Term 1 Week 1

Key Information

Term 1 - Important Dates

• Monday Week 1 (27th January) Australia Day Public Holiday
• Tuesday & Thursday Week 3 (11th-13th February) Life Ed Visit - Prep to Year 6
• Tuesday Week 4 (18th February) Beginning of Year Mass
• Monday Week 6 (3rd March) School Photos
• Tuesday Week 6 (4th March) Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Breakfast
• Wednesday  Week 6 (5th March)  Ash Wednesday Liturgy 2:00pm
• Thursday Week 6 (6th March) Year 7 School Immunisations
• Wednesday Week 8 (19th-20th) Prep Vision Screening
• Friday Week 8 (21st March) UMY St. Patrick's Disco 5.30pm-7pm
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Week 9 (24th-26th March) - Parent Teacher Interviews
• Friday Week 9 (28th March) - Cross Country
• Thursday Week 10 (3rd April) Cross Country Presentations, Easter Liturgy and Last Day of Term 1

Tuckshop News

There will be no tuckshop in the coming weeks. An advertisement will be live next week to fill the role of Tuckshop Convenor for the 2025 school year. Please spread the word.  

Uniform Shop

Our Uniform Shop is 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 would like to try on sizes, the Uniform shop will be open on Wednesday mornings from 8.10-8.30 and Wednesday afternoons from 2.30-3.00.

Miss Heather 

Staffing Update

This year we are lucky to be welcoming a number of new staff to our St Joseph's community, being Ms Lei Nelson as our Assistant Principal of Religious Education, Miss Tess Motti as our year 2 classroom teacher, Mrs Deirdre Koekemoer as our year 3 classroom teacher, Miss Louise Waters as a School Officer, Mrs Maggie Doody as School Officer - Administration and Miss Abbie Bailey as School Officer. We have also welcomed Mrs Lesley Wall and Mrs Delaney-Lovett back from leave. 

In 2025 we will also be welcoming a new Guidance Counsellor, being Miss Cassandra Little. Cassandra has most recently been employed as a teacher with Education Queensland and completed her Masters in Guidance and Counselling in 2023. Cassandra's days will remain the same as Miss Bec's in 2025, being every Wednesday and every second Thursday. Please see your child's classroom teacher if you believe your child should access this service. 

Principal's News

Welcome to the first week of school for 2025, 

A very warm welcome to our returning families and new families that joined St Joseph's this year. It was nice to see all of our students back at school this week and hear about their holidays. As a staffing body we returned from holiday’s last week to participate in a week of professional development.

An email was sent to all parents and carers last week to welcome you to the term. If you didn't receive this email please check your junk folder. If this email isn't in your junk folder please contact the front office on (07) 4742 1633 to update your personal details. 

This newsletter includes additional information:

Newsletter & Assembly:
The newsletter is our one-stop-shop for school communication and events. It is sent out once a fortnight, usually on a Friday. I strongly encourage all of our families to read through the newsletter. On the alternate fortnight there will be an assembly in the MMS at 8.30am. 

Calendar:
The school has a Google Calendar which I have linked here. This calendar can be added to your own Google Calendar to notify you of school events.

There is also a term calendar which has been attached below. Please note that this calendar is subject to change, which will be communicated in our newsletters or on our facebook page. 

Facebook:
Our facebook page is a great page to like as we share reminders and events regularly. There will be a 'whats on this week' document posted each Sunday for the week ahead.

Arriving each morning:
A reminder that the school grounds will not be supervised until 8.10am each day. Students are not permitted to enter the grounds before this time each day, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays for Chaplaincy Breakfast. If your child/ren attend Chaplaincy Breakfast they can arrive at school from 7.45am, students will need to remain seated in the MMS and won't be able to play until supervision starts at 8.10am.

Sheaffe Street Crossing / Road Safety / No Standing Zones:
The crossing on Sheaffe Street is the preferred location for most families to drop off and pick up their child/children. Please note that there are designated 'no standing zones' on either side of the crossing. Please do not park in these zones at any time, regardless of how quick you will be. These zones are there to ensure drivers have visibility of the crossing. If parents / carers are parking here it limits visibility for oncoming cars.

The parking spaces on Ham St are a 'kiss and go zone'. This means that parents should not be parking here for more than 5 minutes and shouldn't be getting out of their car to collect child/ren. If parents/carers would like to come into school to collect child/ren please utilise the parking on Sheaffe St and George St. 

We kindly ask that all children in prep, year 1 and year 2 are accompanied across the crossing’s by either an older sibling and/or a parent/carer. Students in prep to year 2 should not be crossing the road on their own. Students in these year levels should be collected from their classrooms. 

2025 School Leaders
Congratulations to our 2025 School Leadership Team. Our leaders will receive a blessing and will be provided with their badges on Tuesday 18th February at our Beginning of Year Mass. This will be at 8.30am in the Mary MacKillop Shed. 

Congratulation to our 2025 Leaders

• School Leaders: Knox Swalling and Ada McIntye
• Kennedy House Captains: Gemma Douglas and Scarlett Blinco
• Flinders House Captains: Georgia Battle and James Barker

2025 Bell Times:
You will notice in our timetable that we have time scheduled for students to read and write. This is in addition to the reading and writing that they participate in during their key learning areas. As a school we have an ongoing priority to continue the improvement we have been seeing in Literacy. 

A&B Timetable Cycle:
St Joseph’s currently run off a two-week cycle, consisting of an A and B week. This transition was an exciting change for our schooling community as it not only ensured that we met our curriculum hours, but allowed specialist teachers to be utilised in our primary classrooms as well. 

This means that our secondary students in years 7 to 9 will have different classes on Monday in Week A to what they will have on Monday in Week B. This will assist our students in preparing for schooling life after St Joseph’s, as most Secondary schools, if not all, run to a two week timetable. 

Family and Community Engagement (FACE)
We would love to see new faces in our FACE meetings this year! It is great to be able to join together as a community to create the best school for our children. In the upcoming FACE meeting we will be jumping into the year of renewal. St Joseph's will be reflecting on 10 questions across the year to create an improvement plan for the upcoming 4 years. We would love your involvement in this. 

May God Bless you and your families for the weeks ahead, 

Mrs Samantha Kelley
Principal 

Deputy's News/Curriculum

Staff have been hard at work during the week before students return to school. We had our PD week filled with information on:

• Best practices to enhance student outcomes,
• Inclusive education to ensure all students within our care are catered for appropriately,
• Cultural competency training around First Nations perspectives and how to bring this information into our classrooms,
• Behavioural Support Training, 
• First Aid and CPR Training and much, much more. 

In addition, staff engaged in sessions on data analysis to inform teaching practices, explored strategies for differentiated instruction, and collaborated on supporting student progress effectively.

The first week of school is always a busy one—new faces, fresh starts, and plenty to adjust to. We kicked off the year with a Welcome Back BBQ, bringing our St Joseph’s community back together after an extended break. Students were excited to share their holiday experiences with both staff and their peers, with most of the conversations revolving around “What did Santa bring you”.  I have included some pictures of the morning below. The remaining photos have been uploaded to our facebook page. 

Change has been the theme of Week 1; classrooms have shifted, routines are settling, and learning is already in motion. Our teachers and School Officers have worked hard to create welcoming spaces, and students are adjusting to new expectations and opportunities that 2025 presents. 

In the classroom, a strong focus has been placed on establishing learning goals and setting a foundation for the year ahead. Teachers have introduced key curriculum objectives, ensuring students understand what they will be learning and providing metrics on how they will know if they have successfully learnt the intended curriculum. 

2025 promises to be an exciting year with many challenges and opportunities. I look forward to working with our whole St Joseph’s community this year—supporting our students and parents/caregivers, collaborating with staff, and embracing whatever 2025 has in store for us. Here’s to a year of growth and success.

NAPLAN 2025 - Year 3, 5, 7 & 9:
The NAPLAN test window starts on Wednesday 12 March 2025 and finishes on Monday 24 March 2025. 

At St Joseph's Catholic School our students will sit the exams between Wednesday the 12th of March to Friday the 14th of March. The additional dates will be used as catch up tests. 

NAPLAN can often attract anxiety for our families and students. This is because it is a different style of test to what our students are use to. Please rest assured that your child is prepared for NAPLAN and have been working on building their skills across both last year and this year. 

More information will be shared closer to the date. 

Mr Dean Kelley
Deputy Principal - Teaching and Learning

Assistant Principal Religious Education

Welcome

It is with great joy and anticipation that I step into the role of Assistant Principal Religious Education for 2025 here at St Joseph’s Cloncurry. I feel truly blessed and grateful for this opportunity to work alongside such a dedicated and faith-filled school community. As a Catholic school, our mission is to not only nurture academic excellence but the holistic development (physically, emotionally and spiritually) of each student. Through prayer, reflection and service, we will continue to grow a community grounded in compassion, respect, faith and action.  This year, we will focus on deepening our understanding of our school values of Love, Serve, Lead and Strive; and find meaningful ways to live them out in our daily lives.  

I encourage our students to embrace the opportunities ahead and build meaningful connections within our school and parish community.  I look forward to working with our teachers and staff at St Joseph’s and to you, our parents and carers to support our students. May we be guided by God’s spirit and inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop and St Joseph in all that we do. 

Confirmation and First Holy Communion Information Session  
St. Joseph's School and St. Colman's Parish will be hosting an information session in the church after Mass on Sunday 9th February. We invite interested students and their families to join us for Mass and stay after for the information session which will begin at 9.20 am (approximately).

The program for Confirmation and First Holy Communion will start in Week 5 on Sunday 23rd February after Mass and is expected to run for the next 5 weeks after with the final session being 30th March (before the school holidays begin). We will further discuss when and what this will look like at the information session. The scheduled date for these two Sacraments will be held during the first week back of school Term 2, on Wednesday 23rd of April at 5.30 with Bishop Tim Harris and Father Mick Lowcock presiding.  

After discussing with your child their interest in the program, please join us at Mass on Sunday at 8:30 am. It would be appreciated if you could also send an email to give me an idea of the numbers to ensure enough booklets are ordered.  The program occurs yearly, so if you are not sure and need clarification, please contact me and we can discuss further.

Beginning of Year School Mass    
Our 2025 opening school Mass will be held on February 18th at 8.30 am.  The theme this year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ with a focus on our school values of Love, Serve, Lead and Strive.  At this Mass, our new school leaders will be inducted and it would be wonderful for our St. Joseph’s families to join and celebrate this occasion.  Light refreshments will be served afterwards.  Students will need to be in their full academic uniform. Any students that have P.E. on this day, can bring their sports uniform to change afterwards.

Chaplaincy Breaky
The Chaplaincy breakfast started yesterday and will continue each term on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.45 am.  We are fortunate that our parish priests - Fathers Will or Nnaemeka will be regularly visiting with us and spending time, connecting with the staff and students.  

Life Education Qld
From Tuesday 11th - Thursday 13th February, Life Ed Qld and Healthy Harold will be visiting the school and spending time with each class from Prep to Year 6.  The program covers topics with health and wellbeing and complement the health component of the Australian Curriculum.  Parental consent forms were sent home yesterday and need to be returned by Thursday 6th February.

God Bless,

Ms Lei Nelson
Assistant Principal Religious Education

Pastoral Care

Welcome to the Pastoral Space for 2025!

My name is Hannah McCall and I am the Pastoral Care Leader here at St Joseph’s Catholic School. I am originally from New Zealand and moved to Australia just over 2 years ago with my partner. I have been teaching for eight years across a range of schools and year levels, gaining diverse experience in education. 

I look forward to continuing to support our students and school community in this role.

School TV
Because parenting doesn't come with instructions, SchoolTV is a wellbeing resource implemented at our school to help support you in the challenges of modern-day parenting relating to youth mental health and wellbeing. Parenting is a learning journey and SchoolTV supports families by providing credible information from trusted sources with practical strategies to help alleviate some of the challenges being faced by young people today.

Watch video interviews with leading wellbeing specialists and browse a library of resources. Each topic is accompanied by factsheets, podcasts, books, articles, apps and other videos.

This award-winning resource helps families build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It will assist you in starting those conversations on topics that can sometimes be awkward or difficult to tackle.

Parents and caregivers are the greatest influence on a young person's life and SchoolTV focuses on empowering confident parenting.  Explore SchoolTV today!

Student Representative Council
Next week, we will begin the process of selecting our Student Representative Council (SRC) for 2025. Students who are interested in becoming a voice for their peers and making a positive impact on our school community are encouraged to self-nominate.

Students have a chance to self-nominate for the role and then each class will vote to elect their representatives. The SRC plays a vital role in advocating for student interests, leading initiatives, and driving meaningful change within our school.

Safer Internet Day - 11th of February
Safer Internet Day is a global day of action bringing communities, schools, organisations and families from more than 180 countries together to raise awareness of online safety issues and work towards a safer internet.

The eSafety Commissioner leads the day in Australia and we’re calling on all Australians to help make the internet a safer, and more positive place.

General tips for supporting your child online:

• Support your child’s friendships online and off by talking with them about their friends and activities.
• Ask your child to demonstrate the games and apps they use to better understand what they play, why it’s fun and possible pitfalls they may encounter.
• Help build confidence by encouraging children to share their knowledge of the online world.
• Encourage routines that promote health and balance. For example, create device-free times and places in your home.
• Model your own behaviour, by demonstrating that you can put your phone down and concentrate on spending time with your child, without the distractions of being online.
• Talk to your child about who could be their ‘askable adult’, and when they would speak with them.

For parents, go to this link, for information on parental controls on devices, advice for various situations, grooming, and cyberbullying. 

Best Regards,

Miss Hannah McCall
Pastoral Care Leader

Inclusive Education

Hi to all of our families, 

I hope you are having a great week. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce (or re-introduce) myself. My name is Nicola Cullen. Last year I was carrying the dual role of Year 5 classroom teacher and Inclusive Practices Leader. This year I will be moving full time into the role of Inclusive Education. 

Students experience inclusive education when they can access and fully participate in learning, alongside their similar-aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet their individual needs. Inclusion is embedded in all aspects of school life, and is supported by culture, policies and everyday practices. If as a parent/ caregiver you have any concerns at any time, please reach out and I can arrange a time that we can meet to discuss these concerns and plan a way forward.

As the new year begins, it is an ideal time to remind parents and kids of the importance of wearing their glasses to school.  During a child’s early years - the first 12 years of life, their visual system is still developing. Wearing glasses can be important for the development of their vision. Glasses can improve a child’s vision, helping them function better in their environment.

If your child is reluctant to wear their glasses check out handy tips below to help them feel comfortable wearing their glasses.

I hope you have great weekend,

Mrs Nicola Cullen
Inclusive Practices Leader

Youth Ministry

Welcome back to a fresh new year - ready for exciting opportunities to grow our faith as a community!

I hope everyone’s holiday season was safe, restful, and blessed. There’s nothing quite like food and faith.

Important dates/reminders:

• Chaplaincy Breakfast: every Tuesday & Thursday from 7:45 to 8:10. 
• Spirit in Action: Week 3 Monday (10/02) - 3:00 to 4:30 PM
• Mini Vinnies: Week 3 Tuesday (11/02) - First Lunch play time
• Staff & Student Prayer: Week 3 Wednesday (12/02) - 8:10 AM in the church 

Spirit in Action - Yrs 7-9
The Spirit in Action (SIA) group began in Term 3 of 2023 and gave the UMY students a chance to belong to a Christian community outside of school hours. The focus is on faith formation through justice and service, connecting with our community, developing leadership, participating in prayer and celebration, and taking the opportunity to encounter the risen Christ. This year (2025) the students will begin a new journey of faith leadership formation as they discover new ways they can be student faith leaders. 

The after school sessions generally follow this sequence:

• A game/ice-breaker centered around the theme of the week (or sometimes, purely for fun)
• Faith formation activities - viewing and responding as a group 
• Communal prayer experience with contemporary worship music 
• Discussion and planning for upcoming initiatives/opportunities in our community
• A shared afternoon tea - this year, we will be preparing healthy-ish snacks for Chaplaincy Breakfast and as lunchbox fillers for those in need within our school community

Mini Vinnies - Yrs 5 & 6
Our SJC Mini Vinnies are enthusiastic leaders in our upper primary space that are ready and willing to act on their faith in service of our community! Not dissimilar to the SIA group, these students will have a focus event each term that they will investigate and initiate responses to. Keep an eye out for our Mini Vinnie’s initiatives throughout the year! With a keen appetite for tackling social justice issues, and engaging in prayer and formation experiences, these students will become our student faith leaders in the future through the SIA program. 

Yours in faith, hope & love!

Mr James Delaney

Prep

Wow and just like that we have made it through Week 1! I am sure that there are many tired kids.

Our focus this week has been on getting to know our little learners and also helping them settle into the routine of school. We explored the text “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” retelling the events. The class also practised writing their names. It would be really helpful to have your child practice writing their name in LOWERCASE (not capital) letters and to also practice cutting with scissors. 

In Week 2, we will begin our InitiaLit Literacy lessons. The focus next week is understanding that language is made up of individual words and also on rhyming words. In Mathematics our little learners will be exploring numbers to 10. This includes recognising amounts and identifying numerals to 10. The class will also “have a go” at writing the numbers to 10. Our science unit this term is about the external features of living and non-living things. As part of this unit we will look at plants and animals identifying the features, we will also begin to grow song plants in our outdoor learning space. During religion the Prep’s will be learning about God and participating in prayer experiences. The class will also practice centred breathing, leading onto christian meditation.

Reminders:

• Monday: Mrs Jill Smith will take our little learners for Art in Period 5. In Week Three we will also begin Library time. Students will be able to take borrowed books home which will be replaced fortnightly. 
• Tuesday: Miss Pucciarmati will take our Prep students for Technology in Period 5
• Wednesday: Miss Borlase will take our students for Sport in Period 5
• Thursday: Miss Pucciarmati will be the classroom teacher
• Friday: Every second Friday we will have an assembly at the Mary MacKillop Shed (Week 2,4,6,8,10)

Yours in fun and learning,

Miss Brock, Miss Josie, Miss Rachel and Miss Pucciarmati

Year 1

Hello parents and carers,

In week one we discussed what it means to be a bucket filler. We collaboratively discussed and explained different ways to fill others and our own buckets. The students came up with many ways that they can be kind to their friends. As a class, we read the book ‘The Rainbow Fish’ and discussed how the Rainbow Fish was and was not showing kindness. This relates to our sticker charts that are buckets. When the students are following the classroom rules, showing kindness or working hard they get stickers to add to their own bucket. The students created a colourful Rainbow fish to add to our walls with one way they show kindness.

We have started consolidating their knowledge from Prep including their letters, sounds and numbers to 20. The students have also been busy starting to write in red and blue lines in their handwriting books and English books. 

Reminders:

• If you haven’t already please bring back your child's Healthy Harold permission form!
• Homework will start week 3.
• We will start Library on Monday next week. Please bring in your child's library bag so they are able to borrow 2 books. 
• Tuesday: Technology and Art
• Wednesday: House Shirt
• Thursday: Sport (Sport uniform) 

Have a wonderful week,

Miss Haley and the always fun Year 1’s!

Year 2

Hi Year 2 Parents and Carers,

My name is Tess Motti and I will be your child's teacher this year. This is my first year teaching and I am very excited to be teaching year 2! Miss Charlotte Butterfield will also be joining us in the classroom this year helping us learn and grow. 

Week 1 Recap
This week, we have spent time getting to know each other through a variety of activities. We are in the process of completing InitiaLit screening tests, which will help to identify where the students are at and how to best support their learning. During Maths, we have been quantifying the number 1000! The Year 2s have recognised how big of a number 1000 is and have discussed smart ways we can count to 1000. We have also been looking at the story ‘The Lizard Gang’ in English, identifying the different characters and writing Simple, Adverb and W-start sentences, describing students' favourite scene in the story. We have also engaged in Handwriting and Religion.

Specialist Lessons

• The Arts - The Arts will be taught by Mrs Jill Smith. Year 2 will have their lesson on a Monday each week.
• Technologies - Technologies will be taught by Miss Lisa Pucciarmati. Year 2 will have their lesson on a Tuesday of each week.
• Sports - Sport will be taught by Miss Mairin Borlase. Year 2 will have their lesson on a Thursday each week. Students are to wear their sports uniform for this.

Reminders

• Wednesday: House Shirts 
• Thursday: Sports Uniforms

Kind regards, 

Miss Tess Motti

Year 3

Hello and welcome to Year 3,

What a great first week that Year 3 had in their new classroom! All the learners have been busy and working hard to settle into the new expectations and routines for Year 3 and have demonstrated an incredible work ethic so far… it’s going to be a fantastic year! This week our year 3 students have been taught by Miss Fiona Williamson, who is a familiar face at St Joseph's Cloncurry after previously teaching here. Mrs Sharon McLauchlan has also offered support in the classroom. 

In Year 3 we are ready, learning, and respectful at all times.

Below is an outline of our learning goals for the term.

English
This week the year 3 students have been working through Soundwaves units. Soundwaves assists in the development of phonetic and phonemic awareness, building students knowledge on sounds and spelling patterns. The students have also been practicing handwriting throughout the week. 

Religion
We will be learning about God's presence and His relationships with people while reading a range of scriptures from the Bible. This week students examined the story of Jonah and The Whale. Jonah is swallowed by a large fish, within the belly he remains for three days and three nights. Jonah prays to God for his affliction and commits to giving thanks and to paying what he has vowed. This story shows students that God's love, grace, and compassion extends to everyone. 

Students made paper whales as we explored this text and its meaning. 

HASS
The students started learning about the first fleet this week. The students built an origami boat as they began learning about The HMS Endeavour. 

The students completed a number of getting to know you exercises this week which will be passed onto Mrs Koekemoer next week. Mrs Koekemoer came into the school for a handover today and is excited to be in the year 3 classroom from next Monday. 

• Homework - Homework will be given to students every Monday and is due every Friday. This will begin in Week 2.
• Students will have Art on Monday with Miss Jill. 
• Students will have Tech on Tuesday with Miss Pucciarmati.
• PE is each Friday with Mrs Borlase. 
• Chaplain’s Breakfast - Tuesday & Thursday at 7:45am in MMS 

Year 4

Hello to all our Year 4 parents and caregivers.

I am very excited to be back in the Year 4 classroom and this week has reminded me of the satisfaction that I get from watching children engage and learn. There have been some changes in curriculum and programs since I had my last Year 4 class so I have been learning too!

This week we have been diving right into our learning and I have been getting to know the students and how they engage with each other. I have been extremely impressed by how they are all willing to have a go in all subject areas and we have had some really great classroom discussions. We are very lucky to have Miss Sonny supporting us this year in the classroom.

Some important days to note are-

Monday: Library day. We will visit the library to change books for quiet reading and for home reading books. Could you please send in a Library bag for students to take home books in.

Thursday: PE Could students please wear their sports uniform on this day.

Homework: This will be handed out on a Monday and is due in on Friday. Students will once again be using IXL Maths for practice of the concepts we have been learning in class. If your child is unable to access the internet, please let me know and I will provide paper copies for them to practice these concepts. Sometimes the tasks will be a discussion with the family about their history. I would really appreciate if this could occur so students can join in discussions in some of our key learning areas. 

Students will also have a reading log so they can record what they read each evening. I understand that sometimes homework can be a difficult task to complete, however, their reading is the most important task. If your child was unable to complete their homework, just drop me an email or note as I am very understanding of this.

I am looking forward to working with each and every one of you to make your child’s year is one of both personal and educational growth. Remember to just drop me an email or pop in if you have any concerns. My email is lwall1@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au 

Mrs Lesley Wall

Year 5

Hi Year 5 Parents and Carers,

I hope you have all had a great first week back at school.

My name is Leonie Ansell and I will be your child's teacher this year. This is my fifth year at St Joseph's and after four years teaching Year 2, this will be my first time teaching Year 5. I am also undertaking the role of First Nations Education Teacher this year. I'm so excited for this change and can't wait to learn a new curriculum and teach this class for a second time!

Week 1
This week, we have spent time setting up procedures and establishing routines in our classroom. We have set up our computers and online accounts and have organised our belongings. We have also completed some diagnostic testing for spelling and have worked through the first unit in Think Mentals which was about the Friendly Jumps addition strategy. This term during Writing, we are learning about Fractured Fairytales. We spent some time this week looking into what a Fractured Fairytale is. In amongst our learning, we caught up and discussed what we got up to over the school holidays and even reminisced about some of the fun things we got up to together in Year 2 (hopefully we have even more fun this year!).

Reminders

• Sport uniform: Tuesday
• House shirt: Wednesday
• Technologies: Monday
• Arts: Tuesday
• HASS: Tuesday and Wednesday
• Sport: Wednesday
• Languages: Friday

What’s on in Week 2

• Friday Morning - Assembly

Have a great week!

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 6

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to Term 1 of 2025. We have had a terrific start to the year and I really appreciate the effort and respect demonstrated so far. Thanks for your prompt payment and time last year to get the new Year 6 Polo Shirt organised - the children love their new shirts, we hope you do too. 

Please see the days for which shirt to wear:

• Mondays - Y6 Polo Shirt
• Tuesdays - Formal Uniform
• Wednesdays - Flinders/Kennedy House Shirts
• Thursdays - Sports Shirt (PE in Lesson 1)
• Fridays - Formal Uniform

Specialist Lessons:

• Technologies - Monday Lesson 3
• Visual Arts - Tuesday Lesson 3
• Physical Education - Thursday Lesson 1
• Japanese - Friday Lesson 4

Week 1 has been about reconnecting with peers, getting ourselves organised and back into the swing of learning at school again. The Paper Chains activity allowed the children to demonstrate their teamwork and Elements for Success. They may not have made the longest chain but they were successful in other ways, like being Respectful, Supportive or showing Good Listening. We were very impressed with them collectively as they worked through the challenge. We have also spent some time in discussion about reading and how we will improve our comprehension. Did you know that a child who reads 20+ minutes every evening can learn more than 1.2 Million extra words in their Primary School life–so reading at home is an essential skill (if they read for an hour - great, as long as it isn’t forced. Find books and texts that interest and engage so that together we can foster a love of reading). Our science work this term is based on chemical sciences; we had terrific discussions about making substances by mixing solid-solid, liquid-liquid and solid-liquid. If you have any baking projects lined up, the rich discussions you can have would be a great benefit to your child. They have been warned about safety in regards to mixing chemicals and substances at home and the importance of adult supervision!

We have several online resources for them to access at home:

• Writer’s Toolbox - if they’re interested in one of the writing challenges and want to continue their writing.
• iXL - a Maths program which can be used at school and home to practice and consolidate maths skills. They have received their log in details and have been directed towards the Multiplication tasks initially. There may be some daily challenges for this throughout the term.
• We also use THINK MENTALS which assesses areas of maths on a daily basis - this work should not be completed at home.

Homework: Currently reading for 20+ minutes every evening, practice of multiplication facts as often as you can and supporting parents around the home (cleaning bedroom, washing up etc) are the main foci. Keeping track of sporting and fitness time will also benefit the children in managing and organising their time.

Tech Use: This week, we have had discussions about acceptable use of technology and devices at school and in the home. Many incidents which happen at home often require follow up in school, these can be things which are beyond our control - nasty comments in Messenger Chat, swearing and threats when gaming etc. Every family has different expectations around the use of technology in the evenings, some allow children full access to the internet in bedrooms, while others ensure safety and transparency insisting that tech use should be in a communal family space like the dining room. 

If your child’s gaming and tech use starts to impact their sleeping pattern, their communication and respect in the home and their alertness and ability to participate fully in school, there may need to be family and school discussions to ensure limits are appropriate for each individual. Maintaining this dialogue and working together will certainly have long term benefits - so please feel free to discuss this with me.

Looking forward to a great term,

Mr Mike Tarleton and Mr Larry Cullen

UMY Subject Spotlight

Year 7 Religion with Mrs Delaney-Lovett
For the first term of high school RE, the students will begin with a unit focused on different prayer experiences including Ignatian Meditation, Lectio Divina, and praying with beads and icons. By encountering prayer, the students are reconnected with their faith and are reminded how we pray in different contexts. 

For the second half of the term, the students learn about Catholic creeds (Apostles and Nicene) as sacred texts that demonstrate an understanding of God and God’s relationship with humanity. These belief statements will serve as a reference for students to determine their own belief and associated credo. 

Year 8 Religion with Mr Delaney
The Year 8 students will also be easing into the year with a prayer unit. This unit will focus on the forms of prayer to uncover answers to “why prayer?” They will keep an online journal of Google sites and reflect on their experiences over the coming weeks. Some of these experiences will include praying with scripture and images, understanding the Cristian tradition of The Liturgy of the Hours, meditative practices such as Augustinian and Franciscan contemplative prayer. 

Later in the term, the students will complete a mini unit about the Mystery of The Trinity. They will engage with a variety of images and words that express the Trinity as the fundamental Christian belief that God is relational in nature.

Year 9 Religion with Mr Delaney
As with the Years 7 and 8 students, the Year 9 students will not be exempt from similar treatment. Their prayer unit will be split, partly completed this term and then the rest completed at the beginning of Semester Two. They will explore the writings of Christian spiritual fathers and mothers, prayers for forgiveness and healing, Christian Meditation and meditative prayer practices, including praying with labyrinths and mandala. 

Then, the Year 9s will knock over their Church history unit focused on the time period of 1750 CE to 1918 CE. They will develop their understanding of the experience of sin throughout human history and some ways in which the Church responded to the presence of good and evil in the past. 

Year 7 Maths with Mr Grehan
In Term 1, Year 7 students represent natural numbers in expanded form and as products of prime factors, using exponent notation. They solve problems involving squares of numbers and square roots of perfect square numbers. Students solve problems involving addition and subtraction of integers. They use all 4 operations in calculations involving positive fractions and decimals, choosing efficient calculation strategies. Students choose between equivalent representations of rational numbers and percentages to assist in calculations. They use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving rational numbers, percentages and ratios, in financial and other applied contexts, justifying choices of representation. Naplan testing occurs between 12 March and 28 March.

Year 8
In Term 1, Year 8 students recognise irrational numbers and terminating or recurring decimals. They apply the exponent laws to calculations with numbers involving positive integer exponents. Students solve problems involving the 4 operations with integers and positive rational numbers. They use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving ratios, percentages and rates in measurement and financial contexts.

Year 9
In Term 1, Year 9 students recognise and use rational and irrational numbers to solve problems. They extend and apply the exponent laws with positive integers to variables. Students engage with Algebra, expanding binomial products, and factorise monic quadratic expressions. Naplan testing occurs between 12 March and 28 March. 

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