Celebrating Catholic Schools Week 23rd -27th June

The Jubilee Prayer Boat is Docking at St Joseph’s!

We are excited to share that the DLCS Jubilee Prayer Boat will be arriving at St Joseph’s Primary School, Port Macquarie on Monday 23rd June!

As part of the Diocese of Lismore’s Jubilee celebrations and to kick off Catholic Schools Week, the Prayer Boat is journeying to Catholic schools across our region, carrying with it a powerful message of hope, unity, and renewal.

This travelling icon is a symbol of the Jubilee Year and our shared mission to be “Pilgrims of Hope.” It reminds us that, like a boat guided across the waters, we too are called to move forward with faith - bringing light, love, and courage into the world.

We warmly invite our families to come and see the boat as it docks at our school on Monday morning and to join us for a special Liturgy of the Word in celebration of its arrival.

8:00am Jubilee Prayer Boat docks
2:15pm Liturgy of the Word, MPA

Let us come together as a school and parish family to reflect, pray, and be inspired to live as true pilgrims of hope.

Semester 1 reports

Semester 1 student reports will be available from 3:00pm on Wednesday, Week 10 (2nd July) via Compass. These reports provide a clear summary of your child’s academic progress, social development, and attitude toward learning.

Please take time to read through the report with your child, celebrating their achievements and discussing future learning goals. If you would like to follow up with your child’s teacher, please contact them directly to arrange a time in Week 10.

Attendance

Build the Habit of Regular Attendance

Matilda explained that this is a picture of her arriving at school with her friends, greeting her at the gates, and showing true friendship. 

When students attend school consistently and arrive on time, they have greater opportunities to build and nurture positive friendships.

Every Single Day Song Watch this clip and discuss its messages together.

Artist - Matilda 11 years old

Bike Safety

Ride Together:

Whenever you can, ride alongside your child. It’s a wonderful opportunity to teach safe cycling habits, monitor their skills, and spend quality time together.

Until they are at least 10 years old, your child should ride off-road away from vehicles and driveways. While your child may learn skills such as balancing, pedalling and steering quite easily, they are still learning skills that help them to judge speed, distance and the direction of sound. Young children will often ride with their head down, concentrating on pedalling, not the environment around them. Your child needs ongoing adult help in safe, off-road locations to gradually develop all their skills.

And don’t forget HELMET ON - Go to SafetyTown to read more.

Thinking of Our Community

No Dogs on School Grounds

We kindly remind all families that dogs are not permitted on school premises. While we do have a trained therapy dog on site, this animal has undergone the necessary risk assessments and is part of a structured program. Only registered assistance animals are allowed on school grounds.

We appreciate the cooperation of families who respect this policy by keeping pets outside the school grounds. Thank you for helping us maintain a safe and comfortable environment for all students.

No Toys Please

We would like to kindly remind all parents that students are not permitted to bring toys into school. While we understand that toys can be enjoyable and comforting, they often lead to distractions during class time, and there is also the risk of them being lost or damaged.

To ensure that our students remain focused on their learning, we ask that you please remind your child to leave toys, trading cards, squishies, fidget toys at home (unless approved in a meeting with Mrs Lyn Kelly, Leader of Inclusion). Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Student Medical Appointments 

We strongly encourage parents to organise medical appointments outside of school hours (Start 8:55am and Finish 3:10pm) but are conscious that this is not always possible.  For your convenience if you have to make a medical appointment for your child during school time please be aware of our breaks for your planning as there will be a delay in getting your child to the office if they are out at lunch play:

Lunch 1 is at 11:00am - 11:40am
Lunch 2 is at 1:40pm - 2:10pm

Early Departures

For early departures with anyone other than a parent (including Grandparents and Emergency Contacts), please ensure the Office Aunties receive parental permission, before your child leaves, via email to sjpport@lism.catholic.edu.au in advance or a phone call on the day. This applies to leaving school early after Assembly before the last bell. 

Hometime Messages

If there is a change to your child's hometime travel arrangements please let your child know before they leave the house or write a note to your child's teacher. Some parents also write a "H" (homelines) or a "B" (buslines) on their child's hand. We understand that plans may change during the day and ask that you phone the office Aunties on 6583 3848 between the hours of 8:30am and 2:30pm. This enables us to ensure that your child gets the message in a timely manner.  Do NOT email the school or message your child's teacher directly as it may not be seen in the timeframe you require. If an emergency occurs or there is a late change to your child's home time plan we will do everything we can to get the message to your child after 2:30pm. Please be aware that a warning school bell sounds at 3:00pm for classes to prepare to leave the class for hometime at 3:10pm which makes it difficult to guarantee that a message will get to your child.

Thank you for your continued support.

Please note: these competitions and assessments are completely optional and do not form part of school assessments and come with a cost, so there is no school requirement for participation.

Once again this year, students from St Joseph's will have the opportunity to participate in the ICAS Competitions, which are conducted by Educational Assessment Australia of the University of New South Wales.  ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Writing, Mathematics, Science, Spelling and Digital Technologies.  The assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in an international assessment.  All participants will be awarded a Certificate in one of the following categories - High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Achievement or Participation.  To learn more about ICAS please click here to visit their website.  

ICAS Assessments are online which allows greater accessibility for students and faster delivery of results.  Competitions are open to students in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6.  Dates students here at St Joseph’s will be able to sit for the various competitions are as follows -

• DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES - Monday 4th August 9:15am
• WRITING  - Wednesday 6th August 9:15am
• ENGLISH  - Monday 11th August 9:15am
• SCIENCE  - Wednesday 13th August 9:15am
• SPELLING  - Monday 20th August 9:15am
• MATHEMATICS - Monday 25th August 9:15am

If any other school based activities coincide with these dates as we move closer, we will provide an alternate opportunity for students to complete them.   

An entry fee of $20.95 each has been set for the competitions other than Writing which is $24.95. Payment of ICAS fees is online via the ICAS website.  To confirm your child’s participation, click here to visit the ICAS parent payment system page and enter our unique school code PBT984 to make direct payment to UNSW Global (NB: please leave student number blank as it is not required). Please note registration and payment closes 28th July 2025.  

Breakfast Club is back again this term with demand being high for warm toast on chilly mornings.

A big shout out to our major sponsors - Ken Little’s Quality Fruit and Veg and Bakers Delight Settlement City.

We truly appreciate your support.

Our school has been selected to be part of the Diocese of Lismore Wellbeing through Music Project. The whole school will participate in the creation of a song aimed at promoting bus safety for students. On Monday, 23rd June the whole school will be introduced to ARIA-nominated songwriter and educator CJ Shaw alongside producer Matthew Storen through an engaging concert. The Year 4 students will participate in song writing activities. CJ and Matt will return on Monday 28th July to share the song and for students to start to learn the lyrics. The project will conclude on 1st September when our school will be turned into a mini recording studio and Year 4 will be invited to sing on the soundtrack. Parents are warmly invited to attend our 9:00am whole school concert to kick off Catholic Schools Week.  

#ArtWalk2025

A big congratulations to our Year 5/6 students who represented the school at the Netball NSW Schools Cup this week: Hannah Cooper, Amelia Dovey, Grace Gluckstern-Hill, Oliver Godwin, Wyatt Hough, Maddison Isaacs, Lily Jordan, Harper Maher, Yzekiel Nieva, Mack Steels, and Nyah Watson.

See your childs Compass Events for full details of the day and link for students who are competitive and are 8 to 12 years by 31/12/2025 and would like to compete in the optional 1500m and 800m. If your child would like to compete in either or both of these  you must nominate your child via the link to the online nomination form by Friday 27th June 2025.

Today, our Year 6 students had the wonderful opportunity to attend the GLOW Retreat at St Joseph’s Regional College in Port Macquarie – and what a memorable day it was!

GLOW (God Lights Our Way) brought together Year 6 students from Catholic schools across the region for a day filled with prayer, reflection, small group sharing, and engaging activities. It was a meaningful experience where students deepened their faith, built new friendships, and had plenty of fun along the way.

We are incredibly proud of the respectful and enthusiastic way our students participated throughout the day. Many shared how inspired they felt after the retreat, and how much they enjoyed connecting with their peers from other schools.

A huge thank you to the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools (DLCS) for organising and funding this event, including all transport. Thanks also to our staff for accompanying the students and helping make the day such a success.

We look forward to seeing how the spirit of GLOW continues to shine in our students in the months ahead!

Kate Mitchell, Bianca Jamison, Brianne Hoitink
Year 6 Teachers

In the mornings, Miss Barber likes to give me belly rubs for a while, then I go to greet people as they come through the gate. After a while the bell goes and I get to say hello to everyone in the classroom. I then get to sit and watch what the birds and cars are doing outside.

After the morning learning, the bell rings and I get up ready to go for a super long walk!

On the walk I have one of my friends to hold my lead so I can go out and say hello to everyone playing on the fields. When the bell goes again, we head to class to get some work done. The bell rings again, this time it sounds more like a chime which means that it's time for Peer Support! At Peer Support I get to help people from all different grades!

After the next bell it is Lunch 2 and I go for a little shorter walk than the last one but that's ok because I had a super long walk during Lunch 1. The bell rings again and then I am ready to go home - the best part of going home is that I get to come back again tomorrow!

Bertie
Student Therpay Officer

Please note these dates can change from time to time due to unforeseen circumstances and we will endeavour to advise you of any changes at the earliest possible opportunity. Our school Google calendar can be accessed via this link for additional advanced dates -

For your convenience 2025 school term dates are listed below. They are also located on our website. Click on the words “TERM DATES” on the home page.