Principals Message

PRAYER FOR CONFIRMATION CANDIDATES

Lord, You send out Your Spirit to touch the hearts of all people, so that they may believe in You and in Jesus whom You sent. Look kindly on all candidates for Confirmation as they listen to Your voice. Open their hearts to Your Spirit and bring to fulfilment the good work that You have begun in them. As we prepare these children for Confirmation, make each of us an instrument of Your love. Teach us to appreciate what is holy in others, and to be patient with what we do not understand. Deepen our faith in the Gospel and help us to pass it on by our example. We pray that You will continue to guide us and sustain us.

Through Christ our Lord, Amen

Dear Parents

Winter is upon us and the days are shorter and much colder. It is important to continue to send your children to school wearing their warm winter school uniform, especially the correct school jumpers and jackets.  Ensure all items are clearly labelled with your child's name. Nourishing lunchtime meals will also keep our children warm and sustain them for these cold winter days of learning.

We have also had many children unwell this week with flu and gastro like symptoms. It is important to keep your child home if they present unwell in the morning. if they are unwell with these symptoms during the day, the expected home rest would be at least 24 hrs - 48 hrs to fully recover and to help stop the spread of illness between our children and staff at school.

Documentation Requests for Specialist

The school receives numerous requests from families to provide documentation to specialists/doctors. The types of documentation requested vary including letters such as classroom observations and/or assessments. Where possible the school will complete such a request and standard practice is that we will send the documentation directly to the specialist/doctor.  When making a request to the school please provide us with the contact details as well as allow sufficient time for the documentation to be completed.  

Smart Watches/Mobile Phones

The Diocesan IT device policy states children are discouraged from bringing a mobile phone or wearing a smart watch to school. The only reason that children are permitted to bring a phone or wear a smart watch is for safety on their journeys walking/riding to and from school.
Children are NOT permitted to use the smart watch or mobile phone whilst at school. If this does occur, our policy states that the child is no longer allowed to bring the phone or wear the smart watch to school.

Kindergarten Enrolments - 2023

Next week, I will have the pleasure of meeting, interviewing our prospective 2023 Kindergarten children and speaking with their parents. It is always a joy to talk to our new and existing families, about what they want for their child at St Joseph's School. It is also a great opportunity to dialogue to our families, all the wonderful learning opportunities and possibilities our beautiful school can offer. If you require an interview or discussion with me during this busy time, I may be unavailable.  Mrs Mackay and Mrs Gill, in the Office, will be able to direct you to either Mr Nigel Toole or Ms Sonia Solares (6585 1745) for assistance.

Sacrament of Confirmation 

We wish all the Confirmation candidates from our school and the Parish all the best for the upcoming Sacrament next evening Friday 17 June 2022, commencing at 5.30 pm for the candidates with the Sacrament to be celebrated at 6.00 pm with Bishop Greg Homeming. The children have been well prepared and I'm sure it will be a beautiful celebration.  All parents and community members are welcome to attend and meet Bishop Greg while he is down in the southern part of our Lismore Diocese.

Children and Unstructured Play

As a little boy I loved to play outside in my back yard with my brothers, entertaining ourselves, using our imagination to create new games and play much loved games, such as cricket and football.

As children, this was our down time – a time to relax and be creative. I wonder if children are still afforded these opportunities today? With an over scheduled calendar, smaller back yards, fewer opportunities to play with children in the neighbourhood, not to mention computers and gaming infiltrating our lives, there doesn’t seem to be much time left for unstructured, spontaneous, imaginative play. Some children seem to have a schedule packed full of structured events where they are taken from one activity to another. It is great to have a broad range of experiences and formalised activities, but at what cost.

As parents we want to give our children the very best start and we can often feel pressured to schedule everything, when in fact, unstructured play (like those times we were told to go outside by our mums, maybe because we needed to!) is one of the most beneficial ways to help our children develop.

Unstructured play means that it is improvised and child-led; it allows children the freedom to explore, create, experiment and discover new things in the world around them. Next time you feel the urge to book into yet another planned activity, and you know your child is already tired after a long day’s work and play, remember that allowing them to explore, discover and make-up play could be more beneficial than trying to squeeze in yet another activity.  Unstructured play has many benefits such as creativity, problem solving, social skills, resilience building and emotional and language development. If you require more information about the benefits of unstructured play please click on the link below.

https://playworld.com/blog/why-downtime-crucial-childs-schedule/

https://www.childsplayelc.com.au/9-benefits-to-unstructured-play-for-young-children/

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” - Charles Schaefer

Take care over this long weekend and remember to consider giving your child some more time around and often underrated, unstructured play. It may also help you save in the hip pocket!

TERM 3

Pupil Free Day - Monday 18 July 2022 - Staff only onsite

Students and Staff return - Tuesday 19 July 2022 (full Winter Uniform)

Peace be with you

Brendan Kiely