Principal's News
Dear Parents and Carers,
How quickly has this term flown by? I cannot believe that we are over halfway through and have only 5 weeks until the Easter holidays. A lot has happened at St Joseph’s since our last newsletter. Learning has been progressing well in each stage. For example, it was wonderful to see the faces of our Kindergarten students as they took home the seeds that they had grown in their Living World unit. It was also great to hear students reading with their teachers as they have been completing their benchmark reading assessments.
Last week we had the privilege of having the Catholic Schools Office Armidale’s leadership team visit our school. We went for a Learning Walk around each of the classrooms and presented them with our Annual Improvement Plan for 2022 and outlined our learning goals for students at St Joseph’s Wee Waa. They remarked on how committed the students were in their classrooms, and how they were all engaging in their learning.
I would like us all to keep in our thoughts and prayers those that have been affected by the devastating floods in Queensland and North Eastern NSW. After witnessing the impacts on the properties and livelihoods of our local families during the floods in Wee Waa during 2021, I can only imagine the distress that these floods are having on the population of these communities. As a part of our Principal’s meeting today in Armidale, our Director Chris Smyth read a fundraising request that has been put out by the Bishop of the Lismore Diocese, which has been severely affected by this recent flooding. We will be holding a fundraising event next week where we will be raising some funds to help out schools and parishioners that have been affected by the floods and help them to put in place structures to support those families in their care in the Lismore Diocese. This request has been sent to all Catholic Dioceses in NSW and will appear in our Parish Bulletin over the next few weeks.
ADPSC Swimming
Congratulations to all of the students who took part in the ADPSC Swimming Carnival on Friday 25 February. All participants swam well and supported each other in all their races. Well done!
A special mention to Edward Carolan, Nate Dewson and Jaxon Gray who have qualified for the NSWCPS Championships, which will be held on Tuesday 22 March in Sydney. Good luck!
Welcome & Leadership Assembly
On Monday 28 February we live streamed our Welcome and Leadership Assembly via Facebook, to present our new school leaders with badges, and officially welcome our new students to the school community.
Congratulations to all of our school leaders and our new Junior Joeys for 2022:
School Captains: Loela Palmer & Nate Dewson
St Andrew’s House Captains: Ava Collett & Jaxon Gray
St Joseph’s House Captains: Rosie & Sarah Lennon
Junior Joey Representatives:
Kindergarten: Frank Palmer
Year 1: Chance Bell
Year 2: Lacey Maxwell
Year 3: Lincoln Baird
Year 4: Edee Towns
Year 5: Emma Gleeson and Roley O’Shea
Year 6: Loela Palmer, Ava Collett, Sarah Lennon and Rosie Lennon
A recording of this assembly can be viewed via https://fb.watch/bxjFJoRxxm/
Welcome BBQ
Just a reminder the St Joseph’s P & F will be hosting a Welcome BBQ for our school community next Tuesday 8 March, following the Parent information Night (please see Learning Gallery for further information). The event is free, and soft drinks and icy poles will also be available.
If you would like to attend, please complete the following RSVP form via https://forms.gle/bgyHAFN462a7Tz236 by this Sunday 6 March.
We look forward to seeing you there!
P & F & First General Meeting
On Tuesday 26 February, we held our annual AGM. The following have been appointed into executive roles for 2022:
President: Rebecca Crutcher
Vice-President: Jo Collett
Treasurer: Rebecca Dewson
Secretary: Kylie Shearer
A big thank you to all those who were able to join us on the night, it was great to catch up with existing school community members who have been long term supporters of our school P&F, as well as welcome new members who have joined us for the first time. We will be holding a general meeting at 6 pm on Tuesday 22 March at the school. We will be discussing major fundraising events for this year, so if you have any ideas you would like to contribute prior, please email weeadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au, or we will see you all on the night at school. All school community members are welcome to join us.
One of the major topics that we discussed at our last P&F meeting was attracting volunteers to support our school’s canteen. We have a handful of very dedicated volunteers, but we need more to be more effective and to make the job easier and smoother each week. We have open spots available in our canteen for Term 2, and all members of our P&F agreed to go out and let others know of the need in our school community.
Jo Collett, our talented Vice President of our P & F wrote this wonderful poem that highlights our plight:
It’s a curtain-call for canteen.
We fear the end is nigh.
Say goodbye to sausage rolls.
Farewell to party pies.
Pizzas, wraps and hot dogs,
will all be in the past.
Our beautiful new kitchen,
will be full of cobwebs fast.
The kids will miss their muffins,
And frozen yoghurts much.
The popcorn will go stale.
They will mourn their jelly cups.
Its last drinks for their strawberry milk.
The chocolate milk will sour.
Juice will be a memory.
It is the final hour.
Closing day is coming.
And we all can shed a tear.
Canteen will be ended,
for there are no volunteers.
Jo Collett 2022
Armidale Diocesan Men’s Gathering
Gerard Hore from the Catholic Schools Office has asked us to let our school community know about the following initiative taking place in Tamworth in March:
All men of our school community, Catholic or Other-than-Catholic, are invited to attend the ARMIDALE DIOCESAN MENS' GATHERING (ADMG) to be held at McCarthy Catholic College, Tamworth, on Saturday morning, 19th March, starting over breakfast at 7.30 am and finishing at lunchtime. Those living distant from Tamworth are welcome to join online, perhaps gathering with fellow local participants in a 'hub". The morning will be built around faith & families. The principal speaker, Tim Davis, is a father of primary school children and pre-schoolers.
There will be an open forum with plenty of time for you to raise things that are important to you – perhaps mental health issues in children and families – perhaps how hard it is to be a man of faith today – perhaps helping children and teenagers navigate the on-line world in a safe way.
Saturday morning can be a busy time for kids and families with sporting commitments etc. If you need to leave early that is OK.
It can be hard being a father today. Those who have heard Tim or who have attended similar gatherings throughout Australia endorse the experience.
Yourself, your family and our school community may benefit by your attendance.
Have a great weekend.
God Bless,
Alistair Stewart
Principal