11 Perry Street Alstonville NSW 2477 ( PO Box 265 ) Phone: 02 6628 1009 Fax: 02 6628 1508 www.alstplism.catholic.edu.au Email: alstp@lism.catholic.edu.au

WEEK 9

Wednesday 27 June:

SCU Science & Engineering Challenge for S3 students

First Eucharist Information Evening 6pm in Staffroom

Friday 29 June: Year of Youth Rally, 1pm, School Hall

Sunday 1 July: Gift of the Gab, 10am-1pm, McCarthy Hall.

Monday 2 July: NAIDOC Week

Wednesday 4 July: School Reports home.

Friday 6 July:

Awards Assembly, 2:00pm

Centenary Group Meeting, 10am, staffroom

Payment & note for Dance Fever Gymnastics DUE

Last day Term 2

Monday 23 July:

Staff Development Day - Pupil Free

Bookings CLOSE 5pm Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences Code: nza4w

Tuesday 24 July: Students return for Term 3

Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences Term 3, Week 1 & 2

Wednesday 25 July: Dance Fever Gymnastics Program commences.

Friday 27 July: Schools Tree Day

Tuesday 31 July: S3 Excursion Byron Writers’ Festival, Lismore.

Friday 3 August: Mufti Day

Wednesday 15 August: TechSlam4Parents, Session 2, 1:50pm, S3 Breakout room

Thursday 16 & Friday 17 August: Dental clinic K & Year 2

2019 Friday 30 August - Sunday 1 Sept.

Centenary Celebrations

Dear Parents and Carers,

Parent Assembly Parent Conference Report I hope that you all get a chance to go on a Parent Assembly Conference! Any parent of a child in a Catholic School in the area is welcome. Those lucky enough this year, headed down to Opal Cove Resort, Coffs Harbour for a weekend of positivity, friendship, love and very good guidance. We relaxed in the lovely setting with over 200 other parents and heard some amazing speakers. They spoke on being the parent/ spouse you want to be despite work and home pressures, being content and happy in this crazy world, how your brain influences your behaviour, a talk on teens and two truly inspiring talks from Robin Moore, the voice of Blinky Bill and Starlight Children's Foundation ambassador, which kept us alternately laughing and crying!

It was a weekend of emotional highs and a great time, with a fancy dinner and wine raffle on the Saturday night to let your hair down.

I really hope more parents get on board with this amazing (and free!) opportunity - you won't regret it and all your relationships may just get a boost! Lucy Hogan Next week, St Joseph’s will be celebrating NAIDOC week. You are invited to participate in the cultural activities below. Lunch orders for the sausage sizzle, your choice of kangaroo/beef/pork sausage(s) will need to be returned by this Friday 29th June please.

Thank you to Mr Murgha and Mrs Jan Seymour for organising all these activities for us.

There will be a Centenary planning meeting on Friday 6th July in the staffroom at 10am. We invite all interested people to attend to see how you might like to contribute.

FIRST EUCHARIST MEETING Tomorrow evening at 6pm, there will be a First Eucharist Meeting in the staffroom for all parents of children receiving this sacrament next term. The students are also asked to attend please.

Date Cultural Activity Venue Time

Monday 2nd July Flag Raising Ceremony Undercover 9:05am

Wednesday 4th July Sand Mural Near Totem Poles 9am-2pm Pastoral

Groups each half hour

Thursday 5th July Sausage Sizzle: $2.50 Kangaroo, Pork or Beef

Canteen Lunch

Friday 6th July Aboriginal Dance Group Hall

1:00pm Assembly followed by end of

Term celebrations at 2:25pm

INCLUDED WITH THIS NEWSLETTER: DANCE FEVER - TERM 3 GYMNASTICS NOTE

1919- 2019 Centenary News

We need your help!

The Garden Club would like to thank everyone for their support of our shop. We are happy to say that we raised enough money on Friday to purchase our new rotating compost bin. We are also thrilled to announce that a garden shed has been donated by the O'Bernier family. We can't wait for its arrival. THANK YOU! A big thank you also to Emma Thrum and Susie Nall for donating mini compost bins for our crunch and sip scraps. I would also like to thank those of you who have donated either produce, jars or pots, to support our garden club to expand and grow (pardon the pun!). Week 10 will be our last shop for the term but we hope that by then we will have our beautiful sweet corn and potatoes ready for sale. We might even have some beetroot and hopefully carrots. Green Thumbs up!

Gift of the Gab this Sunday after Mass. Please come along to see our talented students perform.

Congratulations to our latest Gold Award winners, Matthew Bell, Owen Carroll, Charlie Collins, Zanna Corkery, Penny Hodge, Annabelle Mills, Matilda Price, Taj Bednall, Rachel Wills (pictured left) who shared morning tea with Mrs Seymour yesterday and to the recipients of an Acts of Kindness Award, Jasiah Murgha and Abbey Rogers (picture right), presented by Quota Club.

S3 Science & Engineering Challenge will take place tomorrow with 32 of our students involved. These challenges encourage creative and critical thinking, problem solving and team work. The students will compete against other school teams.

Parent/Teacher/Student Conference Next week your child’s First Semester Report will come home to you in an envelope addressed to you. After reading this report and discussing it together, you might notice that the teachers have asked for an interview with you. In this case we invite you to book in for a Parent/Teacher/Student Conference. If the teachers have not asked for an interview then you are still free to request one if you would like. (Often teachers have had many catch ups with parents and don’t see a need for another none, this is why they don’t request it.) Interviews will be held during Weeks 1 and 2 of next term.

To book a Parent/Teacher/Student Conference time go to www.schoolinterviews.com.au

Use the code nza4w to book in for a time with your child’s Pastoral teacher.

Bookings CLOSE 5pm, Monday 23 July

If unsure of who this is, please ask your child. After completing the booking you should receive an email as a reminder of the time you have booked. If you have any difficulties please let us know.

NSW GOVERNMENT VACCINATION REGISTER As from 2018, all schools in NSW are required to maintain a register of the immunisation status of all students enrolled at the school. In order to facilitate this process the admin staff are checking on some students immunisation status. If an approved immunisation certificate is not provided at enrolment, students will still be enrolled, but they will be considered unimmunised in the schools Immunisation Register. Students without an approved immunisation certificate and those unimmunised may be excluded from school if there is an outbreak of a vaccine preventable disease.

Therese Seymour

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Jumping Joeys Playgroup

Tuesdays 9:30-11am Come and join in the fun every

Tuesday.

Painting, playdough, songs and stories with two of our St Joseph’s mums Amanda Starkey and Karen

Pilcher.

Library borrowing for Term 2

has CLOSED.

Please return books to the Library by

end of Term.

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.

Uniform Shop The Uniform Shop is open each Friday between

8:30am - 9:30am and 2:30pm - 3:30pm. If you are unable to make it during these times, you can purchase items by completing the order form (available on the school website Parent Information/Uniform Shop tab or at the School Office) and sending it in to the office. Mr Fivaz, our Uniform Co-ordinator, will process your order and send it home with your child on the Friday.

Thank you to the Red Cross, who have very generously donated $1000 for the purchase of computers to assist our

STAR and EMU programmes.

Pick-up After Assembly

If you wish to collect your child after a School Assembly, please remember to complete a “How I am Getting Home” slip at the Office when you arrive. Please also complete a slip at this time, if you think there is a chance you might collect your child if the Assembly finishes early.

Pag

Mrs Libby Spash: Leader of School Evangelisation (LoSE)

First Eucharist Parent Information Evening TOMORROW, 6pm The Parent Information Evening for First Eucharist will be held at 6pm TOMORROW evening. All candidates and parents are required to attend this meeting as part of the preparation for the Sacrament. Parents will gather together in the staffroom for prayer to begin the session and children in the Stage Three classroom.

Proclaim Year of Youth Rally, Friday 29th June, 1pm Following the success of the Year 6 Jesse Manibusan day, we are holding a smaller but similar event here at school. All classes will join together to celebrate youth through music, dance and prayer. The Rally will begin at 1pm, break for recess and continue again at 2:30pm. The afternoon will conclude at 3pm, with children returning to class for messages and pack up. We invite all parents, families and parish members to join with us for an enjoyable afternoon.

Jess Fitness Sports Co-Ordinator

The rain couldn't keep the children of St Joseph's from competing at their best and showing heart warming encouragement towards each other at last weeks Athletics Carnival. While running around on the track kept the children warm, the delicious coffee from the coffee cart kept the adults warm! Thank you to Emma who does an amazing job of running our Canteen and did again on Thursday.

I was uplifted to see all the parents, carers, grandparents and sisters who offered to help with the organisation and success of the carnival in the miserable conditions we faced. Well done to Cawley (green) who were our House Champions. Congratulations to everyone who placed in the competitive events and to those who will be progressing to the Zone Carnival. Notes will be coming home this afternoon with information about the nominations and the Zone Carnival specifics. Children have been informed that placing in an event at our School Carnival does not necessarily mean that they will be nominated for Zone as many of the events are grouped into Junior and Senior age groups.

S2 Blue Group Maranoa Visit By Lachie Barnes In Week 7, we walked down to Maranoa. We played the djembe drums and taught some of the residents to play some beats on the djembes. We played Bingo and the residents loved it. The lady who won was amazed. Before we played Bingo, there was a man who came in and danced to our beats on the djembes. We were about to leave when they asked us if we wanted to have morning tea with them. They gave us a drink and something to eat. We said goodbye and walked back to school.

Stage 2 Blue Group Maranoa Visit by Millie Lamas

In Week 7, on Thursday, Stage 2 Blue Group went down to Maranoa. We played the djembes for the residents. When the third group was playing the drums, a staff member put on a mask with feathers on the top and started dancing and jumping about. It was quite funny. Then we helped teach the residents to play the drums. Lots of them were very happy when we helped them play the drums. Finally we played bingo with the residents, that brought smiles to their faces. The staff and residents gave us a cup of cordial and a biscuit to thank us for our visit.

At St Joseph’s we…. Stand Up Step Out

Be Present Proclaim

Live Our Faith

CANTEEN NEWS —Emma Thrum, Coordinator (E: ethrum@lism.catholic.edu.au)

Some Canteen items may become unavailable in the remaining weeks of school due to stock reduction ahead of the school holidays.

Students will be asked to change their order if items are out of stock.

Note: There will be no Sushi NEXT WEEK.

The following children have celebrated their birthday since our last Newsletter:

Beau Yantsch, Evie Delman and Alyssa Starkey

Happy Birthday from all of us

ALTAR SERVERS ROSTER Alstonville Saturday 30 June: Lavinia Blenkhorn, Anysia Blenkhorn, Elias

Blenkhorn, Liana Alley, Illaria Blenkhorn Sunday 1 July: Lee Pagotto, Caitlin Richardson, Eliza Lamas,

Amelia Lamas. Children’s Sunday Liturgy Alstonville 8:30am: Tanya Pagotto Wardell 5:00pm: Kerry Turpin

Our public speaking competition, Gift of the Gab, will be held this Sunday at 10am in McCarthy Hall. All entrants have had a letter sent home explaining the program for the morning. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. This is always an entertaining morning so please consider bringing your child along to watch the students even if they have not entered. They may be inspired to enter next year!!

Denise Robinson (0421989006) for the Enrichment Group

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From Mrs Lyn Rowling - School Chaplain/Wellbeing Wow! What an amazing day Friday was! We had warm Milos while wearing our Winter Woolies and how very cosy we all felt on what was a chilly and bleak day. The 40 something students who signed up for the Homeless Challenge were a stand out because it was cold and it was chilly. Almost all of the students were successful in achieving the full 60 minutes without needing food, water, the toilet or entertainment. No interactions were allowed with other students. I was feeling emotional by the end of the challenge to witness four Kindergarten students - Madi Alley, Katie Bullen, James Cormick, and Harry Wills all make it through until the end. This was an extraordinary achievement. All of these students should be SO, SO proud of themselves. Watching them congratulate each other with high fives and group hugs showed such spirit. It

was cold and it was uncomfortable (the very purpose of the exercise) and these kids stepped up and didn’t give in. It was a special moment!

All sponsorship money must be back at school by next Wednesday please so I can calculate the success of our Winter Appeal. I am very much looking forward to sharing our success next week.

Another special event was our third Winter Sleepover. A huge thank you to Ms Kingsford and Mrs Spash for staying until late to help out, to Fr Max for leading us in our prayer of

thanks before dinner, to Mrs Miles, Miss Fitness and Miss Boyle who traded much needed sleep after a busy week of school and report writing to sleep rough, supervise groups, run the kitchen and fully support me in the task of co-ordinating the event - thank you! Mrs Seymour was with us in spirit while away at a family event. We know she would have been there too if she were in town. Thank you also to the parents who prepared our yummy warm soups for dinner - Kylie Greensill, Karen Freebody, Melissa Tamlin and Clare Ryzak. The thirty attending students will now be well versed in the works of Vinnies and the plight of the homeless. Congratulations go to all of these very well behaved and engaged students, especially those who were a little nervous about participating. You all displayed a fabulous growth mindset throughout the event. Please take the time to read the recount (below) of the evening written by Millie Lamas, one of our Year Four first timers.

On Friday 22nd June, I participated in the Winter Sleepover in the Hall. It started with a prayer. Then we were put into our groups, I was with Miss Boyle. We started with a homeless trivia which had questions such as “How many people are homeless?”, “How many people are at risk of homelessness?” etc. I couldn't believe how many people are homeless in Australia. Then we went

into our individual group tasks. Miss Boyle’s group started off with the care packs. We had to put shampoos, conditioners, hard soaps, moisturisers etc. into plastic bags. Next we did our cards of hope, where we had to write some words of encouragement for homeless people. We also had to imagine being a family who only had $40 to spend for the week, including having a baby who needed nappies. Then we had dinner which was a cup of soup and half a bread roll. After that Miss Boyle’s group went out for a walk around the school to find a suitable place for a homeless person to sleep for the night. Then we went back to the Hall for another prayer before going back outside. But this time with a candle to find a dark spot around the school with your group leader (the teacher), who read us a story about this person called Greg. His marriage fell apart and he didn’t have anywhere to go so he lived on the street for 4 years before he went to Vinnies to ask for help. He then got back on his feet and is in a much better condition. It was quite sad. We went back to the

Hall and chose where we were going to sleep. The next morning, the people who woke up early enough, got to go on a walk down to Maguires Creek. We unfortunately didn’t see a platypus. After we got back it was morning prayer and time to pack up our stuff. Breakfast was toast, corn flakes, weet-bix or raisin toast. After that we brushed our teeth and wrote a reflection. Finally, we watched a couple of videos of homeless people. Overall it was a great experience and I hope to do it again next year. Millie Lamas