Dear St Joseph’s Families,

I hope you are all managing to keep safe and well and are maintaining the good practices that have kept us so healthy. Although we have seen a bit more sickness/ absentees over the last couple of weeks, within both students and staff , it has been interesting to see the reduction in illnesses such as colds, flu and gastro that often go through schools since the increase in hand washing and staying home if you are unwell.

It is also important that we maintain the limits on adults attending schools. I would like to sincerely thank you all for your support in this. It has been disappointing to have to turn parents away when we have worked so hard to encourage you in in the past. I know that many of you are missing seeing your kids to the classroom and having a look at their work. The positive side to this has been seeing the resilience of your kids improve. They are generally very confident in making their way to class and getting themselves set up. Please keep in contact with your child’s teacher if you have any questions. We are happy to make phone call or zoom appointments. With our continued hard work on maintaining these practices, hopefully we will stay COVID-19 safe.

As we move into the second half of the term, the business of school life is being somewhat taken for granted and we need to be mindful of the stresses which young children can experience at this time of year. Kids need to be active, but they also need time to rest. Sleep and nutrition are vital, especially during periods of vigorous routine and or illness. This is the time where children will start to feel the wear and tear of school, homework and extra-curricular activities. Naturally, they will become more emotional over issues that a few weeks ago would be handled with ease. One such issue would be maintaining positive relationships with their school mates.

Conflict with peers is unavoidable and is all part of growing up. From my experience, most disagreements occur at the back end of each school term. Petty, niggling things that others may say or do suddenly become major reasons for arguments and strained friendships. At times like these, teachers and parents play an important role in guiding children through these rough patches. It is also important not to catastrophize issues into something they are not.

An example of this is to avoid labelling minor school or playground incidents as bullying. Bullying should not be confused with not getting along with someone, rejection, random or one-off verbal or physical conflict. While teachers put a lot of effort into supporting students to maintain positive relationships with each other, children will tease and fight at some stage; however, this bickering or ‘friendship fires’ should not be confused with bullying.

Bullying is an insidious behaviour and can take on many forms and guises such as physical and emotional abuse, intimidation, harassment and exclusion. It is not the domain of just one gender. Girls bully just as much as boys, but they do it in less physical ways. Whilst boys use physical intimidation or verbal abuse to wield power, girls are more likely to use exclusion or sarcasm to assert themselves.

Bullying is about lack of power, as one person is powerless to stop the teasing or physical abuse. Bullying is the selective, uninvited, repetitive oppression of one person by another person or group. Sometimes, we don’t find out that someone has been bullied until after a long period of time and this proves very difficult to resolve, as recollections of incidents can become unclear if they occurred some months beforehand. This is why it is important to identify and act on any possible signs of potential bullying at the earliest opportunity. For this to occur, teachers, parents and children need to communicate and co-operate as soon as any signs may appear.

If you suspect your child is being bullied, here are some helpful hints on what to do:

1. Listen to their story. Children experiencing stress in their lives need someone to believe their story. Take them seriously yet take some time to help them differentiate between bullying and teasing. Kids can be nasty to one another at times, yet this does not constitute bullying.
2. Get the facts. Ensure you get a clear picture of what happened, including who was involved, the frequency and what occurs prior to any bullying. Get your child to be as specific as possible. A quiet chat with your child’s teacher the following day will help enormously. The teacher may be unaware of such behaviour occurring and now can start planning a course of action, or he or she can provide further information of what occurred.
3. Deal with their feelings. A child who is being bullied probably feels scared, angry and sad. Reassure them that it is ok to feel this way and by working together things will get better.
4. Help build your child’s support networks. Kids need friends to support them when they experience bullying, so look for practical ways to broaden friendship groups. Avoid withdrawing or utilizing social media to solve the issue at all costs.
5. Build their self-confidence. Provide plenty of encouragement. Let them know through your words and treatment of them that they will get through this tough period.

If you ever have concerns that your child is being bullied it is important to speak with the classroom teacher as soon as possible so that the situation can be investigated  and action taken immediately. When parents and the school can work together to support our children with effective skills/ strategies to deal with friendship difficulties, they will develop resilience and a skill set that will help them overcome tough situations. These strategies will be invaluable as they continue their journey into secondary schooling. 

Road Safety

Queensland’s Road Safety Week will be held from 24 to 28 August 2020, delivered in partnership by the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Police Service.

Road safety is everyone's responsibility and putting road safety first should be the priority every time we're on or near the road. Queensland Road Safety Week is an opportunity to put the spotlight on road safety. This year, the Department of Transport and Main Roads is asking all Queenslanders to sign up for road safety – and put up a sign sharing a road safety message, then take a photo and share it with them. We are encouraging all students to create a road safety message with their family, display it on a sign, and share it online. Each of our classes will also be creating interesting ways to share Road Safety messages with our community.

To get involved:

1. Get creative! Think of a road safety message you'd like to promote. It might be something relevant for your students/business/suburb/community, an issue you're passionate about, or just your way of showing support for road safety (please keep it polite!). If you can't think of anything, the attached list might provide some inspiration.
2. Put your message on a sign. If you have an existing sign or message board, use it! Or you can put your message on whatever is available – paper, cardboard, whiteboard, footpath etc.
3. Take a photo of your sign and share it with us at https://streetsmarts.initiatives.qld.gov.au/qrsw-2020to display on our image gallery on the StreetSmarts website.
4. Like and share our QRSW Facebook posts on your organisation’s own social media platforms and encourage others to get involved: https://www.facebook.com/streetsmartsQLD
5. Visit https://streetsmarts.initiatives.qld.gov.au/tools-and-resources/tagged/road-safety-week#items for some great resources such as email signature blocks, screensavers and supporter posters for QRSW.

Thank you for supporting road safety!

COVID -19 Safety

Thank you parents for being so pro-active in keeping your children at home even if they have just a cold. Please be aware that students who present in the office with sore throats, obvious coughs and symptoms of a head cold, such as a runny nose and congestion, are not permitted to be at school. Under the current COVID protocols, students with these symptoms will have to spend time in the infirmary and wait for an adult to collect them. I completely understand this situation puts pressure on working parents, however, we need to follow the rules. If your child presents with any of these symptoms in the morning, please do not send them to school and contact the office to report this absence. Please call us daily to inform us of absences. Thank you for your assistance, you are truly looking out for all of us.

Strategic Planning / Parent Survey

Last Friday I attended the Term 3 Principal’s Conference in Cairns. This event allows every principal from the Cairns Diocese to work together towards our strategic goals, support initiatives and share success during the learning from home experience. In preparation for the 2020 Annual Report and to inform future strategic planning, we will be surveying the school community this week. We understand people are busy but would appreciate parents and carers taking 5-10 minutes to complete the Parent Survey.

Staffing Update It is with sadness that I announce that Yasmine Kemmerling, our Indigenous Liaison Teacher, has resigned. Other work and personal commitments mean that Yasi will no longer be on staff. Yasi has contributed much to our school including implementing our AUSLAN program this year. We all wish her well, but will miss her experience and knowledge.

God Bless, 

Megan