Term 2, Week 2

Key Information

• Cocktail Party - Friday 29th April
• Labour Day - Monday 2nd May
• P&F Meeting - Tuesday 3rd May
• Mothers Day Stall! - Wednesday 4th May to Friday 6th May
• 7-9 Unleashing Potential Workshop - Friday 6th May
• Mothers Day Assembly & Breakfast - Friday 6th May
• Prep Vision Screening - Friday 6th May (date change)
• Catholic Identity Committee Meeting - Monday 9th May
• NAPLAN - Tuesday 10th May to Friday 13th May

Tuckshop Menu:

If you wish to volunteer or contribute to Tuckshop in any way in Term 2, please contact the office or see Miss Jamie-Lea. It is a great morning making lunches for the students, always a fun time in Tuckshop! All volunteers must complete a volunteer induction package that is not hard or time sensitive, so come and volunteer your time!

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 2, 

I extend a warm welcome to new and returning families to our great school. 

Thank you to the students, staff and families that joined us on Monday at the Anzac Day March. The weather was a bit of a change for us but we were well prepared with umbrellas. Thankfully the heavy rain stayed away for the commemoration. The behaviour of our students, as always, was exceptional. Chloe Savage, one of our School Captains also led us on the day by reading at the ceremony and laying a wreath on behalf of the St Joseph’s Community. 

P&F Meeting:
Our P&F Meeting has been rescheduled for next Tuesday the 3rd of May at 3pm. The following agenda items will be discussed:

• Upcoming fundraising opportunities
• St Joseph’s Fete
• Mark Mappas Nominations for 2022 
• Secondary Girls School Uniform

If you have agenda items to add to this please contact the P&F on the following email:

pandf@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au

Block Grant Application (BGA) 2022:
Last Thursday we had a visit from the Queensland Catholic Education Commission regarding our application for a Building Grant to knock down and rebuild our primary campus. We submitted this in 2021 and fell just below the line to qualify for funding. We have taken on board feedback received and submitted another application for 2022. 

This project will greatly improve the quality of learning spaces for our students in Prep to Year 4. Our teachers work incredibly hard to provide engaging contemporary learning experiences for our students and it is important that the classrooms not only reflect this but provide an environment where this is possible. It will also improve the working conditions for staff and visiting specialists. The below image is the proposed build, this will also include the replacement of our shade in the primary eating area.

God Bless,

Samantha Kelley

APRE News

International Pay it Forward Day:
Welcome to week 2. This Thursday 28th April is International Pay it Forward Day.  Pay It Forward day is about people, giving to someone else and making a positive difference.

There is tremendous power and positive energy in giving – and what a wonderful world we would live in if all people experienced this to the fullest. 

So why Pay it Forward?

• To encourage all of us to embrace the incredible power of giving.
• To show each other that we care and that there is love and hope all around us.
• To know that we may be only one person in this world, but to one person, at one time, we are the world.
• To make a difference and experience the true power of giving. 

At St Joseph’s we are encouraging our students to do acts of kindness and “Pay it Forward”. Our Leaders will present our assembly prayer this week - focused on Pay it Forward Day. 

We should all be looking for ways to help others every day.   I encourage families to discuss this at home, highlighting the power of giving and how we can all contribute towards making our world that little bit brighter.  

“Together we can change the world – one good deed at a time!”

Comfirmation: 
May god bless the students, staff and community members who celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Colmans Parish last Thursday.

They recieved the gifts of the Holy Spirit and are on their journey to becoming fully fledged members of the Catholic Church. We were blessed to have Bishop Tim Harris presiding over this special liturgy.

Please join us in congratulating Sidney Chaplain, Michael Curley, Noah O’Brien, Archie McDonald, Carly Pattison, Mr Kelley, Miss Lovett, Mr Murray, Emma Young and Zach Kollman.

Mrs Therese Curley
Assistant Principal - Religious Education

Pastoral Care

Positive Behaviour for Learning
PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) is a 3-5 year process designed to help each school progress towards effective behaviour support systems.  The process is supported by data collection and evaluation at each stage. The triangle above illustrates that for academics, we support students at each level; traditionally we might punish students who do not conform. The process seeks to support students who do not yet grasp how to behave at school; or perhaps they have individual needs that require an individual intervention. 

The school undertakes three levels or ‘Tiers’ of training.  At each stage a survey is conducted across the school community which sets the action plan for the work to be achieved before the next Tier. At St. Joseph’s, we are currently working through Tier 2 - we have formed our representative team (including parents/caregivers and students),  are revising our school-wide set of 3-5 positive rules or expectations, and will commence teaching of the expectations formally and in the context. After these steps, we will develop a system for rewarding appropriate behaviour, a referral system for inappropriate behaviours with a range of consistent consequences and a data collection system that records inappropriate behaviour and commends outstanding behaviour.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, please contact Mrs Schneekloth or Mrs Kelley.

Pastoral Care Leader,

Toni Schneekloth

Teaching & Learning

NAPLAN 
NAPLAN is just around the corner with students in year 3 and 5 sitting the first test (writing) on Tuesday 10th of May. All students participated in the NAPLAN practice test in Term 1 which went well. The students are now familiar with the testing environment and know what to expect on the day. Teachers will continue to prepare students for the examination throughout the coming weeks. 

Back to School - tips 
Teachers often speak about the importance of developing good study skills and habits. More often than not, successful students have established clear goals, study routines and good organisation.

We discuss the study skills listed below regularly, from Primary school through to Year 9. Becoming an effective student is no different from becoming good at sport or music; it takes practice, skill, feedback and focus.

Students often tell me that they wish they could study more effectively, or achieve higher grades. Studying is a learned behaviour, and it is very hard to all of a sudden know how to study in high school when the academic pressure is more noticeable. I strongly encourage parents and carers to assist your child / children in creating good study habits in primary school, by regulalry completing their homework and/or reading each afternoon to develop these skills to help them in later years of schooling. 

I highly recommend all students reflect on their study habits and skills, particularly as they transition back to school.

Mr Dean Kelley
Head of Teaching and Learning 

Prep

Firstly, thank you to the Preps that participated in the rainy ANZAC march on Monday. Miss Tamara and I were very proud of the behaviour shown.

What's happening this Term:

• HASS - learning about places that are special to people and why they are special. As part of the assessment for this unit each child will speak in front of the class about a place that is special to them and why it is special. For example; the Gregory River is a special place for me as we camp there each Easter. It is special because all my family are together and we have lots of fun floating in the river and cooking marshmallows in the campfire at night.  When it is your child's turn to be the Calendar Helper they will speak about their special place. This is also part of the English assessment for speaking and communicating. PLEASE TALK TO YOUR CHILD ABOUT A PLACE THAT IS SPECIAL TO THEM AND WHY IT IS SPECIAL IN PREPARATION FOR THIS.
• Science: the properties of objects and how this affects how they can move.
• English: Continue Initial Lit program as well as focusing on comprehension and understanding of texts.
• Math: Our first unit is about the sequence and duration of events, while also continuing to develop number skills.
• Religion: What life was like in Jesus' time.
• Dig Tech: Coding
• Music: What music is made up of and rhythm, beat, high and low sounds.
• Health: Continue the Resilience project and explore people that keep us safe and healthy.

The sounds/letters that we have now learnt are m, p, s, a, i, t, f and r will be learnt this week. Please continue to practice identifying these sounds in words at home. The Preps will start learning "tricky words" (frequent words which cannot be sounded out ) in the next week or so. A list of these will be sent home for you to practice and readers will also be sent home. Practice, practice, practice is the best way to consolidate this new learning and practicing at home is imperative to consolidating these reading skills.

Tuesday: Sport (wear sport uniform)

Wednesday: Order tuckshop

Thursday: Library and tuckshop

Friday: Wear house coloured shirts

Yours in fun and learning,

Mrs McLauchlan and Miss Tamara

Year 1

Hello Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome to week 2!

This week in Year 1, we have been hard at work being Paleontologists.  Here is a snapshot of what we are learning this term;

• Religion: We are learning to identify words, actions and symbols used in the Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist to communicate God’s presence and action
• Math: We are learning to tell the time to half a half hour.
• Science: We are learning how different places meet the needs of living and non-living things.
• HASS: We are learning to identify and describe important dates and changes in our lives.
• Health: We are learning to demonstrate positive ways to interact with others.

Reminders:

This Term we are still working on an A/B week timetable, however, Library and Sport will be on the same day each week. 

• 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.
• Literacy Groups: Next week Year 1 will start literacy groups for term 2 and we would love parent helpers! If you are available at 10 am please email me to let me know. 

Have a wonderful week!

Ms Mae-Louise Brock

Year 2

Welcome to Week 2!

A few notes:

• Our Sport lessons have been moved to Friday of both Week A and Week B. Library is now on Thursday of both Week A and Week B. Woohoo no need to worry about which uniform when or when to bring library books in!!
• We will wear our sport uniforms on Wednesdays
• Monday of Week 3 is another public holiday!
• Homework starts up this week

This week we are learning

• English: Descriptive writing. Our tricky words are something, ask, what
• Maths: Counting collections of coins
• Religion: The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
• HASS: Connections to different places
• Science: Life cycles

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 3

Hi everyone!

The learning highlights for this week are:

• English: we are looking at how the author uses adjectives in the book ‘Anzac Biscuits’ by Phil Cummings. We will then try to write our own sentences that describe the subject, verb, object or location. We are also looking at the sound ‘g, gg’ as in girl and learning how to put words in alphabetical order. 

• Maths: in maths we are starting our new unit on time. We will start by revising how to tell time to the hour, half hour, quarter to and quarter past.

• Science: we will complete our science experiment about heat by placing three spoons (metal, wood and plastic) into a beaker of hot water and measuring their temperature 

• HASS: we will draw the state and territory borders on a map of Australia and learn about the capital city of each state/territory  

• Religion: we will learn about the word ‘initiation’ and discuss how there are three Sacraments of Initiation into the Church (Baptism, Confirmation and Communion)

• Drama: we will learn that improvisation is when there is no script and a character reacts to something by making it up 

The key notices for this week are:

• Sport is on Wednesday 
• Library is on Thursday
• Homework and home readers are due on Friday 

Have a great week ahead!

Miss Suzannah Coombs

Year 4

Hi Everyone,

There was excitement today as we put our eggs in the incubator ready to develop into baby chicks (we hope). Thanks to Natalie Pratt, Nicole Saunders, Vanessa Dodd and Lauren Green who provided us with eggs. In 21 days time we should have some new additions to our classroom.

We are sharing this project with the Year 2 class who will be visiting us at important times during the incubation process. The Year 4 students will be passing on their knowledge to the younger students.

Health: This term we are focussing on emotional health, using both the Resilience Project and the Zones of Regulation Program. This week we are looking at mindfulness and expected and unexpected behaviours and how our actions can influence the emotions of others. Both of these programs are based on extensive research and I have found them to be engaging and allow the students to contribute in a non-threatening way.

Music: This week we will start our Music unit which will see the students singinging, playing and responding to a variety of musical genres. They will be playing both tuned and untuned percussion instruments and I look forward to sharing a subject that I love to teach with them.

This Term

• Library: Every Wednesday
• PE: Every Thursday

Have a great week!

Mrs Lesley Wall

Year 5

Welcome to week 2!

I hope you have all enjoyed your long weekend. Students will be receiving homework this week and it will be due on Friday. 

More subject overviews below:

Hass - Throughout this unit, students understand the difference between needs and wants and identify the needs and wants of a community. They explain the factors that influence making a purchase and explore a number of different natural disasters and their effect on a community. Students also create an action plan and outline how to recover from a natural disaster. 

Religion - Students describe the significance of personal and communal prayer and worship including the Eucharist, the Psalms, Sabbath rituals and prayers for the lives of believers.  

Health - How do we look after ourselves? Students will be investigating community resources and strategies to seek help about health, safety and wellbeing for individuals and their community.

• Sports day: Mondays. 
• Library day: Wednesdays. 

Yours in Faith and Education,

Louise Martin and Therese Von Drehnen

Year 6

Our learning focuses for this week are:

Religion: This week, we are learning about the history of the Catholic Church in Australia, including some prominent figures. 

English: Students will continue learning about language feaures used in a persuasive text - we will start constructing a practise text. 

Mathematics: We will be assessing our learning of angles before moving onto all things FRACTIONS!! 

HaSS: We have been learning about Australia’s migration history and the differences in experiences between different groups of people. This week, we will be using our new knowledge to reflect on Anh Do’s experience. 

Japanese: Students will be revising the hiragana script and will learn how to express things we like and dislike. 

As of this term, our PE and Library lessons are both on Wednesday, each week.

Have a blessed week ahead!

Mr. Delaney & The Year 6 Legends

UMY - Subject Spotlight

Year 7 Maths with Mrs Laffey
Starting off this Term we will revisit Real numbers, focussing on Orders of Operation. BOMDAS, BIMDAS, PEMDAS…why they change the acronym when the meaning remains the same is beyond me. But learn it we shall! Then we push on into Index Notation and Prime Factor Form, before completing an exam in the first half of the Term. I can almost hear the excited cries from students as we start our third unit of the year, Chance and Data. With little chance to get practical in our first two units, we are going to really have fun with Chance. We get to play with dice and spinners, bags of marbles and games like darts.

Year 8 History with Mrs Schneekloth
Currently the Year 8 students are completing their unit on the Black Plague and its spread across Asia, Africa and Europe with the submission of their news report. The final unit for History is Japan under the Shoguns.  Students will look at their hierarchical society, the rise of clans and the code of the samurais.  This depth study will give students prior knowledge when studying World War Two with the advance of the Japanese army across the Pacific.

Year 9 Language with Mr Delaney
The start of Term 2 has not been ideal for our Year 9 language learners - our lessons are on Monday, which means our first lesson will be in Week 4. 

We are learning about street food in Japan. The students will learn about the history and culture of foods such as gyoza, yakitori, karaage, and more! They construct sentences describing the flavour of these foods using correct adjective forms, including asking questions. This will lead to the students cooking and ordering these foods using conversational skills, with their peers. Following this experience, they will write a reflection that illustrates their learning and the rehearsed conversations.

Library

Hello to Everyone,

If you could remind your children that they must have a library bag to be able to borrow books as a book protection strategy.

Prep students can borrow 2 books a week and the rest of the school can borrow up to 4 books.

I also received this information about Story Box: 
This could be good news for the holidays.
Drum roll please…the first ever StoryBox app is here!
Free to download (with an active subscription) onto Apple and Android devices, a world
of stories is now even easier to access.

Download the StoryBox app now, featuring:

 Over 400 diverse stories, with new stories added regularly
 Quick and easy search filters and playlist functions
 Language learning and audio-visual support, including closed-captioning
 Individual profile settings for parents and children for family subscribers

Mrs Chris Chaplain 

Teacher Librarian 

School Chaplain News

Tuesday started out going great guns with our primary students joining in the first Spark Club! It was unorganised and full of ideas as to what we may want to do with our time together! It seems that the students want food! And to create, colour and to laugh about. We will see how we go in the coming weeks with activities, though, I do think that having another space for the students to access in first lunch (at this stage) is great and fingers crossed get value out of the conversation each visit will bring.

Tuesday also brought the Breaky back to the MMS, so they can play and be social. It sure was busier despite the rain, which we all love. Generally I make toast, toasted sandwiches, provide cereal and fresh fruit. Occasionally there may be something homemade. I'd love for our students to know that they are welcome to come from 7.30am to 8.15am.

I am looking forward to making Anzac Biscuits with our Students of the Week on Friday. A small celebration of the special recipients of awards at second lunch!

One more thing, if you are wishing to volunteer at our Tuckshop, I know Miss Jamie-Lea would love more volunteers. I will help you getting sorted out with an induction that really takes no longer than 40 mins. That induction covers you for volunteering for the whole school, so come and be a huge part of our community. St Joseph's School loves having Parents & Friends come and help!

Have a terrific long weekend! I sure hope you enjoy some time with your family and friends, we are so lucky to live here! Thanks for listening,

Miss Pete x

Student Wellbeing

Employment Opportunties - Teachers & School Officers

We are currently recruiting a teacher to join our team in Teaching The Arts. This position will be 5 days a week. Please apply by clicking the following link: https://applynow.net.au/jobs/ni/TCE1549-teacher

We are also seeking a Primary Teacher to join our team. This position is full time. Please apply by clicking on the following link: 
https://applynow.net.au/jobs/ni/TCE1586-year-5-primary-teacher

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

Cocktail Evening

Mothers Day Stall

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