Dear Lord,

We ask you to bless St Joseph's School Community.

We pray that you guide us to be just and to see,

listen, speak and act like St Joseph.

May we be inspired by our Founders to be the best
that we can be.

May we always keep Jesus at the centre of all we do.

St Emilie          Pray for us

St Marcellin      Pray for us

St Joseph         Pray for us 

And may we always remember to pray for one another.

AMEN

Dear Members of St Joseph's Community

With God’s blessings, 

Andrea Woodgate
Principal 

Inter-House Swimming Carnival

Students from Years 4 to 12 had been preparing for the Interhouse Swimming Carnival in Week 4 - decorations and chants were ready for some serious house spirit.

Unfortunately, the predicted hot weather got in the way of our usual formatted carnival. Instead, Primary students competing in 50m events attended the pool during periods 1 and 2 and Secondary students in 50m races moved to the pool from period 3 onwards. Although it wasn’t the whole house experience, the students who participated put in an amazing effort and came out with some great results.

Congratulations to Mr Cameron Watson for making it through his first successful house carnival as the Primary PE specialist. 

A huge thank you to the staff who helped and the incredible parents and family friends who stepped in to support us run this carnival. Without your willingness to support and jump in with a helping hand, we could not run these days.

Lastly, a big thank you for the continued support from Northam Swimming Club for allowing the school to use their blocks, timing equipment and providing us support to manage the overall results of the carnival. 

Individual Results

House Champions

Dates for your Diary

Week 7

Monday 11 March:	Swimming Lessons all week - Yrs 1, 2 & 4 Year 6 Camp - departs @ 9am
Tuesday 12 March:	Year 6 Camp Year 8 Solar Car Challenge
Wednesday 13 March:	Year 6 Camp - returns @ 3pm NAPLAN Writing  Marist Youth Ministry Night in Bunbury
Thursday 14 March:	ACC Swimming Carnival Year 8 Reconciliation Early Close
Friday 15 March:	NAPLAN Reading P&F Year 7 Parent Sundowner @ 5pm
Saturday 16 March:	School Community Mass @ 5.30pm
Sunday 17 March	Harmony Day St Patrick's Day

Week 8

Monday 18 March:	Swimming Lessons all week - Yrs 1, 2 & 4 NAPLAN Conventions of Language
Tuesday 19 March:	St Joseph's Mass - 9am (Sec) & 11am (Pri)
Wednesday 20 March:	NAPLAN Numeracy
Thursday 21 March:	Year 6 Reconciliation Harmony Day Early Close
Friday 22 March:	Primary Assembly - no class item @ 9am
Sunday 24 March:	Palm Sunday

Reconciliation

During Lent, each year group from Year 6-10 are completing the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

All students from a year group are invited to attend the Services each Thursday morning and those who are Catholic are offered the Sacrament.

It has been wonderful, over the last 2 weeks, to see the reverence and peace the students are experiencing during the services.

We thank Father Stephen and Father Ruben for giving us this opportunity each Thursday during Lent.

Lloyd Reidy
Head of Religious Education

"Spirit of Jesus" Award 

Congratulations to our "Spirit of Jesus" Award winners for this fortnight: Gunnars Reineks-Parker and Lily Parker.

Project Compassion - 4th Sunday of Lent

Dear Families & Friends,  

Thank you to all of the parents who attended our Parent-Teacher Meetings this week. These meetings not only provide families with the opportunity to know how their child has started the year, but strengthen the bond between home and school. 

Congratulations to our Interschool Swimming Squad for their sportsmanship & participation in our first Catholic Interschool Swimming Carnival. Thank you to Mr Watson for his wonderful organisation of the event.  

Please keep our Year 3 & 5 students in your thoughts & prayers as they begin NAPLAN this coming Wednesday, and our Year 6 students who will be on Camp at Woodman Point next week. 

Swimming Lessons 

Due to circumstances beyond our control, swimming lessons will be held for various year levels at different times throughout the year. Our first round of swimming lessons starts this coming week for our Year 1, 2 & 4 students. Please find the swimming times below: 

Michelle Christian
Head of Primary

Class in Focus: Pre-Primary Blue

We are over the half-way mark of the term and boy have we been busy down in Pre-Primary Blue!

For the past five weeks we have been learning all about each other and how God has made us all unique. We have collected data about our eye colour, which hand we write with, our height and how our families look compared to others.

We have also been exploring living and non-living things. We made pet rocks, dug for fossils in the dino dig site, conducted an experiment about whether leaves can breathe, and we even erupted a volcano.

We have been building our Mathematics and Literacy skills through the play-based provocations around our room and when we get tired, we chill out under the tree.

This week we begin to grow grass heads as we learn how to care for living things.

It’s been quite an adventure! I wonder where next term will lead us?

Kym McCarthy 
Pre-Primary Blue Teacher 

Class in Focus: Year Four Blue

We cannot believe that we are already over halfway through Term 1! Time has flown by for us in Year 4 Blue, with lots of fun and exciting things that are happening inside and outside the classroom. We have had the swimming trials and a modified swimming carnival; we are about to begin our swimming lessons in Week 7; and we celebrated de Vialar Day.

In Literacy this term, we have been learning how to write procedure texts, with a focus on writing exciting rhetorical questions and short and sharp steps. We have explored writing many different procedure texts such as “How to make a milo” and “How to make a jam sandwich”, with students putting their “how to make a jam sandwich” procedure to the test.

In Maths this term, we have been learning all about odd and evens numbers, and what makes an odd number odd and an even number even. We have also been learning about place value of up to 5-digit numbers. In geometry, we have been exploring the different types of angles and finding them in the environment around us.

In HASS, we have been exploring the different continents of the world, in particular Europe and Africa. We have begun our research project where students have chosen a country in Europe and in Africa and have begun researching their chosen countries with the final goal of creating a poster showcasing their two chosen countries.

We in Year 4 Blue are looking forward to the rest of Term 1 and then the rest of the year and cannot wait for all the exciting things that are to come.

Edward Ewing
Four Blue Teacher

Da Vinci Decathlon

Congratulations to the Year 6 team who took part in the da Vinci Decathlon for gifted and talented students, held at the University of Western Australia, on Friday 8 March.  

Join the St Joseph's Equestrian Interschools Team!

Are you passionate about horses and riding? Do you dream of competing against other schools in thrilling equestrian events? St Joseph's School invites both Primary and Secondary students to express their interest in joining our Equestrian Interschools Team!

Event Details:

• Date: Wednesday 10th to Saturday 13th April (Easter School Holidays)
• Location: State Equestrian Centre 303 Cathedral Ave Brigadoon
• Events:

• Dressage
• Eventing
• ShowJumping
• Combined training (Dressage & Showjumping/no cross-country)
• ShowHorse (Hacking)

Requirements:

• Students must be a member of EWA (Equestrian Western Australia), either as competitive or participant members.

Most competitive interschool classes require a qualifying event (except prep dressage and showhorse). Participant classes do not need qualifications.

Expression of Interest: Interested Primary students should talk to Ms Thomas in Year 6 Gold or email mikala.thomas@cewa.edu.au for any inquiries and to express their interest.

Congratulations to our ACC Basketball Teams and Tennis Teams, who last week enjoyed some great successes in the sporting arena. This week we have the brains trust out on the da Vinci Decathlon and we wish them all the best representing our school in academia. 

De Vialar Day was fun with a sea of yellow surrounding the school. Secondary had a pleasant walk to Primary and had a lovely assembly together. Secondary students then had the opportunity to have a sausage sizzle, jelly cups, lolly jar guessing, paper aeroplane competition and a fishing pond activity. Thank you to the very hard-working Student Leadership Team who worked hard to have everything ready for lunch time to make sure we all had a good day.

 

I’m afraid I need to have a bit of a grumble as I did to the students at a short assembly this week. When we have our house days, like De Vialar Day last week, our students are given the opportunity to wear clothing that is predominantly the House colour of the day. While most students did do the right thing, we did have a number of students who came to school as though it were a free dress day with no yellow or with only tiny bits of that colour. If your child does not want to wear the house colour of the day, they can come to school in their regular school uniform. For those students who choose to flaunt the rules and come to school in ‘free dress”, we will ring home and ask you to come in to give them a change of clothes. Students are reminded that hair still needs to be tied up with no makeup, and jewellery rules are still in place on House Days.  

Thank you to the P & F Committee for organising a Year 7 Sundowner on Friday, 15 March, from 5:00-7:00pm on the Secondary school grounds. We hope to see a lot of the Year 7 parents coming in to mingle with other families both new to St Joseph’s School and those who have been involved for many years. 

NAPLAN begins next Wednesday, 13 March, for our Year 7 and Year 9 students. We begin with Writing on Wednesday and have a follow-up Writing day on Thursday. Then Reading on Friday, Conventions of Language on Monday 18 March and Numeracy on the Wednesday. We then have a couple of days that can be used as catch-up for those absent for assessments other than Writing.  

We are hoping to have a Secondary Social on Thursday 21 March from 6 – 8:30pm, here on school grounds. If you would be able to come in for an hour or more of supervision, please email me at Sharon.cusack@cewa.edu.au We would really appreciate the extra bodies to ensure our students have a fun and safe evening. 

God bless,

Sharon Cusack
Head of Secondary

Curriculum Matters 

Science in Action 

Our Year 7 students have had an exciting time this term with their introduction to science and laboratories, learning how to correctly light matches and use Bunsen burners. We have started to carry out ‘proper’ science, using their newly developed skills to boil liquids and separate mixtures. 

Our Year 8 students have been busy this term learning all about cells. The students have been looking at the similarities and differences between Plant and Animal cells. The students discovered that cells are made up of smaller internal structures called organelles and each of these have functions that are essential to life. The first assessment was to make a 3-D model of a cell, either a Plant or Animal cell, and to label the different organelles. All the students did a fantastic job with their projects and their efforts have been outstanding. The next half of the term will be studying some of the systems of organs that work together to perform specialised functions. 

Our Year 9 students are currently studying the dynamic Earth. The students have looked at the layers of the Earth, types of rock, plate tectonics and have now moved onto volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Their first assignment is to build an earthquake proof model of a three-storey building, including as many safety features as possible. The first models are in and testing has commenced. Designs range in complexity, but so far they have all done very well. 

In Year 10, the students have been investigating movement, linked with Newton’s laws of Motion. The students conducted some activities using a motion trolley and ticker tape timers to examine objects under acceleration. The students then calculated some key data relating to changing velocity from this information. In addition to looking at various motion equations, the students discussed features on modern vehicles and how engineers use physics principles to create safer cars in the modern age, with more effective seatbelt design and crumple zones.   

In Year 11 Chemistry the class has started the year learning about the structure of, and trends in, the Periodic table, and matter and the separation of substances. 

In Year 11 Physics the students have been examining all things thermal, with a series of activities examining heat exchange, heat capacity and changes in temperature, taking measurements using digital probes and sensors.

In Year 11 Human Biology, the students are working on cells, organs and systems. This term and they have been carrying out several practical activities, and soon they will be conducting some dissections. The group is finding the work to be a different level from previous years, but they all seem to be enjoying themselves. 

In Year 12 Human Biology the students are currently studying control of the body, looking at the endocrine system and nervous system. They have just started looking at homeostasis and how our bodies cope with changing conditions. 

Year 12 Physics have been looking into gravity and motion, which includes areas like orbital bodies, objects progressing through circular motion and projectile motion, which provided an insight into trajectories of objects fired from catapults and trebuchets. If you ever need to siege a medieval castle, Year 12 Physics are your go-to group! 

Mark Bundock, Steve Rigney, Amy Bennett, Jada Yengkopiong, Cam Greenley, Andrew Ellis, Gerhard Vogel, Nita Budas and Mark Gargano 
Science Learning Area Staff 

Da Vinci Decathlon

This week, we had students compete in the annual da Vinci Decathlon, the interschool academic challenge for gifted and talented students held at the University of Western Australia. Our Year 9 & 10 team competed on Wednesday and the Year 8 team competed on Thursday. The official results will not be released for a few weeks, but the students did enjoy the experience and completed all 10 activities to the best of their ability. We look forward to receiving the final sheets with results in the near future. 

Next Tuesday, a group of four Year 8 students will be competing in the Synergy Solar Car Challenge. The students have been building numerous solar cars and conducting tests in preparation for this event. We wish our team the best for the competition day. 

 

Mark Gargano and Mike Hillyer
Secondary da Vinci Club staff 

From the VET Office 

Congratulations to Summer Skelcher, who completed her Certificate II in Animal Studies at the end of 2023. Summer has now enrolled in a Certificate III in Animal Studies for 2024.

Congratulations to Jewel Rubin, who fast tracked her 2 year Certificate IV Preparation for Health and Nursing in 2023.  

Congratulations to Maggie Halford for completing 55hrs of Workplace Learning at Northam Regional Hospital. Maggie enjoyed working in the Radiology Department, an area of health care she hopes to pursue in the future.

Congratulations to Dylan Reilly for completing 55hrs of Workplace Learning at Aurizon Northam. Dylan has already registered for Workplace Learning this term and plans on gaining experience with steel fabrication on his next placement.

Congratulations to Hannah Macareag for completing 55hrs of Workplace Learning in the Bakery Department at Coles supermarket. Hannah hopes to secure an apprenticeship or traineeship and continue her career pathway within this industry.

ASDAN

Following the repurposing of Room 4 at the Secondary campus into three new learning areas, the kitchen is now fully functional with power and hot/cold running water to service the new washing machine. Laundry skills are a multistep life skill that require many underlying areas of development. Laundry skills can help promote self-sufficiency and independence, which can lead to increased confidence and improved quality of life once students are living away from home. Mrs Sally Clements guided students to purchase laundry liquid, with attention to economy, and then supported students to follow the instruction manual to program the first wash. 

Caroline Marriott
VET Coordinator

Join the St Joseph's Equestrian Interschools Team!

Are you passionate about horses and riding? Do you dream of competing against other schools in thrilling equestrian events? St Joseph's School invites both Primary and Secondary students to express their interest in joining our Equestrian Interschools Team!

Event Details:

• Date: Wednesday 10th to Saturday 13th April (Easter School Holidays)
• Location: State Equestrian Centre 303 Cathedral Ave Brigadoon
• Events:
  • Dressage
  • Eventing
  • ShowJumping
  • Combined training (Dressage & Showjumping/no cross-country)
  • ShowHorse (Hacking)

Requirements:

• Students must be a member of EWA (Equestrian Western Australia), either as competitive or participant members.

Most competitive interschool classes require a qualifying event (except prep dressage and showhorse). Participant classes do not need qualifications.

Expression of Interest: Interested Secondary students should reach out to Ms Natalie Williamson-Holley at natalie.williamson-h@cewa.edu.au for any inquiries and to express their interest.

School Calendar

The school calender is accessed via the School website or the Schoolzine app. Please ensure that you keep refering to this calendar throughout the year.

You are encouraged to check the calendar for upcoming events that may involve your family.

Andrea Woodgate
Principal

Parent Participation Scheme

Did you know that the School offers a reduction in your school fees?

Families have the ability to work off a portion of their fees through voluntary help at the School. This is a great way to get involved and set a wonderful example of vollunteering for your child.

Whilst assisting in the Canteen is an obvious way to help, other activities encouraged include:

• Classroom assistance
• Reading assistance
• Officiating at swimming & athletics carnivals
• Gardening
• Running or assisting with fundraising activities
• Covering books for the Library

Forms and pamphlets are available from the Primary Office or to download from the website at https://sjsnortham.schoolzineplus.com/_file/media/86/parent_participation_card.pdf

Once completed, please hand in to the Business Manager, Ms Quinn, by the end of Term 3 - the forms can be dropped into either the Primary or Secondary Admin Office and Ms Quinn will arrange for the deduction of the Levy from your School Fees Account.

Sharon Quinn
Business Manager

Term Time Opening Times:           Mondays - 3.15pm to 4.45pm       
                                                             Thursdays - 2.45pm to 4.15pm    

During Term 1, students are required to wear their summer uniform.

Please also keep in mind when ordering, that your items will go home Tuesday and Friday of each week, as Monday and Thursday are the days the Shop is open.  When placing an order via the Online Shop, it will appear on a report the following day.  For example; if you place your order on Monday, the report issues on Tuesday which means it will not be organised until Thursday, and will go home on Friday.

Disclaimer:

All returns and or exchanges of uniforms to be made within the school term (3 months) of initial purchase.

Michelle James 
Primary - 9621 3524

The Primary Canteen is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. 

The Secondary Canteen is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Recess or snack items ordered online are available for students to collect from the Canteen at their Recess break. Milo pops and icypoles can be collected from the Canteen following the second lunch bell.

Canteen Support - Volunteers Required

Due to high demand on our quality food and service we need helpers to ensure that our kids get their lunches on time. In order to function to our highest potential, we ideally need 2 or more volunteers a day. Volunteering is a great way to teach your kids about giving, modelling them for the future. Also, every shift you do at our school helps you towards qualifying for a Parent Participation discount on your annual fees.  

We would love to welcome you into our fun and busy environment and see the smiles on your children’s faces when they see you in their school. If you are able help, please send back your Canteen Assistance form or, for Primary, sign up online: the new Term 1 Volunteer Sign-up Page is now up and running - click here.  

I look forward to working with you. If you have any queries, you are always welcome to contact the Canteen on the number below.

Angela Sandrini (Primary)    Desrae Smith (Secondary)
9621 3525                                   9621 8104

I hope everyone had a great long weekend and had some down time! Below are some of the events we have for Term One and Term Two.

Easter Raffle
Our annual Easter Raffle is here! We are kindly asking for donations from parents and caregivers for our raffle. This can be anything Easter; chocolate, books, decorations etc. Please hand all donations in at either the Primary or Secondary admin office.

Raffle tickets will go on sale from Monday 18 March. These can be purchased before school or at lunch. Tickets are 50c each or 3 for $1.

Movie Night
This year we will be holding a family movie night. This will be held on Saturday 4 May. More details on this event will be released closer to the date.

Bingo Night
Our first big fundraiser for the year! This year we will be raising funds to go toward the senior school Health program. In particular to provide extra resources for mental health. Bingo night will be an adults only event. It will be held on Friday 7 June. Further details are to come.

If you wish to help out in any of the above mentioned events, please do not hesitate to contact myself or the school.

Our next meeting will be held on Monday 18th March at 6.00pm in the PAC at the Primary campus.  

If you require more information or would like to discuss any school or P&F issue, you can contact me at anytime 0424 288 354. No question is too silly, I am here to help in any way. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out!  

Class/Library Book Covering

Ever wanted to help from the comfort of your home?

We have boxes of books processed and ready to be covered, all supplies (tape and plastic) provided. Pick-up is from our Primary Campus Library.

We welcome anyone, and grandparents and friends can cover on your behalf.  All support and help is appreciated.  

Please remember to complete your parent participation form.

Email Kylie Dymnicki, Education and Library Assistant: 8605svc_library@cewa.edu.au

Follow us on Facebook

To stay up to date with the P&F please follow our Facebook page for more updates. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1764507137145087

Casey Pearse
P&F Chair

Parish Priest - Fr Stephen Jean Paul Victor

Assistant Priest - Fr Rubenson Cardona

Mass Times ~ Saturday Vigil @ 5.30pm

                      ~ Sunday Mass @ 8.00am  

Presbytery Phone: 08 9622 5411
Email: northam@perthcatholic.org.au *
Website: www.northamchurch.com

Parish News ~ Children's Liturgy 
Children’s Liturgy sessions are held during the 8.00am Sunday Mass.

*Please note the new email address.

Holy Week & Easter Mass Times 2024