Term 1 Week 1 2023
Key Information
Term 1 Important Dates
- Thursday 26th January - Public Holiday
- Friday 27th January - Assembly - 8.30am
- Monday 30th January - P&F Meeting - 3pm
- Wednesday 1st February - Meet & Greet BBQ- 4pm
- Monday 6th February - Board Meeting
- Friday 10th February - Beginning of Year Mass - 8.30am
- Monday 13th February - Lock Down Drill - 10.30am
Tuckshop Menu:
Due to the public holiday on Thursday there will be no tuckshop this week. Tuckshop will resume in Week 2.
Orders are to be in by 8.30am each 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 (07)47421633 Wednesday/Thursday, or alternatively on her email jmcconachy@sjctsv.catholic.com.au
Uniform Shop
Open Days:
- Monday: 2.30pm-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/
Principal News
Welcome to the first week of school for 2023,
It was so nice to see all of our students back at school this week and hear about their holidays. I can’t believe the amount of travelling that our schooling community did in the Christmas break. As a staffing body we returned from holiday’s last week to participate in a week of professional development.
I had a great holiday with my family. As the 2022 school year concluded I went to Cairns to begin my holidays. I then travelled down the coast to Newcastle for the Christmas season, which is where I am originally from. I was so grateful to have such a long break with my son Danny, who is almost 2! The holiday season is a great time to reflect on what we are grateful for and this wonderful Cloncurry and St Joseph’s Community is always something I feel blessed to have.
The newsletter is our one-stop-shop for school communication and events. It is sent out each Tuesday evening and I strongly encourage all of our families to read through the newsletter each week.
We also have a Google Calendar which I have linked here that you can add to your mobiles. This will send you notifications of school events.
Our facebook page is also a great page to like as we share reminders and events on here. I also strive to post a ‘whats on this week’ post each Sunday to prepare you for the week ahead.
Arriving each morning:
A reminder that the school grounds aren’t supervised until 8.10am each morning, students are encouraged to not enter the school grounds before this. There is an exception for Tuesday and Thursday when the Chaplaincy Breakfast is running. This means that for Monday, Wednesday and Friday students should not be onsite before 8.10am.
Sheaffe Street Crossing / Road Safety / No Standing Zones:
The crossing on Sheaffe Street is the preferred location for most families to drop off and pick up their child/children. Please note that there are designated 'no standing zones' on either side of the crossing. Please do not park in these zones at any time, regardless of how quick you will be. These zones are there to ensure drivers have visibility of the crossing. If parents / carers are parking here it limits visibility for oncoming cars.
The parking spaces out the front of the office (Ham St) are also drop off and go zones. This means that parents should not be parking here for prolonged periods of time.
If you would like to park and accompany your child into school please use the designated car parks on either Sheaffe or George Street.
We kindly ask that all children in prep, year 1 and year 2 are accompanied across the crossing’s by either an older sibling and/or a parent/carer. Students in prep to year 2 should not be crossing the road on their own. This initiative is due to a number of safety concerns we had last year.
School Assemblies
This term we will be trialling fortnightly assemblies. These will commence at 8.30am in The Mary MacKillop Shed in Week 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.
2023 School Leaders
Congratulations to our 2023 School Leadership Team. Our leaders will receive a blessing and will be provided with their badges on Friday 10th February at our Beginning of Year Mass. This will be at 8.30am in the Mary MacKillop Shed.
Congratulation to our 2023 Leaders
School Leaders: Nika Sala and Jack McIntyre
Kennedy House Captains: Harry Douglas and Bronzon Mara-Skellern
Flinders House Captains: Ada McIntyre and Kali Poch
2023 Bell Times:
You will notice in our timetable that we have time scheduled for students to read and write. This is in addition to the reading and writing that they do in other subject areas. As a school in 2022 it was a priority to improve all of our students' ability in writing, which will continue in 2023. As a teaching and learning team a decision was also made to prioritise additional time each day for students to sit down and read. We have purposely scheduled this to occur after morning tea as a transition technique for students to rest before jumping back into a lesson.
A&B Timetable Cycle:
In 2021 St Joseph’s transitioned to a two-week cycle, consisting of an A and B week. This transition was an exciting change for our schooling community as it not only ensured that we met our curriculum hours, but allowed specialist teachers to be utilised in our primary classrooms as well.
This will continue in 2023 and years to come.
This will mean that our secondary students in years 7 to 9 will have different classes on Monday in Week A to what they will have on Monday in Week B. This will assist our students in preparing for schooling life after St Joseph’s, as most Secondary schools, if not all, run to a two week timetable.
P&F
We would love to see new faces in our P&F meetings this year! It is great to be able to join together as a community to create the best school for our children. There is a P&F meeting coming up next Monday the 30th of January.
Kind Regards,
Samantha Kelley
Principal
APRE News
Welcome to the 2023 school year!
To our 17 new families welcome to St. Joseph’s and to our returning families welcome back. We hope you had a restful break and found some quality family time. As we begin the new year we welcome over 190 students and 34 staff to our school. This is our largest number of enrollments to date.
New beginning are an exciting time but also a time to be thankful. This is the first time in 3 years that we have not had Covid interruption. And our usually dry landscape is full of new growth.
As we start our new year let's focus on being thankful and excited for what lies ahead of us.
Thankful for a catholic education - new knowledge, experiences and opportunity for your child/children to be nurtured and educated.
Excited to connect with old friends and meet new friends.
Thankful for the dedicated staff we have at St Joseph's, who are so excited to instill this year's worth of learning upon your child/children so they continue to flourish.
Thankful for the beautiful community in which we live.
And, excited for the gatherings and events that connect us and bring enjoyment to our school community.
"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful."
Colossians 3:15
Notices:
Beginning of Year Mass and 2023 Leader Inductions Date Claimer: Friday 10th February Please join us in our Mary Mackillop shed at 8:40 am as we induct our 2023 Leaders and Bless the year ahead.
Sacramental Program: Confirmation and First Holy Communion: An information session will be held after Mass this Sunday 29th Feb at 8:30 am. Enrolment forms for the 2023 program will be given at the information session. An email about the program will be sent home this week to all parents. Please email me at tcurley@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au if you require further information and to register your interest.
Children’s Liturgy - All Children Welcome: This Sunday Mass (29th Feb) at 8:30 am, we will be running a Children’s Liturgy. These liturgy’s run during the Mass. After the congregation has been welcomed the children will be called to come forth and receive a blessing. The children will then head over to the school and share the gospel message. This is delivered in a child friendly manner with songs, prayers and an activity sheet. All children are welcome.
Mrs Therese Curley
APRE
Prep
Welcome to Prep,
We are very excited to have welcomed our Preps to St Joseph's. Here is some information for the week ahead.
The Classroom will open at about 8.10am and school starts at 8.20am.
On Arrival:
- Put NAMED brain break snack (fruit/crackers/cheese/yoghurt etc) in the Brain Break Basket which will be in the fridge or on the round table.
- Put lunches in the fridge.
- Put water bottles on the trolley inside the door.
- Put hats into lockers.
- Put bags outside the classroom on the bag rack.
Help your child to settle in by reading a book, watching the story on the Smartboard, drawing or one of the other table activities that are out. We don't have time to do blocks, lego, painting etc before it is time to gather together on the "carpet spots" for the morning routine of prayer, roll and calendar. When your child seems settled give them a hug goodbye. Let a staff member know if your child needs support when saying goodbye to you.
Pick up:
- School finishes at 2.50pm and Prep students need to be collected from the classroom. Staff will send children out once someone is there to collect them.
- Check that your child has packed their hat, lunchbox, water bottle and any creations/art/craft.
- Pick up is a busy time and if you would like to speak with a staff member just let us know and wait until the "crowd" has thinned out. If we have something to discuss with you, we may ask you to wait a few minutes as well.
Our History section of HASS explores how students have changed over time and also explores their families. In preparation for activities we will be doing, we ask that you bring a NAMED BABY PHOTO which we can copy and use for displays and learning experiences. These will be returned at the end of the Term.
In Science the class are learning about weather and how this affects the choices they make and also other living things make. I would like a selection of child size, weather specific clothing such as umbrellas, gumboots, thongs, swimmers, hats, shorts, sun safe shirts, tracky pants, rain coats, jumpers to use for an activity. If you have anything that we could borrow for the term (or preferably have to keep) can you please bring these in. Thanks in advance!
An email was sent to families last weekend, this included a poster which reminds you what days Prep have sport and library and when tuckshop is on. Just a reminder that if tuckshop is ordered, Preps still need a brain snack bought from home. If tuckshop is only for one lunch, they will need food from home for the other lunch as well.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns or questions. Email is the easiest way to touch base or in the morning at drop off. If we need to have a longer discussion we can make a time to meet. Please remember that once the school day begins things get very busy and I sometimes don't get the chance to check emails until after school.
Yours in fun and learning,
Mrs Sharon McLauchlan and Miss Tamara Williams
Year 1
Welcome to week 1! I hope everyone has had a lovely break.
As we have such a lovely large cohort this year, we are lucky enough to have both Mae-Louise Brock (full time teacher) and Erin Haley (part time teacher) working in the year 1 room as well as Kylie Warrian and Margret Doody who are sharing the role of a full time School Officer.
Here is a snapshot of what we will be learning this term;:
- Literacy: Revising our letters and sounds from Prep and practising our new tricky words (her, said, and, are.)
- English: Creating short texts for a range of purposes and forming upper and lower case letter correctly using the red and blue lines.
- Math: Counting to and from 100 and locating numbers before and after on a hundreds board.
- HASS: Identifying family groupings (e.g. who is in your immediate family and extended family?)
- Science: We are identifying our 5 senses and exploring our sense of sound.
- Religion: Revising the creation story and describing what God is like.
- Art: Revising our Primary and Secondary colours and exploring the element of line.
Reminders
Please check your emails as I have sent out a meet the teachers letter as well as a weekly schedule last Friday.
- Library: Monday (week 1,3,5,7,9)
- Resilience Project: Monday (week 2,4,6,8,10)
- Sport: Wednesday (every week)
- Technology: Thursday (every week)
Have a wonderful week,
Miss Mae-Louise Brock and the always fun Year 1’s!
Year 2
Welcome to 2023,
My name is Leonie Ansell and I will be your child's teacher this year. This will be my third year teaching Year 2 at St Joseph's. I think it's pretty special that your child and I both get to share our third year at this awesome school together! If you are a new face this year, welcome to this beautiful community and wonderful class!
This week Year 2 is focussing on settling into our new classroom and are establishing some new routines to get used to. The students are doing amazing!
During this week, we are starting up InitiaLit for the year. In Year 2, we focus on our spelling combinations and comprehension while we are reading. We are also working on making sentences as a train when we are writing. In Maths, we are beginning to look at skip counting and will be working on patterns counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.
A few reminders:
- Technologies is on Tuesday each week.
- Sport is on Friday each week. Students are to wear house shirts for this and we will wear our Sport shirt on Wednesday so we get to use all of our uniforms.
- Library and Resilience Project will be on a fortnightly rotation on Mondays. Monday Week A (week 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) will be Resilience Project. Monday Week B (week 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) will be Library.
- Homework is due on Tuesday and will go out on Tuesday. We will start this in Week 2.
Have a fantastic week,
Miss Leonie Ansell
Year 3
I am so happy that all the children have settled in so well to Year 3. I am delighted to be their teacher for the coming year and look forward to getting to know them and you much better as the days and weeks progress.
I have recently moved over from Ireland with my family. My youngest two children are in Year 2 and Year 4. I have found St Joseph’s and Cloncurry a warm and friendly community.
I have years and years of experience working with children in many different roles. I have been an Early Years Teacher, an Inclusive Education Teacher, an Assistant Principal and most recently Principal. My favourite part in all these roles has always been getting to know each child, their personalities, likes and dislikes. I have found the best recipe for a successful classroom has been a balance between work and fun which I know the Year 3s will all love.
Timetable
- Year 3 will have PE every Tuesday so the children can wear their sports shirt on Tuesdays.
- They will have The Resilience Project delivered by Mrs Schneeloth every second Tuesday(Week A) and will have Library the following Tuesday (Week B),
- The children can wear their house shirts every Friday.
- Homework will be set on a Monday and returned on a Friday.
Pastoral Care
This week will be concentrating on making sure the children have an excellent start to Year 3 and become familiar with the new routines and feel happy and confident in their new surroundings. I will be using the Bucket Filling approach to Positive Discipline, which I have used many times in the past with huge success.
Maths
This week we will begin work on applying place value to 5000. The children will recognise that there are 10 Ones in a Ten, there are 10 Tens in a Hundred. They will be making the largest number they can with given digits.
English
Our main focus this week will be to create texts using paper and Writers Tool Box. The children will begin to reread and edit their writing checking for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation
The children will be off school on Thursday for the public holiday so there will be no Tuckshop this week.
I hope you have a great week
Mrs Nicola Cullen
Year 4
Hi everyone and welcome back to Term 1. We have had a wonderful first day in Year 4 and the students’ enthusiasm is a sign of some great learning that will happen this year.
No doubt we will be holding Parent information sessions, but in the meantime here is a rundown of what we are covering in some of our subject areas this term.
- Science - In Science this term we will be learning about three different types of Forces. Students will explore these forces using different types of scientific experiments and communicate their findings using diagrams.
- Health - We are learning about making Healthy Choices. Students will explore healthy food, physical activity and safe environments. From this, students will design an initiative that encourages healthy living in our school.
- Religion - In Religion we are taking a close look at the bible - the types of writing contained within the pages and how to find specific readings using references. Students will also be applying the teachings in the Bible to everyday life.
Stay tuned next week for the other subject areas!
Reminders:
- Tuckshop - There will be no tuckshop this week
- Library - Our Library visit is on the Thursday of every second week. This means that we won’t have a library visit this week because of Australia Day. If you would like your child to bring a library book home please encourage them to visit the library during their lunch break.
PE - PE is also going to be on Thursdays however this won’t commence until our new PE teacher arrives.
Have a great week,
Ms Mairin Borlase (Ms B)
Year 5
Welcome Back!
This week we are mainly focussed on organisation, classroom expectations and Elements for Success (see below). The children enjoyed competing in the Longest Paper Chain task and I was mightily impressed with their ability to work collaboratively and their perseverance was outstanding. Even though groups may not have achieved the longest chain, there were so many positives in terms of their teams’ display of the Elements for Success - the more they experience these elements, the more likely they are to see the positive improvements.
1. Engaged, 2. Creative, 4. Confidence, 7. Organised, 12. Open-Minded, 13. Communicate, 15. Reliable, 16. Humour, 17. Patient, 18. Good Listener, 21. Persevere, 23. Competitive, 24. Work Ethic, 25, Collaborate, 11. Supportive, 33. Citizenship, 34. Contributor, 35. Respectful - these elements will be our primary focus in our Getting to Know You group tasks.
Activities for the rest of the week include… Rescue Fred, Cell Ball, Origami, Random Acts of Kindness Calendar as well as beginning our Religion, Maths, Reading and Writing.
Reminders:
- PE Lessons - Mondays
- Technologies - Tuesdays
- Library/Resilience Project - Wednesdays (alternate weeks)
- NAPLAN Weeks 8-10
Looking forward to a great year!
Mr Mike Tarleton
Year 6
Welcome to week 1 for 2023!
I hope everyone had a nice break with family and friends over Christmas. My name is Dom Purcell and I will be the Year 6 Teacher for 2023! I’m super excited to be at St Joseph’s after spending the last three and half years teaching in Townsville.
This week in Year 6 we have been settling back into our daily routine and getting to know each other! We have been busy organising usernames and passwords (which is always a challenge) for all of the wonderful programs we will be using in Year 6 this year.
It will be a busy term full of learning and fun and I can’t wait to experience it with your children. I am new to the community, so feel free to pop your head in and say hello!
- A few reminders:
PE will be on Wednesdays (Please wear PE uniform) - Library and Resilience Project will be on fortnightly rotations on a Wednesday (starting with Resilience Project this week)
We are all looking forward to a great year ahead!
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Mr Dom Purcell.
UMY - Year 9 Japanese
Year 9 - Japanese (LOTE) with Mr James Delaney
This term, we are learning about Yuru Chara. This refers to Japanese mascots. In Japan, nearly everything you can think of has its own mascot. Students will be learning about the pop-cultural significance of this practice before creating a mascot of their very own. This mascot will represent something in/to do with Cloncurry…
To go with their creative mascot drawings, the students will be constructing a handmade booklet that introduces and outlines their mascots. They will then create an animated voiceover that pitches their idea and further introduces their mascot. On presentation day, these animations will be showcased to the teachers and their fellow peers for judging to decide the winner of the 2023 Cloncurry Yuru Chara Grand Prix.
Mr James Delaney
Learning Enrichment
Dear Parents and/or carers,
I would like to welcome all of our families back for 2023. This year our School Officer team consists of Mrs Rachel Adcock, Mrs Vanessa Dodd, Miss Sonja Cusack, in Prep we have Mrs Tamara Williams and in Yr. 1 we have Mrs Margaret Doody and Miss Kylie Warrian.
We have advertised for another School Officer and this will be announced by Mrs Kelley once the interviews have concluded.
Please note that our Learning Enrichment intensive small group and one-on-one programs will not be commencing until week 4. In the meantime, I will be sending home student permission slips to access our programs for those students who had not yet returned them at the end of 2022.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s learning, please do not hesitate to email or call.
Yours in Faith and Education,
Mrs Louise Martin
lmartin3@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au
Meet & Greet BBQ
Join us on Wednesday 1st February 2023 to meet your child’s classroom teachers and see their classrooms. Teachers will outline their classroom routine and provide information to parents and carers on the year ahead.
A sausage sizzle will be provided.
Beginning of Year Mass Invitation
Uniform Expectations
The wearing of the school uniform promotes our school’s image in the community as well as school spirit and pride in our school. It is a requirement that all students wear the full correct school uniform on all school occasions, including excursions.
Please be aware, St Joseph’s Catholic School, Cloncurry operates an alternating timetable. Therefore, days where your child/children may wear a particular uniform may alter the following week.
- Academic Uniform
The St Joseph’s Cloncurry Academic uniform is to be worn all days of the school week except when students have Physical Education days. - Sports Uniform
The St Joseph’s Cloncurry Sports Uniform is to be worn only on days that students are scheduled to have Physical Education lessons. - House Uniform
The St Joseph’s Cloncurry House Uniform is only to be worn on Fridays and at Sports Carnivals. These uniforms are not in place of the Sports Shirts and should not be worn for Physical Education lessons, unless the students' lessons fall on a Friday. - Representative Uniform
The St Joseph’s Cloncurry Representative Sports Uniforms are to be worn at the discretion and direction of the Senior Leadership Team, and Sports & Extra Curricular Coordinator.
Please view the uniform requirements in the following links. These are also available on our website.
Academic Uniform Guidelines
Prep to Year 4 Shoe Guidelines
Year 5 to Year 9 Show Guidelines
Sport Uniform Guidelines
Reports
Report Cards were made available from Compass on Friday 2nd December 2022 for Semester 2 2022.
This is the same portal that parents can use to log sick days.
For all other information, please contact the office 47421633 or clncry@tsv.catholic.edu.au
Student Wellbeing
Welcome to the 2023 school year.
My name is Rebecca (Bec) Greaves and this is my third year as the Guidance Counsellor here at St Joseph's. I am here 3 days per fortnight as I also support St Joseph’s and St Kieran's in Mount Isa.
As you and your family settle into this new school year, please take some time to reflect on how the first few days have been. Has everyone felt calm or has it been a little chaotic? Did you stick to your plans or have things been changing on the go?
Routines are extremely important for everyone, especially our children. They help people feel safe, protected, calm and in control which makes them feel ready to face everyday challenges. A calmer morning will also help your child settle into the school day easier and allow them to focus on the learning happening rather than worrying about something that did or did not happen before school.
Please see this article for more information about why and how to set up a routine at home – as a busy mum myself, trust me when I say it will make your life easier too!
I am looking forward to working with you all again this year. Please always feel free to say hi or have a chat when you see me around.
Mrs Bec Greaves