thoughtful and detailed letter to the Bishop in preparation to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and Sophie Lacey for writing a convincing and descriptive exposition on why August Pullman should not be homeschooled.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Thank you to Year 4 for preparing a beautiful Mass today to celebrate St Mary McKillop of the Cross. We are reminded of the kindness and love she showed to others and are also reminded of her motto, “never see a need without doing something about it”. During Maths we explored number bonds to 10 by using unifix blocks and recalled numbers that end with zero. We welcomed some friends from Gilgandra Preschool on Tuesday and enjoyed showing them our classroom and playing with them on the playground. There will be more visits during the term. In Geography we role-played different places we have visited in our community and discovered that we can categorise places into three groups; natural, managed and constructed or manmade. We painted some beautiful blue whales for our spelling focus ‘Ww’ and wrote some interesting facts about them. Have a great weekend. 

Mrs Alison Newstead & Mrs Julia Jeffery                                                                            

Year 1

Year 1 has worked hard in Phonics this week learning about the ‘oo/ew/ue’ as in ‘moon’ phoneme. We have also explored irregular plurals such as feet, teeth, geese, children and men by correctly matching these words to their singular form and writing them into missing sentences. Our writing tasks have included planning a multimodal text and writing a tiny poem about clouds using an ABCB rhyming pattern and figurative language. We created a word wall as a class using various words that described clouds and how they move, where clouds are and what things clouds could look like such as pillows, marshmallows and fairy floss. It was a challenge sticking to the rhyming pattern but our poems turned out great and we published and illustrated them for our portfolios. In Mathematics we have been exploring length by comparing the length of paper strips and placing them in order from shortest to longest then measuring each one in centimetres using a ruler. We also used centicubes to measure the length of different ropes. Some ropes were straight, others were curved or zig-zagged. During Religion we read and viewed the story of Joseph from the Old Testament of the Bible. We completed missing sentences about this story and completed a find-a-word. We found out that God helped Joseph through every situation he faced. Have a top weekend.

Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Haylee Barry

Year 2

It's been another busy week at Joey’s! Congratulations to all of the little athletes that ‘Gave Of Their Best’ at the Western Region Athletics Carnival on Tuesday, you were all amazing! Everyone looked snazzy in their jeans today as we raised money for Jeans for Genes, such an important cause. In Geography we looked closely at beaches within Australia and discussed natural and constructed environments. Number patterns have been our focus this week in Maths as well as quarter past and quarter to on the clock. Ask your child the time whilst at home to help build this concept. We celebrated ‘St Mary of the Cross MacKillop’ Mass today, she is such a great example for us to live our lives by. Thank you to Year 4 for a lovely Mass. We have been completing editing tasks each day where we look closely at a piece of writing and try to identify errors including; spelling mistakes, incorrect use of capitals and lower case, missing words etc. Hopefully this will help us improve our editing skills in our own writing tasks. Have a fantastic weekend and see you in Week 4.

Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We’ve had another fantastic week here in Year 3! We kicked things off with our usual Monday routine before heading to Dubbo on Tuesday for the Western Region Athletics Carnival. For those students who didn’t attend the carnival, we had a great day back at school combined with Year 4. We played Boggle, wrote letters to Mr Gibbons, and created some eye-catching optical illusion artworks. During Geography this week, we explored the different climate zones around the world, where they are located and what defines each one. Next week we’ll shift our focus to Australia’s unique climates. In Maths we have been learning to add fractions to make whole numbers. It’s been a bit tricky, but everyone is showing persistence and making great progress! Today, we all wore our jeans in support of Jeans for Genes Day. Students placed their donations on our drawn denim jeans - it was wonderful to see everyone getting involved for such an important cause. We’re all looking forward to the Soccer Gala Day tomorrow. It’s sure to be a fun-filled day with lots of soccer, friendship, and laughter. Have a great weekend everyone!

Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 4

What a lovely Mass we had today to celebrate our special saint - Mary MacKillop. Congratulations to all of Year 4 on their reverent participation and thank you to those family and friends who were able to join us. During Religion we read a story about the life of Mary MacKillop and the wonderful things she did, truly a remarkable person. This week we commenced our new novel, “The Callers” by Kiah Thomas. We are only two chapters in, but already we are enjoying the story and are intrigued to follow the journey of Quin and his family. We have begun character studies on the three main characters so far and will add to these throughout the novel. Good luck to all those students heading off to represent Joeys at the Soccer Gala Day tomorrow. I know you will have lots of fun. Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

What a busy time we have had this week. Many of the students headed to Dubbo on Tuesday to participate in the Western Region Athletics carnival, with some of our classmates reaching the next level of competition. We celebrated a beautiful Mass this morning to honour Saint Mary MacKillop and wore our jeans for the Jeans for Genes Day charity fundraiser. Meanwhile, in class, we have been looking at 3-digit by 2-digit multiplication in Maths and selected the correct homophone to complete sentences accurately in Grammar. In Writing, we wrote a ‘catalogue poem’ about our favourite colour and wrote some funny limericks to amuse our friends. Next Thursday, Year 5 will lead the Feast of the  Assumption Mass and we hope many family and friends can join us. We are looking forward to a great day in Dubbo tomorrow with the annual Soccer Gala Day. Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Meichelle Schier

Year 6

Another busy week has flown by in Year 6. Firstly, we would like to congratulate all the students who represented both themselves and our wonderful school at the Western Region Athletics Carnival - what an awesome achievement for you all! In the classroom we have continued our literacy focus on ‘Fake News’ by exploring some tier 3 style words such as Oxymoron, Propaganda, Clickbait, Bias, Correlation, Causation and many more. Our Spelling focus has been the ‘o, ow, oa, o-e, oe, ough, eau’ sound whilst we revisited the rule: When adding ‘ous’ to words ending in ‘ce’ we change the ‘e’ to ‘i’ before adding ‘ous’. In Religion we have continued our Confirmation studies and in History we are learning about how people have developed Australia as a nation - describing significant events and people that led to Australia becoming a federated nation on 1 January 1901. We are edging nearer to the most exciting day of the week - SOCCER GALA DAY! YAY! We wish all the students participating, a great day filled with fun and friendship. Have a safe and wonderful weekend.

Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD