Altar Servers
Saturday 22nd February - Serah Staju, David Kilgour and Isaiah Castro
Sunday 23rd February - Lisiate Hausia
Birthday Greetings to
Celina Mascarenhas, Nilah Clark, Paige Strachan, Jack Phillips, Jack O'Neill, William Allardice, Reynaldo Marasigan and Manaia Darling.
Ash Wednesday - Wednesday 26th February
The senior children in years 4-8 will go to Ash Wednesday Mass next Wednesday in the church at 9.15 am and the junior school children will go to a Liturgy in the hall at 10.00 am. All parents are welcome to attend either Mass.
There will be NO school/parish Mass on Thursday 27th February as we are attending Mass on Wednesday.
Cricket Draw - Friday 21st February
Intermediate A - St Joseph's Volts v Valley Blue at SKC 2
Primary - St Joseph's Sparks v Valley at SKC Artificial 2
Goal Setting Meetings
A reminder that the next Goal Setting meetings is on Wednesday 26th February. If you have not already made an appointment, please go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and the code is vtk99.
Home and School
There is a Home and School meeting tonight at 7.00 pm at the Northstar. All welcome.
Information Forms
There are a few junior school families who have not returned their forms that were mailed out at the start of the year. These need to be completed, signed and returned to the office asap because your child will not be able to walk to the pool without these forms being signed. They include the EOTC form, generic permission, medical and bus forms.
Lost Property
We are only 3 weeks into the new school year and already there is a pile of lost clothing. Please have a look to see if any of it belongs to your child.
Rippa Rugby Tournament
There is trials for children in years 5 and 6 who want to be in the Year 6 Rippa Rugby team being held at lunchtime tomorrow for the North Otago Primary Schools Rippa Rugby tournament on Friday 20th March. This year we will not be sending any Yr 7 & 8 children as they have technology on that day. Teams for years 4/5 and 5/6 will be notified after the trials. Children in year 4 do not need to trial. (We have to send the strongest Year 6 team to this tournament because the winning team has an all expenses paid trip to Wellington later this year).
Scholastic Book Club
All book club orders have to be handed into the office by Wednesday 26th February.
Swimming
Junior Swimming
Our junior swimming lessons start on Monday 9th March and there are 6 lessons for children in Yrs 1-3 and at this stage the times are either 1.00 pm, 1.30 pm or 2.00 pm, however this could change to only 2 times as we work out how many swimming groups are required. If your child does swimming lessons at the Waitaki Aquatic Centre we will get your child's current swimming level from them.
The dates are:
Monday 9th March
Wednesday 11th March
Thursday 12th March
Monday 16th March
Tuesday 17th March
Thursday 19th March
We need parent helpers to help with walking to and from the pool on these dates. Once they are sorted into groups, we will confirm what time your child's class will be swimming as they maybe combined with another class. Please let Mrs Brien know if you can help on any of these dates.
Senior Swimming
Lessons
A very big thank to our wonderful parent helpers who helped with walking the children to the pool. A lot of the children showed huge improvement during their lessons and their confidence in the water.
Children who had their lessons in the small pool will unfortunately not be able to take part in the swimming sports on Friday 6th March as we cannot use the small pool on that day. All children who swam in the main pool will be involved in the sports.
SENIOR SWIMMING SPORTS 2020 - Year 4 - 8
Friday 6th March at the Waitaki Aquatic Centre
Dear Parents
- The senior swimming sports are for the Yr 4-8 children who have their lessons in the big pool.
- First race starts at 9.30 am sharp or earlier if ready beforehand and finished by 12.30 pm
- All the children need to be at school by 8.50 am sharp as they are walking down to thepool at that time. The roll will be taken before they leave school.
- Children are not allowed to go straight to the pool
- Children come to school in their PE uniform and change into their house colours at the
- pool (no face paint, glitter or vivids).
- They need to bring plenty of food and water
- Helpers are required for timekeepers who will be shown how to time keep before the
racing starts (seat guaranteed). They need to be at the pool by 9.10 am. Let Mrs Brien know
if you can help.
- We require a parent who has a trailer or big car that can help transport chairs down to thepool on the day.
- The sports will start with demonstration races for the children who can swim half a lengthin freestyle and/or backstroke.
- The non-competitive and competitive events for each stroke and age group will follow.
- All competitive races will be timed as there are no finals
- Children have been entered into races they are confident in with both the swimming instructorand sports coordinator looking at them during their swimming lessons.
- A programme of the events and what races your child will be swimming in will be put on the
noticeboard next week.
- Programmes will be available to buy for a gold coin donation. These will be available from the recorder. Please bring the correct change.
- Children swim in their age group as of 6th March 2020 (date of swimming sports)
- Places will be determined on times recorded
- Starting procedure is whistle for quiet, ‘on your marks’ followed by a bang
- False starts will sound with the clappers and/or whistle blowing
- Everyone is to be quiet when the swimmers are under starter’s orders
- The different events will be put on a whiteboard which will go past
- Each teacher will have a copy of the programme
- Children to listen carefully to marshalling calls
- Time keeper slips (1 for each lane) – children to be given one at marshalling and give tothe time keeper in your lane
- Every competitive swimmer receives 2 house points and non-competitive will receive1 house point.
- Championship swimmers who get placings will earn 3 points for 1st, 2 points for 2ndand 1 point for 3rd.
- Demonstration race swimmers will earn 1 point for their house
- Parents please sit on the opposite side of the pool to the children and the children will berequired to stay in the stands as we won’t have time to find them if they miss their races.
- Please do not approach the recorders for results
- North Otago Swimming Sports- children who have qualified for the North Otago SwimmingSports will be required to perform the stroke correctly. There will be someone checking on
technique at the sports and the children will be disqualified if they are using an incorrect
technique.
- Entry for the North Otago sports is taken on times and not placings.
- The North Otago Swimming sports are on Wednesday 18th March and the fastest swimmerswho qualify from both St Joseph’s and Oamaru North are notified.
- Otago Primary School swimming sports take place on Saturday 4th April at Moana Pool inDunedin. The first race is at 9.00 am and the entry fee is $5.00 per race entered ($6 entry fee
use the swimming times. Entries to Mrs Brien by Thursday 19th March as no late entries will
be accepted.
All queries regarding these sports please contact me. Thanks
Paula Brien, Sports Coordinatorbe accepted.
All queries regarding these sports please contact me. Thanks
Terrific Thursdays
Is open to all 4 years who are enrolled and starting school this year. They come on a Thursday
afternoon from 2.15 to 3.00 pm in the junior school. Terrific Thursdays will start up in term 2 due to
things happening in term 1.
Touch Rugby
All teams and coaches have now been finalised and thank you to our parents who have stepped up to be coaches/managers of these teams. Contact details have been given to coaches and parents so if your child cannot play or is running late to a game, please contact your coach.
The touch draw will be emailed out to you or it can be found by going to the North Otago Junior Touch Rugby Facebook page.
Fees - cost $20.00 which covers terms 1 and 4. These can be paid into our school account with the reference touch rugby and your child's surname or paid into the office.
Please remember our sports code of conduct when playing and supporting the teams. The team lists are:
Vision and Hearing Screenings
The Vision Hearing Technicians will be visiting our school to screen all year 7 students for distance vision. If you do not wish your child to be screened please fill out an opt-out slip which is available from the school office.
Welcome
We warmly welcome Lincoln (Yr 5) & Tadiwanashe (Yr 8) Mandiwona to our school.
Winter Sports Enrolments
An online winter sports enrolment form will be emailed to you either tomorrow or Monday if your child wishes to play a winter sport for St Joseph's. A reminder that winter sports fees have to be paid up front before they can be put into a team so it would be a good chance to set up an automatic payment to pay for the sports before the season starts.
Again we reply on the generosity of parents/older siblings to help coach our teams as we cannot enter teams into the different sports codes without coaches.
Community Notices
- Five Forks School Trail Ride - held on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th March at Balruddery Road at Five Forks from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm. Further information is attached to the email.
- Weston School Out of Hours Music & Art Classes - open to all North Otago children aged 8-12 years hosted by Weston School. Music classes include saxophone, clarinet, guitar, drums, chanter/bagpipes and art classes. Information and enrolments email jkitchin@weston.school.nz or phone the Weston School office on 434 5445.
