Dear Parents & Carers of St Joseph's Primary School Wee Waa

Welcome back to Term 3 for all of our families. It has been wonderful seeing everyone back, excited and hopeful for a great term of learning. All families have been fantastic in respecting the COVID-19 procedures that we have in place. In particular with being onsite at school and keeping children home when they are unwell. Unfortunately with the increases in COVID-19 cases, we still need to be vigilant and reducing our risks where ever possible. Throughout this term, there will be many opportunities for students to be challenged, to have fun and to enjoy being a student here at St Joseph’s Wee Waa.

Excursions:

Unfortunately, as a school, and as a wider system of schools, overnight camps, and large excursions will not take place this year. This decision has not been taken lightly, and has been made jointly with the Catholic Schools Office Armidale. To take students on an overnight excursion, with the current restrictions in place for schools, has been deemed as too much of a risk. My thoughts go out particularly to our Stage 3 students, as they were planning to travel to Sydney for four nights late this term. We are looking into alternative opportunities that we can provide for students locally, later in the year.

Parent & Teacher Conferences (Data Meetings):

This term we will be holding Parent & Teacher Conferences. These can either be held face to face at school, or you can elect to have a Video conference or Phone call with your child’s Leader of Learning. Next week you will receive a notification via Compass outlining the process to book in for a conference. If you would like a Video Conference or Phone call you will need to get in touch with the school office on 67954038. Our Face to Face interviews will take place on Wednesday 5 August and Thursday 6 August.

Further information regarding booking in and duration of appointments will be sent to you on Monday 27 July.

Kindergarten 2021 Enrolments:

If you have a child who will be attending St Joseph’s Primary School in 2021, can you please send in your enrolment forms as soon as possible. We need to utilise these numbers to plan our procedures and staffing for 2021. If you know anyone in the community with school-age children, in kindergarten or other year levels, and they are considering St Joseph’s as a school, please ask them to contact the office or see our webpage or Facebook page for more information regarding enrolling at our school.

Evacuation Drill:

Earlier today, as a school, we held an evacuation drill. Students responded maturely and appropriately. We all assembled under the trees on the grass. As a school, we are installing a new system that will have evacuation and lockdown tones built into it. Once this is installed we will modify our plans and procedures to use these effectively.

Marriage and Family Week Mass:

Bishop Michael has designated the week starting Sunday 26 July (Week 2, Term 3) as our Diocese’s annual “Marriage and Family Week”. This year’s theme is “The Family: Passing on the Faith”. This Sunday at St Andrew's Catholic Church, we will be having our community celebration. Please come to our community Mass if you are available at 10 am on Sunday. As a school, our Year 3 - 6 students will attend a Mass on Monday afternoon celebrating Marriage and Family Week as well as the beginning of Catholic School's Week for 2020.

Catholic School's Week 2020:

Our Catholic Schools Week focus in 2020 is "Nurture, Grow & Celebrate in New Ways! This is a time for all Catholic Schools in our Diocese and around our state to come together and celebrate what it means to be a Catholic School. Below is a short excerpt from a press release put out by the Catholic Schools Office:

Catholic Schools rose to the challenges of COVID-19 in 2020, ensuring the learning and well-being needs of students were a priority. As blended learning was implemented due to the pandemic, schools remained focused on staying connected with families in their community and keeping our staff safe.

Director of Schools, Chris Smyth said, “ This year we are using Catholic Schools Week to thank our school communities for their resilience and dedication during the pandemic and celebrate all we have achieved”

This year’s theme ‘Nurture Grow Celebrate’ represents how schools have nurtured the faith and well-being of the school communities, grown in learning both professionally and personally and are taking a moment to celebrate our successes in how far we have come.

“Our schools used a collaborative approach to support the educational and well-being needs of our students, with emphasis on innovative thinking, planning, action and extensive commitment.” Mr Smyth said.

Friday 31 July	Assembly @ 2:45 pm ICAS Parent Portal closes
Friday 7 August	School Newsletter
Friday 14 August	Assembly @ 2:45 pm via Facebook
Monday 17 August	ICAS Commences
Friday 21 August	School Newsletter
Friday 28 August	Assembly @ 2:45 pm via Facebook
Friday 4 September	School Newsletter
Friday 11 September	Assembly @ 2:45 pm via Facebook
Friday 18 September	School Newsletter
Friday 25 September	Assembly @ 2:45 pm via Facebook Term 3 Ends
Sunday 11 October	Term 4 Commences

Important Dates & Events