St Joseph's Parish School Weipa eNewsletter

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 Parents and Carers,

Welcome to our Week 5 Newsletter. We have reached the halfway point for the Term 2 and now the year. There are many things to celebrate that have taken place this year and more recently, this term. There have been many wonderful events which have brought new and old faces together including ANZAC Day, Mother’s Day and Under 8’s.

There have also been a number of sporting events that have taken place, Cross Country, the Crusaders Cup and just this week, the Peninsula Cross Country. Congratulations to the representatives from Year 4 to 6 who ran their hearts out in some challenging conditions. We are very proud of you all. Thank you to the parents who were able to attend this event.

In the coming weeks we will start to welcome some of the Kindy students for Come and Try days. These days are open to all the Kindy students in the community to come and visit the school and see what a day in Prep is all about. We look forward to meeting some of the potential students for 2024.

Today the school showed their support for Do It For Dolly Day by wearing blue and donating a gold coin to Dolly’s Dream Foundation. We are reminded how fragile and precious life is and that kindness and compassion go a long way. Year 4 shared a beautiful message about kindness today at Assembly and reminded us that small acts of kindness go a long way.

Wishing you all an enjoyable weekend.

Kindest,

Michelle Gear

Thursday 18th May Feast of the Ascension

The feast of the Ascension takes place 40 days after commemorates the day that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. He also gave the Great Commission, that all of the world should be saved. In the first reading the ascension of Jesus is recounted and the Apostles are told they will receive the Holy Spirit. In the second reading we hear that Jesus Christ rules heaven and earth. And in the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to preach the Good News to the whole world.

Together with your family, identify one or more ways in which your family lives the life of Christian discipleship. Thank God for the blessing of the opportunity to be able to show others love. Then read together the Gospel reading: Matthew 28:16-20. Discuss what Jesus sends his disciples to do.

Sacraments 2023

The Sacramental Preparation Program for students in Year 3-6 at St Joseph’s Parish School will be offered from Tuesday Week 6. Children will have the opportunity to receive Baptism, First Eucharist (Holy Communion), Reconciliation, and Confirmation in August. Father Dariusz will be present for all the Sacraments. This year our Sacramental Program will be offered as follows:

Baptism: Welcome into Catholic family- available to all students under 16 years, one parent must be baptised Catholic. (available on Father Dariusz visits to Weipa- third Sunday of every month)

Students in Year 3- 6 are able to receive the following Sacraments together

Reconciliation- confessing wrong doings to bring them closer to God
First Eucharist- receiving the body and blood of Christ for the first time
Confirmation- commitment to faith as a young adult and sealing of the Holy Spirit

The dates this will take place are:

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

In effort to prepare the students for these Sacraments, there will be a Preparation Program which runs at the school from 2:30-3:30pm every Tuesday starting from Tuesday 23rd May . These sessions will take place as a group with myself and may have some follow up activities to complete at home as a family.

What to do next?

Share information about the Sacraments with your child. These resources can be used Sacraments or Baptism /Confirmation/Eucharist

Father Dariusz will be visiting this Sunday 21st May, please join in Mass and morning tea afterwards from 8:30am, Father Dariusz will answer any questions you may have.

AFL Reminders

AFL AUSKick afterschool sessions will take place for the following weeks in Term 2

Week 6 Thursday 25th May 3:15pm

Week 7 Thursday 1st June 3:15pm (last session)

Parents, please come along to supervise your child.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to Week 5 and it has been another busy 2 weeks and the children have been working hard during this time. Some of the activities that the students have participated in is Mother's Day Morning Tea, Under 8’s Day and AFL classes during and after school.

Social Emotional Learning

This Term in SEL in the Seconds Steps Program the classes will be focusing on Emotional Management.

Second Step

Second Step SEL is research-based, teacher-informed, and classroom-tested to promote the social-emotional development, safety, and well-being of children from Early Learning through Grade 8. Children learn and practice vital skills for listening and paying attention, having empathy, managing emotions, building friendships, and solving problems with others. The 25-minute interactive lessons and discussion-based activities with distinct grade-level experiences. The lessons focus on Social-Emotional Learning:

Mindsets & Goals
Recognising Bullying & Harassment
Thoughts, Emotions, & Decisions
Managing Relationships & Social Conflict

MTSS-E (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support- Engagement)

Our school community has identified the following school wide expectations to teach and promote our high standards of responsible behaviour:

Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be Resilient
Be Ready for Learning

MTSS-E assemblies take place on Mondays at 1.40pm followed by Second Step lessons.

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.

Visitors

This week we had Vicki Reimann - CES Psychologist, Lorrain Carroll - CES Speech Therapist and Zinna Alyward - CES Occupational Therapist visiting Weipa providing their service to St. Joseph's School.

We also welcomed back Ms Lillian Miller – Consultant - First Nations Education who worked with Staff and students.

In Week 7 we have Ms Heather Alison our School Counsellor visiting St. Joseph's School Weipa and working with Staff, Parents, 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

Kind Regards,

Melanie Turner.

Our MTSS-E focus for this week was being responsible during transitions.

Sorry Year 2 families, news from Year 2 was missed last week...

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

As we come to the end of Week 4 we would like to wish all the mothers and grandmothers a very happy Mothers Day for Sunday. We hope you enjoy some precious time with your children on the weekend and thank-you to those mums who were able to attend our Mother’s Day celebration and Liturgy this week.

Lately in Year Two we have been continuing our learning about Australia and the world in HASS. Students have been enjoying reading the atlases and looking at different maps. In the coming weeks we will further our learning by looking at the different connections we have with Australia and the world.

In English this term we are continuing to innovate texts. So far we have innovated The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Blue Thingamijig and Harry and the Monster. Students have changed the text to add different adjectives and verbs and have embraced the many opportunities for creative writing! We can’t wait to continue reading their imaginative texts.

In Maths we have been working with think boards to show different ways to subtract.

In Science students have been learning about forces. We have experimented with basketballs and used push and pull forces to make them move. Students have also looked at the ways toys move by spinning and turning and made their own thaumatrope of either a bird in a cage, butterflies over flowers or a fish in a bowl. We loved seeing how excited the children were when they spun their thaumatrope in their palms!