Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a very busy week here at school. You can definitely feel that summer is coming!

Students in Year 1 through to Year 6 have all completed the Progressive Achievement Tests in Maths and Reading this week. I am so proud of them all. PAT assessments are a form of assessment that all schools in our diocese use to help measure the growth of student learning over time.

This weekend we are celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Andrew’s Catholic Church in Wee Waa. Confirmation is the final Sacrament of Initiation. For a student to be confirmed in the Catholic church they are of an age to understand that they are making an informed commitment to their faith. It is a great celebration and one that is commissioned by the Most Reverend Michael Kennedy, the Bishop of the Armidale diocese. It is an honour to welcome Bishop Kennedy to Wee Waa, and I know that he will enjoy his time with our community. I congratulate the candidates who will be confirmed on Sunday and wish them well with their ongoing faith development.

Next week, there will be an email going out to families that have a balance owing for their school fees. As a school, we are reliant on these school fees to help us to operate our school efficiently and to help us provide the best education possible at St Joseph’s Wee Waa. If your family is having any financial distress, or would like to discuss their balance or to organise a payment plan, please give the school office a call on 67954038. We will be able to work together to come up with a solution.

School Advisory Council

Our SAC AGM is scheduled for Tuesday 9 November at 6.00 pm. This meeting will be held via Zoom. It would be fantastic to have some new parents interested in joining our SAC. If this is something that you are interested in, please give me a call at 67954038 or an email at astewart1@arm.catholic.edu.au to get further information about our SAC processes.

School Photos

We have all been holding out hope for a change to our current Level 3 Restrictions. Unfortunately due to the current restrictions, our School Photo Day scheduled for Wednesday 4 November next week has been cancelled, and all families who have placed orders with MSP via Compass will receive refunds shortly.

MSP has advised us that they will not be able to come onsite to take photos at this time. We have decided to conduct our own school photos later in the term on Wednesday 17 November. You will not be charged for these, and digital copies will be shared with families via email once these are completed.

Thank you for your understanding.

Kindergarten Transition

It has been great having our 2022 Kindergarten transition students onsite over the past couple of weeks. Just a reminder that on Monday students will need to bring a labelled bag, drink bottle, hat and some food for a snack at recess time.

They will be supported during recess by their Year 5 buddies as well as staff. Just a reminder that this week (Monday 1 November) Wee Waa preschool is closed. Therefore those that are usually picked up by the Preschool bus will need to be picked up by a parent or caregiver.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email weeadmin@arm.catholic.edu.au or call 02 6795 4038.

Monday 1 November	9 am - 12:30 pm (Recess)
Monday 8 November	9 am - 1:45 pm (Recess & Lunch)
Monday 15 November	9 am - 1:45 pm (Recess & Lunch)
Monday 22 November	9 am - 3 pm (Recess & Lunch)
Monday 29 November	9 am - 3 pm (Recess & Lunch)

Socktober

We have recently received a communication from the Catholic Schools Office that has allowed us to go ahead with our Socktober celebrations next Thursday 4 November

Students are invited to wear their sports uniform on this day as each stage will be participating in their own ‘Socktober Shootout’.

Please see REC News for further information.

St Joseph’s P & F Fundraising & Raffle

Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions, the St Joseph’s P & F were unable to hold a fundraising event this year as originally planned. However, the raffle will still go ahead and will be drawn via Facebook Live on Friday 3 December. This raffle will be our major fundraising event for 2021. It would be fantastic if we could sell as many tickets as possible for this raffle. If you have any tickets sold at home, please send these as well as the money to school next week in a labelled envelope with your family name.

There are some exciting prizes to be won, such as a $1000 Hark Chubby Offset Smoker donated by Auscott and Olam/QLD Cotton, a 10 pass session and sample box from Platform Foods x Studio and a $100 voucher to Hairstyles by Trish.

If you would like extra tickets, please complete the following form via https://forms.gle/9HTvsACtfkcSrJXp8 and we will send these home with your child. We are hoping to sell tickets in some of our local retailers and workplaces. If you would like to help us with this endeavour, please fill out the form and we will send you tickets and a poster to put up in your workplace. Thank you for your assistance in this, as this is one of the only major fundraisers that our school's P&F have been able to run over the past 2 years due to COVID. Let’s get in behind it and make it a successful one!

World Teachers Day

Today, Friday 29 October is World Teachers’ Day. This is a wonderful initiative supported by our educational support bodies, in particular the Australian Institute Of Teaching and School Leadership (AiTSL). It was great to see the students thanking their teachers with cards and positive comments today. We love our jobs and working closely with students makes our jobs even more rewarding!

COVID

We are currently in the process of planning for our End of Year Celebrations and waiting for advice from CSNSW and NSW Health. Our COVID restrictions will dictate what we will be able to plan. We are aiming to have a celebration of the 2021 academic year on Thursday 9 December. It will be great to be able to have a celebration with our whole school community. Please note that we will keep everyone updated via Compass and future newsletters.

Have a wonderful week.

God Bless,

Alistair Stewart

St Joseph's Primary School

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Issue 12 · 29 Oct 2021

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