St Joseph's Primary School Wingham eNewsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to 2025. I am genuinely excited to see what the year will bring us. Our students and staff will have the wonderful opportunity to engage in their learning in fully refurbished classrooms and increased access to technology. They will also be able to play on our equipment and in our new outdoor learning area in a sun safe way with the installation of new shade structures. When I look around our school, it looks and feels like a new school and certainly not the same school I walked into 6 years ago. We are extremely excited to invite you in to see our new spaces as soon as they are ready to share.

In our Catholic Church Pope Frances has named 2025, the Year of the Jubilee. The theme for this Jubilee Year is that we are “Pilgrims of Hope.” It is a time for us to focus on reconciliation, pilgrimage and coming home, a time for us to reflect on our faith and reawaken faith in ourselves and others. I am sharing the Jubilee Prayer with your so you may take some time to sit in prayer and reflect on your faith.

The Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven,
may the faith you have given us
in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,
and the flame of charity enkindled
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope
for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us
into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos
in the sure expectation
of a new heaven and a new earth,
when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,
your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee
reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,
a yearning for the treasures of heaven.
May that same grace spread
the joy and peace of our Redeemer
throughout the earth.
To you our God, eternally blessed,
be glory and praise for ever.

Sr Carmel Hanson

Recently we were advised of the passing of Sister Carmel Hanson, a loved member of the Sisters of St Joseph. Sister Carmel has made significant contributions to the community including founding the House of Hospitality and former School Principal of St Patrick’s Lochinvar and most recently the Congregation Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph.

Sister Carmel was also a teacher here at St Joseph’s Wingham many years ago. Some parishioners remember her fondly, especially teaching guitar and taking the children on overnight camps.

The Sisters of St Joseph’s legacy continues to reach many members of the community, and I am proud to be a Principal of a school with such an intense sense of social justice and care for the wider community.

May Sister Carmel rest in eternal peace and may her example continue to inspire us to serve others in need.

How do I know what is going on?

We do our best to keep you informed of what is happening in the school. Information is sent out via different means depending on what it is.

Paper notes – Sometimes we need to send a paper note home, so keep an eye out in your child’s bag.

Compass- This is our main form of communication. If you haven’t already done so, download the Compass App. As you create your account, please check that your email is correct; if it isn’t change it yourself or contact the school office. Make sure Notifications are turned on. Please make sure you have signed up and have a log in. If you can’t remember your log in or need a log in, please contact Mary in the office. School Reports are available on Compass, so this is important.

Facebook – We will often share photos, videos, and reminders on Facebook, like and follow our page, St Joseph’s Primary School, Wingham.

Newsletter - Our newsletters are emailed and these come out every second week on a Monday.

This year canteen will be open most Mondays for Meal Deals, our meal deals will start from the 17th of February. The canteen will also be opened by our Year 6 leaders on Wednesday for students to buy a snack. If you can volunteer in the canteen on a Monday we would love your help. Without volunteers we can’t open, so any help is much appreciated.
Breakfast club is open every morning and for a gold coin donation children can get two pieces of toast with their choice of butter, vegemite and cheese, a selection of fruit and have a glass of milk, milo, or juice.

Road Safety

With many parents picking their children up and dropping them off at school Farquhar Street is very busy at school drop off and pick up time. Many parents are holding hands to cross the road, which is wonderful to see, but I am concerned that there could be an accident. It is so important that we teach our children about road safety and how to cross the road safely. I encourage you to use the pedestrian crossing out the front of the museum when crossing the road.

Safeguarding Matters

At St Joseph’s we take the safeguarding of children very seriously. I am the Safeguarding Promoter in the school and during the year I will be providing information that will help us all to keep our children safe

Safer Internet Day

This week we will spend some time in classrooms raising awareness of online safety. We all play a role in keeping our children safe when they are online. There are some fantastic resources for parents available at these links.

Kids: https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids
Young people:https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people
Parents/carers: https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/whats-on/sid/communities-and-families

Thank you from Catholic Care

Dear St Joseph’s School, Teachers, students, and carers,

CatholicCare Social Services Hunter-Manning would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported our 2024 Christmas Hamper Drive.

We are so grateful for your donations and your willingness to support our mission of helping vulnerable people in our community who need it most.

Your generosity helped us make over 180 hampers, which we distributed through our Community Kitchens this month to share some festive cheer with the people who are struggling this year.

We hope you had a joyful and safe Christmas and New Year.

Warm regards,

MEG NORLING VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR - TAREE CATHOLICCARE SOCIAL SERVICES HUNTER-MANNING

Premier’s Reading Challenge!

The Premier’s Reading Challenge opens on the 25th of February and will run until the 22nd of August.

Students who are interested in taking part in the challenge can speak to Ms Monkley to get them signed up and ready to read.

Please join me in a prayer for our students as they begin their year.

Lord, we pray for students and learners. Give them minds that are eager to learn. Give them courage to ask good questions, confidence to take risks, and the discipline to focus and study. We pray for quality friendships and safety in and out of the classroom. We pray that learning is engaging, valuable, and exciting.

Amen

God Bless

Mel Hunt

RE Focus: What is Formation?

The Catholic Church defines formation as:

“lifelong growth in the knowledge, service, and love of God as followers of Christ… informed by scripture, tradition, and reason.”

But in easier to understand terms, formation is the experiences we have that help us to better understand and develop a relationship with God and with Jesus.

Religious Education within a Catholic school only addresses part of formation, it is not the whole of formation that we do. Religious Education, taught daily in classes for 30min, helps our students to build, or further develop, a knowledge of God, learning to understand about Jesus and the messages he taught throughout his life as told in the Bible.

Over the past two years, our school has worked to develop more formation opportunities for our primary classes, each with a specific focus, and led by Mr Buchtmann as our Religious Education Coordinator, to address the other two key components of formation of service and love.

Our Year 3 formation morning is entitled “Being a Witness of Jesus” and focuses on ‘faith’ and the actions they can do to make Jesus real and learn from the example of Jesus.

Our Year 4 formation morning is entitled “Service to Others” and focuses on ‘faith in action’ and leading towards our Year 4 class taking the lead for our Vinnies Winter Appeal in term 2.

Our Year 5 full day formation program is entitled “Jesus and Leadership” and focuses on becoming a school leader within our school by following the examples of Jesus.

Our Year 6 formation morning is entitled “Mary MacKillop, The Sisters of St Joseph and Our School” and focuses on the example of Mary Mackillop and the historical link to our school to then focus on our school vision and mission statements and how our Year 6 leaders “make a positive impact on society.”

Make sure to check in the newsletter throughout the year for these formation days.

Behaviour Management at St. Josephs – PB4L and MJR

Our school is committed to creating a positive environment where all students are able to learn. We are using the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) and Making Jesus Real (MJR) systems because they involve a range of positive behaviour supports for all students within the school, implemented in both classroom and non-classroom settings.

Introducing, modelling and reinforcing positive social behaviour is an important part of a student’s educational experience. Teaching behavioural expectations, linking them to the real example of Jesus and rewarding students for following them, is both proactive and positive.

Each week, as part of the program, the classroom teachers will teach students expected behaviours. The same behaviours are taught across the school to help maintain consistency and to ensure that all behaviours are taught throughout the year.

The weekly focus area is published in the school newsletter so that parents can discuss it with their child and reinforce these strategies.

Our school has four core behavioural expectations (our four school rules) that reflect our community’s values.

I am Safe
I am Respectful
I am a Learner
I am a Steward of Creation

Points: As part of the PB4L and MJR Programs, “Gotchas” are given to students for positive social behaviours in the classroom and playground and for individual acts of great respect. These behaviours relate to our school-wide expectations of being safe, respectful learners and stewards of creation. Each Gotcha, which students collect, equals a point. These points are collated each week in the classroom and students can redeem these points for special privileges each Thursday.

Regional Swimming

On Monday 10th February eighteen students from St Joseph's Wingham travelled to Taree Aquatic and Leisure Centre for the Catholic Schools Manning Regional Swimming carnival.

Students participated in a variety of events and represented St Joseph’s Wingham wonderfully. Our students were well behaved, cheered loudly for each other and were competitive in a variety of events. Congratulations to all who attended and participated. A huge thank you to all parents and carers for attending and supporting the event and to those who were able to transport students to and from the pool. Also, a big thank you to Mrs Hunt, Mrs Monkley and Aunty Kylie for assisting with supervision and marshalling. Students progressing to the Dioecian Swimming Carnival will be announced shortly.

Mr Knoke

Year 2 Teacher
Sports Coordinator