Dear Parents and Carers,

Learning

The staff took another positive step forward in addressing our school improvement goals this week. We have established a schoolwide ‘Data Wall’ as our first point of call to discuss the growth and development of the all the children at St Jospeh’s. To ensure we maximise every chance of learning for each individual child we have collected data and plotted them according to their achievement of the NESA learning progressions in the area of Maths, more particularly additive strategies. Each child has a picture with their name underneath and key pieces of data that we have collected. These are then placed on a wall with the whole school to show where they are at along the learning progressions. This allows teachers to have focused discussions and set goals for each individual child across a two-week data cycle, where we can then move the children along the progressions.
The interest and conversations that have been sparked by developing the wall have highlighted to me just how invested each teacher is in the growth of all the children across the school. As a staff we now have focal point for discussion about children’s learning as well as having it visible to all teachers, allows other teachers to pose questions and offer suggestions to help all children in improving learning.

Peer Support

This Term we began our peer support program. This is where our Year 6 students, along with some help from Year 5 from time to time, lead cross stage groups through a series of weekly lessons focused on relationships, getting along and overcoming problems. Year 6 have really risen to the occasion, as we all knew, and have successfully engaged everyone across the school in the program. All children have got something out if, but especially the Year 6 children. This is a great program that we have here at our school, and I thank the Stage 3 teachers for the organisational aspects of the program and congratulated our Year 6 children for the commitment and enthusiasm they bring to make it so successful.

Information Night

We had a school information night for families considering enrolling their children at St Joseph’s for 2024. I thank Courtney Porter, Taylor James, Kell York, Leah Hannen and Angela Fuller for staying back and helping out. They really did the make the prospective families feel welcome and showed St Joseph's in a very positive light.
We could not have done the evening with the help of our exceptional school leaders who attended and showed the families around the school. A very special mention to Mya, Sienna and Genevieve. They were given a task to present something about what the school is to them and what happens at our great school. I simply provided them with three different dot points each and whole lot of trust to do a great job. Their leadership really shone as they presented short speeches to the parents.  They could not have done a better job and received a Spirit of St Joseph's award as a result.

Mother’s Day

With Mother’s Day this weekend I wish all the mum’s a happy and blessed day. Hopefully you will feel appreciated and recognised as special and sacred. I thank all mums at the school for everything you do for your children and our community, we do recognise the effort you all continually put into our school.  What an enjoyable morning we had with our special breakfast and liturgy. Happy Mother’s Day!!!!

Catholic Schools Week

As you were advised in the Term Planner before the holidays, Week 4 marks Catholic Schools Week. The theme of Catholic Schools Week this year is 'Encounter'. Since being here this year, I can definitely see our school as a place to encounter. Here at St Josephs's we encounter excellence, effort, enthusiasm and energy every day. More importantly we encounter the Sacred. We see sacredness, in the faces of the beautiful children, the parent relationships and the spirit with which grow and learn together. Please join us at our liturgy on Wednesday 17 May at 1:20pm in the Church and then come and encounter the learning through our open classes. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. 

REMINDER - PUPIL FREE DAY WEDNESDAY 24 MAY - OOSH OPEN

Take care, celebrate often, and go gently.

Brad Fuller

Principal

Walk Safely To School Day

Our school is acknowledging Walk Safely to School Day on Friday May 19th. We recognise the challenges and barriers that stop our students from walking to school, however, Walk Safely to School has an important message that all schools need to address.

National Walk Safely to School Day is a community initiative that aims to raise awareness of the health, road safety, transport and environmental benefits that regular walking (especially to and from school) can provide for the long-term well-being of our children. Now in its 24th year, the annual event encourages parents and teachers to teach road safety skills and support the importance of regular walking, not just on 19 May, but every day. On this day, students will participate in a road safety lesson in their classroom. The message they receive will hopefully teach them how to be a safe pedestrian and the importance of regular walking!

Stewardship and Composting

In term 4 last year, our school was successful in a community grant which enabled us to purchase a worm farm. The worm farm will help reduce food waste and educate the children on recycling and composting. This term, Stage 2 are responsible for collecting the food waste and feeding the worms. Its great to see our gardens growing, worms wiggling and students having fun whilst all doing their bit for our planet!

Community Partnership - Toronto Mens Shed

This Term, our school has established a community partnership with volunteers from Toronto Men’s Shed. In it’s first year, we hope this partnership will be sustainable, allowing more students to take part in the groups.
Each Tuesday during lunch, volunteers David, Mick and Ted, visit the school to support small groups of children with a small building project. They teach the children skills of carpentry, repairing and the opportunity to learn new skills. This term, the groups will be making a habitat box.
In addition to working with David, Mick and Ted, students will learn about composting and reducing food waste and will be responsible for growing, maintaining, and harvesting a bush tucker garden. They can also learn easy, no baking recipes to cook at home.
We thank Toronto Men’s shed for the time, fun and opportunity you are providing for our school. Thank you!
Toronto Men’s Shed Inc. is a member of the Australian Men’s Sheds Association (AMSA) which consists of almost 1,200 men’s sheds throughout Australia, with many more being started in other countries as well. The various sheds provide spaces for men of all ages to get together to build and repair things or just a chat over a cuppa. If you would like more information on the Men’s Shed, please visit the URL below.

About Toronto Men's Shed

Aspire Song Writing Competition

Congratulations year 3/4M who have progressed to the next stage of the ASPIRE song writing competition with their original song ‘Captain Gerald’s Mum’

3/4M are one of 9 Primary Schools in our diocese to have reached the Final. Over 50 entries were submitted, this is an amazing accomplishment. Thank you to Mrs Pockran for your support with this!

As a shortlisted entrant 3/4M had the opportunity to workshop your song with guest workshop leader, Jessica Lopez. Jess helped 3/4M refine their music chords, melody and pronunciation of the lyrics.

3/4M performed their song last night -  Thursday 11 May 2023 at the Factory Theatre, Adamstown at 6.00 pm. The winner of the competition was decided on the night, and they will also have the opportunity to perform and share your song with an audience.

Congratulations again!

Holy Week – Easter Sunday Liturgy

I hope you all had a blessed day on Easter Sunday celebrating with family and friends!

Thank you to 2M for leading us in the Holy Week, Easter Sunday Liturgy on the first day back at school! They did a great job remembering and practicing over the holidays to be ready to tell the story of Jesus Resurrection.

ANZAC Liturgy

It is always a pleasure to attend the Toronto Anzac Day March, as a teacher, and see so many of our students gathered and excited to represent our school so well as they march down The Boulevarde to Goffet Park. Thank you to all those who attended on the day and to the 5/6 students who lead our school’s ANZAC Liturgy on the first morning back at school. You lead our school so well in remembering those who have worked hard and sacrificed for our country. ANZAC Day is also a day that reminds us to continue to pray for peace as there is still unrest and wars being fought around the world.

Mother’s Day

To the Mums and mother figures, I hope you have a lovely day on Sunday celebrating you and all that you do for your children, and those that you care for so lovingly! May we also remember and celebrate those who have passed; The way that they have shaped our lives and the special memories of them that we hold so dear.

God Bless,

Taylor James

RE Co-ordinator

A big thanks to all the children who supported the Mother's Day Raffle.  Some great prizes were won and nearly $300 was raised for Catholic Mission!!  Well done St Joseph's:

Congratulations to Mrs Woollett who competed in the Port Mac Ironman 70.3 last weekend and came 3^rdin her age group!!!! She beat her time in the race last year by over 30 minutes and made a new personal best for herself! She has now qualified for the World Championship Ironman 70.3 in FINLAND, which will be held in August! What an amazing effort!

Congratulations again Beth! You inspire us all to have a go and to always try our best to achieve our dreams! Good luck in your training and we wish you all the best for the World Campionship in Finland!

Welcome to Term 2 in St Joseph’s Library.
We have begun another great term of reading, researching and exploring some fantastic books and technology.

St Joseph’s has a wonderful collection of books that we encourage all students to borrow.

The Library is open during lunch times on Wednesday – Friday and the children love coming in to enjoy books, chess, games and writing or drawing. It is a great social activity for them and it’s lovely to watch them interact with each other and enjoy creating. Students are also able to borrow during lunchtimes on these days.

Many parents and carers often wonder if a book is appropriate for their child. A great resource to help with this is Common Sense Media . This website allows parents/carers to search books, games, apps, movies and websites to view whether it is age appropriate and what its content contains.

Library borrowing occurs weekly for students. 

Students are able to keep the books for two weeks, although most

 return them for new ones each week. If students would like to keep books for longer than 2 weeks, we ask that they bring them to the Library and renew them.

Infants borrowing day is Monday.
Primary borrowing is Tuesdays.

I am very blessed to have some wonderful helpers in the library. Our Library monitors volunteer at lunchtimes to help organise resources, put books away and keep the Library neat and tidy. THANK YOU to those students.

PRC

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is an initiative by the NSW Government that encourages a love of reading in students from Kinder to Year 9. It is not a competition but a challenge to each student to read widely and enjoy reading. Students are each given an individual username and password to log onto the PRC website. There they can add the PRC books they have read to their reading record. Students who complete the challenge will have their names displayed in the library and the newsletter. At the end of the year they will receive a certificate to show their achievement. At St Joey’s we also like to celebrate with a Pizza Party for those students that complete the challenge in term four. The challenge continues until 19th August.

The PRC Website can be found here:

Students in Infants that are participating in the PRC can count the books read in Library as part of their PRC reading records. This term during Library lessons, students have read the following PRC books:

Kindergarten

 Spot's First Easter by Eric Hill

The Wrong Book by Nick Bland

Kinder: Aaryan S.

Year 1: Beau W, Jude W, Phoebe E.

Year 4: Matilda D.

Year 5: Eve B.

Sora

St Joseph’s has a subscription to SORA. Sora is an eBook and audio book Library. As part of the Australian Catholic Education Network (ACEN) member collection, your child can access eBooks and audio books through the Maitland Newcastle Diocese.
All you need to do is to download the SORA app or go to the website and sign in through the
ACEN membership, then you and your child can enjoy some terrific books on your devices at home.

One of the great features of SORA is the inclusion of a Premier Reading Challenge book section. Graphic novels, Fiction and Non-Fiction books are also available.

Log in and explore today.

Bookclub

At St Joseph’s we participate in Scholastic Book Club. This provides families with an easy way to encourage your children to read. Twice each term students will bring home a catalogue of affordable and fun books that you may purchase. All money spent through Book Club benefits the school, as a percentage of money raised is given back to the school as reward points for the Library to purchase fantastic resources.
The current Bookclub is due: Monday 15th May

If you have any questions about anything in the Library, feel free to send me an email.

Happy reading,

Leah Hannan

Teacher Librarian and ER Teacher

leah.hannan@mn.catholic.edu.au 

During Term 2, all students in Year 2 and Year 4 will participate in the  Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT). This assessment tool will provide us with a snapshot of students’ general reasoning abilities in terms of the level and pattern of cognitive development compared with students of similar age and learning stage. This will provide us with information around student verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning capability that will assist our teachers to deliver the richest and meaningful learning programs possible.

The dates for CogAT Testing are as follows:

• Year 4 – Wednesday 10th May 2023 (9:15 am – 12 pm)
• Year 2 – Monday 15th May, Tuesday 16th May & Thursday 18th May (9:20 am – 10:20 am)

Please contact  John Hession for further information.

Thanks,

John Hession
Aboriginal Education Teacher / Learning Support Teacher (CILS) / Gifted Education Mentor

Please note that slushies are available again

But we also have Nippy's frozen cups (kids call them Ice Crushers).

Supply of hash browns is very difficult and we have had to temporarily delete them from the menu.  They will be reinstated as soon as supply is available.

Here is the latest menu for your reference.  Please send any questions to admin@kilabenbay.catholic.edu.au or call the school office on 4959 1355

Unfortunately, due to increases in supply prices, there will be a very slight increase in the price of some hot food items.  These will be advised early next term.

Some reminders:

Pre-ordered frozen beverages

Supply Changes

Please note that vegemite scrolls are no longer available and bacon and cheese rolls have not been popular enough for them to stay on the menu.

Lunch Order Issues

Volunteer Roster

Every helper is so appreciated and we extend our sincere thanks to our wonderful regulars, together with the new volunteers who are just starting out.  Although a couple of new people have registered (big thanks!), we will need more people.  As with any volunteer position at school you must be registered.

If you are able to offer help, please send an email to admin@kilabenbay.catholic.edu.au and Margaret Livingstone or Susie Doran will help with your volunteer registration.   

See the Roster below.  Thank you to our wonderful volunteers!  Your children would not benefit from all the canteen has to offer without you!!

If you are unable to make it on your rostered day, please either text Tracey or call the school office:

Week 4

17.5.23 - Suzanne Golsby

18.5.23 - Yasmin Every-Burns, Nicole Davison

19.5.23 - Sarah Morris, Cheryl Henriques

Week 5

24.5.23 - Michelle Cherniayeff

25.5.23 - Merryn Compton, Jade Davison

26.5.23 - Callan Douglas

Over the Counter Sales / Recess Qkr ordering

Some healthy snack items are available for pre-order and payment on Qkr for Recess.

If you would like your child to have a recess snack, please place a comment in the "note to staff" section when selecting your item.

Thank you

Margaret Livingstone

and Tracey Ryan-Ward

Thanks very much to our lovely families (and also some former families) for your generous donations!  As the children grow older, there seems to be a bit less wear left in the clothes, but still need larger sizes (Size 12 - 16) if you have any at home (or know a former family who is having a clean out).

We are also looking for donations of winter uniforms of ALL sizes.  Thank you!

The new format of our pre-loved uniform shop continues with items of clothing presented in a much easier way for purchase.  Current prices are:

- All “good quality” clothing - $5 a piece, except sports jackets, which are $10.

- All “ok quality” clothing is still a gold coin donation.

Of course we will always look after those families who need it the most.

DONATIONS ARE GRATEFULLY RECEIVED, so please check through your child's uniforms to see whether they are growing out of them and send surplus ones in to the school office (on carline drop off is fine).  A reminder that the larger sizes of good quality uniforms e.g. 12, 14, and 16 are needed. Thank you! A Lowes pricelist is attached to remind you of the cost of new uniforms.  It's a reminder that PLUS runs a very cost effective service that supports our school.

To make credit card payment for your items, please download the Commonwealth Bank Qkr app (see school office staff for details) and choose 

P & F - PLUS - Pre-loved Uniform Shop + New Hats

and type in the total amount for the items you are purchasing

A reminder there are two suppliers for new school uniforms, particularly as the children are in their winter uniforms now:

> Verdun Hiles have stocked St Joseph's uniforms since the school's beginning.
They carry a full range of stock except girls' shorts (they haven’t got the girls shorts in yet as they are awaiting a sample).  The majority of their items are Australian made, resulting in a top quality finish.  Also a good option when Lowes are out of stock.
> Call in and check it out.  They also stock the same colour but thicker winter stock of girls pants than the Lowes brand.  So if you want to support local, you have the choice.

> See Val at Verdun Hiles
> 88 The Boulevarde Toronto
> Ph 02 49591258

Also Lowes Glendale stock a full range.  Some sizes go out of stock from time to time but we wanted to let you know that you may be able to get it at Verdun Hiles instead. 

Lowes, Stockland Glendale - 20% off next thursday and Friday 4 and 5 August.
387 Lake Road
Phone 02 4956 8570

How to Order

If you're looking for a particular uniform item, please try us first as sometimes we’ve had items with the price tags still attached.   Please email direct to the P & F Volunteers on joeyspandf@hotmail.com

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS in the message as our volunteers do not have access to the different family surnames to make connections to students - therefore please use your child's name as well as your name.  Unfortunately school admin staff are not able to leave the office to fill orders, so please use the email address above.

Thank you!

THE PLUS TEAM

Would you child like to learn guitar?  We have a guitar group here at St Joseph's where children receive tuition from professional teachers at school.  For more information, please contact Ricky direct on 0407 534 944:

Our Bus Timetables are available to download for your reference.  Please note that we have simplified the bus numbers so that younger children are able to remember which bus they catch.  See below for our Bus Number Table Reference:

Please note a paper Term Planner was sent home with each family last term.  An updated paper copy will also be sent home in the next week or so.

However, please continue to check your Compass app for daily information shown in orange.

REMINDER PUPIL FREE DAY WEDNESDAY 24TH MAY - OOSH OPEN