Dear parents and carers,

It has been a pleasure to be able to visit the classrooms and watch the students engaged in their learning this week. The Year 3 to 6 students have been especially keen about representing data by making digital graphs. I also heard lots of excited voices and was able to watch the K-2 students drawing themselves on the concrete outside my office window. They were studying the pattern of the movement of the sun through the day.

It has been wonderful to see the sun for the last couple of days but there is no doubt that we are experiencing true winter weather. As the weather is likely to remain cold for some time yet, please ensure that your child has a labelled jumper or jacket to wear at school. If you have any school jumpers or jackets that are no longer of any use to you, please consider donating them to the clothing pool. 

New staff member

On Monday we welcomed Mrs Sue Tenhave to the school. Mrs Tenhave has accepted the temporary classroom support assistant role that was previously a part of Mrs Mitton’s role.

Mrs Mitton has stepped into the classroom teaching role to release Mrs King. Mrs Turner will also be teaching in the K-2 classroom on Tuesdays. As InitiaLit and MiniLit are still important parts of the K-2 literacy block, Mrs King will continue to teach during these times. 

Covid restrictions

We are currently operating under the no visitors except essential workers rule provided to us by CE.

For this reason, regular canteen orders will not be available next week. Students will be able to order  the following items at lunch time only: party pies, Mrs Macs beef pie, chicken wedges, sausage roll, garlic bread and noodle cup(chicken). Fruit boxes will also be available. 

Here is the latest information from Catholic Education in Canberra regarding the positive Covid case in the Orange/Blayney/Cabonne region. 

On 20 July 2021, a positive COVID-19 case was identified in Blayney, NSW and as a result there is now a stay at home direction in effect. From the beginning of Wednesday 21 July 2021 until the beginning of Wednesday 28  July 2021, the stay at home rules apply to: 

• people who live in or are temporarily staying in the Blayney, Cabonne and Orange local government areas
• anyone who has been in these 3 local government areas since Saturday 17 July 2021. 

This order permits staff and students to attend schools, however they are required to wear a mask (adults and students over 12 years of age unless there are reasons to not do so). We will continue to monitor this situation and provide advice if there is any update. Further information is also available at Central West restrictions | NSW Government. 

Western Region Athletics Carnival

This event has been postponed until further notice. 

Jeans for Genes Day

This year, St Joseph’s School are getting behind Jeans for Genes Day to raise awareness and funds for the Children’s Medical Research Institute’s fight against childhood genetic disease. In doing so, we encourage all students to wear denim to school on Friday the 6^th of August. Students may choose to wear jeans or a denim jacket. The options are limited only by your imagination. Please remember to bring along a donation to support this very worthwhile cause. Thank you for your valued support!

Enrolments for 2022

Any parents considering enrolling their children at St Joseph’s in 2022 are asked to contact the school at your convenience.