Term 4 Week 3

Key Information

Upcoming Board Meetings

• Tuesday 8th November - 5.30pm - Library
  

Upcoming P&F Meeting

•  Tuesday 25th October - 3pm - Library

Term 4 Important Dates

• Headspace Visit - Year 6 to 9 - Wednesday 19th October
  
• Swimming Carnival - Friday 21st October
• Founders Day Fun Run - Friday 28th October
• Day for Daniel - Friday 28th October (celebrated at St Joseph's on Thursday 27th October)
• Grandparents Day Breakfast - Friday 28th October
• Year 5 Camp - Monday 31st October - Friday 4th November
• Mission Mass & Soktober Challenge - Friday 4th November (note date change) 
• P-4 Jally Entertainment Performance - Monday 31st October
• Remembrance Day Liturgy - Friday 11th November
• Prep Transition Day - Tuesday 15th November 
• Move Up Morning - Friday 18th November 
• 2023 Student Leader Elections - Tuesday 22nd November 
• Year 9 Graduation Dinner - Thursday 24th November 
• End of Year Mass - Friday 25th November
• Year 6 Graduation Evening - 4pm - MMS.

Please note that students in years 7 to 9 conclude term 4 on Friday 25th of November. Students in prep to year 6 conclude term 4 on Friday 2nd of December. 

Tuckshop Menu:

Orders to be in by 8.30am Wednesday morning! Click the link to order!

https://myschoolconnect.com.au/

A little note for all Parents & Friends -

If you are needing to contact Miss Jamie-Lea, please call the office on 47421633 Wednesday/Thursday, or alternatively on her email jmcconachy@sjctsv.catholic.com.au

Please respectfully do not message her on social media and please respect the cut off time stated. Take note of the date for the order being made also. 

Thank you for enjoying Tuckshop and the simplicity of our new online platform brings convenience and ease for all parties.

Uniform Shop

Open Days:

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

Any requests for uniforms outside of these days MUST be done via the link below. Please click the link to access the Uniform shop! https://myschoolconnect.com.au/

Orders have been placed with stockists and we are confident that all items will be available for purchase in January. Please keep an eye out for new information towards the end of term relating to uniforms.

Principal News

Welcome to Week 3,

It is hard to believe that the weeks are going by so quickly in our last term of the year, before we know it we will be celebrating the end of a very busy but successful school year. I am currently writing this newsletter article from Townsville as I have joined with the other Principals across our Diocese for Professional Development. Yesterday we focused on the strategic directions of our schools next year - examining what our goals are and how we will achieve them. Today I will join curriculum experts to examine our NAPLAN data and on Wednesday I will attend The School Law Conference. Mrs Therese Curley is your go to person while I am away. 

As I reflect on the incredibly busy year, I am reminded of the great growth in our teaching and learning, particularly in the writing domain due to the recent implementation of Writers Toolbox. This was presented to both our P&F and Board last term and I am excited to see where this will take us. If your child is in year 3 and above I encourage you to discuss this program with your child. I have included some questions below that may assist you with this:

• I know you are currently using the Writers Toolbox in class, what are you currently doing on the website?
• What have you written about recently?
• I heard it gives you instant feedback, tell me about that!
• Does the program tell you how long your average sentences are? How long should they be?

The relationship between parents / carers and the school is vital in achieving growth. It is great for parents to check in with their child’s classroom teacher regularly or read the newsletter to engage with your son or daughter on the ride home or over dinner about what they are learning. These conversations show your child that we are in partnership, working together to ensure they reach their full potential. 

What a busy week our students and staff had last week. I spoke to students last Friday at assembly about the business of term 4 and with that said last week alone we had Rock Pop rehearsals each day. Our Emerging Leaders traveled to Mount Isa for the Mental Health & Wellbeing Roadshow on Monday and our Rock Pop Performers performed in front of a very large crowd at Tony White Oval in Mount Isa on Friday night. Wow, what a week! I would like to formally congratulate both our Emerging Leaders and Rock Pop students, you represented St Joseph’s Catholic School with pride and we are so very proud of your achievements. A big thank you to Mrs Martin, Mrs Delaney-Lovett, Miss Ansell, Miss Brock and Miss Rachel for making these events possible. I would also like to thank our families that made this possible for our students. 

Swimming Carnival - Friday 21st October 2022

Our swimming carnival is fast approaching and will take place this Friday 21st October 2022. The students have been working hard behind the scenes at their water safety lessons to prepare for the big day. It will be great to have parents / caregivers / family members join us inside the pool grounds this year for the Swimming Carnival. Please note if your child arrives late or is being collected early they must be signed in and signed out with Miss Heather or myself under the First Aid tent. Please see information from Mr Scott Murray about the event. 

Updating Information at the Front Office

You may have noticed an increase in Medical Consent forms coming home recently for your child if they are leaving the school grounds for an excursion. The driver behind this initiative is to ensure updated medical information is received prior to a student departing the school grounds. This process is currently under review and I hope to have a different way forward with this soon that won’t require as much paperwork. As we examine this process it is vitally important that parents and carers are updating our front office staff of any changes to circumstances - e.g. medication that your child is taking, changes in medical information, allergies, emergency contacts, your contact information - address, email address and phone number. If there is an emergency involving your child we need as much information as possible. If you have information that needs updating for either yourself or your child, please make it a priority to update this through the front office. If email is more convenient please email clncry@tsv.catholic.edu.au

I hope to see you at the swimming carnival. 

God Bless, 

Samantha Kelley

Principal

Kind Regards, 

Mrs Samantha Kelley 
Principal

APRE News

Welcome to week 3! 

This week I am traveling with the school Leaders to Mount Isa to participate in a Mission Mass presented by Bishop Tim. Last week in homeroom Year 7/8/9’s made socktober balls. We will take these balls up with us and compete in a soctober shootout with the Mount Isa schools. The rest of the school will be making their balls over the next couple of weeks ready for our school shootout on Friday of week 5. 

Reminders:

Founders Day Fun Run Friday 28th - Wear a white shirt!

Students wishing to participate in the Fun Run can wear a white shirt to school next Friday. More information will be provided in next week's newsletter. 

Day for Daniel - recognised on Thursday 27th October - Wear Red!

As well as our “Founders Day” next Friday it is also “Day for Daniel”. However, we have decided to recognise this day next Thursday. This way children can wear their red shirt all day Thursday and on Friday they can wear their white shirt for our Founders Day Fun Run. 

Children’s Liturgy this Sunday

All children are invited to join in on our Children’s Liturgy this Sunday during Mass at 8:30 am at St Colman’s Church. Students will be taken out during the mass to focus on the scripture in a more child-friendly way.

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral Care

Headspace Workshops

Schools play an important role in supporting the mental health needs of young people and their families. Headspace’s Mental Health Education Program delivers free mental health education workshops to secondary school communities across Australia.

The workshops have been developed to increase awareness, knowledge and skills in mental health literacy, accessing support and improving wellbeing in secondary students and their parents and carers. Workshops are interactive, strength-based and evidence-informed and timed to fit a standard school lesson.

This week, Headspace will be conducting sessions for our Years 6-9 students, as outlined in the table below.  

Day for Daniel is Australia’s largest child safety event of its kind. It’s held in schools, workplaces, early childhood centres and public and private events all across the nation. Most commonly held on the last Friday each October, however, at SJC this year, we are holding this on Thursday 27th October 2022.  Students will participate in activities and are encouraged to wear a red shirt to raise awareness of the importance of child safety.

Mrs Toni Schneekloth 
Pastoral Leader

Prep

Welcome to week 3!

Swimming went well last week and no one was accidentally taken to school instead of the pool. Thank you to the volunteers who helped out in the pool.

 This week in science we will continue to explore shadows and the movement of the sun. We are also setting up a shadow puppet area with an old overhead projector. In Maths, the class is exploring data collection. The students are coming up with yes/no questions which can be used to collect data to inform a decision. For example, designing a hat and asking a question such as; "Would you buy this hat?" to decide whether they should put the hat in their shop. In English, we are continuing our InitialLit lessons and will learn our last sound for the year this week. The sound is "ay", as in "say". We are also exploring using describing words and also words such as "next"  and "after that" to retell an event. As it is reporting time we will be spending some time interviewing students to gauge a better understanding of their knowledge of different subjects. This will sometimes be done by other teachers or by myself or Miss Tamara. In religion, the class will be learning the "Hail Mary full of grace" part of the Rosary and also completing an assessment about how and why we celebrate a religious event of their choice (such as Mary Mackillop Feast Day and Easter). Thank you to the parents who helped us to cook our potatoes last week. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook photos in the Prep 2022 album! 

Reminders:

Literacy groups at 9:10/15 am Monday, Tuesday and Thursday this week (none Friday due to the Swimming Carnival). Helpers are always needed!

 Wednesday - Swimming, order tuckshop

Thursday - Library

Friday - Swimming carnival

Yours in fun and learning,

Miss Tamara and Mrs McLauchlan

Year 1

Hello everyone,

Happy Week Three!

This week in Year 1 we have concluded our unit of work on Addition and Subtraction. We will spend the remainder of the week revising and concluding our unit on 2D shapes and 3D objects. 

In English this term, we are identifying and describing characters, settings and events in literature. Our focus text is Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley. Students will have the option of choosing a particular character to complete a character reflection on. As a class we have constructed a bump-it-up wall where students can reflect on their work samples and evaluate their own learning. 

Reminders:

Literacy Groups start this week; Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri at 9:00am please let me know if you are able to help.

Monday: Technology with Mrs Laffey

Tuesday: Drama with Miss Borlase

Wednesday: Sport with Mr Murray, Please bring togs and dress in sports uniform.

Thursday: Library with Mrs Chaplain please ensure any overdue books are returned and students have their library bags at school.

Friday: Swimming Carnival

If your child is away from school, please ensure you let the office know.

Have a lovely week.

Miss Brock

Year 2

Welcome to Week 3!

October is Mission Month. We will be creating a Socktober ball in class and are still seeking items for this! If you have any old socks or clothes, please bring them in!

This week we are learning:

English: Persuasive Writing. Our tricky words are: thought, can’t, don’t

Maths: 3D Shapes

Religion: Healing Relationships through reconciliation and prayer. This week we are looking at the story of Zaccheaus.

Science: Push and Pull

HASS: Significant People in our community

Health: Empathy

Reminders

• Swimming Carnival THIS Friday!
• Swimming is on Wednesdays. Due to this, our Sport day has been moved to Wednesday.
• Drama with Miss B on Tuesdays
• Library is on Thursdays
• Our Homework day is Wednesday. Please make sure homework is brought back in so I can have new readers checked out and a new sheet glued in.

Miss Ansell

Year 3

Welcome to week 3.

As we move quickly through the term, it is great to see the improvements our students are making. We have also been talking about being ready for year 4 and the expectations.

English - we continue our study of poetry. We are seeing some great poetry ideas from our students. This week is alliteration, which is when a  series of words begin with the same consonant sound - Greedy goats gobbled up gooseberries, getting good at grabbing the goodies. We hope to have some fun with this addition to our poetry writing skills.

Maths - we should be finishing our measurement unit this week and move on to the properties of 3D shapes. We will make; compares, sketches and names of three-dimensional objects, including prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones, spheres, and describes their features. 

HASS - we will follow up on our visit to the John Flynn museum. The students will then work on an inquiry project on one aspect of Cloncurry’s history.

Religion - Luke’s scripture mentions the Sabbath so we will discuss what he was talking about and what this means to us.

Wednesday - PE - swimming - we leave school at 09:10 

Thursday - library

Friday - swimming carnival - please see the letter that was sent home with all the information you should need. If your child will not be attending on Friday, please remember to let us know.

Have a great week.

Mrs McCann

Year 3

Year 4

Hi Everyone,

It has been a great start to the week with the refreshing rain and Year 4 students who are rearing to go with their learning. 

ENGLISH: We have been continuing to develop our writing skills by learning techniques to build suspense in a story. Students are trying to be more descriptive and use short sentences for this effect. In preparation for NAPLAN which is earlier next year, we are practising getting started straight away with our writing and not worrying too much if what they are doing is exactly correct as the ideas are only a small part of the marking. I have tried to explain to them that if they don’t get much down they can’t demonstrate their mastery of sentence structure, punctuation and character and plot development. 

MATHS: Tomorrow we will finish our unit on mapping and will move on to number concepts, revising place value including decimals.

SCIENCE: Today the students discussed the information they collected for homework about the types of bags they had at home and how the materials they are made from suit the purpose of the bag. It was great to see that some students who haven’t brought their homework in for a while completed this activity, as it allowed them to actively participate in the discussion.

REMINDERS: 

• Swimming carnival this Friday. Students are to be dropped at the pool by 8:20 am
• Next Thursday: Wear red for Day for Daniel
• Next Friday: Wear a white shirt for the Fun Run

Have a great week!

Year 5

Hi everyone, the countdown is on! 8 School days to go until our camp!!!

English: In English, students are investigating the structure of informative texts - focussing on animals that have adapted to live in the rainforest. We have continued our sentence level work from last week, while discussing headings for topics and an introductory paragraph to start our own information text. Each student is continuing to research their animal and is working towards creating a display which we will share with Year 2 students after camp.

Maths: 

In Maths, we are starting to investigate multiplication strategies and focus on developing our recall of known facts that can help us to quickly calculate connected facts.

If we know 4 x 2 = 8, 4 x 4 = 16 and 4 x 8 = 32 - using our doubles to quickly calculate the additional facts.

Science:

In Science, we have continued to inquire into adaptations and have learnt that there are three types of adaptation - anatomical, behavioural and physiological. We are exploring the animals which have adapted to their environments focusing on the three types of adaptation.

Key Dates/Times:

School Camp: Monday 31st October - Friday 4th November

Camp departure: 5:30 am

Swimming/PE Lesson: Tuesdays

Enjoy your week,

Mike

Year 6

Welcome to Week 3!

This week’s learning focuses:

Religion: This week, students will finalise their learning on the Eucharist by describing the importance of the Eucharist for believers and the connection with the story of salvation. We will then begin learning about Jesus’ New Law and the carryover this has for social justice movements. 

English: We will be using the novel Fireborn, particularly the way the author develops the protagonist, to begin creating our own main character for our fantasy narratives. 

Maths: We have begun our mini unit on volume and capacity by revising area and implementing correct formulae and units of measurement for problems. 

HaSS: This week, students will begin looking at different systems of government before deep diving into democracy!

Our PE day has changed to every Tuesday for this term. This will be for water safety and familiarisation lessons. Library is still on Wednesdays. 

Keep an eye out for any homework that comes home with students. Encourage them to bring their diary back into class and sign their entries. When asking students about their day, please feel free to ask them some questions based on the learning focuses above! This is a great way for them to communicate what they are learning about and to consolidate the learning that is taking place in the classroom. 

Have a blessed week!

Mr. Delaney and the Year 6 Legends!

UMY Spotlight

Year 8 Maths

This term students are converting units of measurement. They will solve equations involving volume with real world applications such as; solving the volume of concrete needed to cover a certain area. 

Students will solve problems relating to the volume of prisms and identify conditions for the congruence of triangles and deduce the properties of quadrilaterals.

Year 8 Science

This term we look at ROCKS! What are they made of, how are they made, and what kind of scientists are involved with them. It is a topic that many people in our community are involved in, as we have some OREsome rocks around! Our students, being the ROCKstars they are, have already managed to learn the 3 basic types of rocks, and can use keys to classify subcategories of these types. We will look at some different evidence based practices mines use to minimise the effects on the environment and also predict where the best minerals will be found.

Year 9 Science

‘It’s Elementary’ they say……. And it is all about the elements! This term, the Year 9 students will revise the structure of the atom and the periodic table before moving into balancing chemical equations and learning more about reaction types and rates. Students will explore the rearrangement of atoms to make new substances and discover that matter cannot be created or destroyed. Acids, bases and neutralisation will also be studied along with endothermic and exothermic reactions.

Emerging Leaders

Library News

Welcome to Term 4, a busy term ahead with the Reading Challenge, Books in Homes and all the Christmas festivities coming towards the end of term.

For those eager to join the Reading Challenge we are having at school, I ask you to come and borrow some books from the Library. As it is a school Reading Challenge, books from the library are only allowed. We have plenty to offer all ages.

I hope this will bring enjoyment for our children and encourage them to read more.

Chris Chaplain

Teacher/Librarian.

Save the Date - Swimming Carnival

The St Joseph's Catholic School swimming carnival will be held this week, Friday 21st of October. 

On the day:

* Arrive before 8.30am. Check In with Miss Heather & Miss Sue

* Sun Safe Clothing is a must. Sunscreen, Water Bottle, Towel and Lunchbox. Please ensure that ALL items are named! There will be no access to esky's or fridge's for lunchboxes so please be mindful of this when packing lunchboxes. 

*  House spirit is encouraged, so bring your cheering voice

* We would love for parents to join us. All parents are permitted inside the pool area this year

* If you would like to volunteer at the event please see Mr Murray's email to complete the Google Document. 

All the best to Flinders and Kennedy houses, be great sportspeople and do your best! Looking forward to seeing you on Friday with your house spirit!

Student Wellbeing

Happiness is a term that captures a huge variety of positive emotions such as humour, serenity, optimism, joy, pride, inspiration, love and hope. Happiness means different things, to different people and is essential to your understanding of emotional literacy. Throughout history, philosophers, religious writers and poets have pondered on the meaning of happiness and how it might be achieved. In the last few decades, scientists and psychologists have researched this further by studying a field of science called positive psychology.

The result of this research suggests there is a strong correlation between gratitude and greater happiness. Practising gratitude helps you shift your focus to positive memories or experiences, noticing the good in your life. Over time, this will re-wire your brain to create new neural pathways, increase your state of happiness and overall wellbeing.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents and care-givers will learn how to achieve happiness and the benefits of practising gratitude.

Here is the link to the Happiness & Gratitude edition of SchoolTV

https://sjctsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/happiness-gratitude

Chaplaincy News

NO Chaplaincy Breakfast on these dates: Away for training and Yr 5 camp, sorry (insert smiley face!)

• Thursday 20th October
• Tuesday 1st November
• Thursday 3rd November
• Tuesday 8th November
• Tuesday 15th November

We have been having fun with hide and seek, duck duck goose and laughing! Karaoke and dancing, bringing light to some pretty amazing kids! Some days we have few, and some days there are many, all depends on what is happening. 

If you wish to contact me, I am available most days (hehehe), email me on pmcintyre@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au 

Have a great week and thanks for reading the newsletter,

Miss Pete

P&F Meeting

Friday Afternoon Fundraiser

We will have Icy Poles for sale each Friday to help raise funds for Catholic Mission. Please keep an eye out in the primary eating area. Door will open around 2.50pm. 

Socktober

In Week 5 we will celebrate a Catholic Mission Liturgy on Friday 4th November, followed by a Socktober shootout competition. This day will be a “Gold Coin Free Dress Day”. More information will be provided closer to the event. 

Save the Date - Awards Night & Christmas Concert

We will be trialing a new way to acknowledge the achievement of our students and celebrate christmas this year. We have booked the Cloncurry Shire Council for this evening. We hope that this change will make the end of year mass a little bit shorter - due to our school numbers growing we can no longer fit in the Church for this celebration and it is quite hot under the shed.

Community Notices - Music Lessons

St Kierans Christmas Fete