Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the 2019 school year, I trust that it will be both a happy and successful one for all of us! It has been fabulous to see the children looking bright and excited about the new school year.

Welcome to our 2019 Kinder students – Emily, Charlie, Ethan Harry and Jed.  We are all looking forward to getting to know you and working with you during this year.

There are always lots of questions when starting in Kinder, please feel free to check with staff if necessary to help answer these questions as they come up.

As always the beginning of the new year brings changes and new opportunities.

This week, Mrs Heath and Miss Schneider are working with colleagues in Canberra and staff from the Berry St School in Melbourne to look at how children respond in stressful and challenging circumstances.

We have also made some adjustments to the teaching of Maths here at school.  Mrs Heath will be working in a team teaching environment with both K/1 and 5/6.  We believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to develop their numeracy skills.

At the very end of last term, the irrigation system was serviced and upgraded.  This means that we now have in place an automatic watering system. The storms over the summer have filled the tanks to over half full. The auto irrigation was turned on last week – there will be a noticeable change in the lawn on the oval over the next few weeks.

Thank you to the P & F for working to ensure the success of this idea to make our oval a green space.  It has been a long project, that has involved the persistence many people at different points in time.

Given that the summer has been very hot and dry our advice has been to avoid laying turf at this time. We will be looking to start planting some kikuyu grass runners in the coming weeks.

Thank you to those who worked on clearing the catheads from the oval – you have done a fantastic job to stop the spread of this annoying weed.

Representative Sport – please be aware that the Archdiocese has made substantial changes to the process used for nominating or expressing an interest for any of our Archdiocesan sporting trials.  Children in Yrs 4/5/6 have received a separate note about these trials today.  Some information is also included in this newsletter.

Emergency Contacts/Medical Updates- At the start of every year there are many things that we need to update here at school. An update form was sent home yesterday, and another is attached to this newsletter.  This is the general permission slip and the emergency contact information sheet. Please fill in this form and return it to school, so that we will be able to contact you easily if need be.

This also helps us to be aware of any allergies that your children may have. Please note that if your child is an asthma sufferer it is up to you to provide an asthma plan to us at school.

It is important to return this update sheet to school as soon as possible, as many children have allergies to different items, sometimes these are food based allergies and sometimes children have other triggers that cause their allergic reactions.

Making this information available to school staff helps us to be aware of possible situations that may cause an allergic reaction.  If your child needs to have medication at school, please send a note to the front office explaining times and dosages.

Food at school - Did you know that many different foods such as cakes, salad dressings, health bars, nut bars, seafood, ice creams or even breakfast cereals can cause allergic reactions?

With this in mind, we discourage our children from sharing their lunches and snacks.

Parent Information Evening — our Parent information evening is to be held on Thursday February 21. We are looking forward to meeting you and sharing with you, information about your child’s class in 2019. 

Personal Equipment – Please be aware that the children should not be bringing personal mobile phones/toys/iPod etc. from home to school.  Please contact the office if you need to get a message to your child, we will let your child know of changes to their routines.

School will not be responsible for any loss or damage caused to these items.

Volunteer Checks – we are endeavouring to ensure that our processes at school are in line with those across a range of areas.

As such it is time to remind everyone to ensure that your volunteer checks are up to date.  If you have not sent a copying of your most recent volunteer check to school, please update it through the following website:

http://www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/child-safe-organisations/working-with-children-check/apply/apply

There is no cost for volunteer checks. 

If you already have a current volunteer WWCC as part of your involvement in children’s sports or other programs outside of school, we would appreciate if you would send a copy to school.

We thank you for your understanding and cooperation in completing these checks. 

Library - Well done to everyone who has been looking out for overdue library books and returning these to school. 

So far this week, a book has been returned that has been on loan for 1345 days… that book is now back on the shelves for someone else to borrow.

Our Library lessons have begun this week.  Library days are as follows:

2/3/4 – Monday

5/6 – Tuesday

K/1/2 – Wednesday

Everyone is asked to bring their Library bag to school on their designated day.  Using a library bag simply helps to keep books in one location, either at school or at home.  A library bag can be a pillow slip, a special bag that you have or a plastic bag.

All children will be borrowing from our Library.

We will also be participating in this year’s NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge, so feel free to begin reading at home, we will also be reading books at school that can be included in the reading tally for the Challenge.  More information will be coming home about the challenge as it comes to hand.

Calendar – we have been updating our calendar as dates for this year come to hand.  We include a calendar in each newsletter, hopefully this will help you to know the dates for the various events that take place during our school year.

Our school calendar can also be found on the school website at:

https://www.stjosephsgrenfell.nsw.edu.au/

Planning is already well underway this year’s Yr. 3-6 camp at the Jindabyne Sport & Rec Camp.  More information will be coming home next week.

Swimming Carnival - You may already be aware that our swimming carnival will be held next Thursday February 7 at the Grenfell Aquatic Centre.

More information about the carnival will be sent home in a separate note.  Please return your responses to school by Monday. Those parents who are available to help out on the day are asked to make contact with us here at school, to help with the planning for the event.

Swim Safe – please note that the second SwimSafe instalment will be during Wk. 3.  Additional information will be sent home separately next week.

Sincerely,   

Therese Clancy

Principal

REC News

Welcome back to the new school year! On Tuesday morning, the teachers began their Professional Development Day, and the new school year, with reflection and prayer. Here is the closing prayer from their reflection time.

We thank you Lord, for all that was good during the summer, for the love of our family and friends, and for the time to do some things we wanted to do. As we begin a new school year we ask for your help and pray for your blessing on everybody in this school. Show us how to work together for the good of all.

Lord God, your Spirit of wisdom fills our lives and teaches us your ways. Look upon our young people. May they enjoy their learning and take delight in new discoveries. Help them to persevere in their studies and give them the desire to learn all things well. Look upon us as we follow in your footsteps as teachers of your words and ways. 

May we strive to share knowledge with gentle patience and endeavour always to bring the truth to eager minds. May we share our talents and abilities to the full and grow in knowledge, wisdom and happiness. Give us the grace to become more like Jesus in the ways we think and behave. During this school year, let us become builders of your ways and instruments of your peace. Show us how to work together for the good of all. We ask this through Jesus, Your Son and the greatest of all teachers.

Amen

Leslie King