We respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of this land on which we are meeting – the Algnith people. We also acknowledge the contributions of First Nations peoples to the education of all children and people in our country Australia, in which we all live and share together.

Dear families and friends of St Joseph’s,

As we reach the end of the term it gives us the opportunity to reflect on where we've been and how far we've come in just 10 weeks. So many events and opportunities to come together to share our faith journey and make special memories together.

As this will be the last newsletter for the term, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the entire school community for the way we have worked together to provide give the very best for our children. Yesterday’s Swimming Carnival is a perfect example of this with everyone working together to achieve such a positive experience for everyone who attended.

 Our sincere thanks also to ALL families who have volunteered their time in some capacity over the term. It’s always both wonderful and important to have the assistance. Please know that your support doesn’t go unnoticed and is valued by all staff.

I especially thank our dedicated staff for their energy, enthusiasm and passion they have brought to your children’s learning in this first ten weeks of the year.

We are grateful to work with a committed team at St Joseph’s who provide such an engaging, inclusive and caring environment for our students.

 Today we farewelled Mrs Stephanie Neil who has been part of our St Joseph’s School Community since 2021. Steph will be greatly missed but we wish her all the best for the future and hope to have her popping into the school in a relief capacity from time to time.

We also farewell Demi-Lee Bolden our Tuckshop coordinator who is relocating. While only here for a short time we appreciate Demi’s passion for sharing good food with us and wish her every success in the future.

Amanda Obrien leaves us at the end of this term also as she flies out to have her baby. We wish her all the best and look forward to meeting the new addition to her family. 

 Easter celebrations come in the middle of the holiday period this year. Having some of the holidays before the Easter period, gives us the opportunity to relax and reflect, before we are privileged to take part in the Easter celebration. This is a very special time to spend with family and friends. The Easter Message is one of new life and new beginnings, expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Have a very happy and safe Easter break and I look forward to seeing you all back for the beginning of Term 2 on Monday 17^th April.

God Bless,

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

 Welcome to Week 10 and what a busy Term it has been. The students have all worked extremely hard and have been swimming with enthusiasm and know doubt will be looking forward to the holidays and Easter. 

NCCD - Nationally Consistent Collection of Data 

The NCCD is an annual collection of information from all Australian schools on the numbers of students with disability and the adjustments they receive. All Teachers at St. Joseph’s School will be expected to understand their obligations to students with disability under the DDA and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 and consistently collect and provide evidence which is recorded on ENGAGE. 

 In week 3 and week 7, Heather Alison our School Counsellor will be visiting us again in Weipa providing her service to St. Joseph's School. 

 In Week 5 we have Vicki Reimann - CES Psychologist, Lorrain Carroll - CES Speech Therapist and Zinna Alyward - CES Occupational Therapist will also be visiting St. Joseph’s Parish School. 

And in Week 5 Lillian Miller – Consultant - First Nations Education will be in Weipa working with Staff and students. 

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 

I would like to take this time to wish you all a very Happy Easter and I hope you enjoy some quality and relaxing time with your family. I look forward to seeing you all in Term 2. 

Kind Regards, 

Melanie Turner. 

This week St Jospeh’s acknowledge the most important week in the Church. Holy Week. As we journeyed with Christ, we reflected on events which lead to his destination, the cross.  

 Palm Sunday- This is the first day of Holy Week and on Wednesday Year 2 reminded us about the triumphant entry Jesus made into Jerusalem. People were so happy to see Jesus, they were waving palms and shouting “Hosanna” Palm Sunday. The students shared the Scripture, sang songs and read beautifully. Thank you Year 2.  

Holy Thursday- On Holy Thursday we think about the time Jesus washed his disciples' feet and shard a special meal with them. This week students had their hands washed in a reenactment of the washing of the feet.  Representatives from each class around a round table and as the Scripture was read out they were showed the love and compassion that Jesus showed. Classes were then invited to return to class for a reenactment of the Last Supper, when Jesus broken bread and wine and shared it with the Disciples saying “do this in memory of me”  

Stations of the Cross  

This morning the Senior Learning Hub led the stations of the cross on the basketball court. They followed the same way that Jesus had walked as he went to the cross.  The way of the Cross has fourteen stages called ‘stations’ and ends with Jesus being laid in the tomb. The Seniors presented the Way of the cross with the respect it deserves, by either acting or reading. Thank you, Seniors.  

Our Way of the Cross does not end in sadness and despair.  Great joy will come three days later with the celebration of the empty tomb on Easter morning.  Wishing you all a restful and blessed Easter break.  

Well done to all our Easter Raffle Winners!! 

We raised over $600 for Project Compassion.

Welcome to week 10!  

It’s been such a wonderful term of learning for our first term of Prep. We are well into the swing of things and look forward to an exciting Term 2 with new topics to be explored and new skills to be learnt.  

What a wonderful two weeks it has been with our swimming lessons. The children have had such a great time developing their swim and pool safety skills and it was fantastic to see so much growth in these areas in such a short amount of time. We look forward to using these skills in our swimming carnival as a fun way to round out the term.  

With the end of the term brings the sad part of having to say goodbye to Miss Neil. She has been such a valued member of the Prep team and will be surely missed by all. We wish her the best on her next venture and we hope to see her bright smile around Weipa. 

A couple of notes as we move into the new term, please continue brining hats and water bottles and our library and homework folders will remain on a Friday. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me on kbackhouse@cns.catholic.edu.au and I will endeavour to respond to you as quickly as possible. 

We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable break surrounded by loved ones and look forward to seeing everyone back fresh for Term 2.  

Many thanks as always,  

Prep.  

Hi Year 1 families,  

The last few weeks in English we have been learning about verbs and nouns, compound words, and the ai and ay spelling patterns. We have completed our writing assignment for this term and have written wonderful persuasive texts about what animal we would like to have as a pet.  

In maths we have been continuing to learn about patterns in numbers and shapes and how patterns are all around us. We have put our knowledge into practice by creating the strongest Lego house we could and drop testing it to see if our building pattern was strong and we have created beautiful tessellation patterns.  We have started to partition numbers into equal groups and lots of ten and lots of 1 in preparation for efficient addition and subtraction strategies and have again put our understanding into action in order to buy goods from the classroom store and tiling Lego boards to work out how many tiles we will need to cover a Lego board.  

In our other learning areas we have almost completed our assessments for this term and are now looking at how we can use what we have learned in everyday life. 

Reminder, 

Library books need to be returned as we near the end of the Term 1 and there is no homework in week 10.  

The swimming carnival is Thursday at 4pm at the Weipa pool.  

Have a wonderful Easter break and I look forwards to seeing you all next term. 

Kind regards, Mrs Hamilton. 

Greetings Parents and Caregivers of Grade Two, 

WOW! One whole term of learning, growing, and developing done already. Hard to believe we are already at the end of Term One. Well done everyone. 

 The last two weeks have seen the Year 2’s at the pool for their swimming lessons. It has been wonderful to see their growth and confidence in their lessons blossom. Students have been learning water safety skills, correct stroke technique and developing their stamina in the water.  

 Year 2 also presented the Palm Sunday Liturgy on Monday this week. They shared with us the story of Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem by people laying their cloaks down for him to walk. People waved palm trees to welcome their King and the Year 2 students re-enacted this event. We also sung (beautifully!) two songs – I Believe and Hosanna, Bless Our King. We are so very proud of all the readers and students for their participation in this important part of Holy Week.  

Lastly we would like to thank you all for your support with the various events this term, whether it be donating to the Easter Raffle, continuing to do homework with your child, attending assemblies and school events and for coming along to the parent/teacher conferences. 

Wishing you all a very happy, safe, relaxing and enjoyable school break! 

Kind Regards, 

Mrs Barber and Mrs Tapper. 

Hello families of Year 3, 

Thank you for such a great term 1! The students have shown great growth and determination, especially over the NAPLAN and swimming period. We have ended the term with a celebration of Holy Week, and we did such a great job in helping with the Washing of the Feet liturgy.  

Thank you to all the parent helpers at the swimming carnival, it is great to see our school community come together and celebrate sport. We have finished up our assessments and we have shown great resilience in getting the job done.  

I hope you all have a great holiday with your families, see you for Term 2! 

Thanks, 

Emily 

The end of term is finally here with many tired students but with many accomplishments. The students have worked hard on so many areas of the curriculum and it is evident in their learning tasks. We are much more confident in recalling our multiplication facts and knowing the difference between odd & even numbers; rhyming words; knowing how to find scripture in the bible; identifying erosion in our surroundings; accepting our weaknesses and how we can get better at these; as well as being kind and caring people. We truly have learnt so much.  

Over the past week or so students have displayed resilience and responsibility in and out of the pool. It hasn’t been an easy feat to turn up each day and have yet another swimming lesson or even a different teacher. I commend them all for their flexibility and understanding. Our swimming carnival once again was a massive heat. So many Year 4 students showing ‘The St Joey’s Way’.  

I wish you all a restful break and look forward to continuing our learning journey next term.  

Have a blessed Easter.  

Miss Edmonds.  

Happy Last week of Term 1 Families, 

 It has been a great term in the Senior Learning Hub. We’ve had lots of fun and worked really hard to achieve success in their learning.  

 Over the past week we have had swimming nearly every day and its been exhausting. On Wednesday the students practiced rescuing their friends. 

They also had to tread water, scull or float for ten minutes fully clothed. 

Students have been developing their skill to effectively collaborate and work together on tasks. This week we looked at how the environment can impact animals’ survival. Here are some of those students. 

 From Mr. Harrington and Miss McLeish