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Dear Parents
It is quite amazing that our first term has come to an end. It has been once again been a term that was filled with unexpectant events and challenges for us all. But despite these challenges we have all remained positive and resilient to provide our students with as much stability as possible. It is always lovely to come to school each day to teach kids that are happy a desire to learn and do their best.
As this term concludes we also take time to remember the significant time it is in our Church season. Holy Week and Easter is a sacred time for all Christians where we all take the time to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made to protect his people. Throughout this week we have remembered these events through our own Liturgies that highlighted the main events of Jesus' last remaining week on Earth.
EASTER MASSES & SERVICES
GLOUCESTER - Holy Thursday Mass at 5.30 pm; Good Friday- Stations/ Passion
2.30 pm and Easter Sunday at 9.00 am.
Last weekend was also a very significant weekend for Miss Gooch. Casey celebrated her wedding, to Nick West, on her parents farm at Bulahdelah. Despite a number of stressful weeks prior to the wedding with floods and other challenges, Casey and Nick were blessed with an absolute beautiful day for their wedding. The wedding was an absolute wonderful occasion for all that were present and it is without doubt that Casey looked absolutely beautiful on the day. We all wish Casey and Nick our best wishes for their future. We will now welcome Mrs West back at the start of next term.
Mrs Maslen will also be back at the start of next term after her long service break.
Finally, I would just like to wish everybody a safe and happy Easter break. What a way to finish off our term with parents and grandparents back in the school to celebrate Easter with us. It has been a long time since this has happened!
Adam McCann
(Acting Principal)
Holy Week
This week we celebrated Holy Week through a number of small Liturgies. On Thursday we took time to remember the events of The Last Supper. Thank you to 5/6 who told the story of Holy Thursday in a very respectful manner and in a way that all the younger students could understand.
Today we remembered Jesus' final day on Good Friday. This day is one the most significant days in the Church year and it is always wonderful to see the reverence that the students demonstrate during these liturgies. It is also wonderful to hear the knowledge that the students have of these events.
Project Compassion
Today also saw the end of the Project Compassion appeal over the Lenten period. The students have all been learning about the stories of less fortunate people around the world and how our donations to Caritas we help improve the quality of their lives. Thanks to all the students who made the effort to put some small change into their money boxes to help out with this annual appeal. Together we raised $90.20 for Project Compassion.
Easter Hat Parade and Easter Hunt
Finally, we finished off our term with a very enjoyable Easter Hat Parade and Easter Hunt. There were some wonderful home made and school made hats for the parade. Thanks to Miss Jensen for organising this event and also to Mrs Mowbray and Mr Crowe for helping the students to create their hats during the morning.
Congratulations to Denver for winning the Easter Egg guessing comeptition.
Easter Gift
On Thursday the students received an Easter gift from the lovely people from the Gloucester Activities Centre. This was a generous gift of an Easter basket and some eggs. The students were very appreciative and would like to thank the Gloucester Activities Centre for the very thoughtful gift.
From all of us in K/1, I would like to thank you all for a fantastic start to the year and we wish you a very safe and wonderful Easter!
Over the past few weeks we have been reading and studying the book 'Charlotte's Web'. As a part of the writing component to this book the students have been writing stories about meeting an animal and being able to talk to that animal. I have been so impressed on the level of enthusiam that the students have towards their story writing. They are constantly improving in sentence structure and using descriptive language within their work. Here are just a couple of examples of the stories:
We have also been doing research on spiders. The students have been using Powerpoint to present their work. As a part of their use of Powerpoint, I taught them how to create hyperlinks in their slides so the Powerpoint is like a simplified web page where users can click onto links and then return back to a home page through a home button link. Whilst, this was challenging for some, the majority of the students quickly understood the concept and have been doing an amazing job in creating their powerpoints. Here is just one example:
Last week we were also very lucky to receive 7 brand new computers. Ths means that all our students in the class have access to a new model computer to help with their studies.
Again, I congratulate the whole class on their wonderful behaviour, participation, ethusiasm and cooperation in class during this term. It is a pleasure to the class and I wish you all a safe and happy Easter.
Year 5/6
I can't believe we are already at the end of Term 1. We have had a huge Term 1 getting settled back into school and organising exciting things like Year 6 shirts, Year 5/6 camp and everything in between, including celebrating the success of our mini Ian Thorpe and Dawn Fraser's.
We have learnt alot about early Australia and have become experts in this area. Science lessons with Miss Gooch have been fun and exciting and we have been focusing on our handwrtiing also, taking particular care when completing cursive writing.
We have experimented with different writing styles and writng from the perspective of Australian's born in the late 1800's early 1900's. When writing these letters we practiced our cursive writing. See some of our examples below!
What a wonderful and busy term we have had! Wishing you a happy and safe Easter break! (:
"Odd Day" and Flood Appeal Fundraising: The recent Mini Vinnies "Odd Day" was a great success with many different versions of "odd" outfits on display. THank You to all the students, parents and staff who embraced the chance to wear something a little bit unusual. Mr McCann's hairstyle was particularly unusual and made him look years younger. In fact, some students were dressed so differently that it was it was difficult to recognise them. The gold coin donations on the day were very generous and the Mini Vinnies collected over $100 for flood victims. I was decided to send the funds to Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic school in Lismore and the school was very grateful.
G.J.s Activities: The students are really enjoying the various activities at Monday and Friday Recess time. The "relaxation" activity is particularly popular and lots of students of varying ages are joining in. It is so important for all of us to learn how to slow down sometimes, to take time out to appreciate the power and value of being calm, still, quiet and relaxed.
Easter: What a great day for the last day of Term 1! ... Mufti Day, soft toys/ animals, loads of Easter activities, Easter Hats and Easter eggs. The gold coin donations from the day will be forwarded to the Salvos to assist in our small way to help others. Wishing you all a happy Easter and the time to enjoy all your blessings. It is certainly about much more than those delicious chocolate Easter Eggs!
Holidays: We are all looking forward to the holidays and the chance to enjoy a break from normal routine. I hope that everyone has a safe and holy Easter and returns refreshed and ready for Term 2 .
Quote: “Now when I think of Easter, I don’t think of material things. I use it as a reminder of the joy it brings.” (Michael A Burke SR)
Last week we were fortunate enough to receive 7 new laptops to replace our aging computers. This means that we have now 14 new model computers to help the students with their studies. As you can appreciate, upgrading computers is an expensive exercise. However, we are very fortunate, at times, to receive support from parent bodies and outside agencies to help us upgrade our facilities. One of those agencies was the Gloucester Community Shop who kindly donated $1000 towards the purchase of these new computers. On behalf of the students and staff of St. Joseph's we would publicly like to thank Diann Relf and the committee of The Gloucester Community Shop for their generous donation.
Once again we would like to thank Pam for coming in to do shared table. We appreciate the wonderful food that she prepares each week for us. Pam will be on holidays for the first couple of weeks of Term 2 with her family and we all her all the best for a much deserved break. Miss Jensen and Lauretta will take over the cooking duties for the time that Pam is on holidays.
Shared Table for Term 2 will be as follows:
Week | Date | Meal |
2 | 2nd May | Hot Dogs |
3 | 9th May | Nachos |
4 | 16th May | Hamburgers |
5 | 23rd May | Pizza |
6 | 30th May | Chicken Wraps |
7 | 6th June | Fried Rice |
9 | 20th June | Chicken Burgers |
10 | 27th June | Hot Dogs |
ANZAC Day service will be conducted at the Memorial Clock Tower on Monday 25th March at 11am. Once again our school has been invited to participate in the ANZAC march on the day. We encourage all our students to participate in this march as a sign of respect for the men and women who have served our country.
Any student that is available to march is asked to wear their full school uniform, with hat, and to meet outside the Soldiers Club at 10.15am.
The Dawn Service also commences at 5:30am for anyone interested.
Pupil Free Day - Friday 6th May
Please note Friday 6th May as a Pupil Free Day in your calendar. Staff will be participating in Professional Development on this day.
Term 2 Dates
Week | Date | Event |
1 | Monday 25th March | ANZAC Day Public Holiday |
Wednesday 27th March | School ANZAC Ceremony | |
2 | Friday 6th May | Pupil Free Day |
3 | Tuesday 10th - Friday 13th May | NAPLAN |
4 | Friday 20th May | 2/3/4 Assembly |
NAPLAN for students in Years 3 and 5 will begin on Tuesday 10th May. At this stage the timetable for the tests will be as follows:
Tuesday 10th - Writing
Wednesday 11th - Reading
Thursday 12th - Language Conventions
Friday 13th - Numeracy
The following week will be used for catch up tests for any student that is absent during the testing days.
First of all, thank you to the St Joseph’s community on making me feel so welcome to start the year. I am the new regional Gifted Education Project Officer and I absolutely love working at Gloucester alongside the staff and students every Tuesday.
In Week 10, we held a Maths Challenge for the students in Years 2-6. The students watched short films and completed maths problems based on the events in the film. There was a high level of excitement in the room and it was wonderful to see how the students engaged in and applied themselves to the challenges presented.
One example of a question the students answered after watching a clip from the movie Aladdin is listed below.
Travelling on the magic carpet, Aladdin and Jasmine pass the Pyramids of Giza. They are then seen in Athens.
Hard |
Harder |
Hardest |
It is approximately 1,100 kilometres between Cairo and Athens 'as the crow flies'. If a car travels 100 km every hour, how many hours would it take to drive 1,100 km?
|
It is approximately 1,100 kilometres between Cairo and Athens ‘as the crow flies’. If it takes an aeroplane four hours to travel this distance, what speed is it travelling?
|
It is approximately 1,100 kilometres between Cairo and Athens 'as the crow flies'. Travelling on the magic carpet, Aladdin and Jasmine pass the Pyramids of Giza. 20 seconds later, they are seen in Athens. How many kilometres per hour was the carpet travelling?
|
Gary Pomplun
Gifted Education Project Officer
13YARN- a Lifeline service specifically for ATSI people
13YARN has been developed for First Nation people.
It is a Lifeline service specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. All the phones are staffed by us.
It is funded by NSW Health and is available 24 hours 7 days a week (13 92 76).