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Dear families and friends of St Joseph’s,
Can you believe we are heading into Week 6! Where has the time gone? Looking back over this time we can be very proud of all that has been achieved right across the school. Well done to our parents and staff who have worked together settling our children into the daily routines of learning across the school.
Lent Begins
Thank you to all our families who supported our Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday celebrations last week. It's really special to be able to begin our Lenten journey together in such a memorable way! Thank you to our wonderful parents and staff helpers for assisting with selling tickets, serving and pancake cooking on Shrove Tuesday. Our value action in focus, “Never see a need without doing something about it" was certainly lived out last week!
School Camp
This week I was privileged of spending some time with the Year 6 students and their teachers at Camp Patterson near Mareeba. It always gives me so much enjoyment to see our Senior Leaders experiencing the joy of going on camp together.
Being away from desks, devices, and the confines of school gates brings with it many opportunities for our students the opportunity to showcase different strengths and present new sides of their personality. Both teachers and students also get to see each other in a new light and build better relationships outside the classroom to bring back into the learning environment.
Principal’s Forum
On Thursday and Friday this week, I have attended the Senior Leadership Conference in Cairns. This was an opportunity for all principals and Senior Leaders across all Cairns Diocese to come together for professional development covering strategic intent and organisational leadership for 2023.
Prep Enrolments for 2024
Enrolment for Prep in 2024 has begun and are coming in fast. Existing St Joseph’s families with Prep age children receive priority placement. I urge you to please enrol your child before the 13th March so that we have a clear indication of class sizes in preparation for 2024.
I also ask for your help to encourage new families you may know to enrol their child here at our amazing school and to contact the school as soon as possible. Many thanks to those of you who spread the “good news” about St Joseph’s. We rely on word of mouth as the best form of communication in our small community and we are always grateful for the positive feedback we hear from new enrolments.
Project Compassion 2023
Our Project Compassion Campaign has officially begun! Over the coming weeks, our Senior Learning Hub will be sharing stories with St Joseph’s School Community about some of the people around the world who are supported by Caritas. The generous donations from our families go a long way in helping people just like the ones we will learn about, so please donate what you can. We are asking all families to send in Easter Eggs and Chocolates to go into our Easter Raffles, which will be drawn at the end of this term.
Parent Engagement
While the P&F has done some amazing work for our community for many years, it is evident by the engagement in recent years that a change of tact is in order. In 2022, we could not form an executive committee which simply meant that the P&F could not function. Fortunately for us, Catholic Schools Parents Queensland has been trialling new ways of working across the state to focus more on parent engagement in education over recent years. I have been working on forming the basis for our new-look parent engagement model, titled Family and Community Engagement. In essence, the focus will be less on meetings, and more on engaging the wider community regarding issues that are mutually important to education and parents. Things like Cybersafety, Parenting Ideas, Study Skills and Student Wellbeing.
Harmony Week
This year, St Joseph's will celebrate Harmony Week in Week 9! The theme for Harmony Week in 2023 is everyone belongs. Our senior students and staff have planned some really exciting things for Harmony Week. Further details will be shared about this closer to the end of the term. I have shared a URL to a song that will feature heavily in our Harmony Week celebrations this year. Happy singing! https://youtu.be/nJ1QEE_RXP8
Safety Procedures
Each year we hold practice drills for both Evacuation and Lockdown procedures in both semesters. Next week we will be practising these drills with our students to be prepared for an emergency situation. Teachers will talk through the procedure prior to the practice drill with the students. The staff and students will then follow the procedure to become familiar with the process that ensures the safety of all in the event of an actual emergency.
Student Learning Meetings
In week 9, on Monday 20th March and Tuesday 21st March, from 3:15 till 7:30pm Student Learning Meetings (originally Parent-Teacher interviews) will take place. These interview sessions are of 15 minutes duration. As no formal written report will be issued until mid-way into the school year, Student Learning Meetings are a chance for parents and teachers to catch-up and for parents to receive valuable feedback on their child/ren’s general progress and performance in school so far. Should the day and time not suit, then do not hesitate to organise a more convenient time with individual teachers.
Parents are asked to access our Parent Teacher On-Line (PTO) via our website. This system allows you to book the interview time that suit you best. Further details of how to access will be sent out to you from our Leader of Teaching and Learning, Amanda O’Brien.
International Women's Day - Wednesday 8th March
International Women’s Day (IWD) provides us with an opportunity to educate and inspire students about gender equality. It is important to this cause that we celebrate the achievements of women and challenge gender stereotypes and bias. Here at St Joseph’s, we will be sharing these messages in the classroom and the playground, to supplement the conversations that families have over the dinner table. We asked our students to help ‘Embrace Equity’ (this year’s IWD theme). We have learnt that collective activism is what drives change. This means creating inclusion and success for all. Equality is the goal, and equity is the means to get there.
Prayer
Loving God, who led Jesus into the desert to fast and pray, lead us into deserts where we too can fast and pray; reflect and give generously. Give us the courage to scrutinise our hearts with honesty; give us strength to deal with what we find; give us love to forgive ourselves and each other, so that, in peace and joy, we may celebrate at Easter the death and resurrection of Jesus. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Call to Action This Lent
As a family, take time to think about your idea of God’s love for you and your children.
Explore the theme for Project Compassion ‘For All Future Generations.’ and share stories from the Caritas Australia website.
Discuss as a family what you may be able to do or give to show God’s love to others in your community during Lent.
Project Compassion
Last week Year 6 launched Project Compassion, an initiative led by Caritas Australia. You will see the little boxes popping up everywhere at this time of year as donations are sought for the work of Caritas Australia. Their ‘Project Compassion’ Campaign is run during Lent every year and the students are invited to donate money to show their support for those in need in Zimbabwe, Nepal, Vietnam and Australia. The Year 6 students shared Priscilla’s story and how through joining Caritas Australia’s partner in Zimbabwe, was able to learn conservation farming techniques that help increase their harvests. Priscilla now trains and supports others too and used the money from her bumper harvest to start poultry farming which now helps her pay for education and food. This is just one success story which is a result of the generous donations.
Some classes will also be leading their own initiatives this Lent and as a school we will be holding an Easter Raffle. Families are asked to bring in a donation (eggs and easter crafts) to contribute to the raffle. All proceeds will go to Project Compassion.
Sacramental Program 2023
The Sacramental Program for students at St Joseph’s Parish School will be offered in 2023. Children will have the opportunity to receive Baptism, First Eucharist (Holy Communion), Reconciliation, and Confirmation. Father Dariusz our Parish Priest will be present for all the Sacraments. This year our Sacramental Program will be offered as follows:
Baptism: available to all students under 16 years, one parent must be baptised Catholic. (Student can receive this sacrament and participate in the sacramental program to receive Reconciliation/ Holy Communion later in the year) Any adults or children over 16 years wanting to be Baptised will need to go through the RCIA process (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults).
Baptism Dates when Father Dariusz is Visting:
Saturday 15th April or Sunday 16th April
Saturday 20th May or Sunday 21th May
Saturday 17th June or Sunday 18th June
Saturday 15th July or Sunday 16th July
Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation are all available to students who have been Baptised as Catholics and are in Years 3-6.
Dates:
Reconciliation Liturgy at Parish on Saturday 12th August 3/4pm.
First Eucharist and Confirmation will be at a Parish Mass on Sunday 13th August at 8:30am
If you have a child that you would like to participate in the Sacramental Program for 2023 please indicate on the parent slip which will be sent next week or email Michelle Gear mgear@cns.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.
General Reminders
- Students need to bring a hat to school every day. Our school is a sun safe school and all staff and students are required to wear a hat in all outdoor settings.
- Check in with your child to see if enough food is packed in their lunchboxes daily. Some students are eating all their food by first break. If your child is coming home with an empty lunch box have a conversation with them about whether they need more food.
- Students are asked to bring in a drink bottle every day; they will have access to this at break times and in class, which will prevent time at the water fountain during learning time.
Swimming Lessons and Carnival
This week you would have received a parent slip for the school Swimming and Water Safety Program. It is important that you complete this slip to allow the school to gather information on your child's swimming ability and plan accordingly.
Swimming will take place in Week 9 Wednesday 22/3- Friday 25/2 and Week 10 Monday 27/3 - Wednesday 29/3
Our school Swimming Carnival will be held on Thursday evening from 4pm at the local swimming pool.
School fees have been issued, please pay at your earliest convenience.
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome to Week 6. It has been a very busy couple of weeks and it is hard to believe that we are halfway through Term 1.
Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs)
Over the next few weeks the teachers will be 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 will meet with Parents of PLP students in Week 8 of this Term.
Visitors
Week 7: Next week from Monday 6th March to Friday 10th of March Ms Heather Alison our School Counsellor will be visiting us in Weipa providing her service to St. Joseph's School. Also next week from Wednesday 8th March to Thursday 9th of March we have Vicki Reinmann - Psychologist Inclusion from Cairns Catholic Education visiting and supporting teachers and students.
CIRCLE OF SECURITY PARENT TALK
Ms Heather Alison our School Counselling will be holding a session to lay the foundation for a possible parent training group in Term 2 & Term 3 which would run during her visits to Weipa called Circle of Security Parent Talk.
About the Circle of Security Parent Talk - At times all parents feel lost or without a clue about what our child might need from us. Imagine what it might feel like if you were able to make sense of what your child was really asking from you. The Circle of Security® Parenting™ program is based on decades of research about how secure parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened.
Using the COSP™ model developed by the Circle of Security originators, our trained Facilitators work with parents and care-givers to help them to:
- Understand their child’s emotional world by learning to read emotional needs
- Support their child’s ability to successfully manage emotions
- Enhance the development of their child's self esteem
- Honor the innate wisdom and desire for their child to be secure
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at a convenient time that suits.
My email address is mturner@cns.catholic.edu.au
Kind Regards,
Melanie Turner.
Wow, can you believe we are in week 6 already?
Time flies when you’re having fun and we have certainly been having fun in Prep with lots of hands-on learning experiences. This week in Maths saw us out investigating time, how it passes, and how we can measure and compare the timing of events. We measured the time it takes us to do lots of things at school including running up and down the basketball court, completing the sensory walk, climbing across the monkey bars and of course, how long it takes us to move to certain areas of our school. We loved using a sand timer to carry out these activities and then compare which activities took longer than others and which ones took a shorter amount of time.
In English, we have been decoding superstars! We have been focusing on segmenting and blending the sounds we know to read words – aren’t we clever?! We have also been focusing on how to write our letters, our name writing and also parts of a sentence
Science, saw us adopting new pets in our classroom for the week – mealworms! We loved having these new members of Prep join us and they helped us to consolidate our learning about what living things need to survive. This learning also ties in beautifully with our Religion learnings about Creation by looking at some of his wonderful creatures.
We have loved learning all about ourselves and our families in History and Health and look forward to starting to present our photos and artefacts of family events we celebrate this week. We will continue to focus on lines, shapes and colour in Art and can’t wait to show you the next fabulous artwork we create.
It’s been another fantastic week and we look forward to more exciting learning to come.
Many thanks,
The Prep team.
Hi Year 1 families,
This week in our religion unit we are looking at the idea of ‘Made in Gods Image’ by reading the book ‘Whoever you are’ by Mem Fox. This book explores the idea that even though people around the world might live in different places, different houses, and look different we all share commonalities like loves, sorrows, and laughter. We are exploring the idea of Harmony and what that looks like, feels like, and sounds like. Our health unit on personal identity is following a similar theme by introducing students to the idea of personal strengths like kindness, patience, empathy, leadership skills, listening skills, and speaking skills. We will continue to add to our identity posters and discuss how our personal qualities combine to create our own identity.
In maths this week we have been exploring how to show information through pictographs and how to most efficiently count items through counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s.
In science we have continued our exploration of sound and light through exploring the idea of sound travelling through things. We will continue exploring and experimenting with the idea that we see things when light shines on them or when they emit light, and that we see the light with our eyes.
In literacy we are continuing to learn about reading and writing with daily lessons on the sounds letters make and how to put the sounds and letters together to make words. We have started thinking about persuasive writing and what we would write to convince a parent or carer of the value of getting a pet. We have written about dogs, snakes, cats, and parrots. We will continue to create a persuasive text in our next few lessons.
Reminder,
Library day is Wednesday.
PE is Thursday.
Homework day is Monday.
Have a wonderful week, Mrs Hamilton.
Wow! Half way through Term 1 already! It has been wonderful to see the students settled in their classrooms and ready to learn each day.
We have been busy in all learning areas. In English we have been reading many different fairytales. Students have been looking at the features of these texts and identifying the personality and physical traits of the characters.
Over the last couple of weeks, students in Year 2 have been learning about shape and measurement in Maths. We have been using mathematics vocabulary such as parallel, vertex, sides and angles. We made shape robots and used this language to describe the shapes we used. Look at our amazing creations below!
Hello families and friends of Year 3,
With the end of the term fast approaching, there are a lot of goals that Year 3 are kicking off. The students did a fantastic job at our assembly, presenting information about St Joseph. We have also been exploring different literacy and maths questions across the two learning areas in preparation for our upcoming NAPLAN, ensuring the students are comfortable with a range of question styles. In History, the students have been looking at different celebration and commemoration days that Australia and the wider World communities recognise.
In English, students are continuing with their persuasive texts and looking at different sentence starters to make a convincing argument. In Maths, we are diving into addition and subtraction and using different strategies to solve problems.
As we move forward there are events to look forward to, and our swimming lesson and carnival is one that we are all talking about! Please remember to your child’s swimming form with accurate information.
Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
Emily
In Year 4 we have been busy working on learning our multiplication facts and using this information to answer written algorithms. Students had the opportunity to create their own algorithms this week and then get others in the class to answer it. Lots of movement but lots of learning.
Our Religion lessons took us down the path of knowing the bible a little more. Students worked on completing an activity where they had to identify different books from the Old Testament and the New Testament. They also completed a scavenger hunt. This required us to learn how to find the book in either the Old or New Testament, the chapter and then the verses. Students worked collaboratively with others in the class and were able to show they could find most scripture with little to no support.
In writing lessons we have continued to look at language features. Alliteration and personification has been our focus this week. We have used our understanding to locate phrases within Roald Dahl poems. Always interesting and a little funny. Next week we will be looking at hyperboles.
Reminders that homework and library borrowing takes place on a Friday.
This week Year 5 showed great resilience this week as there were changes to their normal classroom setting and teachers due to Year 6 being on Camp. They have been able to fill in the many duties in the absence of Year 6 and have done so in a respectful and responsible manner. They are to be congratulated especially on their efforts at Fridays Assembly as they led the school through the formalities. Well done Year 5.
In English and Maths it has been a great opportunity to complete some activities to prepare for their NAPLAN tests and the style of questions that could be asked. The students have been getting use to working under timed conditions and at times using their device to answer questions.
In Writing they have been researching and using a variety of language features to describe a particular country around the world. The focus for their writing on the culture of their country to include the food, art, languages and traditions unique to that place. The students have been developing their writing by adding descriptive language, facts and statistics and even some rhetorical questions. You might like to spend some time asking them which country they are researching and what they have learnt so far.
This afternoon we welcomed back the Year 6 students, Mrs Harrington and Miss McLeish, which was very exciting. We also had the chance to learn about life at High School with representatives from St Monica’s and St Augustine's visiting from Cairns.