Dear Parents and Carers,

It was wonderful to see so many families at our school this week for our Parent Information Night and our Beginning of the Year Mass. Education needs to be a partnership between the school, students and their families. Having closer connections with families through these events solidifies this relationship and strengthens the educational experience for your children. If you ever have any questions for your child’s teacher, please contact the office, and we can organise a mutually beneficial time for you to meet face-to-face or organise a callback.

On Tuesday, our Parents and Friends Association met for the first time this year. One of the items that were discussed was looking at our summer uniform and gauging an opinion on its practicality, as well as whether it is meeting the needs of families. You will find a button below for a feedback form that we are using to gather sentiments and opinions. The last time we communicated a similar survey, we only had 31 responses. This time it would be a great opportunity to canvas a few more families, so if, in the future, the school was to make any changes to uniforms, we have consulted widely with the school community

I want to assure all that this is not a quick process and is something that will take a period of time to get a consensus on any changes or no changes to our summer uniforms.

Next week (hopefully!), we will have a new solar system installed. This replacement is due to the older system sustaining damage after extreme winds at the end of 2021. One element of this that we hope to utilise is sharing how much energy is generated with our students and community. This links with our diocese’s ‘Laudato Si’ obligations as set out by Pope Francis. As a system of schools, during 2023, we will be auditing the energy usage and looking at maximising our solar production and water storage systems across our schools. Further information on this process will be communicated later in the year.

Last week I was privileged to join other principals from the Armidale Catholic Schools system in Gunnedah. We completed learning walks at St Mary’s College and viewed the newly constructed spaces at St Xavier’s Primary School. It was great talking with learners from other schools and seeing how their learning structure is based on the same structure we utilise here at St Joseph’s Wee Waa. The non-negotiables that our Catholic schools use, such as the uninterrupted literacy block, gradual release of responsibility model of teaching and using common approaches to teach maths and other key learning areas, are truly helping our schools improve and strive for better learning outcomes for all students.

While at the principal's meeting, we launched our new diocesan school prayer. Each student has received a copy of this to take home. The prayer was selected from various entries across our system that were sent in by schools to the office last year. I believe this prayer is an excellent one that captures the diversity of our schools across the New England and North West region.

Swimming Carnival

Last Wednesday, 15 February, we held our annual Swimming Carnival at the Wee Waa Swimming Pool. A big thank you to all the parents and volunteers who helped on the day.

Congratulations to St Andrew’s House for their win, and well done to all the students for their efforts and sportsmanship!

A special mention to Emma Dixon, who broke the previous Senior Girls 100 m record, and to the following students who received awards:

Junior Boys Champion	Edward Carolan
Junior Boys Runner Up	James Gleeson
Junior Girls Champion	Alexis Bartz
Junior Girls Runner Up	Olivia Burnside
11 yr Boys Champion	Blaine Edwards
11 yr Boys Runner Up	Reggie Graham
11 yr Girls Champion	Emma Gleeson
11 yr Girls Runner Up	Sophie Crutcher
Senior Boys Champion	Cameron Baird
Senior Boys Runner Up	Percy Hayes
Senior Girls Champion	Emma Dixon
Senior Girls Runner Up	Sarah Coutts-Smith

Finally, good luck to the following students who have qualified for the ADPSC Swimming Carnival, held today in Gunnedah:

Cameron Baird, Alexis Bartz, Olivia Burnside, Edward Carolan, Leyton Carroll, Jag Carroll, Campbell Collett, Sarah Coutts-Smith, Sophie Crutcher, Emma Dixon, Blaine Edwards, James Gleeson, Emma Gleeson, Reggie Graham, Chase Humphries, Ruby-Ja Shortt, Edee Towns, Quinn Towns, Henry Wilson and Johnathan Wilson

Parents and Friends Association Report

On Tuesday, we held our first Parents and Friends Association Meeting of the year. Thank you to all who were able to come along.

The following have been elected to our executive committee:

President: Rebecca Crutcher

Vice-President: Courtney Bell

Treasurer: Rebecca Dewson

Secretary: Kylie Shearer

The year's first event will be the Welcome BBQ, held on Wednesday, 22 March. All families are welcome to attend. Please RSVP via bit.ly/3m4jBCX by Monday 20 March at 12 pm.

Please also keep in mind the following events and dates planned for this year. Further information for each event will be communicated closer to the date:

Wednesday 22 March	Welcome BBQ, starting @ 5:30 pm
Friday 12 May	Mother’s Day Breakfast Mother’s Day Stall Mum’s Night Out TBC
Friday 25 August	Father’s Day Breakfast Father’s Day Stall
Friday 27 October	Family Funraiser
Friday 17 November	Colour Run

Please note that due to clashes, our Family Funraiser planned for Friday 17 March has been cancelled.

Beginning of Year & Ash Wednesday Mass

On Wednesday, we held our combined Beginning of Year and Ash Wednesday Mass at St Andrew’s Catholic Church.

Following the mass, we welcomed our new Kindergarten class and recognised the following students as a part of the Leadership ceremony:

School Captains: Cameron Baird and Emma Gleeson

St Andrew’s House Captains: Emma Dixon and Percy Hayes

St Joseph’s House Captains: Sarah Coutts-Smith and Blaine Edwards

Year 6 Leaders: Aiden Cave, Blaine Edwards, Bradley Hatton, Cameron Baird, Charlii Hardy, Chase Humphries, Demi-Renee Cruickshank, Emma Dixon, Emma Gleeson, Finn Woolcock, Jack Wilson, Joshua McMaster, Lori Thorne, Percy Hayes, Roley O'Shea, Ruby-Ja Shortt, Samuel Carolan, Sarah Coutts-Smith

ADPSC Swimming Carnival

Today, we had several students travel to Gunnedah to compete in the ADPSC Swimming Carnival. Well done to all the students on their sportsmanship and achievements!

A special mention and congratulations to Edward Carolan, Emma Dixon and James Gleeson who have qualified to compete at the Polding Swimming Carnival on Thursday 30 March at SOPAC Homebush. Good Luck!

Have a great weekend.

God Bless,

Alistair Stewart

Principal

St Joseph's Primary School

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Issue 2 · 24 Feb 2023

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