Dear Parents

DOLSIS Survey Thank you to the parents who have completed either an online DOLSIS survey or the paper version. As stated previously, we really want a large number of the surveys completed to allow us to see how we are travelling. Due to the need to post the paper copies back to Melbourne, to arrive by Friday, we cannot take any more paper copy returns. However, the online survey remains active until Friday so we encourage you to hop online and complete the survey please.

Mothers’ Day Congratulations to the winners of the Mothers’ Day Stall raffle:

1st Chloe McGarry 2nd Liz Bugden 3rd Belinda Ryan

Thank you to Liz Bugden and all her helpers for the terrific Mothers’ Day Stall on Thursday last week. Without Liz and her helpers, your children would not have had such beautiful gifts to give their mums last Sunday. Thank you also to Libby Spash and her helpers for a beautiful Mothers’ Day Breakfast last Friday. Thank you to the mums who could join us for this event.

NAPLAN This week is NAPLAN week for our Year 3 and 5 students. For the first time we are completing NAPLAN online, except for Year 3 Writing, as all schools move to this new testing method. Year 3 Writing this year is still a paper test due to the fears throughout the country that not all Year 3 students would have the typing skills to complete their Writing to a satisfactory level. I believe next year there will be an expectation that all students will complete Writing online also. So that gives us a challenge for our current Year 2 students. We need to ensure their skill in typing will allow them the ability to get their thoughts typed efficiently without constantly looking to find the appropriate letters on a keyboard. If you are the parent of a Year 1 or 2 student you can assist here. Investigate typing tutor programs like Dance Mat Typing https://www.dancemattypingguide.com/ as an opportunity to give your children the fluency in keyboarding which all our learners need today. We spend so much time on a phone or tablet device that skills are not being developed on a proper keyboard.

Use of Data to Inform our Teaching Parents never get invited into our Staff Study. There is a very good reason for that. The walls in there are covered in data about your children. Maths Assessment Interview results over time, Writing task results, Spelling trends, planning for the next area which needs our focus...…. All adorn the walls in this room. That is the room where staff meet in their teams each fortnight to plan the next learning experiences for your children. On the day your children are undertaking their STEM lessons with Mrs Moloney and Mrs Crosby, the staff are in the Staff Study. As a team, they look at that data, decide on how they can support the students needing extra assistance, stretch those doing well, deal with a behaviour impacting on learning, decide on learning tasks which will engage the students, mark common assessments, map the results, program with their new information then contact parents where required. You only have to be in the Staff Study for a short while to understand their commitment to learning and a healthy school experience for each and every one of your children. Part of the day involves meeting in what is called a Professional Learning Team (P.L.T.), with the Enrichment Tutors and other necessary staff present, to get the best plan possible for learning in each Stage. Every child is discussed during the P.L.T. to ensure all the staff working in the Stage knows exactly their part in supporting our students. I want to say THANK YOU to the staff for the way they work during these release days once a fortnight. Their professionalism, commitment and skill knows no boundaries as they work in their teams. Thank you! I thought it might be great for you to understand how this Release day is used.

MAY Mon 6 - Fri 17 - DOLSIS survey Tues 14 - Thurs 16 - NAPLAN

(Years 3 & 5) Thursday 16

Safe on Social - FREE Parent Assembly workshop, Trinity, 6pm. Register at: https://goo.gl/4E9ceK

RSVP Family Bingo & Trivia night.

Saturday 18 - Family Bingo & Trivia night. All welcome.

Monday 20 Confirmation Formation Day Confirmation, 6pm

Friday 24 Diocesan Cross Country,

Grafton. Assembly (Act of Kindness),

2:25pm Tuesday 28

PSF meeting,7pm, All welcome Gift of the Gab entries open

Thursday 30 - Term 2 Fees DUE

Friday 31 - Staff Proclaim, Pupil Free.

JUNE Sat 1 & Sun 2 - Parent Assembly

weekend, Coffs Harbour Thursday 6 - Biggest Morning

Tea Friday 7

Brio Rhythms Workshops Assembly (awards & drumming

performance), 2:25pm. Wednesday 12

Year 6 RE Test Anxiety Workshop, FREE from

Parent Assembly, Our Lady Help of Christians, 6pm. Register https://goo.gl/S4bpWA

Friday 14 - RE Rally with Slatts & JB.

Sunday 16 - Gift of the Gab Monday 17 - Athletics Carnival

(back up Monday 1 July) Friday 21 - Assembly (awards &

Act of Kindness), 2:25pm

11 Perry Street Alstonville NSW 2477 ( PO Box 265 ) Phone: 02 6628 1009 www.alstplism.catholic.edu.au Email: alstp@lism.catholic.edu.au

WEEK 3

ST JOSEPH’S SCHOOL CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS 30 AUGUST—1 SEPTEMBER

Accompanying this newsletter…

Federal School Funding information

Thank you to all the special women who joined us last Friday.

Uniform Just a timely reminder to check your children’s uniform and possessions to ensure everything has their name on it. It is about now, each Term, when we start to accumulate lots of lost property. Unfortunately, a great deal of it may not have the child’s name on it so we cannot return it. If you buy secondhand uniform, please take the time to cross out the previous owner’s name and write your child’s name on it. We also accumulate a number of containers from lunchboxes which cannot be returned as they are nameless. The lost property basket is put out each morning for students to retrieve items left around school. Unfortunately, un-named items are often picked up by other students (hats are a popular item to claim from lost property). Please check the items you have, to ensure they actually belong to your children. If you think uniform items are looking bedraggled, washed out or ripped, please replace them. We are working hard to instill in our students a pride in their uniform . Uniform shop is open every Friday from 8:30am until 9:30am and then 2:30pm until 3:30pm. You can also download a uniform order sheet from our webpage (under the Parents tab) and send it into school.

Junior Joeys Our Junior Joeys students are flooding in. As they are attending we are trying to organise Enrolment Interviews. During the interview we give the students an “I’m going to big school” T-shirt for them to wear to Junior Joeys. Please encourage people you know to enrol as soon as possible. We go to great lengths to run Junior Joeys because we know this program makes a difference for children beginning school. We threw out our traditional two day transition in favour of Junior Joeys and since that time we have seen improved results for our students. They begin school comfortable in their surroundings, knowing each other and all the staff. As parents also learn the routines of school and get to know staff, they too, become more comfortable in the school environment. We firmly believe the more a student can attend Junior Joeys, the more the whole family gains from the experience, even if they already have children enrolled at school.

Thank You Thank you to the students, parents and staff who helped out with our Enrolment Expo last night. This is our way to encourage enrolments. To truly understand our school prospective, families need to know what we offer. The expo gives us that opportunity.

Gold Award Winners The number of students who have now earned Gold Awards is phenomenal. It really highlights the focus we have on their positive behaviours and the way the students get involved in this.

Hall Hire Emma Thrum has taken over the responsibility for all hall hire of McCarthy Hall. Bookings are made through school office. After confirmation of the Hall hire and completion of any required paperwork and payments, the booking is finalised and handed to Emma to negotiate any requirements. We thank Emma for taking on this extra responsibility. The ability to have events in our Hall outside school time really assists the school in maintaining the Hall. Thank you Emma.

Therese Seymour

School Photos A reminder to those parents who indicated they wished to collect photos in person, that they can do so from the school office.

FOUND: A watch was found in an item of clothing donated to the clothing pool (possibly some time ago). Please contact the office if you think it may be yours.

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TICKETS FOR OUR CENTENARY DINNER ARE NOW

ON SALE

from the office.

Tickets are $45 each.

AWARDS Congratulations to the following students who

received awards at our Assembly last week.

Early Stage 1

Lincoln Andrews Hendrix Dewhurst

Ethan Cox Michael Gallagher

Stage 1

Grace Cooper Emma Quinlann

Zeke Kubils Hugh Woolley

Sully Mitchell

Stage 2

Bryson Boonham Abbey Rogers

Felicity Bultitude Nikola Ryan

Hope Chinnery Lilly Vickrage

Stage 3

Ilaria Blenkhorn Nakkita Kubils

Charlie Collins Matilda Price

Cohen Duncan

Gold Awards

Amala Chee Dominic Mills

Hope Chinnery Verity Paulsen

Harry Collins Lilly Vickrage

Will Gallagher Rachel Wills

Cooper King Hugh Woolley

Junior Joeys 2019

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From Lyn Rowling—Wellbeing “You Can Make A Difference” The Social Justice team has been discussing ways our school community can make small differences to others at school, home or for our community. This Term we will be making posters to put around the school to serve as reminders about making a difference. In a world of less empathetic behavior, it’s important for children to develop these social/emotional skills.

Ask your child about how they can make a difference? Family Bingo and Games Night - Saturday 18 May I know that there are many excited Bingo players in our school who are keen to attend this event. We will also be playing some other games on the night. I hope you have locked the date away for this. The details are:

Where: School Hall When: 4:45pm for settling in and having a drink or early dinner. Games Begin: 5:30pm with an approximate 7:30pm finish. What to Bring : - BYO Dinner and Snacks for your table - Drinks (no alcohol please); - Sense of fun. We will provide: - Tea and coffee - A limited supply of cool drinks Cost: Zero (yes, this is a FREE event) RSVP: Please RSVP to Mrs Rowling by completing the slip attached ASAP.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Mrs Libby Spash - Assistant Principal Mission

Choir Next Monday, 20 May, children in our parish are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. We invite all choir members to assist with singing. Please be at the church by 5:45pm for a 6pm start. Please wear performance blacks.

Confirmation Formation Day Children making their Confirmation will be participating in a Formation Day next Monday, 20 May. A note has been sent home with further details. Students in Year 2 will join the Confirmation candidates from morning tea onwards. Morning

tea and sausage sizzle is provided.

PSF NEWS Thank you to all the helpers we had last Thursday for the Mothers’ Day Stall, without who we can’t offer this service. The students had fun choosing some lovely gifts.

Well done to the Stage 3 girls, Lilly, Ava and Eva, for your jewellery stand, you had some beautiful designs.

I’ve had a few people ask recently “How do the Mothers’/Fathers’ Day stalls work?” These stalls are not fundraising for the PSF, they are a service we offer to the children. Not all children get the opportunity to go shopping for their parents/carers, so we help out with these stalls. The items we sell are sold at cost and we’ve been able to find some really good suppliers, so that often we can get items that are similar or nicer to items sold at large department stores and because we sell them at cost they are often cheaper.

The next PSF meeting will be held on Tuesday 28 May at 7pm in the staffroom, we’d love to see you there.

Liz Bugden PSF Co-ordinator.

FAMILY BINGO AND GAMES NIGHT

Family Name _____________________________

Number of Adults __________________________

Number of Children ________________________

Please Return By THIS Thursday, 16 May.

STEM NEWS

WANTED: Old Iphones

At St Joseph’s, we are keen to begin a journey into virtual reality. We are hoping that there may be some families who have an old iPhone they are willing to donate to the school for us to use with google cardboard. They will be used solely for this purpose and connected to the school network. They will not be used with a SIM card and will not be used as a phone. We are looking for anything from an iPhone 5 up. It would need to have no cracks and a decent battery life. We also would ask you to do a factory reset on them before donating them. If you have a relatively new android device we may be able to use this too. If we find that the phone is not fully functional or not compatible we will put it into Mobile Muster for recycling. We are excited about the possibilities which this technology holds for our students.

Thank you, The STEM team

SPORT Congratulations and good luck to Kai Kubils who has been called up to compete at the Diocesan Cross Country at Grafton on Friday 24 May.

Miss Kasey Miles - Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching Brio Rhythms is a drumming workshop which will be run by Mr Peter Slattery here at school on Friday 7 June. This is a compulsory workshop for all students covering aspects of the Creative Arts syllabus - Music. Further information later in this newsletter. Permission slip and payment requirements will be sent home next week.

Boom Gate Times

The boom gate is closed between 8:30am - 9:15am

and 3:00pm - 3:40pm.

This is a necessary safety precaution which restricts vehicle movement at these very busy times of the day when children are arriving and

leaving the school grounds.

Jumping Joeys Playgroup

Tuesdays 9:30-11am

Come and join in the fun every Tuesday.

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The following children have celebrated their birthday since our

last Newsletter:

Nellie Kubils, Michael Gallagher,

Lilly Vickrage, Mia Knight,

Lachlan Bullen, Javiea Roberts.

Happy Birthday from all of us

ALTAR SERVERS ROSTER Alstonville Saturday 18 May:

VOLUNTEER PLEASE, Darcy Colquhoun, Ava Greensill, Lachlan Hyde.

Sunday 19 May: Josh Simmons, Teo

Astone, Mary Parry, Abbey Rogers. Children’s Sunday Liturgy Alstonville 8:30am: Laurel Newton Wardell 5:30pm: Clare Axman

CANTEEN

NEW FOOD ON TRIAL This Friday there will be two new food items for the kids to enjoy.

Cheese and Bacon Pizza - $3.00

Chicken Pie (has a small amount of Peas and Corn) - $4.00

I also have available Sunraysia Organic Juice Pouch in Apple & Blackcurrant, Tropical and Apple and Mango flavours. All poppers are $1.50 each and are also sold frozen.

RECYCLE OUR BOTTLES All drink bottles (including milk bottles), sold at the Canteen, are redeemable for .10c at Return and Earn Stations. I will now be accepting the return of empty, undamaged bottles at the Canteen and in return, your child will be given a bread stick or two rice crackers. I am trying to encourage the children to recycle for a cause. Once the bottles are redeemed, the money will go to the Joey's Garden Club so they can continue to grow amazing produce for our School Community.

Thanks for your support.

Why enter? St Joseph's annual public speaking event will be held on Sunday 16 June in McCarthy Hall, starting at 10am. Public speaking skills have many benefits:

developing critical thinking skills

fine-tuning verbal and nonverbal skills, and

overcoming fear of public speaking, which comedian Jerry Seinfeld says is the number one fear of the average person, number two is death!!

Every single day, people across the world stand up in front of some kind of audience and speak. Some examples of this are:

being asked to instruct a group of co workers

teachers find themselves presenting to parents as well as their students

nurses instructing a family group on care needs

convincing clients to purchase your company's products

wedding toasts, accepting awards, delivering eulogies or

the all important job interview Public speaking is a life skill and it is a skill which becomes easier with practice. Our children are extremely lucky to have the opportunity to develop this skill in a supportive and encouraging environment. A parent is on the stage with the children at all times and they will be prompted if they forget their next line. Coaching is being offered by members of the Enrichment Activities Group and the date and times for this will be advertised in the newsletter at a later date. Please note that students have the opportunity to perform either a poem, a speech or an item used for a class assessment. The speech can be on any subject, should be written by the student and palm cards can be used. Encourage your child to develop this lifelong skill and have lots of fun practising. There are some great prizes on offer and the chance to win one of two Canteen vouchers. First time entrants also go into a separate draw for a prize. If you have any questions regarding Gift of the Gab please feel free to contact Katherine Lamas - 0408 786 696 Resource - writingcommons.org

“Brio Rhythms” School Wor kshop Fr i day 7t h June 2019

Run by Peter Slattery 0412 090 118

Positive, energetic, and creative musical experience for

students of all ages. St Joseph’s School Hall

Kindergarten 9:10am – 10:00am Stage 1 10:05am-10:55am Stage 2 11:00am-11:50am Stage 3 12:45pm-1:45pm School Assembly Performance 2:30pm

Workshop Cost $4 per person or

$6 per family

Families and friends invited to see the children perform at their assembly.

This workshop will be providing your child with important experiences relating to music syllabus outcomes that

address performance, organising sound and listening. The workshop will help consolidate the understanding of

dynamics, tempo, pitch and composition. A valuable experience for all!