Dear parents and carers,

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed all  students back to school this week. Face to face teaching and learning is so much better than the alternatives we have had to contend with while working through the challenges created by the Covid 19 pandemic. Let us hope and pray that we will continue to see restrictions ease over the term so that we can ALL be together face to face!

Congratulations to the following students who won their year group competitions for public speaking and will now progress to the next level.

Year 3- Saskia McLelland and Georgia Conron

Year 4- Camilla Gibson and Milla Metcalfe

Year 5- Emma Clifton and Charlotte Turner

Year 6- Genevieve McLelland and Charlie Ryan

We wish these students all the best for Friday when they will compete against students from St Mary’s in Young to move on to the Western Region Public Speaking competition. The students will present their speeches online, through Teams, and they will be adjudicated by a teacher from Cootamundra who has been involved with adjudicating public speaking competitions for many years.

It has been a while since we have been able to offer the students a ‘gold reward’ opportunity so I am offering one early in the term (Week 3) for those students who have already earned a gold token and would like to take part. Each student will be able to tie-dye one side of a shirt. If your child chooses to take up this offer, he/she will need to bring a white or light-coloured t-shirt, mask or another small item from home to tie dye.

Students in Years 3 and 5 will be receiving their individual student reports today, from the NAPLAN testing that was completed earlier in the year. Please look for this report in your child’s bag.

NAPLAN test results provide information on how students are performing in the areas of literacy and numeracy and support improvements in teaching and learning. The data from NAPLAN test results gives us important information about how we can support learning for individual students and cohorts.

If you have any questions about your child’s results, please contact the school and we will be happy to discuss your child’s results with you.

Kind Regards

Acting Principal

Welcome back to Term 4.  It is great to be back and see all the students happy and ready to learn. 

Staff Spirituality Session

On Tuesday, our staff began the term with a spirituality session based on the theme of silence, listening, stillness and reflection. This gave staff a chance to slow down and spend time in prayer.  Jesus frequently took time for prayer. What a powerful discipline to cultivate, that models Jesus. 

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall never be shaken. 

Psalm 62: 1-2

Socktober

This year our school is partnering with Catholic Mission by participating in Socktober. We invite our students to connect with young people experiencing challenges in the developing world through education and the world game of soccer. This year, our collective fundraising efforts will support vulnerable children in Thailand through a kindergarten run by the Good Shepherd Sisters in Bangkok. 

As a school, we have the opportunity to contribute in a special way. We would invite you to take a moment to register your child/ren for Socktober so they can join their friends and others to make a difference for children in need in Thailand. Setting up your child’s page will take only a few minutes.   

REGISTER NOW 

https://www.socktober.org.au/join/stjosephsschoolgrenfell 

 The good news is you don’t have to come up with all the funds. The fundraising works by sharing your child’s page with family and friends and asking them to sponsor the effort. In return, your child can set themselves a number of Socktober goals, which can be found in the Mission Packs on the Socktober website (https://www.socktober.org.au/mission-packs), achieving as many as they can.  

You will be asked to pick a fundraising goal when you register. Whatever your child/ren raises towards this goal will support the basic needs of vulnerable children around the world, such as food, clean water, healthcare, and education. You might choose from one of the targets set out below:   

$35 can help towards the cost of school supplies for a child for one year. 

$102 can help towards the meals and snacks for one child at the kindergarten for a year. 

$300 can help purchase milk for all the children at the kindergarten for two weeks. 

$1500 could purchase one school uniform each for all 59 girls at the kindergarten for one year  

In Term 4, we will have a chance as a school to come together at our Socktober Event Day, where students will be kicking goals for kids in need around the world. This is a fun and educational day. 

We will keep you updated in school newsletters as we continue to build momentum towards this.  

Thank you for your support and for helping your child/ren ‘sock it to poverty!’