Term 1 l Week 7 Newsletter

Key Information

• Year 7 Immunisations - Tuesday 8th March at 1.30 - 2.50pm
• QMEA Year 7 - Wednesday 9th March
• Parent Morning Tea - Wednesday 9th March at 8.30am in the library
• Disco Fundraiser - Friday 10th at 2nd lunch - Gold Coin Donation
• Cross Country - Postponed, TBA, TERM 2 
• Catholic Identity Committee Meeting - Monday 14th March at 4pm (please note date change)
• Sacremental Meeting - Monday 14th March at 3pm 
• Indigenous Education Advisory Meeting - Thurday 17th March at 3pm (please note date change)
• St Patrick's Fundraiser - 17th March, Dress in GREEN - Gold Coin Donation for Project Compassion
• Opening Mass & St Joseph's Feast Day - Friday 18th March at 8.30am
• Children's Mass - Sunday 27th March
• Last Day of Term - Thursday 31st March
• School Holiday Period - Friday 1st April to Monday 18th April
• Term 2 Commences - Tuesday 19th April 

Tuckshop Menu:

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. 

NO MILK POPPERS THIS WEEK! Sorry for the inconvenience.

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 Week 7, 

What a busy week it has been already. I would like to thank Mrs Therese Curley for her timetabling and planning this week to ensure the school runs smoothly while so many staff and students are currently at home unwell. 

Today is also international women's day. Thank you to the wonderful ladies that we have in our community. Today we celebrate the incredible contribution that you make in this world, particularly in St Joseph’s and the lives of your loved ones.

Your child/children may have come home last week mentioning the lockdown drill that we had on Thursday. This was quite successful. We do a lockdown drill at the school each semester to ensure we are prepared. We are hoping to do a lockdown drill at a lunch break next term. Please let your children know that next Monday we will be doing a ‘fire drill’. Students are to stay calm, leave all of their belongings in their classroom and follow their teacher to the Mary MacKillop Shed. We then have students sit in their class and do a class role. Once all students are accounted for they will be free to go back to class to prepare for morning tea. 

Board Formation:

I had the privilege of joining our prospective board members last Saturday in the library for the board formation day from 8:45am - 1pm. We were joined by schools across the Townsville Diocese as we zoomed into TCEO. At the beginning of the day we heard from Bishop Tim Harris, followed by Br David Hall. 

Bishop Tim Harris and Br David Hall engaged the team on a vigorous and engaging Church, highlighting a Call for Change. We were challenged on the day to think about the good that we are doing in this world. Although we may attend Church and receive communion, we need to spend some time thinking about what we are doing after that, so I challenge you to reflect on the following:

• What are you doing with the baptism or confirmation you have received?
• What good are you spreading or actioning after you receive communion?
• What prayers are you putting into action?

COVID Announcements:

In moving forward announcements for COVID-19 will be made via the newsletter. This will minimise the amount of emails parents and carers are receiving. If you haven’t been receiving announcements please contact the front office to ensure your email address is updated. 

This week I have communicated with families that we have received 10 COVID-19 positive cases in our community. This is growing daily. As we are doing in school, I encourage you to speak with your child/children about washing their hands before they eat and covering their mouth with their arm when they cough. 

A friendly reminder that we are committed to keeping our community safe. I acknowledge that it can be inconvenient to receive a call to pick your child/children up from school if they are showing symptoms of COVID-19 or are unwell. We do however appreciate your understanding of this. We will continue to provide RAT tests to children who present with symptoms. We cannot administer these tests at school and they must be taken home to be administered. 

Cross Country:

We unfortunately have had to make the decision to postpone cross country until a later date. This is due to current staff shortages at both the school and the police station. We don’t believe we would be able to supervise the students adequately. 

Thank you to the parents that have volunteered to help on Friday. 

P&F AGM:

Thank you to the families and friends that joined in on the Parents & Friends AGM yesterday afternoon. It is with pleasure that I announce our 2022 P&F Team:

• President-Rene Winner-Harrison
• Vice President-Ruth Chaplain
• Parent Engagement/ Social Coordinator- Bridget Calverd

We are however currently seeking a Secretary for our P&F. We are lucky to have Mrs Tamara Williams filling in until we have interest from our community. Please reach out to myself and/or Rene if you would like to jump on board this year. 

God Bless, 

Samantha Kelley 

APRE News

Welcome to week 7! 

Thank you to all the families who joined us for Mass on Sunday. We had a lovely group of children participate in the Children’s Liturgy. This week is the first week of Lent. Our focus story comes to you from India and is called Biru's story. Biru comes from a remote village in India and lives with a disability. He has faced the prospect of a life of poverty and discrimination. With the support of Project Compassion, he participated in entrepreneurship training and gained the skills to become financially independent.

Prayer for the first week of Lent

Lord God,

You who breathed the spirit of life within me.

Draw out of me the light and life you created.

Help me to find my way back to you.

Help me to use my life to reflect your glory

and to serve others

as your son Jesus did.

Amen.

Notices:

• Date Claimers:
  
  • Project Compassion Disco Fundraiser:  This Friday 11th March at 2nd Lunch - Gold Coin 
    
  • Wear Green for St Patrick's Day Fundraiser:  Next Thursday 17th March - Gold Coin for Project Compassion
    
  • Children’s Mass:  Sunday 27th March
    
• Alpha Program: will be on again this Sunday after mass. Thank you to all who participated last week.
• Sacramental Program: will commence on Monday 14th March 3pm - 4pm. Please register your child’s interest to myself tcurley@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au
  

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral Care

The Resilience Project - Part 4: Mindfulness.

Today’s article from The Resilience Project is all about Mindfulness.  

Mindfulness is about practising a moment-to-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment – with curiosity, and without judgement. 

Thousands of studies have proven benefits including; reduced stress, reduced rumination, increased memory, increased cognitive function and physical health benefits through improved immunity.

View Part 4: Mindfulness of the series here: https://theresilienceproject.com.au/parent-and-carer-hub-hugh/

Mindfulness can be practiced through meditation, yoga, flow-states and daily activities such as cooking. 

Source: UC Berkeley, Greater Good Science, American Psychological Association

For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page.

Prep

Week 7. 

This week the Preps will revise the "m" sound and learn the "s" sound. There are some great activities you can do at home to practice identifying these sounds. Some of these are include a "treasure hunt" around the house to find words which have these sounds (not letters) at the beginning, finding words on signs or on grocery items if you are out and about or shopping and identifying words in a storybook which have a "m" or "s" sound at the beginning.  We will not do Literacy Groups this week due to staffing numbers.      

We will continue exploring number names, words and amounts for math. Some of the students will be moving onto teen numbers and beyond while others will be consolidating numbers to ten. Please practice counting amounts of "things", not just saying the numbers, with your children at home.

If you are home with your child this week please do the activities above. I have also assigned activities on Literacy Planet you can do at home.

Please remember to check out the Prep Album on the school’s Facebook page to see all the learning and fun that has been happening in Prep.

Reminders:

Tuesday: Wear sport uniform

Wednesday: Order Tuckshop

Thursday: Library

Friday: Wear house colours or sport uniforms if you do not have one.

Project Compassion Disco this Friday at 2nd Lunch  - Gold coin entry.

Yours in fun and learning,

Mrs McLauchlan and Miss Tamara

Year 1

Hello Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 7!

What a busy week ahead! Here is a snapshot of what Year 1 is learning;

Religion: We are learning to identify that God’s plan for creation is for people to help eachother to live safely and happily in community. We will read the scripture Luke 6:31 ‘Treat others just as you want to be treated’ and identify ways we can respect each other and the environment.

English: We are learning to create short texts for a different range of purposes. Last week we looked at "Macca the Alpaca" and completed a character profile. This week students will be looking at "Don’t Call Me Bear!" They will be completing a character profile and identifying Warren’s character traits. 

Mathematics: We are learning to describe number sequences resulting from skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.

Science: We are learning to sort information and classify objects based on easily observable characteristics.

HASS: We are learning to identify differences and similarities between students’ daily lives and life from the past

Health: We are learning to identify how characters demonstrate strengths, show how these strengths helped the character be successful and recognise which of these strengths they possess.

Reminders:

• This week is Week A!
• Sport: Friday with Mr Murray. 
• Library: Thursday, please send your child’s library bag into school.
• Homework: Please bring back on Wednesday. Please note that due to myself not being at school this week home readers will not be changed. 
• Project Compassion Disco this Friday at 2nd Lunch  - Gold coin entry.
• Pokémon Cards are not to be brought to school. Unfortunately, we have had a number of concerns with trading. 
  

Have lovely week, 

Miss Mae-Louise Brock

Year 2

Hi all,

This week we are learning:

English: Character comparisons. Our tricky words are woman, home, where.

Maths: Count to 1000

Religion: God’s nature, Lent

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

• Project Compassion Disco this Friday at 2nd Lunch  - Gold coin entry.
• Pokémon Cards are not to be brought to school. Unfortunately, we have had a number of concerns with trading. 

Have a great week!

Miss Ansell

Year 3

The learning highlights for Year 3 this week are:

• English: Working on using saying verbs (yelled, crided, roared) and quotation marks in their narrative writing. We read the book Zogg to look at how authors use language features in their writing. 

• Math: we are learning to partition two and three digit numbers in addition problems.

• Science: we are working on  understanding and classifying insulators and conductors. 

• HASS: we are continuing to look at why it is important to have rules in communities and discussing the positives of democracy. 

• Religion: Looking at scripture from the Old Testament  

Reminders: 

Students have been asked to not bring Pokemon cards to school. Unfortunately we have had a number of issues surrounding the trading of Pokemon cards. 

Date claimer: 

Project Compassion Disco this Friday at 2nd Lunch  - Gold coin entry.

Next Thursday 17th March - Where Green for St Patricks Day Fundraiser - gold coin donation for Project Compassion 

Next Friday 18th March - Beginning of Year Mass - students to wear formal uniform 

Have a great week ahead!

Miss Suzannah Coombs

Year 4

Year 5

Welcome to week 7!

This week our learning focuses include:

Math: We are focusing on capacity and the relationship capacity has with volume. Students will engage in hands-on learning activities during our math lessons.

English: This week we will deconstruct and rewrite another narrative, continue our soundwaves spelling unit and engage with a variety of rotation activities with our rotation focus being comprehension.

Health: Our healthy habits unit is in full swing. It has been great to hear some students mentioning the healthy foods that they chose to eat over the weekend. Keep it up year 5!!

Homework: Students have been given their homework activities for the week. This will be due back in class for marking on Friday. 

Project Compassion Disco this Friday at 2nd Lunch  - Gold coin entry.

Pokémon Cards are not to be brought to school. Unfortunately, we have had a number of concerns with trading. 

I hope everyone has an enjoyable week.

Alastair Fraser

Year 6

Welcome to Week 7!

It is such a bummer that I cannot be at school with the class this week but the learning doesn't stop. In fact, they will be starting some assessment tasks this week!

Our learning focuses for this week:

Religion: The students will begin their assessment task this week. The end goal is to communicate God’s promise through the prophets of the coming of a messiah. 

English: We are coming to the end of the Holes novel and the students are planning their creative writing before the drafting process begins. 

Mathematics: The students are revising the concepts we have learnt over the past couple of weeks before undertaking the next part of their assessment. 

HaSS: This week, we are continuing to work through our assessment - the task is to create a proposal slideshow to show how a global citizen would approach the problem of poverty in a developing Asian country.   

A reminder that Physical Education is Week A Tuesday & Week B Monday. Library is Week A Wednesday & Week B Thursday. 

Keep checking in with students to see if they have homework and to sign their diaries - great practice for high school!

Project Compassion Disco this Friday at 2nd Lunch  - Gold coin entry.

Pokémon Cards are not to be brought to school. Unfortunately, we have had a number of concerns with trading. 

Have a blessed week!

Mr. Delaney & The Year 6 Legends

Year 7 Science

In this unit students will explore the basics building blocks to the scientific process. Students will study the key functions of scientists and their experiments in both laboratory and field settings. They apply scientific conventions to construct scientific reports, including observations, methodology, measurements, presentation of results and hypothesis formulation

Mr Scott Murray

Year 8 Design

This term, students are creating a 3D Puzzle from 42x19 Meranti.

Before starting work on the 3D Puzzle students must first complete online training in safety. All students have been given time in class to complete their onguard training (online workshop training) and the majority have completed the training modules. Students will not be allowed in the workshop without completing their onguard competencies.

Students' resilience will be tested as mistakes are unavoidable while they are still building their competencies in the workshop. For students to be successful they must forward plan and always be considering their next move.

Year 9 English & Religion

English: This term, students have been working through an imaginative based unit with a close study of Morris Gleitzman’s novel ‘Once’. To support their understanding of the events this story surrounds - the Holocaust, students are also viewing non-fiction texts to compare and contrast human experience in response to ethical and global dilemmas. They are exploring how events, situations and people are represented from different perspectives. Students will use this knowledge to analyse and evaluate how texts position audiences to view people, characters, places, events, and ideas in a particular way. They will construct an imaginative short story for assessment, integrating ideas and information from the novel and the non-fiction texts we have examined in class.

Religion: In Religion this term, students have been exploring the coexistence of Good and Evil in the world. We have explored what it means to be ‘moral’ and used the Decalogue as the core scripture to guide us.  The students have examined the ways ‘good’ and ‘evil’ present in our contemporary society; through words and actions. We have started to analyse the life and works of significant Religious figures and how they overcame the evils of their society to push for the greater good. This has been really interesting and it has been wonderful to see the students make connections between all elements of this unit of work!

Ms Rachel Lovett

UMY Notices

Vaccinations
Vaccinations are taking place today for Year 7 students. Thank you for sending back the immunisation forms.

Uniform
There are still students wearing the incorrect uniform to school.  School footwear is to include plain white/navy blue socks (no brand names or logos permitted) that cover the ankles with black leather lace-up school shoes (black laces) with leather upper and leather lining and sock. The sock is a part of the shoe as it gives a double layer of protection for specialist subjects (Manual Arts, Home Ec, Science). 

Neat and tidy hair is a requirement of our school and as such, we value parent support to ensure students abide by this requirement.  Extreme fashionable styles i.e. shaved patterns in hair or rats tails and hair dyes, are not acceptable.  Students with longer than collar length hair must have their hair tied up at all times. All students’ hair must be out of the eyes and not impede school work. Hair accessories (ties, clips or ribbons) are to be navy.

Homework Club
Just a reminder that homework club is on each Thursday, commencing at 3pm - this is a great time for students to catch up with teachers to clarify any questions or concepts in their subjects.

Sports & Extra Curricular

Last week on Wednesday, 2nd March 2022, St Joseph’s Students and Staff attended the Combined 2022 Mid West Trials. Students participated in Rugby League, Netball and Touch trials throughout the day. 

The day was a great day for all of our students involved. The following students were selected for in the below sports:

Rugby League: Mac Schneekloth & Kale McKenzie

Touch: Mac Schneekloth, Tom Schneekloth and Toby King

Netball: Kate Macnamara and Tom Schneekloth as a Shadow.

Students will now attend Trials for Rugby League here in Cloncurry on March 25 & 26 to be selected into the North West Team. The touch players will travel to Mt Isa in April to hopefully be selected to go further and the Netballers will travel to the Central West District later in May.

We look forward to hearing and seeing how all these students go for their future trials.

We also had Catie Hansen and Faith Douglas travel to Julia Creek to be student umpires for Netball. These two young ladies were outstanding and were praised for their professionalism, manners and knowledge. 

As a whole, our students were once again praised for their behaviour, manners and all round sportsmanship at these trials. Thank you to all the students for representing our school magnificently, and thank you to all the parents and carers that took time off to take their students to the trials.

Mr Scott Murray

Library

Our Book Club has been delivered this week! Your child should bring home their order, we love that students are eager to read at home. 

Books in Homes is an intiative driven by Glencore and our primary students are lucky enough to receive them this term in Week 10. We thank Ernest Henry Mining for their continued generosity. 

Term 2 important dates:

• Week 3 - Book Week - "Dreaming with eyes open....."
• Week 6 - Scholastic Book Fair 

Mrs Chris Chaplain 

Teacher Librarian 

Student Wellbeing

As we enter this busy part of the term it is important to recognise that many of the behaviours that we may be beginning to notice or that may be beginning to escalate could be coming from exhaustion. Sleep is vital for healthy minds and bodies but is often reduced in order to fit other things into our lives, such as completing assessments, sports training, technology and spending time with others. While these things are important, so is ensuring that we and our children get enough sleep in order to function our best. 

SchoolTV has a series of videos discussing the importance of sleep, how to promote sleep and what is potentially causing a lack of sleep. Headspace have also made a Guide to Sleep that is available to watch on Netflix.

While we are setting up healthy sleep habits, keep in mind that many of our children have not experienced a “normal” year of school for a long time, if ever. So taking the time to set up positive sleep routines is vital, now more than ever.

Community Engagement

The goal of the P&F at St Joseph's Catholic School this year is to increase parent engagement in our schooling community. We love having our parents, caregivers and family members join us for assemblies and important events, but we would also love to see this engagement within class times and at special celebrations. 

What's coming up that you can join in with?

We also have St Joseph's Feast Day kicking off after our Opening Mass on Friday 18th of March. Parents and caregivers may wish to station themselves at an activity to assist or move around with their child to support. Please note that parents must sign in at the office before volunteering. 

Timetable for St Joseph's Feast Day Friday 18th March 

Sacramental Program

Project Compassion Fundraiser

Alpha Program

Chaplaincy Breakfast Club

Mulkadee 2022

Registrations for Mulkadee 2022 open! This will be open to students from Year 6 - 9.

The Mulkadee Youth Arts Festival is the only event of its kind in Australia, and offers students from across the Townsville Diocese the opportunity to participate in a week-long program of artistic workshops in choir, dance, drama, band, guitar and strings

Mulkadee is in its 17th year and has become an integral part of the Townsville Arts calendar with industry experts sharing their talents with over 750 students.

This year Mulkadee will be a variety show format and will also have an added element of audio-visual allowing Townsville Catholic Education to showcase the incredible talent in our diocese.

Held from Monday 18 to Friday 22 July, 2022, Mulkadee provides a unique experience for students to learn from industry experts and culminates in a performance to a sell-out crowd of family and friends at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre on Friday 22 July.

If you are interested or have any questions, please send Miss Ansell an email: lansell5@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au

Registrations close on the 1st of April.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTi6b_VFGLg

Employment Opportunties - Teachers & School Officers

We are currently recruiting a teacher to join our team in Term 2 - teaching The Arts, 3 days a week. Please apply by clicking the following link: https://applynow.net.au/jobs/ni/TCE1549-teacher

We are seeking two school officers to join our team in Term 2. For more information please contact our office, alternatively please apply by clicking the following link: https://applynow.net.au/jobs/ni/TCE1561

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.  

Cloncurry Poetry Competition

The Cloncurry Prize – Junior Poetry Competition is back for another year! The competition is open to all Queensland school aged individuals.

The theme of the 2022 Cloncurry Prize Poetry Competition is “Spirit of the Outback”. Attached is a flyer.

Key Dates:

Entries open: Now!

Entries close: Friday 13 May 2022 at 11:59 AEST

Prizes:

First prize - $250

Second prize - $150

Third prize - $100

How to enter

Email your poem to cloncurryprize@cloncurry.qld.gov.au clearly stating the entry is for the junior competition.

The file name should include the Title followed by the Poets Name e.g. The Cameleers Saddle – Bob Down.

Should you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us or visit our website. www.cloncurry.qld.gov.au/cloncurry-prize

Looking forward to reading some great poetry!

Cloncurry Prize Team

Opportunities for Youth

Dear Parents,

Please see some of the fantasic upcoming opportunities for students with disabilities that are occurring in Townsville.

Footy Tipping

It is that time of the year again, although cutting it nice and fine (better late than never). Today is Team List Tuesday and that means that Round 1 of the NRL kicks off this Thursday!

The inaugural SJC Tipping Competition will be running again in 2022!!I am sure we can all agree that after the beginning of the year that we have all endured it is only right and deserved to participate in some healthy competition to bring our SJC community together. Hopefully, we see the return of some famous names such as 'The Big Tipper', 'TSneek', and the cunning, committed, competitive parents that are seasoned veterans to the competition. There can be only one winner! Who will claim the ultimate bragging rights? Who can knock Miss Lovett from her perch?

See the competition link below. Absolutely no entry fee required.https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/sjc_nrl_tips_2022