Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a great start to Term 2. This term we welcome Mrs Stephanie Scott who will be teaching Year 6 on Monday and Tuesday and then working across all grades on Wednesday and Thursday. We also welcome Mrs Jenna Bricknell who is our new Library Assistant. We also have two TAFE students undertaking their Learning Support Assistant placement with us this term, Mrs Ellie Galea, and Mrs Summa Donnelly. Mrs Galea will be working with Year 5 and Mrs Donnelly will be working across K-2.

School Photos

This year we will be taking orders for our school photos via Compass. Last week you would have received a compass alert with the same details as below. If you need any assistance ordering your photos, please contact the office.

We're excited to capture new memories for St Joseph's Primary School - Wingham on your upcoming photo date(s):

St Joseph's Primary School Wingham: Friday, 26 May 2023

2023 school photos are ready to order through the Compass Portal. To place your order, make sure you have your login details handy!

If you're unsure of your login details, please contact the school for assistance.

Click here to get started!

Once you've logged in, you'll need to follow a few easy steps!

Click here for our simple, online ordering guide.

Once you have placed your Individual Photo order you can place your Sibling photo order, these MUST be ordered before 24 hours prior to photo day.

Please remind your child that they are having their photos taken. If they are having a sibling photo, all siblings will need to be ready for their photo at the allocated time set by the school.

The school will advise about the photo schedule in the coming weeks. It's our job to ensure that Life Is Easier with MSP, and we're here to help. If you have any questions regarding the photography service or packages available for purchase, please contact our friendly team on 02 6583 1968 or by email northcoast@msp.com.au Get your smiles ready!

ICAS Assessments

ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee and Digital Technologies.  We will be offering students from Years 2 to 6 the opportunity to participate in the ICAS assessment this year. A separate note will come home later this term with further details.

Congratulations Evie

Last Term Evie in Year 1 entered the ASPIRE Song Competition. Entrants needed to write their own song to perform. Evie was successful in her entry and was shortlisted for the finals. Last week Evie travelled to Newcastle to workshop her song with the other shortlisted entries. Evie very proudly shared her entry with our school during assembly on Friday. On the 11th of May she will perform her song at the Factory Theatre in Newcastle in the finals. We are so proud of Evie sharing her talents with others and wish her luck for the final performance.

https://youtu.be/6TExPba9Obw

Environmentors Incursion

Last week we had the Midcoast Council come to our school for an incursion. Our students learnt about how to be better recyclers through:

· Exploration of recyclable items in their LGA

· Discussion of complex items such as e-waste and facilities available in their LGA

· Investigation of the complete recycling process from kerbside/ drop off to recycled product.

· Hands-on look at different materials throughout the entire recycling process

· Local council recycling practices

· Waste is a valuable resource.

· Recyclables are made out of different natural resources.

· Recycling is a complex process with different steps.

· Social and environmental benefits of recycling

· Importance of buying recycled and recyclable items

· Problems of contamination in the recycling bin

ANZAC Day

On the 25th of April, our school participated in the ANZAC Day March with the Wingham community. It was wonderful to see so many of our students taking part in this special day.

Once we returned to school Year 2 hosted a very moving ANZAC liturgy. We were joined by members from the RSL who spoke to us and presented us with a small gift. Lucas Lyon an ex-student and his sister Caitlyn in Year 3 played music on the bagpipes and drums which was an incredibly special part of the liturgy. This is always a special part of our year and made me proud that our students can recognise the service men and women who have given up so much to make our beautiful country safe.

Please join me in a prayer for those people in our community who are feeling the cold as we move into colder months. That they find shelter, warmth, and comfort in those around them.

God Bless

Prime Minister Award

‘Being a steward of creation’, ‘Trying your best’, ‘Speaking with kindness’ and ‘Being a responsible learner’ are some of the qualities that teachers consider when awarding ‘Prime Minister’ at our weekly assembly. It is an acknowledgement of the student’s efforts and they have the privilege of wearing the badge with honour, of suggesting a focus the school can work on, award Gotchas to other students at lunch time as well as earning Gotchas for themselves. Congratualations to Evie Paris Everingham (Week 3).

MJR Awards

As part of our MJR system ,we acknowledge that the following students, Aubrey Rees, Sienna White and Bryson Blanch haved reached 200 Gotchas;   Well Done!

Environmentors Incursion

On Tuesday, Year 1 were engaged by Environmentor Mark as he entertained them with games and questions to help build their knowledge and understanding about recycling and to understand where our rubbish goes. We learnt about general waste, green waste, what we can recycle and what we can put into our worm composting bins to help them thrive.

Jai – I didn’t realise that paper goes into the yellow bin and gets recycled!

Juniper – I learnt that worms can eat paper.

Aria H – I learnt that dirty nappies go in the red bin.

Dylan – Worms can’t eat oranges.

Aria O – We had a game to play to put objects into the right bin.

Zedd – Mark showed us the picture of the landfill at the tip.

Zaidyn – Scrunchy plastic goes in the red bin.

Levi – Lemons aren’t allowed to go into a worm farm.

Dakota – Put uneaten fries in the red bin.

Elijah – Squishy plastic goes in the red bin.

Aurora – Egg shells can go into the worm farm.

Max – We got to sit on a bale of squashed tin cans.

Charli – Worms can’t eat lemons.

Finn – Cut your branches up and put them in the green bin.

Nicholas – We saw the picture of the landfill that was going into a big hole.

Harley – Hard plastic goes into the yellow bin.

Paige – You can’t put fish into the worm farm or meat as it rots.

Oliver – Worms like to eat food scraps.

Evie – Squishy plastic goes in the red bin.

Daniel – We have to chop up the sticks before putting them in the green bin.

Sierra -We have to put squishy plastic in the red bin.

Baby Congratulations 

Congratulations to Jodie Smoothy and Gary Ridgeway on the arrival of your new baby girl "Samara Dulcie" born 1st May.  A little sister for Alyssandra (Yr 3) and Breanna (Yr 6)

Wishing the following students a wonderful Happy Birthday!

Lincoln Patrick turning 6!

Bailey Eakin, Aurora Minns & Zedd Dine turning 7!

Ben Buchtmann turning 8!

Sesi Pulupaki, Peter Stewart turning 9!

Riley Pattinson turning 11!

Joseph Hillenberg turning 12!