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 Alngith 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.

What a hectic term it has been! I know all our staff are ready for a well deserved break to stop, rest and enjoy family time. As a staff we very much appreciate the support of parents helping out at the various events we hold. When you possibly can, you turn up and offer to help so that each event runs smoothly with extra hands to cover all the jobs. When we all do that little bit extra, our students get the benefit of accessing more opportunities. Thank you for all that you do!

This term our staff have had professional development opportunities with CES staff coming to Weipa to deliver Student Protection Training, extra information sharing in Religion, Curriculum and MTSS-Engagement.

Students have also experienced a Year 6 Leadership Retreat on the Atherton Tablelands, a Cross Country first, with all schools combining for the event, Masses and Liturgies in preparation for Easter and a fantastic Swimming Carnival to finish off the term.

Parents have attended the Information Evening, Beginning of Year Mass, Ash Wednesday Liturgy, P and F Meet & Greet BBQ, weekly Assemblies and Parent-Teacher Conferences.

We will continue to communicate with you by providing our Weekly Bulletins and a Term 2 Parent Calendar to keep you informed of events coming up next term. If you do need to know anything extra please contact us directly so we can help with any confusions or information.

Have a safe and blessed Easter

New Staff

This term we have recruited for a number of vacant positions. Mrs Peta Hancock will be working with our students in the classrooms Monday to Thursday, Mrs Nikki Carr will be in the front office assisting Kathy Mitton on Monday and Tuesday and Miss Amanda Peters joins us in Year 3B as our classroom teacher until the end of this year. We are grateful they are joining us and we welcome them to St Joeys.

Farewell Staff

Sadly we say farewell to Miss Kristen McLeish who is heading to Wollongong with her partner Callum and Miss Maddison Lehmann who is preparing for the arrival of her first child in May. We wish both Kristen and Maddi all the very best.

Congratulations

Several of our students were selected to represent our community at the next level of sport and travel out of Weipa to attend Peninsula competitions in the following sports.

Ella Mitton - Cross Country

Lala-Sue Bowie - Netball

Jed Hall, Tye Lee, Toby Widmer - Basketball

Marley Savo, Jackson Reynolds - Rugby League

Goodluck and we know you always represent Weipa with pride.

Traffic Control

We have been following up on crossing supervisors, please see the below flyer for more details. We need people to apply so that we can keep our roads safe around the school for our students travelling to school in the mornings and home in the afternoons.

P and F

Next term AGM and meeting Thursday 18th April. Please put this in your diary and come along to be part of a fantastic opportunity to help out the school.

School Board

Early next term we will collect expressions of interest from interested community members to form a school board. Please see flyer. Nomination forms will be available in the school office or we can email them to you directly if you send an email to secretary.weipa@cns.catholic.edu.au

School_Board_information_sheet.pdf

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OSHC

A letter went out to our parent community to let you know that we have progressed with the approval process. The final decision is sitting with the Department of Education and we will hear more next term for a start date to be announced. Emails have been sent to those who expressed an interest in working for CELC. Their recruitment process will begin once they have final approval.

Grounds

Late last year we approved the shade sail for the new playground. We have been informed that they have engineered the structure and are waiting for the roads to open for installation. This will cause some disruption to the oval during construction. We will let you know a date once they have confirmed the installation with us.

What is Holy Week?

As we are currently in Holy Week it is the perfect time to remember why we celebrate these special days. Holy Week recounts the final days of Jesus' life including his death, burial, and resurrection. It includes Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday – a celebration of Jesus fulfilling the prophecy from Zechariah with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is known as Palm Sunday as people waved palm branches at Jesus as he entered the city. We celebrate Christ as king on Palm Sunday.

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday, also known as Maundy Thursday, honors the Last Supper, when Jesus established the Lord’s Supper. This is when he broke bread and drank wine with his disciples. Churches celebrate this same tradition each time they have Communion today.

Good Friday

Good Friday is marked by somber reflections on the death of Christ. When we meditate on what Jesus did for us, we are reminded of Jesus’ suffering and how powerful our sin is. Jesus took on our sin and experienced the ultimate separation from God so that we will never have to experience that.

Easter Sunday

Holy Week leads up to the celebration of Jesus’ triumph over death on Easter Sunday. The Resurrection gives us hope that one day we will also have eternal life with God! We celebrate this day today with gifts of chocolate.

Stations of the Cross Liturgy

Thank you to the Year 5 students who led us through the Stations of the Cross this week. The 14 stations tell us of Jesus’ last days on Earth. They tell us of Jesus’ love for us and God’s love for us. We are reminded to share that love with others.

Following the liturgy Year 4 spent some time reflecting on the Stations of the Cross and produced some lovely artworks.

Wow! Our St Joey’s community may be small, but it is great! With all the fundraising we did over Lent this term, the students raised a mighty $1065 for Caritas Australia’s - Project Compassion! Thank you to each family that donated to our fundraisers to make this possible. This money will be sent to help others less fortunate than ourselves. We have truly made a difference in the lives of others and helped future generations to live a better life.

Project Compassion Colouring in Competition

Congratulations to the following students who won prizes for their amazing entries...

In the Prep to Year 2 category: In the Year 3 to Year 6 category:

1^st Ally 1^st Rachel P

2^nd Ayla C 2^nd Lilian S

3^rd Luther F 3^rd Micah H

Clean Up Australia Day

It was wonderful to see a group of our students participate in Clean Up Australia Day this term. We had students clean up different areas all over Weipa and show true compassion for our environment. It is nice to know that our local community is in good hands with these young people! Keep an eye out for future community events to be involved in!

Meet & Greet

Thank you to the families that attended our Meet & Greet this term. We had around 70 people on the night, which is a great turnout! We began with a liturgy in the Church, followed by a BBQ hosted by our P&F and a movie in our Flexible Learning Space. It was a fun night with lots of yummy food and laughs. A big thank you to Miss Rachael and her family who spent a lot of time and effort preparing and running the BBQ.

Reminder – Sports Uniform

Sports uniform to be worn on Wednesdays in Term 2.

I wish you and your family a safe and happy Easter break and look forward to seeing you all in Term 2.

Mrs Julie Dore

Acting Assistant Principal Religious Education (APRE)

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to Week 10. It is hard to believe that we are at the end of Term One 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 Easter and the holidays.

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.

fact_sheet_for_parents_guardians_and_carers_8_.pdf

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Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs) 

Over the last 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 will have meet with Parents of PLP students in Week 8/9 and 10 of this Term. If you have not been able to see your child’s teacher this Term, please contact them early next Term for a meeting.

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.

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. 

From Learning and Teaching

What an amazing term of learning and teaching we have had at St Joseph’s. Thank you St Joey families - for your support this term with all our learning events inside and outside the classroom. Your partnership with us in your child’s education journey has let us as a community create a strong foundation for our students to thrive and succeed for the rest of the year.

I am delighted to announce that the NAPLAN assessments for this year have been successfully completed. I commend our staff for their commitment that went in to preparing students for NAPLAN and for the whole school support that was received during the assessment days. I congratulate our year 3 and 5 students on their hard work and resilience during this time and hope that all of our students enjoy a well-earned break.

As we look forward to the upcoming holiday break with our loved ones, I encourage all families to take advantage of this time to engage in enriching learning experience outside of the classroom. Learning doesn’t stop when the school bell rings, and there are countless opportunities to explore learning during the holidays. Whether it’s reading a new book, exploring nature, practicing a hobby, travelling or joining in different celebrations – everyone should embrace their curiosity and bring back lots of stories to the classroom to share.

Everybody have a wonderful and safe break! See you next term!

Welcome to the final week of Term 1 and what a term it has been!

We have been so proud watching the Preps get settled into school life and they have taken their new routines in their strides and come such a long way already. Our favourites for the term of course have been Cross Country and Swimming Carnival and we loved being able to participate. We look forward to more exciting events coming up next term.

During Religion, we’ve been enjoying learning all about making choices and how God helps guide us to choose from right and wrong. We’ve also been learning all about Lent and the special times that occur in the lead up and during such as Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and so on.

Our focus for English this term has seen us moving from phonological awareness skill building (rhyme, syllables, onset and rime) to our letters and sounds learning and how we can use these when reading and writing words. We’ve also been practising our communication skills, particularly when sharing and presenting to others and communicating with our teachers and peers.

We’ve been exploring number in Maths this term as well as patterns, 2D shapes the duration of time. We have enjoyed taking part in lots of different hands-on activities and singing songs to help us along with our learning in these areas.

Science has been lots of fun looking at living and non-living this term and we even got to have our own fish tank in the classroom! We loved having pet fish and also tadpoles that soon turned into froglets and then released back into the wild as green tree frogs helping us learn all about the life cycle of a frog.

During technologies we’ve been learning about the processes and production of food and textiles. It’s been exciting seeing how food and textiles start at the farm and end up at the shops for us to purchase.

For our assembly this term, we got to showcase the learning we’ve been doing in both AUSLAN and HASS. We have loved learning the colours of the rainbow, letters, and also how we can say some short phrases using AUSLAN such as ‘my name is’ and ‘I like’. We have been learning about different countries and cultures and it was exciting to learn and share the different cultures that form our families too.

We’ve loved participating in Art this term which focussed on the strand of visual art. We have explored lots of different elements that can be used in creating artworks such as lines, shapes, colours – primary, secondary, cool and warm, and textures. We can’t wait to bring our artwork home at the end of the year.

Thank you once again for your support this term, It’s been a pleasure working alongside you all on the journey of your child’s education. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need at kbackhouse@cns.catholic.edu.au.

Many thanks,

Miss Backhouse and Miss Rachael

Wow. I cannot believe that we are at the end of the term already. It has been a busy term with lots of learning happening across all key learning areas.

We have been working on our counting, partitioning, order of numbers, grouping, patterns and data collection in our Math lessons. Students have really shown growth in their counting and recognising numbers.

In our English lessons we have been learning about compound and 2 syllable words. Students are getting better at putting these words into their writing and have a better understanding of how to break these words up when reading them.

God’s creation and how we take care of it has been a major focus this term alongside Lent. Students have a great understanding of what is required to take care of god’s creation and are even able to make suggestions on ways to improve the sustainability situation we are currently facing.

We are loving having our Year 6 buddies come and join us once a week to do some fun friendship building activities. This past week or so they have even assisted us with filming our Auslan. We can’t wait to do more with them next term.

There have been many events taking place in the past month with the swimming carnival and cross country being a great success for all. We are definitely a tough bunch of kiddos who love to have a go. We also got to present our assembly prayer. We have also celebrated Liam, Aurora and Jayden’s birthdays these past few weeks.

Miss McLeish will be leaving us at St Joey’s and we want to thank her for all her hard work in Year 1. We hope your next adventure is just as enjoyable and wish her all the best.

I hope you all have a restful break and look forward to seeing you all next term.

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a term we have had! It’s hard to believe we are at the end of term 1 already. Year 2 students have had a busy term of learning, sports, special events and fun.

Special Events

In Week 8 we held our Cross Country event hosted by Western Cape Collage. Congratulations to all the Year 2 students who participated and earnt points for their team. We also held our swimming carnival this week after a term of participating in swimming lessons. The swim teachers and I saw so much growth and improvement over the term, well done everyone! Our project compassion fundraiser for year 2 was Fishing Shirt Friday and it was great to see so many colourful fishing shirts!

English

This term in English students participated in daily reading rotations where they put their comprehension and decoding skills to work. Students read a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts and it was great to see them engaged in their books and then completing a book review at the end of each week. In spelling students are continuing to broaden their letter and sound knowledge through participating in our Initial Lit program daily.

Maths

In Maths this term students have been learning to measure using informal units (cubes) and learning to tell the time to the hour, half hour, quarter past and quarter to. We made our own shape robots and used our statistics knowledge to graph the shapes we used. Students made a March calendar and we realised we have 3 birthdays to celebrate in March!

Science, Technology, HASS

In Science, Technology and HASS we learnt about the Mission Bridge, materials and shapes that are strong like triangles. Students made their own bridge using materials that are strong and waterproof. We also conducted some experiments testing absorbent materials.

Finally, thank-you again for your continued support this term, especially with the many events, project compassion and everyday learning. It is very much appreciated! Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Tash Tapper.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Week 10, 2024

Here's a glimpse into what we've been up to in our classroom:

Religion: In religion this term we have been exploring how God is portrayed in the bible through studying scripture, prayers, and images.

Swimming Lessons: In swimming we have been learning about how to be safe around water, what to do if we or others need help in the water and developing our swimming abilities.

Science: Classification of Living Things: In science, we've been exploring the wonderful world of living things and how we classify them. We've been out and about around the school studying the kinds of creatures that live in our school environment.

HASS: First Nations peoples: In HASS this term we have been answering the question ‘Who was here first? And how do we know?” We have looked into the First Nations peoples of different areas of Australia and learned from indigenous leaders from around Australia.

Maths: Place Value Beyond 10,000: Our mathematicians have been working on efficient addition and subtraction strategies, conducting chance experiments, and evaluating chance experiments.

Reading Groups: Reading continues to be a focal point in our classroom. Students have continued to engage in various reading activities, from guided reading sessions to independent reading time.

Persuasive Writing: In literacy, students have been hard at work writing to convince Mrs Porter whether we should have more or less homework. Students have been using strong emotive language, rhetorical questions, alliteration, and paragraphs to help them get their point across.

Spelling Lessons: Spelling remains an essential part of our language curriculum. We've been exploring different spelling patterns and rules to improve our spelling accuracy.

It has been a term full of growth, learning, and fun. Have a wonderful holidays and we will look forwards to the next term.

Warm regards,

Mrs Hamilton 3A Class Teacher

Email: dhamilton@cns.catholic.edu.au.

Week 10 Newsletter – Year 3B

Hi Parents and Carers,

Happy last week of term one! I can’t believe we have finished the first term of the 2024 school year; it’s certainly been a busy one with lots of events each week, but it has flown by so quickly!

Reading groups have continued in our classroom, and students have been participating in individual reading, modelled, shared, and guided reading in similar ability groups with their peers. Year 3B have been working hard on reading fluently and with expression.

In mathematics, we are currently concentrating on chance in our third unit of the term. Students have been exploring chance vocabulary and using these words (possible, impossible, certain, likely, unlikely etc.) to describe the chance of situations occurring. This unit has also allowed students to undertake chance experiments with dice, coins, and marbles, where they are able to make predictions and discuss if their predictions were correct based on the outcomes within in the mathematical experiments.

English has seen us continue with our persuasive writing unit. Students have created their very own donut and written their own piece of persuasive text convincing the reader as to why their donut deserves to win flavour of the month. The students have done a fantastic job including emotive language, time connectives, high modality words and rhetorical questions within their persuasive texts.

Swimming lessons have continue on a weekly basis, and the students have loved heading to the pool each week to be able to build their swimming stroke skills, learn about swimming and pool safety, and cool down in the refreshing water. The students of 3B are certainly looking forward to the swimming carnival and being able show of their skills in the pool!

NAPLAN in Year 3 was a success, with all students trying their absolute best to answer a range of questions in reading, writing, conventions of language and mathematics. Whilst NAPLAN has finished until the students are in Year 5, end of term assessments have been in full swing with all students having a chance to show what they have learnt in the classroom environment across all learning areas.

Thank you to each one of you that continue to support your students and their learning journey. Your support and dedication to your child certainly makes life in the classroom easier, your children and I certainly appreciate it!

Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter break! Hoping the holidays bring excitement and adventure, with of course some relaxing quality time spent with your loved ones. Stay safe, and we look forward to seeing all of the smiling faces back for an exciting Term 2.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reach out to me via SeeSaw messages, or email – mlehmann@cns.catholic.edu.au

Kindest regards,

Maddi Lehmann

Year 3B Classroom Teacher

Hello families of Year 4!

What an exciting term! We certainly have been busy! We have made some excellent progress in all areas and we continue to celebrate our success!

In Science, we recreated weathering and erosion. We were able to observe the speed and severity of the changes to the earth’s surface. It was interesting to learn and discover the difference between human and natural erosion! Look at our photos!

In English, we have been written entertaining poems about all different kinds of characters! We’ve written about spoilt dogs, hungry mice and angry axolotls! Here are some samples of our writing.

In History, we have used all our knowledge about the historical events of the First Fleet to write a letter from the perspective of a convict. We got to stain our own paper to make the letters look more old-fashioned.

The highlights of this term were Cross Country and our swimming lessons. We have learnt different swimming techniques and we know how to be safe in and around the water, including rescuing someone with a floatation device. We also used our very own life jackets!

Hello families and friends of Year 5,

Welcome to the end of Term 1! It flew super-fast and I am sure there are some kids excited for the holidays. Thank you to everyone who was able to come and support us at our swimming carnival, it was a great day with some super fish amongst us. Over the past few weeks, we have been busy with our assessment and consolidating our learning.

English – the students have done a fantastic job in drafting, writing, editing and publishing off their final narrative pieces. This involved looking deeply at the structure and language conventions used across an imaginative text.

Maths – we have been looking hard at multiplication over the last few weeks, and learning the different strategies we can use to solve problems. Another skill is realizing the relationship between multiplication and division.

Religion – in Religion the students have been researching Project Compassion and how it follows Jesus’ law of love. We looked at three different people from overseas who are in the program and how they have been supported through our money raised.

Thank you all for a fantastic term 1, I hope you have a lovely school holiday break with your families and a safe, dry Easter.

Kind Regards,

Emily

Year 6 Update

What a fast and frenzied four weeks!

As a teacher, my highlight was watching the Yr 6 class participate beyond expectations and lead the school in so many ways at our Swimming carnival. Our Yr 6 Jump off was one to remember as well!

This photo sums it all up: Thank you Tye, Mike, Paetyn, Vanessa, Jackson, Jed, Toby, Dave. Daston and Alex for your participation and hard yards in the pool. Dean as well.

Our swimming lessons have focused on swimming stamina, water safety and survival skills. It was very evident that our kids know what to do when something untoward occurs and they have to help someone out. Using the life jackets was a great experience for them, as was using the rescue floating device to rescue someone. They have certainly grown in their confidence and stamina in the pool as a result of the programme. Their survival water skills will hold them in good stead for the future, just knowing how to tread water for a long time, do survival strokes and predict how to help others is a life skill.

In the classroom we have been busy learning about:

MATHS: division in different forms, and gaining more confidence about what strategy to use. Of course this all stems from multiplication, so we have also been drilling number facts and the reverse strategy.
Coding using the Cartesian Plane has encouraged students to understand what an important life skill this is and how to use it in real life.
HASS: Writing a Biography about a refugee or immigrant. The students are doing great research and learning a lot about the implications of what it is like for someone to start a new life in a different country and the challenges they have encountered.
RELIGION: We have been exploring about Jesus in the Bible and the different images of Jesus. Students have had to compare different ideas from writings about Jesus and then make their own judgement based on images and readings.

A highlight has been our Project Compassion fundraising, gaining Leadership roles and our Yr 1 Buddies. So many lovely photos of our activities so far with them.