St Joseph's Primary School Wauchope eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Dear God, keep me strong and healthy in body, mind and spirit.
When I draw close to you, you add your strength to mine. You help me cope. You guide me. You comfort me. You strengthen me.
I pray that you will continue to develop in me the graces that create emotional wellness.
Guide me to use and express my emotions in appropriate and healthy ways.
Show me how to handle stress. Guide me how to keep my life balanced.
Open my eyes to activities that can replenish my mind and spirit.
Connect me with others in meaningful ways. Deepen my friendships, strengthen my family ties, connect me with people who will care for me.
Show me your purpose for my life that I might be part of something bigger than myself. Give me vision, hope and promise.
Help me care for my body and keep it strong. Help me to eat well and keep fit.
Fill me with faith, trust, love, grace and peace.
Amen.

Dear Parents,

There are always so many exciting learning opportunities happening at St Joseph's and so much to celebrate and be thankful for. What a busy few weeks we have had as we have come to the midway point of our term, with excellent learning activities taking place, inside the classroom and outside of the classroom. At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, we provide an education where students are ‘at the heart of learning’, and all our endeavours are focused on the delivery of educational excellence and opportunities for young people to thrive as capable and competent learners and leaders for the world.

This has been evident by the number of students who have not only been very busy with their learning, but also they have been busy participating in quite a number of opportunities outside of the classroom. The benefits of learning that takes place outside of the classroom is highly important and research has shown that students who participate in these activities achieve higher academic results, better relationships at school and experience a greater sense of belonging to our school community and the wider community.

Reflecting on the opportunities presented to St Joseph’s students over the last few weeks and in the weeks to come, there has been extracurricular activities on offer to students each day. Some highlights have included:

Zone Athletics Carnival
Catholic Schools Week
Family and Whole school Mass participation
Whole school Assembly
Bishop Greg's visit
Choir, Band, Music Tuition
100 Days of Kindergarten
Matilda Jnr the Musical rehersals
Book Week activities
Year 5 and Year 6 Camps later this Term

Congratulations to all the students for participating in these extracurricular opportunities and to the staff who have supported the students in these events.

Book Week

We are all looking forward to celebrating Book Week next week. This year's theme is: Read, Grow, Inspire. As always, we love the Book Week Parade wearing our Book Week costumes (Thursday 24 August, 9.00 am) The children will be dressed in their favourite book character and will take part in a morning Assembly to showcase their outfit. We will be holding this in the Ogilvie Hall and parents are most welcome to attend.

Assistant Principal Mission

The Assumption of Mary

On 15 August, we celebrated the Assumption of Mary. The day marked our belief that when Mary died both her body and soul were taken to Heaven.

As a young woman, Mary made decisions to honour God by participating with God and doing her part in demonstrating love, the goodness of humanity and the importance humanity plays in God’s mission. In her humanity, Mary led others to recognise God’s holiness and she shows us that our humanity is sacramental. In the words of Fr Michael Himes, in reverencing humanity we cherish what unites us with God. ‘Whatever makes us more richly human makes us more like God.”

Perhaps Mary was taken body and soul, as Jesus was, to again remind us that being human is very good, so good that God chose humanity for God’s self to visibly enter our world. We dedicated this solemnity day with a whole school Mass which was celebrated by Fr Felix.

Pope Francis tells us:
“Today we are celebrating the “great things”. Mary is assumed into heaven: small and humble, she is the first to receive the highest glory. She, a human creature, one of us, attains eternity in soul and body.”

BISHOP GREGORY’S VISIT

OUR CELEBRATION OF CONFIRMATION

I would like to share our appreciation of the beautiful manner in which Bishop Gregory celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation with our little people last Friday evening.

Bishop Gregory through his warmth and gentleness creates a very endearing connection for our children and their spiritual understanding and growth.

Confirmation Celebrated

The Bishop was again impressed with our young people and their obvious preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation reflects positively on their parents and teachers. In Our Lady of Lourdes Church the children once again demonstrated just how ready they were to take this next step into the life of a fully-formed Catholic. We were all very proud of St Joseph’s families and staff, and congratulate our Confirmation candidates on the reception of this Sacrament. A special thank you to our Stage 2 teachers, who always offer wonderful support to make our celebrations at St Joseph's a memorable experience.

Photo Gallery

100 Days of Kindergarten

Fun School Photos 2023

Catholic Schools Week

Parent Communication

From the results of the most recent "Tell Them from Me" survey we understand it has been confusing to know where information about what's happening in the school is posted. With the introduction of Compass we are streamlining where information will be posted. Please note the following details in regard to how parents will be communicated with from the beginning of Term 4.

Newsletter - This will be sent weeks 1, 5 & 10 each term
Compass - Regular Newsfeeds- when information needs to be shared
Compass - Parent Bookings, Events Permission Slips, Official School Letter, Student Diary e.g. PBS, Attendance
Facebook - Promotional Material with Photos and stories, there will be no reminders
Website - Will remain the same
Dojo- will no longer be used for parent communication, this will be replaced with emails
Canteen - Transitioning out of flexi - schools to COMPASS
Seesaw - Sharing of student work

Sport

Diocesan Athletics Carnival - Coffs Harbour

Congratulations to Abigail, Jace, Lukas, Owen, Ella and Peyton who competed at the Lismore Diocesan Athletics Carnival last week in Coffs Harbour.

It was a fantastic effort by all the students in their selected events.

A special mention to Owen who placed 3rd in 100m and 2nd in the 200m and

Peyton who placed 2nd in 100m and 3rd in the 200m.

They will progress through to Polding later in the year.

Book Week

Book Week 2023 - Read Grow Inspire

During Term 3 we will enjoy our Book Week Celebrations - Children will be able to experience stories from Shortlisted Picture Books which have been nominated for awards this year and vote on their favourite books. There will be a colouring in competition with children from each Stage having a chance to win a book. If your child would like to gain a head start on the colouring in competition you could download and print the PDF Colouring in and return to the school Office for judging.

Children will have access to get a printed copy at school the week before Book Week.

2023_Book_Week_Colouring_In.pdf

2023_Book_Week_Colouring_In _pdf 442.90 KB

On Thursday 24 August 2023 from 9.00 am, we will have a Book Week Parade where children are encouraged to come dressed up as their favourite book character..

As usual, we will have our Annual Mrs O'Brien Book Week awards, children who receive these awards consistently show and share their love of literature at school.

Please mark this event in your diary and help spread a love of books and literature with your children.

Cheers

David Poulton

St Joseph's Primary Wauchope

Teacher - Librarian - Chaplain