St. Joseph's Primary Penshurst.

ISSUE: Term 4 Week 7, 2022.

School Vision

St Joseph’s Penshurst, as partners in Catholic education and with our school community, pursues fullness of life for all.

Acknowledgement of Country

At St. Joseph’s Primary School we pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land, the Kolorer gunditj people and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

The area around Mount Rouse is the country of the Kolorer gunditj clan of Aboriginal people. Their title is derived from their name for Mount Rouse which is Kolor. The permanent spring that is now located within the Penshurst Botanic Gardens was a traditional meeting place for Aboriginal people in the region.

Principal's Message.

Friday 11 November saw a commemorative Remembrance Day  at school - a day for us to remember those who have served and those who have died in all wars and peacekeeping operations. Remembrance Day marks the date in 1918 when the First World War came to an end and is officially observed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, each year. Our students held a very reverent and respectful liturgy. We gathered at the front of our school where prayers were read, the Australian Flag was lowered to half mast and the Ode along with Flanders Field was recited by the students.

Teachers have been completing end of year assessments ready for report writing. They are very pleased with the growth our students have made and intend on sharing this positive feedback with students in class.

There are five weeks remaining in the term and we have a busy few weeks coming up. The classrooms are beginning to conclude units of work, discussions have begun for camp, Year Sixes will be beginning their transition program and our Kinder Transition Program will be getting underway. There is so much more yet to do!

Enjoy the newsletter, have a great week.

Darren.

Catholic School Culture

Prayer for the Week.

Learning and Teaching.

Junior Classroom News

Remembrance Day has inspired our Junior classroom to stop and reflect once more on how fortunate we are. Our students were able to pause, remember and reflect upon the sacrifices made by all servicemen and servicewomen, both past and present. Some students decided to write a poem, some wished to write a prayer and others wanted to pay respect to members of their own family.

Remembrance Day Reflections.

Leadership and Stewardship

School Advisory Council and AGM .

St Joseph's next SAC meeting and AGM is Wednesday 23rd at 6pm.

How our School Governance works: Under our DOBCEL Governance model the role of the local School Advisory Council is to:

● assist with stewardship of the Catholic vision, ethos and culture of the school

● provide strategic advice and support to the principal on matters relating to school operations and ongoing improvement

● fairly represent the views and needs of the school community

● assist with promoting the school and Catholic education generally in the local community

● have what is best for the students at the heart of all advice it offers.

Ongoing members of our School Advisory Council include Darren Lloyd as

our School Principal, Andrea Page - Business & Finance, and parents elected by the school community.

Each member serves a two-year term with the limit of two consecutive terms, being a maximum of four years. There are approximately 6 meetings for the year.

At the end of this school year some members will finish their tenure and we are seeking expressions of interest from our parent community to fill these

vacancies to commence in 2023.

If you are interested in joining the School Advisory Council please email Darren on principal@sjpenshurst.catholic.edu.au or if you have any questions and would like to discuss this first you may call for an informal chat.

School Uniform.

Thanks to families for ensuring students are back in school hats. Term 4 is also the time where our children begin to grow out of (and wear out) uniform items - specifically black school shoes. If there is a reason why students are out of correct school uniform, we ask parents to make contact with class teachers so that they are aware.

Calendar Dates

 Term 4 - Special Dates to Remember:

  •  November 17th Yr 3-6 Coleraine Cricket Day
  • November Friday 25th - St Joseph's visit to Penshurst Kinder.
  • November Wednesday 30th -- Penshurst Kinder visiting school
  • December 5th Junior Day Out.
  • December 6-7th Year 3-6 School Camp
  • December Friday 9th - Penshurst Kinder visit school
  • December Tuesday 13th Orientation Day.
  • December 15th - Graduation Mass and Dinner 
  • December 16th- Final Day for students - (1.20pm Finish).

Community Engagement.

Symbols of Remembrance

Our student led Remembrance Day liturgy was a symbolic moment of remembering and acknowledgment. This time of honour and reverence allowed us to share family artefacts, talk about the toughness of poppies and rosemary sprigs that represent our fallen and pay our respects through prayer and poetry.  Thank you children for a beautiful liturgy.

Remembrance Day Liturgy.

Icypole Wednesdays.

The Mini Vinnies group will be selling Zooper Doopers at Wednesday lunch times for 50 cents each.

All proceeds to be donated to an elected charity researched by the students.

Wellbeing & Child Safety

Lions Eye Health Program.

The Lions Eye Health team are planning their visit to our school November 29th and 30th. The team conducts Free Vision Screening for students. Members of the Lions club have been specifically trained to perform 4 vision screening assessments including:1. Visual Acuity - using a Lea 3m -15 line Symbol Chart2. Colour Vision - using a Quick 6 - Basic Colour Screening Book3. Depth Perception - using a Stereo Fly Screening Tool4. Spot Vision Screener - State of the art portable machine designed to screen for Myopia (near sightedness), Hyperopia (far sightedness), Astigmatism (blurred vision), Anisometropia (unequal refractive power), Strabismus (eye misalignment) and Anisocoria (unequal pupil size).

This is an incredible service and we can't thank Lions enough for providing this to our school. This is a free service that we intend to have on our annual calendar.

Please return your Lions Eye Health permission notes as soon as possible to inform the school of participating numbers.

Summer Smart Health

Students and staff have recently commented on the way we learn and play together and how this can be dictated by the weather. The damp ground and warm day encourage us to get outside and sometimes get grubby. We encourage families to continue supporting our children in general hygiene practices such as cleaning hands and fingernails after outside play and before eating food. 

With recent weather changes, we are experiencing an increase of mosquitoes and hay-fever related symptoms. If required, please ensure your child is supported with the medication they need prior to coming to school. If any medication is required to support your child during school hours, can this communication be passed on to the school office please.

Student Voice with SWPBS

Our Senior students have this week unpacked what it means to be Respectful, Safe and Responsible at St Joseph's.  School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) builds a Behaviour Expectation Matrix for student, staff and visitors to know what is expected of their behaviour in all learning environment of the school. For this to happen their needs to be input from all stakeholders for the matrix to be genuine. The students explored areas of the school such as the Bus, the Sports Shed, the Church and corridors as well as the classroom to see how each location is different and similar in what is expected to be respectful, safe and responsible.

COVID -19 Update.

COVID Protocols/RAT kits

The Department of Health has reached out to indicate that they are seeing rising trends in presentations of COVID cases across the health systems. 

Members of our school community are reminded that if you are experiencing symptoms to please stay home. Please continue to encourage students to optimise social distancing when possible and practice good hand hygiene.

Although there is in now no mandated requirement to test, it is recommended that rapid antigen tests (RATs) are used by students and staff when symptomatic.  Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will still be sent home throughout this term whilst our stocks are still available and COVID is still present in our neighbourhood.

Should you require additional RAT kits, please contact the office.