Principal's News

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

I hope you all had a great fortnight at school. We are now at the end of Week 8. As a principal, I see more learning stamina within the classrooms and witness students trying hard to achieve their personal goals. 

It sometimes seems difficult to motivate students to attend school daily; however, every day is important, and each day is a new opportunity to learn, experience growth, and be challenged. At the end of next week, all students will be excited to have a four-day weekend. This Easter break will be an opportunity to recharge for the final two weeks of term one.

Easter is a time of new growth, reflection, and following Jesus' messages, which is central to our Easter celebrations. I encourage all families to attend an Easter celebration at St Andrew’s Parish in Wee Waa. 

There will be celebrations and Masses starting this Sunday with Passion Sunday. Remembering when Jesus was celebrated as he rode into Jerusalem, people laid down palm fronds before him. This is the first celebration of Holy Week. There will also be celebrations on Holy Thursday, including the washing of feet, a time to reflect on how Jesus washed his disciples' feet before the Last Supper. Then, a Good Friday service will commemorate the crucifixion of Christ. The Easter Vigil begins between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Sunday. The Easter Vigil Mass is held and is the first official celebration of Jesus Christ's Resurrection from the dead. This night's vigil is the greatest and most holy of all solemnities in the Catholic Church. Finally, Easter Sunday is the culmination of Holy Week, a day of jubilation and renewal. Catholics attend Easter Mass, celebrating Christ’s victory over death and the promise of eternal life. The Easter Mass is a joyous occasion, filled with music, hymns, and exchanging Easter greetings.

The times of our St Andrew’s Parish Easter celebrations are as follows:

Stations of the Cross: every Friday during Lent at 9:30 am

Lenten Reconciliation: Wednesday 20th March at 7:30 pm

Palm Sunday: 24th March Mass at 10:00 am

Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper: 28th March at 7:00 pm

Good Friday: 29th March Stations of the Cross at 9:30 am; Service at 3:00 pm

Easter Saturday: 30th March. Wee Waa Vigil Mass 6:00 pm

Burren Junction Vigil Mass 8:00 pm

Easter Sunday: 31st March. Wee Waa Mass at 10:00 am

Pilliga Mass: 12 noon

We are still looking for volunteers to help with readings and extras who would like to have their feet washed as part of the Holy Thursday celebration. If you are a willing participant, please contact the school office at 67954038.

Each year, individual schools and our broader organisation, Armidale Catholic Schools, develop yearly targets and annual improvement plans. 

We were very pleased with our students' results in 2023 and have developed a set of goals and metrics to continue these learning goals into 2024. These goals are shared with the Armidale Catholic Schools Office and workshopped with senior leaders of the dioceses and alongside other schools. 

We recently had the opportunity to present our annual goals at a workshop at St Joseph’s School in Walgett. We were joined by St Francis Xavier’s Narrabri, St Joseph’s Mungindi, and St Michael’s Manilla. 

Below are our school goals and a copy of the Armidale Catholic Schools goals. Meeting these goals is one of the metrics we use to determine how successful each year is.

Parent Representation is really important within a school community. St Joseph’s Wee Waa has two parent groups that help keep the school operational: our Parents & Friends Association (P&F) and our School Advisory Council (SAC).

Both groups have a distinct role in our school and are looking for assistance and members.

Our P&F is an association that directly supports our school by fundraising for products and services that impact all of our students. Last year, our P&F raised a significant amount of money that has been used to subsidise our school excursions for 2024 and provide some funding towards upgrading furniture in some classrooms. 

The P&F also manage parent-family-centric events within our school community, such as our Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls and breakfasts. They also fund the Welcome to School BBQ and organise gifts for departing families and staff at our End of Year Prizegiving. This year, we need some parents to assist our association. This can be done by shadowing an existing executive member to learn the ropes or take on the role for themselves. We need an executive who will meet once a term to plan events and help provide us with action that helps our school and, ultimately, your children. 

Please contact the school office if you are interested in assisting in a role.

Our School Advisory Council (SAC) is an advisory group that works with the school's executive to provide support, guidance, and feedback on the educational experience offered at the school. 

In particular, the St Joseph’s Wee Waa SAC is an invited group of parents that assist the school in policy implementation, goal setting and evaluation of effectiveness. As an SAC, we want to have a diverse group of individuals who can help the school through their understanding of industry, community, and special skill sets. We have had a strong SAC for a number of years, and as part of the SAC constitution, there is a maximum tenure that parent members can be on the SAC; over the past few years, we had several members who have reached their maximum tenures. 

We are looking for candidates who would like to be nominated to be a part of the SAC. If you could help our school in this role, please email me at astewart1@arm.catholic.edu.au or contact the school office for a confidential conversation. 

Last week, I was privileged to present at Catholic Schools NSW’s Connected Catholic Community Symposium. 

The Connected Catholic Community ideal stems from a number of Church Doctrine and modern-day realities facing families in our school communities. I was asked to share the journey that our school has made in support of students with disabilities by engaging outside agencies and professionals and implementing supports in the classroom that are supported by students' NDIS or via other platforms. 

I also discussed how we are responding to changes in demographics in our community as a school and how we need to modify our support mechanisms in the classroom. Many challenges are being faced by all school systems in 2024, and the Connected Catholic Communities initiative seeks to enhance our school communities by better meeting their needs. This will not be addressed quickly, and it will take a considerable amount of time and effort to make this happen.

After Easter, we will construct a new area next to our playground. This will include updated garden beds and a Yarning Circle, which all classes and others in our community will utilise. The design of this area was initially completed by our Aboriginal Education Assistants, Darcy and Caitlin. From there, these ideas have been discussed with our SAC, planned by finance, and through Armidale Catholic Schools. 

Construction of this area will begin after Easter, and we hope to have all elements completed before the end of the school holidays. We will be looking for seedlings, vegetables, fruit trees, and quality soil donations to help top up these garden beds. While it is in construction, the area will be marked off while Tom Woodhill works in this space. I am excited to see it come to fruition! 

Easter Hat Parade

This is a reminder that our Easter Hat Parade will be held this Wednesday, 27th March, at 9:15 am. All students are invited to participate by showcasing their Easter hat creations. As with previous years, these are made at home. To celebrate this special day, children are also welcome to wear Mufti clothes to school and are asked to bring in a gold coin donation, with all funds raised towards our 2024 Caritas contribution.

There will be several prize categories in each class, including Tallest Hat, Best Religious Theme, Best Easter Theme, and Most Creative. We will also have some special judges on the day. 

All are welcome to attend.

Additionally, we ask that families bring in a small Easter gift, such as Easter eggs, etc., to be put towards the Easter Hat Parade prizes and for a raffle we would like to draw the same afternoon. The students will be automatically entered into the draw, and there is no money for raffle tickets required.

If you would like to contribute Easter gifts, you can drop them off at the school office anytime between now and Tuesday, March 26th. Thank you for your support.

School Closure Days

Please note that the school will be closed on Friday, 29th April (Good Friday) and Monday, 1st May (Easter Monday), for the Easter long weekend.

Have a great weekend.

God Bless,

Alistair Stewart

Principal