Term 1 Week 3

Key Information

Term 1 Important Dates

• Week 4
  • Tuesday 13th February - Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Breakfast
  • Wednesday  14th February - Ash Wednesday Liturgy, 2:00pm
  • Friday 16th February - Assembly, 8:30am 
• Week 5 
  • Monday 19th February - Spirit in Action, 3-4:30pm MacKillop Room
  • Tuesday 20th February - FACE Meeting 
• Week 6
  • Monday 26th February - School Photos
• Week 7
  •  Friday 1st March - Assembly, 8:30am 
• Week 9
  
  • Monday & Tuesday 18-19th March - Parent Teacher Interviews
  • Friday 22nd March - Assembly, 8:30am 
• Week 10
  • Wednesday 27th March - Last Day of Term 1

Tuckshop News

Please email Jamie-Lea at jmcconachy@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au or call the office to let us know if you're available to volunteer!

Our special for Week 4 is:  Teriyaki Chicken Bento Bowl & Tim tam brownie

Please have your orders in by WEDNESDAY 8:30 am.

To order: https://myschoolconnect.com.au/

Uniform Shop

Our Uniform Shop is now located in the new office space (old library). We are open to orders being placed via the app, https://myschoolconnect.com.au/

Please give us 24 hours to organise collection for your order, we generally contact you when your order is ready to collect.

If you are needing students to try on sizes we are available on Monday from 2:30-3pm and Wednesday from 8:10-8:30am.

As this is a new system for us, please be kind and considerate while we find our feet in the new office space.

Miss Heather 

School Photo Day

Principal's News

Dear Parents and Carers

It has been an amazing week for our school!

It was lovely to meet parents and friends at our Meet and Greet BBQ. It was a happy occasion where stories were told.  I feel blessed to be working in such a friendly community! Special thanks also to our teachers who took the time to prepare their classroom displays to showcase what was being learnt.  I noticed a few excited students who wanted to drag their parent/s to their classroom.  To know they are proud of their classroom is very satisfying as an educator.

Later on this week, we celebrated our Beginning of Year mass.  Our 2024 school leaders received their leadership badges and they were blessed by Fr Sylvestor and Fr Emene.  The students then made their pledge to honour and serve the school community. 

Our 2024 leaders are: 

School captains: Kimberlee Davis and Ruby Hansen

Kennedy Captains: Knox Swalling and Gemma Douglas

Flinders Captains: Heidi Barker and Mac Schneekloth

They will be a very busy group this year in what is a milestone for each student and our school community.  Thank you to everyone who could join us for the celebration.  Thanks to Fr Sylvestor and Fr Emene for celebrating the mass with us.  Thanks also to Mrs Connie Lamari for planning and organising this event.  It was the first of many special events this year to mark such a special time in the life of our school community.  

I finish my news this week reminding you that Townsville Catholic Education Office has approved an additional professional development day in 2024.  The date will be Friday 26th April, 2024 and will be a pupil free day. This day follows on from the ANZAC day public holiday on Thursday 25th April. The reason for granting this additional professional development day is to provide the time and opportunity for all teachers to prepare for the implementation of V9.0 of the Australian Curriculum at the commencement of 2025. This planning day will focus on supporting teachers to have a deep understanding of the changes to content and assessment from the current Australian Curriculum to the newly revised curriculum.  There is much planning already occurring in all schools to ensure all teachers are well placed to provide rich learning experiences for their students.  This additional professional development day (pupil free day) will only occur in 2024.

Blessings to all!

 Mrs Karen Good 

Acting Principal 

Deputy's News

Week 3 was Cyber Safety Week. On Thursday, Sgt Darren visited our Primary classes and gave a presentation on Cyber Safety. To ensure our students got the most out of the presentation, Sgt Darren broke his presentation into 2 age groups (Prep - Year 2 and Year 3 - Year 6). This ensured the information could be tailored to each age bracket. The Prep - Year 2 group were very excited by “a real-life policeman” and asked many questions relating to what is safe to share online. Our older primary school students were very interested in “Cyber Safety with Online Games” — that probably won’t come as a shock to many of you. 

We thank Sgt Darren for his time as we strive to tighten our community ties and work closely with all community groups.

As the 2024 school year proceeds, you may start to hear more and more about a changing Australian Curriculum (version 9.0) in the media. I hope to give you a little insight into this change below.

In 2019, Australia’s Education Declaration (Mparntwe) was updated with two main goals. 

Goal 1: The Australian education system promotes excellence and equity

Goal 2: All young Australians become confident and creative individuals, successful lifelong learners and active and informed members of the community.

In reaction to the updated Education Declaration, the Australian Curriculum was updated and realigned with the new goals in mind. The new curriculum needed to be contemporary, refined, and use International benchmarks with improved clarity. From this, Version 9.0 (V9) of the Australian Curriculum was created.  

In 2025, all schools in QLD will be required to move to this new and improved curriculum (starting with Maths and English). At St Joseph’s Cloncurry, we have gone one step further. We have started implementing V9 this year across our school in both Maths and English, putting us well ahead of the curve. 

Mr Dean Kelley

Deputy Principal - Teaching and Learning

APRE

As my time at St Joseph’s ends, I would like to thank everyone who has made me feel welcome over the past few weeks.  I have certainly felt the true spirit of St Joseph and St Mary MacKillop when visiting classes and interacting with students.  I thank Mrs Curley and wish her the best in the year ahead and hope she had a lovely extension to her leave.  

This Wednesday the church enters the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday.  There will be Mass in the church at 7:00 am where everyone is welcome.  There will be a school Liturgy at 2:00 pm for those who would prefer that time.  Children have written their promises which were burned and made into ashes.  These ashes will be used to remind us that we are all God’s children and follow the Gospel.  Lent is a time when many Christians prepare themselves for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, sacrifice, and self discipline. For many this means either giving up something or taking on something… both with the intent of bringing ourselves closer to God.

During Lent we also participate in Project Compassion, commencing with Shrove (or Pancake) Tuesday.  Pancakes will be available this Tuesday for a gold coin donation.  

Preparation for the Sacraments begins with a retreat on Monday at 3:00 pm at the school. Mr Delaney will assist with this also.  

Thank you everyone and I pray that you all have a safe and blessed remainder of the year.

Connie Lamari

Acting APRE

Pastoral Care

MANAGING SCREEN TIME

As a result of the global pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in the amount of time people spend on screen-based devices. Families are transitioning back to pre-COVID routines but many are still struggling to re-establish the boundaries and rules around screen use. Some continue to deal with digital conflict and tech-tantrums on a daily basis. The latest research found that 77% of teenagers spend more than five hours on screens per day, but it is important to note that not all screen time is considered equal.

Parents play a crucial role in modelling a positive and healthy approach to using screens and assisting children to navigate the content they watch. It is better to model and mentor screen use, rather than monitor it. Children tend to do more of what they see us do, and less of what we tell them to do. However, it is still important to outline the risks and highlight the benefits of screen use to ensure you keep a balanced attitude. Encourage discussions around the issues that people experience in monitoring their screen time and be honest about your own difficulties.

Parents need to remain firm in their approach to managing screen time. Excessive screen time can be detrimental to a child’s overall wellbeing. Ensuring the correct privacy settings are in place is vital to prevent children from being inadvertently exposed to inappropriate content or online predators. Parents need to also be mindful of the potential impact screen time can have on a child’s social, emotional, educational, behavioural, and even physical domains.

In this edition of SchoolTV, care-givers will be provided with a range of guidelines and strategies to help manage screen time at home.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact Toni Schneekloth, Pastoral Care Leader, or Marissa Madigan, Guidance Counsellor, for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Managing Screen Time edition of SchoolTV

Toni Schneekloth

Pastoral Leader

Prep

Week 4 news!

During literacy next week the class will continue to explore rhyming words, syllables, putting sounds together to make words and will also begin letter sound recognition. The first letter we will explore is “m” with the focus being on the sound the letter makes as this is what is needed to “sound out” words.

Literacy groups will start. These will be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at about 9.10am each week. Thank you to those of you who have volunteered to help. I will be in touch about your rostered days. We aim to have three helpers on Mondays and two on the other days. 

I have begun Early Years testing. This is a literacy and numeracy test that is done individually with each child at the beginning of the year and then in Term 3. The data is used to show overall class strengths and weaknesses and also individual childrens. It also shows growth in learning over the year. This helps me to provide lessons that are most beneficial to students. A supply teacher will be with the class when this testing is being done. 

Lots will be happening in the religious aspect next week as we will have Shrove Tuesday and also Ash Wednesday in the lead up to Lent. The Preps will continue to learn about Jesus in preparation for these events and also Easter.

We will begin our HASS Unit which is about your child’s family and individual history. There will be some questionaires/interviews which will be sent home to be filled in. We would also like a copy of a baby photo which we can keep for a display. 

Reminders:

Tuesday - Pancake breakfast before school for Shrove Tuesday. Sport

Wednesday - order tuckshop and Ash Wednesday Mass at 2pm in the shed.

Thursday - library

Mrs McLauchlan, Miss Tamara and Miss Kylie.

Year 1

Hello Parents and Carers

We have had a great week of school!

In Math, we have continued to look at our teen and ty numbers. The students are getting very good at identifying the different numbers. We have started to use tens frames to represent numbers to 20. 

In English, the students have been practicing writing correctly in the red and blue lines. The students have written a wonderful recount of their weekend and drawn a lovely corresponding picture. We are starting to look at our focus book for this term which is ‘Brother Moon’ by Maree McCarthy Yoelu and Samantha Fry. 

In Science, the students have been identifying what things make light in and out of the classroom. They have been filling in their light and sound booklet with some amazing pictures of things that make light. 

In HASS, we have started looking at our family or special people that live with us and are a part of our life. The students have drawn some creative pictures of their special people. 

Reminders

I will be away this coming Monday, Tuesday all day and Wednesday morning. Miss Liersch will be taking the class. Please do not hesitate to email me while I am away. ehaley@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au

Art: Tuesday 

House Shirts: Wednesday 

Library: Thursday 

Sport: Thursday (sport uniform) 

Technology: Friday 

Have a wonderful week,

Miss Haley and the always fun Year 1s!

Year 2

Hi all

This week we have continued our InitiaLit lessons. We have been looking at different text types and their features in Comprehension and at the ow/oa and ue/ew sounds during spelling. We have also continued our Character Preferences based on ‘The Lizard Gang’. 

In Maths, we have been learning how to represent, read and write three  digit numbers to prepare us for ordering all three digit numbers. We have also done much work with expanding numbers this week.

We have also covered new learning in our other subject areas, which include:

Religion -  God’s Nature and his relationship with his people, Lent and Lenten promises

Science - Investigating mixtures and their different purposes

HASS - Exploring Past and Present

Along with this, we have been logging on to our computers. Students have logged on to Writer’s Toolbox and have completed their first Early Years Test. The aim of the Early Years Test is to show growth across the year of learning. The students complete a Pre Test for both literacy and numeracy and then complete the Post Test in Term 3. These tests provide me with data which allows me to best support the students across the year.

Next Week

• Homework is due on Mondays
• Shrove Tuesday
• Ash Wednesday

Kind regards,

Miss Ansell

Year 3

Hello all,

Thank you for coming into our Year 3 space during the Welcome Back BBQ on Tuesday. 

Here’s what we learnt in Week 3

Mathematics
We started learning addition strategies including adding and subtracting multiples of ten and extending our ‘friends of 10’ knowledge to assist in calculations to 100 (for example 6+4=10 so 60+40=100).

English
We learnt the structure of persuasive texts which require key arguments organised into paragraphs. We practiced writing persuasive paragraphs using the OREO structure (opinion, reasons, explanation, opinion).

The students were also given their English writing assessment project, where they are required to choose a toy from Toy Story and write a persuasive text to convince me that their chosen Toy should become our class mascot! To get our project work started, we watched Toy Story and completed character profiles to explore the character traits of each toy.

In reading groups we have been practicing self-monitoring skills when reading, as well as practicing our handwriting skills, and completing spelling tasks focussing on the ‘a’ sound which is represented by the letter ‘a’.

Religion
This week we read core scripture from the book of Genesis in the Bible. We learnt about Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Esau, discussing their actions and their relationships with God.

Science
We learnt how to use Venn diagrams to represent data. We practiced using Venn diagrams to categorise living and nonliving things. 

HASS
We learnt about local community groups, including their purposes and why people participate in such groups.

NAPLAN Preparation
NAPLAN is in Week 8. We have been preparing for NAPLAN by integrating NAPLAN style questions into our Literacy and Numeracy lessons. We have also been practicing our writing skills everyday using the Writer’s Toolbox program and enhancing our ability to use a variety of sentence types. During Weeks 3, 4 & 5, the students will undertake practice tests for reading, writing, and numeracy. 

These activities are intended to help prepare students, giving them a better idea of what the NAPLAN test days will be like. 

Reminders for next week:

• Homework - Homework will be handed out Monday and is due Friday. 
• Sacramental Meeting - Monday 3pm 
• Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Breakfast
• PE uniform Tuesday 
• Chaplain’s Breakfast - Tuesday & Thursday at 7:45am in MMS 
• Ash Wednesday Liturgy @ Church 2pm
• Tuckshop order due before Wednesday 8:30am
• Library on Thursday 

Thank you

Laura Cook

Year 4

Hi all

This week has been such a great week! We had Healthy Harrold visit us and talk about being CyberWise. This was perfect timing because it’s also Cyber Safety Week!!! Check out these pictures of us!

Next week out writing focus will be on the W-Start Sentence. The W-Start Sentence is a sentence that begins with a W-word. That doesn’t mean every W-word, like William, Weird, and Wallowing. No, it means these W-words: While, When, Whereas, and With.  

Check these out:

• With a massive boom, the alien spacecraft burst through the clouds. 
• While Dad made pizza for dinner, Suzie built a castle in Minecraft.
• When Fred Perkins walked through his front door, everyone yelled: “Surprise!"

Our spelling sound this week is ‘k’ as in kite. This sound can be represented by the following graphemes (letter combinations): k, c, q, ck, x and ch. There are a lot of rules for this sound, so please read carefully.

• We usually use ck for the kite sound after short vowel sounds at the end of single-syllable words (e.g. back, check, kick, sock, luck). 
• We usually use k for the kite sound after all other vowel sounds at the end of single-syllable words (e.g. soak, cheek, book, dark, fork).
• We usually use c for the kite sound after an i sound (like igloo) at the end of words with more than one syllable. (e.g. public, music, garlic, traffic, electric). 
• We often use k for the kite sound before e or i (e.g. keep, kettle, kiss, king, skip). Before other letters, we often use c for the kite sound (e.g. cup, cost, clap, call, card).
• We usually use c for the kite sound before the L sound in lizard (e.g. clock, clean). We usually use c for the kite sound before the r sound in robot (e.g. cry, crash).
• In words with a k then w sound, we usually use q for the kite sound and then a u for the w sound (e.g. quit, queen, quack, squid, squash).
• We can use x for the two sounds k then s (e.g. six, box, wax, next, sixty). The grapheme x can also represent the kite sound only (e.g. excel, except).
• The grapheme ch can represent the kite sound (e.g. school, chemist). Words containing ch for the kite sound usually originate from Greek.

Reminders:

• Chaplaincy breakfast is on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at 7:45am.
• Library is on Friday
• PE is on Thursday
• We have Shrove Tuesday this week. Join us in the morning for a Pancake Breakfast.
• We then have Ash Wednesday and will have a Liturgy at 2pm in the Mary MacKillop Shed.

Have a great week,

Mairin Borlase

Year 5

Welcome to Week Three!

In English this Term, Year 5 will be diving into all things Narrative writing. We have spent time over the last two weeks discussing  Fractured Fairy Tales. This week students have paired up to plan out a Fractured Fairy Tale with a classmate. We will move through the writing process over the following two weeks planning, drafting, revising, publishing and presenting their collaborative Fractured Fairy Tales to the class. Our vocabulary focus over the past week has been examining prefixes and the suffixes. Students have worked to identify the definition of each and give examples. 

In Mathematics, we have continued to discuss strategies for solving addition and subtraction of decimals including money amounts.  Year 5 have started using our Think Mentals program as a warm up activity to introduce addition strategies.

This week has been jam packed full of visitors. We have had visits from Life Educations, our Year 1 Buddies and Sergeant Darren. 

Buddies: This week we have continued to focus on the Elements for Success. Year 5 worked alongside their Year 1 buddies working to create Lenten promises. We discussed that instead of making a promise to give up something, we should instead create a Lenten promise that we can challenge ourselves to work towards. After working with our buddies, Year 5 reflected upon what Elements they noticed themselves using. 

Cyber Safety: We were lucky enough to have Sergeant Darren come and speak to our students from Years 3-6 about Cyber Safety. If you have any questions here is a wonderful website to visit.

•  Childnet - Is a free site with information about being cyber safe. This website also contains guidelines and information that is age appropriate for students. 

Life Education visited us this wee to discuss 'Take a Breath'. We will explore issues around vaping and smoking. They discussed nicotine as an addictive drug, how that impacts health and wellbeing and the social influences surrounding the 'choice' to vape or not to vape. 

Reminders:

• I will not be present this Friday 9th February as I am attending Professional Development at Paluma Range in preparation for School Camp in Term 4. Mr Brown will be taking the class in my absence. 
• Assembly: Friday 16th February at 8:30

Specialist Subjects:

Monday: Japanese, Science

Tuesday: Drama

Wednesday: Health and Science, students may also wear their House Shirts to school

Thursday: Technology

Friday: Sport, students may wear their Sports Uniform

What’s on in Week Four

• Shrove Tuesday
• Ash Wednesday Liturgy on Wednesday morning before school

Website Update: Our Year Website is in progress.  This will be and running in Week Four!! You may access this website to find general classroom information and a termly overviews for learning.

Have a lovely Week Four. 

Kind regards

Mae-Louise Brock

Year 6

AN AWESOME START!

Dear Families,

I would like to put in writing that we have had an awesome start to the new school year in Year 6 - your children continue to impress and you should be extremely proud of the way they have settled back into school life. It has been great to reconnect with many of you, either on the first day, in the mornings/afternoons and at our Welcome Back BBQ.

Our Leadership Legends commences with a huge focus on engaging with our St Joseph's Community - supporting opportunities for developing physically active, healthy and resilient learners within our school. Our first group to get started was our Lego Masters team (Olivia, James, Jasmine and Cooper) - this team have given a great deal of their time during lunchtime to set up and organise for Year 1/2 children to attend and construct Lego creations.

In English, we have begun our narrative text discussions - the most challenging aspect for many is generating ideas quickly. With most standardised assessments limited to 45 minutes, it doesn't really give learners long to plan a quick outline before starting their writing. Throughout Year 5 and 6, all learners will continue to use the daily challenges in Writer's Toolbox - each day there is an image for them to generate a text from. It is good practice to regularly write - WRITER'S TOOLBOX is available for use at home too. Writer's Toolbox gives learners instant feedback about the quality of their sentence styles, precision (use of details like names and ages etc), and following a recent update, gives them the opportunity to improve sentences before sharing their writing with peers and adults. Our spelling has been investigating parts of speech - noun, verb, adjective and adverb initially, which has led into our work about dialogue structure and identifying alternative verbs for 'said' which often becomes overused in learners' narrative writing. We are examining the prefix ex- (meaning out) and the suffix -ion (action, state or result of). Before adding -ion suffix, we usually drop the -e.

In Mathematics, we have continued to discuss strategies for solving addition and subtraction of decimals including money amounts. We began our work on Fractions, Decimals and Percentages (FDP) with a recap on unit fractions and their equivalence before moving into discussions about the decimal connections. We will be investigating strategies to support the addition of fractions with same and similar denominators (number of the bottom). We regularly make connections between fractions, decimals, multiplication and division to ensure deep learning. The children loved playing MULTIPLE WARS with a pack of cards and this would be excellent practise of multiplication facts for home learning.

In Health, we are having a visit from Life Education who will discuss 'Take a Breath' and we will explore issues around vaping and smoking. They will discuss nicotine as an addictive drug, how that impacts health and wellbeing and the social influences surrounding the 'choice' to vape or not to vape. As part of our work for Cyber Safety Week, we also have a visit from Sergeant Darren who will discuss age appropriate safety with the learners.

Have a great week.

Kindest regards

Mike Tarleton

Subject Spotlight

Year 8 Science with Mrs Toni Schneekloth

Chemistry is the flavour of the term and we have kicked off with revision of the Particle Theory. In this terms unit, ‘What IS the Matter?’, students will explore the world around them and investigate matter through a study of properties. We will then move on to learning more about elements, compounds, chemical equations and the dreaded periodic table - which students say looks very hard but is actually quite easy once you know how to read it. We will also be completing lots of chemical experiments so I will be sure to keep you updated as these come around.

Year 8 Mathamatics with Mr James Delaney

This term students are solving everyday problems involving rates, ratios and percentages. They will be describing the difference between rational and irrational numbers as well as looking at profit and loss.

At the moment, we are learning about the rules concerning solving problems with integers (including negative numbers). 

Give the students these examples to check their understanding!

Housekeeping:

• Homework will largely be MathsOnline so as to limit bringing the textbook to and from school 
• I am contactable via email at all times (within reason) - jdelaney@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au 

General News

Anniversary of the National Apology - 13th February

The anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations is a day of national significance.  It is an important part of Australia's wider reconciliation journey, and of truthfully recognising past events - both positive and negative - to shape a stronger future for reconciliation in Australia.

Did you know...

'Sorry Day' and the anniversary of the National Apology are two separate days.

The anniversary of the National Apology is a day which commemorates the event in which Kevin Rudd - The Prime Minister of Australia - made a formal apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples' and those who lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation.  'Sorry Day' is held annually on the 26 May.

In 1995 a National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families was established by then Attorney-General, Michael Lavarch.  The Inquiry was conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.  On 26th May 1997 the Inquiry's Bringing Them Home Report was tabled in Parliament.  The report documented the grief and loss caused by the breaking of cultural, spiritual, and family ties, and the intergenerational impact on the lives and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as their resilience and dignity:

"For individuals, their removal as children and the abuse they experienced at the hands of the authorities, or their delegates, have permanently scarred their lives.  The harm continues in later generations, affecting their children and grandchildren. ("Bringing Them Home, 1997")         

Reconciliation Prayer from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Council (www.natsicc.org.au)

Holy Father, God of Love, You are the Creator of all things.

We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history and the sufferings of Our peoples, and we ask your forgiveness.

We thank you for the survival of Indigenous cultures

Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus to reconcile the world to you.

We pray for your strength and grace to forgive, accept and love one another, as you love us and forgive and accept us in the sacrifice of your Son.

Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history so that we may build a better future for our Nation.

Teach us to respect all cultures.

Teach us to care for our land and waters.

Help us to share justly the resources of this land.  Help us to bring about spiritual and social change to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the disadvantaged.

Help young people to find true dignity and self-esteem by your Spirit.

May your power and love be the foundations on which we build our families, our communities and our Nation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Wontulp Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group 13 March 1997 Brisbane, QLD).

Community Information