NOVEMBER

Tuesday 10 November— PSF

Meeting in the Staffroom @ 7.00pm

Wednesday 11 November—

Scholastic Book Fair in the Library

Wednesday 11 November—

Alstonville High School Yr 7 2016 Transition Day from 12.30pm

Friday 13 November—Sunday 15

November—Joeys Golf trip away

Tuesday 17 November— A talk on

Dealing With Children With Anxiety—McCarthy Hall @ 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start

Thursday 19 November—Movie

Night Planning Meeting in the Staffroom @ 10am

Thursday 19 November—School

Disco. More details to follow.

Friday 27 November—St Johns

College Woodlawn Yr 7 2016 Orientation Day

Sunday 29 November—Digifest Film

Festival Viewing from 12.30pm in McCarthy Hall

DECEMBER

Friday 4 December—Trinity Catholic

College Lismore Yr 7 2016 Orientation Day

Saturday 5 December—Joeys Golf

Christmas Party @ The Pioneer Tavern

Sunday 6 December—MOVIE NIGHT from 4.30 pm

Tuesday 8 December—PSF Dinner

at Eltham Pub

Sunday 13 December - Fr. Max’s

25th Anniversary celebrations. Morning Tea in McCarthy Hall after 8.30am Mass

Monday 14 December—2016

Swimming Carnival

Wednesday 16 December—End of

Year Whole School Mass

Wednesday 16 December—Last

day for Year 6 students

Thursday 17 December - Year 6

Dinner

Friday 18 December—Last day of

term—School finishes at 12 noon

Volume 36 Term 4Volume 36 Term 4Volume 36 Term 4

Tuesday 10 November 2015Tuesday 10 November 2015Tuesday 10 November 2015

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

In Brief… No assembly this Friday—Even Week

Coming Events

Messages from the Principal

Dear Parents & Carers,

MOVIE NIGHT—6 DECEMBER

Thank you to all those families who

have returned their sold raffle tickets. We

are really grateful to all of you for support-

ing this raffle as part of our Joeys Commu-

nity Movie Night. This night is a big finale

for the year as well as the last event in the

Alstonville Sesquicentenary celebrations.

We hope you will all come along for

the Movie Night. Make sure it is marked

on your calendar!

The movie is Despicable Me 2. A

flyer i s being sent home today. If you

would like to promote this event in the

community, please contact the school

office for more flyers. Thank you.

The next meeting of the Movie

Night planning group will be Thursday 19

November at 10am. Please come along if

you can help out. Following that meeting

we will be calling on families to help out in

a variety of roles. Rosters will be circulated

for this purpose.

STAFF UPDATE Mr Slattery has been ordered by the

doctor to stay off his feet until the end of

the year. This means that among other

things we will have a casual in replacing

him but also means all choir and percus-

sion group gigs have been cancelled. It is

also part of the consideration in focusing

on the Movie Night and cancelling the end

of year Carols night.

I know you will all appreciate that it

is best to put all our energy into one event

rather than try to do two short staffed and

not as well.

Mrs Bratti finished up here yester-

day to have her feet operation (we will

farewell her at our end of year Mass), Mr

Slattery is off resting his feet… must be a

year for it! In both Mrs Bratti and Mr Slat-

tery’s absence we now have no Assistant

Principal. Various tasks and roles have been

taken on by the staff to cover these positions

of responsibility. I thank all the staff for this

great work in what is always a busy time of

the year.

In addition Mrs Janine Woolven is in

charge of the Canteen until the end of 2015

as Mrs Harris had her shoulder surgery yes-

terday.

Please keep all these people in your

prayers as they recover.

2016 CLASSES As far as 2016 – there will be one

Kinder group, 3 x S1, 2 x S2 and 3 x S3

groups. Staffing for this is in the process of

being finalised. We had to wait for Fr Max to

return to shortlist and organise interviews.

Please be assured, as soon as these are final-

ised we will notify all families of all the

staffing for 2016.

Last week I hinted at a staggered start

for 2016. This is made necessary by our

school being an EMU school (Extending

Mathematical Understanding). This funding

from the Catholic Schools Office has al-

lowed us to support some students in Year 1,

tutored by Mr Coyle. It also entails all stu-

dents from Kinder to Year 3 undertaking the

Maths Assessment Interview at the begin-

ning of the year in 2016. Kinder will com-

plete this as part of their Best Start assess-

ment, as has happened in previous years.

However the introduction of this for Years 1-

3 presents a dilemma for us. The Maths As-

sessment Interviews (MAI) must be complet-

ed by the class teacher. To do the MAI takes

upwards from 30 minutes per student. The

Catholic Schools Office cannot fund any

release of staff to complete this so our best

option is to stagger the start to school for

Kinder to S2.

S3 are not affected by the MAI and

will begin on Thursday 28 January. S2

will begin on Monday 1 February. Then

S1 to begin on Tuesday 2 February with

Kinder beginning on Wednesday 3 Febru-

ary, as previously advised.

WEEK 6

Tonight, Tuesday 10 November, PSF Meeting in the Staffroom @ 7.00pm. All Welcome

Page 2

I fully understand that this may present difficulties for

families but I do hope both the early notification and an under-

standing of the worth of this opportunity will make this ac-

ceptable.

Once students are mapped on the MAI the staff then

have better ideas of their ability, their individual needs and

how to make change through the Intervention process. All

schools that are EMU schools will need to make the same

changes to starting dates. By the beginning of 2017 all schools

in the Diocese will have been in the same situation.

If this does present unsurmountable difficulties for any-

one PLEASE contact me immediately.

ACTS OF KINDNESS AWARD Congratulations to

Lucas Woolven (S2) for

receiving the Acts of

Kindness Award at last

Friday’s assembly. Lucas

was acknowledged for his

care and friendship for

other students. Well done

Lucas!

Have a good week.

Therese Seymour

Junior Altar Servers Picnic Tuesday 17 November

The following children have celebrated their birthday since our

last Newsletter:

Matthew Bell and Lucy Mosse

Happy Birthday from all of Happy Birthday from all of Happy Birthday from all of us at St Joeysus at St Joeysus at St Joeys

I would like to say thankyou to the

wonderful community at St Jo-

seph’s for my experiences here in

2015. This includes the students

who are so welcoming, enthusiastic and fun to work with. To

Therese, the teachers and staff who have made it so easy this

year to fit in and work alongside every day. You are very

fortunate to have such a skilled professional and compas-

sionate team working with your children. I have made many

lifelong friends at St Joseph’s. And finally the parents who I

have had the pleasure of meeting and supporting in many

ways: you certainly are a supportive village community.

It has been a year of intense learning for me. I have learnt

lots about the open, flexible learning spaces. This was cer-

tainly a challenge at the start of the year when I was also

learning so many names! I’ve learnt that working with stu-

dents on intervention strategies is so rewarding: the joy that

each student shows when they can do something that was

once challenging is priceless. I will take these an many more

gifts from this experience on my future journey.

Once again, thankyou and may God bless every one of you

with good fortune and health…..

Michelle Bratti

THANKYOU AND FAREWELL

Each year we hold a picnic day for those who have served

on the Altar at Our Lady of the Rosary and St Patrick’s

Churches over the past 12 months.

This year the Junior Altar Servers Picnic Day has been set

for next Tuesday 17 November. The format for the day will

be:-

9.15am Depart St Joseph’s School for Ballina

Pool and Waterslide

12 noon-12.45pm Lunch at MacDonald’s Ballina

1.00pm-2.30pm Ten Pin Bowling at Ballina Bowl (so

bring socks!) Morning tea will be supplied. We will return to St Joseph’s

School by 3.15pm. There is no charge for the day. It is the

Parish’s gesture to thank the children for the wonderful

work they have done is assisting on the Altar.

Fr Max Gow

Children’s Sunday Liturgy Sunday 15 November: Melissa Barnes, Lyndal Rhodes & Lyn Rowling

ALTAR SERVERS ROSTER Saturday 14 November: Olivia Woolven, Joshua McWilliam, Grace McWilliam, Ainsleigh Woolven & Lucas Woolven

Sunday 15 November: James Criss, Robert Criss, Molly Price, Sophie Price & Hannah Lloyd

Stage 1 Liturgy—This Thursday

2.45pm in the church Stage 1 are hosting a Liturgy on Thursday afternoon this week

followed by a get together on the playground. Please bring

some afternoon tea.

Page 3

Jumping Joeys Playgroup Each Tuesday during School Terms

9.30am-11.00am Come and dance, sing, play with dough, read a story and do

craft with us. All pre-schoolers are

welcome with their Mum, Dad or

Carer. Please bring the children a

snack, drink bottle and a gold coin

donation to cover craft.

Contact: Libby Spash

0411 271 243

Making Jesus Real

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS DISCO

THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER

Come along to the Christmas Disco on Thursday, 19

November in McCarthy Hall from 5.30pm – 7.30pm.

This will be a Fundraiser for Year 6 and therefore run

by Year 6. A job list has gone out to Year 6 students

for them to nominate themselves jobs. They will be

doing the setup, door entry, canteen and various other

jobs needed on the night. However we still require lots

of parent help to support the smooth running of the

Disco.

We also still ask for all of the wonderful food donations

to sell in the canteen that we normally receive.

Come along dressed as something Christmassy!

Send your name to school please if you can help out…

Lisa Love, Lyn Rowling and Deb Howe

Diocesan Summer Sports Trials Congratulations to Cormac Campey (Touch Foot-

ball), Will Barnes (Cricket) and Mark Wright (Tennis) who

were selected to compete at the Diocesan Summer Sports

Trials in Lismore on Friday 20 November. If these boys are

successful in gaining selection at these trials they will com-

pete at the Polding Summer Sports Trials in Lismore

(Cricket/Tennis) on Friday 5 February 2016 and Port Mac-

quarie (Touch) on Friday 3 June 2016. Good Luck boys!

St Joseph's Alstonville Swimming Carnival The St Joseph's Alstonville Swimming Carnival will

be held on Monday 14 December at Alstonville Memorial

Pool. If you would like your child/ren to participate in the

Competitive Events please fill in the Event Nomination

Form contained in the newsletter and return to school no

later than Monday 7 December. No late entries will be ac-

cepted.

Please note that Competitive Events are open to chil-

dren turning 8 years and over in the year 2016. (These

events will serve as Selection Trials for the Richmond Zone

Swimming Carnival on Friday 19 February in Lismore).

The 25m NON-Competitive event is open to all children

who have not participated in any 50 Metre event. (This

event is also open to Infant students who are confident of

swimming the distance).

In order for the Swimming Carnival to run smoothly

and effectively we will require parental assistance particu-

larly with Timekeeping ands Marshalling. If you can assist

in this capacity please fill in the section at the bottom of the

Competitive Events Form (Please indicate if you are willing

to assist with timekeeping).

Free Cricket Clinics for K-3 Students!!!! St Joseph's Alstonville successfully obtained a gener-

ous sports delivery grant from Sporting Schools Australia.

Starting on Monday 23 November @ 3:30pm Col

Earl, Cricket NSW Development Officer will be running

free cricket clinics for our students. The program will run for one hour over 4 weeks eve-

ry Monday afternoon until the end of the year. A fifth ses-

sion may occur on an alternative day dependant on the avail-

ability of Col. We thank Col for running these clinics at a

considerable rate reduction. If your child/ren would be inter-

ested in participating in these free skills sessions please see

Mr Wilde or have your name recorded at the front office. Á

maximum of 30 students will be accepted. A note will be

sent home this Friday 13 November to confirm your child's

participation in the program.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Paddy Wilde—Sports Co-ordinator

Are

You

A

W.E.S.T.

Person

Congratulations

to last week’s

MJR Award

recipients….

Damian Lutz

Anthony Bell

Ella Brombal

and Zoe McInnes

Sports News

Congratulations to the following children who

received Awards at the last week’s assembly.

Kai Kubils, Shay R, Andreas Pereira, Reuben Donnelly,

Ben Newton, Matilda Price, Nic Gannon, Zara Corkery,

Ava Greensill, Tyson Binder, Molly Wilson, Lucy

Mosse, Jacob Robinson, Jake Leeson, Connor Smith, Par-

ker Moore, Bella Smith, Finn Coony, Georgia Kent, Zoe

McInnes, Olivia Mosse & Will Barnes.

Page 8

FROM THE CANTEEN: Wednesday Specials: Rice Paper Rolls $6.00

Fish & oven baked Chips $4.20 Ham & Cheese Croissants $3.00

CANTEEN ROSTER Open Wednesday & Friday

Leanne Harris Coordinator Ph 66281990

Date Duty Starts at 9.00am Healthy Snack Donation

Wednesday 11 Nov

Nita Braz Libby McInnes

Friday 13 Nov

Sue Anderson Zoe Cluff

Wednesday 18 Nov

Volunteer Please! Beth Newton

GARDINER CHESS RESULTS

Last Thursday we had our last chess tour-

nament for the year. It was conveniently held at

our school and a record 22 of our students took

part! It was great to see some stage 1 students

there and also (finally) some girls! It was a great

day with some excellent results for St Joseph's.

All students were on their best behaviour and

showed good sportsmanship.

Congratulations to our medal winners in

their respective age groups:

Sean Nicolas and Zac Hipkins (2003), Nic

Vinall (2004), Tom Rowling and Anzac Cork-

ery (2006), Lachlan Beare and Ava Allan

(2008) and Jonathan Stuart (2009) and to Dan-

ny O'Toole for winning a ribbon of merit in a

very strong 2005 field.

Great effort and keep up the good work to:

Maddox Parsons, Luke Rowling, Sam Allan,

Sam Chawalliwar, Jayden Binder, Elias

Blenkhorn, Parker Moore, Connor Smith, Patrick

Stuart, Lawson Ward, Mark Wright,

Ilaria Blenkhorn and Alistair McRae.

Special mention goes to Sean, who repre-

sented our school for the last time, not having

missed a tournament since he started playing in

year 1, with excellent results and great dedica-

tion. He even pulled off an 'en passant' move on

Thursday. Well done! For full results see:

gardinerchess.com.au

Hermien Mellick—Chess Coordinator