St Joseph's Primary School Newsletter

Thursday 28th February 2019

Dates & Events

SCHOOL NEWS

Message from the Principal

What a pleasure it is to be able to sit down and reflect on how the school year has begun. It is fantastic to see so many friendly faces each day when I walk around the school. It was a pleasure to meet and talk with a number of our school community at our Beginning School Year BBQ last night. Many thanks to our school’s Parents & Friends Association for organising this.

The past few weeks have seen students re-engage with the classroom and start to learn with enthusiasm and awe. This is to be commended. We also extend our warmest welcome to our new Stage 2 teacher Mr Mark Rottger. Mr Rottger has come up to Wee Waa from Sydney and is looking forward to working in our community.

Finally, there has been a number of distressing news stories come out of the trial of Cardinal George Pell. Christopher Smyth, the Director of Catholic Education Armidale has issued the following press statement:

“You will have seen media reports of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell. The Archbishop of Brisbane and President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Most Rev. Mark  Coleridge has released a statement to the Catholic community. A copy is attached here for your information.

There is no doubt that news of this verdict of Cardinal Pell will bring with it a range of emotions. The legal process will now run its course. If you or your child requires support, please contact your School Principal.

We should never forget, that in any matter of this nature, our concern and prayers are with victims and their families. Please be assured that our school system works tirelessly to ensure the safety of every child in our schools, and will continue to do so as together we share the responsibility for the wellbeing of your children.”

I hope all of you have a wonderful week, full of Joy and Satisfaction.

Yours Sincerely,

Alistair Stewart

Junior Joeys

There have been a few new initiatives that students have volunteered for and will be participating in throughout the year. One of these programs is our “Junior Joeys”. This student leadership group is developed in the spirit of the Josephite Sisters, the religious order who founded our school. We are blessed to have Sr Geraldine living in Wee Waa, and we will be able to look to her for guidance as we develop our group and make a difference in our school community. The 2019 Reps are:

Kindergarten - James Gleeson

Yr 1 -   Quinn Towns

Yr 2 -   Emma Dixon

Yr 3 -   Loela Palmer

Yr 4 -   Polly Carolan

Yr 5 -   Jett Palmer

Yr 6 -   Ben Murray, Isabel Vogel, Hayley Jenkins, John Brodigan, Ellie Dewson, Samantha

            Marchant and William Wilson.

Our Junior Joeys group will also join our Mini Vinnies group to fundraise and help out our community.

Ash Wednesday Mass

This coming Wednesday is our Ash Wednesday Mass. This will be held in our St Andrew’s Church at 9.15 am. There will be a number of local parishioners attending to so they can receive the ashes on their heads too.

Diocesan Carnival Moree

Last Thursday, Saint Joseph’s students had a wonderful time representing our school at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival held in Moree. We had 25 students compete across a number of events, accompanied by Miss Elise Vinson and parents. The students cheered with great enthusiasm as our competitors swum to the best of their ability. We were fortunate enough to have one competitor, Ted Haire who will represent our school at Homebush next month for Polding. Ted will compete in the juniors 50 meter butterfly event and we wish him the best of luck as he prepares over the next couple of weeks. A special mention to our parents who helped out on the day especially with time keeping at this level. Congratulations to all our swimmers who made it to the Diocesan Swimming Carnival and for representing our school with sportsmanship and pride.

Yours in Sport,

Miss Elise Vinson

CANTEEN ROSTER


Wk 5 Wed 27 Feb       Lorna Gleeson, Gail Knight

Wk 6 Wed 6 Mar        Amelia Carolan, 1 Volunteer needed

Wk 7 Wed 13 Mar       Katrina Murray, Mel Hatton

Wk 8 Wed 20 Mar      Fiona Tuckey, Sue Wager

Please contact Kathleen Coutts-Smith on 0488 026 073 if you have any queries or concerns. 

CLASS NEWS

Kindergarten

Kindergarten has had a fantastic start to the year. Together we have been establishing routines, learning how to talk to God through prayer and have conquered using positional language to place items. We have also identified rhyming words and most excitingly, learnt how to read 5 of our site words (like, a, I, to, am). We ended the fortnight with an M&M STEM challenge. These challenges combine teamwork, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, fine motor and a whole lot of fun. During this particular challenge, students were instructed to move as many M&Ms from a plate to a cup by sucking them through a straw. 

Thanks for the great week Kindergarten!

Miss Brooke Theobald

Stage 1

Stage One have had a wonderful start to the 2019 academic year. They have embraced the stage based learning environment and have enjoyed making new friendships. We welcome Miss Lucy Suttor as our new Leader of Learning, along with Miss Elise Vinson and Mrs Leanne Schwager.

During our English block, Stage One has had yet another productive week preparing to compose a persuasive text called an exposition for this week’s Big Write. The students should be commended for their efforts in using the correct structure and an extensive range of WOW words including persuasive language. This week, we have also been identifying ‘What Worked Well’ (WWW) in their Big Writes and ‘Even Better If’ (EBI). Evidently, the students have been able to recognise their new ‘Fat Pencil Writing Goal’ with support from Leaders of Learning.

During Mathematics, Stage One have been identifying a range of effective strategies to solve one, two and three-digit addition and subtraction problems. The students are continuing to consolidate their understanding through a number of differentiated, hands-on learning experiences. The students also thoroughly enjoyed exploring the mathematic strand of length. Their first learning experience involved finding out how tall they were using a lolly snake as an informal unit of measurement.

Well done Stage One for a magnificent start to 2019!

Miss Elise Vinson and Miss Lucy Suttor

Stage 2

It is with great excitement that we welcome Mr Rottger to the Stage 2 Learning Suite! Our students have enjoyed asking questions and getting to know our new Leader of Learning.

So far this term, learners have been demonstrating their knowledge to complete a range of assessments to ensure the lessons are catered to their learning needs. In Mathematics, Year 3 have begun their first iMaths investigation which involves using area, estimation strategies and rounding to determine the number of words in a newspaper article. We look forward to continuing the investigation this week.

Year 4 have started the year learning multiplication facts up to 10x10. It is vital that students continue to revise these facts at home to help them develop of quick recall of the facts. We will begin their investigation in the new few weeks.

Mrs Karlee Hatton and Mr Mark Rottger

Stage 3

Excited and eager to commence Term 1, Stage 3 have been learning about leaders we admire and their leadership qualities. We have examined how we can best develop these qualities in ourselves to use in our positions as leaders of the school. I have already seen some excellent examples of positive and effective leadership from Stage 3.

Last week, we were lucky enough to be invited to perform at the Wee Waa Senior Citizens lunch at the Bowling Club. We sang two songs and performed enthusiastic actions too. I was impressed at how Stage 3 interacted with our Senior Citizens, and we all had a great time. We even met the Mayor!

It has already been a busy few weeks, perhaps an indication of the year to come? We have completed lots of assessments to inform my teaching practices, and we are forging away with content. 

It has been a fantastic start to the year, and I am privileged to be the Leader of Learning for such a great group of young people. I look forward to the adventures to come this year!

Miss Olivia Robertson

RECOGNITION OF LEARNING AWARDS

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