News from the Principal - Megan Pearce
Newsletter Week 2 Term 2
A school newsletter is now produced every fortnight.
Dear Families of St Joseph’s,
Welcome back to Term 2! We hope you had a great first week back. It really is great seeing the students after the holidays and hearing all about what they did and where they went! We have a fantastic term of learning ahead of us and look forward to working with all of our students and families.
What an action -packed week we had to begin our term! We started the week with our Easter Liturgy then Parent/Teacher Interviews and ended the week with our Cross Country Carnival and ANZAC Day Service. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed in some way to make our first week back such a successful and happy start to the term.
We have a very busy and important term ahead of us filled with some significant events.
This week, we celebrate the Feast of St Joseph the Worker. This is especially important to us as the Catholic Church is celebrating this year as “The Year of St Joseph”. On Wednesday we celebrated with a whole school Liturgy in the morning followed by delicious cupcakes made by Veronica Ah Shay. Throughout the week each class will participate in some fun activities related to St Joseph.
Unfortunately, Fr Dariusz could not be with us this week but on the Monday of week 8 we will be having our ‘Year of St Joseph Mass’. At this Mass we will be inducting our student leaders and giving out the Spirit of St Joseph’s Awards. Invitations will be sent to each family closer to the date.
At Friday’s assembly we will be giving our Weekly St Joseph’s Way Awards and Libby Lange will give out the trophy to the winning team and medallions to the winners of the 3km races. As usual teachers will contact parents of those receiving the awards so that you can attend.
Cross Country
The annual St Joseph's Cross Country was held last Friday and what a day it was. All students put in a mammoth effort showing persistence and drive in all races. It was a close competition with Embley being the overall champions for the day winning with 103 points. Pine came a close second with 95 points followed by Mission who had 76 points. Thank you to staff and parents, your great teamwork and the support you all gave each other made it such a smooth event. A special thank you to Libby Lange who worked hard to ensure the event was a success. St Joseph’s community have always had a proud tradition of getting in an helping out when ever they see a need and I was so pleased to see that tradition continue. The top three runners for each race are listed below.
Mother’s Day
This year we would like to invite our Mum's to come into school and celebrate Mother's Day with us. On Friday 7th May St Joseph’s will be having a Mother's Day Liturgy presented by Year 1 at 8:40am, followed by a special morning tea supplied by the P&F. Then Mums will participate in an Art and Craft morning with your children till 10:30am.
A Parent Slip will soon be sent to you for you to choose which craft session you would like to attend with your child/children. Please note that spots are limited and some activities may fill up, so get in quick.
We will also be running the Mother's Day Stall again this year. Gifts will be $5 each. This year gifts have been sourced from some of our local businesses. If you wish for your child to purchase a gift, please send them to school with money in a clearly named bag on Thursday 6th May. The stall will be running in the afternoon from 11.10am till 1.10pm.
The P&F need volunteers to help with the running of the stall and serving morning tea, so come on Dads and sign up. (please let the office know if you can volunteer)
Thank you to the P&F for their support of this event and thank you to the staff and community members who will help to make it a great celebration. We appreciate your ongoing support.
St Joseph’s School Dance
Another special event we will be having this term is our first St Joseph’s School dance. Dance is part of the Art Curriculum and is taught over one term each year. This year we have decided to celebrate with an end of term dance on Friday 18th June. On the night, each class will perform a dance they have learnt throughout the term. I have heard a rumour that there is also a teacher’s dance. We hope this will be a success and become a St Joseph’s tradition.
ENROL IN PREP TODAY
We are commencing the enrolment process for our 2022 Prep classes this term and will be holding interviews in weeks 8,9 and 10. As existing families with Prep age children receive priority placement, I urge existing family to ensure they have lodged their enrolment online or collect an application package from the office.
I would also ask for your assistance in informing new families who may be considering enrolling a child here at St Joseph’s in any grade to make contact with the school as soon as possible. We also have some small classes throughout the school where additional enrolments could be accepted.
Our goal is to increase our school enrolment. At present we have an enrolment of 140. We need your help to continue to grow our school so that we can continue to upgrade our buildings and resourced. Word of mouth is always the best form of communication and I am always thankful for the positive feedback I hear from new enrolments and I am most appreciative of those of you who spread the “good news” about our great school.
ANZAC Day: Thank you to Yr 2 and Mrs Michelle Gear who prepared and led the school in a thoughtful, reflective ANZAC Day Assembly. Also a special thank you to Major Michael Finch who gave the ANZAC address at our service. It was great to see so many children and families attend the Dawn service. We can be proud of the way our students represented our school with respect and reverence.
Volunteers Induction Volunteers are a very valuable asset to the St Joseph’s community. It is a requirement by Cairns Catholic Education Services (CES) for all volunteers to attend and complete the 'Volunteers Induction Program'. Mrs Michelle, APRE, will guide all our wonderful volunteers through this. We would like to hold our first induction in week 5 so please let us know in the office if you are interested in volunteering.
Attendance Matters
Improved student attendance is an ongoing priority at St Joseph’s. Schools and parents/carers have a shared responsibility to ensure that children attend school regularly.
Research shows that good school attendance impacts upon children’s success in learning; good attendance helps them to fulfil their potential and gives them a chance of a better future.
We want your children to have the same educational opportunities for success as any child in a Cairns school. Every day that your child is absent from school is an opportunity missed.
Weipa Term 1 Cairns Schools Term 1
In 2020, we averaged an attendance level of 72% which equates to approx. 40 of our students having 20 or more days off a week. 20 days adds up to Our goal for 2021 is to improve our attendance level to at least 92%. I encourage all parents to help in achieving this important priority for your children’s success.
As a school, we look at ways to support you to improve your child’s attendance and we have a range of systems in place to recognise and reward good attendance.
Rewards for good attendance:
Class Attendance The class with the highest attendance each fortnight will all receive the honour of looking after our ‘Attendance Fish’ and our new attendance mascot ‘Barry the Barra’.
Individual student attendance If a student has 100% attendance for the fortnight they receive a sticker on their attendance card. Once a student has 4 stickers for the term they are able to attend the Principal’s morning tea at the end of the term.
Each Semester students who have reached the school attendance goal of 92% receive an Attendance Award Certificate. Those students who have achieved 100% attendance for the Semester receive a medallion.
End of the Year Students who have achieved the attendance goal of 92% or more receive a medallion and go into the draw for a prize. Students who achieve 100% attendance for the year receive an Attendance Trophy and also go into the raffle for a prize.
Whole school Attendance Monitoring
We display the whole school attendance rate on our notice board and update it fortnightly.
Mid Term Letter of Attendance
We have found that most student absences at St Joseph’s are due to having a day off here and there. We recognize that it can be difficult to keep a track of how many days your child has been away that is why halfway through each term we send home a letter notifying you of your child’s attendance.
If you are experiencing any difficulties with your child’s attendance or punctuality or would like to discuss this further, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment with myself. Many thanks for your continued support.
God Bless,
Megan.