28 November 2023 (Term 4 Week 8)
Principal's News
Dear St Joseph’s Community
As the term is drawing rapidly to a close, I would like to thank all of our parents and carers for their support throughout the year.
I would like to particularly thank parents for their support and understanding while we navigated the situation that was unfolding in Wollongbar last Thursday. I can assure parents that we were in constant communication with a sizeable support team at the Catholic Schools Office, who guided our response. We thank parents for their patience while this was underway and we offer a prayer of thanks for those members of our community who work to keep us safe. Purely coincidentally, I had scheduled an outline of our emergency response planning for this week’s newsletter. It is important to outline how we respond when circumstances require it, and this is an opportune time to do so.
Last week, I was privileged to watch our school’s presentation to their colleague teachers and leaders at the culmination of our year-long partnership with Sydney University to continue to grow our school’s expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This project comprised a significant number of Catholic and state schools across NSW supported by Sydney University to embed STEM into a project in the curriculum using design thinking methodologies. Our school team, comprised of Mr Crosby, Mrs Moloney, Mrs Crosby and Miss MacDonald, shared the interdisciplinary STEM and Geography playground design project rolled out in Stage 2. Our team did an amazing job of both leading this initiative and communicating its impact in this forum; it was an excellent presentation. We are blessed to have such high-quality teachers to lead such work and to support the learning of our students. Some photos of the event are below.
We encourage families to please continue to give what you are able to support our Vinnies Christmas Hamper appeal. Giving to others in need is an important act of Christian love and serves as a model to the children we teach of how we can practically support one another as a Christian community.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
This Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King. This marks the last week of our liturgical year before we move into the new liturgical year, with the first week of Advent commencing next Sunday. In our Gospel this Sunday, Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus speaks of the final judgement, emphasising the importance of compassion and service to others, especially the least among us. This message reminds us that God’s kingdom is not like a kingdom on earth that people have created. Christ's kingship is not about power or dominance but about serving with love, kindness, and humility. In our daily school life, we strive to promote these values, recognising Christ in each person we meet and serve. We are doing this in a very practical way this season by collecting food for hampers so that those less fortunate than us might celebrate Christmas with their families in more comfort.
This week’s Gospel calls us to see the face of Jesus in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. As we celebrate Christ as our King, let us also commit to being His faithful servants in our community. Let's encourage our children to act with compassion and kindness, understanding that every act of love and service is an encounter with Jesus Himself. May this Feast of Christ the King and the message of the Gospel inspire us to live out our faith with renewed commitment, seeing and serving Christ in everyone around us. I invite you to listen to Bishop Greg Homeming’s short homily on the gospel this week.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING
The safety of our students, families and staff is our highest priority. In order to best ensure this, the St Joseph's Alstonville leadership and staff, supported by the Catholic Schools Office, plan for a number of possible incidents, emergencies or natural disasters that could take place at school or during the school term. The events of recent years have reinforced how important this planning is, and we all have a role to play when it comes to emergency management, including families. Our students participate in various safety drills, and staff participate through training and safety drills. We’d like to share with you the role of parents and families in emergency management.
School Lockdown
A number of the situations we plan for include a school lockdown as one of the immediate safety actions to ensure the safety of our students and staff. We understand that some may understand the word ‘lockdown’ to mean there is an immediate safety risk to all students. It is important to understand that when a school initiates a lockdown, this may not be the case.
Depending on the situation, the purpose of a school lockdown will differ. A school lockdown may be a preparation step for an evacuation, or a school lockdown may allow emergency services access to an area of the school without having to navigate past students. Regardless of the purpose of a school lockdown, no one can be admitted to the school grounds other than emergency services.
Should we initiate a school lockdown, parents and families will be informed via text message and Compass notification. We will also inform parents and families as soon as the school lockdown has been lifted or if there are any actions required of parents and families. It is important that you do not attempt to attend the school during a school lockdown. We understand that you may be concerned; however, attending the school may also add risk to a possible emergency situation, block emergency services or impede an evacuation.
Natural Disaster
In the event of a natural disaster, such as flood or bushfire, the school leadership, supported by the Catholic Schools Office, will determine if it is safe for the school to open. If there is a probability the school may have to close part way through the day, the school will not open for that day as it is extremely difficult to evacuate a school site and ensure all students are able to go directly home safely.
In a bush fire or flood event, it is important that parents and families have a plan to collect your child/ren home from school, or into your care, at short notice. Please be aware that school buses may not be running, and the school can not allow your child/ren to go home to an empty house or home with another parent without your permission.
Family Preparedness
How can you help us prepare for emergency situations? Please ensure that:
- You have downloaded Compass and have allowed notifications.
- Any changes to your contact details or custodial arrangements have been updated with the school.
- You have a bush fire/flood plan in place that all members of your family understand.
- In the event of a school lockdown or evacuation, directions in the parent notifications are followed.
It is always our hope that these measures will never be needed, but it is also our responsibility to ensure our school community is prepared and informed should the need arise. We thank you in advance for your support and cooperation.
Kurt Challinor and Nigel McIntyre, Work Health and Safety Manager, Catholic Schools Office
REMINDER - CANDY CANES AND LOLLIES
As we enter the Christmas season and we begin to give Christmas cards to our friends it's important to remember that candy canes and lollies are not to be handed out at school. We have students who are allergic to certain foods, therefore, our blanket rule is no candy canes at school. We thank you for supporting this in the final weeks of school.
FEE REMINDER
Term 4 accounts were invoiced in Week 1 and are due for payment by October 31. Bringing your attention to this and additionally, that our school fee schedule states all fees are to be paid in full by November 30, 2023. If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please make urgent contact with Mr Challinor to arrange a meeting to discuss.
Learning & Teaching News
MATHS FUN!
ABC Education has a new, fun and exciting way for primary students to practise and extend their mathematical thinking and skills. The games are designed to engage students and help teach important mathematics concepts.
In THUNDERGOATS, students can select number lines and tens frames to support their thinking and calculations, and to support partitioning and recombining of numbers.
In GREATEST OF ALL THIEVES, students estimate and consider different ways of organising quantities to efficiently calculate how many objects are in a collection.
In GOAT TO BED, students use a 4 x 5 array to assist with calculating quantities, engage with ideas of equivalence and make predictions.
In GOAT GROMMETS, students use and discuss mental calculation strategies to keep track of a running total, and to consider the trade-off between risk and reward.
In GOAT SQUAD, students use their knowledge of number combinations to 20 and flexibly modify their game strategy.
Mission News
CHRISTMAS CONCERT COSTUMES
We are delighted to have our Christmas concert next Monday 4th December.
The costumes for the evening concert are as follows:
- Kindy: Black shirt and pants/shorts. We will provide the tinsel/costume decorations.
- Stage 1: Christmas colours
- Stage 2: Black pants with either a red, white or green top.
- Stage 3: Black clothes - shirt and shorts. Students can wear gold or silver tinsel around their head as a crown.
END OF YEAR MASS AND YEAR 6 FAREWELL
These special celebrations are just around corner!
If you have a child in Year 6, please email photos from throughout their primary schooling to kathryn.jones@lism.catholic.edu.au so the parent representative compiling the video for the Year 6 graduation dinner can include them. Please do not include images from swimming carnivals.
All families are invited to our Year 6 Farewell & End of Year Mass on Thursday, 14th December at 1pm in the hall. Kindy and Year 1 will join us after communion and lead us in our reflection song, ‘My Lighthouse’. It is sure to be a beautiful celebration and not one to be missed!
KINDY AND CHOIR - CAROLS ON THE PLATEAU
Our choir has been invited to sing at Carols on the Plateau! We will be singing the finale from the Christmas concert, ‘Born is the King’ by Hillsong Worship. Friday 15th December 4pm - 8pm at Elizabeth Ann Brown Park, Alstonville.
Please email me if your child is interested in singing with the choir at this wonderful community event (kathryn.jones@lism.catholic.edu.au).
CARITAS GLOBAL GIFTS
Caritas Global Gifts change lives. This Christmas, there is the option to give a gift that can change a life, support a family and transform a community. You are invited to consider supporting this alternative to traditional gift giving.
Stage News
STAGE 3 DREAMTIME STORIES
On the 23rd of November 2023 we had the opportunity to share our amazing Dreamtime stories to our well mannered Kindergarten students. These kindergarten students showcased their exceptional behaviour during the reading of the books.They had multiple questions about our stories and were exceptional role models to fellow students. This was a fun experience for our younger students at the school. Stage three had an exciting journey when writing and illustrating our amazing Dreamtime stories. Although at times it was a struggle to produce a complete published story with illustrations, we got over it and got our books finished. We had three steps to do: draft, publish and illustrate our incredible stories to make them readable for kindergarten. This was a fun but challenging experience.
~ By Josie Layland & Lulu Barnes ~
STAGE 2 POETRY
Stage 2 has been reading, viewing, listening and interpreting different poetic forms so they can create their own engaging poetry with a variety of vocabulary types.
Lachlan Lewis-Hughes
Rory Quinlan
Library News
LIBRARY BORROWING HAS FINISHED
All student library books are now due back to the library. Borrowing for 2023 has now finished, thank you to all of the families who have supported their students in their reading. Students will return their books on their scheduled library day, they can also drop them in before school and at lunch times. The library will remain open before school and at lunch times for students.
LUNCHTIME IN THE LIBRARY
One of the busiest places in the school at lunchtime is the library. Maybe it’s the fun activities, the cool air conditioning, the friendliness of others, LegoLand or the Christmas craft! Whatever it is, the crowds are growing in the library at lunch time! We were even joined by some of our Junior Joeys last week who joined in with the older children. We are truly lucky to have such a dynamic space available for our students and it is a delight to be able to offer so much!
QUOTA CREATIVE CHRISTMAS TREE EVENT
Our students have been very busy in the Makerspace creating beautiful Christmas decorations. We used these to decorate our driftwood Christmas tree which we entered into the Quota Creative Christmas Tree event last weekend. The tree looked resplendent with all of these masterpieces! Thanks to Mrs Graveson’s sister who constructed and donated the tree to the library.
Sport News
SWIMMING CARNIVAL
The Compass Event for our school swimming carnival, along with the swimming nomination form for children 7-12 years (8-13 next year) will be posted in the coming week for families. Please read this information carefully, and discuss competitive swimming with your child/ren before returning the note (children will be expected to swim the 50m length if competitive).
Please contact Linsey MacDonald if you are available for time keeper assistance on this day.
SUMMER SPORTS TRIALS
Over the last couple of weeks Harry Hosking, Maeve Crook, Sully Mitchell and Dannon Pucci- McDermott participated in the Diocesan Summer Sports Trials. We congratulate these children on their efforts.
SURF LIFE SAVING
Goodluck to Brenden Latham, Year 6, who will be competing in Newcastle with the 2023 Far North Coast Surf Life Saving Interbranch team this weekend! We wish him luck and look forward to hearing how he goes.
STEM News
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY STEM ACADEMY
Congratulations to our STEM Academy graduates, Mr Crosby, Mrs Moloney, Miss MacDonald and Mrs Crosby. Throughout the year, In partnership with Sydney University, these staff members have completed a range of professional development based on STEM education. They presented their learning to other participating schools from around the Northern Rivers. The focus was about our integrated STEM and Geography project with our Stage 2 students. We are really proud of their achievement.
Wellbeing News
SEASONS FOR GROWTH CELEBRATION SESSION
We are delighted to share that our Celebration session will be on Thursday, 7th December from 8 - 8.45am. BBQ bacon and egg rolls will be supplied. Please feel free to bring a plate to share! We look forward to celebrating all the learning of our Seasons participants from this term.
Coming Events
Use the link above to see all of the coming events for Joeys!
CAR PARK REMINDER
A reminder the boom gate at the school carpark closes from 8:30am to 9:15am and 3:00pm to 3:45pm every day. This forms part of our Traffic Management Plan and is to ensure the safety of our students. We advise parents and visitors to park on the street if arriving at these times. The boom gate can not be opened to let cars out. This is particularly important on Assembly Friday's, as a general rule, please do not park in the carpark to avoid the issue of the closed boomgate.
Celebrations
Happy birthday to these students who have celebrated their birthday since the last newsletter:
- Aiyanna Feilds
- Enid Murgha
- Eloise Watson
CONGRATULATIONS ABBY COLLINS
Abby Collins (Stage 2) had her dance concert this weekend and did an amazing job. She has been working hard, up to 10 hours each week dancing and had set herself high goals. At the concert she walked away with 2 medals for most improved tap and most improved junior line dancer. She also won Rising Star of the Year Award and was awarded a trophy and a full scholarship for 2024!
Our school community and her family are very proud of her! Congratulations Abby!
Parish News
Community News
FREE UNIFORM REPAIR CAFE
2nd December 2023 9am-noon at Alstonville Baptist Church (108 Wardell RoadAlstonville). Bring your uniforms that need repairing and we will do our best. Zippers may be too tricky to replace at this event, apologies in advance. Free hot drinks while you wait. Even if you don't need the uniform we are happy to fix them and donate them to a local Op Shop for resale at a low cost for other families.
