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- Prayer of the Week
- News from the Principal - Megan Pearce
- APRE & Curriculum News
- Family Prayer of the Week
- Term 4 School Fees
- School Events
- SEL Learning Term 4
- PE News
- Year 1 News
- Year 2 News
- Year 3 News
- Year 4 News
- Year 5 News
- Year 6 News
- Star Students and Principal Awards
- Train Track Safety News from RIO
- Important Dates
News from the Principal - Megan Pearce
Dear St Joseph’s families and friends,
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a relaxing break. It was great to see so many happy and smiling faces back at school last week. The start of a new term is always an extremely exciting time for both students and staff, particularly the final term of the school year.
I really enjoy this part of the year where we can reflect on the year to date and marvel on the academic, emotional and spiritual development of each child in the school.
With only seven weeks to go before another school year ends, there is so much happening between now and 27th November. The end of year is always a very hectic time filled with orientation days, farewells, graduations, report cards and so forth.
Term 4 also signals the final term of Primary School for our Year 6 classes. This class has had to endure COVID restrictions for many of the ‘normal events’ that take place for them in their final year. Thankfully, they did get to attend the Year 6 Camp at ‘Camp Patterson’ near Mareeba last week. A great time was had by all and we look forward to hearing all the Camp adventures for some time to come. A huge thank you to Libby Lange, Meg Newell and Joe Simmons who attended Camp and made this invaluable experience possible.
Year 6 start transition visits to WCC this Thursday. Please keep our Year 6 classes in your thoughts and prayers as they prepare for the next stage of their lives.
In preparation for being Student Leaders in 2021, the Year 5 class participated in a Leadership Retreat and enjoyed a sleep over at school last Friday night. Thank you to Stacey Edmonds who organised and ran the Retreat/Sleepover. Also thank you to Joe Simmons who backed up after returning from the Year 6 Camp, to help supervise at the Sleepover.
We have many events arising in Term 4 after a crazy and unexpected year. While things continue to be different in the journey through COVID-19, we are striving to engage our community more, albeit in a different manner than before the pandemic.
We are in final stages of planning our end of year events. With COVID guidelines, the format of many of these will change. As more details become available, we will update families.
God Bless,
Megan Pearce
This week let us include in our prayers…..
- That our leaders will care for people of the world.
- For those who hunger for food, freedom or courage.
- For people who are too busy to care for themselves or for others.
May these prayers and all those we hold in our hearts, be felt by those who need them most.
Sunday’s Gospel- 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Please find shared in this week’s newsletter: the Sunday prayer at home which has some wonderful resources to unpack this week’s readings in a family friendly way.
In this week’s Gospel, Jesus uses another parable that involves food. Banquets and wedding feasts appear often in the scriptures as attractive images of human fellowship and communion with God. The wedding banquet in this week’s gospel, however, is bitter-sweet. It runs into a trial at which judgement is passed. When we think of a wedding feast it involves a community. Invitations are sent out to families and friends to come and gather together to celebrate. Feasts don’t just have to be for special occasions, friends and families gather regularly around barbeques, camp fires and dinning tables, they are an occasion of great festivity, food, story telling and laughter. Our families, schools and community parishes are also communities. It is interesting to reflect on how welcoming our communities are. I have travelled extensively over the years and struggle to recall a community as welcoming as Weipa. People are gracious, helpful, and marked with a spirit of joy. How fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful community that brings joy and laughter to all. This is similar to the kingdom of God, and raises the question and challenge for this week…..what can we do to be more welcoming to others, as Jesus calls us to be.
Canonisation of St Mary of the Cross Mackillop
This week we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the canonisation of our patron saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop. In my youth I attended a Josephite school and was taught by Sisters of St Joseph, who lived and breathed the example of their patron. In many ways her example has been an inspiration for me, both in her views of service to others and courage to tackle the challenges life throws at us. Mary’s canonisation has proved to be a powerful impetus for many of the world’s people in their efforts to recognise God in all of creation and especially those of the human family who are disposed and marginalised. Her spirit seems to act as a magnet for all who seek God. She is truly a remarkable example of humankind at its greatest.
Daniel Morcombe Curriculum
To assist parents with understanding the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum we will be holding an information session for parents on Thursday the 15th October at 5pm in the flexible learning space at school. The presentation will go for approximately 20 minutes followed by an opportunity for parents to ask questions about the Curriculum.
This is a great opportunity to learn about the curriculum and the messages your child will be receiving. We encourage you to attend so that you can discuss and reinforce these key safety messages with your children. We understand that this time may not suit everyone. If you are unable to attend the parent session, information about the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum can be found at www.education.qld.gov.au/child-safety-curriculum.
May St Joseph smile on you,
Meg Newell
Assistant Principal in Religious Education and
Curriculum Support Teacher
School Events for Term 4
School Photos will be held this Thursday 15th October. Please send students in normal school uniform not the sports uniform.
Pupil Free Day next Monday 19th October.
Year 6 Transition Days WCC
Week 2 Wednesday - Parent Info Evening 14th October / Thursday 15th October class visit
Week 3 Wednesday 21st October class visit
Week 4 Wednesday 28th October class visit
Week 5 Wednesday 4th November class visit
Prep Orientation Mornings
We are looking forward to meeting our new Prep students when they attend Prep Orientation Mornings held in week 3 and 4.
Week 3 Group A Thursday 22nd October / Group B Friday 23rd October
Week 4 Group A Thursday 29th October / Group B Friday 30th October
Staffing Update for 2021
In the last few weeks of Term 3 we completed teacher interviews for next year. I am pleased to announce that Justin Smith, Anneka Reynolds and Jane Ostler will join the St Joseph’s staff in 2021. We will welcome them to St Joseph’s when they join us for ‘Bump Up Day’ on Monday 16th November.
Interviews for the position of APRE will be held in week 3 and we hope to announce by end of week 4. Once the position of APRE is filled we can then allocate teachers to classes for 2021.
St Joseph’s School Song Launch
Great News! Josh Arnold has finished putting the St Joseph’s School song video clip together. We are excited to set the launch date as Wednesday 28th October. More details are waiting to be confirmed this week and then invitations will be sent to all families.
Social Emotional Learning for Term 4
This term our SEL focus will be on the Zones of Regulation. This program complements our established Second Step Social Emotional Learning Program from P-6.
“Zones” is designed to help students identify their feelings and emotional reactions and learn sensory and perspective taking strategies that encourage better self-regulation. This is a classroom and family friendly tool with wide application across students of all ages.
Using a cognitive behavioural approach, the learning activities are designed to help students recognize when they are in different states or “zones,” with each of four zones represented by a different colour:
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated, euphoric, or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behaviour, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however individuals have more control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.
All of the zones are natural to experience, but the framework focuses on teaching students how to recognize and manage their zone based on the demands of their environment and the people around them. Learn more in the article, All the Zones are OK! Tips for Managing the Zones You’re In. https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=all-the-zones-are-ok
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome back to Term 4, I hope you had a relaxing and restful holiday enjoying the beautiful weather.
This Term P.E for all students will be on Thursday, please wear Sports Uniform on the allocated day.
This Semester the students will be learning about the following concepts:
Prep - How can I be a good sport and play safely on a team?
Team sports, being a team player with a focus on whole class games. T-Ball skills put into place for team game.
Year 1 - How can I show value for myself and others?
In this unit the students perform fundamental movement skills in different movement situations. They construct and perform imaginative and original movement sequences in response to stimuli.
Year 2 - Ropes and Rhymes
In this unit students will perform long rope skipping sequences to rhymes. They will identify how their body responds to physical activity.
Year 3 - Scoot, Scoot - How can we safely scooter around?
In this unit the students will practise and refine fundamental movement skills in different movement situations, performing activities where locomotor and object control skills are combined to complete a movement task or challenge.
Year 4 - Bat, Catch, Howzat!
In this unit, students will apply strategies for working cooperatively and apply rules fairly. They will demonstrate refined striking/fielding skills and concepts in active play and games. They will apply skills, concepts and strategies to solve movement challenges in striking/fielding games.
Year 5 - Built for B-Ball
In this unit students will identify and explain the health-related fitness components used in basketball. They will explain the significance of physical activity to their everyday health and wellbeing.
Year 6 - Over the Net
In this unit, students will perform specialised tennis skills. They will combine and perform specialised tennis skills to open up space on the court to win the point or gain the upper hand within gameplay. They will demonstrate skills to work collaboratively and play fairly during tennis activities and games.
Due to unforeseen circumstances and Covid Restrictions the Term 4 Swimming Lessons and the Annual Twilight Carnival will not proceed this year. It is unfortunate however the safety of the students is our first priority.
This Term AFL Cape York, NRL and Northern Pride have indicated that they would like to visit St. Joseph's before the end of the year.
Regards,
Melanie Turner.
Hi everyone,
Welcome back to term 4! I trust you all had a lovely time with your families over the school holidays.
We have a busy term ahead. Please check the Welcome Back notices that I emailed out on the first day of school and contact me if you have any questions.
In maths we are exploring the concept of Chance and Shapes. The students have been completing activities with dice and rolling them 20 times to determine the chances of getting the numbers from 1 – 6.
I hope you all have a lovely week.
Kind Regards,
Emily
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I would like to welcome all Year 3 families back to school for Term 4 at St Joseph’s. I hope you all enjoyed the extra time with your child during the holidays.
General Information:
- Miss Newell will teach AUSLAN on Mondays
Health and Physical Education on Thursdays.
- Sports uniforms are required to be worn on Thursdays.
- Library Day Thursdays.
Religion: The Good News
Students will learn about Jesus the Messiah and the Good News that he brought to the world. They will locate and use information about the cultural contexts in which the Gospels were written and about the authors Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
English
Literacy Groups will continue this term with all students working according to their own individual reading ability. For Writing this term, students will engage in composing procedural recounts. They will be focusing on scientific procedures as it relates to the “Heating Up” Science unit.
Mathematics
Throughout this term, the students will be involved in mathematical activities across all strands. The following outlines the content that will be covered in Term 4. Week 1 Time, Week 2 Angles, Week 3 Shape, Week 4 Patterns, Week 5 Interpreting Data, Week 6- 7 Multiplication strategies, Week 8 Revision.
Geography- Places Are Similar and Different
Students investigate the settlement patterns and demographic characteristics of places and the lives of the people who live there. They will also research the different climates of places and use this information to predict what it would be like to live in a place with a different climate.
Digital Technologies: Secret Messages and Codes
Throughout this unit students will learn about Cryptography and the art of creating codes to represent data in a different ways. They will be introduced to encoding and decoding using secret messages, Braille, Morse Code, QR codes.
Science- Heating Up
Students will learn the different ways in which heat can be created and transferred through a variety of learning activities. Heating up provides students with hands-on opportunities to identify different heat sources, explore how heat moves from one object to another and inquire about ways heat is produced.
Homework
Homework will be distributed on Mondays and should be completed and returned to school on Friday.
-Reading: Students to complete 20-25 minutes of reading per night and complete the reading log.
-Homework grid- Students are to complete two activities from the grid from a range of key learning areas.
I look forward to another great term together. If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me via email (mgear@cns.catholic.edu.au) or the school office.
Kindest regards,
Mrs Michelle Gear
Welcome back to Term 4. It is great to be back after a glorious break and we hope you had a relaxing holiday and enjoyed some time with your family.
The term has started well in Year 4 and it is hard to believe that Week 1 is over already.
Below are some of the topics that Year 4 will be learning about this Term are:
Religion
How can relationships heal our world?
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Zones of Regulation
Engilsh
•Genre – Persuasive Text
•Guided Reading - Reading strategies & comprehension development (literal, inferential and applied)
•Spelling – (phonics, word origins, letter combinations, homophones, prefixes and suffixes, uncommon plurals, spelling rules, strategies to spell known and unknown words)
•Speaking and Listening- listen to and respond to texts, using appropriate voice, articulation, body language, eye contact and deliver short presentations to peers)
•Language elements (grammar, vocabulary and visual knowledge)
•Punctuation, proofreading and editing
Mathematics
•Number and Algebra
•Statistics and Probability
•Measurement and Geometry
Geography
What does Local Government do for me?
Science
Material World - Natural and Processed Materials
Arts - Music
Christmas Around the World
Reminders
Library Day is Wednesday – please ensure Library bag is packed on that day
Health and Physical Education
Teacher: Melanie Turner (Thursday)
Physical Education is Thursday – please wear Sports Uniform on that day
Health Lesson
Teacher Simmons (Thursday)
Auslan
Teacher: Meg Newall (Friday)
Communication
If you have any questions or queries, please email us on
mturner@cns.catholic.edu.au and sulanas@cns.catholic.edu.au
and we will endeavour to return your email within 24 hours.
Welcome back to what will be another busy term in Year 5. The students were welcomed back this week with participating in their retreat and sleepover at school. It was great to see everyone giving it their all during the day. Learning about servant leadership made us all realise that to be a great leader in life we need to consider the head, heart and hand method. We had to answer a number of questions, but one that stood out was... What do we want to be remembered for? This allowed us to think about what we want to do in our school community. Next year is looking hopeful and we are sure it will be a year to remember.
It was also nice to start the term off with our school prayer on Friday. Putting a focus on The Rosary was presented to the school. We informed everyone why we do this in October and what prayers are said. We are sure each class will love engaging in The Rosary throughout October just like we will.
This term we have a big focus on Natural Disasters in a number of learning areas. We will be learning about bushfires, floods, cyclones and many more. We will report on a Natural Disaster event that occurred in the past 100 years; create a variety of visual art pieces based on Natural Disasters; create and program flood gates or warning signals for Natural Disasters; and of course, learn about each of the disasters in detail so we can gain greater knowledge about why these happen in Australia and the world.
There are many different school events happening this term so please keep an eye on the Newsletter Important Dates and emails from myself.
Thursday continues to be a key day in Year 5: Homework will continue to be on Thursday for hand-in and go home Friday. Library day and sports uniform unless otherwise advised is also for Thursday.














Yr 6 Camp News by Yr 6 students
Our trip to Camp Patterson outside Mareeba will definitely be the highlight of our year and was just fantastic! The food was amazing, activities fun and motivating, lots of emphasis on teambuilding and using people’s strengths. Taking risks was a big focus as well. I am so proud of the way each student encouraged each other, showed leadership and acted in a mature way (well most of the time!). Miss Libby
General camp information
There were two teams, Blue team which contained Sienna, Jake, Jasmine, Liam, Kai, Jaiden and Angus. The other was Red with Luke, Sophie, Ramona, Jess, Tom, Charlie and Kyan. The teams had their own advantages and disadvantages. There was a point system so each time a team won an activity they got 200 points and the other got 150. In the end red got 3760 points and blue got 3655 points, it was only 105 points away from each other. The reward was bragging rights.
The cabins were sorted by boys and girls. In cabin 7 there was Jaiden Tom and Jake, cabin 8 was Jasmine, Sophie, Sienna, Ramona and Jess, cabin 6 there was Angus, Liam and Charlie. In cabin 5 there was Kai, Kyan and Luke.
At 7:30 each morning we would have breakfast and then at 10:40 we would have morning tea usually for snacks we had oranges, apples and rockmelon. Lunch was 1:30 and 3:30 was afternoon tea then at 6:00 we had dinner. When we ate we had to sit in our teams then Scott would choose out of red and blue for who would eat first and the team that got chosen had to say ladies first. We had tucker bags full of cutlery and bowls and plates. In Between the food breaks we would be doing activities such as raft building, archery, Rogaine, Wipe out, Draw bridges, capture the flag and much more.
JESSICA
Rogaine
Rogaine is a game made from the names of 3 people. Rob Phillips, Gail Davis and Neil Phillips. Rogaine is a fun active game where people get into groups of 2. You are given a map, a stopwatch, compass and a pen. You have to follow the directions on the map, run around and look for a sign with a number, letter or symbol on it. These were on lots of landmarks around camp. We had a limited time and had to then solve the riddle using the letters we found.
LUKE
Canoes
In canoeing we had to listen to Scott for like 10 minutes for our safety talk and then after the 10 minutes of listening we got to get in the canoes. Then we had a race in the dam from the end around island and back and then we had to collect as many little balls as we could that Scott chucked in the water and the team that collected all the balls quickest gets the 200 points. Then after that we had to collect as many lily pads as we could and then we had a war with the lily pads.
CHARLIE
Spider walk
Plank walk was a game where there were handles on one side of the wood plank and another plank with handles on it and the person at the front called left right. If he called out left we had to pull on the left handles and lift our legs up to walk forwards and every one had to walk at the exact same time or that person would fail the whole step.
On Spider walk we had to get everyone across the spider web and you could not touch the web or anything around it, so we put the smaller people down in the small holes on the bottom of the spider web. When there was Jasmine and Jaiden left, Kai would carry us through the hole that hadn't been used and we finished in only 34 seconds which the blue team won. JAIDEN
Obstacle course
On the last day of camp activities we did a teambuilding activity where we had to get our team of 7 through an entire obstacle course and finish as fast as we could. This makes it seem relatively easy to complete but there was a twist. We had to get a big doll, the size of a person, on a stretcher bed through with us. The stretcher was allowed to touch the ground but not water, Betty (the doll) was not allowed to touch the ground or water. We were allowed to take her off the stretcher and we were allowed to touch them both. These rules made the challenge a lot harder but we still got through the challenge in a pretty good time. THOMAS
Archery
During our Year 6 camp one of the many activities was Archery. Archery required patience and focus to even land somewhere on the target. We were given normal bows but from time to time we were able to use compound bows. The aim of archery is to try to get a bullseye for points. The best people at archery were Jessica, Jasmine and Jake who scored around 3 bullseyes each. Overall archery was an exciting activity.
Angus
PLUGGA
We had to fill the pipe up with water but the pipe had lots of holes drilled out of it. We had to use our fingers and toes and some people used their nose and tongue to plug the holes!!! We had to get the water from the dam but it was really slippery and muddy. The challenge was to grab the ping pong ball when it floated on top. Teamwork was super important.
LIAM
Capture the flag
During Year 6 camp we played 4 games of capture the flag and the Red team won 3-0. The blue team nearly won the fourth game. Liam, Jaiden and I (Jake) kept throwing the pin but that didn’t work because Luke kept tagging us whenever we grabbed the flag from the air. Whenever Jaiden, Liam and I went to the other team's base we would get the flag and then Sophie would chase us into Luke then Luke would tag the person with the flag and we would have to but the flag back at the red’s base. But overall we all had so much.
JAKE
Raft building
I was in the blue team and one of our activities was raft building. It was amazing. We had to work as a team to create a raft for our prince and princess. The prince and princess were on either side of the dam and the rest of the team had to make a raft that would pick them up and take them to shore so that they could do a dance together. Once their dance had finished, we then dropped them back to where they started so that the timer would stop. The blue team had trouble with the ropes and had to hold the ropes together. The blue team got the raft building done in 49 minutes and the red got it in 59 minutes. The blue team won at the raft building since the prince and princess didn't get wet and we did it in the fastest time. The red teams raft didn't start off well since they put the raft upside down in the water, the ropes then went slack so then they had to hold the pipes together with their arms once they put the prince and princess back it immediately fell apart so then had to go and collect all the equipment, they also lost one rope so then Luke went down to find it and surprisingly he found it before time. In my opinion I thought that raft build was extremely fun and was a good team building game for everyone. You get to know people's strengths and weaknesses such as Liam was extremely good at tying knots and one of my weaknesses was the water was so cold I thought that I was going to die of hypothermia but overall it was one of the best activities that we did. :)
JASMINE
Drawbridge
Red team was given the activity called drawbridge. We were given 3 planks with rope tied on one end on each of the planks. There was tarp laid on the ground which played a role as lava, and there were concrete stones used as stepping stones. The objective was to get your entire team across the lava without touching the lava or the stepping stones. Firstly our team discussed the easiest route to take and how we would get the planks to where we wanted them. Then we started taking action. We lifted up the first plank vertically, then someone would put pressure on the bottom whilst 2 or 3 people held the rope tightly and lowered it slowly with someone on the side guiding to where the stepping stone was. Once the first plank was down 3 people went across the plank when 4 others picked up the 2nd plank and passed it to the others. We repeated the first exercise being careful not to fall off. Then we moved across to the 2nd plank and 2 team members moving onto the first plank. We passed the last plank over and repeated the same exercise for the last plank. Once everyone was on the 2nd and 3rd plank we had to flip the first plank the other way so that we could reuse the plank and lower it down like a drawbridge. We fell off a couple of times which meant we had to start over. But each time we learnt from our mistakes and discussed better ways and safer ways to do it in a reasonable time. In the end Blue team won with 4 minutes and Red team came in second with 9 minutes. Everyone was a good sport about it and had heaps of fun. SOPHIE
WIPEOUT
On Year 6 camp we did the water wipeout course. We had to do the course as a team as fast as we could. The course had a hamster wheel, 2 slides,a trampoline and a climbing obstacle. Our team did it in 9 minutes and the other team did it in 11minutes. We also had to drag Brad into the triangle. We also had to go back and do the dog bone obstacle again because everyone fell off the first time. Last man standing of heaps of fun.
KYAN
Mini Golf / Damper
For our teams we added our own ingredients like (chocolate chips, mini marshmallows) and it was a competition so we had to be judged by the way it looked, tasted, and smelled. Mr Simmons was one of the judges he told us who won. If it tasted dry or undercooked your team would get second which is 150 points if your team came first you got 200 points . Then he described how it tasted and looked.Then the blue team won and it tasted great and after we got to try our own dampers . Mini golf was so much fun. The blue team split off into a group of two then we all started at different holes and tallied up how many times it took to get the golf ball in the hole then we did one by one and at the end we then added all the time it took us to get the golf balls in the hole and the group with the less hits won the round.
SIENNA
The amazing night of Lip sync battle
On a very cold night at camp on Thursday night we all sat around the campfire and these are the songs we had a Lip sync battle too. (Men’s not hot, Single lady, Barbie girl, Muffin time, Let it go, Git up). After all of that some of us shared songs that reminded us about someone.
Ramona
Survivor shelter
While we were on Year six camp one of our activities was survivor shelter. We had certain materials such as old bits of canvas, poly pipe, bamboo, carpet, life jackets and barrels.
We had 45 minutes to build a shelter to protect us from “cyclone Scott” which was a fire hose sprayed at your shelter by Scott and you had to not get wet or you didn't get the point. Both teams did a top design and the blue team one. KAI