We have already reached the end of another week, they seem to go so fast! During this Winter season, there are always going to be times of feeling unwell and I pray for all of our families that these times are short lived with a return to health quickly. 

WELCOME TO OUR NEW STUDENTS

We were fortunate this week to welcome three new students to St Joseph’s. Abby Burg, Charli Robinson and Zada Robinson started with us this week, all in Year 3. We wish them and their families the best and offer our support as they settle into St Joseph’s. 

 
FACEBOOK PAGES

We communicate in a number of ways of things happening in the school. One of these is our school Facebook page, where good news stories and reminders etc, are available to our families. Our classes have also had their own pages for more grade specific news and sharing. We have needed to pause those which may have been used already this year with some new guidelines requiring our attention. As soon as we are ready to have these in use again, we will let you know. In the meantime, please continue to read our newsletter and log in to your Facebook account and search ‘St Joseph’s Primary Port Macquarie’ to like our school page.

POLICE LIAISON OFFICER VISIT

During the week, our students in Kindergarten, Year 5 and Year 6 participated in a visit from Police Liaison Officer Wendy Hudson. Wendy has been generous with her time to us each year in bringing some messages to our students around being safe. Kindergarten focus on safety at their level of understanding and knowing who and how to access support if they are ever feeling unsafe. Year 5 and 6 focus on safety relating to their understanding, particularly online and ICT safety as they are engaging in the use of technology extensively both at school and home. If you haven’t already spoken to your child about the visit, it would be worthwhile to do so. We hope that the messages support you as a parent navigating life with children in a world that is not always as we wish it to be. We will publish some notes and fact sheets about the visits next week for your information. Please see below a useful information sheet on Fifteen Apps Parents Should Know About. It Is really important to know what your children are accessing and how to support them in being safe and taking responsibility for their use and actions. 

UNIFORMS

We are spending time focussing on correct wearing of uniforms, as we had eased on families around the COVID-19 time. We need to remind families that wearing correct uniform is an important aspect of school life and should always be occurring. We are gradually working through the school reminding students about items that may need attending to and notes will go home reminding of these where needed. It is an expectation, as signed on enrolment, that the uniform policy will be adhered to. Please support your child in the correct uniform so they can take pride in and show respect for their school. A uniform review has been started across the Parish and hopefully in the coming months we will be able to share some of the findings of this and how this may support families in contemporary understanding of children’s needs. These take quite some time, so in the meantime, we are adhering to current policies and expectations.

Winter Uniform only to be worn on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sports Uniform only to be worn on Thursday and Friday.

(The exception will be special days that are informed to parents and carers).

If there is a reason your child is unable to wear an item on occasion, you are required to send in a note.

As always, we have some second hand items in our school uniform room if you are in need of anything. 

COVID-19 GUIDELINES FOR TERM 3

In addition to the guidelines shared with families at the end of the school holidays, please ensure you have read the update letter regarding COVID-19 testing sent out this week via email to all families. 

DOLSIS PARENT SURVEY

Thank you to the families who have already completed the Insight SRC – Diocese Of Lismore School Improvement Survey (DOLSIS).  The purpose of DOLSIS is to receive feedback from parents, students and staff on the different facets of school so that we can continue to improve our school setting. If you have received one and have yet to complete, there is one more week to go and we encourage you to do so and thank you for your contribution.

In the envelope you will have the option of a login to complete the survey online, and a paper copy of the survey to complete without technology and return to school.  We would greatly appreciate your response to this survey as it will help guide our strategic planning for the future. The live survey period is from Monday 27th July to Friday 7th August 2020.  We request that if you are completing the paper copy, you please return it to the school office by Wednesday 5th August for us to post to Insight SRC for inclusion in the survey results. 

OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

We extend our sympathy to Matthew Kelly (5G) and his family on the recent loss of his grandmother.

 
CONGRATULATIONS

We would like to acknowledge and congratulate Kiara Tattersall on a wonderful project completed through Girl Guides. In the group she is in, they have a Peak Achievement Award called the BP. For this task, there are 6 areas and the girls are required to do 3 activities in each area. One of these areas is Service, for which Kiara sewed manicure kits and donated them to the Women’s Refuge. In these are nail polish, nail polish remover, nail clippers, nail file and a piece of vinyl which people put their hands on for mess free polishing. From the photo, I am sure like me you are very impressed with this effort from Kiara.

Tess Koning
Principal