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Week 10 Newsletter Term 2
Welcome to the last newsletter for Term 2!
Thanks to everyone who was able to come and be part of our Athletics carnival on Wednesday. Threatening clouds teased us early on, but thankfully moved away and we ended up having a wonderful day of activities. I was very proud to see so much determination and sportsmanship throughout the carnival. Thank you all involved for making it a day to remember for the children. Special thanks to Libby Lange for coordinating the day. We are very fortunate to be working with a special group of people and watching them work together as a team made me proud and extremely happy to be part of the St Joseph’s School community.
As we close the term, I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you, our parents, for your generous support throughout term. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our dedicated teachers, school officers and administration staff for their commitment to providing a caring, supportive and educationally rich learning environment for our children.
Each school day has been an opportunity where the children have been encouraged to ‘shine’ and a place where faith, fun and learning has taken place. I encourage you to take time out with your family to enjoy and appreciate each other. There is never a better time than right now to spend time with those you love.
We also take this opportunity to farewell teachers Mrs Kelly Bienvenu, Mrs Tammi Butters and School Officer Demi Horvath. We sincerely thank them for their dedication to our students and wish them all the best for the future.
As the semester concludes, this is a time of celebration of all that has been accomplished and the growth of each individual within our school community.
Over the last week, I have had the pleasure of reading every student's report card. Whilst it has taken a while, it has provided me with a sense of the academic accomplishments of our learners across Semester One. I encourage parents to read the report and discuss it with their child/ren. It is important to focus on what your child is doing well and also areas for improvement. It is important to remember that an academic report is only one way to measure the success of a learner and in some respects, it is very limited in its ability to capture some of what really matters for our changing world. Educating students for life in the 21st century is more than the transference of knowledge; it is about being a creative thinker, a problem solver, having good communication skills, being resilient, establishing respectful relationships and having a strength of character to stand up for what they believe, to name but a few things. We have seen these things developing in many of the children and we hope that you have also witnessed some changes in these areas.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss your child’s report card, please contact their class teacher to make a time to meet.
Thank you all for another great term. Thank you for your trust you put in our school as we continue with your help and the commitment of our staff, to make St Joseph's the best school for your children. I pray that you will continue to support and challenge us as we create an environment that promotes learning and being the best versions of ourselves. As we enter the last half of the year, let us continue to support and care for each other and work together for our children.
On behalf of all the staff at St Joseph’s, I wish you and your families a very happy and relaxing mid-year holiday period.
The agenda will begin with these items but more can be added if you have other things you would like to discuss:
- NAIDOC celebrations -finalise plans
- Indigenous Liaison Support Worker
- Reconciliation Garden
- Encouraging more language use and First Nations culture into our daily school life
- Other items added by parents
- Setting the next date to meet
A parent slip will be sent home in week one for you to indicate if you are coming.
Catholic Education Week (week 3)
Week 3 celebrates Catholic Education Week, the theme for this year being “A Spirited Tomorrow”.
On Tuesday 27th July we will launch our celebrations with the ‘Spirit of St Joseph’s’ Awards announced at our whole school mass. This will be followed by our long anticipated ‘Let’s Dance’ on Wednesday 20th starting at 5:30pm. Throughout the week there will be classroom prayer liturgies and activities.
NAIDOC Week (week 4)
When we return we have many events and gatherings to look forward to.
First Nations Culture Meeting (week 1)
We would like to invite any interested parties to a discussion on Monday, 19th July, at 5pm to talk about ideas about how St Joseph's School can improve the culture in our school. We will meet in the Library/flexible learning space and begin with afternoon tea.
NAIDOC 2021 invites the nation to embrace First Nations’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia's national heritage and equally respect the culture and values of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders as they do the cultures and values of all Australians.
The NAIDOC 2021 theme – Heal Country! – calls for all of us to continue to seek greater protections for our lands, our waters, our sacred sites and our cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration, and destruction. At St Joseph’s we will celebrate NAIDOC week from 2nd to the 6th August. We have many activities planned for the week and look forward to celebrating with our community.
Book Week (week 6)
This year's theme is "Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds".
Book Week 2021 at St Joseph's will commence with a Book Fair from Monday16th August followed by a Bears, Books and Blankets Picnic on Thursday 19th August, and will finish with the Book Week Dress Up Parade on Friday morning 26th August.
So, mark these dates in your diary and start preparing your costumes for the upcoming Book Week Parade.
This year's theme is "Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds".
Book Week 2021 at St Joseph's will commence with a Book Fair from Monday16th August followed by a Bears, Books and Blankets Picnic on Thursday 19th August, and will finish with the Book Week Dress Up Parade on Friday morning 26th August.
So, mark these dates in your diary and start preparing your costumes for the upcoming Book Week Parade.
St Joseph’s Colour Fun Run (week 8)
Our Colour Fun Run is back and it's even bigger this time! We invite all families to experience the perfect blend of Exhilarating Fun, Colours and Obstacle course on Thursday 2nd September. Mark it on the calendar now
STEAM Expo (week 9)
In week 9 we will be holding a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Expo. All classrooms will be open so that you can come along and experience all that we have been learning in STEAM for the term. Come along and learn how to program a robot, be part of a science experiment, hwatch one of the wildlife documentary the students have made through 3D glasses or be part of a live cooking show.
Swimming Carnival (week 10)
This year we are pleased to be holding our swimming lessons in a block over two weeks. We have moved to this format for swimming lessons because at other Cairns schools it has shown to be much more beneficial to student learning than one lesson a week over a six week period.
Week 9, Tuesday 7th to Friday 10th October and week 10 Tuesday 14th, Wednesday 15th October with the Carnival will be on the Thursday evening 16th October from 4pm to 8pm.
Under 8's Day is a way we celebrate the joy of Early Years learning. This year's theme was "play, playfulness and engaged learners". The Preps, Year 1 and Year 2 students attended Under 8's day and had a wonderful time. The students demonstrated Responsibility by staying with their buddy, taking turns in choosing which activities to enjoy, and socialising with friends of different ages and different schools.
St Joseph’s hosted a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) area in the WISH building. Children of all ages loved designing a home using giant blocks. They also used their imagination and creativity to design steam trains, towers and even tummy time for the babies! Ms Reynolds and Ms Jo showed the children how to code using Ozobots. Ms Ridgley challenged children to predict if objects would sink or float and promoted sensory play with a rainbow parachute. Ms Rachael used Bee Bots to encourage children to code and move around a farm, follow a treasure map and visit Australian animals. Ms Demi and Ms Joy played giant noughts and crosses and puzzles.
The St Joseph’s students had a wonderful time and were very resilient even though they were tired. I wish you all a rejuvenating, safe and happy holiday.
Dear Parents,
What a wonderful day we had on Wednesday for our Sports Carnival at Andoom oval.
The students displayed outstanding sportsmanship, enthusiasm and resilience.
The cheering was fantastic and every child participated to their best.
P-2 events were sprints, relays and ball games.
Yr 3-6 events were 100 200 sprints, 800m, relay. The field events were high jump, long jump and shotput. Ball games were played as well.
The winning house overall for the St. Joseph's Athletics Carnival in 2021 is:
Embley 201
Pine 185
Mission 151
Today we congratulated at Assembly the following students:
Age Champions – Athletics Carnival 2021
2009 Boys – Mitchell Jones
2009 Girls – Sarah Bond
2010 Boys – Aiden Clegg/Levi Payne
2010 Girls – Sydney Van Pelt
2011 Boys –Luke Wright
2011 Girls – Summer Van Pelt
2012 Boys – Jack Potter
2012 Girls – Paetyn Nash
Thank you to our wonderful Tuckshop Convenor Cindy for providing a sausage sizzle and snacks in the canteen.
A big thank you to our many parent helpers on the day. We couldn’t run a day like this without your support.
Last but not least thank you, thank you thank you to the St. Joey's Staff for all your hard work, support and enthusiasm with the events.
Congratulations to everyone and thank you again for making the 2021 Athletics Carnival such a success.
