23 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

News

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents & Carers,

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank every parent and family for the manner in which you are all handling the current situation with COVID-19. At a time of uncertainty, our school community has ensured an atmosphere of calm and routine learning environment for our students, of which I am most grateful to parents and particularly to all our extremely professional staff, including support staff and teachers. Our students, their welfare and learning remain our highest priority.

The most recent advice from Catholic Schools NSW is that schools are to remain open for the remainder of Term 1. Whilst this is the directive, schools have also been asked to consider what learning from home may look like in the event that this rapidly changing situation may include closure of schools. Teachers at St. Joseph’s have already been planning to support students should this become a reality. Similarly, if you are required to isolate your children due to illness, travel etc, we will provide work for your child.

During this week we have continued to be guided by Catholic Schools NSW, Health Authorities, the Premier and Prime Minister. Our assemblies, masses, sporting events, and P&F meetings for the remainder of the term have been cancelled. Sunday Masses at St. Joseph’s church have also been cancelled. As a school we are required to adapt and be flexible so some of our normal routines at school may change. I would also ask parents to be mindful of social distancing while collecting children and remain at the entry of the school. Please consider others. This is in the interests of the health and safety to students, staff and community and in being proactive in the first instance. We have continued to email updates directly from the school via Compass, our school software system. We have ensured good hygiene practices and discussed and modelled this to our students with hand sanitizers and visuals to support good hygiene in all classrooms and around the school. Students and staff who have been ill have been encouraged to stay at home.

We continue to have some wonderful achievements at St. Joseph’s. Congratulations to Charlotte Marchant who successfully tried out at Regional Netball Trials as a goal shooter. Well done Charlotte! Congratulations to Aiden Blanchard who also elected to try out who the Diocesan Hockey Team. While these events and our very successful swimming relay team consisting of Mia Tresidder, Kamryn Beard, Charlotte Marchant and Stuart Turner will not be able to compete to current circumstances we are all very proud of their achievements.

We continue to receive regular updates which we will pass on directly through email. Welfare of our students and school community remain a priority. If you are concerned about any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or your child’s teacher. Our school counsellor, Mrs Alison Perry is also at our school fortnightly on Thursdays.

Peace and best wishes,

Amy Maslen

Religious Education Coordinator Report

Unfortunately, due to the current health concerns around our nation and world we have had to cancel our attendance at local parish masses. We were due to celebrate the Patron Saint of our school, St. Joseph, at mass on Thursday but this now has been cancelled. A sausage sizzle was also planned for after the mass but is also now cancelled. I would though like to thank the Parish Team for offering to put this on for our students to celebrate the life of St. Joseph. It is an important feast day for our school and we will still acknowledge St. Joseph on Thursday in our own classes. A fact that was passed onto me about St. Joseph was that he does not say one word in the Bible! Quite amazing since he is the Patron Saint of so many schools.

As Holy Week and Easter approaches, many of the liturgies and masses that we would normally attend will be restricted. In our classes we will still be focusing on these important events within our RE lessons.

Adam McCann

Sport Report

On Thursday 12th March, Charlotte Marchant travelled to St. Joseph’s Taree to participate in the Regional Sports Trials for Netball. From this day, Charlotte gained selection as the Regional Goal Shooter to go on to the Diocesan Trials. I would like to congratulate Charlotte on this tremendous effort.

Unfortunately, the Diocesan trials scheduled for the 24th March have been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances and there still remains uncertainty regarding the completion of these trials. As a part of this, I would also like to thank Aiden Blanchard who put his name forward to attend the Diocesan Trials for Hockey, which were unfortunately cancelled.

As a part of new regulations, there will be no swimming for the rest of the Term. However, Sport Day will still remain on Thursday’s for the duration of the Term and students will participate in Sport at school. A big thank you to Miss Prosser and the Year 5’s and 6’s for organising school sport this week.

Teegan Rowsell

NAPLAN

Education Ministers met on Friday and decided that NAPLAN testing for 2020 will no longer proceed. Friday’s statement by the Department of Education states, ‘The decision to not proceed with NAPLAN in 2020 has been taken to assist school leaders, teachers and support staff to focus on the wellbeing of students and continuity of education, including potential online and remote learning. Further, the impact of responses to the COVID-19 virus may affect the delivery of NAPLAN testing, including the operation of centralised marking centres and the implications for nationally comparable data if an insufficient number of students are available to do the test.’ Students in Year 3 and Year 5 participate in NAPLAN.

Pupil Free Day – Friday 20th March

Teachers met on Friday to plan and discuss whole school student teaching and learning and school organisation. It was a very productive day that continued to allow staff to retain a whole-school approach to learning outcomes. Thank you for supporting our staff professional development.

GIVIT

The school recently received some wonderful support and donations from GIVIT, a drought charity organisation. We thank GIVIT and their coordinator for your area, Melissa Bowman, who has currently been organising some donations for our school. We have recently received vouchers to spend in our grounds, new noticeboards and a voucher to spend on a rug for K1 room.

Collection Notice

Please find attached the 2020 Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection Notice. This notice is from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (the department), to advise you that the department has requested that your child’s school provide a ‘statement of addresses’, in accordance with the Australian Education Regulation 2013 (Cth) (Regulation).

Dates for your Diary

Thursday 9th April – Final Day Term 1

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: Charlotte Marchant (12 Years)

P & F News

The next scheduled P&F Meeting, for Monday 6th April is now be postponed until Term 2.

P & F

Reminders and Notes

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.