Dear Parents and Guardians,   

Wow - Week 5 already, the term is certainly full steam ahead and there have been may events already Assemblies, CES Visitors, Day for Daniel and many more exciting events to come over the term in cluding Starry Starry Night, Awards Night and Year 6 Graduation.

Visitors

This week we had the wonderful Joe Clark - EALD Consultant for Diversity Multilingual Learners (EAL/D) visiting this week.

Also, this Week, Ms Lillian Miller - Consultant First Nations Education from Cairns Catholic Education was with us. Lillian continued to provide her service to St. Joseph's School throughout the week.

Next week 6 Heather Alison our School Counsellor will be visiting us again in Weipa providing her service to St. Joseph's School from Monday 7^th November – Friday 10^th November 2023.

PREP Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs) 

Mrs Backhouse is in the process of writing Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs) and will be meeting with Parents over the next few weeks. Personalised learning is a process that supports a wide range of students with additional learning and support needs. This includes students who may require support in one or more of the following areas: learning (including high potential learners), behaviour, social/emotional, cultural/language (including international students, boarders and learners of English as an Additional Language or Dialect) and those who have educational support needs arising from disability. Teachers, with the support of the Leader of Diversity, and in consultation with parents, collaboratively decide which adjustments and/or goals are to be targeted and determine appropriate strategies and supports to be implemented. It is the teacher’s responsibility to implement these planned strategies in order to support students to meet their goals. Teachers will direct School Officer support and plan for adjustments on a weekly basis. Teachers communicate weekly with School Officers regarding student progress and make adjustments as needed. Evidence is collected regularly and uploaded to ENGAGE. PLP meetings are set 6 monthly and will determine if current goals have been achieved before setting further goals.  

Social Emotional Learning 

Second Step  

In Term 4 in SEL in the Seconds Steps Program we will be focusing on Emotional Management and Problem Solving for Prep to Year 6. Second Step SEL is research-based, teacher-informed, and classroom-tested to promote the social-emotional development, safety, and well-being of children from Early Learning through Grade 8. Children learn and practice vital skills for listening and paying attention, having empathy, managing emotions, building friendships, and solving problems with others. The 25-minute interactive lessons and discussion-based activities with distinct grade-level experiences.

The lessons focus on Social-Emotional Learning:  

• Mindsets & Goals  
• Recognising Bullying & Harassment  
• Thoughts, Emotions, & Decisions  
• Managing Relationships & Social Conflict  

Positive Behaviour for Learning  

Our school community has identified the following school wide expectations to teach and promote our high standards of responsible behaviour:  

• Be Respectful  
• Be Responsible  
• Be Resilient  
• Be Ready for Learning  

MTSS-E assemblies take place on Mondays at 1.45pm followed by Second Step lessons. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to make contact with myself at a convenient time that suits. My email address is   mturner@cns.catholic.edu.au   

Kind regards,

Melanie Turner.