Dear Parents and Carers,

During our third week of term, everyone has been very busy, across a range of different activities.

You are receiving this newsletter in the middle of our Yr. 3-6 excursion to Canberra.  Our trip is inclusive of a number of well-known Canberra landmarks and some lessor known activities.  We look forward to sharing more with you about the trip next week.

School Fees – please be aware that Term 4 school fee notices have been sent home.  Thank you to those families who have already paid the fees for this term.  This is greatly appreciated.

If your family is experiencing difficulties paying school fees, please make contact with Therese Clancy at school for assistance.  There are a number of options available to assist when people are experiencing financial challenges.

ABC – during this term, we have been speaking with the children about using a simple method of reminding ourselves to be the best people and learners possible.

Our ABC explains what we need to be doing in order to be able to make the most of each day both at school and elsewhere in life.

Aspire – to be our best

Believe – that Jesus is with us

Connect – with each other, the world and God

When we remember these three aspects of our day at school then days will flow smoothly and we will get the most out of our learning.

Kinder Transition - Orientation mornings for our 2019 Kinder students will be held in November.  If you are aware of any parents who would like their child to participate in our transition program, please invite them to make contact with us at school.

The dates for this year’s program are as follows: November 7 and 14, 21 and 28.  These days are an opportunity for children to come along and learn some more about “big school” routines.  Everyone is welcome to join our Transition program.

Thank you to those families who have already returned completed and returned enrolment forms for our new Kinder students.

If you need an enrolment form, please let us know and we will send one home to you.

Please be aware that Mrs Nichola Baker has been appointed to the Office Administration role and Mrs Eloise Hinde has been appointed to the Learning Support Assistant role.

Both Mrs Hinde and Mrs Baker work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

We welcome you both to St Joseph’s and trust that you will enjoy working with students and staff.

This process was supported by the system wide Recruitment team.

Sport – well done to those children who are represented us in the touch football event at Boorowa last week.    The teams were very successful on the day.  Thank you to all parents for your help with transport and team manager roles, your support is appreciated.

Bikes – in recent times, there has been some discussion here at school about having the bikes (from our sports shed) available for use.

You may also be aware that there is a great deal of of discussion in the media about having children participate in play that involves additional decision making during recess and lunch breaks.  Obviously, bike riding has additional risks that may not be a part of our existing playtime opportunities.

If you are comfortable with your child/ren using the bikes at recess/lunch times, please send written permission of this to school.

The bikes will only be available to those children for whom we have received written permission.  Different classes will use the bikes on different days of the week, and we will have times for the girls to ride, and times for the boys to ride.

Please be aware that the children who are riding at school must wear one of the helmets whilst on the bikes.

Armistice Day – The Remembrance Day service will be held on Sunday November 11 commencing at 10:45am.  Everyone is welcome to join us at the service at the Cenotaph.  For those attending the commemoration service, please wear your summer school uniform.

K/1/2 English – K/1/2 are asking for your help – if you have any empty cardboard boxes, plastic containers, plastic bottles or netting, please send these to K/1/2. The items will be put to good use in their English unit of work this term. Thank you.

Please note that there may need to be a change of date for our end of year Mass and graduation celebration, I believe that we will be able to confirm this by next week, thank you for your patience with this.

Sincerely,

Therese Clancy

Principal

Aspire to be your best…

For the last two weeks, we have been asking the students to reflect on what they think this phrase means and what it might look like in the school setting. Here is a story that I found that helped me to see this phrase from a new perspective.

Perhaps the starfish story helps us to understand that aspiring to be better people does not always mean huge changes. Constant small improvements in the ways that we interact with people, respond to the challenges of work assignments, and the choices we make to protect the environment, can all be ways of demonstrating our desire to aspire to be better people.

Leslie King

This term the Year 3/4 students are being encouraged to accept more personal responsibility for their learning. In English, this means looking at their writing carefully and being open to using classroom tools such as dictionaries and thesauruses to make their writing more sophisticated. It also means working with their peers to learn how to give and accept constructive feedback in order to make their writing more appealing to the reader. Year 3/4 students will also be given the opportunity to work with students in other classrooms who share their interests and can help them to write their ideas in more detail.

While most students in Year 3/4 are independent readers, we will be continuing to challenge them to read a variety of genres in order to build their fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. It is important for them to read quality literature that is demanding in terms of its language, in order for them to face the challenges of the reading they will do in other areas of the curriculum, such as Science and Technology and History.

Our history unit this term has us examining documents and ideas about First Contact, which refers to the arrival of Europeans and their first contact with the Australian Aboriginal people. The students have already begun to critically analyse some diary entries written by Captain Cook in order to begin to understand the two very different perspectives of these two groups of people as they made contact with one another.

Our RE unit this term focuses on leadership and action. The students will be looking at leaders and the choices they make. How do the words and actions of leaders demonstrate their characteristics? Do some leaders say one thing but do another? If they truly believe in something, what do leaders do about it? These questions will also be used to reflect on Jesus’ words and actions as a leader.

In Mathematics, the students have been looking at division and how it relates to multiplication. They have been testing numbers, and finding and proving divisibility rules, for all numbers, including numbers in the millions. The next Maths unit will focus on financial literacy. The students will gain a better understanding of the decimal system and how it informs our money system. They will solve problems using money amounts and will learn to represent decimals using concrete materials, diagrams and number lines.

Sensei Ken is teaching the students the Japanese names for parts of the body. We are also having fun learning familiar songs such as ‘Head and shoulders, knees and toes’ in Japanese.

In all areas of the curriculum, students in Year 3/4 are being challenged to think critically, work cooperatively in groups of all sizes, organise the necessary materials and use class time appropriately in order to complete tasks in an efficient and effective manner.