St Joseph's Primary School Gloucester
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53 Denison Street
Gloucester NSW 2422
Subscribe: https://sjpsgloucester.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Email: admin@gloucester.catholic.edu.au
Phone: 02 6558 1555

9 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Last week was Catholic Schools Week for 2020. At St. Joseph’s we celebrated this special week by joining with the St. Joseph’s Parish in a special Mass on Wednesday which celebrated Catholic education. During the Mass, Father Terry blessed our new Year 6 leaders; Kamryn Beard, Montanna Hollis, Charlotte Marchant, Mia Tresidder and Stuart Turner. I have no doubt that these leaders will develop and display many outstanding leadership skills and contribute to the school in many ways this year.

Enrolments to St. Joseph’s Primary School have now opened for the 2021 school year following the Catholic Schools Week celebrations across NSW. Enrolment packs are now available at the school.

On Thursday 27th February we had a special visit from the Director of Catholic Schools Office, Mr Gerard Mowbray. Mr Mowbray visited our classrooms and talked to students, along with touring the school and meeting with staff. It was wonderful to have a visit from Mr Mowbray and we look forward to his ongoing support at St. Josephs.

On Monday Mr Nicholls, Principal of St. Clare’s visited our school and spoke with Year 4/5/6 of the quality education offered at St. Clare’s High School. On Wednesday we held our Parent Teacher interviews for Term 1. I would like to thank all parents and families who made time to come in and discuss and collaborate with parents on their child’s learning goals. Staff and teachers value your input and the opportunity to share information on your child’s development as we work together for their learning and development. On Thursday and Friday, six of our students attended workshops at St. Clare’s High School with the Diocesan ASPIRE Team which culminated in a performance on Friday afternoon for fellow attendees.

On Monday night I attended a very information night with guest speaker Dr Michael Carr-Greg. Michael is a leading child psychologist who spoke on raising happy and resilient young people. Michael outlined that research shows children with resilience are highly likely to have the following characteristics: a charismatic adult in their life, ie an adult or a teacher, social/ emotional competencies, positive self-talk, have a spark or an interest/hobby and a sense of spirituality – that life has a meaning, purpose and that each person has a place and feels that they belong. At school, our masses and gatherings serve to give all of us a sense of belonging and shared values. Students who feel safe and have this sense of belonging, are able to nurture their gifts through teaching, guidance and positive strategies. The school has a small parent reference library if anyone is interested in borrowing books on these topics.

Lent is a time to reflect and prepare for Easter. The period of 40 days that is Lent gives us the opportunity to reflect on our lives and how we can be the people we want to be. During Holy Week, Week 11 students will participate in Stations of the Cross as part of our Lenten period.

This position of Pastoral Care worker will be advertised this week through the Catholic Schools Office. The position is for twelve months and will be for 14 hours per week and further information can be found on the Catholic Schools Office website under Positions Vacant.

In our classrooms, it has been wonderful to observe the teaching and learning, particularly through the buddy relationships. For our senior students, teaching other students is not only a higher order thinking skill that ensure students know their content and how to articulate, but it also reinforces positive and strong relationships across our school community. Well done to all our students, particularly our leaders who are doing such a fantastic job in their buddy learning groups.

Dates for your Diary:

  • Wednesdays – Library
  • Thursdays – Swimming (Term 1)
  • St Joseph’s Day Mass – Thursday 19th March at 9:30am in the Church
  • Pupil Free Day – Friday March 20th
  • Final day Term 1 – Thursday 9th April
  • Term 2 resumes – Monday 27th April

Peace & Best Wishes
Amy Maslen

Religious Education Coordinator Report

What an amazing response that we had to our Shrove (Pancake) Tuesday fundraiser for Project Compassion. Our Mini Vinnies students did an awesome job organising the pancake breakfast with beautiful toppings. It was a joy watching the students enjoying a breakfast together and being so generous with donating some of their money. The second part of our fundraising was the coin line where each class placed their coins in one straight line. Again it was amazing to see the generosity of all the students. K/1 made a 2m line, 2/3 1.8m line and 4/5/6 made a staggering 10m line of coins. All up for the day the students raised a total of $160.85. Congratulations to everyone for donating this money to a worthy organisation.

Adam McCann

Sport Report

A huge thank you to the parents who helped at the School Cross Country on Friday 28th February and a well done to all students who participated in the day.

Well done to Mia Tresidder, Kamryn Beard, Charlotte Marchant, Stuart Turner and Xanthe Fenning who represented the Manning at the Diocesan Swimming Carnival last week and a big congratulations to the School Swimming Team who broke the PP5 Small Schools record. The school team will now go on to represent the Diocese at the Polding Swimming Championships on Wednesday 25th of March.

Teegan Rowsell

Cause for Celebration

Birthdays

Congratulations to the following students who are about to celebrate their birthday. We hope you have a fabulous time celebrating your special day:

Awards

K/1

Isabelle Eagar: for always trying you best in class and for being a wonderful friend to everyone!

Eli Fenning: for always being enthusiastic in your learning, keep up the fabulous work!

2/3

Mila Cooper – for the wonderful effort that you have been giving in all Literacy activities

Lillie-Maii Smith – for the beautiful way that you always present your work

Cooper Allan – for working hard to develop higher levels of mathematical strategies

4/5/6

Aiden Blanchard for demonstrating consistent growth in Mathematics

Montanna Hollis for taking more risks with her learning and stepping outside her comfort zone. I am so proud of you Montanna!

COSI School Survey

Please find below a link to our schools family survey for 2020. Your responses to the survey questions are integral to inform the school on those areas where it is performing well and additionally highlight areas for future planning and development.

Dear Parent/Carer,

You are invited to provide valuable feedback on how the school your child attends is currently meeting the needs of the students it serves. Your responses to the survey questions are integral to inform the school on those areas where it is performing well and additionally highlight areas for future planning and development.

By completing the survey you are making an important contribution to the development of the school. Please be assured that your privacy will be respected, and that your responses will be confidential throughout this process. The Catholic Schools Office is doing this work as part of its ongoing review process.

If you have more than one child at the school, please answer for the oldest child attending the school.

You may have other children in other schools in the diocese, however, we are only surveying a sample of schools at this time. You will be asked about the schools that any other children you may have attend at a later date, when that school is in a review year.

This survey is administered through the University of Newcastle, School of Education, who will analyse the results on behalf of your school.

Any queries in relation to the survey can be directed to cosisurvey@mn.catholic.edu.au

The survey is available to complete NOW and closes on Wednesday 18th March, 2020.

Just click on the link below to undertake the survey. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

Primary Parent/Carer survey link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PSH8GKD

Amy Maslen
St Joseph’s Gloucester

P & F News

Please find attached minutes from the P&F Meeting/AGM held Monday 2nd March.

P & F

Shared Table & Canteen

Shared Table has been cancelled for the remainder of Term 1.

Canteen will continue a Monday as usual.

Nuts & Anaphylaxis

St Joseph’s Primary School endeavours to provide a safe environment for students, including students with severe nut allergies. The number of children with food allergies in Australia is increasing and it is estimated that 1 in 20 have a food allergy and 1 in 50 have a peanut allergy. The most common food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews etc) cow’s milk, soy, seafood and eggs. The health and wellbeing of students at this school is carefully considered in all activities. Parents are requested not to send food to school that contain nuts, especially peanuts. This includes products such as peanut paste, most nuts, peanut cooking oil and other foods that may contain nuts.

Coronavirus Update

Working With Children Check

All volunteers in Maitland-Newcastle Diocesan Schools are required to complete a Working With Children Check. These checks are free for volunteers. You can apply online and then must attend the RMS to have your identification validated. Once you obtain your Working With Children Clearance number this must then be provided to Lisa in the front office who will pass the information on to Zimmerman House and the Catholic Schools Office for further processing. We love having volunteers in our school but me must comply with this requirement. If you have any queries regarding this please contact Lisa who is only too willing to assist you.

Staff at Joeys