Dear St Joseph’s families and friends,

The end of each year brings a sense of excitement in the lead up to Christmas, but it is also a time when we must sadly say goodbye to our Year 6 students and departing teaching staff. After being a valued team member with us for three years, we sadly say goodbye to Miss Knight as she takes 12 months leave to pursue new and exciting things. I thank Andrieka for her contributions to St Joseph’s during her time here. We appreciate the hard work and commitment she has shown towards our students, parents and colleagues.

After a rigorous recruitment process at the end of last term, we were fortunate to announce the appointment of Anneka Reynolds and Justin Smith into our St Joseph’s Parish School Community. Anneka and Justin, are both relocating from Good Sheppard Primary School in Townsville, where they have worked for several years. We are fortunate to have them visit us this week for Bump Up Day on Monday.

As with the nature of staffing, it can continue to change and evolve as situations become clearer. Please be mindful that information will be made available as soon as it is known. We are currently engaged in a recruitment process for three teaching roles to meet our growing needs. I am hopeful that all these positions will be finalised by the end of the school year.

Our class structure for 2021 is as follows:

Early Years Support Teacher P/1 - Kelly Bienvenu

Prep Class – Anneka Reynolds

Year One – Amanda Rowe

Year Two - Emily Ridgley

Year Three - Stacey Edmonds

Year Four – Justin Smith

Year Five – Currently advertised

Year Six – Sigita Ulanas and Michelle Gear

Learning Support Teacher -Sigita Ulanas

Non-Contact – Libby Lange

Internal Relief – Currently advertised

Long Service Leave Relief - Melanie Turner

Learning and Teaching - Middle Leadership Position – Currently advertised

APRE - Michelle Gear

Principal - Megan Pearce

Our Bump-Up day will be held on Monday 16^th November (11:30 – 12:30) which will enable the teacher to ‘get to know’ your child, your child to know their classmates and build relationships between one another.

School Strategic Plan 2021-2023

Currently, at St Joseph’s we are working on developing a new strategic plan for 2021-2023 and we need to gather the voice of all our stakeholders. Therefore, in the near future you will receive a short survey asking you questions about how our school is going, what we can improve upon and where to in the future? Please ensure that you reply and contribute to the voice of the collective parents in our school community.

Finalising 2020 School Fees

A big thank you to all families who have paid and finalised accounts for this year. If your account is still outstanding, we ask for your assistance in making sure that all accounts are finalised by the end of November. We have recently placed several large resource orders including new classroom furniture and IT hardware. Payment of these will be made a lot easier if all school fees and levies have been received. Rather than paying quarterly, many St Joey’s families are now taking advantage of our direct debit fee option, where the fees are spread over an entire year.  Families have commented that they prefer this option as these regular small payments make minimal impact on their finances throughout the year.

2021 School Fee and Levy schedule

We are forever conscious of the increasing financial demands placed on families, and as always, we have endeavoured to keep school fee increases to a minimum. The increasing cost of I.T. software, 1:1 devices, teaching and learning Apps has meant an increase per student levy. This increase will go a long way to assist the school in our ability to continue to provide up-to-date digital resources. We certainly punch well above our weight class when it comes to providing a high level of resourcing and a variety of opportunities for all students. Our teaching and support staff are second to none and the continual upgrade of school buildings and grounds will continue into the new year.

In saying this, school fees and levies are not meant to place a burden on any family. Please do not hesitate to come in and see me if you are experiencing any financial difficulty so alternate measures can be discussed.

We look forward to continuing the learning journey with you in 2021.

God bless and thanks for reading.

Megan

Bullying is not OK!

We sometimes forget the effect that such a challenging year might have had on our younger children and may have noticed that they have been exhibiting behaviours that are out of character for them. It is important that we listen to their worries but more importantly watch for changes in their behaviour and talk to them about how they are feeling. All children react differently, and this year may has eroded some of their resilience and heightened their emotional reactions to certain situations.

Sometimes young students mistake getting hurt accidentally or a simple disagreement as acts of bullying, but the true definition of bullying is; an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm.

Educating our children about Bullying will help them to recognise true bullying behaviours and enable them to have the courage to stop the bullying with the help of adults, parents and peers. While these are still serious behavioural situations that students need support with, the following situations are good examples of what often gets mistaken by students as bullying.

RETURN DATE FOR LIBRARY BOOKS

THE END OF YEAR IS CREEPING UP FAST!

TO HELP OUR LIBRARY STAFF FINALISE FOR STOCK COUNT, COULD YOU PLEASE ENSURE ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE RETURNED BY

WEDNESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2020.