From Mrs Scott's Desk

Friday 18th October 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the fourth and final term of 2024. We hope everyone has had a wonderful break ready to conquer the busyness of Term 4! There is important learning and consolidation of learning that happens in Term 4 and children feel a sense of confidence in their abilities as they prepare to move to their new class next year..

This is a great term to really allow your child to highlight their learning, remember all the things they have learnt through the year, and see how far they have come.

Children can get a fantastic sense of satisfaction and pride in what they have achieved.

I have been away from school this week at a staff retreat for the first two days, then onto St Mary’s Yoogali, where I have had the privilege of shadowing the principal Mrs Annette Reginato. I am really looking forward to catching up with the children and seeing their smiling faces again on my return tomorrow.

Whole Staff Retreat

On Monday and Tuesday this week, the staff of St Joseph's Junee and St Michael’s Coolamon, joined together to partake in a two day retreat at St Clement’s in Galong. The two days were centered around the Gospel of Mark. It was a wonderful way to begin the term together in reflection, prayer, discussion and meditation.

A special thank you to the Religious Education and Evangelisation team members Sandra and Vince, for organising retreat and facilitating. We were fortunate Fr Paddy joined us for the two days and are grateful for his participation, input and celebration of the Mass.

SJJU Social and Fundraising Committee

What a fantastic way to end our Term 3 with the whole school Colour Fun Run. We are all so grateful for the time and effort that our Year 1 parents put into running this incredible event and are in awe of how they banded together to design and make all the different obstacle stations. The smiles on everyone's faces said it all.

We appreciate the support of the families and local business houses in making fundraisers like the Colour Fun Run possible, especially in a tight financial climate. On behalf of our school community I would like to thank each of these business houses for their generous sponsorship of the Colour Fun Run:

Approximately $3,500 was raised for our school from this event!

Please visit our Facebook Page for lots more photos from our amazing photographers!

Our next SJJU Fundraising Committee Meeting will be held next Wednesday 23rd October starting at 6pm at the Junee Hotel. All are very welcome to attend.

Summer School Uniform

The weather is already warmer as students come back to school in summer school uniform. Please ensure your child has a hat everyday as our school hat Policy is: ‘No hat, play in the shade’. There are a number of school hats that can be purchased at the school office for $14 each.

At the conclusion of last term, there was an incredible amount of lost property left at school. A lot of the clothing couldn’t be traced back to its owners because they either didn’t have a name on it or the name was of former students. Please ensure your child’s name is on all items of school clothing, lunch boxes and drink bottles so if they are left behind we can return them to their rightful owner.

Mission Mass

This Friday 18th October, we will celebrate a whole school Mission Mass in St Joseph's Church at 9.30am. All families are very welcome to join us for this liturgy in the church.

October is the month of Catholic Missions. The students will partake in Soctober this month, raising awareness and money for those in Australia and around the world who are in need.

World Teachers Day

Next Friday is a very special day for our school and schools across the world as we come together to acknowledge and give thanks for our amazing teachers. Our St Joseph's Community is very blessed to have such committed, caring, professional teachers who are passionate about their vocation and providing quality Catholic Education to our students.

Attendance Matters

On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

being sick or having an infectious disease
having an unavoidable medical appointment
being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
exceptional or urgent family circumstance (eg attending a funeral)

Following an absence from school, you must ensure that within 7 days, you provide your child’s school with a verbal or written explanation for the absence. This can be via Compass or by phone, email or in written form. Parents will receive a Compass notification with a link for parents to provide this information in Compass.

The Principal may decline to accept an explanation that you have provided if they do not believe the absence is in the best interest of your child. In these circumstances, your child’s absence would be recorded as unjustified. When this happens, the principal will discuss their decision with you and the reasons why.

The Principal may request medical certificates or other documentation when frequent or long-term absences are explained as being due to illness. Principals may also seek parental permission to speak with medical specialists to obtain information to collaboratively develop a health care plan to support your child. If the request is denied, the principal can record the absences as unjustified.

Sorry Business

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies are based around the concept of community rather than the individual. This means that an experience of loss impacts whole communities just as much as the individuals within them.

Out of community when someone passes away, the whole community comes together to share that sorrow through a process called Sorry Business. Sorry Business is a period of cultural practices that take place after someone's death.

Sorry Business includes ceremonies held around the bereavement and/or funerals for a deceased person. Sorry Business may also be conducted to mark the experience of grief or loss in other circumstances. An example of this would be mourning the loss of land or land degradation, such as when a Native Title application is abandoned and so our connection to Country goes unrecognised. Some communities feel the loss of connection to culture or land as painfully as they would feel the loss of a person. This shows the deep connection our communities have with the land.

The Council of Catholic Schools Parents have introduced their latest resource created by members of our CCSP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee around Sorry Business.

In the video, parent representatives and executive officers in schools talk about what Sorry Business means to them, and how schools can help families who are impacted by Sorry Business. In the spirit of ongoing reconciliation, the aim of the video is to give school staff and other parents personal insights into how Sorry Business affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, with the hope that it will encourage all school communities to work together to support Aboriginal students and their families during these times.

https://staff.ww.catholic.edu.au/intranet/ls/content/2760653179387967/sorry-business-video-resource-for-schools-and-families

Happy Term 4 everyone!

God Bless

Angela Scott