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Dear Families and Friends of St Joseph’s Parish School.
How wonderful was it last week to be able to gather together again as a community at our Start of Year Mass! The children showed such wonderful listening behaviours, which is such a credit to them and their teachers when it was the first time meeting together as a whole school all year! Well done to our Year 6 leaders who ran assembly for us last week too! It's always a bit scary speaking in front of so many students and parents for the first time they all did such a wonderful job!
It was great to see the school filled with Orange today as we begin Harmony Week. Well done to Year 4 who led us in today’s Liturgy. Thank you for reminding us all of the importance of respecting and honouring each person we meet just as Jesus did.
During Harmony Week we will have a number of visitors who will be coming into share their cultural traditions with us. The Polynesian Dance group who will be putting on a demonstration for us at 2pm on Monday and then the Western Cape Indigenous Dance group will be sharing traditional dancing with us at 2pm on Thursday. We are looking forward to joining in with both groups and have lots of fun while we learn about other cultures.
Parent/Teacher Conferences Parent Teacher Conferences will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:30pm to 6:30pm each day. Please book in a time to meet with your child’s teacher via PTO booking system. It is recommended that all parents attend a parent/teacher conference as they are an important part of the St Joseph’s Reporting process.
Covid 19 Update: We continue to practise ‘good hygiene’ and social distancing. We currently have a number of children with the virus and a number of others in isolation. Please keep children at home if they have symptoms. Thank you to everyone for continuing to keep our school children and staff safe as best we can during these times.
Travel Day A reminder that school resumes in Term 2 on Wednesday 20th April as Monday 18th is a public holiday and Tuesday 19th is a designated Staff Travel Day.
NAPLAN practice tests Next week our students in Years 3 and 5 will be participating in some NAPLAN practice tests. These practice tests are not about collecting data of students learning, but rather the opportunity for us to see how well our computer system copes under testing situations. In addition, students will gain some familiarity in the style of questions being asked through NAPLAN. If you have any questions around this please speak with your child’s classroom teacher.
Flood Appeal To support the Vinnies Qld Flood Appeal, this Friday we are holding a free dress day for Harmony Day and then on Friday night from 6:30pm we will hold a Disco where we are asking for a gold coin donation. We are also having an Easter Raffle to raise funds for the appeal.
We have already received a fantastic response to request for donations to our raffle hampers. We have also had a donation of a quality Shimano fishing rod and reel valued at $250. Thanks to our school community for your generosity.
If you have not already, we would be most grateful if you could donate an Easter egg for the occasion. Raffle tickets will be available from Friday night and students will be selling tickets in the mornings before school starts from next Monday. $2 each ticket or 3 for $5.
Many of us know people living in SE QLD and of the devastation that these floods have caused. It is heartbreaking what these communities have had to endure We thank everyone for giving so generously and know that our contribution will be very much appreciated.
Swimming A reminder that school swimming lessons for Grades P-6 commence next Monday. An online consent form was sent home some weeks ago. It is most important that this consent form is completed for every child. No consent form, no swim. These lessons are conducted over the next 2 weeks at the local Pool. Classes are bused to and from the pool for their lessons. Please ensure your child has everything they need for swimming packed each day in a separate bag and clearly name all belongings. For more information, please read the PE section of the newsletter.
School Fees A thank you to all families who have already paid this term’s school fees or who have set up a regular payment scheme. Your prompt payment allows the school to meet its financial commitments, so I really do appreciate your support. It would be great to have all families up to date with school fee payments or committed to direct debits etc., by the end of the term. We would never deny a catholic education to a child due to financial hardship. If you have any concerns with fees please come and talk to me about how we can support you, my door is always open.
Lost Property We have a large number of items in our lost property basket, mostly jackets. The Lost Property Basket is put out each day infront of the Library door, so check there first if you are missing something. Please remember to mark all items of clothing and belongings.
P&F AGM Meeting Our P&F is an important part of our school community. We are still currently seeking P&F members to fill our executive positions, if you are interested, please contact come along to our next meeting on Tuesday 29th March at 7pm in school Library. This meeting will be held in the flexible learning space with an option to dial in via zoom. Zoom link will be sent on the day to all families. All parents and staff are invited to join us for this P&F meeting - it is a great way to be involved in your child's schooling.
Hockey We are very excited to have hockey starting at St Joseph’s. Shaniah Kennell who is working with Douglas Hockey Association, will be working with each class throughout the year during break times as well as offering after school coaching.
Next week Shaniah will be introducing hockey to the students during both first and second break times on both Tuesday and Thursday. In week 10, Shaniah will be running a whole day program for us where each class will get a taste of what is to come next term. More details about our new Hockey program will be shared in an email to all families before the end of term.
Prep Enrolments for 2023 and beyond
Children born between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018 are eligible to attend Prep in 2023. We begin looking ahead to Prep enrolments for the 2023 school year and beyond. We are starting interviews for 2023 Prep placements next week. If you haven’t already, we encourage all of our existing families with children eligible for Prep next year to complete and submit an application form as soon as possible so that you can be part of the interview process.
URGENT! Crossing Supervisor needed.
Interested in becoming a Crossing Supervisor? Although I enjoy greeting families and students who use the crossing each day, this is not a feasible long-term solution. I encourage all families to either spread the word that we are looking for a crossing supervisor or consider taking on the role full time/part time. Please see the advertisement attached.
Establishment of the School Board
St Joseph’s Parish School is establishing our first School Board. The school board provides the opportunity for members of the school, parish and diocesan communities to support the mission of Catholic education in the school by supporting the Principal.
On Monday 9th May at 7pm, we will be holding an information evening for all in the school community who are interested in becoming a school board member. As such, we are calling on nominations to fill these positions. Interested members of our community need to write a short ‘expression of interest’ letter that outlines the nominee’s skill set and what they might bring to this group. These nominations will then be presented to the Board Establishment Committee which will be made up of the Principal, Parish Priest, Director of School Effectiveness and CES Parent Engagement consultant.
The purpose of the School Board is to support the Principal to effectively run the school. In addition to this the Board is responsible for policy review and have input into Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Master Planning. This team is essential in bringing different perspectives of our community together as we discuss and make decisions. They are also important links to the rest of our school community to ensure they are listening to feedback and sharing this information when we meet.
Religious Life of the School
Harmony Prayer
Good and gracious God,
who loves and delights in all people,
we stand in awe before you,
knowing that the spark of life within each person
is the spark of your divine life.
Differences among cultures and races are
multicolored manifestations of your light.
May our hearts and minds be open to celebrate
similarities and differences among our sisters and brothers.
Please send your healing and reconciling Spirit in order to bind
the wounds created by racism and racial hatred,
and to promote understanding, justice, and love.
We place our hopes for racial harmony in our committed action
and in your living presence in our neighbor.
May all peoples live in peace!
Amen.
We continue to be very mindful of the many people still significantly impacted by the rain event and flooding and we continue to hold them in our thoughts and prayers.
The easing of restrictions regarding social gatherings in schools has allowed us to invite families in to share with us a number of events leading up to Easter.
Palm Sunday Liturgy Next week we have no assembly at in the morning due to swimming lessons but please come and join us next Friday at 2pm, as Year 1 A and B lead us in a Palm Sunday Liturgy.
Last Supper Wednesday 30th we will hold a Holy Thursday Liturgy followed by reinactment of the last supper in classrooms.
Stations of the Cross On Friday 1st April, Year 4, 5, 6 will present the Stations of the Cross to the school. Our newly formed choir will also perform. Following the Liturgy winners of the swimming carnival will be announced and the Eater Raffles drawn. Hoping to see as many people as possible at this event.
Mother’s Day Liturgy In preparation for next term we are calling for photos of Mothers and their Children for our Mother’s Day Mass (Wednesday 4th May) next term – Take One photo per family over the Easter Holidays ready for next term! Email to principal.weipa@cns.catholic.edu.au
Please ensure photos are at school no later than Friday 29th April.
Calendar of Events Now that we can safely confirm events going ahead, we are putting the final touches to our new calendar of events for 2022 and will have it out to all families within the next week. Lots of great opportunities to engage with your child’s learning throughout the year.
Website Our website has been under development this term. At the beginning of next term our developers will visit the school for a photo shoot before it launches.
Wishing you all a great rest of the weekend and God Bless.
In English we have been very busy learning about sound and letter relationships and how to blend and segment sounds. We have also been reading stories, developing our vocabulary and talking about what we liked (or disliked) about the story. Students have also engaged in discussions about feelings using the characters as inspiration.
In Maths we are continuing to build our number skills. Counting and sequencing numbers, writing numerals and developing an understanding of quantity have been our focus this term.
In Science we have been learning about the needs of living things. We found out that when animals live free in the bush, the desert, the rainforest or the sea they have to provide for their own needs. Sometimes this is not easy. We investigated the true story of ‘fire wombat’, who dug deep burrows which provided escape and survival for all sorts of other animals during the 2020 bushfire crisis in southern parts of Australia. This inspired us to find out more about wombats, and we have created a collage habitat which includes all the things that wombats would need to survive, including water, food and shelter!
The Prep students have shown how well they have settled into school by being respectful and responsible. They were recently awarded the Golden Cockatoo – given to the class who respectfully and responsibly organise themselves after play time. Fantastic effort Prep!
Hello Families and Friends,
Hasn’t this term gone quickly! We have many events coming up to close out the term including, swimming, open classrooms, P&F Welcome BBQ & Disco, Harmony Week and our Year One Palm Sunday Liturgy. Please remember to pack a towel a goggles for your child throughout the swimming block.
This week the students have been learning to use adjectives in their writing about ‘The Pencil’. They have shown their creativity and describe a picture that their pencil has drawn. Wait until you see the finished product! We have some very imaginative students in 1A!
In History, students have been constructing personal timelines of the key dates in their life. They have been learning to place these dates in chronological order. To finalise this unit, the students will present their timelines to the class.
In Technologies the students have been examining different types of arks and the materials they could be made of to ensure effective shelter for all on board. This week, the students will begin to design their own ark with the ultimate goal to be the creation of their ark. We look forward to showing you photos of our progress over the coming weeks.
Miss Rowe & Mrs Tapper
Can you believe there is only 2 weeks left of this term?!
What a busy week we have had in 1B. We have been very engaged and excited about our writing this week being inspired by our story of the week, ‘The Pencil’. We were given the task of writing about what our very own pencil would draw if it could draw absolutely anything. We sure let our imaginations run wild and we can’t wait for you to see what we came up with.
During Maths, we’ve been busy exploring Australian money along with using partitioning tens and ones to help us with solving addition and subtraction. We have been talking about the importance of building our problem-solving toolbox and we are doing a fantastic job.
We are very much look forward to the exciting, upcoming last two weeks ahead with our Welcome BBQ and Disco, swimming lessons, Harmony Week and our Year One Palm Sunday Liturgy.
Many thanks,
Mrs Backhouse.
Recently Year 2 have designed and have been creating a new boat romp for Rocky Point. They have gathered a large amount of recycled materials and are working in groups to construct their designs.
We have a lot of creative ideas and are so excited to see the finished result.
We have started our final project for our History unit on The importance of Place. We started our first step by researching all about Uluru on our Ipads.
In our Year Two class we have been lucky enough to hold a Kahoot on Friday at second break. Last week the Kahoot was about Encanto the movie. We will be doing this every Friday second lunch with the help of our Service club leaders.
Celebration Days in Year 3… In the dark???
Year 3 has been learning about different celebration days, the symbols used for the days and why those symbols are used. On Monday the power went out and the legends in year 3 still completed their assessment to a high standard. Students need to independently identify the days they have studied, the symbol that represents the day and why the symbols is used. Some students drew on the inspiration of the days that have studied in class while some students explain celebrations that their family celebrate.
Year 4 have been working on their decision making and group work skills over the last two weeks, and using their time wisely to enjoy the great range of activities St Joey’s has on offer!
As well as our First Fleet study, which is on our Facebook page, students have been investigating soil, weathering, erosion, and how natural disasters can affect the way our Earth is shaped.
As we move into the end of the term, there are a lot of events and jobs to tick off! Swimming for Year 4 will be at 9am. I ask that you children wear their swimmers to school, as we will be getting on the bus strait away. Year 4 have been asked to actively participate in the 14 Stations of the Cross on the last day of school. Each Year 4 member has a prayer to read, and I ask that they practise this at home so they feel prepared.
Gentle Reminders:
- Homework is given out Monday, and returned Friday
- Library is Friday
- HPE is Friday
- Art is Thursday
- Swimming days: Monday 21st, Tuesday 22nd, Wednesday 23rd, Friday 25th Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th
In the Hub we have been busy showing our leadership skills by running our first face to face assembly for the year, assisting with the St Joey’s Service Club and the school disco. Our Seniors have come up with some creative ways to entertain the school community during the disco. Games, dancing, song guess and competitions. It was great to see such fun in a safe and responsible manner. Well done Seniors. The maturity shown during assembly by all the seniors is great to see as they often set an example for the rest of the student body.
Our Project Based Learning unit for this term is coming to end but before that, they are going to be dealing with their biggest task yet. We are creating a dream we have for the ocean and then will bring this to life through a piece of art. Students have big hopes and dreams and will be asking for donations of plastic waste for our art project. We can’t wait to complete our art and host an event where we invite our community to view.
Students showed off their abilities to measure accurate lengths and perimeters for Math. They did well with shapes that were not a common shape to measure. None the less, they did a fantastic job and showed persistence throughout the tasks. Multiplication is also the focus. We are learning to multiply using a variety of written strategies. We have focused on split strategy and traditional strategy but will work on box and lattice strategies next week. This gives us the opportunity to multiply larger numbers.
This past week or so we have investigated how we find the main idea of a story or paragraph. We have learnt that we can find the main idea in the first or last sentence of a paragraph or it is what the most important idea of the entire paragraph is. Students have proven they have great detective skills and are becoming more confident in answering these types of questions.
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome to Week 8. It is hard to believer we only have 2 weeks to go, times flies when you having fun learning and bringing Faith to life.
Last week the St. Joey's Service Club began. Year 5 and 6 students nominated to be part of the club and support Teachers running an extra Lunch time activity.
We began with Painting with Mrs. Neil on Wednesday and a Kahoot with Ms. McLeish on Friday. This week we had Minute to Win it with Ms Edmonds on Wednesday and another exciting Kahoot with Ms. McLeish on Friday.
Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs)
Over the past few weeks the teachers have been in the process of writing Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs). 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. The teachers met with Parents of PLP students in Week 8 of this Term.
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.
Dear Parents
It is my pleasure to offer a crafted program for parents called Bringing Up Great Kids in Term 2.
Bringing Up Great Kids is a reflective, mindful, respectful program that provides parents with an opportunity to reflect on their parenting journey.
Bringing Up Great Kids provides a friendly and safe environment for parents to learn from each other as they continue their parenting journey.
As a school community we would like to offer this group program. We envisage this program would be multi-modal including face to face and on-line (zoom) sessions.
The duration of the program is for 6 weeks. Each lesson will take 90 minutes.
The program content is detailed below.
Program Content
The Bringing Up Great Kids’ program supports parents and carers to:
- learn more about the origins of their own parenting style and how it can be more effective;
- identify the important messages they want to convey to their children and how to achieve this.
- learn more about brain development in children and its influence on their thoughts, feelings and behaviours;
- understand the meaning behind children’s behaviours and how to respond to children’s underlying feelings and needs.
- explore new ways of communicating with children;
- discover ways for parents to take care of themselves and to find support when they need it.
If you are interested to participate in the Bringing Up Great Kids Program in Term 2 or have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me tgraingerd@cns.catholic.edu.au .
I look forward to connecting with you.
Warm regards,
Tosca Grainger – Dee.