School News

Happy Birthday

Wishing all our students a very happy birthday who celebrated their special day over the last fortnight.

4 July - Carter L Year 5

6 July - Elizabeth K Year 6

8 July - Lincoln H Year 6

9 July - Lucas M Year 4

11 July - Carter C Kinder and Torin D Year 2

12 July - Ella C Year 3 and Lumi C Year 1

13 July - Arlo B Year 4

14 July - Zoe C Year 6

15 July - Caleb L Year 4 and Saul O Year 6

16 July - Josie M Year 2 and Curtis V Year 6

17 July - Eloise B Year 5

19 July - Lilia B Kinder

20 July - Hudson F Year 1, Fletcher B Year 2, Zoe Beer Year 2 and Hudson B Year 3

22 July - Acacia B Year 4

26 July - Maeve M Kinder

28 July - Abbygail L Year 2, George S Year 2 and Harlan D

30 July - Taavi R Year 

Road Safety Updates - Morning & Afternoon Drop Off

Morning & Afternoon Drop Off on Rowan Street

A huge thank you to parents who follow road rules to ensure the safety of all each morning. Many concerns have been raised regarding some parents' non-compliance with road rules on Rowan Street and at the intersection of Hutton Avenue. Please note the following: 

• We encourage no U-Turns at the bottom of Rowan Street

• We encourage drivers to not pull into driveways in Rowan Street to turn around

• Students are to be dropped within the Drop Off Zone on Rowan Street

• nsure cars are safely parked in surrounding streets when students are dropped off.

Council of Catholic Schools Parents Conference (CCSP) 

The Council of Catholic Schools Parents (CCSP) has announced that tickets to the 2025 CCSP Parents and Carers’ Conference on 25 October are now on sale!

This year’s conference celebrates 30 years of CCSP supporting and advocating for parents and carers of children in Catholic schools. It also marks the 20th anniversary of the formation of the Council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Committee.

The conference theme for 2025 is SUPPORTING FAMILIES: WORKING TOGETHER IN A MODERN WORLD.

Keynote speakers at the one-day conference include:

• Dr Justin Coulson - one of Australia’s most trusted parenting experts. He is the co-host and parenting expert on Channel 9’s Parental Guidance, the founder of happyfamilies.com.au.

• Michelle Mitchell - author and speaker, sought after for her compassionate and grounded advice for parenting tweens and teens.

• Daniel Principe - passionate youth advocate and educator. Through his work, Daniel encourages young people to recognise and resist distorted attitudes towards bodies, relationships and sex.

The conference which is being held at the Novotel, 350 Church Street, Parramatta is a one-day event and is only $30 to attend. It is a wonderful opportunity to hear and engage with some of Australia’s leading experts on raising young people in our complex society.

For further information, please refer to the Conference flyer and the CCSP website.

Book Club - Issue 5 - CLOSES MONDAY 11 AUGUST

Book Club Issue 5 will close for orders on Monday 11 August for delivery in the week commencing Monday 18 August. 

Every order over $19.50 receives a $5 voucher to spend on the next issue.

Thank you to SJB families for supporting the Book Club in 2025. So far this year we have raised $622 in rewards to be utilised towards library resources.

Bicycle Policy and Permission Form

At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, the riding of bicycles to and from school is encouraged and is the responsibility of parents and carers outside of the school. St Joseph’s aims to support parents and carers by providing a shared understanding of road safety education, school procedures and the safe riding of bicycles to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our students.

Before riding a bicycle to school students must have a signed Bicycle Riders Parental Permission Form. By signing the form, parents also acknowledge: responsibility for their child riding to and from school, that they have spoken to their child about bicycle safety, and that they have explained the St Joseph’s Bicycle Policy to the child (see below).

It is recommended that students under 10 years of age, DO NOT ride bicycles to or from school unless accompanied by an adult accepting responsibility for the student and identifying the safest route to and from school. 

ACTION:

If your child rides a bike to school, read the policy and if you haven't already done so sign the attached permission form. Please do this even if you have signed the previous form.

Remember - Ride safely to and from school

Please ensure that your children:

are not going to the bike track at Bulli Park on their way to or from school unsupervised

• wear a helmet when riding their bike to and from school

• are not leaving home too early in their enthusiasm

• know to ride on the footpath and off-road away from vehicles

• take special care at driveways where vehicles may be driving in or out

• STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! THINK! when approaching an intersection

• dismount and wheel the bicycle across the road as a pedestrian

If you have any questions please contact me at any time via the school office.

Lost Property - Label, Label, Label everything

The school office has been receiving a lot of jumpers, jackets and hats with no names and names of students that are no longer at St Joseph's.

Please ensure that your child's name is on ALL clothing so these can be returned to their rightful owners.  Any items that are not identified will be sent to the second-hand clothing pool.

We have also had a number of enquiries regarding missing items that have been labelled. Please check your child's clothing to ensure you have the correct items.

Headlice

We have been advised of a number of cases of head lice.  Please check your child's hair  and treat accordingly.  

Please click on this link from NSW Health that you may find helpful.

2025 Premier Reading Challenge 

Premier's Reading Challenge 2025 has been extended Friday 19 September 2025. If your child would still like to participate in the challenge this year, there are two options available for how you can log your children's reading.

Blank Reading Logs are available for pick up from the library any morning before school starts. You can fill these in at home as books are read and then drop back off at the library and Mrs Pirie or Mrs Parker will enter these books into your child's online reading log.

Alternatively, you can email the school to request your child's digital login details and enter their reading at your own convenience.

For any further questions please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Pirie.

Sport

Kinder and Year 1 Athletics Mini Carnival -Thursday 7 August

Unfortunately, due to the weather and grounds, we will need to postpone our Mini Athletics carnival set down for tomorrow.

We will hopefully be able to go ahead with this on Thursday 7 August between 11.30am and 1pm.

SJB Athletics Carnival - Years 2-6

Our Athletics Carnival was a wonderful day held at Campbelltown on July 24.  We were extremely thankful to be able to enjoy the day as a school community in the sunshine as students rotated through various athletics events. 

Thank you to the students, parents and staff for contributing to our 2025 carnival. Once again, the competitors' behaviour, attitudes, skill levels, determination, and athleticism were to be commended. As a school, we were able to do our WAR CRIES together with all grades last Wednesday! The passion and pride of all students was very evident! You may have heard the chants from afar!  

An enormous thank you is dedicated to our amazing volunteers who served in an official capacity. Your support was very much appreciated, and your tireless efforts ensured all events were completed and students returned to school in time for dismissal. WHAT AN ENORMOUS TEAM EFFORT! We also wish to acknowledge our dedicated staff, who started the day extremely early, setting up, supervising and spending the whole day encouraging and supporting students. 

What a great school community we are part of, where everyone goes above and beyond to provide students with these opportunities! 

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

Congratulations to the 2025 Age Champions:

Medals will be awarded at the assembly on Friday. 

School Records 

Congratulations to the following children who broke school records on Thursday 

Oceana D broke the 8 yrs Discus record. (15.08m) 

Indigo P broke the 800m Record for the Junior event (2:52.97) 

South Coast Athletics: Tuesday 12 August 

Our Regional Athletics team will receive a permission note via Compass inviting them to compete at the South Coast Athletics Carnival on Tuesday, 12 August 2025. This a reminder the age representation for field events at the next carnival is the athlete who jumped or threw the greatest distance in each division. Juniors are 8yrs, 9yrs & 10yrs combined, 11 yrs and Senior (12/13s). For track events, there are two representatives for the 100m. The 200m event is again divided into Junior, 11yrs and Senior age divisions to align with MacKillop and PSSA pathways. 

Note: 

Diocesan Selection Trials - Tuesday, 19 August 2025* The top four placegetters from the South Coast carnival are invited to attend.

MacKillop Selection Trials - Wednesday 24 September 2025 - *The top 2 place getters from the selection trials will be selected in the Wollongong team for the MacKillop trials. 

Congratulations to the following athletes who will form our Regional Athletics Squad for the South Coast Athletics on Tuesday 12 August:

Allegra B, Xanthe B, Lani B, Arlo B, Layne B, Zoe C (Yr6), Oceana D, Ruby D, Eleanor H, Indigo P, Mia R, Elka R, Nieve R, Harriet V, Daisy W, Madeline B, Chloe M.

Hudson B, Brock C, Morgan C, Will G, Cristiano H, Lincoln H, Nash K, Patrick L, Tommy M, Toby M, Lucas M, Lachlan M, Zane N, Saul O, Jimmy R, Charlie S, Elliot S, Archer T, Jax V, Curtis V

Relay Teams 

1500M EVENT 

The 1500m event (in the Junior, 11 years, and Senior divisions) is included in the MacKillop Athletics Program for this year. The event WILL NOT be added to the regional carnival at this time; however, it will be added to the Diocesan Selection Trial day to be held at Beaton Park on Tuesday, 19 August.  

The event should be for athletes who have run this event before and/or have proof of times. This is for athletes who meet the qualifying standards listed below before submitting their nomination. Please note that the 1500m and 800m events will be run on the same day at the selection trials.

Recommended qualifying times:

Boys Junior (8 –10 years) – 5:50.00

Boys 11 years – 5:40.00

Boys Seniors (12 –13 years) – 5:35.00

Girls Junior (8 –10 years) – 6:05.00

Girls 11 years – 6:00.00

Girls Seniors (12 – 13 years) – 5:50.00

To nominate for the 1500m event, please use this LINK. 

All nominations will be collated by age division, and our school will be advised of participation. If numbers are low, some of the 1500m events may be combined at the selection trials. The top two (2) place getters in each division will represent Wollongong at the MacKillop trials in September. 

Nominations for the 1500m event close on Thursday 31 July, 2025.

CPS Golf Tournament - Registration

Kylie Grose / Christine Smith 

Sport Co-ordinators 

Sports Days - Term 3 

Library News

Author Visit - Deborah Abela

We are so lucky to have the highly talented author Deborah Abela visiting our school for book week. Deborah will be doing author talks for all the children, she has also offered to sign books for students if they would like. Please find an order form for QBE books, you are welcome to use the attached QR code for ordering for our school author visit. 

You can also purchase your books from other locations or bring in some of Deborah’s books you already own at home.

We are all very excited for Deborah’s upcoming visit!

Recycled Bookstore

The Recycled Bookstore is open again this year. As a fundraising initiative for St Vincent De Paul, some of our Year 3 students will be running a secondhand bookstore in the library for the duration of Term 3. It is $1 for a book and there are lots of exciting titles. The Bookstore will be open every Monday and Wednesday at lunch time. 

We have had a huge number of donations and have recently purchased some new titles for our library. We would love some volunteers to help with covering the books so we can get them on the shelves!

If you are able to help with this there will be small bags available for collection from the office over the coming weeks.

Don't forget Book Week is 5 weeks away, keep working on those Dioramas and the Book Week colouring in competition will be sent home over the next two weeks.

Many thanks for all your help with this,

Mrs Holly Pirie and Mrs Nicole Parker

Canteen

Open Monday to Friday for recess and lunch.

Cash purchases for snacks and drinks can be made at recess and lunchtime. Snacks and drinks can also be ordered via the new platform FlexiSchools.

Lunch orders

Orders for lunch can only be made through Flexischools.  Please note that orders close at 9.15am daily.  Orders cannot be placed after this time.

Flexischool Parent Support Line - 1300 361 769 (Hours: 7.00am-12.00 noon)

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Handbook

2024 Bus Timetable (Premier Charters)

PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning)

Ask your child about the weekly focus for students.

This week's focus:

I am responsible : listen to playground pre reminders; place my lunchbox in tubs provided; use equipment the right way; use respectful words in conversations; disagree respectfully; stay in designated areas; line up quietly ready for the second bell