Dear Parents and Carers,

Last Thursday and Friday I attended the Term 4, Principals' meeting in Armidale. These meetings are important as they provide professional learning opportunities and they help Principals to build connections with other schools within our diocese. They are also affirming as we review Diocesan expectations and reflect on the successes of this year. One of the questions posed to us was... If you were 10% braver what would you do? It is a challenging question and I invite you to ask yourself, your children & and members of your family? I think this question applies to our students too. We want our students to be brave in their learning; to risk making mistakes; to try a challenging task and not give up and to ask for help when they are struggling. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of listening to the Year 5 students present their Captains speeches to the school. This was an example of students being brave. Congratulations to each student for preparing such wonderful speeches and for also presenting them so confidently. The successful candidates will be announced at our Assembly this Thursday.

At the Principals' meeting five schools were asked to share their successes. Trish Mitchell from the CSO and I presented how well received the CSO Mathematics Initiative has been this year for the targeted Stage 1 students. Congratulations to Amanda Bartholomew for her wonderful teaching, as her students showed amazing growth during this year and I was delighted to share this with the principals.

Another important CSO initiative is that next year we will be looking carefully at how we cater for each student’s needs through the implementation of a Framework called “Living Well Learning Well.” We will continue to strive to improve the conditions of learning, teaching, wellbeing and faith development for our students. Our families as partners in the Catholic School Community will be invited to learn more about how we can work together; because positive partnerships make a difference!

Staffing news

The final pieces of the staffing puzzle are coming together. I would like to announce Mrs Cate Taylor is leaving us and working at the CSO next year supporting Indigenous Education throughout the Diocese. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Cate for her many contributions to St Joey’s over many years. Cate has a great love of this school, the staff, the students and its community and she will be greatly missed.

We also welcome Mrs Belinda Barnes who will also join us for one day a week as a part time teacher. We have one more vacancy to fill: a part time IT assistant. I am working with a few other small schools in our diocese to find a suitable person who can work across our schools.

Presentation Day Assembly Thursday 3rd December 9.15am

We are fortunate to be able to invite our parents/carers to our Presentation Day Assembly because we are holding the event outdoors and we can follow our COVID safety plan. Please ensure you support us in this plan and:

Enter through the front gates between 9.00am - 9.15am.
Sanitise your hands and have your name marked off by Sally Darnell and Judy Allan.
Do not come if you are unwell.
Don’t forget your chair or rug as you will be on the oval (students will be under the cola)
Please ensure you are socially distanced from other parents.
Stay in your seat for the entire presentation. Please do not take photos during the assembly. Photos can be taken with your child after the presentation. Mrs Wendy Rheinberger is the official photographer and her photos will be available for you in next week's newsletter.

Semester 2 Reporting to Parents/Carers

During Week 9 of this term, beginning on Monday 7th December, we invite parents to attend a parent/teacher interview to discuss your child’s progress. We will be using the new Diocesan Report which is a Summary of Learning; rather than a traditional report. For each Key Learning Area, teachers will now report as to whether students are:

Working at the expected level of achievement.
Working beyond the expected level of achievement (this is split into two sections, working beyond and working well beyond the expected level).
Working towards the expected level of achievement (this is split into two sections, working towards and working well below the expected level).

I ask that all parents make every effort to attend this important meeting about your child's learning progress.

Have a great week

Pauline Long

Principal

Sporting News

Mrs Amanda Bartholomew & Mrs Robyn Wilson