Welcome to Week 6, it is hard to believe that we are halfway through Term 2. With the cooler weather now upon us – please ensure that your child has their jumper and or jacket on of a morning. Getting out of nice warm cars and buses to the cold winter air without warm clothes is often why our little people get sick.

It was a privilege last week to go on the 5/6 excursion to Western Plains Zoo as part of the Future Rural Leaders Program. A huge thank you to Nic Bamblett who came with us and was a great help, we really appreciate your support. The students had a lot of fun as well as increased their knowledge about the platypus, which will be invaluable as they start to complete the next stage of the program – coming up with innovative conservation solutions to ensure the ongoing survival of the platypus at the Adelong Creek. We have many wonderful stories (possums inside of tents may be the favourite one!) and the children should be congratulated on their wonderful behaviour. Zoo staff were really impressed by the interest that our students showed throughout their tours of the zoo and the wonderful questions that they asked. It was a great opportunity to be with Adelong Public students on our Zoo snooze and we can’t wait to see what designs the students come up with.

Our Athletics carnival is on this Friday at the Adelong Showground. Students will walk down at around 9.30 am and we hope to be under way before 10 am. We would welcome any parent help to assist with time keeping on the day. We will have High school students from McAuley assist on the day as well. Meal deals are due today and we thank our wonderful Community Council for providing lunch for the students.

Last week as part of Reconciliation week students were lucky to have a visit from Aunty Sue.  Students also participated in National Sorry day activities. Thank you to Miss Grace Braun – our Aboriginal education officer for organising these events.

Blessings for a great week

Kirsty Beavan

Principal

Last Thursday marked the Feast of the Ascension. This day commemorates the moment when Jesus ascended into heaven in the presence of His disciples, 40 days after Easter. The Ascension marks the end of the Easter season, and Pentecost follows ten days after.

Sacramental Programs

Sacrament of Reconciliation	Year 3 students
Sacrament of First Holy Communion	Year 4 students
Sacrament of Confirmation	Please note this will be offered for 5/6 students in 2026

Please let me know if your child/ren will be making Reconciliation or First Holy Communion this year so an enrollment pack can be sent home. Dates for the sacramental program and school masses are still being confirmed due to our church being closed.

Stacey Braun

Religious Education Coordinator

It has been bought to our attention that many Parents/Carers are having trouble submitting absences and consenting to events on the Compass App. We have been advised that the Compass app often requires updating. Please try and update the app if you are having issues to see if it helps. If you continue to have issues, don't hesitate to contact the Office. 

Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn has communicated to schools regarding reporting to parents/guardians. CE has advised schools that general comments will not be required on Semester 1, 2025 reports, but to prioritise Parent/Teacher Conferences for every family. These meetings provide an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, their strengths, challenges and future areas of focus. A Semester Report will be sent home as in previous Semesters, providing A-E grading, work habits and attendance information. CE has advised schools that Semester 2, 2025 reports will have a general comment for all children as in previous years. This general comment will provide a summative comment for the year, areas of achievement and areas to focus on for the following year. A-E grading, work habits and attendance information will remain as normal. We would encourage all parents/guardians to engage regularly with their child/ren’s learning, connecting with their class teacher/s regularly to discuss learning progress.

Keeping children safe online is a shared responsibility between schools and families. As part of our commitment to digital safety, we want to make you aware of new legislation recently passed through Parliament set to take place in the next 12 months. This law sets a minimum age limit of 16 for social media platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

Students under the age of 16 should not be accessing these platforms. At school, we continue to educate children about responsible online behaviour and the importance of staying safe in digital spaces. We encourage parents and carers to support these efforts by monitoring device use at home, setting clear boundaries, having regular conversations about online safety and ensuring your child knows who to turn to if something doesn’t feel right.

The students in Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6 are looking forward to the, sculpture workshops which will take place at St Joseph’s on Wednesday 11^th June.  The workshops are part of the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail School Education Program and Local artist Robyn Veneer Sweeney will be working with students  supported by educator Angela Pearce.

In preparation for the Athletics Carnival, the 1/2 class have been practising for some of the events such as sprinting, high jump, and shotput. We have also been taking part in the Jump Rope for Heart challenge by improving our skipping whilst also learning about the importance of keeping our heart healthy.

Years 5 & 6 enjoyed their recent excursion to Dubbo Western Plains Zoo as part of the Future Rural Leaders Program. Below are some diary entries from each day, written by students. 

Tuesday 27th of May 2025          

Dubbo Zoo Trip (Bus ride, set up tents, and lion tour.)

Today I woke up at 7:00 am to get ready to head off to Dubbo, because today we are going on a trip to Dubbo zoo. We will be staying at the zoo, and doing night and day zoo tours. I then arrived at school but had to wait because the bus gets here at 9:30. I got on the bus then we headed to Dubbo. Then we stopped at Young to have recess, it was pouring down rain and the toilets stunk .This time we stopped for lunch at Peak Hill, we really just ate here nothing else happened. Then we all arrived at the zoo, and figured out we were staying at the billabong camp. After all that we headed to the lion cages, and  leaned against the fence while facing the other way to see if the lions would stalk us (they did). Then we headed back for dinner. Hope you like hotdogs!  After dinner I had a shower, ate dessert, and then we headed back to the tents. Goodnight…
Amber

Wednesday 28th May 2025

Dear Diary,                                                                                      

This morning the bell rang at 6:00. I sleepily pulled on my jumper and a pair of trackies and trudged out for a breakfast of cereal, toast and juice. I got some Just Right, 2 pieces of toast with jam and a cup of apple juice. After breakfast I went back to the tent and got dressed ready for the morning tour. I came out and sat under the shelter waiting for the tour to start. Eventually the tour started and we headed over to the lemurs. The keeper fed them defrosted frozen vegetables and they fought over who ate first. The ones that weren’t eating were doing yoga poses in front of the heat lamp. We then fed the bongos fresh leafy twigs. There were 2 bongos. The bongo is the second biggest breed of antelope with only around 70 wild ones left. We moved onto the hippopotamus and fed it a full head of lettuce. I learnt that hippos can’t swim, they walk along the bottom of the waterway until they need air, then they just launch themselves to the surface and breathe in some air they can hold their breath for about 10 minutes. Finally we went and saw the zebras. Did you know zebras are black with white stripes? You can tell because their nose and hooves are black.

We came back to camp and got ready to go to the Education Centre. On the way there we got lost because the teachers couldn’t read the map properly. Once Mrs Mitchell got the map we finally made our way to the Education Centre. At the Education Centre Kelly, the education person, taught us about adaptations and physiological features of the platypus. We then had recess and brainstormed ideas to save platypus in the wild. We went to Plat HQ and met Mackenzie and we just missed out on going into the quarantine room because they caught a wild platypus on Saturday. As we were heading back to the Education Centre we stopped at the wildlife hospital and saw a wombat getting a check up. Eventually we got back to the Education Centre and had pizza for lunch. 

After lunch we were free to explore the zoo until camp opened at 4pm. We started at the African wild dogs and ended at the lion cubs. My favourite animals were the meerkats. They are so cute. Finally after hours of walking we headed back to camp at 3:50. The people who weren’t tired played bull rush but the people who were tired sat down and played charades. 

Trey, the new camp person, let us in at 4:30 and we all rushed in to sit down. Around an hour later the Public School came back to camp. We had hotdogs and pasta bake for dinner and then another night tour. On the night tour we visited the Aussie animals. My favourite was the koala and her joey. On the tour we saw wallabies, possums that weren’t supposed to be there, echidnas, an emu, a quokka and kangaroos. We came back to camp and had cake and hot chocolate for supper. We had showers and now I’m in bed finishing off today's story.
Love Alice

Thursday 29/5/2025

At 7am we woke up to the bell going off. We got over to the tables and had breakfast - toast and cereal. We then got on the bus and drove down to the gift shop so everyone could get a souvenir. I got a stuffed lion and some playing cards. Finally we went and saw the spider monkeys and then we got a photo in front of the bus with the Adelong Public School. We got on the bus and started heading home.  We stopped at Young to get Macca's for lunch. When we got back on the bus half of the people on the bus fell asleep and the rest of the people on the bus watched The Smurfs and Surfs Up. It was such a long way and we were all so tired. Finally we drove into Adelong, said goodbye to the public schoolers and dropped them off at their school. Then our school thanked Jimmy the bus driver as we hopped off the bus to go home. It was the best trip ever!
Braxton

In celebration of Reconciliation Week, our students had the pleasure of a special visit from Aunty Sue today. She shared valuable insights about the significance of Reconciliation Week, helping us deepen our understanding through engaging conversations and games. A heartfelt thank you to Aunty Sue for taking the time to visit our school.

The deposit for the Selwyn Ski Trip is due this Friday 6th June.

Another event will be posted tomorrow morning (Wednesday 4th June) for the remaining funds. This event has an option for a payment plan if required. 

Please ensure all forms have been returned to the office tomorrow morning so that pricing can be finalised and the event sent out.

If you have any questions, please contact the office. 

We wish Bonnie all the best this week as she plays in the MacKillop girls Rugby 7’s team at the NSW PSSA Rugby Championships. Bonnie is the only ‘country representative’ in the city dominated team and we couldn’t be prouder of her. We can’t wait to hear all about it.

Good Luck Bonnie! 

Thank you to our parents for assisting with the change of drop off/pick up arrangements.

Keep up to date with events happening at St Joseph's via our electronic school calendar (please note dates can be subject to change).

We have two pairs of snow boots free for anyone interested in them.

Sizes:
EUR 39
EUR 36

Pick up from the office - First in first served!