Term 1 | Week 3 Newsletter

Key Information

• National Apology Day - Sunday 13th February
• P&F Meeting - Monday 14th February
• Virtual Parent Information Sessions for each year level - Wednesday 16th February at 4pm
• Catholic Identity Committee Meeting - Monday 21st February at 3pm
• Virtual Parent TV Information Session - Wednesday 23rd February at 4pm
• Shrove Tuesday - Tuesday 1st March 
  
• Ash Wednesday Liturgy - Wednesday 2nd March
• Indigenous Education Advisory Meeting - Thurday 3rd March at 3pm
  
• School Photo Day - Friday 4th March 
  

Tuckshop Menu:

Welcome back Miss Jamie-Lea!!

Thank you to all volunteers who help each week! If you wish to volunteer or contribute to Tuckshop in any way, please contact the office or see Miss Jamie-Lea. All volunteers must complete a volunteer induction package. 

Uniform Shop

As advertised, all uniform items with the old logo are being sold at 50% off normal price. There are limited sizes as shown. If ordering online your discount will be applied when you collect your order from the Uniform Shop or office.

Uniform Shop Days:

• Monday 2.30-3pm
• Thursday: 8:10am-8:30am

Any requests for uniforms outside these days MUST be done via the link below. 

Principal News

Welcome to our first official week of school for 2022,

It was so nice to see all of our students back at school this week. Thank you to our parents and carers for abiding by COVID-19 restrictions and keeping up with the amount of emails that have been sent regarding over the last couple of weeks. We are in uncertain times and it is great to see everyone coming together to ensure the safety of our students, staff and community members. 

A reminder that parents are encouraged to not enter the school grounds, unless they are a parent of a vulnerable child, prep or year 1 student. If you are to enter the school grounds you must have a mask on and adhere to social distancing requirements. Please avoid entering classrooms if possible. 

The newsletter will be our ‘one stop shop’ for information this year. We may still send reminders via email, text or on our facebook page but we are striving to have all information published in our newsletters each week - so please take some time each Tuesday night to read them. 

I had a lovely Christmas holiday break. I spent some much needed time back home with my family and little boy, Danny, who turned 1 (isn't it crazy how fast time has gone). I hope that you all had some time to stop and come together as a family over the Christmas period. I look forward to catching up with each of you once restrictions have been lifted. 

School Assemblies - Friday - 840am
As announced in our most recent ‘Whats on this week’ document published last Sunday we will be continuing with assemblies each Friday. To allow time for students to go to their classrooms, complete the role and daily notices, assemblies will begin at 8.40am each Friday morning.  We aim to not cancel events this term but to find another way of doing them. The link to the virtual assembly will be shared with you this afternoon via email. 

We have had a number of parents inform the school that school emails are going to their junk folder. Please check your junk folder and mark all school emails as 'trusted' to ensure future emails aren't missed. 

Please ensure that your camera and microphone are turned off prior to entering the virtual assembly. There may be a few ‘hiccups’ as we get started in this virtual platform, so please be patient as we work this out. Fingers crossed that it goes smoothly on Friday. 

We will also be presenting our 2022 School Leaders and House Captains with their badges. These will be blessed by Fr Emene and presented to the students. We will also have a formal ceremony in our Beginning of Year Mass where parents can come along to present these badges (see information about this below in the APRE News). 

Congratulation to our 2022 Leaders
School Leaders: Faith and Chloe 
Kennedy House Captains: Harry and Ruby 
Flinders House Captains: Jack and Georgia 

2022 Bell Times:

A & B Timetable Cycle: 
St Joseph’s Catholic School is currently transitioning to an A & B fortnightly cycle for the first time. Please see email correspondence about this. This is a very exciting change for our schooling community as it not only ensures we are meeting our curriculum hours, but allows specialist teachers to be utilised in our primary classrooms as well. 

We have already identified some changes we would like to make to this system in term 2, including having primary PE lessons and Library lessons on the same day each week. This will hopefully assist families in remembering what day students need to bring their library bag and wear their PE uniform. Please note that with all new changes we find things that we can improve on and we thank you for your cooperation and patience as we navigate through this. 

2022 School Improvement Plan 
At St Joseph’s we have an ongoing commitment to the improvement of our school. In 2021 we engaged with our schooling community to generate our School Renewal Plan which will be the basis for our annual school improvement plans for the next 5 years. In the next 4 newsletters, we will share our school renewal plans with you. This week we are showcasing the ‘Mission and Purpose’ of St Joseph's Catholic School:

Our mission and purpose is to live out St Mary Mackillop’s Mission and enhance our Catholic identity as we:

• Review and revitalise our mission statement and improvement plans.
• Engage in social justice initiatives and outreach programs.
• Continue to work with the schooling community, including with First Nations people and Traditional Owner Groups by promoting diversity and inclusion. 
• Develop an environment of partnership by promoting open communication between all stakeholders. 

Another important element of our Renewal Plan is to implement a School Board at St Joseph’s Catholic School. A school board will assist in the reviewing and publishing of policies. It will also provide consistency for the school on strategic planning irrespective of staff or leadership turnover. In 2021 an information evening was held and expression of interests were sought. If you are yet to express your interest please do so by completing this Google Form by Friday afternoon at 4pm. 

Notification of student positive case
If your child tests positive for, or is a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case, please follow the guidelines from Queensland Health. We would ask that you also inform the school by phoning/emailing so we can support the student and take any necessary action at a school level. Regardless of testing positive to COVID-19, students who are unwell or displaying flu like symptoms are to remain at home. Students who are not displaying symptoms, who are unable to attend school due to Queensland Health guidelines, are encouraged to connect with the school to discuss alternative learning arrangements.

School notifications of positive cases
In the event of a positive case at the school, families within the class of the student or staff member will be communicated with so that families can monitor the health of their child if they present with flu-like symptoms.  As it is likely that the school will continue to be impacted by cases of COVID-19 in the future, we will be updating the school community about further developments on a regular basis by including information about the presence of cases within the school community via our weekly school newsletter or through other communications where required. Please ensure that you keep up to date with this important information.

I have also linked the Queensland Government website here as it has a range of frequently asked questions that you may like to read for clarity about the return to school. 

I look forward to seeing you all back on site once the current restrictions ease at the end of Week 6. 

God Bless, 

Samantha Kelley

Prinicpal

APRE News

Welcome to Term 1! Despite the intrupted start to the year I wanted to turn our attention from the “C” word (COVID) to the new and exciting opportunity that a new year brings and to focus on gratitude. As I look out at our usually rugged landscape here in Cloncurry, it is now green! There is no better green than that of fresh grass after the rain! 

So as we start our fresh new year with a fresh green landscape (not to mention our lovely green oval) let's focus on being thankful and excited for what lies ahead of us. Thankful for a catholic education - new knowledge, experiences and opportunity for your child/children to be nurtured and educated. Excited to connect with old friends and meet new friends. Thankful for the dedicated staff we have at St Joseph's, who are so excited  to instill this year's worth of learning upon your child/children so they continue to flourish. Thankful for the beautiful community in which we live and excited for the gatherings and events that connect us and bring enjoyment to our school community.

I am certainly excited to undertake the acting position of Assistant to the Principal. 

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful."
Colossians 3:15

Notices
Beginning of Year Mass Date Claimer: Friday 18th March, 8:40am (week 8). Our intention is to wait until we can celebrate our opening mass with the whole community and how better to celebrate than on St Joseph's Feast Day.  

Sacramental Program:
Confirmation and First Holy Communion: An information session will be held after Mass this Sunday 13th Feb at 8:30 am. Enrolments for the 2022 program will be given at the information session. An email about the program was sent home on Sunday to all parents. Please email me at tcurley@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au if you require further information and to register your interest.
Reconciliation: This part of the 2022 program will be run in Term 4 and more information will be provided in Semester Two. It will also be touched on during the information session this Sunday. 

Children’s Liturgy - All Children Welcome: This Sunday Mass (13th Feb) we will be running a Children’s Liturgy. These liturgy’s run during the Mass. After the congregation has been welcomed the children will be called to come forth and receive a blessing. The children will then head over to the school and share the gospel message. This is delivered in a child friendly manner with songs, prayers and worksheets. 

May God bless you and your family this week

Therese Curley

APRE

Pastoral Care

Welcome back to the 2022 school year!  I hope you have all had a fabulous holiday break, making memories and resetting ready for the busy school year ahead.

Today is Safer Internet Day.  Safer Internet Day is a global campaign dedicated to creating a safer online world for everyone. 

• As a school community, we are supporting Safer Internet Day 2022 and showing the world that online abuse has no place in our society. 
  
• By using eSafety resources, our school is helping our students have safer, more positive experiences online.
• Our school implements policies and processes to protect our staff and students and we encourage them to report online abuse.
• Our school is committed to raising online safety awareness in our community and helping young people build positive online relationships.

St. Joseph’s is currently in the process of undergoing certification to become an e-Smart school. e-Smart is an initiative of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, helping schools maintain a supported and connected community to reduce online and offline bullying and increase wellbeing. Through the process of certification, e-Smart allows our school to evaluate our systems, policies and practices in online safety and wellbeing, whilst building stronger supportive partnerships across the school community.

Prep

Welcome to St Joseph’s School!

I am so glad we are finally able to start the year and I am looking forward to getting to know my class.

This week we will be focusing on the Prep students knowing the school routines and rules and feeling comfortable in our school environment.

As mentioned in my email, sport is Friday this week (Week A) and will be on Tuesday next week (Week B). Please send your child in their sports uniform on those days. Once Flinders and Kennedy house shirts have been given out these can be worn on Fridays. Library will always be on Thursday as will tuckshop. If you would like to order from tuckshop this happens on Wednesday.  Please write your child’s name, class and what they would like on a paper bag. Put the money for the order in the bag and place the bag in the tuckshop box in Prep.

In the mornings before school I will be in meetings and preparing resources, therefore my classroom won’t be open until 8.10ish. This is sometimes later on Mondays as we have a whole staff meeting before school.

Please feel free to contact me in person after school or at drop off, or via an email if you have any queries or something you would like to discuss. I often don’t have time to check emails during the day but will reply before or after school on weekdays.

Miss Tamara and myself are looking forward to an awesome year full of fun and learning!

Regards,

Mrs Sharon McLauchlan

Year 1

Hello Year 1 Parents and Caregivers and welcome to term 1!

We have had a very busy start to our term jumping straight into our learning. We started our week with a scavenger hunt around the school looking for the Rainbow Fish. The focus of this task was team building as just like in the story, Year 1 worked together to solve the clues.

Here is a snapshot of what we are learning this week:
Religion: We are learning to Identify that God’s plan for creation is for people to help each other to live safely and happily in community.

English: We will be revising our letters and sounds as well as beginning our unit on Sizzling Starts. We will also have a strong focus on letter formation and book presentation over the next couple of weeks.

Math: We are learning to correctly form our numbers to 100 and count to and from 100.

Science: We are learning to compare sound and explore different ways sound is produced.

HASS: We are learning to identify differences in family structure and roles today and how these have changed or remained the same over time.

Health:  We are learning to describe physical changes in our appearance now compared to when we were younger.

This Year we are lucky enough to have specialist teachers taking over The Arts and Technologies. Mrs Renee McConachy will be teaching Visual Art and Mrs Tania Laffey will be teaching digital technology this term. 

Reminders:

• This Year we are moving to a Week A, Week B timetable. Please check your emails for the information sent home about it. This week is Week A!
• Sport: Friday with Mr Murray. Students may either wear their sports uniform or their coloured house shirt.
• Library: Is on Thursday if you haven’t already, please send your child’s library bag into school.
• Homework: Homework will be handed out on Thursday and expected back next Wednesday.
• Tuckshop: Tuckshop orders are due in on Wednesday! Please write your child’s name, class and what they would like on a paper bag. Put the money for the order in the bag and place the bag in the tuckshop box in Year 1.
• In the mornings before school the classroom will be open at 8.10am. This is sometimes later on Monday due to a staff meeting (morning muster) before school.

Have lovely week, 

Miss Mae-Louise Brock

Year 2

Welcome back to 2022!

I’m so glad to see everyone back at school and I’m looking forward to a wonderful year together.

This week we are learning:

English: Character comparisons. Our tricky words are until, was and here.

Maths: Skip counting.

Religion: God’s nature.

Science: Mixtures.

HASS: Then and Now.

Health: Keeping ourselves healthy and safe.

Reminders:
Week A

• Monday: Sport
• Thursday: Library
• Homework due Friday

Week B

• Tuesday: Sport
• Wednesday: Library
• Homework due Friday

Have a great week!

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 3

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to Term 1! Our start to the year has been busy and things in Year 3 are already back in full swing. 

Here is an overview of the term ahead:

• English: in English this term we will be focusing on building our reading and writing skills in preparation for NAPLAN. We will explore the different parts of a sentence like conjunctions, verbs, nouns and clauses and use this knowledge to plan and write interesting paragraphs. We will also have a strong focus on improving our spelling and building our vocabulary.

• Math: this term we will be learning about odd and even numbers, addition strategies and money and financial maths.

• HASS: in HASS we will be exploring the different ways people celebrate around Australia and the world. 

• Science: we will be doing experiments to study the behaviour of heat and learning about the terms ‘conductor’ and ‘insulator’

• Religion: we will be examining the relationship between God and his people and learning about the story of Jacob.

An email was sent home earlier this week with Parent Information but in case you haven't had a chance to look at it yet, here are a few important points:

• Sports uniform is to be worn on Monday (Week A) and Friday (Week B).
• Library is on Wednesdays, don’t forget your library bags!
• Homework and home readers will be sent home on Mondays and are to be returned back by Friday. 

Have a great week ahead!

Miss Suzannah Coombs

Year 4

Hi everyone and welcome to the long-awaited return to school. We have had a wonderful first day in Year 4 and the students’ enthusiasm is a sign of some great learning that will happen this year.

No doubt we will be holding Parent information sessions, but in the meantime here is a rundown of what we are covering in some of our subject areas this term.

English and HaSS- Our English and Hass are integrated this term as the genres we cover lend themselves nicely to our topic of ‘World Explorers’. Students will be writing an information report about some world explorers, then their assessment piece will be a report about Captain James Cook. We then investigate the features of an historical recount and students will take on the role of a convict on the First Fleet to complete a written report and present this to the class. This will continue into next term and will allow the students to be creative with the information they have learnt.

Religion- In Religion we are taking a close look at the bible- the types of writing contained within the pages and how to find specific readings using references. Students will also be applying the teachings in the Bible to everyday life.

Stay tuned next week for the other subject areas!

Have a great week,

Mrs Lesley Wall

Year 5

Hi everyone and welcome back to the 2022 school year. It has been a pleasure getting to know all of the students and I am very excited for the great learning that will happen this year. Below is a rundown of what we are covering in some of our subjects this term.
 
English - Students will be developing their skills to listen, read, view and interpret a range of personal narratives. After exploring all the features of a narrative, students will produce their own personal narrative to present this term.
 
Science - In science we are exploring all things matter- solids, liquids and gases. We will be exploring their properties, viewing science terminology, interpreting data and conducting science experiments.
 
Math - This term students will be exploring measurement for length, area, volume, capacity and mass.
 
Other subject areas will be included in next week's newsletter.
 
Enjoy the rest of week,

Mr. Alastair Fraser

Year 6

Welcome to Week 3!

What a crazy start to the year - safe to say, I am glad to have the students back. I cannot wait for a wonderful year filled with enriching learning experiences. 

Our learning focuses for this term:
Religion: We are learning about Jesus fulfilling God’s promise, through the images and titles of Jesus and how the Holy Spirit inspires the lives of believers. 

English: Students are studying the book Holes to write a creative diary entry from the perspective of one of the characters, in addition to comparing the features of the book versus the movie. 

Mathematics: We are revising operations with whole numbers, factors and multiples, and learning about square and triangular numbers before learning how to solve problems involving the property of angles. 

HaSS: We are learning about the geographical diversity of Asia and how these affect the quality of life. This will lead to learning about migration and why people decide to relocate. Finally, students will explore Australia’s relationship with Asia. 

Science: This year we have Mrs Schneekloth teaching us Science! We are learning about how electrical energy can be transferred and transformed in electrical circuits and can be generated from a range of sources.

Have a safe and blessed holiday period!

Mr. James Delaney & The Year 6 Legends!

Year 7 English & Religion

Rachel Lovett - rlovett1@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au

Welcome to our newest secondary cohort - I can’t wait to see what goals we can kick together in 2022. 

English: This term we will be exploring all things persuasive. Students will develop an understanding of how to construct effective persuasive texts, with a tasty twist! Our aim is to combine images, language features and vocabulary choices that will make our food-based advertisements impossible to ignore. As this year is a NAPLAN year for our year 7 students, it is important that they have a solid understanding of the structure and features used in persuasive texts. This can sometimes be a challenge as they are a more technical text to construct. Our aim this term is to break apart the components of this text type to examine in detail, before piecing it all together to produce our final piece. Watch this space for what’s to come!

Religion: This term, students will explore two units of work: Belief & Believers (1) and Common Beginnings (2). In unit 1 we will explore two sacred texts - The Apostle’s Creed and The Nicene Creed. Through these texts we will develop an understanding of the way they influence the lives of believers and how they are important to the faith journey of believers. In unit 2, we will determine the way in which Christianity shares common beginnings with Judaism and Islam, whislt considering how and why these have changed over time. 

Miss Rachel Lovett

Year 8 Mathematics

Mr Kelley -dkelley1@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au 

This term in Mathematics Year 8 will be focusing on solving everyday problems involving rates, ratios and percentages. They will describe rational and irrational numbers. Students will solve problems involving profit and loss. The common theme for the term will be “real world application”. An example of our “real world application” will be activities analyzing data of current businesses and looking at their profit/loss over a period of time. Students will then convert these numbers into ratios and percentages. Our term will conclude with an open book exam (week 9) which will give students an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learnt throughout the term.

Mr Dean Kelley

Year 9 HPE

Mr Murray - smurray2@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au 

This Term, students have an alternating timetable which will see them alternating their lessons for Health & Physical Education. For Term 1, students in Year 9 will be engaging in Modified Hockey. This is one of our largest Year 9 classes that we have had, which is great. Students will be working collaboratively in PE, adjusting to feedback but also learning how to give feedback to their peers in a constructive way. 

In Health, students will be looking at Respectful Relationships and what that actually means. This unit will introduce students to the benefits and risks of technology, and how to safely and appropriately use technology. Students also explore mental health concerns such as warning signs and responses.

Mr Scott Murray

Library

We are delighted to let you know about an education resource that is available to your child at home as part of our school subscription – Story Box Library.  

Your child can watch favourite stories, read aloud by fabulous storytellers, at home as well as in the classroom.  

Reading aloud to children, in particular by diverse and engaging storytellers, greatly improves language and literacy skills, especially in the early years of a child’s development. Story Box Library is committed to supporting and engaging the practice of storytelling. It is  intended for use as a complementary form of delivering the precious experience of being  read aloud to, in order to improve children’s lives. Connecting children with literature  through the complementary medium of film, providing a vibrant, interactive experience via  a diverse range of storytellers sharing the best of our local children’s picture books.  

To access Story Box Library at home:  

1) Visit www.storyboxlibrary.com.au 

2) Choose Log In from the top right corner of the screen 

3) Log in using the username and password provided below 

4) Enjoy the library of stories on any device with internet connection 

USERNAME: cloncurry

PASSWORD: stjosephs

Please note the following features:  

• Story Box Library regularly adds new stories, so is an ever-growing library.
• Content is aimed at Prep/Foundation through to Year 6 students.
• Includes a range of short films to inspired by our stories, creators and storytellers.
• Resources are provided for each story, including Classroom Ideas, Activity Time and Student Task Sheets – all designed to assist at-home learning.
• Captions can be turned on or off for each story.
• Story Box Library is a safe online space free from advertising.

Mrs Chris Chaplain 

Teacher Librarian 

Guidance Counsellor

Welcome back to the 2022 school year. I hope you all had a restful break and spent time doing things that you enjoy with people that you love.

With such a crazy start to the year it is important to set up a positive routine for checking in on how your child(s) day at school went. So often we as parents ask questions such as ‘did you have a good day?’ and ‘did you make any friends today?’. If your children are anything like mine then you are expecting one-word answers in response. Even questions like ‘what did you do today?’ get the amazing responses of ‘nothing’ and ‘I can’t remember’.

What can we do to change this and really open up the dialogue in the afternoons? Let’s assume that our children had a fantastic day and that everything went right and instead ask questions that will help them to develop a growth mindset. Our SchoolTV website has more information on developing a growth mindset during transition periods, go to https://sjctsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-transitions - particularly the clip called “Any tips for parents struggling with their child starting school?”.  While this mostly focuses on students starting Prep, it does discuss the importance of parent questions.

Below is a list of questions you may like to try and see which ones are the best conversation starters for your family.

•         What was different today compared to yesterday/last year?
•         Did you show someone kindness today?
•         What were your favourite three things that happened today?
•         Did you do anything challenging today?
•         Did you ask for help today? Who helped you and how did it make          you feel?
•         Did you achieve all of your goals?
•         Can you think of something that you could have done better                   today?
•         What can you do to improve yourself? What is your goal for                      tomorrow?
  

Have a wonderful week,

Miss Bec Greaves!

Rural Health Connect - Zones of Regulation

The Zones of Regulation is a framework and curriculum designed to foster skills in self-regulation, including emotional control, sensory regulation, and executive functions. It is a systematic, cognitive behaviour approach that uses four colours to help students visually and verbally self-identify how they are functioning in the moment given their emotions and state of alertness. The model incorporates Social Thinking® concepts to help students use perspective taking, to identify how they are thinking and feeling, and understand how their thoughts and behaviours impact those around them. Through using the curriculum individuals become more self-aware and learn tools they can use to regulate to a more expected state. It can be used effectively in home, school, and clinical settings, as well as in conjunction with previously taught regulation strategies.

The four different zones are:

See: Mr. Winkel time: Zones of Regulation Introduction for more elaboration on the zones.

Tips on strategies on how to incorporate Zones language at home:

1. Use the language of the Zones everyday. For example - Are you in the blue zone today as you look very tired?
2. Simplify language - when asking your child what Zone they are in allow them to answer with the colour zone without providing any further information as to why. For example, if your child says they are in the red zone it is not effective to discuss why/how in that moment but rather to suggest some tools or strategies that they can use to return to the green zone. For example, sensory/calm down tools, physical activity, quiet time. Once your child is calm then you can discuss triggers or reasons for their feelings more effectively.
3. Model appropriate emotional coping skills yourself at home. It is good for children to see that the adults around them also feel the whole range of human emotion but it is important to demonstrate appropriate coping skills.
4. Think about compiling a kit with calm down/cool down strategies that work for your child. For example, playdoh, colouring in, lego, stress balls, deep breathing exercises, glitter sticks.
5. Would a family Zones check in area be helpful for your family? Watch this clip for some ideas: Zones of Regulation: Activity Check-in at Home via Social Thinking

For more information about self-regulation check out Teaching children self-regulation

Chaplaincy Breakfast Club

 Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30am - 8:00am. Kicking off this coming Thursday. 

Miss Pete is our new School Chaplain and we are so excited to have her on board! We know that she is a fantastic cook and we are keen to see what is on offer every week. 

Our Breakfast Club is something exciting and rewarding for students, parents and staff, so come along and have breaky on the go. Join us this Thursday for our 1st one for the year!

National Apology

P & F Meeting

We would love for our families and friends to join us at our upcoming P&F meeting on Monday the 14th of February. This will be conducted virtually and a link will be emailed to you this afternoon. 

Casual Employment Opportunties

We are seeking casual School Officers and qualified Teachers to cover sick and leave days.
For more information please contact our office.
Teaching staff will need to apply here > https://tceo-portal.applynow.net.au/jobs/TCE679-supply-teacher-registration-2021

Community Notices - Guitar Lessons

Jill Fisher will be holding guitar lessons for any children interested! These will be occuring at St Joseph's Catholic School. Please contact Jill directly if you would like more information.  

Community Notices - Eagles Rugby