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Dear Parents
This week I would like to say THANK YOU to all of our community. Each of you, in your own way, is assisting greatly during this Covid period. The students have been very good in continuing with their learning, staying focused and striving to meet the goals they have set themselves in the Learning Conversations. The parents have been so helpful with keeping sick children at home and arranging Covid tests where required, abiding by all the Covid restrictions and generally being so positive in encouraging the students. The staff continue to battle on through hectic times as we rearrange our Reading, Writing and Arts Festival, plan for their students learning and stay focused on following the restrictions here at school. In the last week the Winter flu ailments have reared their head and meant some of us needed to take time off. This meant others stepped up to help out or carried extra loads. We are very grateful to everyone during this time as we all continue to work together for our students. Just for the benefit of all: The health guidelines continue to be mindful of people who have travelled to hot spots. It is also cautioning us to be mindful of possible symptoms. The diagram (at left) helps us to explain. If anyone (student or staff) is unwell with cold symptoms described here, please stay at home. If the symptoms persist into a second day we ask for a Covid test. If a child is away for three or more days we request a doctors certificate. So, if your child appears unwell, a doctor’s visit is a very safe option. We would then ask you to give us a copy of either the doctor’s certificate or the Covid results for our records. Just like everywhere else, we are trying to keep track of illnesses, tests and contacts. We truly understand this is all time consuming and inconvenient BUT the caution is truly necessary at present. Thank you for your understanding!
And further to our Covid Closure Plan we are developing….. If in the event of a school closure due to necessary deep cleaning - Do you have an option sorted for child care? If school is closed then Out of School Hours care will not be accessible. Please have a think about your plans. Please see the latest Covid advice to parents provided by Catholic Schools NSW and available on our website under Recent Notes.
CONGRATULATIONS to Jennifer and Nick Mitchell, Van (S3) and Sully (S1) on the birth of a baby girl, Hazel, last week. Our PSF MEETING will be held TONIGHT by Zoom. If you would like to join us, please email Kasey Miles before 5pm today and she will send you the link to the Zoom. Items to discuss include: Fathers’ Day Stall help; possible get together if restrictions lift; help with vege gardens; and update on school plans for Reading, Writing and Arts Festival, including Megan Daley webinar.
AUGUST Tuesday 18 - TONIGHT -
PSF Zoom meeting, 7pm. Email: [email protected] to register your interest.
Thursday 20 - First Eucharist, 6pm - FAMILY ONLY
Friday 21 Learning Conversation
Survey CLOSES TODAY at 5pm
Winter Sleepover Monday 24 - Friday 11 Sept
Reading, Writing & Arts Festival
Tuesday 25 Sausage Sizzle orders for
Family Day DUE - no late orders will be accepted.
Motivating Teenagers with Chris Hudson, 7pm. FREE Parent Assembly webinar. Register: https://bit.ly/39TmA6Y
Thursday 27- Navigating Kids Friendships with Linda Stade, 7pm. FREE Parent Assembly webinar. Register: https://bit.ly/38UL8hb
Friday 28 - Family Day SEPTEMBER
Tuesday 1 - Recommencement of approved, deferred school fee payment arrangements.
Wednesday 2 - “How to develop Persistence in your teen” with Linda Stade.7pm. FREE Parent Assembly webinar. Register: https://bit.ly/2CWaAWk
Thursday 3 Megan Daley Raising
Readers Webinar ONLINE ONLY, 7pm. REGISTER: https://bit.ly/3eTgTqo
Fathers’ Day Stall Wednesday 16 - “Bringing
out the best in your child” with Dr Kaylene Henderson. FREE Parent Assembly webinar. 7pm. Register:
https://bit.ly/33cVpCS
11 Perry Street Alstonville NSW 2477 ( PO Box 265 ) Phone: 02 6628 1009 www.alstplism.catholic.edu.au Email: [email protected]
WEEK 5
Home today……
Sausage sizzle order form (with each student)
Headlice note for Stage 1
Head to Health - Provided by the Australian Department of Health, Head to Health brings together apps, online programs, online forums, phone services, and a range of digital information resources. This page describes practical psychological skills to help you and your loved ones cope with anxiety and worry about infectious disease.
Our WINTER SLEEPOVER will be held on Friday in a vastly different format. Due to Covid restrictions, the day will start after lunch for the students who successfully nominated. The event will conclude here at school at 8:30pm when the students will go home to complete the challenge.
On THURSDAY, ALL students can come dressed for a sleepover (i.e. in pyjamas) if they bring an item or two to contribute to the ‘wellbeing packs’ which will be put together at the sleepover. Encourage your children to join in the fun by donating soap, toothpaste, roll on deodorant, small shampoo bottles, etc. If dressing up, students will need to ensure they have shoes on and their hat. See more about this from Mrs Rowling later in this newsletter. READING, WRITING & ARTS FESTIVAL - reminders
Our Writing Competition entries closed today. Congratulations and best of luck to all entrants. Winners will be announced on Family Day.
Family Day will be going ahead on Friday 28 August. Due to border closures and COVID-19 restrictions, sadly, we can no longer have any visitors (families, friends, etc.) on the day. Students and staff will still celebrate Family Day and are all asked to dress up as their favourite story character (this can come from books, movies, songs, shows, any form of story). We will have a full day of fantastic activities for our students and staff to enjoy and a free sausage sizzle lunch (donated by Fr Max), will still be provided for everyone. A sausage sizzle order form is being sent home today with each student. Please return this by next Tuesday, 25 August, for catering purposes. NO LATE ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. Students will have to bring their fruit break and a water bottle, as we will not be having a shared morning tea. We will take lots of photos and share these widely so families and friends can still enjoy the experience. This will still be a great fun day for our students, and certainly one to remember!
Our 2020 Book Fair will be greatly changed as well. This year it will be a virtual book fair. Families and friends are asked to donate money so we can purchase more books for our beautiful library. Donations will be acknowledged in book plates inside the books. Look for more information next week on how you can donate books.
Megan Daley’s presentation “Raising Readers” will now be only available as a webinar on Thursday 3 September. We highly recommend you register to attend as this is a truly valuable presentation for everyone. Register here: https://bit.ly/3eTgTqo
Our other planned events for our Reading, Writing, Arts Festival are still going ahead with some presenters joining us over Zoom and others postponed to Term 4.
Therese Seymour BOOKCLUB ISSUE 5 orders have arrived and are being sent home this week.
HEADLICE
There have been some cases of headlice reported in STAGE 1. Please make it a routine to check your child’s hair regularly to help prevent the spread of headlice by early detection and treatment. You might like to refer to our first newsletter of the year (Term1 Week 2) for information about treating headlice.
PROMOTIONAL FILMING We have engaged a company to record life around our school to be used to help promote our school on our website, facebook and possibly on local television. Filming will take place this Friday, 21 August.
Page 2
READING, WRITING & ARTS FESTIVAL * SADLY, PARENTS ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO BE AT SCHOOL FOR ANY ACTIVITIES.
Please note: this is subject to change due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Week 6
Monday 24 August
Tuesday 25 August
Wednesday 26August
Thursday 27 August
Friday 28 August
Whole school writing task
Zanni Louise Whole school presentation +
Stage workshops
Phil Kettle Stage
presentations
FAMILY DAY Dress up as your favourite
story character 9:30 – Liturgy 10:30 – Morning Tea 11:00 – Rotations (1-3) 1:00 – Lunch 2:00 – Rotations (4,5)
Week 7
Monday 31 August
Tuesday 1 September
Wednesday 2 Sept
Thursday 3 Sept
Friday 4 September
Megan Daley ‘Raising Readers’
at 7pm. All welcome!
Register for this online webinar:
https://bit.ly/3eTgTqo
Walk the Chalk 1:00 – Whole school read
‘Chalk” by Bill Thomson.
Students then draw their story around the school with chalk.
2:00 – Afternoon tea 2:30 – Assembly Writing competition winners to read their winning pieces.
Week 8
Monday 7 September
Tuesday 8 September
Wednesday 9 September
Thursday 10 September
Friday 11 September
Indigenous Workshop ES1 – S1 1.5hrs S2 – S3 – 1.5hrs
Online only
STEM reminder We ask that families provide a recycled T-shirt or singlet for each student to create their upcycled shopping bag for their STEM day THIS WEEK (Week 5) or Week 6. It can be an old shirt from any family member, but we ask that you don't go out and buy a new shirt as we are trying to be environmentally friendly. See last week’s newsletter for more information. Thank you for your continued support.
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SEASONS FOR GROWTH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROGRAM
Seasons for Growth offers children and young people a safe space to come together, and share their experiences of change and loss. The Children and Young People’s Program has a safe and engaging curriculum structure that incorporates a wide range of age-appropriate activities involving drawing, role-play, stories, discussion, playdough, music and journal activities. There are four different levels of the program. Each level includes eight weekly sessions, a final celebration session and two subsequent reconnector sessions (that range from 40 minutes to an hour depending on age). Each weekly session explores a concept theme such as, Life is like the Seasons, Change is Part of Life, ‘Valuing My Story, Caring for my Feelings, Making Good Choices. All four levels of the program have flexibility to cater for participants with different learning needs or preferences. The learning processes reflect a deep respect for children’s capacity to cope, problem-solve, make good choices, set realistic goals and connect with others. Such learning develops best in supportive social contexts with peers and a caring, skilled adult ‘Companion’. Children’s learning is documented in a personal ‘Seasons for Growth’ journal so that participants can re-visit their insights in the future. We are looking to run this program for our younger students this term (Level 1 of the program) and into next. Please contact Lyn Rowling if you think this might be useful for your child (up to Year 2) [email protected]
STAFF ARE SEEKING FEEDBACK ON THE LEARNING CONVERSATIONS - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!
Dear Parents and Carers, We have loved celebrating your child’s successes and goals with you during our Learning Conversations. As a staff, we would love to hear some feedback about our new report process. Attached below is the link for you to respond to a couple of simple questions. This link will close at 5pm THIS Friday 21 August.
Learning Conversations Feedback Form
We can’t wait to hear your ideas as we greatly value your commitment and involvement in our school community. Thank you very much from all of the staff here at Joey’s.
Miss MacDonald and Miss Gauci
Leader of School Evangelisation - Mrs Julia Meyers ACCENDERE Students from Year 4 were presented with their certificates for participation in the Accendere 'Spark the Flame' Proclaim retreat. Year 3 were very excited to learn about their involvement in this program next year! TRAVELLING LITURGY To celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, the Travelling Liturgy made its way around the school last Friday. We reflected on why we, as Catholics, pray to Mary and celebrate her assumption into Heaven. Thank you to the Stage 3 Travelling Liturgy team (below) for this week!
FIRST EUCHARIST The reception of First Eucharist will take place on this Thursday 20 August at 6pm in the church. We pray for all of our students who are preparing to make their First Eucharist this Thursday.
Ngozi Anyanwu Flynn Cluff Grace Cooper Noah Greensill Penny Hodge Josie Layland Brodie O’Connor
MASS ONLINE: Please click on the following link to Bishop Homeming ’s celebration of Mass for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time held on Sunday 9 August, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HsnHz4Swm0
The following children have
celebrated their birthday since our
last newsletter:
Harry Hosking,
Layla George, Noah Fisher, Poppy Elmsly,
Jeremy Lutze, Eliza Marcon & Logan Newton
Happy Birthday from all of us at joeys
ALSTONVILLE’S
Week 1-5: Rehearsal time Week 7-9: Heats will be judged.
Winners go through to the Final. Week 10: FINAL
Top 3 winners from the Final will perform at end of year celebration!
TO ENTER: Show up to the hall with your group or by yourself with your talent idea. WHEN: Friday Lunchtime (after eating time) WHERE: Hall WHO: Anyone!
See Mrs Meyers for more information or email: [email protected]
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PJ DAY YAAAAY !!! Thursday, 20 August
As part of our Social Justice activities for this term, this coming THURSDAY, 20 August, will be PJ Day.
Students are invited to wear their pyjamas to school instead of their uniform. Please remember that hats and joggers are still required for playground wear as ugg
boots and slippers aren’t suitable for outside play.
In order to be able to wear their PJ’s on this day, we are asking for ALL students to bring an item suitable for a care package for a homeless person or person ‘doing it tough’.
If you are stuck for ideas, things like toothpaste, single packed toothbrushes, small packs of tissues, small shampoos and conditioner, body wash, packed/sealed tea bags, small long life milk, soaps, laundry detergent sachets, etc. are all helpful. All the items that we take for granted!!!
The Social Justice Team will be on hand with baskets collecting from students as they arrive at school.
Please give as generously as you can. We do not have the usual donations which we have normally been given in past years due to travel restrictions, so we need your help.
Questions? Please contact Mrs Rowling at [email protected]
Garden Club News
A HUGE THANK YOU to Chris Hackett & Son who have donated a load of mulch to the school following our appeal in the newsletter last week. Thanks also to Chloe McGarry who used her family connections to spread (sorry!) the word.
Green Thumbs Up, Garden Club
Trying to keep up with GOLD AWARD winners during the Covid restrictions has proven difficult. The Gold Award winners keep growing! So we have taken to holding Staffroom Morning Teas catered by Mrs Seymour. We have nearly caught up with the winners!! Everyone seems to have great fun despite the limited food choices and with some reports that Mrs Seymour’s milkshakes are “better than a bought one”!
