Happy Mother’s Day to the Wonderful Women of Joey’s!

What a beautiful morning celebrating the special women in our lives at Joey's. Big shout out and thanks to our PCG male helpers this morning who were here bright and early setting up and preparing food for our celebration. Special thank you to Troy Hardy and Woolworths for their very generous donation to our Mother's Day breakfast. 

Welcome to the Family!

We are so pleased for Hudson and Emerence Young and Jay Tymerski who completed the Journey into the Catholic Faith Course and were baptised last term.

Catholic Schools Youth Ministry Association

Students from Years 3 to 6 have committed to a lunch time Youth Club run by our CSYMA Regional Ministry Assistants Jacob and Jaz. On Wednesday Jacob and Jaz ran a retreat afternoon, diving deep into our Catholic Faith. It was a fun faith-filled time of strengthening our friendship with ourselves, others and Jesus.

What is Bullying?

At the heart of Catholic Education lies a commitment to the wellbeing and safety of every student. Over the next few weeks we will share with you some information and support resources focused on building friendships and bullying. We will start this series with unpacking the term ‘bullying’.

Understanding bullying helps us to distinguish between regular conflicts and actual bullying. This helps avoid confusion and ensures that the right help is given when needed. It can also empower you as parents to engage in prevention efforts proactively. By teaching your children about respectful behaviour, empathy, dignity, courage, and inclusion, parents can help prevent bullying from occurring in the first place.

Bullying refers to the unwanted, repeated and intentional use of words or actions against a student or a group of students to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing.

Bullying means behaviour that has three (3) key features:

1. It involves the intentional misuse of power in a relationship;
2. It is ongoing and repeated; and
3. It involves behaviours that can cause harm.

Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include:

• Mutual arguments and disagreements;
• Not liking someone or a single act of social rejection;
• A single episode of hurtful words or actions; and
• Isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation and/or violence

Indirect bullying (also known as covert bullying) is not always immediately observable and acknowledged as bullying. Indirect bullying can be discreet and anonymous, and the person experiencing the bullying behaviour may not realise it until after it has occurred. Examples of indirect bullying include:

• Spreading rumours: Sharing false or harmful information about someone to tarnish their reputation.
• Gossiping: Engaging in negative discussions about a person without their knowledge.
• Social manipulation: Encouraging others to exclude or reject a person from social groups.
• Cyberbullying: Using digital platforms to harass, intimidate, or spread harmful content about a person.
• Stealing: Discreetly and repeatedly stealing personal belongings.

When we as parents have a greater understanding of what bullying entails, we can effectively communicate with our children about their experiences at school, in the community and online. By using the correct terminology and understanding the dynamics of bullying, parents can encourage open dialogue and provide the necessary support.

Resources:

Watch What is bullying?
Watch Bullying and Conflict with your child.

Uniform Reminder

Girls are asked to wear the school tracksuit pants if they are cold over their skort rather than tights, as these are not part of the school uniform. It is also a timely reminder to ensure students only wear their sports shoes on the days allocated to sport, as indicated in your child’s Term 2 Overview.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact the Office.

The Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools (DLCS) has purchased a subscription to the RealTalk online parent resource centre for all parents in our Catholic schools. All parents can now access a comprehensive online resource created by RealTalk Australia that provides access to a collection of resources to support parents and caregivers explore a diverse range of topics including:

• Puberty and personal development and identity
• Online safety
• Friendships
• Consent and respectful relationships
• Impacts of pornography

For more information about how to access this resource see the flyer below.

We recognise that parents and carers enjoy photographing and recording the progress of their child at school and on school activities. We recognise that many of you like to share these personal memories online and on social media. We ask for your cooperation and care concerning the use and distribution of photographs of other children at our school. Some families have very real legal and safety issues which could put a child at risk if an image is made public online. More generally, it is respectful of the privacy of other members of the school community to ask permission before posting an image online. Even if your social media settings are private, it is easy for images to become public, particularly if they are tagged or shared by others. Please see the school website under “Policies and Forms” for the Photography Guidelines for parents and carers, mandatory policies and further resources.

When we run activities and hold events here at school that families are invited to we often take photos to share with our community through the school newsletter and our social media platforms. Please note that for adults attending public events there is assumed permission for their image to be able to be published on our platforms.

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 2023 school term dates are listed below. They are also located on our website. Click on the words “TERM DATES” on the home page.