Term 2 I Week 5

Key Information

• Scholastic Book Fair -This week
• Indigenous Education Advisory Meeting - Thursday 19th May - 3pm
• Trivia Evening - Friday 20th May - 5pm
• 2023 Prep Open Evening - Monday 23rd May - 5.30 - 6.30pm
• Board Meeting - Tuesday 24th May - 530 to 630pm
• Ronald McDonald House Fundraiser - Thursday 26th May
• Athletics Carnival - Friday 27th May
• Mulkadee Dance Workshop - Tuesday 31st May
• Life Education Visit - Year 5 & 6 - Wednesday 1st June & Thursday 2nd June

Tuckshop Menu:

Thank you to the 2 ladies who have stepped up to volunteer! We are still looking for more volunteers and can help you with any questions. Please call the office or see Miss Jamie-Lea.

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 5, 

It is hard to believe we are halfway through the term already. I am away from Tuesday to Thursday this week at Professional Development in Townsville. I am always looking for ways to grow and learn as a Principal and I jump at any chance to develop my understanding and knowledge in something that will benefit the school. This week I will be diving into the world of finance as I attend a course directed to business managers and Principals. Mrs Therese Curley will be available in my absence, however, please feel free to contact me via email on skelley2@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au and I will get back to you as soon as I can. 

Please note that there will be no assembly this week as we have an excursion for Prep to Year 3, as well as a team of photographers coming to update our professional photographs. 

Professional Photographs
This coming Friday the 20th of May we will have the marketing team from Townsville Catholic Education Office coming to St Joseph’s to capture our wonderful students and school. These photos will be able used for invitations, social media, advertising campaigns, formal assemblies etc. We love to include updated photos for these occasions and I am excited to have these updated. Students love seeing their smiling faces on the PowerPoint slides or banners. 

Although we have media consent in the enrolment forms if you have concerns with your child / children being captured in these photos please contact myself or the school office on (07) 4742 1633. The photographers will be following a schedule on the day to showcase elements of the school such as the classrooms, gardens, chickens, Religious Life of the School, Home Economics, Science Lab, Computer Lab, and the Workshop. 

Students are asked to wear their full school uniform on Friday for these photos. A reminder was posted on the compass newsfeed yesterday, but will also be sent home in a text message on Thursday afternoon as a last minute reminder. 

Under 8s Excursion
I encourage all parents and carers to read the emails sent on Friday 13th of May and Monday 16th of May as these include important information about the Prep to Year 3 excursion this coming Friday. 

Students will depart St Joseph’s Catholic School at 8.20am and will walk to the Burke and Wills shed at Cloncurry State School. Please ensure students are at school on time. If students are late to school, they will unfortunately miss out on attending the event. Students will partake in the activities from 8.45am through to 10.30am. Students will begin walking back to St Joseph’s Catholic School at 10.30am ready for morning tea. 

Students need to wear their full school uniform (including a hat) and take a water bottle with them. Painting smocks will be sent with teachers for students to wear if they are in activities that include painting. 

Prep Enrolments & Open Evening
You may have noticed that our enrolment campaign for 2023 has started. Enrolments for Prep are now OPEN! There will be an Open Evening coming up on Monday 23rd of May from 5.30 - 6.30pm. Please spread the word. If parents / carers can’t attend the Open Evening they are welcome to enrol at anytime by handing an enrolment pack into the office or emailing it to clncry@tsv.catholic.edu.au

Trivia 
Who will take out the win (and bragging rights) for winning the first 2022 St Joseph’s Catholic School trivia? We have some amazing prizes to be won. We would love to see all of our families at our upcoming trivia evening, being held on Friday the 20th of May at 5pm. 

The trivia night will be held on the school oval. The screen will be set up out the front of the home ec room, so please position your picnic rugs this way when arriving. You may wish to compete as a family or join another family. If you are joining another family we ask that no more than 10 people are on a team. 

If you would like to bring chairs to sit on please be mindful of the people in front of you and it would be best to sit to the side or at the back so you aren’t obstructing the view of others. 

Although staff will be present on the night, the supervision of your child/children is your responsibility and we kindly ask that parents ensure children are sitting with them and supervised throughout the event. 

God Bless. 

Samantha Kelley

Principal

APRE News

Welcome to week 5!

This coming Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, that is Jesus’ departure from this earth after his Resurrection. It may sound odd that we celebrate his departure and, see this as infact a blessing. To help understand this I would like to share a reflection written by Sr Kym Harris from Casting the Net Blog: 

“One way we can understand Jesus’ Ascension is to consider people who have influenced us profoundly for the good and who have since died. I had a wonderful grandfather and I frequently find myself consciously living by the values he imparted. In fact, I feel closer to him as I strive to be like him. When Jesus left this earth, he promised us his Holy Spirit and told us to be his witnesses. That is, the world is to continue to see and experience him in and through us. If he was still around, we simply would not step up to the mark. But as we live by his Spirit and by his words, he comes and lives within us and we become the revelation of the life and grace of God to those around us. That is, people are to experience God and Jesus because they have experienced us. This is a great dignity. This is a blessing. And we rejoice that we have this great calling.”

Thank you to the families and children who joined us for our Children’s Liturgy on Sunday. I look forward to sharing a fun evening with our families this Friday at Trivia. Remember this is a family event and students are encouraged to be very much apart of your team. Wishing everyone a lovely week ahead!

Notices:
No assembly this week due to Under 8’s Morning.

Tuesday 24th (Week 6) Whole School Mass: 8:40am in St. Colman’s Chruch  - Fr Mick and Fr Emene will join us for a school mass for Mary Help of Christians Feast Day. School and Parish community are welcome to join us for this mass.

Sunday 5th June (Week 7) Children’s Mass: This mass will celebrate Pentecost - all children are welcome to join us. An email will be sent out next week asking for students who wish to take part in the mass.

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral News

Prep

Good evening,

I hope you had a great weekend! 

This week our focus will be to catch up assessments and show art entries with students that have been away. The Preps are creating beautiful Rainbow Fish artwork for the Cloncurry show and will also enter the handwriting section.

Our new sounds this week are "h" and "e" and we will learn the rest of the second row of Tricky Words on the chart. In Math we will return to exploring number; moving to numbers to twenty and beyond. During religion we are now exploring forgiveness and compassion. We have introduced a Forgiveness Chart to colour a heart on, when an act of forgiveness is identified as occurring.  We look at The Good Samaritan and Ten Lepers stories during this learning. 

We began sending Literacy folders home on Wednesday and everyone should have one by today. Each child has a specific day that they are given this. They need to return the folder, to have it updated, on the same day the following week. Your day is written on the folder. Please TAKE THESE OUT OF YOUR CHILD'S BAG and put it in the Homework Box in class.

Reminders:

• Tuesday: PE -  sport uniform
• Wednesday: Order Tuckshop
• Thursday: Tuckshop and library
• Friday: Under 8's Morning at the State School. We will be marking the roll and then leaving to walk down about 8:20am. If you arrive late your child will have to wait at school for us to return.  

Yours in fun and learning,

Mrs Sharon McLauchlan and Miss Tamara Williams

Year 1

Hello Parents and carers,

Wow? Middle of term 2 already! 

Here is a snapshot of what is on this week;

Religion: We are learning about the second creation story ‘Noah and the Flood’ as well as ‘Moses and the Red Sea’. We are identifying the characters, setting and events that are occurring and sequencing the events.

Math: We are consolidating our learning on half past and o’clock times by making and identifying these times on both analogue and digital clocks. 

Science/English: Students are finishing off their Information reports on their chosen dinosaurs as well as their habitat drawing for science. 

HASS: We are learning to identify and describe important dates and changes in our lives. 

Health: We are learning to identify ways we can be safe in our community, specifically, safety near the road. 

Drama: We are learning to use voice, facial expressions, movement and space to imagine and establish role and situation. 

Thursday:

• Due to sport being on Friday students are able to wear their sports uniform on Thursday if they wish. 
• 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.

Friday:

• Sport: Friday with Mr Murray, please have your child wear their formal uniform this week due to professional photos. 

Literacy Groups: If you are able to help out, our literacy groups will be at 10am each morning.

Have a wonderful week!

Miss Mae-Louise Brock

Year 2

Welcome to Week 5,

Woohoo halfway through Term 2!

This week we are learning:

English: Narrative writing - we are looking at how to write short stories. Our tricky words are bought, thought, work.

Maths: Fractions - we have looked at halves and quarters and are now bring in eighths

Religion: The forgiving father

HASS: Connections to different places

Science: Life cycles - we had some new additions join us today and we are sooo excited!

Health: Our Identities

Our art for the show is coming along great and we have started drafting our narrative pieces for the show.

Have a great week,

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 3

Hi Everyone, 

Last week Year 3 students completed their NAPLAN tests. I was very impressed with their ‘can do’ attitude and their enthusiasm to do their best. Congratulations to all!

The learning highlights for this week are:

• English:  we are exploring the use of adjectives to describe the setting in a narrative. We will look at the descriptive language used by Roald Dahl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and try to write the setting of our own story using lots of adjectives. 

• Maths: students will be tested on their knowledge and skills with telling the time

• Science: we are learning about the relationship between the Sun, Earth and Moon.

• HASS: we have been brainstorming ‘what makes Australia unique’ and looking at the different natural features (e.g. Uluru, The Great Barrier Reef) and architecture (e.g. Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Opera House). 
• Religion: we will read Matthew 3:13-17 in the Bible which tells the story of Jesus’ death. 

The key notices for this week are:

• Sport is on Wednesday 
• Library is on Thursday
• Homework and home readers are due on Friday
• Under 8s excursion on Friday morning 

Have a great week ahead!

Miss Suzannah Coombs

Year 4

Hi Everyone,

We had an interesting morning in Year 4 last Thursday when two crime scenes appeared in our classroom! Students started investigating immediately, finding clues and making inferences from them. Thanks to Miss Brodie for setting up this fun and engaging activity to develop our skills of inference. And the guilty parties...Miss Brodie who lost her temper in a game of UNO and Miss Brock who was in a hurry when looking for a book. 

HOMEWORK: This week the students are using their homework time to practice their speeches which will be presented to the class this Friday. They will be using palm cards to help them be able to look up at their audience. The criteria I will be marking  against is-:

• Introduces their character

• Clear, loud voice which is at an appropriate pace (fast does not mean good)

• Expression

• Engagement with audience (looks up at audience at appropriate times)

It would be great if they could practise in front of an audience- pets, parents, siblings, unsuspecting visitors, to increase their confidence.

Farewell Miss Brodie
Sadly we farewell Miss Brodie who is returning to Winton on Friday (Thursday is her last day at St Joseph’s). It has been a pleasure to have her in our classroom and she is more than ready to take on her own class at St Pat’s next term. We wish her all the best for a long and enjoyable teaching career.

Mrs Lesley Wall

Year 5

Welcome to Week 5!

NAPLAN - Congratulations to our Year 5 Class. This Year was actually the first year of NAPLAN  for this class. They put in an amazing effort!

Maths - Yesterday students competed a Maths assessment on addition and subtracting, rounding and estimating.  

English- We are continuing with reading our class novel Deltora Quest. This week we are looking at language features used to describe the appearance of the characters and how this language suits the purpose of the text (to entertain the reader) . We are also Discussing how the language used can influence the audience. 

Reminders:

• On Monday Life Education forms were handed out. Please return to school by Tuesday 24th.
• Athletics carnival next Friday 27th May. 
• Formal uniform to be worn Friday 20th May as we are having professional photos taken around the school.

Sports day: Mondays.  

Library day: Wednesdays. 

Yours in Faith and Education,

Miss Therese von Drehnen and Mrs Louise Martin

Year 6

Welcome to Week 5!

Back to a five day week - we can’t wait to get stuck into our learning!

Our learning focuses for this week are:

Religion: This week, students are learning about the works of mercy as a way that Catholic Christians live out their faith. We will start researching a contemporary Australian Catholic for our assessment task. 

English: Students will continue to learn about a range of persuasive techniques in addition to larning how to structure their body paragraphs using the PEEL format. 

Mathematics: We have become quite familiar with equivalent fractions and comparing & ordering fractions. Students will begin to learn another reason why we find equivalent fractions; to add and subtract them. 

HaSS: After they complete their migration assessment this week, we will begin our Business & Economics learning. 

Japanese: We will revise expressing our likes and dislikes through gameplay. Students will then learn stationery vocabulary to use in combination with some common classroom sentences, including asking questions. 

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 Science with Mr Murray

In Science students have been considering the importance of water and the water cycle. They investigate mixtures, including solutions, pure substances and a range of separation techniques. Students consider everyday applications of the separation techniques and relate their use in a variety of occupations. Students have planned and are conducting  investigations into the separation of mixtures and use their data to draw conclusions.

Mitakoodi Word of the Week

Library

Book Week is happening!

Thank you to the parents coming in with your enthusiastic children. We are here at lunchtimes and after school for those who are yet to come. We are able to order extra books if you require them too.

Could you please provide your child / children with a Library bag?
Also if children could bring their books back weekly that would be much appreciated.

Regards

Mrs Chaplain
Teacher /Librarian

The Spark Club

Chocolate Drive: A fundraiser initiative to help contribute towards our School Chaplaincy activities! I want to provide warm breakfasts in winter, and this fundraiser will help with that! Look for an email with an order form! Cash payments to be made through the office :)

Final orders received by 8.30am 27th May!

Student Wellbeing

In the last decade, children’s participation in physical activity and exercise has been in decline. In this digital age, children are using computers and mobile devices, not only for learning, but for relaxation and recreation purposes. This sedentary lifestyle is having a detrimental effect on today’s youth. The key is finding the balance.

Research shows that regular physical activity and exercise leads to changes in the brain. It improves cognitive function, elevates mood, enhances learning and improves academic outcomes. Playing sport helps kids develop fundamental movement skills impacting positively on their confidence, self-esteem and ability to develop social skills. Parents play an important role in helping children establish positive habits that will benefit their children in the long-term.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will discover practical advice relating to the benefits of regular physical activity and exercise, as well as tips on how to get their kids motivated and moving more.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Physical Activity & Exercise edition of SchoolTV

https://sjctsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/physical-activity-exercise

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

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.