Term 2 Week 6 - May 30th, 2023
From the Principals Desk
Dear Parents and Carers,
National School Improvement Tool Review Feedback
I would like to express my sincere thanks to all in our school community who participated in the recent surveys and interactions with the review panel that visited our school last week. The review panel was extremely impressed with our school. The evidence gathered by the panel throughout the three intense days of the review period, resulted in them rating our school highly across the 9 domains of the NSIT. They were particularly impressed with our contemporary flexible learning spaces and collaborative learning environment. Student engagement with their learning was highlighted as a stand out finding of their visit.
Once the official report has been delivered to us we will celebrate by sharing the highlights of the report with you through the newsletter. Whilst it is no surprise to us that we have a fantastic school and student engagement in learning is exceptional, we accept the commendations from the panel and extend our congratulations to all stakeholders in our community who contribute to make St Joseph’s South Murwillumbah such a positive and successful learning community!
It is coming up to that time of year when students are invited to participate in our annual St Joseph’s Primary Public Speaking Competition. The competition is open to all students from kindergarten to year 6. There will be a letter for nomination sent to families. Students who enter the competition will be excused from homework activities to allow time for them to concentrate on preparing the presentation of their speech. The competition focuses on public speaking, the way that the student presents their speech, the speech does not need to be written by the student.
I encourage all students to have a go! They will deliver their speech to their stage and the two selected winners from each stage will then progress through to the Tweed Regional Catholic Schools Public Speaking Competition in Tweed Heads to compete against other students from the Catholic schools in the Tweed region.
The remainder of the term is certainly looking busy on the calendar. We have School Photos, Athletics carnival and Holy Communion next week! Be sure to keep your eye on the coming events to ensure you are prepared and organised!
Have a great week!
Peace and blessings,
Jason Clarke
Principal
"You Can Do It!" Awards
CELEBRATING SUCCESS
Kinder
Arlo Carter for Getting Along and Being Socially Responsible.
Joseph Hunt for Persistence and Giving Effort.
Year 1
Ali for Confidence and Taking a Risk.
Frank Wilkinson for Confidence and "I Can Do It" thinking.
Year 2
Luca Anderson for Persistence and Working Tough.
Alex Kelly for Confidence and for "I Can Do It" thinking.
Year 3
Lorenzo Pahlow for displaying Persistence and a having a Positive Mindset.
Amber Milliken for Getting Along and being Socially Responsible.
Year 4
Imogen Rudman for Organisation, Planning Her Time Wisely and having a Growth Mindset.
Ace Colleton for Persistence and Giving Effort.
Year 5
Sienna Alexander for Resilience "I Can Do It" thinking.
Zoe Wharton for Confidence and "I Can Do It" thinking.
Year 6
Ethan Donatini for Persistence and "I Can Do It" thinking.
Kody Smith for Persistence and Giving Effort.
Sharing the Gospel
MINI VINNIES and Student Disciples.
Mini Vinnies is an awesome group of wholehearted students across all the year levels. We try our very hardest to spread God's message and also to help the poor, sick and unfortunate. We recently had a cake stall and a dress up day to raise money. We welcome all with open arms.
-Taiis Brockbank
Minie Vinnies is a group of students that help Mrs Hughes with fundraisers and Dress up Days. While the school is having a fun day dressing up we give a gold coin donation. Other fundraisers include cake stalls and icy pole days. Our goal is to raise $850. And, Guess what? We Did It !!! This money is raised to help the poor. We try our hardest to be role models to the school even though some of us aren’t school leaders. We are always here to help and deliver. We will buy food packs, medipacks, sleeping bag and an IGA gift card plus the money raised. All this goes to the homeless and to help those in need in our community. So, come join us at Mini Vinnies!
By Arielle Boutsis
Mini Vinnies says "Thank you!"
Sacrament of Holy Communion
We ask that you keep Isla Alley, Nate Linkins, Noah Bowley, Annabel Casey, Michaella Rempis, Bonnie Lindsay and Lalyta Brockbank in your prayers. They are currently taking part in their instruction to receive their Holy Communion on the weekend of the 10th or 11th June.
It has been wonderful to be with them on their faith journey.
Lord God,
Bless the children coming forward to receive their First Communion.
May this be the first step into a life-long love of the Eucharist. Give them your guidance as they grow to be disciples of Christ learning to cherrish this sacrament in their daily lives.
Amen.
Curriculum News
CURIOUS CREATURES IN ART
Stage 2 have been studying all things bugs this term in art. They have been drawing different components of many different bugs with the aim of creating their own curious creature.
Mrs Fraser was also most delighted with this and she was able to share a very special and amazing collection. Mrs Fraser bought in a collection of insects encased in resin for the students to study in detail. To say the students were gob-smacked by this was understatement! Thank you Mrs Fraser.
Our artists at work...
Sports News
DIOCESAN CROSS COUNTRY
Last Tuesday five students travelled to Grafton to compete in the Diocesan Cross Country - Lyla McMahan, Max Bourke, Zac Stuart, Sam Stovold and Ruby Carter. All five students ran exceptionally well on a very difficult course (mostly up hill!) Lyla finished in 21st place and was only 1 min 4 sec off qualifying for Polding! Zac finished 18th and was only 52 seconds off qualifying to Sydney. Max placed 16th and was 1 min 30 sec off qualifying to Polding and Ruby finished 9th with only 11 seconds off qualifying and named first reserve. Sam was unable to complete the course as he wasn’t feeling well on the day but still ran the hardest part of the hilly course!
Well done to all our Joeys runners, you certainly represented yourselves and our school with great sportsmanship and grit!
FINAL ATHLETICS COACHING IN PE SESSIONS – DISCUS
We have ended our final coaching session with Nat – the expert Discus coach and learnt so much about the art of throwing a great Discus distance! Some of our Yr6 boys did so well they cleared the fence and had to fetch their discus out of the neighbour’s front yard!! This Friday during school sport, students will be measured and their best discus throw will be submitted and compared with other students who submit their throw from the 8 catholic schools. If their throw is competitive enough, they will progress straight through to Diocesan in Sydney (the Newcastle venue is no longer available due the facilities receiving an upgrade, so Diocesan has been moved to Sydney). I will let students know if they have qualified for Diocesan as soon as I receive the information.
Discus Coaching
1500m RACE
The 1500m race has been scheduled for this Thursday (straight after school) on the school oval. We are aiming to start no later than 3.30pm (times will be advanced if possible). Students who wish to compete may stay after school without parental supervision as I will be there with Mr Clarke and Mr Davis to run the event. Parents just need to be there to collect their child by the time their race has ended (approximately 4.30pm). Parents are welcome to attend and cheer on our competitors if they are able to make. This 1500m race will contribute to age champion points and students finishing 1st in their age will be able to contest the school record (records in this event started last year). All athletic records are attached on the following page for your information! The Zone 1500m is set for Tuesday 20th June – week 9.
SCHOOL ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
The School Athletics carnival is fast approaching (next Thursday 8th June)! A Compass permission request has been sent out. Please approve consent for your child as soon as possible. The cost of the bus and venue hire has been covered by the Sporting Schools Grant I have received. We also used the grant money to pay for our expert coaches in Shot Put, Long Jump and Discus. Last Friday we ran the 800m heats to help with timing at the carnival as the 800m event is the most time consuming track event of the day. The top 6 in each age group will now race the final on the day of the carnival. Every other track event will be open to all competitors on the day. Congratulations to the following competitors who will be racing the 800m final:
8Yr Boys:
Eli Rudman, Will Polson, Carter Alexander, Eli Reed, Corey Bray and Charlie Culcane.
8Yr Girls:
Amelia Bedser, Ariella Donaldson, Ayla Bourke, Scarlett Walker, Amelia Keevers and Milania Jandura.
9Yr Boys:
Sam Stovold, Ace Colleton, Kaeden Jandura, Lorenzo Pahlow, Xavier Workman and William Owen.
9Yr Girls:
Ruby Carter, Esther Cambridge, Ella Hunt, Tahan Heterick, Peggy Wilkinson and Pippa Bourke.
10Yr Boys:
Misha Reed, Kobi Buckroyd, Jaxon Mann, Nakoha Heterick, William Hoffman and Noah Bowley.
10Yr Girls:
Imogen Rudman, Pearl Wilkinson, Lalyta Brockbank, Indigo Cleak, Amira Folkers, Violet Williams and Lyla McMahan (one extra student was included as she was absent on the day of the heats but competed at Zone level for Cross Country).
11Yr Boys:
Max Bourke, Luke Stovold, Caleb Bourke, Archie Anderson, Blake Stuart, Declan Behan, Damon Woodward and Zilli Hutton (two extra students were included as they were absent on the day of the heats but both competed at Zone level for Cross Country).
11Yr Girls:
Ava Hunt, Ava Bray, Indi Asanuma, Eadie Workman, Bella Higgins and Amelia Alley.
12Yr Boys:
Kody Smith, Zac Stuart, Oskar Buckroyd, Fynn Bloomfield, Dan Hoffman and Ethan Donatini.
12Yr Girls:
Asha Pahlow
Library News
National Simmultaneous Storytime 2023
National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is an Australia-wide group reading and literacy event, where schools, libraries and other institutions gather school-age children together to read the same chosen picture book at the same time. All classes joined in with this fun event during their library time.
This years book "The Speedy Sloth" by Laureb Young, was read to all classes. We watched a video called "The Extreme Life of a Sloth" and learnt many interesting and unusal facts aboth Sloths!
DID YOU KNOW...
* Sloths are the slowest mammals on the planet.
* Sloths risk their lives to come down from the trees to poop once a week.
* Sloths can't really see.
* Being so sluggish helps the sloths to avoid detection from predators.
BOOK CLUB ORDERS
Issue 4 is out now. Orders need to be in by Thursday, 15th June (Wk 8)
Parents can either order online (see flyer below) or send money to the office with your order form.
General News
School Photos
Our school photos will be held on Wednesday, June 7th.
- Day uniform is to be worn.
- Sibling photos start at 8:10am.
- Leaders photos are at 8:45am
- All class photos begin from 9am
Please ensure you have filled out an order form (see below). A form has also been sent home with eldest child.
When filling out order form CHOOSE OUR STATE AS QUEENSLAND.
MISSING JACKETS AND HATS
Please check your child's zip jackets and hats to ensure they have their name on them. Some students are missing these items as they may have been mistakenly taken home by another child.
There is also quite a collection of unnamed zip jackets and containers in our lost property bin, kept on the veranda outside the assembly room.
Canteen News
Orders - All lunch orders will now close at 3:30pm the day before the canteen day. i.e. If you are ordering for Wednesday’s canteen then the orders will close on Tuesday at 3:30pm. For Friday, the orders will be closed on Thursday at 3:30pm.
Cancellations - If you have ordered lunch for your child and they won’t be attending school that day, you are able to cancel your order up until 8:45am on the day of the order.
Reimbursements of cancelled orders - If you cancel an order, or if the school cancels an order, the funds from the order will be transferred to your Compass Wallet.
You can access the funds in your wallet when you go to finalise your order in the Compass app.
Reminder - The canteen is cashless and therefore items cannot be ordered at the canteen, including snacks after lunch. These can be ordered with their lunch order.
Compass Help
Parish News
Tuesday 30 May 5:30 pm - Mass
Wednesday 31 May 5:30 pm - Mass
Thursday 1 June 8:15 am - Mass
Friday 2 June 11:00 am - Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
12 noon - Mass
Saturday 3 June 9:00 am - Rosary
4:00 pm - Family Group Former Leaders ‘Cuppa’
5:30 pm - Rosary
6:00 pm - Vigil Mass
Sunday 4 June 8:30 am - Rosary
9:00 am - Mass
10:00 am - Morning Tea with Information Session by Family Group team
Health & Wellbeing
Our Sponsors
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If so, please contact the office on 02 6672 1867