1 July 2025 (Week 10 Term 2 2025)
Dear St Joseph’s Community
As we come to the end of Term 2, we want to extend our thanks to all families for your continued support. It has been a busy and fulfilling term, filled with joyful moments of learning, relationship-building, and community connection.
The Athletics Carnival in Week 9 was a fantastic day of school spirit and friendly competition, made even more special by the presence of our friends from St Joseph’s, Coraki. A huge thank you to Mr Seymour for organising this school spirited event. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to assist in the canteen and run activities—your support makes days like this possible. We are also grateful for the help provided by the students and staff from Woodlawn College, and to Mrs Thrum, Mrs MacDonald, Pam and all of our parent volunteers for their efforts in keeping the canteen running smoothly throughout the day.
Monday was another highlight, with a special community celebration. Students enjoyed watching the Australian film Paper Planes together, complete with popcorn, followed by a school-wide paper plane competition after recess. A big thank you to Mrs Jones for organising this fun event.
We will wrap up the term with a whole-school assembly on Friday afternoon, featuring a performance by our school choir with awards presentations.
Student reports were released on Monday afternoon. We are incredibly proud of the hard work our students have put into their learning this semester. We encourage families to take time to read through these and celebrate both growth and areas for continued focus. Parent-teacher meetings will take place in Week 2 next term, and bookings are now open via Compass.
Woodlawn College will be hosting a Safe on Social presentation with Kirra Pendergast—an excellent opportunity for parents to learn more about the challenges of raising children in an increasingly connected and digital world. We strongly encourage families to take advantage of this important event to support safe and informed online practices at home. Details can be found below.
We wish all of our families a safe and restful school holiday and look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday, 22 July, following our Staff Development Day on Monday, 21 July.
Key Dates for Terms 3 and 4 are available to download here to stick on the front of the fridge.
Wishing you a safe term break.
Kind Regards,
Kurt Challinor
Staff Development Day Monday 21 July
On the first day of Term 3, Monday 21 July, we have a scheduled Staff Development Day. These days are incredibly important for our staff to engage in the learning they need to provide the best education we can to your children. The focus of this day is the significant changes to the NSW Curriculum, which are to be implemented in 2026, with the Creative Arts, HSIE, PDHPE and Science and Technology curricula being released. Aligned with the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools, we are initially rolling out Creative Arts, Science and Technology in 2026 and the other areas from 2027. We have planned a collaborative day with our colleagues from the St Joseph’s schools of Woodburn and Coraki.
Rainbow Region is available to provide care for families requiring this on this day.
Update on Our School Newsletter
We wanted to let you know about a small change to how we’ll share our school newsletter in Semester 2. From the beginning of Term 3, we will trial moving to a fortnightly newsletter, published in odd weeks of the term.
Putting the newsletter together each week takes considerable time and effort from our admin team, and we are so grateful for your understanding as we trial this approach. Over the past few years, we’ve become more proficient at using Compass to communicate key updates and reminders, and this has allowed the newsletter to become more of a space to celebrate student learning, share achievements, and highlight community events.
Moving to a fortnightly schedule will also allow us to align newsletters with our school assemblies, so we can continue to showcase student success and classroom highlights soon after they happen.
Thank you again for your support. We look forward to continuing to share the wonderful stories of learning and community that make our school so special—just with a slightly new rhythm.
Scripture Reflection
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, two of the most well-known figures in the early Church. While their stories are thousands of years old, the lessons they offer still speak to us today—especially as parents and people trying to do our best in a complicated world.
Peter was impulsive, sometimes uncertain, and yet deeply committed. Paul was passionate, determined, and had a dramatic change of heart in his life. What they both shared was a willingness to keep going, to learn, to grow, and to use their lives for something greater than themselves. Neither was perfect—but both were faithful.
For families, the stories of Peter and Paul remind us that we don’t have to get everything right to make a difference. Parenting (and life in general) doesn’t come with a manual, and some days feel messier than others. But like Peter and Paul, we are called to keep showing up, to keep learning, and to use our gifts, however imperfect, for the good of others.
Their lives also show us the power of forgiveness, second chances, and community. Peter denied Jesus three times, yet he became the rock on which the Church was built. Paul persecuted Christians before becoming one of its greatest teachers. If there’s a message here for us, it’s that people can grow, change, and rise again, and so can we.
As we reflect on these two saints, may we find encouragement in their stories not because they were perfect, but because they were deeply human, just like us.
You are invited to listen to Bishop Greg’s Homily from Sunday’s Mass.
ICAS Assessments
ICAS is an online academic competition that allows students to challenge their higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling Bee, and Digital Technologies.
ICAS results are in-depth and meaningful, and ICAS evaluates student performance against other competition entrants across the state and nation. The data reveals student strengths and weaknesses and can help you recognise and support your child's academic journey.
Learn more about ICAS here: icasassessments.com/products-icas/
How to participate in ICAS
If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please go to the Parent Portal to register for your chosen subjects.
Direct login link
Use this link to log directly into the shop and start registering:
https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/parent-payment/XFV264
Year 4 Winter Sleepover & Accendere Retreat
We are looking forward to our Winter Sleepover at school this Thursday night for all Year 4. There are plenty of games in store, a pizza dinner and finishing the night with a movie and hot chocolates in the library.
On Friday, Year 4 will participate in a retreat day with Mrs McCall, Mr Pearson and Mrs Jones in the hall. The retreat celebrates the gift of friendship with each other and is an opportunity to grow in friendship with Jesus too.
Community Day Fun: Paper Plane Competition
We had a lot of fun enjoying one another’s company (and feats of engineering!) at our Term 2 Community Day celebration. Congratulations to Damon, in Year 5, who won his class a games afternoon!
This past Friday, our school held its Athletics Carnival at a cold and windy Geoff Watt Oval. The weather held off for us and we had a day filled with excitement and friendly competition. We were joined by our friends from St Joseph’s Coraki who had an amazing time at the carniva. and our combined students bodies displayed outstanding sportsmanship in all events throughout the day.
A massive thankyou goes out to the St John's College, Woodlawn students and our family members who generously volunteered in various roles. Without your efforts, days like these wouldn’t be possible.
We will celebrate our Age Champions at this Friday’s assembly. The Compass event for successful students progressing through to the Zone Athletics Carnival will (hopefully) be published for families by the end of the week.
Please note that while we celebrate achievement for each age level at school, only a set number of students can attend the Zone Carnival for each event.
Our house champion was celebrated at our Monday morning assembly, Congratulations Cawley
1st place - Cawley 2nd place - McCarthy 3rd place - Dara
We had great success last term with letting the students holiday borrow, so this week we will be encouraging the students to take books home for holiday borrowing again!
Happy reading!
Uniform and Grooming Reminder
As we approach the holidays and parents might be seeking new school shoes and haircuts. A reminder of the uniform expectations is provided below.
School shoes should be black soft polishable leather – not suede, canvas or skate shoes. Shoelaces will be done up correctly at all times. Jewellery is not allowed, however, students who have pierced ears may wear sleepers or studs. Students with multiple ear piercings must have clear studs worn in these holes. Children will be asked to remove all ‘excess’ jewellery and place this in their School bag. Please also note that ribbons, scrunchies, etc worn in the girls' hair should be in school colours: white, light blue, and navy blue. Students are asked not to wear coloured nail polish. Dyed hair is not permitted and shoulder-length hair should be tied back for health reasons. No hair should cover the eyes. We do not tolerate “trendy” hairstyles such as fades, undercuts, lines, mullets etc.
Our school has a winter bomber jacket and tracksuit pants. We thank parents for their support in ensuring their children are wearing the full school uniform. This helps ensure we are well represented in our school and in the community.
Our Poetry Recital and Speech Competition, Gift of the Gab, will be held again next term. Our school event will lead up to an interschool speaking competition between seven local Catholic primary schools. This event will be hosted by Holy Family Primary School, Skennars Head, in Week 9 of Term 3. The finalists from our school-based competition will represent our school at this regional competition
Safe on Social Presentation - St John's College, Woodlawn
St John's College, Woodlawn will be hosting a Safe on Social presentation by leading online safety expert Kirra Pendergast, and we strongly encourage all parents to attend.
🗓 Tuesday 26th August
🕠 Refreshments from 5:30pm
🕕 Parent session begins at 6:00pm
📍 St John's College, Woodlawn
Kirra is the founder of Safe on Social and Ctrl+Shft (formerly Safe on Social), with more than 30 years of experience in cyber governance, national security, and digital risk prevention. Her presentations are informative, real, and honest—offering parents vital insights into the digital lives of young people.
You’ll learn about:
- The risks of predators, cyberbullying, and image-based abuse
- The realities of gaming, group chats, and social media
- Practical steps to help your child navigate online spaces safely
This is an excellent opportunity for parents to better understand the challenges of raising children in a connected world. We highly recommend attending this free session. You can register via the QR code on the poster.
Social Futures Support for NDIS
Did you know that Cass, the Family Connect in School worker at St Joseph’s Alstonville, can help you apply for NDIS for your child?
She can give you the forms you need and guide you step-by-step through the whole process, making it easier to understand and complete.
Cass warmly invites families to reach out anytime—either through the school or by contacting her directly—if you’d like more information or support.
Cassandra Finucane
Program Worker - Family Connect in Schools
Service Delivery
0427 620 667
cassandra.finucane@socialfutures.org.au
