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.

Prayer

Dear Lord, 

Whatever happens today, help me to be cheerful, 

Help me not to grumble when things go wrong, 

Not to be upset when I find something hard, 

Not to be annoyed when I can’t get my own way. 

Help me, no matter what, to keep smiling so that 

I may be what you want me to be – a light in the world. 

Amen 

Do the consequences match the action? 

I was reading an article the other day with this as the topic. Whilst strangely obvious (I have 4 children and 2 grandchildren), do we as parents always match the consequences to the action? When our children have made a poor choice and the action demands attention, what should that attention or reaction be? 

Natural consequences are consequences that are directly related to the ‘not-so-nice’ behaviour. If there is a mess, the consequence could be to clean it up. If your child hurts another, the consequence would be to apologise and then do something nice to help out that child. 

Research supports that a natural consequence helps the child to rectify the issue, make the other person feel better and go some way to making amends to their inner self. 

Executive Director visit 

We have had the pleasure of hosting Mr. Bill Dixon, Executive Director of Cairns Catholic Education  on Thursday and Friday. Bill loves visiting schools and popping into classrooms. He spent time talking to staff and students as well as extended time with the school leadership team getting a feel of the challenges, successes and aspirations that centre on St. Joseph’s. It’s always wonderful seeing those higher up the food chain spending meaningful time in schools. 

Playground Update 

We have been successful in getting the playground certifier up to Weipa faster than we first thought. We still have a couple of things to be completed for full certification and plans are in place for that to happen. We are almost there, however, at this stage we are still unable to use the new playground for student use. 

Last chance to complete the survey! 

A reminder that the staff and parent survey closes this Friday, August 4. Here is a great way to provide feedback about the school and Cairns Catholic Education Office. Each family has been sent the link. 

This week our MTSS-E focus was uniform expectations. It is important that we wear our school uniform with pride. This means correct footwear, socks, hats, and headwear. Another important part of uniform expectation is that we wear the correct uniform on certain days, for example our sport uniform is to be worn on Friday this term. Families, if you are unsure about the uniform expectations, please ask in the office for a copy.  

Welcome to week 4 and almost halfway through Term 3!  

We have been busy little bees and enjoying all areas of learning in Prep this term. We have been learning lots of new sounds and ‘Tricky Words’ during our Literacy blocks and are very proud of ourselves and the progress we are making with reading and writing. We have been exploring measurement in Maths and materials during Science lessons. We loved designing and building bridges this week where we had to think about the types of materials that were on offer and what would be suitable for a bridge based on its properties. Religion has seen us looking at different choices we make and how we have the freedom to choose between positive and poor choices and we are enjoying sharing and relating to real life experiences. During Technology, we have been investigating different types of hardware and software and in History, exploring the past and present and how things have changed. 

This fortnight we celebrated Catholic Education Week where we explored how Faith, Love and Hope show up in our every day lives. We shared experiences and stories from our own lives and enjoyed listening to the stories from others too. You can see our beautiful display we helped create in the photo below. 

We are looking forward to many more upcoming experiences in our school community and can’t wait to share these with you over the next few weeks.  

Many thanks,  

Prep. 

Dear Parents and Guardians,  

Welcome to Week 4 and what a wonderful two weeks we have had in Year 1. Despite many children been unwell recently, the children have all showed their resilience and been able to progress further with their learning. There are have been many exciting events already this term - Catholic Education Week and School Dance and still to come Book Week and Father’s Day celebrations. 

English 

This week on writing we have been looking at information that is fact and opinion. We have started to build our knowledge of spiders and write factual sentences. The students enjoyed using the book Aranea: a Story About a Spider to activiate their knowledge about spiders beofre writing. Next week we will look at categorising our infomation before composing an information report together. 

Health 

This term in Health we have been continuing to learn about Emotions.The students have been identifying different Emotions and how they make us feel and how these feelings can be shown in our body language. We have also made connections between sensory information and emotions and role-played responses to different emotions. 

This week the students identified about how their feelings and body signs help them to know if a situation is safe or unsafe. They recalled body signs and feelings that might warn them that something or someone is unsafe. For example, my heart beats faster and loudly, I feel sick in the tummy, I get sweaty palms or I get goosebumps all over. 

The Year 1 students also completed this week the Student Wellbeing Survey this week. The annual survey is being issued to all students in the Diocese of Cairns by the Engagement Wellbeing and  

Learning directorate of Catholic Education Services. The survey aims to gather student opinions about aspects of the school that relate to supporting student wellbeing and mental health. 

Maths 

In Mathematics this week we have continued to learn about Addition operations and solving Addition stories.  The children have been working very hard and are producing some creative addition stories to share with their peers using seesaw to record their addition story and write a number sentence.  

 
The Term 3  - Year 1 Curriculum note was sent to all parents last week which outlined what will be taught in each of the Learning Area this Term. 

Just a gentle reminder that: 

• Library - Wednesday 
• P.E. wear sports uniform - Friday 
• Assembly - Friday Morning 
• Mrs Gear teaching - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (am) 
• Mrs Turner teaching - Wednesday (pm), Thursday, Friday 
• Homework is sent out each Wednesday and collected and marked the following Tuesday.  

If you have any questions please feel free to make contact with us at a convenient time that suits  

Our email addresses are:  

Michelle Gear mgear@cns.catholic.edu.au  

Melanie Turner mturner@cns.catholic.edu.au  

Kind Regards,  

Michelle Gear and Melanie Turner.  

Dear Parents and Caregivers, 

Welcome to Week 4! Last week we celebrated Catholic Education Week. We were so proud of the amazing job year 2 students did when practising and performing our dance “Roar”. Students learnt more about the Catholic Education Week theme “Faith, Hope and Love” in our religion lessons. 

In Drama this term, students have been learning to use their bodies to convey ideas and meaning.  We have been looking at the story “Journey” and have explored where characters can journey to. This week we used our bodies to create the castle from the story. We were required to work as a team, and we did a great job! 

In English this term we have continued to explore informative texts. Students have watched videos and used Google Chrome to gather information and sort it into appropriate sub-headings. This week was all about kangaroos. 

In Mathematics this term students furthered their knowledge of number during the first three weeks of the term. This week we have begun our new unit exploring positional language. To kick off our learning we used some barrier games, where students were required to use their positional language to direct their partner to arrange items on their mats. Once the barrier was removed students could see how well they gave their directions to their buddy. Check out some of our photos below.  

Thank-you again for your ongoing support this term, 

Year 2 Team 

Mrs Tapper and Mrs Barber.  

Hello families and friends of Year 3, 

This week we have been busy perfecting our procedure writing. Some students are adding in great precise verbs and adverbs to make their steps clear for their audience. We are moving towards forming a procedural recount, which is a more formal style of writing that includes paragraphs and full sentences.  

In maths the students have completed our unit on money. We looked at how to represent different amounts and began to calculate change. We are now moving towards all things two- and three- digit numbers. We will be partitioning and rearranging them to add and subtract. Students will be practising the method of carrying and borrowing these amounts. 

In science we are exploring how day and night occur. We used some cool resources to demonstrate Earth spinning on its own axis and the creation of the shadow which creates nighttime.  

Last week we celebrated Catholic Education Week. Year 3 did a fantastic job at the school dance. Thank you to all the parents and families that came along to support.  

Some gentle reminders as we move into week 5: 

• Homework is given out Monday and to be returned Friday. 
• Library borrowing is Friday. Some students will bring their books home in their homework folders on Monday. 

• Daniel Morcombe Program will begin week 6.  
• Year 3 presenting at assembly in week 9 – Indigenous Literacy Day 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Happy Weekend! 

Kind Regards, 

Emily 

Year 4 have been working wonders in the classroom this week. Lots of discussions happening around St Paul and the letters he wrote. We have recognized that St Paul’s Letters are linked to the Ten Commandments. He gave sound advice to those who may be experiencing hardship.  

In our Math lessons we have looked at symmetry, shape, angles and grid references. Students were asked to replicate their ‘wish’ building out of lego or Paint 3D. Students were asked to identify these concepts on their a hand drawn sketch as well. We have been practicing addition and subtraction equations using decimals as well. We will continue this next week.   

We have also tapped into learning ‘BOLTSS’ during Geography lessons when we were mapping Africa and South America. Students took the time to be neat and apply the learnt skills.  

Last week we were busy with Catholic Education Week where the Year 4’s did a fantastic job of working alongside the Year 1’s for the liturgy. We represented that we area a community of Faith, Love and Hope.  

Hi families, 

This week in the senior learning hub has been a big one. 

Year 5 and 6 were given the challenge of achieving 30 amazing transitions between gathering resources and their desks and around the school between eating time and lunch time.  

Their reward was a game against the teachers, Mr. Harrington, Miss McLeish and Miss Lucy. 7 vs 3. 

Unsurprisingly the teachers won, their height and power dominated the students. We all had a great time regardless and are now working on these amazing transitions again.  

Year five did an amazing job at the assembly presenting their knowledge on planets and how we can survive on them.  

In Mathematics year five have been in a fraction frenzy, adding them to number lines, adding them together and also finding equivalent fractions too.  

From the Senior Learning Hub Teachers.  

Not long now...

Time to start organising your 'Book Week' costume!!