Term 1 Week 9 2023

Key Information

Term 1 Important Dates

• Monday 27th March and Tuesday 28th March - Parent Teacher Interview Year 4 to Year 9
• Thursday 30th March - Good Friday Liturgy & Easter Hat Parade - 8.30am 
• Friday 31st March - IPRASS Day - No School 

Term 2

• Monday 17th April - Term 2 begins
• Tuesday 25th April - ANZAC Day Public Holiday
• Monday 1st May - Labour Day Public Holiday
• Friday 16th June - Show Holiday Public Holiday
• Friday 23rd June - Last Day of Term 2

Tuckshop Menu:

Special: Big Mac Salad with Belgian Slice and a Popper

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's News

Welcome to Week 9, 

What an interesting start to our day with no power! In times of adversity, we discover the blessings that we have. This morning I went around to each classroom to see how they had settled in and it was nice to have so much fresh air flowing through each class. Our year 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9 classes took advantage of the cool breeze this morning and found outdoor learning spaces for some their lesson’s. Take a look at year 2 and year 5 completing their literacy lessons outside. 

It is hard to believe that our first term of 2023 is drawing to a close. 

Wine & Cheese - Family and Community Engagement Afternoon - TONIGHT:
Come along to hear about the re-structure of our P&F group to a Family and Community Engagement Group. We will meet in the library from 5.30 - 6.30pm this afternoon. I am excited to share with you what this transition means and to gather your input on what you would like to see happen in this space throughout the year. If you can’t make it, you will still have the opportunity to provide your feedback through a Google Survey. 

The evening will start with a presentation on what FACE means. It will then move into an informal event where parents / friends / staff can interact amongst each other and contribute to different questions / posters around the room.

Harmony Day:
We celebrated Harmony Day a week early (last week) due to the number of events that we have this week. We wanted to be able to take the time across the week to discuss its importance with each of our classes. Take a look at our facebook page to see what Harmony Day means to our students. On Harmony Day we focus on fostering inclusiveness and respect. The theme for 2023 is ‘living in harmony’, which is certainly true at St Joseph’s Catholic School. At St Joseph’s we are proud of our foundations. It is clear that we remain committed to Mary MacKillop’s vision for Catholic education instituted many years ago. We are a place of welcome, open to all. 

Parent Teacher Interviews:
Our second round of Parent Teacher Interviews will start next Monday and Tuesday for students in years 4 to 9. These interviews are a great way for three of our most important stakeholders to come together in partnership for success. Research demonstrates that effective schools with high engagement and academic outcomes also have high levels of parent engagement and community involvement. This involvement is strongly related to improved learning, attendance and behaviour. As parents and carers you are the first and most influential teacher in your child’s life. Parent Teacher Interviews are a perfect way for us to join together in unity for the benefit of both your own child/children and for all children at St Joseph’s Catholic School. 

Please know that this partnership and involvement extends far beyond Parent Teacher Interviews. If you would like to come into the school to join in on reading groups, literacy or numeracy rotations, or lunch time activities we would love to hear from you - please contact your child’s classroom teacher or the office. 

NAPLAN - Year 3, 5, 7 & 9
What a wonderful and smooth week we had last week for NAPLAN. You may have noticed that we decreased the amount of direction and information that went home this year about NAPLAN. We reflected on the amount of communication that went home last year and wondered if this led to increased anxiety in our students. Anxiety around NAPLAN isn’t what we want, however, it is common as it is out of routine for our students. Our students are well-prepared for these tests and we are excited to see their growth. The students responded very well to NAPLAN this year. We are very proud of their resilience and hard work throughout the test sessions. 

NAPLAN helps school’s determine whether young Australians are reaching important literacy and numeracy goals. It provides information about how education programs are working, areas for improvement, and which schools need support in the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.

Our previous results in NAPLAN are a big driving force behind the implementation of Writers Toolbox. Take a look at our Week 8 newsletter (Teaching and Learning section) to see the impact that this has had on our students in the short time that it has been implemented. 

St Joseph’s Feast Day - Friday 24th March - 8.30am
This Friday we will come together as a school to celebrate St Joseph’s Feast Day. 

On Friday we kick off the day with our assembly, followed by St Joseph Feast Day activities. This will start in the Mary MacKillop Shed at 8.30am. The assembly will go for approximately 1 hour and activities will follow until first break. Students will have the option of a sausage sizzle for morning tea, however, we encourage parents and carers to pack their lunch boxes as normal incase they don’t want to eat the sausage sizzle.

Please stay behind after assembly and join your child/children in Feast Day activities. It is a fantastic time for us to come together as a community. 

God bless you for the week ahead, 

Mrs Samantha Kelley
Principal 

APRE News

Welcome to week 9! This week we celebrate the Feast of St Joseph (19th March). In classes on Monday the student’s prayer focus was centered on St Joseph and they all watched a video on our patron saint. On Friday we will celebrate this special occasion as a whole school community at our 8:30 am Assembly with a special Liturgy followed by a morning of activities and a sausage sizzle for first break. St Joseph's was an exceptional role model of how one should live a life of faith.  

Who was St Joseph?
Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture.

Joseph was a carpenter, a working man, (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich, for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).

Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage as he was descended from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). 

Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He knew women accused of adultery could be stoned to death, so he resolved to send her away quietly to not expose her to shame or cruelty. However, when an angel came to Joseph in a dream, he did as the angel told him, and took Mary as his wife. (Matthew 1:19-25).

Joseph loved Jesus and Mary and protected them without question (Matthew 2:13-23 and Luke 2:48). Joseph treated Jesus as his own son (Luke 4:22).

We know Joseph respected God. He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Apocryphal Date for Joseph's birth is 90 BC in Bethlehem and the Apocryphal Date of his death is July 20, AD 18 in Nazareth.

Joseph is the patron saint of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.

Joseph is also patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.

We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker. March 19 has been the most commonly celebrated feast day for Joseph. (Catholic Online)

Please join us as we celebrate St Joseph this Friday. 

Have a blessed week!

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral Care

National Ride2School Day - Friday 24th March 2023

St. Joseph’s is excited to be celebrating National Ride2School Day this Friday 24 March 2023.

National Ride2School Day is the perfect opportunity to kick-start new healthy habits and promote the many benefits of active travel. We encourage all students and their families to leave the car at home and give riding, walking, scooting or skating to school a go. It’s sure to be a fantastic morning and we look forward to seeing you there!

Meet us at Florence Clark Park on Scarr St next Friday morning at 7.45am to ride, walk, scoot or skate to school together! There will be lucky 'Ride2School' prizes and a 'Decorate Your Helmet' competition - so get involved!

Student Representative Council (SRC)

Next Tuesday will be our first SRC meeting for our newly elected class representatives.  These meetings are to discuss improvements to school life.  Congratulations to the following students on being elected by their peers to the SRC:

Year 1: Daisy Dare and Flo Moore

Year 2:  Erin Dancey and Thomas Daniels

Year 3: Jackson Corbett and Arrun Poch

Year 4: Sidney Chaplain and Aubree Lowe

Year 5: James Barker and Olivia Curry

Year 6: Hannah Lawlor and Ashton Wright

Year 7: Ada McIntyre and Knox Swalling 

Year 8: Kim Jackson and Summer Wright

Year 9: Charles Carstairs and Harrison Scobie

Chairpersons: Jack McIntyre and Nika Sala

Prep representatives will be elected in Term 3 to allow students to settle into school for the first semester at school.

Life Education Visit – Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th March 2023 (Week 10)

Life Education will be visiting St Joseph’s Catholic School in Week 10. Life Education is the largest non-government provider of health and wellbeing to children in Queensland. Educators from Life Education travel across QLD to deliver face to face sessions on health and wellbeing to children. 

The students will be receiving the following modules:

Please note that this program will be at no cost. We are very lucky that these visits are funded by Communities for Children (Mount Isa and Cloncurry). To access this funding though it is important that Data Consent Forms are returned. 

If you would like for your child/children to not partake in this program, please complete the attached slip to indicate this.  All data forms / non permission slips must be returned to your child’s classroom teacher by Tuesday 21st March

Mrs Toni Schneekloth

Pastoral Care Leader

NAPLAN - Teaching & Learning

I would like to begin my newsletter this week by thanking the staff that made NAPLAN possible. We had a very smooth week and this is due to the work that our staff put into preparing both the students and themselves for the tests. 

I would also like to say how proud I am of our students. The resilience that they showed throughout the testing window is commendable, making the process more enjoyable for them. I also had students reporting back to me that they loved doing the tests, particularly writing. 

At the end of our last test- numeracy- on Friday we joined together in the Mary MacKillop Shed for a cake in celebration of our students achievements. 

Kind Regards, 

Mr Dean Kelley
Head of Teaching and Learning 

Prep

Welcome to week 9! 

This is an exciting week for me as I am flying to Egypt Friday to meet up with my 21 year old daughter who lives in the UK. I haven't seen her for over a year and am looking forward to our time in Egypt and then in the UK.

The class will be learning about Ramadan as part of our HASS Unit. This is particularly relevant as it will be Ramadan when I am in Egypt. We will also learn some Egyptian phrases (which will hopefully help me to remember them) and about the pyramids and other ancient Egyptian structures. During Math we will continue to explore patterns while consolidating our numbers to 20 and beyond. The class has learnt the letters m, s, t, a, p, i, and will add "r" and "f" to these before the term ends. Please encourage your child to identify these SOUNDS in words and to write these letters. Our focus is the sounds the letters make as that is what is used to decode words. In religion the Prep's will explore Saint Joseph, in preparation for St Joseph's day celebrations on Friday.

I hope you all have a great Easter break and look forward to hearing the student's Easter adventures after the holidays! 

Reminders:

• Tuesday - sport
• Wednesday - order tuckshop
• Thursday - tuckshop and library
• Friday - St Joseph's Day 

Your’s in fun and learning,

Miss Tamara Williams and Mrs Sharon McLauchlan

Year 1

Hello parents and carers, 

Welcome to week 9! It is crazy to believe that we have two weeks left of school. We are finishing our first term off strong with finishing off our learning and getting some assessments done.  

Here is a snapshot of the week ahead;

Literacy: We are continuing to learn about simple sentences and the four aspects that a simple sentence needs. A capital letter, a full stop, the sentence needs to be about something or someone and needs to make sense. We have been focusing on the digraphs that we have been learning in Initalit and where we see them in a word. Our latest digraph that the students have learnt is the oa (boat)/ow (snow) digraph. 

Math: We are continuing our learning to identify patterns over the next few weeks using numbers and objects, specifically number patterns, skip counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We have been continuing our place value lessons by using our unifix blocks to create the numbers and writing them in a place value house. 

Religion: We are learning to identify our gifts from God. How we can be stewards of God in everyday life. We also have a focus on the Easter story and the timeline in which the events happened leading up to Easter Sunday. 

Reminders

Library: Monday (week 1,3,5,7,9) 

Resilience Project: Monday (week 2,4,6,8,10)

Sport: Wednesday (every week) please have your child wear sports uniform

Technology: Thursday (every week)

Homework was sent out last Friday and is expected back on Thursday morning so readers can be changed over. 

Just a reminder that we do have a child that is anaphylaxis to Watermelon and Kiwifruit in our class. Please be mindful of when you pack these items in your child's lunch box and please let me know. 

This week Miss Haley will be out on Thursday and Friday as she will be attending a Early Years Teacher Conference in Townsville, Miss Brock will be taking the class for those two days. 

Have a wonderful week,

Miss Mae-Louise Brock, Miss Erin Haley and the always fun Year 1’s!

Year 2

Hi all,

During InitiaLit this week we are working on the comprehension strategy of prediction and are reviewing vowel digraphs and split digraphs. This week we are looking at the preposition start sentences. In Maths, we are interpreting data and have been working at our place value on Fridays. Along with this, we are looking at keeping ourselves healthy and safe in Health, God’s nature and relationship with his people in Religion, Mixtures in Science, where and why there is Drama as well as now and then during HASS.

A few reminders:

• We are on assembly this week
• 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 week. Reading is the most important part of homework!

Have a fantastic week,

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 3

Welcome to Week 9!

It's hard to believe we are in the second last week of term already!

This week we are looking forward to celebrating the Feast of St Joseph. The children have been learning all about St Joseph and the important role he played in Jesus’ life. We will have a special celebration on Friday in the Mary McKillop shed at 9.30am following our assembly at 8.30am.

Maths: This week we are beginning to work on money. The children will be able to represent money values in multiple ways and count the change required for simple transactions to the nearest five cents.

English: We are working on apostrophes. The children will know that word contractions are a feature of informal language and that apostrophes of contraction are used to signal missing letters.

Reminders:

Monday: Homework will be set and given out with Home Readers

Tuesday: Chaplain’s Breakfast in MMS at 7.45am

PE the children can wear their sports shirt 

As this is Week A the children have Resilience lesson

Family & Community Engagement meeting - Library 5.30pm -6.30pm

Wednesday: Tuckshop orders must be in by 8.30am

Thursday: Chaplain’s Breakfast in MMS at  7.45am

Tuckshop - if your child is having tuckshop please remember to send healthy snack for brain break and something for second lunch

             Children have Technology with Miss Laffey  

Friday:      National Ride to School Day -7.45am Florence Clark Park

Assembly 8.30am MMS Year 2 leading Prayer

St Joseph’s Feast Day 9.30am - 10.30am BBQ (sausage on bread)

 Homework to be returned.

Enjoy your week ahead, 

Mrs Nicola Cullen

Year 4

Hi everyone,

Interviews - A big apology from me to the parents! Last week I told you that parent interviews were this week but they are in fact next week. They are on Monday and Tuesday, the 27th and 28th of March. If you are still wanting to book, there are spots available. I will close these off the morning of the interviews so I have a chance to prepare for those attending.

HASS - This term, Year 4 have absolutely loved learning about The First Fleet. We have created some really cool stories written from the perspective of a 10 year old convict girl and made flip books that contain all the information we have learnt. We will be showing these off during parent interviews.

Reminders:

• Homework - Homework was given out this Monday and it is to be returned on Friday. 
• Tuckshop - Tuckshop is on this week. Orders are due by 8:30am Wednesday. 

• Library - Our library visit is this Thursday. Please make sure your child has their homework bag. 

• PE - PE will be this Thursday. Please have your child wear their sports uniform.

• Life Education - Please make sure your child's permission slips for the Life Education visit, happening on Monday next week, have been returned. 

• National Ride to School Day - Is happening this Friday. Children who want to participate need to be at Florence Clark Park by 7:45am. There are prizes available for those who have the best decorated helmets. 

Thank you and have a great week,

Miss Mairin Borlase

Year 5

Dear Families,

ENGLISH - Learners will continue to complete regular comprehension activities and their spelling programme will continue with <f ff ph> sound (fish, shuffle phone) - segmenting, investigating prefixes, synonyms, antonyms and suffixes (-s and -es), and the Greek roots phon and graph. They will complete activities for Unit 8 in their Green Sound Wave student book.

MATHEMATICS - This week will be revision of place value, addition and subtraction strategies. Think Mentals will continue to focus on Subtraction Strategies - the aim of these strategies is to develop efficient mental calculations, although currently we encourage the use of mini whiteboards.

• National Anti-Bullying Day (Wednesday)
• St Joseph’s Feast Day (Friday)
• NAPLAN Celebration 
• National Ride to School Day

Wishing you all an awesome week. 

Mr Mike Tarleton

Year 6

Welcome to week 9! 

This week the Year 6 students are well on their way to finishing the remainder of their assessment tasks for the term. 

They have started their research on a number of Asian countries and ways they might be able to help them overcome poverty. Over the coming days they will begin creating their proposals as to how they can be global citizens and help those countries. 

They have revised and completed their Math assessment on Order of Operations and the sequencing and patterning of numbers.

In English, we are nearly at the completion of our Diary Entries! Students have worked extremely hard over the last two weeks editing and proofreading their work with the use of writers toolbox and the read and write app. 

In Science,  we have been testing different circuits and identifying the faulty parts in them. Later this week students will research important people in history who have made significant inventions around electricity. 

It’s going to be a very busy end to the term, but they have worked extremely hard!

Mr Dom Purcell

UMY - Spotlight

Recap P-6 Tech with Mrs Laffey

P-2 Digital Technologies

This term students have been investigating Data and Data Representations. Preps, 1’s and 2’s have been sorting data and representing this data as column graphs. Some of the data we have sorted includes shapes, animals, foods, space pictures, and everyone's favourite, Fruit! In the past 2 weeks we have been using computers and google sheets to make digital bar graphs, by colouring in individual cells as we roll the Fruit Dice. 

3-4 Digital Technologies

Years 3 and 4 have been investigating Data and Data Representations by making graphs in google sheets. They have coloured in cells to make simple bar graphs before learning to make column, bar and pie charts using tables of data. Students were very excited to see the 3D graphs function. Students also spent some time at the beginning of the term learning to organise their files on Google Drive.

5-6 Digital Technologies

Students have been learning Binary and how computers use it and also learning to use Data Validation rules this term. They have created some spreadsheets and written rules such as “text is valid email’ or ‘is valid date’’ to prevent errors when collecting data. Students are enjoying personalising their google sheets by making them colourful and stylish whilst still being user friendly.

Sight & Hearing Screeners

Dear Parents,

Sight screening for Prep has now been rescheduled for Thursday 30th of March (next week). Please contact me if you have any concerns or questions.

Yours in Faith and Education,

Mrs Louise Martin

lmartin3@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au

Speech Language Pathologist Information

Community Notices