Newsletter Term 4 Week 10
Principal's Report
The count down is well and truly on now! Only 5 school days left for the children.
I'd like to take this opportunity to farewell a few members of our school community. The Soulsby and (Billy) Fitzpatrick families have been a part of our St Joseph's family for the past 12 years and on Tuesday, we see their last child graduate. We would like to thank Hayley, Adam, Kylie and Billy for all of your support over the journey. Kylie and Hayley have both been president of the CCSA at different times and Adam was on the school council for a number of years. Our school doesn't function without the dedication and support of our parents and these 2 families will be sorely missed. Thankyou for your contribution to our school.
It is also time to say farewell to Lynne McRae. Lynne has been our Learning Support Officer for the past 9 years and it is now time for her and Robyn to move onto the next chapter of their lives in retirement. Lynne has been a wonderful asset to our school. No job was too much whether it be working with children both in the classroom and during intervention programs, gardening, spring cleaning, wall displays and in recent years taking charge of the library. That is just to name a few of the things Lynne does around the school. Lynne you will be sorely missed. We appreciate everything you have done during your time here at St Joes and we wish you all the best in your retirement. We hope you get a chance to go and see a bit more of the world.
To the Soulsby's, Fitpatrick's and Lynne remember you will always be a part of the St Joey's family. We wish you well in the future and feel free to pop in for a visit anytime.
Today the Grade 5 and 6 students will be completing the Reconciliation program with Bernadette Zagame and tonight at 6:00p.m. they will receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. We congratulate these students on receiving the Sacrament and we thank Mrs Zagame and Fr Gerry for giving up their time to prepare the children for this important milestone in their lives.
On Monday we have our CCSA fun day. I'm not sure what surprises they have in store for us but I'm sure we will all have a great day. I know there will be hot dogs for lunch so the children won't need to bring lunch on Monday (unless they don't like hot dogs!)
Tuesday is graduation day. The children who are reading at Mass have taken a copy of their readings home to practice with mum or dad. Please ask your child if they have one in their bag. This does not have to come back to school. Graduation Mass starts at 6:00p.m. in the Church. As I said last week, every child has a special job. So if you are not planning on being there, please let me know ASAP so I can alter the jobs we have. The children are to wear neat casual clothes to Mass and after Mass, we all move over to the quadrangle for a BBQ tea. Please remember to BYO drinks. There are tables and seats in the quadrangle, but you can bring your own chair if you please. I only have one volunteer to cook the BBQ so far. If there are some dads (or mums) who would like to help him, please let me know as soon as possible. I know we have some new families who have not been to our Graduation before. Please give me a call if you are unsure of anything and I will be more than happy to talk you through.
Please remember, everyone who attends Graduation or the BBQ afterwards must be double vaxxed. A copy of your certificate must be sighted by the staff member at the door of the Church before entry. It might be easier to drop in and see me before hand and show me your certificate or even text a photo so I can mark you on the registry. Once you are on the registry, you will not be required to show it again. I also remind everyone to QR code in when entering the Church and again when entering the school quadrangle.
Can I remind you all to please give your childrens school bags a good clean out at the end of the year. There are all sorts of interesting and not so tasty treasures lurking in the bottom of some of the bags at the moment. They could be very nasty by the end of January if not cleaned out next week.
It is also a good time to go through the uniform drawers and add some of the older, 'tattier' uniforms to the rag bag. Please remember we always have school uniform available through the office and it is very reasonably priced. We also have a number of second hand uniforms that are free to good homes. (The only thing we don't have second hand is yellow polos.) Please ensure all the rags are replaced before next year. We take pride in our school uniform.
School will finish at 3:00 on Wednesday 15th December and the 2022 school year will begin on Tuesday 1st February, 2022 for the children.
And on that note, I will say thank you to all that have supported me in the acting Principal role over the past 7 weeks. Its been fun to be involved with the children again but its now time to hand the reins back over to Frank who will be back on deck Tuesday night at graduation and Wednesday for the last day of school. This will be the last newsletter for 2021.
I hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and can celebrate with your family and friends. I look forward to seeing you all back in 2022.
Merry Xmas
Cate Olive - Acting Principal
Upcoming Dates
13th December - Monday Fun Day - CCSA to organise
14th December - Graduation
15th December - Students last day
16th & 17th December - Staff Planning
1st February - Students first day 2022
7th February - Swimming Programme begins
3rd March - School Photos
Foundation, 1, 2 Class News
This week in the Prep/1/2 class, the students have been keeping busy with their learning as the year comes to an end – finishing off tasks, revising learning and participating in some Christmas themed craft and activities.
In writing, after all the hard work they’ve been putting in, the students have completed their final copy of their Information Reports on an animal of their choice. The process of writing has taken some time now as the students have learnt how to edit, review, simplify and extend their written ideas. Once their drafts were completed, the students had to work with a partner to revise what they had written and practise giving one another tips or feedback for improvement. After this step was undertaken, the student would bring their ‘final draft’ to the teacher for conferencing 1:1. Once each section of writing was given the ‘okay’, the students wrote out each section in their neatest and best writing (the final copy). Each section was given a title – Habitat, Classification, Description & Dynamics and was then glued onto a coloured background. After all their hard work, the students braved an audience (Grades 3-6) to present their information reports to the class. We also finished off their matching dioramas, which were supposed to accurately display their animal’s habitat/environment. Well done to the entire class for all their hard work on these projects, you have done a fantastic job and should be very proud with what you have achieved!
Last Thursday we took off on our ‘Charlton History Scavenger Hunt’ around town. The students were put into groups of 3 and given a map of the town and a clipboard with a clue sheet to complete together. The students thoroughly enjoyed exploring the locality of Charlton, where we visited such places as: 'The Courthouse', ‘The Rotary Club’, ‘The Powerhouse’, ‘The Fire Brigade’, 'The James Patterson Bridge, Elliott Gardens & War Memorial', 'The Bridge Store (the oldest surviving building in town)', 'The Rex Theatre' and the ‘Post Office’. The students demonstrated a very good understanding of the changes that have taken place in Charlton over time and the senior students each presented an oral presentation about some of the well-known landmarks around the town as we came across them.
In class we have examined and commented on, old photographs and newspaper articles about Charlton and the students have shown a growing understanding around how daily lives and places have changed over time. We’ve compared learning in a modern-day classroom to going to school in the olden days and it has been very interesting to discuss understandings, experiences and stories as a group.
Scavenger Hunt
F/1/2 Reports and Dioramas
3, 4, 5, 6 Class News
Literacy: Students have nearly finished their unit on bushranger cooking. They have been reading and writing about typical foods that bushrangers and people alive during the 1800s would have eaten, how they stored and preserved them and what ingredients bushrangers and everyday people would have had access to. Students have really enjoyed cooking as bushrangers might have. In small guided groups students have been consolidating their skills in reading, interpreting and summarising information.
Maths: students are continuing to complete their work on revision in their Maths Plus books. They are consolidating various concepts and mental strategies to solve word and number problems. Students are starting to explore Christmas themed Maths which they are really enjoying.
Religion: students have explored ways that people can care for one another during Christmas and planned some ways that they will be giving to others this Christmas season.
Emergency Management Training
On Wednesday after school, the staff completed their Emergency Management Training with Chris Tasic of Specialists On Safety. This is a requirement of all DOBCEL schools. We discussed safety/lockdown drills, the emergency management plan and safety around the school. We then went to the carpark and put out some fires with the fire blanket and the fire extinguisher. That was a new experience! How many of us have actually ever used a fire extinguisher? We look forward to practicing our drills next year with the students. I've attached some photos...I'm not sure we were supposed to have as much fun as we did!!!
Thank you
I'd like to say a huge thank you to Lynne McRae and Emily Lanyon who have spent hours in the garden weeding, pruning and cleaning all the plants up as well as blowing the quadrangle clean with the blowers. Thanks Lynne and Emily. It looks fantastic. We might have to hire you back next year Lynne!
Humour
