From the Principal's Desk

Dear Members of St Joseph’s Family,

Presentation Night

Thank you to those who braved the heat and attended the 2019 Presentation Night on Wednesday evening.  Although very hot, the evening flowed quickly and it was lovely to celebrate the successes of our students.  An adjustment has been made to the Year 7 Award Winners list to show Grace Treloar won the Award for Health Education and Zsavinah Jarane Teodoro won the Award for Physical Education, with the correction now reflected on their Certificates and Medals.  A full list of Awards and recipients is attached to the newsletter.  A couple of highlights for the evening were the surprise gift for Mrs Chomiak from the past and present parents to thank her for the 30 years of service to St Joseph’s School, the announcement of the new Student Leaders for 2020 (listed below) and the incredible generosity of our families in our Christmas gift appeal.  We counted approximately 372 gifts, which will be distributed amongst those who need them in Northam and neighbouring Wheatbelt towns.  This is an amazing effort and Father George and Father Konrad are incredibly appreciative.

                 

I would like to add a sincere thank you to Kitt and Peter Byfield for spending the day setting up the sound system for the evening and supporting the Choir and Band during their performances.  I also acknowledge our students and staff who spent several hours helping Mrs Parnham, Mrs Clarke and I set up the Rec Centre in very warm conditions.

Students Leaders for 2020

At the Awards on Wednesday, it was with great pleasure that I could announce the Student Leaders for 2020.  These are:

School Captains
Jelena Manuel and Isabelle Ochtman
Secondary Student Leaders
Year 8    Madeleine Gilbert Hancock and Tristen Candeloro
Year 9    Abi Parker and Caitlin van der Velde
Year 10  Tess Lawrence and Wendy Chen
Year 11  Joisdeed Kaur and Tyler Kilmurray
Ministry Leader
Billy Byworth
Primary Campus Captains
Fraser Horsburgh and Pippa Smith
Primary Student Leaders
Drahcir Alicante and Heather Brayshaw
Kobi Buttersfield and Aaron Clements
Jianna Matres and Imogen Tomlin

Students will receive their 2020 Student Leader badges at the Opening School Mass in Week 1, 2020.  Congratulations to our new Student Leaders!  We look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Farewell of Staff

At this time of the year, it is always hard to say farewell to staff as they move on to other schools.  This year, we say goodbye to the following people and we thank them for their dedication to the students of St Joseph’s School over the year and wish them well in their future endeavours:

From the Secondary campus - Mrs Jennifer Wright, Ms Adeline Hendriks, Ms Sarah McBride, Mr Greg Hill and Ms Mary Dinneen.
From the Primary campus - Ms Kaity Passmore, Mrs Chantel Smith, Mrs Raewyn Elfverson and Sister Irene.

Student Achievements

Congratulations to Audrey Carroll and Katie Harris who have been both successful in obtaining a place at Scitech's Future Health Professionals program.  This five-day program from 20-24 January, which is conducted at the Harry Perkins Institute and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, provides the selected 30 students an opportunity to network with medical experts, participate in workshops and discussions and utilise technical scientific medical equipment in a simulated training environment, much like a university medical student.

Both students will gain fresh skills and knowledge, developing a greater awareness of what medical and health courses and careers are available.  In addition, Audrey Carroll was also awarded a full regional scholarship to participate.  Well done, Audrey and Katie.

Year 6 Fun Day

Congratulations to our Year 6 students on the fantastic organisation that went into today’s Fun Day.  The Primary students had a terrific time at all of the activities and a large amount of money was raised for St Joseph’s Care.

Volunteer Thank You Morning Tea

This morning, we said ‘thank you’ to those people who have volunteered their time this year to help in classrooms and the Canteen. Volunteers in the Canteen are vital in ensuring that we can continue to offer this service and we sincerely appreciate your support.

God Bless

Andrea Woodgate
Principal

Our Faith

Advent Appeal

St Joseph’s School has commenced our annual Advent Appeal.  Donations of long-life foods, tinned and other Christmas goodies will be appreciated.  An Advent box is located in each classroom to enable you to send in or drop off any donations.  These Advent boxes will be handed to the Parish (St Joseph’s Care) at our final Christmas Assemblies next week.

Caroline Parnham & Rebecca Clarke
Heads of School

A very sincere thank you!

On behalf of Fr Konrad and I, and all the recipient families in the Central Wheatbelt who may be going through a difficult time this Christmas, we sincerely thank the School community for the gifts donated to this year’s St Joseph’s Christmas charity drive.  The generosity of the community has been humbling.  Your donations (and prayers!) are undoubtedly going to make a real difference for many families this Christmas.  Once again, thank you to all the parents, guardians, staff and students for your care and charity.  And, of course, if there are any families in need of assistance this Christmas that we are not aware of, please do not hesitate to contact the Parish Office on 9622 5411.

God bless,
Fr George 

Children’s Liturgy Sessions @ Weekend Masses

The Children’s Liturgy team currently conduct sessions for children during the Sunday 8.00am Mass and they are now seeking expressions of interest from families who may like to bring their little ones to a session during Saturday’s 5.30pm Mass.  Children are fully supervised at these sessions which are held in the Parish Hall.  Readings, prayers and short activities based on the Gospel of the Mass are shared before the children return to their families at the Offertory.  If you would like to take advantage of this wonderful offer, please contact the Primary Admin Office and your details will be passed on to the Servite Sisters, who will contact you.

Parish Nativity Play

As the Advent Season is drawing near, the Children’s Liturgy team are also preparing to recite the story of Christ’s birth at the Children’s Christmas Eve Mass.  To enable an impressive performance, we are looking for support from the children (and families) of the Parish.  A meeting will be held for anyone interested in participating in the Christmas Play following the Sunday 8.00am Mass on 1 December.  If you are interested but cannot make the meeting, please speak to Sr Glory or leave your name and contact details at the Primary Admin Office and we will pass the information on for you.

Michelle Johnson
Chaplaincy Worker

Our Primary Students

Year 6 FunD Day

The annual Year 6 FunD Day was held today and again was another great example of the wonderful experiences we offer our students on the Primary campus.  A big congratulations to our Year 6 students and teachers on the massive effort that goes into organising such a fabulous event!  All the monies raised will be donated to St Joseph’s Parish Care at our Final Christmas Assembly next week.

End of Year Assemblies

Next week, there will be a number of assemblies to recognise the achievements of our Early Years students and our Year 6 students and celebrate the wonderful year that we have had on the Primary Campus.

The Early Years classes will perform an Assembly item and receive a small gift to acknowledge the completion of their year.  All parents, grandparents and carers are invited to attend the Assemblies and join in the Christmas parties that follow.

Kindy Final Assembly – Monday 9 December at 11.00am in SMPAC
Pre Primary Final Assembly – Tuesday 10 December at 11.00am in SMPAC
Pre Kindy Final Assembly – Thursday 12 December at 11.00am in SMPAC

Year 6 Final Assembly – Wednesday 11 December at 9.00am in SMPAC
The Year 6 Final Assembly is to celebrate the conclusion of the primary schooling of our Year 6 students.  An invitation has been sent out to all Year 6 parents and caregivers to join our School community to acknowledge these students.  At the conclusion of the Assembly, we will be having a Year 6 Morning Tea.  Please bring a small plate to share.

Christmas Assembly
Our Final Christmas Assembly will be held on Friday 13 December starting at 11:30am.  This will be followed by a Sausage Sizzle lunch by Mrs Carmel Moore and her many Canteen helpers (Mrs Moore has told me there will be a special visitor during the Assembly, too!) After lunch, parents are able to sign their child/children out and take them home if they wish.  All classroom teachers will have a SIGN OUT sheet for parents to use before their child leaves the School grounds.

Lost Property

The collection of lost property items has grown over the Semester, in particular, school jumpers and lunch boxes.  Please encourage your child to check the Lost Property boxes in the foyer of the SMPAC to see if anything belongs to them.  At the end of term, all lost property will be donated to the Uniform Shop and the St Joseph’s Parish Op Shop.

Rebecca Clarke
Head of Primary

Primary Class in Focus:   Kindergarten Gold

This term has been extremely busy for the Kindergarten students.  We started the term exploring fantasy/magical characters from texts. These characters included witches, giants, monsters, dragons and elves.  Then our class elf came, delivered in a package, at the end of November.  Our first task was to create a name for him.  We had suggestions like Elsa, Ana, Unicorn, Spider Man, Rocket, Elf, Elfie, etc. But we decided to combine some names and call our elf ‘Mr Red Elfie Rocket’.  He has been busy in Kindergarten climbing, hanging, reading and more.  We even designed and created some traps to catch him, but none worked.

                                       
 
Furthermore, we are concluding the term by preparing for Christmas by making gifts and practising our Christmas Assembly item.  We look forward to presenting our item to all the Kindergarten families.  From everyone in Kindergarten Gold, we wish you a joyful and safe Christmas, filled with love.               

Monique Ball
Kindergarten Gold Teacher

Year Two Excursion to AQWA

On Monday, 2 December, both Year Two classes headed to AQWA in Hillarys to end their exciting term’s theme: ‘Under the Sea’.  With many enthusiastic students, the bus ride was full of discussions on what they were looking forward to seeing, with many excited to get their hands wet at the Touch Pool.

The Year Two students were grouped with some very helpful parent volunteers, where they set on an adventure to complete the activity booklet on the different sea creatures at AQWA.  The students were able to see lots of different sea life, with the sharks, turtles, sea snakes and crayfish being some of their favourites.

The Touch Pool was the place to be in the afternoon with many students coming back completely drenched - lucky it was very warm for students to dry off!  Students were able to touch real-life sea life such as reef sharks, fish, sea cucumbers and lots of star fish.  One student describing the sea cucumber as ‘squishy and soft’.

As the day was coming to an end, the students were very exhausted making the bus ride home very quiet.  However, they all had an amazing day with some saying it was the best place they have ever been!

Kaitlin Passmore
Year 2 Blue Teacher

Primary Waste Warriors

As part of the campaign to be waste warriors this year, I invite all our students to clean out their pencil cases!  Did you know that old textas can be recycled?  There is a collection box in Room 7 and Student Leaders will be assisting to collect old textas, pens and plastic stationery throughout next week.  This includes any old textas from home that you wish to send for recycling.  Please don't throw them in the bin or send them to landfill.  Let us do our best to recycle!

Nicki Parker
HASS Teacher

Our Secondary Students

Learning Area in Focus:  Science

Year 7
This term, the Year 7’s have been focusing on learning about ecosystems.  This started with our trip to the Perth Zoo and culminated in the students creating recovery action plans for an endangered animal.  This week, it was a focus on fire and how it can be a devastating occurrence but one that can bring new life to the ecosystem.

Year 8
The Year 8 Science students have been investigating the difference between physical and chemical reactions.  The class has completed a range of experiments where they were able to identify signs of chemical reactions such as change in temperature, colour or the creation of bubbles.  This week, the students are also testing the rate of rusting in different environments by placing iron nails in various solutions such as de-ionised water, salt water and calcium chloride.

                                      

Year 9
The Year 9’s have been studying light and electricity.  They have been learning how light reacts and bends with different substances. For this term’s assignment, they were tasked with creating a podcast about using light with technology.  The students had to research and compose an engaging podcast with sounds and music.  There has been some quality and humorous podcasts to keep me amused!

Sarah McBride 
Secondary Teacher

2019 End of Year Examinations

Term Four is the scheduled time for the End of Year examinations for all Year 10 Course A and Year 9 Course A students in their five core Learning Areas of; Religious Education (RE), English, Mathematics, Science and Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). Examinations are an important part of the teaching, learning and assessing cycle and a positive performance in these exams demonstrates a successful level of competency of key content and skills in each relevant Learning Areas.  Students are asked to utilise all materials and any study guides provided to enhance your chance to maximise your marks and therefore your grades.

Students are reminded that full participation in the examination period is expected, and if you miss an examination you will be required to sit it at a later time.  The examinations are a part of our annual assessment structure for Course A students, with the scores being a significant proportion for the overall mark and will appear in the end of year report.  Please consider the examination period when making any alternative plans for this time of the year.

We wish all the students the best for the examinations taking place next week (9-11 December).

Mark Gargano
Teaching & Learning Coordinator Years 7-12

Philippines Immersion

We are entering the final days of our time in the Philippines and wanted to send a final update and a photo while our experiences are fresh in our minds.  We have just spent three days in Iriga City at an orphanage/school called ‘The Fatima Centre’.  It was built and is still run by the amazing Sister Felicitas De Lima, who despite her 83 years, continues to work with children in poverty.  Words can’t capture the joy that radiates from Sister and all the children living in this Centre - a life changing experience for all of us!

Today, we visited the Kuya Centre in Manila.  The primary aim of Kuya is to work with street children whose parents have abandoned them, died or are imprisoned.  We travelled with a social worker to an area considered the ‘slums’ of Manila and spent the afternoon talking and playing with the children there.  Many spend their nights on the street and their days begging and scavenging - yet we were again inspired by their joy and desire to want to connect with us and even share what little food they had!

All the students here are experiencing faith in action, working with individuals and organisations dedicated wholeheartedly to Gospel values.  We have been challenged physically and mentally but we are learning the true meaning of acting with love and compassion for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.  We look forward to sharing more with you on our return.

Shane, Hannah and Katie

Our School 

2020 Booklists

We would like to advise parents/guardians that the 2020 Booklists are now available on our School's website (see the link below).  We will not be sending printed copies home this year.  However, if you experience difficulties with the internet and are unable to access them, please contact the Primary Office (9621 3500 or by email at admin@sjsnortham.wa.edu.au) and we can send a print version home with your child.  Parents and guardians of students in Years 9 and 10, please note that electives for these years are still being finalised. Please hold off ordering any resources until the electives have been confirmed with you.
https://sjsnortham.wa.edu.au/parent-information/booklist 

Andrea Woodgate
Principal

Our P&F

‘Toilet Project’

Toilet Transformation Project is happening today, starting straight after school to get everything prepped and possibly some painting done.  A BBQ tea and drinks will be supplied.  Over this weekend, we will be painting and hanging quotes and sticking pictures up. Morning tea and lunch will be supplied for our amazing volunteers!  The colours are set and quotes chosen so it's going to be a fun and exciting weekend brightening up the bathrooms for the children.

If you can assist in anyway over the weekend with an hour or three, even if you can come and go, please contact Georgia on 0439 942 933.  The more people on deck, the quicker the tasks can get done. 

2020 Planning Meeting

A very quick get together with Committee and members of our School community to discuss events for next year will be held one evening next week.  The events we will be discussing include a Colour Run, Easter Raffle, School Welcoming events, etc.  A night is yet to be finalised but keep a look out on our Facebook page regarding this; see link below. 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1764507137145087/?ref=bookmarks

Georgia Haddrill
P&F President

Our Community

AustSwim WA Instructor Course

AustSwim WA is conducting a two-day instructors course over the weekend, 7 and 8 December 2019, at the Northam Olympic Swimming Pool on Mitchell Avenue.  This course will allow participants to develop essential knowledge, skill and understanding to teach vital swimming and water safety education lessons.  The cost of this course is $385.00 for the two full days of instruction.  Once qualified, instructors will be given the opportunity to work over the summer holiday VacSwim program in local Wheatbelt towns.  For details, please contact the AustSwim WA Business Centre on 1300 885 666 or 9328 2115 or email: wa@austswim.com.au

Marist Ex-Students Reunion

Students of all former and current Marist schools are warmly invited to a Reunion to be held at Newman College, Empire Ave, Churchlands on Wednesday 22 January 2020.  The event will start at 4.30pm with Mass in the College Chapel, followed by a BBQ tea and fellowship in the College grounds.  BYO everything.  Enquiries to Ambrose Depiazzi on 0419 912 187 or Kevin Wringe on 0407 511 104.  RSVP is not necessary.

Northam Lawn Tennis Club – Junior Tennis Coaching

Enrolments are now open. Sessions take place at the Northam Country Club on Wood Drive each Wednesday afternoon for eight weeks beginning Wednesday 5 February to 25 March 2020.  Lessons cater for all ability and ages from 4-18 years and are conducted in small groups with experienced coaches from Frontier Tennis, who travel up from Perth each week.

Session times are approximately between 3.15pm – 6.30pm and are offered for the following levels:
Pre Tennis (PP)      30mins/45mins per week - no tennis experience or coaching (Limited to ages 4-7)
Beginner      45mins per week - little tennis experience or limited coaching, which includes three seasons of pre-tennis
Intermediate      45mins per week - some ability to rally, some coaching experience but learning to serve and score
Pre-Squad/Squad      1hr per week - able to rally and prior coaching experience but working on serve, technique and scoring

The above groups are a guide only and are dependent on ability, ages, enrolment numbers, Coordinator and Coach decision.  Please request an enrolment form via email below.  Coaching groups will be finalised by 27 January 2020 with notifications sent soon after. Placement cannot be guaranteed if a session group is already at capacity at time of enrolling.  Please request an enrolment form via email: lynnetagliaferri@hotmail.com For further information, including coaching fees, please contact Lynne on 0427980989.

WAAPA - Summer School Program

The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts is pleased to advise of their Summer School program to be held during January in the coming Christmas Holidays.  With a wide range of disciplines and activities available, interested students and families are encouraged to contact WAAPA on 9370 6775, email: explore.waapa@ecu.edu.au or visit: waapa.edu.edu.au/explore for full details.

Uniform Shop 

Opening Times:                             Mondays - 3.15pm-4.45pm
                                                      Thursdays - 2.45pm to 4.15pm
Can’t Get To The Shop?

Families who find they are unable to attend the Uniform Shop during opening hours are able to place an order by sending in a request by email to the School’s email address : admin@sjsnortham.wa.edu.au  or families can now use the SchoolZine app to place an order.    Orders will be filled and distributed to students or sent to the relevant Campus Admin Office for collection as soon as practical.

Michelle James 
Primary - 9621 3524

Primary Canteen

Roster for Term Four Week 9:

Monday	Dec   9	Julie Sandrini Emma Monger
Tuesday	Dec  10	Sarah Sloss Catherine Naughton
Wednesday	Dec  11	Julie Sandrini Emma Monger
Thursday	Dec  12	Geraldine Anderson Peter Stewart
Friday	Dec  13	Amy Park Pat O'Neill Melissa Rutter Julie Sandrini Mia Gustak Teresa Jukic Rebecca Marwick Debbie Hughes

Final Christmas Assembly ~ Friday 13 December

On Friday 13 December, keep your eyes open as there will be a very special visitor with all his helpers at the Primary Assembly!!! Following the Assembly, the Canteen will be offering a sausage sizzle for lunch ($3 sausage in a bun and all drinks at $2 each).  Please note that no other lunch menu will be available.  Recess will be as usual.

Missing Plates/Platters?

The Canteen has a few plates and platters that held donated items for our Grandparents Morning Tea in Week 2.  As these have no names on them, I need your help to get them returned.  Please let me know if your plate/platter has not come home and I will send it home with your child.

Canteen Assistance

I would like to sincerely thank all our wonderful helpers for the time given so generously to the Canteen this year.  Another year with lots of good times.  I hope to see you all again in 2020.  

Carmel Moore
Primary - 9621 3525