ABOUT - Term 3 Week 7 - 4 September 2025

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

CONGRATULATIONS KATIE C!

Congratulations to Katie C who represented Catholic Primary Schools Polding and St Joseph’s at the Girls NSW PSSA Soccer in Lismore last week.  Katie and her team finished 3rd in their pool and 6th overall.  What an amazing achievement!  Well done Katie!

THANK YOU BENDIGO BANK!

We would like to thank Morgan Adams from Bendigo Bank for attending our school earlier this week to present our library with a cheque for $2,000.00.  It is extremely generous of the Bendigo Bank and the funds will be spent on some wonderful new library resources for our students.

YEAR 3 ZOO EXCURSION

“We’re all going to the zoo, zoo, zoo – how about you, you, you?”  Well, Year 3 is enjoying the sights of Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo today, Thursday, 4 September.  This excursion is part of their Science and Technology unit, ‘Fur, Feather and Leaves’.  All the students have completed projects about an animal found at the zoo and were looking forward to seeing their animal in its natural habitat today!  The children also attended a lesson at the zoo’s education centre.  We hope Year 3 had  a wonderful day!

FATHER'S DAY STALL

Tomorrow, Friday, 5 September

Our Father’s Day Stall will be held tomorrow, Friday, 5 September. Thanks to all the families who have sent gifts in for the stall.  At present, we have enough gifts for each student to purchase one gift.  It would be wonderful if we could have enough gifts for the children to purchase 2 gifts each.  It's not too late to send in some gifts if you haven't already done so. 

Please send a plastic bag with your child to take home their gifts.  Thank you to our stall coordinator, Amanda Langlands, for organising the stall and those who have helped at the working bees, wrapping and pricing gifts.

If anyone can come in tomorrow to wrap last minute gifts and help run the stall, it would be greatly appreciated.  If you can help out, please head to the school hall around 9:00 a.m.

FATHER'S DAY RAFFLE

A raffle is being run in conjunction with the Father's Day Stall.  Tickets are $2.00 each and a book of five tickets was previously sent home with each family.  There are some amazing prizes up for grabs, as can be seen below.  Extra tickets are available to purchase from the school office. We thank the following local businesses for supporting our P&F Association: Western Farm Machinery, Victory Lap Sports, Johnsons Butchery, Rohrs Home Timber & Hardware, Ultra Fuel, Gilgandra Pharmacy, Gil News & Gifts, Diggs Butchery, IGA Supermarket, Mitre 10, Gil Ag & Auto Parts, Ag N Vet, Three Rivers Machinery, Cooee Tyres, Inland Petroleum, Gilgandra Post Office. 

The raffle will be drawn at the conclusion of the Father's Day Stall, so please ensure your raffle tickets and money are returned to school by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

NATIONAL CHILD PROTECTION WEEK

National Child Protection Week is coordinated by NAPCAN and commences this Sunday, 7 September and runs through to Saturday, 13 September.  This year's National Child Protection Week will continue to champion the overarching message:  "Every child in every community needs a fair go". Last year NAPCAN did this by putting conversations at the heart of the campaign.  They encouraged communities and individuals across Australia to start a new conversation, one that forged a better future for young people everywhere. 

To build on last year’s focus, the theme for 2025 is:  "Every conversation matters: Shifting Conversation to Action". This year’s theme highlights that while open discussions are crucial, words alone are not enough.  We must turn dialogue into meaningful action. NAPCAN acknowledges that while conversations can raise awareness, challenge harmful norms and spark new ideas, real change happens when we take steps to create safer environments for children that prevent them from harm.  This year, NAPCAN is focusing on moving beyond conversations to concrete actions that prevent harm and strengthening support systems and empowering communities to actively protect children. By shifting from conversation to action, we can ensure that every child not only feels heard but also experiences real safety, care and protection.

HEAR OUR HEART EAR BUS

Representatives from Hear Our Heart Ear Bus will be visiting the school next Tuesday, 9 September.  If you have any particular concerns regarding your child’s hearing, please let us know.

YEAR 1 LITURGY

Year 1 will celebrate a class Liturgy next Thursday, 11 September at 10:30 a.m. in St Joseph's Church.  Everyone is welcome to attend and parents are invited to join us at school for morning tea after the Liturgy.  Please bring a plate to share.

CONCERT REHEARSAL

Monday, 15 September (Week 9)

Our one and only full concert rehearsal at the Gilgandra High School Hall will be held in Week 9 on Monday, 15 September.  It is very important for everyone to be at school on this day so we can practise on the stage with the microphones etc.  As this is a full dress rehearsal the children will need their costumes at school by Monday, 15 September.

ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL ANNUAL CONCERT

"A Night At The Museum"
Gilgandra High School Hall - Thursday, 18 September

Our annual concert involving all students from Kinder to Year 6 will be staged in Week 9 on Thursday, 18 September at the Gilgandra High School Hall at 6:00 p.m.  The students and staff put a lot of time and effort into the concert and it always promises to be a great night’s entertainment.

SPORT FOR THE REMAINDER OF TERM

As previously mentioned, for the remainder of term, the WHOLE school will be participating in AFL sessions for sport each Friday.  This means that all years, from Kinder to Year 6, are required to wear their sport uniform to school each Friday and their normal school uniform each Thursday.  

However, there is an  exception to this in Week 8 when the Infants Sports Carnival will be held on Thursday, 11 September (see below).  Infants students may wear their sports uniform OR school uniform on Friday, 12 September.

INFANTS SPORTS CARNIVAL

All students from Kinder to Year 2 will be involved in a mini sports carnival to be held at school next Thursday, 11 September from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  The carnival will involve fun novelty races and prizes for all.  We hope to see parents, family and friends of the Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 students come along and show their support. 

The infants students will need to wear their SPORTS UNIFORM on this day.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT NETWORK NEWSLETTER

TRANSITION FROM WINTER TO SUMMER SCHOOL UNIFORM

Children may now wear either their summer OR winter uniform for the remainder of Term 3, depending upon the weather. 

PUPIL FREE DAY

The first day of Term 4, Monday, 13 October, will be a pupil free day.  During this staff will be reviewing the Annual Improvement Plan for 2026.

NEEDED FOR FETE - A COW (OR PODDY CALF!)

We need a quiet cow, or poddy calf, that can be led around the yard for the Cow Pat Lotto which is held at the fete each year.  If anyone has a suitable cow and can help out, could you please let us know.

TERM 4 CANTEEN HELPERS

We are starting to put together the Term 4 Canteen Roster.  If you can assist in the canteen during Term 4, please let us know your preferred day and also any dates that you are unavailable by completing the below "Term 4 - Canteen Helper Form".  A paper Canteen Helpers Form has also been sent home today, which can be completed and returned to school.  A Term 4 Canteen Roster will be sent home early next term.

NO PARKING IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH

St Joseph's Parish is concerned about child safety around the church area at school drop off and pick up.  Please DO NOT park on the driveway (including the grassed areas), from the Wrigley Street entrance, in front of the church.  The parish is happy for parents to drive through this area and drop children off, but please DO NOT park here. 

There is a carpark on the Wamboin Street side of the church, where parents may park their vehicle whilst waiting for their children to come out of school, or if parents need to come into the school.

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 8 & 9

MERIT AWARDS

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

KINDER: Hunter Hutchison for a super effort with his homework, Angus Foran for a great effort at concert practice and Sophie Howard for sharing her amazing knowledge of horses with Mrs Newstead and Kinder! 

YEAR 1: Eleanor Foran and Teddy Kelly for writing detailed recounts about their trips to the snow and Arthur Peart for working so hard in all areas of Maths.

YEAR 2: Alfie Mudford for really getting into character for concert practice, Duncan Semmler for always offering great ideas to class discussions and Reyansh Sobti for showing great confidence in Maths to solve tricky problems. 

YEAR 3: Evie Adams and Samuel Luckie for creating wonderful stained glassed windows containing acute angles and scalene triangles, Molly Adams for super work identifying and making contractions in Grammar and John Erick Badon for fantastic contributions in Religion on the topic of ‘Prayer'.

YEAR 4: Alina Anoop, George Taylor and Tiffany Fong for writing fabulous paragraphs about why Quin should stay on Evanta.

YEAR 5: Pearl Mudford for being a responsible and conscientious student and Layla Walker for striving to complete division algorithms accurately.

YEAR 6: Darcy Adams and Ryan Faulder for constructing informative and interesting factual newspaper articles.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Another busy week has flown by in Kinder. We have been rehearsing for our concert and our dance moves are really coming along!! We can’t wait to perform in front of our family and friends in Week 9. In our classroom, during Maths we have been creating and labelling equal groups by sharing different toppings on pizzas! We discovered that 12 can be shared equally in many ways. We are revising rhyming words and using elaborations in our storywriting to create excitement for our readers. We wrote some great stories based on our book, “Mog in the Fog”. In Geography we made our own puzzle of Australia and tried to reassemble it correctly. We are looking forward to Sport tomorrow when we learn some AFL skills. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads on Sunday.  We hope you have a relaxing day.

Mrs Alison Newstead & Mrs Julia Jeffery                                                                            

Year 1

We have been revising all the phonemes we’ve learnt so far this week in Phonics. We’ve also been contextualising our understanding of some irregular words by writing them in sentences in Sentence A Day. During Literacy we have learnt how to properly construct a persuasive paragraph using a topic sentence. First, we state our opinion and an argument, add a supporting sentence where we elaborate, then use a concluding sentence that sums up our argument. The students were challenged to write their own persuasive paragraph from the perspective of the Ant from our book, “Hey, Little Ant”.  In Maths we have worked in pairs to make equal groups using teddy counters. The students were encouraged to use skip counting in order to find the total number.  During Geography we revised the names of the seven continents and learnt the names and locations of the five oceans of the world. We learnt that the Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the five oceans and the Indian Ocean is the warmest. We have been super impressed with the reverence and enthusiasm Year 1 has shown in our Liturgy preparations and we can’t wait to celebrate with you next week. A note went home today regarding costume requirements for our concert in Week 9. We hope you’ve got something at home that suits your child’s needs. If not, please let us know how we can help.  We wish all our dads, pops and special men in our lives a very happy Father’s Day on Sunday.

Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Haylee Barry

Year 2

We started our research tasks in Geography on Monday and have been working on them with great enthusiasm. Children are researching a marine animal found at the Great Barrier Reef and are presenting their information using Google slides. In Maths we have continued to look at strategies for solving multiplication and area. In our Literature unit, our book, “My Two Blankets” is about a young girl called Cartwheel and how she is wrapped in a blanket of familiarity of her home country. When she arrives in Australia it feels foreign but she creates a new blanket. We created illustrations of what our blanket would look like if we were wrapping ourselves in the things we love. During Digi Tech in the Library we explored the inside of a computer and identified the different parts, learning what each one does. We hope all of the dads, stepdads, uncles and pops have a lovely day on Sunday - I’m sure you will be spoiled. 

Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We have grooved our way into Week 7! Concert practice is in full swing and we are dancing every day as we get ready for the big show in Week 9. In our Novel unit, we began writing a letter to Rowan’s mother. This task has challenged us to combine inner thoughts with rhetorical questions. It’s tricky, but the detail everyone is including has been fantastic! In Maths we launched into our new unit on multiplication and division. We’ve been using counters to create arrays and even played a fun odds-and-evens game to deepen our understanding. Today we enjoyed a very special excursion to the zoo! It was wonderful to step outside the classroom and admire some of the incredible animals God has created. We also had the chance to visit the Education Centre where we learned so much more about the animals. It was extra exciting to link this experience to our Science unit, ‘Fur, Feather and Leaves’. Finally, with Father’s Day coming up this weekend, we hope everyone has a wonderful time celebrating the fathers and special men in their lives.

Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 4

We are very busy with our concert practices at the moment. I have sent home a note outlining costume requirements. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. We have completed our 2D shape unit in Maths and finished off by combining and separating 2D shapes, tessellating patterns and classifying angles. Our novel is keeping us enthralled as we have only 4 chapters to go and the suspense is building! Poor Quin is in a dilemma about how he can help Evantra, we are eager to read on and find out what happens. We are excitedly finishing off our Fathers Day gifts and are looking forward to purchasing from the Father’s Day stall tomorrow. Happy Father's Day to all our dads and pops for Sunday! We hope you have a relaxing weekend!

Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

This week, we recorded a fact file about our school and took a walk to view the numerous plaques that record the development of our school. In Maths, we used the strategy of displacement to find the volume of miscellaneous objects and continued to practise division equations. In Digi Tech, we once again programmed Micro Bits, this time to play the game of ‘Scissors, Paper, Rock’. Homographs are our focus this week in Grammar, with many students contributing to our Homograph poster. In History, we explored the Aboriginal meaning behind the names of significant places, while in Science, the students' engineering skills were put to the test by creating a parachute. Using a variety of materials, the students were challenged to design the slowest moving parachute. Many were successful, with some, however, needing to return to the drawing board. In Art, we spent time decorating a gift for the special dads and grandads in our lives, and we wish all dads a very happy Father’s Day on Sunday - have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Meichelle Schier

Year 6

It has been a fantastic week in Year 6! We have been busy finishing off our factual newspaper articles as well as creating our fabricated/fake news articles – I wonder if you can spot the difference? We have also been practising using idioms and hyperboles and exploring ways we can incorporate them into our writing – they really are more common than we realised. In Maths we have been learning about time and solving problems involving duration, using 12 and 24-hour time.  Religion has seen us exploring women in the Bible. During History we began exploring the purpose of the Australian Constitution  and understanding significant events of the past. Concert practice is in full swing and we look forward to our first AFL skills session tomorrow, what a fantastic opportunity. Have a great weekend and we hope all the dads get spoiled on Sunday!

Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD