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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
For much of this week I have been away with the Secondary principals of WA for a few days of retreat and prayer as we focused on our mission as leaders in Catholic schools.
Inter-House Athletics Carnival
Every year I am amazed at the incredible logistics involved in such a large event. In the end we were incredibly lucky with the weather for our take 2 day and, despite a couple of morning showers the day ran smoothly. Enormous thanks to the PE staff – Adrienne Suckling, Cameron Watson and Cameron Greenley for their work to prepare and run the carnival. As a community we are grateful also to the parents who were able to assist on the day in some capacity. To the volunteers who ran the canteen that day, thank you for all that you did to feed us. Congratulations to all the medal winners and to Lenihan House for their overall win. Individual results are further in the newsletter.
Twinderella Production
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Saturday evening session of the latest Link Theatre production, Twinderella, directed by Rhonda Oliver. I laughed and smiled the whole way through and was incredibly impressed by the talent and commitment shown by all involved. I was like a proud mumma bear watching the cast, largely made up of St Joseph’s students, strut their stuff. Congratulations to everyone involved - you were amazing!
2025 Schooling Destinations
Thank you to those families that have already informed the school of their child’s departure from St Joseph's for the 2025 school year; it is allowing us to plan and include others currently on the waitlist.
If you know that your child will not be returning, please inform the school in writing either via an email to admin@sjsnortham.wa.edu.au or by completing the departure form on our school website.
With God’s blessings,
Andrea Woodgate
Principal
Dates for your Diary
Week 7
| Monday 26 August: | Year 2 Liturgy |
| Tuesday 27 August: | Jade Lewis Cyber Safety Parent Session @ 6pm Board Meeting |
| Wednesday 28 August: | Dowerin Field Day |
| Thursday 29 August: | Dowerin Field Day Early Close |
| Friday 30 August: | ACC Athletics Carnival Primary Assembly (PPG) Primary Fathers' Day Stall Yr 9/10 STEM Excursion to Prendiville College Primary Disco |
| Saturday 31 August: | School Community Mass @ 5.30pm |
| Sunday 1 September: | Fathers' Day |
Week 8
| Monday 2 September: | Fathers' Day Breakfast Lower Primary Sports Day OLNA Writing |
| Tuesday 3 September: | Year 10 Camino da Vinci Club Excursion to Curtin Uni |
| Wednesday 4 September: | OLNA Reading Marist Youth Ministry Night at Newman College |
| Thursday 5 September: | Early Close |
| Friday 6 September: | Primary Assembly (5G) |
This week's 'Spirit of Jesus' Award winners are Taj Coombs and Sam Clements.
Staff Service Day
On Monday 19 August, the staff took part in a 'Staff Service Day.' The day revolves around our commitment to the MaJEC programme at school.
Our staff were placed across various agencies and service tasks in Northam, Perth City and Canning Vale. Staff helped the elderly, worked alongside people with mixed abilities, donated blood, cleaned roadsides, tended to gravesites at the cemetery, cooked soup, gardened and sorted charity donations.
Congratulations to all involved and we look forward to continuing to promote MaJEC throughout the rest of the year.
Lloyd Reidy
Religious Education Coordinator
Marist Game Changers Retreat
On Tuesday 13 August, MYM Perth had its final Game Changers Regional Retreat Day for 2024! This included Game Changers students from both Newman College and St Joseph's School Northam.
With the help of some AMAZING Marist Volunteers, the wonderfully curious group of year 7s and 8s faced many challenges throughout the day. From tackling grid challenges to marshmallow mayhem, this was truly a day for the students to remember. With the symbol of the Year 7/8 Le Rosey track being a ‘star’, we provided a space for the students to reflect on the role models, or ‘stars’, in their own lives. Everyone had the chance to spend time reflecting on the qualities that they notice in their personal role models, and how they can grow to reflect these qualities as individuals.
The retreat also allowed many opportunities for students from the two Marist schools to connect with one another and learn to work as a team. In short, we can't wait to see the students from both schools unite again next year!
Isabelle Ochtman
Marist Youth Ministry WA Regional Assistant
Dear Families & Friends,
A quote attributed to writer Louisa May Alcott says, "Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.” As I walked around on Wednesday, meeting all the beloved characters that our students had dressed as, I was instantly transported back to my childhood and the many hours I spent lost in the magical worlds of Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Dr. Seuss, and many more. These timeless stories have a unique way of making us feel at home, no matter where we are or how old we become, and it is wonderful to see our students embracing the joy of reading with such passion. A huge thank you goes out to the P and F, who have worked tirelessly to prepare the Book Fair and to the staff for the Oscar-worthy performance of Shrek.
Our Pre-Primary students had an energetic excursion to Jungle Gym last week as part of their Olympics studies. It was a great way for the children to have fun while developing their fundamental movement skills and from all reports it was a fantastic outing. Talking about Olympics, the Primary staff have been having their own Olympic competition and students may have seen staff competing in blindfolded races, cup stacking competitions or taking silly shots to submit for the photo challenge. At the time of publishing, de Vialar staff were in the lead for total medals, however Leonard have blitzed the field earning 4 gold medals in total!
There are several community events coming up in the next week and I encourage parents of students in Year 5 and Year 6 to attend the Cybersafety workshop on Tuesday to learn more about how to support their children in the digital world. In addition, information regarding the Father’s Day Breakfast was sent out late last week and we look forward to celebrating the significant men in our lives on Monday 2 September.
Spirit of Jesus moments:
- Creativity in abundance during Book Week, with a special shout out to Helena and Ahana in Year 4 for coming as the main character from the book they self-published!
- Observing wonder and awe in Year 1 and Year 2 students who discovered a frog in the Junior Corridor on Tuesday morning.
- Reading wonderful suspense stories in Year 6 as part of their Writing. assessments
Linley Waters
Head of Primary
Class in Focus: Year Three Blue
As part of our program on the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the students in Year 3 learned about the church sanctuary and the various sacred objects and symbols found there. To begin, we walked to Saint Joseph’s Parish Church to explore the real thing. Naturally, it started raining as we set out, but the skies cleared just as we reached the church door.
In the church, the students were curious yet respectful, asking plenty of questions about the different items they saw. The core content focused on the objects in the church sanctuary, such as the Tabernacle, altar and sanctuary lamp. However, the students' curiosity extended to everything from the symbols and inscriptions found around the church to the Christmas tree stored in the choir loft, visible from below. Overall, the visit was an engaging experience.
Over the next two weeks, the students applied what they learned to create dioramas of the sanctuary. They used cutouts of the key objects we are learning about, but added the surroundings to make beautiful sanctuaries decorated with stained glass, banners and artwork.
The experience culminated with the Feast of the Assumption where students once again walked down to the church with the rest of the school to celebrate the Eucharist. The activity deepened the students’ understanding of what was occurring during the celebration and was a great way to wind up our Eucharist unit of work.
Peter Matthys
Year 3 Blue Teacher
Class in Focus: Year Four Blue
Term 3 has flown by for us in Year 4 Blue and we can’t believe it is already week 6. We have been very busy learning about writing recounts, the first fleet and understanding the different types of forces. We were also very busy practicing for our assembly and getting ready for our first Inter-house Athletics Carnival.
In Writing this term, we have been exploring recount writing with a focus on diary writing. We have been learning about using our first-person point of view, describing emotions, topic sentences and complex sentences to create in-depth diary entries.
This term in Mathematics we have been exploring number patterns, continuing to learn our times tables; learning about solving multiplication and division problems with different written strategies; and completing various different chance investigations and using our chance words to describe the probability of events occurring.
In HASS this term we have been exploring and learning about the journey of the First Fleet from England to Australia looking at the reasons for the First Fleet, the conditions faced by the convicts and the experiences of convicts when they first arrived in Australia. We will also be tying our diary writing in with our HASS focus by writing a diary entry from the point of view of a child convict who is travelling to Australia.
In Science this term, we have been learning about Physical Sciences, looking at the different forces that act on objects in our environment.
We can not wait to see what the rest of Term 3 brings as well as the rest of Year 4!
Edward Ewing
Year 4 Blue Teacher
Primary Choir
On Tuesday 20 August, our Choir competed in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival Choral Category.
Our choir opened the session singing 'My City of Ruins' by Bruce Springsteen and 'Bow River' by Cold Chisel with great enthusiasm. The crowd was very appreciative of the performance and our students were thrilled to be able to get the chance to sing in front of a large captive audience and in the presence of 6 other magnificent choirs.
The choir thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon of choral entertainment and have vowed to be back next year, bigger and better.
Lloyd Reidy
Choir Master
I do have to start this newsletter by congratulating all students, staff and parents who worked so hard to make this year’s Interhouse Athletics Carnival a successful one. Congratulations to all of the Phys Ed teachers for getting our students ready for their events. Congratulations to Lenihan House for such a glorious victory. Mr Vernede is still basking in the rays of success.
Well done also to our students who competed at the Meckering Cross Country last Friday. So amazing that St Joseph’s came home with both the primary and the secondary shields. Thank you to Miss Suckling and Mr Watson.
We have had a short but very busy week. On Tuesday, Year 12 students and teachers commemorated the anniversary of Tegan Ward’s passing. We walked to the river, spoke about the joy she brought to our lives and sent lavender and rosemary floating down the river with our prayers and memories of her.
From Wednesday to Friday, some of the Year 11 and 12 students took part in their Outdoor Education Camp. This is an important part of the course and is needed for their end of year assessment. Despite rain, and torrential weather last night, they all came through, albeit a bit soggy, to complete their assessment. They hiked the Bibbulmun Track from Kalamunda to Ball Creek (approx. 23kms), with their tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, Trangia stoves, clothes and food. Once at Ball Creek they hoisted their own tents and cooked their own meals. And they did all of this with very little complaints. Thank you to Mr Sinclair and Mr Greenley for giving up so much of your own time to improve the education of our students.
Next week, we have Jade Lewis coming in for a presentation on Cybersafety. She will deliver these to secondary in the morning and then at primary for the Year 5 & 6 students. She will then do a extra presentation for our St Joseph’s parents to help everyone understand what our students are looking at online and how to protect them. Please join us in the PAC at the Primary Campus on Tuesday 27 August at 6pm.
God Bless
Sharon Cusack
Head of Secondary
Softshell Jackets
We still have a limited number of pre-loved softshell jackets available to purchase for $30 each (cash or card). If you are interested in having a look at what's available, please go to the Secondary Admin Office.
Curriculum News
Food
Year 10 creating healthy lunch boxes...
Year 11 showcasing their baking skills in 'The Big Bake Off'...
News from the VET Office
Congratulations to Cooper Adams on the completion of his work placement at the Northam Post Office. Cooper was immersed in the behind the scenes postal services where he manually sorted mail arriving at the workplace, distributing mail into relevant PO Boxes, performed administrative duties and ensured postcards, letters, and parcels made it to your postbox in the fastest possible time.
Year 9 Career Taster
On Tuesday, a select group of Year 9s attended an Early Childhood Education Career Taster held by Central Regional TAFE. Students were immersed in two early childhood activities: felt storyboarding and the making of cloud dough.
Students learned how storyboards increase children's imaginations, help develop self-expression and communication skills, and provide hands-on learning experiences.
Later, students made quite a mess while making cloud dough and learned how messy play activities benefit young children's development, including sensory stimulation, fine motor skill development, creativity, cognitive growth, language development, emotional regulation, social skills, self-confidence and a deeper connection to the natural world.
Students left with hand-outs about the variety of TAFE courses on offer and how TAFE qualifications can be used as an alternative pathway to university and a Bachelor of Teaching degree.
Caroline Marriott
VET Coordinator
2024 Interhouse Athletics Carnival
On Wednesday 14 August, students and staff descended on Bert Hawke Oval to run the annual Years 4 – 12 Interhouse Athletics Carnival Day. The students participated in good spirits and showcased amazing talents throughout the day despite a few showers and gusty winds.
Congratulations to all the medal winners and all those students who participated to the best of their abilities. There were 21 records broken on the day with Parker Byfield breaking 5 of them: what an awesome effort! After a closely fought battle Lenihan House came out as the overall winners for the day.
Thank you very much to the P&F who ran the canteen, all the parents and family friends who jumped in to help with different jobs and the staff for helping keep the carnival flowing. Without all the additional help these events cannot go ahead. It was an amazing day!
Meckering Cross-Country Carnival
We had a great day out at Meckering on Friday 16 August. The students pushed through sore muscles from the Athletics Carnival and came home with a stack of medals and both the Primary and Secondary shields.
Adrienne Suckling
Head of Health and Physical Education
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
Name: Enrika Grogan
Position: School Advisory Council Treasurer
Year Group of Children at St Joseph's: Year 1, Year 5 and Year 7
Why did you join the SAC: My kids' education is very important to me and I feel being part of the SAC is a valuable way to support both other parents and staff. I work in finance so the treasurer role was a natural interest for me. I also wanted to be informed about the challenges our school faces as a regional school so we can meet them head on to ensure our kids get the best education they can.
Favourite School Event/s: I love the end of year Presentation Night as it is a whole school event. The colour runs have been great fun and also the open nights/days where we can see the kids' classrooms and meet the teaching staff.
Contact Details: ebejgrogan@bigpond.com
Term Time Opening Times: Mondays - 3.15pm to 4.45pm
Thursdays - 2.45pm to 4.15pm
REMINDER: Students are required to wear their winter uniform for Term 2 and 3.
Families wishing to access the Uniform Shop are advised that the online shop is the preferred method of ordering uniforms. Please note we cannot accept email or telephone orders.
If items are required to be tried on, then an appointment should be made through our online booking system. As the Uniform Shop is a small space, we continue to limit numbers, so an appointment is required.
For details of our new online Booking System for Uniform Shop Appointments, please see the attached flyer.
Please keep in mind when ordering that items will be sent home within 2-4 days of ordering.
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.
You are encouraged to please order online. If we experience connectivity issues with the online ordering, please revert to using lunch bags to place orders for that day.
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 Volunteer Sign-up Page is now up and running - click here.
We look forward to working with you. If you have any queries, you are always welcome to contact the Canteen on the numbers below.
Angela Sandrini (Primary) Desrae Smith (Secondary)
9621 3525 9621 8104
I hope you are all enjoying Term 3. Below are further details about P&F events this term.
Interhouse Athletics Carnival
A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped in the canteen on the day. Your help is always much appreciated! A massive thank you to Yvette Boyland for organising the food and other items. It was a very successful day, with everything selling out!
Book Week
Another successful book week! Thank you to Lauren Holten and all of her helpers for a great book fair. The book selection was amazing and the decorations looked fantastic. You all did a great job! Thank you to all the volunteers who gave up their time to help in the book fair, set up and pack away!
Primary Disco
Get your dancing shoes ready for the Primary Disco! This year it will be held on Friday 30 August. The running times will be as follows:
Pre-K, Kindy, Pre-Primary: 2.00pm-3.00pm
Years 1-3: 4.00pm-5.00pm
Years 4-6: 5.30pm-6.30pm
Tickets are $5 each and will be available next week. Please note, Pre-K, Kindy and Pre-Primary students will not be required to purchase a ticket. Instead, we are asking for a gold coin donation. Lolly bags will also be available to purchase for $1.
Tickets can be purchased via the following link:
Camino Walks
The two remaining Camino Walks will be held in September. The Year 10 Camino Walk will be on Tuesday 3 September. The Year 11 walk will be held over two days on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 September.
Parent Mental Health Seminar
Save the date for our parent Mental Health seminar; Saturday October 12th. I am delighted to announce we have Claire Eaton coming to talk about tween and teen mental health. Claire has an extensive professional experience in teenage and family mental health. Claire combines her in-depth knowledge, experience and passion to create a wonderful talk on prevention focused emotional and social wellbeing for both parents and teens. We are so excited to present this opportunity for parents to hear from Claire.
After the presentation, we invite parents for a sundowner to talk, discuss and catch up over drinks and nibbles.
Tickets and further information will be provided for closer to the date.
As always we are looking for volunteers to help out with each event. Remember many hands make light work and these events will not be able to happen without our volunteers!
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 9 September at 3:30pm 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 on 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!
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.
Come and Try Karate
Are your children interested in trying Karate? See the flyer below for information regarding a free session at the Northam PCYC. Registration is required.
Better Health Program
The Better Health Online Program is available year-round to support families to lead happy, healthy lives! Watch the full YouTube testimonial here to see what families have to say after taking part.
The Better Health Program focuses on healthy eating, being active, sleeping well, and managing screen time. Families receive free resources and are supported weekly by a dietitian/nutritionist. Forming healthy habits and fostering a healthy family lifestyle can be enjoyable!
- Available online when you are ready to start!
- Learn more at Better Health Program or call 1300 822 953.
- FREE of charge.
VacSwim Enrolments Now Open
For more information, visit education.wa.edu.au/vacswim
School Dental Therapy Centre
Please note that the School Dental Therapy Centre is available to see school-aged children from Pre-Primary to 16 years of age at their Northam Centre, located on the Northam Primary School campus. If any students require Dental Care, please contact us at the following:
Northam Dental Therapy Centre
c/- Northam Primary School (entry via Duke Street)
0458 644 530
NOTICEBOARD