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Dear parents and carers,
Week 3 of this term has seen us working hard across several different activities.
Our week began with the annual school photo day, everyone looked very smart in their winter uniform. We are looking forward to seeing the results of the morning in a few weeks’ time.
Thanks to everyone who came to school as a superhero last Friday, it was terrific to see so many making an extra effort with their outfit in support of Bear Cottage, a very worthy cause.
Update for Families on COVID-19 - St Joseph’s School and Catholic Education continue to take advice from health authorities in relation to COVID-19. The Catholic Education Office has a team that is actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation as it develops, paying particular attention to local hotspots and organising support for schools where required. St Joseph’s School is practicing all safe hygiene practices in line with government advice. We understand that the situation is fairly fluid, and we will communicate directly with you should there be any important changes in relation to our school operations in the coming weeks. We remind all families:
- If your child is unwell, they should not attend school.
- Please ensure that anyone who presents with COVID-19 symptoms in your family is tested.
- Parents should avoid routinely entering the school where possible but can attend scheduled school events and meetings with teachers where required (physical distancing and hygiene measures still apply).
Should you have any questions in relation to our school and COVID-19, please feel free to contact our office.
Public Speaking - We have been working in conjunction with St Mary’s School at Young to prepare for our inter school public speaking event for this year. In 2020, we will be conducting this event online via Zoom in Week 9.
Information about the event has been given to the children in Yrs. 2-6, they should be preparing their speech for our school-based event. Our public speaking will take place on 24/08 (Week 6).
Changes to routine - Thank you to those families who are keeping us informed when children are absent from school, or there are changes to the regular routine. Please make it your custom to check in at the office if your children are running late to school – we appreciate your efforts to do this.
The annual satisfaction survey of parents, students and staff will be conducted on behalf of all Catholic schools in the Diocese this term. The surveys are designed to gather feedback from parents, staff and students about our school and will be used to inform school improvement. Responses are confidential and individuals cannot be identified. The surveys will be launched via email on Friday 7 August 2020 using the email addresses supplied to the school.
In terms of our behaviour management, we are focusing on participating in all activities. This involves having a go at all activities that are available to us at school. Sometimes it is easy to say, “I don’t want to…” or “I don’t like that, so I don’t have to…”. Sadly, this is seen as an easy way to avoid trying out new activities. Whereas, a positive “can do” or “I can try this out” approach can open up chances to try out new activities and learnings.
Next week, we will welcome Chelsea Anderson to St Joseph’s. Chelsea will be working in Yr. 5/6 to complete her final practical component of her teaching degree. We are looking forward to working with her during the coming weeks.
Book Club – flyers were sent home last week, please finalise your orders by tomorrow.
Take care and stay safe,
Last Friday was ‘Dress up as your superhero day” at St Joseph’s School. Along with Wonder woman, the Hulk, Batman and Spiderman, some children and teachers chose less obvious superheros. We had scientists, doctors, farmers and to quote Mr Martens, “the unsung heroes of the Australian economy…truckies.”
I chose my ‘costume’ to show that my heroes are all the people (doctors, nurses, radiographers, oncologists, scientists etc.) who work so hard to ensure that people like me can be breast cancer survivors. August 1 was the first day of my month-long challenge of ‘Stepping Up to Breast Cancer.’ Each day during August, I have made a commitment to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps to show my support, and raise money, for this great cause. My real hope is that one day no one will have to worry about breast cancer…but in the meantime, I am doing my little bit to support the people who are out there working so hard.
So, who is your superhero?
Year Two/Three/Four have been making many new discoveries in our Key Learning Areas of Religious Education and History. As part of our studies, we recently participated in a walking excursion to visit some of the local churches, places of worship and places if significance close by.
We are very thankful that Warwick allowed us to explore Grenfell Hall (old St Joseph’s Convent) as this enabled us to understand some of the people that were an important part of establishing our parish and our school. We also very much appreciate the opportunity that Reverend Ross afforded us in being able to explore both inside and outside Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Middle Street, and the patient and generous way he took the time to answer all our wonderings.
We are looking forward to a visit from Mr Herden next Friday to share the knowledge we have been developing around the ways town and parish communities have their own past, revealed in different ways through the cooperation and collaboration of the people that were and are part of them.
We were very interested to explore the similarities and differences between the places of worship that we visited. When we returned, we wrote about the things that we had discovered on our excursion.
We also investigated a foundation stone for Grenfell which is situated adjacent to the Post Office. The stone commemorates Cornelius O’Brien’s discovery of gold in the area which facilitated the development of the town of Grenfell.
