A blessing for the holidays.

Take time to claim your strength; this is a gift from God.

Take time to have fun; it is God’s way of teaching you your strengths.

Take time to grow yourself; only you can grow you.

Take time to trust yourself; God trusts you.

Take time to be self-reliant; it is better than being dependent.

Take time to share with others; they will bless you and you will bless them.

Take time to have hope; you are a child of God.

Amen

Monday 15th July - First Day of Term 3

29th July - 2nd August - Catholic Education Week

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Well, another term has flown by with lots of interesting activities along the way. We have successfully participated in NAPLAN, had an Athletics Carnival, marched on ANZAC Day, had fun at Under 8’s day and worked hard to do our best in all things. Students have participated in the Reader’s Cup, Drama Club, STEM Club, Art Club, dressed up for State of Origin and represented the school at Peninsula Athletic trials. Teachers have participated in professional development with the goal to improve teaching and learning, attended school-based functions out of hours, moderated schoolwork and focused on being the best they can be each and every day.

We have had numerous education specialists visit throughout the term from Catholic Education Services Cairns to supported us in improving student learning. Yesterday, our school was lucky to receive a visit from the Executive Director of Cairns Catholic Schools, Mr Bill Dixon. It was great opportunity for Mr Dixon to walk through our school, to meet our students and see the learning occurring at St Joseph’s.

Thank you to all the parents and caregivers who have supported their children at home and in the classroom and supported the teachers and the school in the many and varied ways that you do. Your help on all levels is always noticed and appreciated.

Thank you to all the staff for your hard work, your continued energy and efforts to improve teaching and learning on all levels. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Please travel carefully if you are visiting out of town and come back to us all safe and sound.

God Bless!

Megan

Last week of term and who would have thought we would be heading into the holidays so quickly again. This week we would like to say a huge ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who was involved with Under 8’s day last Friday. The day was a tremendous success and it was wonderful spending time with all of the educators, families and associated community groups in our town. We had over 400 people attend and the response from a variety of families have been very positive and they were glad they were able to come along to celebrate.

This week we also saw us hold our End of term mass to celebrate our upcoming rest and leisure break as well as to farewell two more families leaving our school community and have our Executive Director, Mr Bill Dixon present our annual St Joseph Spirit Awards. It is with sadness that we will be losing two families due to relocation. We would like to wish them a safe and wonderful new chapter in their family lives and thank them for choosing and being a part of our St Joseph’s community.

I would also like to let you all know that I will be heading overseas on Long service leave for a month so will not be back until Week 4 of Term 3. In my absence Mrs Turner will fill the role of APRE. I wish you all a well-deserved break and see you next term.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION REPORTS:

Religious Education is the first subject that appears when you open your child’s report card. In perusing your child’s results, it is important that you understand what these results and comments are saying about your child, and what they’re not saying.

What information does a child’s R.E. report give?

The R.E. report will give you an indication of your child’s achievement in an academic study of Christianity in the Catholic Tradition. It also gives an indication of the effort that your child is putting into the participation in, and completion of, tasks set for this subject. Tasks set for R.E. may involve a range of activities including analyses of biblical texts, research of various religious organisations, planning and engaging in religious rituals, etc.

So what is your child’s teacher telling you?

Your child’s teacher is not making any statement about your child’s faith. Faith is a relationship between your child and God. While it is possible to evaluate relationships, one must be careful when making such assessments based only on one context, in this case, the school context. It would be a mistake to read that a child is not achieving at the expected standard in Religious Education and assume that this equated to an under-par faith life. Such an assumption would be going beyond the teacher’s intention in providing the report. It would also be a mistake to assume that very high achievement in Religious Education was equated to a deep faith. People of deep faith range from those who struggled academically in all areas, including R.E. to those who are quite adept academically. This is also true of people who do not value faith. So, a reading of a child’s Religious Education report should be done with a similar understanding to a reading of reports in other subjects: it is an indication of your child’s academic achievement in this subject and an indication of the effort that they have put into their achievement.

On some R.E. reports there may be a comment about a child’s participation in prayer: isn’t this a comment about the faith life of the child?

In a word: ‘No’.

It is true that faith is an interior attitude that may have some visible signs including participation in prayers and liturgies and other aspects of the religious life of the school. It would, however, be unwise to suggest that one indicates the other. In the Cathedral is a sign that reminds visitors that the building is a place of prayer. It clearly suggested that respectful quiet was the appropriate attitude here, regardless of whether a visitor was a practising Catholic, or a person of another religious tradition, or a person who held no religious affiliation and simply wanted to view the stained-glass windows. All visitors were welcome, but there was a ‘level of participation’ that was expected regardless of the faith position of the visitor. Similarly, should I visit the place of worship of another religious tradition, regardless of my own faith position, it would be most appropriate for me to have an attitude of respect towards their sacred space.

St Joseph’s Parish school has been established as a school in the Catholic Tradition, and a normal part of its functioning is the celebration of religious rituals. The participation in these rituals is an expectation of all students who wish to share in the life of the school. Those who have taken steps to more fully enter into the life of the Church participate differently at times; for example, our First Eucharist candidates will now receive Communion. All students learn about the practice and history of Catholic rituals in their R.E. classes. Their participation in religious rituals can be an indication of many things. It may indeed indicate a level of faith. It may also indicate a level of learning. It may be an indication of a child’s confidence; or perhaps an indication of wisdom in a child, who recognises that even though they haven’t fully bought into the faith position of the community, it is important to participate respectfully.

A teacher’s comment about the participation of a child in various Catholic rituals is intended to be taken at face value: it is about the participation and not intended as a commentary on a child’s faith.

Blessings for a wonderful break, stay safe and God bless,

Amanda

Parent_brochure_for_SRS.pdf

Parent_brochure_for_SRS _pdf 501.11 KB

Have you moved? Gotten a new job? Have a new phone number? Perhaps a new email address.

It is important to update your personal information with the school. We need this information to contact you for a number of reasons but most importantly if there is an emergency. You are able to see your personal information on the Parent Portal if you would like to check.

You can update your information via the parent portal, emailing or phoning the office or come in and see us in person. Thank you

The Prep students have worked very hard throughout the term and deserve a well earned break. We had a wonderful time at Under 8’s Day last Friday. There were so many great activities and fun to be had. Miss Michele and I enjoyed be part of the face painting.

As reading is a big focus in Prep it would be fantastic to keep reading with your child daily for enjoyment. I included a list of tricky words that were covered in term 2: I, the, my, a, is, was, you, to, they, said, are, he, she, me, be, we, were, has, look, one, his, her, them and there. Thank you all for a wonderful term.

Have a fantastic and safe holiday and we look forward to seeing you all in Term 3.

Miss Knight

Year 1 have had a smashing finish to Term 2! We had fun celebrating Under 8’s Day together, with highlights being sharing lunch with friends from outside of St Joseph’s, good times at the photo booth and demonstrating lots of creativity. Please have a look at the photos of our day on the School website.

The students have shown terrific growth in their learning and I am very proud of each of them. In English we have learned new digraphs, trigraphs and even quadgraphs. We can tell you all about suffixes and how they change the meaning of a word. Today we will be bringing our Term 2 work home to show you what we are most proud. We will also have our Term 3 overview to show you what we are looking forward to learning next term, so please keep an eye out for it in our bags.

In Maths we have been consolidating our number sense using place value and have been practising regrouping numbers based on tens and ones. We had fun counting our Earn and Learn stickers and representing different numbers using these sheets.

In Religion we have been learning about Jesus’s message of faith and forgiveness and how this is important to us today. We have been comparing his message to having a Growth Mindset and the importance of believing in ourselves and our abilities succeed. We will continue this unit in Term 3.

I would like to thank you for your contribution to Year 1 having a fantastic Term 2. I wish you and your families a happy and safe holiday. I look forward to welcoming the students back in Term 3 refreshed and ready to learn.

Mrs Bienvenu

Can you believe Term 2 has come to an end already? Time seems to fly past so quickly as we are always so busy! The class has had a great end of term. Well done to everyone for their effort and resilience when it came to completing assessment tasks.

Next term we will see a few changes with sight words. It would be great to know that every student is practising their sight words and reading every night. If your child has lost their sight word book, please let me know and we will create a new one. There are many overdue library books so please check your home in case you have one that needs to be returned.

Attendance has been low for Year Two this fortnight with 11 students in the red zone, which means they have attended school less than 90% of the time. Hopefully we see a full class next term!

I wish you all a safe and restful break and hope the kids are eager to get back into the swing of things next term.

Miss Holly

We have made it to the end of what has been a busy term. The students these past two weeks have been completing interest projects that were presented to the class this week. This is a great starting point for us all for next semester when we will complete information reports. It has provided myself with insight into their researching skills as well as presentation skills.

Our Math lessons have been about finishing our unit on data analysis and completing some revision on the concepts covered this term. We have continued our poetry lessons in our writing sessions and the students have created some descriptive and creative haikus and cinquains poems. A highlight over the past two weeks has been using the Spheros. We have learnt how to adjust the speed, direction and how long the Spheros can travel. We also learnt how to program speech and colour changes.There was plenty of healthy competition and using digital technology resources was definitely a hit.

Our attendance these past weeks have been so much better with 18 out of 21 of our students attending 95-100% of the time. Well done. I’d like to wish everyone a restful break during the holidays and look forward to another busy term next term.

Mrs Edmonds

Another busy term finished! It has been pleasing to see improvement for all students across different subject areas. We still have a lot of content and skills to cover next semester but it is a good motivation to see how far we have already come. To continue seeing improvement and growth in your child, it’s important to be completing the homework tasks. These tasks help consolidate skills and commit them to long term memory. Reading everyday has benefits for people of all ages but even more so for children still at school. Children are going through a time period where they are going through a lot of growth physically, emotionally and academically. To keep up with their classmates and state reading averages, regular practise is key. I have modified the reading program in the classroom and will continue to make changes as I discover what helps the students best. At the moment, the students are reading in their reading lesson and for about 15 minutes after lunch. We need your help and commitment by spending 20 minutes a night listening to your child read. Together, we can help your child succeed.

In the last fortnight, nearly three quarters of the class has been present every single day. This is great to see, especially around reporting time and to help the students succeed. Next term, I am hoping to have a full class every day!

We are continuing to work on poems in writing. The students have been learning about different poetic devices like alliteration, rhyme and rhythm. This week the students made poems using alliteration starting with the first letter of their name.

In maths, we have been working on developing our reasoning when solving problems. This is an important skill for a couple of reasons. This allows me to see how the child works out the problem and if the answer is incorrect, I can normally see where the error is in their explanation. It is also an important skill because it is transferable to other subject areas. A student who knows how to explain and justify an answer in maths may also find it easier to justify opinions in persuasive texts.

One last piece of housekeeping. The students have been working very hard in maths and have filled nearly two maths books! Next term, please send your child with another two grid books for maths. Please also check with your child if they need any more stationery items or headphones replacing. We would appreciate any boxes of tissues as well, especially with all the runny noses about.

Thank you for your support this semester and please feel free to contact me about any concerns you have with your child or their report card. Have a safe and happy holiday!

Miss Briody

Our highlight last week was a visit from Laurel and an elder from Napranum, Marianne Coconut. Both spoke to us about the power of fire in aboriginal culture and how this is very evident around Weipa. They explained the process of back burning locally and how this occurs. The students enjoyed listening to the talk, learning more about the culture and traditions of local people.

Last week everyone worked hard to complete assessment and work on research tasks set. Topics such as Geography: Bushfires Poster, Religion: Individual Prayer Presentation, Technology: Ready Set Go. In Pairs, students presented their version of Ready Set Go and it has been such a confidence building activity for each student. Very impressed with the outcomes and the enthusiasm most students had when doing this.

We have reviewed assessment given for tasks and the students have taken on feedback from myself or peers. Every student has progressed, particularly in writing.

It has been an emotional week for many, with Daniel, Samuel and Cordy leaving us. All three students are foundation students at St Joseph’s and have made very strong connections at school. We wish each student and their families the best in their new journey. They will be very much missed in our class. We have celebrated with 2 class parties! Thank you, parents, for your support this term. I know many students are going away these holidays, so enjoy your time with them. Rest them up for next term!

Mrs Libby

Term two has been a busy term in the year 6 classroom. Our major theme this term has been Countries of the world, and each student has made a study of a particular country in the Asia-Pacific region. As well as collecting and discussing statistics, we have produced slideshows and brochures to promote our countries as tourist destinations, and compared aspects of life in the countries we have studied with Australia. In Maths we have consolidated our knowledge of measurement and description of various shapes using the metric system, as well as revising our knowledge of basic Mathematical operations. We have also been moving to a more problem-based approach to maths, using our maths skills to solve real-world questions.

Most of the students in year 6 have finished, or come very close to finishing many of their workbooks, especially in the core subjects of Maths, English and Religion. It would be helpful if everyone could come along to the new term with at least 3 new A4 lined books (some students may need more) so that we can start the new semester with new books. We will also be phasing in the use of pens, rather than pencils, for most of our schoolwork, so each student will need a supply of black and/or blue pens.

I would like to wish all the year 6 students and families a happy and safe holiday, and look forward to seeing you in term 3.

Mr Mitchell

Week 9

Prep - Chastyn Lyon and Charlotte Collins

Year 1 - Genevieve Sheltono and Domonic Johnson

Year 2 - Sophia Sorbello and Oliver Scott

Year 3 - Ewa McNamara and Luke Wright

Year 4 - Ryan Potter and Jackeal Day

Year 5 - Kyan Welby and Ethan Edmondson

Year 6 - Linh Tran and Natasha Winaulin

Spirit of St Joseph Award Winners

This year we were very fortunate to have the Spirit of St Joseph Awards presented to our students by Mr Bill Dixon, Executive Director of Catholic Education Services.

The Spirit of St Joseph awards symbolise the gospel values which we live out here at St Joseph’s. We love to see our students achieve and we seek to recognise deserving students. These awards recognise children from each class who demonstrate those qualities associated with St Joseph. These qualities include humility, justice, compassion. These students have worked together with their peers, as constructive members of their class showing respect for others, generosity and helpfulness towards staff and their classmates. They have made a genuine effort to do their best in all aspects of school. We are so very proud of you all and thank you for everything you offer our school.

Congratulations to our 2019, Spirit of St Joseph’s Award recipients.