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. 

We have finally come to the end of yet another busy term. Thank you to staff, students and parents for all your help to get us through. One more term to go.

FAREWELL

Today we said goodbye to our amazing groundsman, Sam Allen. In the short time Sam has been here he has made such a difference, and we will miss him.  The position will be advertised, and we will start the recruitment process next term.

The following families will also be leaving us, and we wish them all the best. We know they will take with them fond memories of St Joeys.

Hope Family

Woodley Family

Sebasio Family

WELCOME

Next term we welcome our new school counsellor, Sandi Brown. Sandi is excited to be servicing our school and will be joining us in the second week of next term as her first visit to the school to meet everyone.

We also welcome Francess Abella to the role of casual School Officer. Francess is a familiar face in Weipa, and we look forward to having Francess on our staff next term to assist in classes. Francess is also helping to polish our choir for our special visitor’s next term.

YEAR 6 TRANSITION DAYS

I had the privilege of attending the second transition day with Miss Libby and the year 6 students this week. They were able to participate in sewing, making a keyring from Perspex, and science experiments. I would like to commend the class on their exemplary behaviour. Several teachers from WCC reinforced what I already knew that they were ready and well prepared to move up to high school. Not long to go!

YEAR 5 LEADERSHIP

We have started to prepare our Year 5 students for their role next year as school leaders. Mrs Ridgley and Mrs Dore spoke to the class on many topics around leadership so they fully understand the journey they will take next year. As year 5 parents, your guidance and wisdom play an important part in growing them for the future. Good luck year 5 students!

NATIONAL PARENT SURVEY

The CSPA 2024 Parent Survey on Student Wellbeing and Learning is seeking your

perspective as parents/carers of children who attend a Catholic School in Australia.

You are invited to share your views on existing and emerging affirmations and/or

challenges in relation to your child/children’s wellbeing and learning. Please consider

completing this anonymous, confidential, and completely voluntary online survey.

The survey will be open until 11^th October.

More information about the study, how to participate, and how to have questions

answered, can be found here.

ST JOSEPH JOEY

Congratulations to Sophia Hofman on her winning entry in our “name the joey” competition. Our little joey has a name finally. He will be called “Saint” Joey. Thank you to everyone who bought money in, we raised $77 which will go towards his upkeep as a donation to Weipa Wildlife Care.

Thanks again for another brilliant term. Stay safe and enjoy family time over the break.

Bishop Joe’s Ordination 

Wow! What an event to witness! Thank you to those that joined us in the Flexible Learning Space on the night and travelled to Cairns to represent our school. It was a special occasion for our diocese. We look forward to meeting Bishop Joe in person next term when he visits Weipa with Fr. Dariusz. It sounds like he is a keen fisherman, so he will be looking forward to fishing while he is here. 

NAIDOC 

On Monday 12th August we were invited to the WCC NAIDOC Opening Ceremony. We went to represent our school with two of our Year 6 Leaders, Paetyn and Marley S. We were treated to a beautiful traditional song sung by local elders and the WCC choir, local dancers and viewed some of the students’ amazing NAIDOC artwork. 

Then on Friday 16th August we were invited back for their NAIDOC Closing Ceremony. This time we went with all Year 5 and 6 students. We watched many different talented First Nations dancers dressed in traditional clothing, from the local area and the Torres Strait. The students also enjoyed watching the Rugby League match against the senior students. 

Rodeo 

Thanks to our staff who donated their time to (wo)man the gate at the Weipa Rodeo on the Saturday night. With the money we raised going to support the Reynolds family. This photo only shows some of our staff on the night, there were many more covering the different shifts throughout the night.

We celebrated all our St Joey’s father figures with a Father’s Day liturgy, smoko and play on Thursday 29th August. It was heartwarming to see our church packed full of love on this morning. The students gave our visitors a blessing and loved having them join us for the morning. St Joseph, a wonderful father figure to Jesus, would be pleased that a church in his name was so full of fatherly love. 

Staff Retreat 

Our Pupil Free Day on Friday 30th August was well spent with our staff having a Laudato Si’ experience run by Nadine, a member of our Identity and Outreach Team in Cairns. The day helped us to better understand the deep connection First Nations people have to country. We related the First Nations peoples Caring for Country to the Pope’s Encyclical Laudato Si’ and it allowed us to contemplate actions that we can take in our personal and school life to live Laudato Si’. We spent time at Gongbung Beach, Achimbun Cultural Centre and school. 

What is Laudato Si’ 

It is an encyclical of Pope Francis published in May 2015. It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans, and the Earth. The encyclical’s subtitle, “Care for Our Common Home,” reinforces these key themes. An encyclical is a public letter from the Pope developing Catholic teaching on a topic often in light of current events. Laudato Si’ is addressed to “every living person on this planet” (LS 3). Hence, it is offered as part of an ongoing dialogue within the Catholic Church and between Catholics and the wider world. 

Visit: https://laudatosimovement.org/news/whats-the-best-2-page-summary-youve-seen-of-laudato-si/ to learn more 

Indigenous Literacy Day 

This year, Indigenous Literacy Day celebrates the theme ‘Be A Proud Voice for Country’. It’s an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Stories, Cultures, and Languages. Indigenous Literacy Day is held on the first Wednesday of September ‑ this year Wednesday 4 September. The day is about sharing the diversity of First Nations languages and cultures with audiences across Australia and some of the deep and diverse ways children, Elders and families connect with Country; and the significance of Country in Aboriginal Communities. 

In celebration of Indigenous Literacy Day, Year 1 shared their knowledge of a locally written Indigenous story, ‘We Look, We Find’, with the rest of the school. This book can be purchased from the Achimbun Cultural Centre in Weipa. 

Jump Rope for Heart 

After 5 weeks of fundraising and skipping we celebrated all our skipping efforts with a Jump Off Day last Friday. Not only have our students had a blast learning some cool skipping tricks and getting fit, as a school community we raised $6800 for The Heart Foundation!!! What an effort! Thank you to all the families that donated to make this possible. I still remember participating in Jump Rope for Heart when I was a kid, which of course wasn’t that long ago... so I’m sure this is an experience our students will remember for years to come!

Year 5 Leadership Day 

This Monday I spent time with the Year 5 students for a Leadership Day. We are changing the structure of our Student Leadership and this day was a good way to introduce students to what it means for them next year and what it means to be a leader. The students participated in activities based on leadership, values and teamwork. They looked at the qualities of great leaders and reflected on their own qualities that they would bring to a leadership role next year.  

R U OK? Day 

We will hold our R U OK? Day on the last day this term. All students can wear yellow to bring attention to the day and will participate in some wellbeing activities.   

Ask R U OK? Any Day because life happens every day.  A lot can happen in a year, a month, a week.  Whether it’s your friend, family member, colleague, partner, or teammate, the people you care about go through life’s ups and downs every day. By having regular, meaningful conversations, you build trust and normalise talking about what’s really going on, so when the people in your world find themselves struggling, they know you’re someone they can talk to. 

So whilst R U OK? Day only has one National Day of Action, we encourage you to Ask R U OK? Any Day of the year because a conversation could change a life. 

Thank you for all your support this term. Happy holidays! 

Mrs Julie Dore 

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 Three and what a busy time it has been – Assessment, Parent Teacher Interviews, Weipa Rodeo, Book Week and Father’s Day celebrations.  

Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs)       

This Term the teachers are currently 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 are currently meeting with Parents of PLP students this Term.    

From Week 8 I will been on Long Service and will return to school for Week 1 of Term 4. If you need any assistance while I am away, please contact the Office.  

I would like to take this time to wish you all a very relaxing holiday and I hope you enjoy some quality time with your family. I look forward to seeing you all in Term 4.  

Kind Regards,   

Melanie Turner.   

Learning and Teaching

Happy end of term 3! What a great term of learning we had had. It was amazing to see everyone’s personalities came out in their costumes for book week. Everyone really showed and appreciate the magic of reading.

Thank you to all the St Joey’s families that participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. We had lots of students participate, please keep an eye out for an announcement of when we will present the certificates. 

Science Week

In week 8, it was National Science Week and students participated in the making a zoetrope. A zoetrope was first documented and explained in 1833, by a Mathematician named William Horner. However, some historians believe that this original type of animation could date back to the early Greeks.

Digital Career’s Workshop

St Joseph’s was lucky enough to participate in a Digital Careers Workshop. Our students in years 3 – 6 participated throughout the day with Sam from the Digital Carrer Department team supported by Rio Tinto. The workshop teaches students creative digital technology skills, and as a group they will be building a website that shares information on their local town via podcast, video, and graphic design. The students were able to design apps, interview each other and experiment with a various digital equipment to make a small movie. Once this has been edited and returned to us, we are hoping to share it on Facebook.

Welcome to Week 10 and our last week of the term. I can’t believe how fast this term has flown by (and year) and it has been so rewarding watching how far your little ones have grown since the start of the year.  

We’ve had so many exciting things happening this term and it has been such a great term for showing how far we’ve grown with our learning. We’ve enjoyed many school events this term including NAIDOC Week celebrations, Catholic Education Week celebrations, Science Week, Father’s Day, Jump Rope for Heart and our incursion from Healthy Harold teaching us all about personal safety. We are also very much look forward to presenting at Assembly on the last Friday of term and have been practising this week in class.  

In English we have enjoyed learning all about procedural texts and it’s been a fun experience working with texts from a range of topics to extend our learning. Our favourite has been the recipes, and we have loved being able to recreate some of these in class.  

In Maths, we’ve moved from learning all about numbers to 30 to patterning and positional language. We’ve enjoyed this learning and all the hands-on learning opportunities it’s provided for us to explore in class. 

Religion has seen us continue learning about the Golden Rule of treating others how we would like to be treated and how we can be kind to others. We’ve done such a great job of identifying this rule in a range of stories from the New Testament in the Bible and our own lives as well. 

In Science we have almost wrapped up our learning about materials and their properties and loved designing and creating party hats for a range of different weather events. 

In Media Arts, we’ve enjoyed learning how to create digital stories and are looking forward to creating our very own final pieces this week using Art Maker. We have learnt all about creating stories throughout our English units and it has been great being able to transfer some of this learning to a new and exciting context. 

In PE, we wrapped up learning about structured games and rules and have enjoyed our skipping unit. We have many budding and enthusiastic jump ropers in Prep, and it was so great to see them showcase these talents during our ‘Jump Off’ on Friday. Health has seen us continue personal safety and how we can keep ourselves and others safe. We’ve enjoyed participating in the Daniel Morcombe Personal Safety units and a special visit on Zoom from Healthy Harold the giraffe. 

Technologies has helped us this term broaden our knowledge and understanding about a range of software and hardware that we use in our lives. We’ve enjoyed being able to use a range of these in class and it has contributed to us strengthening our abilities to use a range of ICT’s to enhance our learning and everyday lives. 

As always, we love participating in our weekly AUSLAN lessons with Mrs Dore and it’s been so great seeing the range of signs the children have learnt. They are getting very confident in using AUSLAN to communicate to one another and can even sign some simple sentences. 

We are gearing up for a very busy and fun filled term next term. It’s hard to believe that it’s our final one together but we are looking forward to all the things that Term Four has in store for us. Once again, we thank you for your continued support and dedication towards your child’s learning journey and encourage you to reach out if you need with any questions or concerns.  

Many thanks and we wish you a happy and enjoyable break, 

Miss Backhouse and Miss Rachael. 

Here we are again, at the end of another busy term. So much has been happening in the past 5 weeks with students consolidating their understanding in our units of work as well as some wonderful events where many memories have been made.  

Our increase in knowing how to write informative texts has grown with us having to write one on animal of our choice from the Australia Zoo. We are using our describing words as well as ensuring we have super sentences. Our ability to add and subtract has improved dramatically with students using 2 digit numbers. Our range of strategies are continuing to improve as we have moved through the term.  

We have loved our PE lessons this term with us working on improving our skipping skills. Some of us couldn’t skip at the beginning and now we all can. It has been great to see so many happy faces during these lessons and the resilience has really shone brightly during these lessons.  

We have loved all the dress up days with students enthusiastically getting into the themes. Even though we have been busy we are taking time to appreciate our friends and work on our ability to get along with others as well as take care of others. We are understanding how we take care of ourselves and keep ourselves safe in unfamiliar situations.  

We have had so many birthdays this term and that means many celebrations. So many of these birthdays have fallen on the weekends but we still take time to celebrate others. As we finish the term, it also means we have to say goodbye to our great friend Shiloh. We wish the Hope family all the best in Gladstone and I’m sure Shiloh will be making some new friends that will be just as awesome as his Weipa friends.   

We hope you have a restful break and look forward to our last term in Year 1.  

Dear Parents and Carers of Year 2, 

Wow what a busy term we have had so far! Lots of fun including Book Week, Rodeo dress up day, Jump Rope for Heart and our Fathers Day Liturgy. It was lovely seeing so many of our Dads attending  the church service and staying afterwards to have a play and chat with the children during first break. Thank you also parents for all your efforts in dressing up your children for our fun dress  sup days this term.   

In English this term students have been continuing to dive into informative texts. We know the difference between and informative text and imaginative and can identify the purpose and features of each. Students have been learning all about different animals this term including bats, crocodiles, cassowaries, kangaroos, snakes  and frogs – many animals relevant to where we live here in Weipa. Students have been writing their own informative texts and typing them into their parenting keyboards. They are ensuring they include all the details such as subheadings and facts. In reading students have been working on strategies such as asking questions, inferring,  making connections, summarising and finding the main idea through our comprehension lessons.  

In Maths students have been working with calendars and fractions. We have been working out how many days between events and how to place fractions on a number line. Students have also been recapping their time knowledge using mini clocks. We have also been using BeeBots to code and understand direction which also ties into our Technology Unit.  

In Science this term we are learning about the past with Mrs Barber. It has been interesting to learn about all the different ways people used objects in the past. In Religion we have been listening to stories about forgiveness in the Bible and offering ways in which we can be forgiving. In Science students are learning about Biology and  life cycles to tie into our English unit.  In PE we have been enjoying TBall skills and of course skipping lessons for our Jump Off Day in Week 9. We have also been using the IMotion App on our iPads to create some moving stories with Lego. In The Arts students have been participating in Drama games and activities and learning how to bring stories to life through action, movement and gesture.  

As always, please feel free to contact me via SeeSaw or my e-mail ttapper@cns.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions or concerns, 

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe and happy holidays,  

Kind Regards, 

Mrs Tash Tapper.  

It's hard to believe we're already in Week 10! As we wrap up the term, it's wonderful to see how much our students have grown and achieved. 

In Mathematics, we've been solving real-life problems using addition, subtraction, and multiplication, helping students see how these skills apply in the world around them. 

In English, our focus has been on writing procedural texts and recounts, sharpening our ability to give clear instructions and share personal experiences with detail. 

Science has been fascinating as we've explored the Earth, Sun, and Moon, understanding how their rotations and revolutions bring about day and night, as well as the changing seasons. 

Our Religion lessons have been rich with discussions about the sacraments, helping students deepen their understanding of these important spiritual practices. 

In Health, we've emphasized the importance of safety and how to keep ourselves safe in various situations—a vital life skill. 

PE has been full of energy as we've learned new skipping tricks, building both fitness and coordination. 

Finally, in Spanish, we've made great strides in learning the alphabet and numbers, opening the door to new language skills. 

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to seeing even more growth in term 4. We hope you have a fun and safe holiday! 

Kind Regards Year 3 Teaching Team  

Mrs Hamilton and Miss Peters  

What a wonderful term in Year 4! We have certainly been busy! From Book Week to Jump Off Day, there have been some major highlights! Not forgetting all our fabulous learning!  

In English, we became travel agents! We wrote a persuasive magazine article about a country we’ve love our clients to travel to! We completed the entire writing process – researching, planning, drafting, editing, and publishing! We are excited to share our magazine articles with the class this week!  

In Religion, we continued our work with Mrs Grant and wrote our own letters inspired by the journeys and the work of Saint Paul. We read scripture and uncovered Paul’s message about Jesus and his ministry to help us write our own letters to our own community! We wanted to make authentic scrolls. 

In HASS, our portfolios have finally come together! We have added to our portfolios each week to create a recommendation for either South America or Africa. Using geographical information, we chose which would be the best to visit and provided evidence!  

In Maths, fractions have been our focus. We have worked on fractions of a shape, fractions of a collection, fractions on a number line, and equivalent fractions. You can see in our work that we even began using our multiplication and division facts to simplify them! What fantastic work! 

Hello families and friends of Year 5,  

Thank you for a great term 3! The students have done a fantastic job this term and developed stronger resilience and patience as they move towards leadership next year. On Monday in week 10, the students participated in a leadership day, as they start preparing for Year 6. We worked through the how the leadership program will run next year and the students now have access to leadership application packs for 2025.  

Our skipping has been fantastic! Every PE lesson, each student has given it their best shot in learning new tricks and skills with the skipping rope. We have been working on our criss-cross and pretzel technique and it is fantastic to see the student’s demonstrating resilience.  

In English, the students have been publishing their persuasive pieces of writing. The students presented their persuasive speeches about clean water access, immunisation or student education. They took on feedback well to improve their tone, pitch, eye contact and body language when public speaking. 

In Science, the students investigated different experiments to do with light. We were able to identify how light travels and the different reflection, absorption and shadows that light can cause.  

Wishing you all a fun, safe school holidays! We have a 9 week term next term, which always goes super-fast! If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  

Kind Regards, 

Emily 

We have had a great 4 weeks of learning and consolidating concepts. The quality of the students’ Persuasive speeches was very impressive, all that hard work paid off!  They delivered to Yr 2, 4 and 5 classes and were given feedback from the younger students.  

We are now reviewing grammatical concepts in English and last week the students wrote a persuasive letter to Mrs Porter as their final assessment.  

We have completed the Real Talk sessions, hopefully the conversations we had in class also generated some good discussions at home.  

Our Maths work has been quite varied and more hands on. We have learnt about more complicated angles and applying the rules to find missing angle measurements. We learnt about the mode, median and mean of a group of numbers and how to apply this to daily situations. Using specific keys on the calculator has been interesting and how this can also apply to real life situations. Last week we looked at transformations of shapes and manipulating shapes to follow specific steps of translating, reflecting, gliding and rotating. Great progress from all students. 

Our Religion focus has been on mediative prayer and we have looked at using mandalas, mantras, drawings and icons to help connect to how prayer can be in many different forms. 

This week we will have a heavy focus on HASS and Science.  Students enjoyed  Transition Day to WCC yesterday, participating in different subjects.

Fantastic effort on skipping skills for our Jump Off day on Friday last week!  The kids loved the challenges, particularly the long rope and doing the tricks. The progress made was outstanding. 

Miss Libby