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COVID-19 UPDATE
While we have been living with restrictions at school for some time now, COVID-19 is again becoming a feature of our information. It is unfortunate that due to cases of COVID-19 in metropolitan centres and other suburbs between Sydney and the Hunter, NSW schools have been given some additional tightened guidelines to follow for the remainder of Term 3.
We shared with families these areas of advice via email during the week and ask that you read carefully the document so that you are assisting us in adhering to these guidelines to keep our community safe. Once we are given this information, we make this the lens through which we view events and activities in and out of school. While sometimes we all feel regulations don’t make complete sense, we are bound to work with them and we appreciate the support of our community in adhering to these. Should you have any questions or concerns, please make contact with us so that we can try to alleviate them for you.
At this stage, all guidelines are only for Term 3, so we are continuing to plan for more positive conditions in Term 4. Of course we are not able to predict what could happen during Term 4 and beyond, so we will continue to alert you of tighter or looser measures as they occur.
Please find here the advice should you have not yet had time to read it.
OUR COMMUNITY
With so much to feel concerned about in the world around us, it is always wonderful to spread some good news around. Here are my reflections on our school community this week:
- Year 2 Writing Workshop - I had the pleasure of joining Year 2 with Mrs Kelly, Mrs Toole, Mr Kelly, Ms Gamack, Mrs Germain and Aunty Sue on Wednesday as they engaged in a writing workshop. Our clever students were able to work together to write an information report about Australian animals after each student in their small group became the expert on a particular part of the report. They each added their part to the group report to come up with an amazing result at the end. Fantastic work Mrs Kelly in leading this and to the teachers and students involved.
- Year 6 Peer Support - It has been great hearing from different teachers supervising Peer Support that our Year 6 students are rising to the challenge and responsibility of leading other students in lessons to promote quality relationships and respectful behaviour at school. I have personally enjoyed the stories such as “it is so hard to teach them a lesson when they talk while you are trying to give an instruction”. A few knowing looks from teachers show that the penny might drop with our older students now that they are experiencing what it is like to get their message across with excited students who need some hints about active listening!
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
We extend our sympathy to Phoenix Kitching (5H) and his family on the recent loss of his grandfather and to Jasmine Howell (5H) and Mia Howell (4B) and their family on the recent loss of their grandmother.
Tess Koning
Principal
YEAR 4 ACCENDERE
Last week, our Year 4 children participated in ‘Accendere’, a day of faith formation and friendship. We invited the Parish Youth Ministry Officers, Chloe, Connor, Will and Georgia to help run this special day.
Nathan Porter
Assistant Principal Mission
TEACHERS LEARN TOO!
Teachers are constantly engaging in professional learning and developing deeper understandings about how we can best support our students and families There are two frameworks which teachers are currently ‘digging deeper’ into to ensure we are meeting the needs of our school community.CONTEMPORARY LEARNING
A contemporary learning approach is personalised, responding to the learning needs, interests and experiences of each student. Contemporary learning is different to the way many parents of today’s students were taught. It offers teachers and students many more options than the old textbook driven approach to teaching. Contemporary learning aims to empower students with the knowledge, skills and capacities to respond creatively to the challenges of their world.
Learners thrive in environments that are safe, supportive and secure. Flexible and intentionally developed learning environments encourage innovation and inquiry and help create a sense of belonging and purpose that strengthens the learning culture. These environments are stimulating and appropriately resourced. They promote high expectations and respect diversity and difference, facilitating learning for all students. Adaptive
learning environments have no conventional boundaries because, being ICT rich, they are connected to the world beyond the classroom.(Reference:- The Catholic Schools Office, Lismore Website)
FULLNESS OF LIFE
The framework makes explicit the essential domains of Catholic education that are evident in all school daily life, planning and development. Each domain within the framework provides what evidence suggests enhances the faith, wellbeing and learning outcomes for all our students. It provides the fundamental values and beliefs principles of how to guide our work in achieving the mission of Catholic education in the Lismore Diocese.
The five domains are;
- Mission
- Pastoral Care
- Catholic Leadership
- Learning and Teaching
- Family, School and Community Partnership
(Reference:- The Catholic Schools Office, Lismore Website)
Jeannine Ucdereli
Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
The Student Representative Council (SRC) hosted a Student Forum session with two children from every class coming together to discuss how we can make our school even better. The students had a robust discussion and shared many fantastic ideas to make St Joseph’s school a unique and special place to come to school for current and future students.
NEW CANTEEN ITEM
We now have Twisted Mini Frozen Yoghurts available at the canteen. The two flavours we have in stock are Chocolate/Vanilla and Strawberry/Vanilla. Both flavours are Gluten Free and are $2.00 each. They can be pre-ordered on Flexischools or bought over the counter at Lunch 1.
FLEXI FACTS
- Flexischools orders cut off time is 8.30am each day.
- You can cancel your order if your child is not coming to school up until the 8:30am cut off time. After that you will need to call the school office to let them know and your child can have a credit for that lunch order to be had at a later date.
- You can now order your child’s whole lunch online including fruit for Crunch'n'Sip (morning fruit break), bottles of water, lunch, drinks, ice blocks, and a snack for Lunch 2. If you are ordering fruit for Crunch'n'Sip, please remind your child to come and collect it from the canteen.
- I update Flexischools every day so you are able to see what is and is not available for ordering.
- Over 95% of our lunch orders come in through Flexischools online ordering.
- Flexi orders include the lunch bag and all utensils needed for the order, there is no need to send in a bag.
- You can order in advance for the whole week or even the whole month!
If you do not already have an account with Flexischools, please follow the link below to set one up.
There are still some issues with supplies but I am updating Flexischools daily. If children order something that is not available, I will offer a suitable alternative or can give them a credit or refund.
VOLUNTEER NOTICE
We are still unable to have volunteers in the canteen at this stage until further notice.
LUNCH ORDERS
The canteen is operating as usual and lunch orders can be placed via Flexischools or by dropping them in the basket on the counter each morning.
Don't forget you can order online by 8:30am- it's so easy!!
- Download the Flexischools app from the App Store or from Google Play.
Note: for iPhone and iPad please select ‘Allow’ notification - Click “Register Now” to create account
- Top-up your balance
- Start ordering immediately
- Alternatively Go to www.flexischools.com.au
Kim Goldie
Canteen Coordinator
KM | Karla Lucas | James Hubbard | Blake Yewdall |
KS | Liam McGovern | Mia Moss | Logan Reilly |
1B | Ella Roach | Harry Lawrence | Rafael D'Souza |
1R | Kooper Salan | William McKenzie | Emelia Stoner |
2T | Chayse Jones | Lily Skinner | Amica Tuddenham |
4B | Ada Zerafa-Johnson | Mia Basanovic | Isabella Hawkins |
4F | Charlie Holloway | Baxter Matthews | Jesse Leslie |
5GP | Ella Hoade | Eva Francis | Lawson Bentley |
5H | Hudson Bell | Taj Davis | Ella-Yindi Jenkin |
6MH | Isla Dalton | Heath Hunter | Sophie Holmes |
IMPORTANT UPDATE
Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 Guideline changes, the Inter School Competition in Soccer and Netball at St Peter's Primary School on Friday 11th September and the Hastings Schools Futsal Championships on Friday 4th September at the Port Macquarie Indoor Stadium, have both been cancelled. Thank you to all who were keen to be a part of these days and we hope they will be rescheduled in Term 4.
ATHLETICS RESULTS 2020
Congratulations to all of our competitors in all of the Athletics events.
Extra congratulations to Oxley, the winning House for 2020 Athletics!
Our 2020 Athletics Age Champions and Runners up are:
Age | Runner Up | Age Champion |
8 year old boys 8 year old girls |
Harry Hoade Freya Praveen |
Tomas Butler Bronte Sprague |
9 year old boys 9 year old girls |
Cooper Bell Evie Johnson |
Xavier Mat Ruby Holmes |
10 year old boys 10 year old girls |
Blayde Redding Mia Basanovic |
Rocco Robinson Keely Newton |
11 year old boys 11 year old girls |
Oliver Mat Tori McGrath |
Hudson Bell Zara Lawrence |
12 year old boys 12 year old girls |
Cruz Rebecchi and Lenox Pearce Sophie Holmes |
Lachlan Parke Zoe Little and Milla Swain |
13 year old boys | Jack Banks |
This year our students celebrated National Science Week with a trip to our very own Maker Space. All students from Kinder to Year 6 participated in Augmented and Virtual Reality experiences connected to the 2020 theme Deep Blue: innovation for the future of our oceans.
Augmented reality is a technology that works on computer vision based recognition algorithms to augment sound, video, graphics and other sensor based inputs on real world objects using the camera of your device.
Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds.
It was a fun and unique experience for all.
Sarah Blundell
Leader of Digital Pedagogies/STEM
Our wonderful Glee Club have enjoyed meeting every Tuesday at Lunch 1 to sing and have fun together. The sound quality and voice strength were developing each week and they learnt to harmonise together. Unfortunately Glee Club cannot continue this term due to the updated advice regarding COVID-19 guidelines which was emailed to families this week.
Please enjoy this video from Tuesday, our last Glee Club for the term.
Yours in the Performing and Creative Arts
Leah Toole
An important update for SZapp has been released to accomodate for iPhones which have been intermittently receiving push notifications.
SZapp version 3.6.0 is available from the App Store now and we advise all iPhone users to install this version to ensure notifications are received correctly.
Users with automatic updates enabled on their device will receive this update automatically.
PBS (Positive Behaviour Support)
Our focus for the last two weeks was ‘I am Respectful’. We congratulate our students who demonstrate respectful behaviours both on the playground and in the classroom, towards each other and towards adults.
Our behaviour focus for Week 6 is ‘I am Resilient’. Children are learning ways that we can bounce back when things go wrong. The best way to learn this is through practise, accepting when things go wrong and applying strategies to build ourselves up again. If life was perfect, we would never be able to develop our resilience!!
Week 6 - Term 3 2020 |
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STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY (PUPIL FREE) - 2nd SEPTEMBER 2020
A Staff Development Day (Pupil Free) has been planned for Wednesday 2nd September in Week 7 this term.
This is not at the beginning or end of a term as it would most often be, due to the need for the day to fall in line with professional learning that school staff have been engaging in with Catholic Schools Office, Lismore staff during staff meetings this term.
In recognising the need to support parents who work on this day, there will be child-minding provided for those who are unable to organise care outside of school. To ensure we are able to cater for this planning, any parents requiring care for their child/children on this day are asked to please contact the Office Aunties or email us at sjpport@lism.catholic.edu.au to book. We will need to have bookings finalised on Friday 28th August, so the cut off time will be 3:00pm on this day.
Our remaining planned Staff Development Day (pupil free) is:
- Monday 12th October (Term 4, Week 1)
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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 school term dates are located on our website. Click on the words “TERM DATES” on the home page.