St Joseph's Primary School South Grafton eNewsletter

From our Leadership

Welcome

Dear St Joseph’s Families,

During this week of Advent, God of power and mercy open our hearts in welcome.

School Captains 2025

Our school captains for 2025 are Kendall and Phoenix. Congratulations!

It was explained to Year 5 that whilst the speeches are important leadership is best described as small acts towards others every day.

End of Year Celebration

On Thursday, 12 December at 5:30pm on our school grounds we will be celebrating the conclusion of another wonderful school year.

This night will see each stage present an item that will definitely entertain everyone.

Our formal School Awards Ceremony will also be held on this night. Please bring a blanket to sit on and cool drinks/snacks. The ceremony will conclude at approximately 6.30pm.

Talent Quest

Once again on the final day of school we shall hold our annual talent quest! It will begin at 9:30am. No item is too small or grand! There are no winners or losers, just good fun. Parents are welcome to attend, if you are brave!

Returning to School in 2026

The first day of school for years 1 to 6 is Monday, 3 February.

The first day for Kindergarten is Friday, 7 February.

Advent

On Sunday we experienced the start of Advent. The liturgical colour for the season of Advent is purple and we light the first candle on our Advent wreath, which represents hope. This first Sunday of Advent leads us to anticipate the birth of Christ.

The second candle on the Advent wreath is lit on the second Sunday of Advent (8 December) and represents peace and reminds us of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Baptisms

Congratulations to Max and Sophie and Leonardo and Matteo on their recent Baptisms into the Catholic Church. Surrounded by friends, family, and the community, the students took the first step on their faith journey. Please keep these students in your prayers.

St Vincent de Paul- Christmas Appeal

A big thank you to the entire St Joseph’s community for your generosity and support of this year's Vinnies Christmas Appeal.

Our hampers are overflowing and will go to support those in our community who may be doing it a little tough this Christmas.

Principal-Danny Rankin

Assistant Principal-Anne Forwell

Leader of Learning - Brooke Donoghue

Leader of Evangelisation - Matthew Green

Sport Coordinator - Caitlin Crispin

Congratulations to all students who received their ribbons for the 2024 Swimming Carnival.

Our Age Champions were:

Junior Girls Ameila
Junior Boys Henri
11years Girls Kendall
11 years Boys Alex
Senior Girls Isla
Senior Boys Noah

Congratulations to Phillips who were the winning house.

Gumbaynggirr Language - Liz Hegedus

Ginnagay Ngujawiny -Hello You Mob,

We have had an extremely busy 2 weeks. Stage 2 and 3 had the pleasure of McAuley Indigenous dancers visiting our school last week to teach us about Indigenous dancing.

The dancers performed modern dances, they also shared with us information about Indigenous cultural items, such as a coolamon, spears and ochre. The students were then able to perform a part of their dance routine.

We also had the opportunity to watch the St Joey’s Indigenous students also known as ‘The Bush Nunuu’s’ (Kangaroos) perform their Indigenous dances in front of our invited guests. They were joined by myself and Michael Woods (pop) who has given up his own time to come in every Tuesday afternoon to work with myself and the Indigenous students. I thank him very much for his time and patience.

We have been learning about our families in HSIE. This week Phoenix in Stage 3 spoke about her family and her grandmother, Nanny Vie, who lives in Maitland. Phoenix has beautiful memories about her time spent with her Nanny Vie; by the way she spoke about her you can tell she loves and respects her grandmother and parents very much. Phoenix also made Year 5 a special treat, ‘Caramel Slice’ OMG! It was absolutely amazing. This is a recipe from her grandmother that has been passed down to Phoenix’s mum and now to her. Great job Phoenix the whole of Year 5, Mrs Deleiuen and Miss Liz absolutely loved the caramel slice.

In Stage 2, Dakota shared two photos about her grandmother, Nanny Vie. The first photo is of a pearl necklace and a broach. Both items belong to Nanny Vie and have been in the family for many years. In the second photo there is a picture of Nanny Vie at a younger age and what a beauty she was. There is also a crystal lolly jar that is always filled with lollies. Everytime Dakota would visit Nanny Vie the crystal lolly jar is on the table was filled with lollies for everyone to enjoy. Thank you Dakota for sharing those beautiful items and memories of Nanny Vie with us.

Also in Stage 2, Prisca shared with us information about her necklace that has been passed down from her great great grandmother to Prisca’s grandmother and has now been passed down to her. The necklace is of Prisca’s religion Hindu and is about her Hindu God Balaji.

Balaji means it gives you good luck and power. Prisca wears her necklace all the time and will one day pass it down to her grandchildren in the future. Thankyou Prisca for sharing such a beautiful necklace along with the history and meaning.

I have been enjoying learning about everyone’s family history, it has been amazing; from heirlooms, to food and the many different stories. It shows we are just one big family living together on one big planet.

Darrundang Ngiinda - Thankyou

Miss Liz Hegedus

Aboriginal Education Worker

SCHOOL FEES

BPay is the preferred payment method for school fees.

Scheduled payments can be set up using BPay. The Biller Code and your personal reference number can be found on your Fee Statement.

Paying through BPay ensures that your payment goes directly to your account. Any enquireies please contact the School Office.

ABSENCES

Only full day absences are to be entered into Compass, for partial absences - arriving late or leaving early please phone the School Office to notify.

Late arrivals - Parents are reminded to accompany your child to the Office to provide the reason for your child's late arrival.

Change to afternoon travel arrangements may be emailed to the school if before 12.00pm sjpgraf@lism.catholic.edu.au

After 12.00pm please phone the School Office on 6642 2899 with any changes.

Please notify the School Office if your child will be absent for an extended period of time, Principal approval may be required.

13.12.2024_Hot_Dog_Lunch_Order_Day.pdf

Getting to School by Bus in 2025

Will your child be catching the bus to school next year? Applications are now open for a Bus Travel Pass. As it’s a busy time of year, we highly recommend you make this application before the end of the year. It’s also good to check the bus timetable to make your child’s journey to school as easy as possible. Here is how it works:

Bus passes

All students catching the bus in 2025 will need a school travel pass.
Under the School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS), eligible students can apply for free or subsided travel between home and school.
For more information about the School Student Transport Scheme and how to apply for a school travel pass, visit https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/#/ from a desktop computer.

Bus timetablesBusways is the school bus operator that runs your schools’ bus services. To find your child’s school bus timetable visit the Busways website by using the following steps:

Go to busways.com.au/nsw
Click on ‘school services’ in the navigation bar and then proceed to ‘school timetables’
Enter the school’s name in the field that says ‘enter a school name’
Select the school’s name and the timetable should open on your device. If you are unable to find or search for the school’s name, use the drop-down menus on the same web page to find the school.
Once the timetable is opened, you will be able to identify which school bus services are available in your area for your child to use.