2023 Newsletter Term 2 Week 2 

Dear families and of friends of St Joseph’s,

What an action packed few weeks we have had to begin our term. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed in some way to make our fist weeks back such a successful and happy start to the term.

ANZAC Day

Thank you to those who were able to join us for our ANZAC liturgy on Monday. It was a special occasion, led beautifully by our Year 3 and 4 students. We were joined by our special guests, Major Theo Hadgis and Corporal Aiden of the Bravo Company 51^st Battalion Far North Qld Regiment. Corporal Adian who encouraged our students to take on the ANZAC spirit in his speech.

Sacrifice, Responsibility, and Mateship are all virtues we can aspire to live out each day. We certainly thank Aiden for sharing inspirational words with us and thank our guests for their service. Thank you to all veterans, men, and women in our community who serve our nation.   

Dawn Service 

Congratulations and thank you to those students who attended the Dawn Service and/or represented St Joseph’s in the ANZAC March. Thank you also to the families who made it possible for their children to be involved and to the staff who came along to march and assist with supervision. The students participated respectfully during both of these events, and certainly gave us cause to be extremely proud.

St Joseph’s Feast Day

Today we celebrated the Feast Day of St Joseph the Worker with a special whole school Mass. Every Year on the Feast of St Joseph we present the Spirit of St Joseph Awards. These Awards symbolise the gospel values which we live out here at St Joseph’s.

We are a young school but over the last 8 years, together, we have built a strong school Identify and Spirit inspired by our Patron Saints, St Joseph and St Mary of the Cross. Both the St Joseph’s Way and our school values are the heart of the Spirit of our school.

The St Joseph’s Way tells us what to do-

• Be respectful
• Be responsible
• Be resilient
• Be ready to learn

And our school values tell us how to live out the St Joseph’s way with Humility, Justice and Compassion.

Our Spirit of St Joseph’s Awards recognise children from each class who consistently demonstrate these qualities. These students have worked together with their peers, as constructive members of their class showing respect for others, generosity and helpfulness towards staff and their classmates. They have made a genuine effort to do their best in all aspects of school.  Congratulations to our 2023, Spirit of St Joseph’s Award recipients!

Mother’s Day Celebrations for 2023

 On Thursday morning the11^th May we will be celebrating how special our Mums are by holding our annual St Joseph’s Mother’s Day Celebration of fun, food and laughter.

 This year's theme is 'Mum, You Are My Sunshine' and we invite everyone to wear a touch of yellow for the special occasion.  We will start with prayer, then heartfelt entertainment from Prep and Year 1. This will be followed by morning tea served while you join in our craft activities and games. Our Senior Hub Waiters will be waiters and they will ensure Mum's are well catered for. Take a photo at our photo booth and maybe win one of the three door prizes. We will also be having some fun party games, so it would be wise to brush up on your music knowledge.

Mums can choose from three fun craft activities:

• Sip and Paint with Mrs Pearce
• Decorate a Mandela decorated Flower Jewellery Dish
• Create a bespoke sunflower Tote Bag

Attendance and selection can be made via parent slip that will be sent out early next week.

Hoping you can come along, join in the fun with your kids and make some special memories.

Staffing Update

Internal Relief Teacher It gives me great pleasure to introduce Julie Done and her family to our St Joseph’s school community. Julie’s family is relocating to Weipa from Cairns and will be working with us from week 6. Mrs Dore is a very experienced teacher and will be our internal relief teacher for the rest of this year. She will cover staff on leave and work as part of our Intervention Team.

Tuckshop Assistant

Currently recruiting but unfortunately there will be no tuckshop next week.  We are hoping to be back up and running the following week, starting Monday 08/05/2023.

Attendance

We would like to remind families of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality. Our current attendance rates have fallen from a 92% in Term 1 to 72.2%. The percentage of absences has been 30.6% due to illness and 46% for personal/family reasons.

Attending school every day and arriving on time is essential for academic success and helps to build good habits for the future.

Over time, absenteeism can become chronic and can result in gaps in knowledge and skills that can be difficult to overcome. The table below shows the cumulative effect of regular missed school days:

In addition to academic achievement, regular school attendance is important for social and emotional development. School provides a structured environment where students can interact with their peers and develop important social skills, such as communication, collaboration and empathy. When children miss school, they may miss out on these opportunities to connect with others and develop these important skills. 

The following may help your family establish expectations for school attendance:

• Have a set time to go to bed
• Have a set time to get out of bed
• Have uniform and school bag ready the night before
• Have a set time for starting and finishing breakfast
• Set a time for daily homework activities
• Speak about school positively
• Be firm, send your child to school every school day (unless unwell)

We have many incentives in place to encourage good attendance. This year we have decided to hold a draw at the end of the year for all students who have reached 90% or above attendance for the year. We will draw the winner who will receive a new bike.