Protected Industrial Action

The Independent Education Union has advised that members in Catholic schools will stop work for a full day on Friday, 27 May 2022. Catholic Education strongly supports teachers and general staff receiving a meaningful pay increase and improved benefits for the important job they do and sees the decision to strike as regrettable given the disruption our students, parents, and school community have already endured over the last two years.

The staff of St Joseph's Warialda will not be on strike on Friday, 27 May 2022.

School is open and there will be no disruption to learning.

Breakfast Club

Watch this space!! Breakfast Club will be available soon. We have received a grant through Food Bank to run this worthwhile program. The program is available for all children that attend school and will be available every morning.

How will it work?

Children who arrive before 8:30 am are asked to sit at the lunch tables until a teacher begins before school duty.

Any child who arrives between 8:30 and 8:45 am will be able to access the breakfast. Some of the healthy options available are cereal like Weet-Bix, Corn Flakes, Sultana Bran, Up & Go, tinned fruit and toast with jam/Vegemite. We will explain the routine for getting breakfast at school once we have set things up.

The children will be asked to sit at the lunch tables for their breakfast. It is also expected that the children wash up any bowls, plates, cutlery etc before being allowed to play on the tennis court. We will stop serving breakfast at 8:45 am as the line up bell goes at 8:50 am with lessons beginning as soon as the children are in class.

Parent and Friends Committee

A number of parents have expressed interest in forming a Parents and Friends Committee. The P&F acts within the Constitution issued by the Bishop’s Commission for Catholic Schools, Diocese of Armidale, with the authority of the Bishop.

Here are some key points on a Parents and Friends Committee in a Catholic school:

P&F bodies are approved by the Bishop for the Service of the Church and the Catholic school communities in which they serve.
P&Fs exist in a Catholic School to support parents/carers in the education of their children.
They strengthen the partnership between family, school, parish and the wider community.
They seek to involve all its members to build a friendly and welcoming community.
They raise funds to provide resources and opportunities for enriching the wellbeing of all students at the school.
Provide support for school maintenance programs.

Membership

All parents/carers of students attending the school, school staff and friends of the school who are interested in supporting the aims of the Association can be members.

Friends can be parishioners, alumni of the school and the parents/carers of former pupils.

Executive Members

To have a valid and approved P&F there would need to be an elected:

President
Vice President
Secretary &
Treasurer

The Constitution sets out guidelines on the election of Executive Members, the term of office, frequency of general meetings and the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Here is the current the current Constitution:

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS PARENTS AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION

Cathy Ible (CSO Parent Engagement Officer) will work with us in setting up our P&F. We will hold an information meeting in the coming weeks to plan for the formation of a P&F then shortly after call for nominations. Please see me or Lisa if you would like further information.

Catholic Schools Week

The theme for CSW 2022 in the Armidale diocese is Our Hope-Filled Future. Hallie, Harrison and Leah represented our school at the northern deanery Catholic Schools Week Mass at St Philomena's Moree. Bishop Kennedy was unable to preside over Mass and we were fortunate to have Fr Joe Adriano and Fr Damian Locke officiate.

Here is our Chris Smyth's (CSO Director) address for the deanery masses.

Catholic Schools Week is an important annual celebration of what makes Catholic schools the best choice for so many students and their families. This year our Catholic Schools Week theme is Our Hope-filled Future, a theme which echoes our Armidale Catholic Schools vision:

A Christ-centred inclusive learning community

that supports young people to realise a hope-filled future.

This theme clearly expresses the idea that all of us in students’ school, church, family and community have an important role to play in helping each and every young person to be the very best version of themselves that they can be.

This is vitally important because we need young people who will be the leaders of tomorrow in our schools, our church, our families and our communities, so that they too, can in turn help other young people achieve their full potential and give back to society in positive ways.

They will do this because they will know as a result of their Catholic school experience, the importance of seeing Jesus Christ in the face of others every day.

So today I say thank you to those young people—of whom we are all so proud—for your commitment to your learning and work in school, church, community and family and for what I am confident you will do for your communities in the future.

I thank Bishop Michael for leading the Eucharist this morning and his ongoing support for Catholic education, our families and community.

Thank you to our hardworking parish priests for the collaboration and support they so willingly provide to our school communities.

Parents and caregivers—thank you for all you do to support your children, our school and Church.

And of course my very sincere thanks to our extremely hardworking teachers and principals who work tirelessly to support the students entrusted to them every day in our wonderful Catholic schools; without you, our future would certainly not be as hope-filled as it is.

Families choose Catholic education because of you and your amazing efforts to educate and nurture their children.

Everyday in our schools, staff and students hear the word of God through prayer, scripture and the loving actions of each other.

Everyday Jesus Christ is mentioned as we strive to make the word of God at home in each and every person.

Everyday we strive to assist our students to improve in their learning. I cannot think of a greater gift that our schools can provide for our students and staff than this - truly the basis for a ‘hope-filled future’.

God bless.

Chris Smyth

New Cleaner

It is with great pleasure to announce the appointment of our new school cleaner, Melissa Wilson. Mel is the grandmother of Chayse and Hallie and comes to us with extensive experience in customer service, commercial cleaning and support care. Welcome to our team.

Kinder 2023 Transition

We will be starting our Kinder 2023 Transition from Week 4. These will take place on the following days until 11:10 am. Please contact Lisa at the office for details.

Tuesday, May 31
Tuesday, June 28

Wishing you a healthy and safe fortnight.

Joe Dimech

Principal

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