Term 1 Week 10 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:

There will be no Tuckshop this week!

Though some interesting facts for Term 1 from Miss Jamie-Lea 

Thank you to my merry band of helpers this term for assisting in completing 917 orders! We completed:

Wraps - 25

Weekly Special - 247

Salad Containers - 11

Treat - 569

Nuggets - 192

Biscuits - 278

Sandwiches (toasted & fresh) - 90

Mcmuffins - 50

Pizzas - 225

Amazing efforts by all who volunteered through the term, thank you so much!

Miss Jamie-Lea McConachy

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 our final week of Term 1, Week 10! 

As we come to the end of Term 1, it is important that we reflect on the incredibly busy, but rewarding term that we have had. In Term 1 we united for 

• Welcome back BBQ and Information Sessions.
• Cyber Safety Week.
• Safe Internet Day. 
• Beginning of Year Mass. 
• Ash Wednesday. 
• National Apology Day.
• Shrove Tuesday Pancake Breakfast. 
• Indigenous Education Advisory Meetings.
• Clean Up Australia Day. 
• Harmony Week. 
• NAPLAN. 
• FACE Wine and Cheese Information Evening. 
• St Joseph’s Feast Day. 
• Ride to School Day 
• MW Trials for Rugby League, Netball and Touch Football

This week we will conclude our term with the following events:

• Life Education - Healthy Harold - Prep to Year 6. 
• Holy Week Activities. 
• NWRH Hearing and Sight Screening. 
• QMEA: Water Yours, Ours, Mine for Year 7 students.
• Books in Homes - Book Giving Assembly. 
• Mulkadee Fundraiser. 
• Good Friday Liturgy and Easter Hat Parade. 

Week 10 Assembly & Easter Hat Parade
This Thursday we have the opportunity to come together for one last time in Term 1 for our assembly at 8.30am in the Mary MacKillop Shed. This assembly will have Student of the Week awards and our Good Friday Liturgy. 

Our assembly will be followed by an Easter Hat Parade. We would love for you to join us.

Term Dates
A reminder that Term 1 concludes on Thursday as Friday is an IPRASS Day. An IPRASS Day is a remote area scheme to allow travel time for our parents and families due to our rural and remote location. This means that students and staff will not be at school on Friday. We have two of these days a year, the second being in Term 3 for the Merry Muster weekend. 

Term 1 begins on Monday 17th of April. There are 3 Public Holidays in Term 2 to be mindful of, these are as follows:

• Tuesday 25th April (Anzac Day Public Holiday)
• Monday 1st May (Labour Day Public Holiday)
• Friday 16th June (Show Day Public Holiday)

Attendance:
Student attendance at school is vital in academic success, ensuring children feel comfortable in their surroundings, in developing social and emotional skills and strengthening their relationships with peers and staff. This term I would like to congratulate year 3 who had the highest attendance rates of 93.56%. Take a look at our breakdown of attendance. 

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday period. 

God Bless you and your families, 

Mrs Samantha Kelley
Principal

APRE News

Welcome to week 10! This week the students are participating in “Holy Week” rotations. We first gathered as a whole school and watched the Easter Story on Monday. Then over the week classes will participate in rotations of the four main events that led up to Easter Morning. 

These activities include; 

• Palm sunday where they create a booklet on the Easter story, 
• The Last supper where we share wine (grape juice) and unleavened  bread (tortillas) and act out the “Last Supper”, 
• The Stations of the Cross in the church and lastly 
• Easter Morning where the students bake “Empty Tomb Rolls” marshmallows (Jesus) wrapped in puff pastry (cloth) - when cooked the marshmallow melts away leaving an empty tomb.  

What is Holy Week? 
Holy Week is an important time for Christians throughout the world. Holy Week, the final week of Lent, begins on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. Holy Week is a time when Catholics gather to remember and participate in the Passion of Jesus Christ. The Passion was the final period of Christ’s life in Jerusalem. It spans from when He arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to when He was crucified on Good Friday. Holy week is celebrated over the first week of our holidays this year. 

St Joseph’s Feast Day Celebrations:
Last Friday we celebrated St Joseph's Feast day. The students all participate in  rotation activities centered around St Joseph. Including the painting of a Lily (the flower that represents the pure heart of St Joseph), Creating a St Joseph’s Shrine (where students created a prayer to St Joseph) and the creation of a clay sculpture of St Joseph. The morning was then concluded with a sausage sizzle. Thank you to Miss Pete who cooked the 200 sausages.  I have included some photos below.

I would like to thank all of our students, families, staff and friends of St Joseph's for their support and engagement in our school gatherings over our first term. For those who are traveling away for the break may you travel safely. I look forward to welcoming everyone back after what I hope will be a restful Easter Break. May you enjoy this Easter to its true spirit and make every blessing count.

Easter blessing to all! 

How Do Catholics Celebrate Holy Week?

The special ceremonies that commemorate the events of Christ’s Passion from His entrance into Jerusalem, when palm branches were placed in His path, through His arrest on Holy Thursday and Crucifixion on Good Friday, to Holy Saturday, the day that Christ’s body lay in the tomb. Finally to His resurrection on Easter morning.

St Colmans’ Holy Week liturgical services will be celebrated in the Church on:

• Palm Sunday Mass – April 2nd at 8:30 am
• Holy Thursday:  Mass of the Last Supper -  April 6th at  6pm
• Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion - April 7th 3pm
• Easter Vigil Mass (Saturday) - April 8th 6pm
• Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord - (Easter morning) April 9th at 8:30am

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral Care - Zones of Regulation

The Zones of Regulation framework used in our classrooms at St. Joseph’s teaches students scaffolded skills toward developing a metacognitive pathway to build awareness of their feelings/internal state and utilise a variety of tools and strategies for regulation, prosocial skills, self-care, and overall wellness. This includes exploring tools and strategies for mindfulness, sensory integration, movement, thinking strategies, wellness, and healthy connection with others. 

The Four Zones: Our Feelings and States Determine our Zone

The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions.  A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, devastation or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone.  A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.  

The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.  This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.  

The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored. 

Uniform - Hair & Shoes
St Joseph’s Catholic School family takes pride in its school uniform.  It is a highly visible symbol of who we are and students are required to wear the full school uniform neatly and with pride.

• Hair must be tidy and remain natural in colour and appearance while attending school. Students are permitted to have colours that are subtle and natural looking; our stance is one of moderation.
• Long fringes, scraggly hair around the face, hair extensions, undercuts, mullets or other extremes of style are not permitted.
• Hair is to be no shorter than a No. 3 cut for both males and females.
• Hair is to be worn neatly and fastened with a band and/or ribbon in navy blue or checkered scrunchie, if hair reaches the top of the collar.
• All hair must be firmly tied and pinned off the face and above the collar. 

Shoes for non-sport days for all year levels must be fully black in colour.  Years 7-9 are to have shoes with a black leather upper.  Coloured laces, high tops, basketball shoes, skate shoes are not acceptable. 

Mrs Toni Schneekloth

Pastoral Care Leader

Teaching & Learning - NAPLAN

I hope you are all well and looking forward to the Easter break. 

The reason for my communication today is to inform you of some important changes to NAPLAN reporting 2023. 

Previously, NAPLAN results have been published on a 10-band scale with 1 being the lowest level of achievement and 10 being the highest (Year 3 example below). 

Changes to NAPLAN reporting from 2023 
The new proficiency standard has four levels of achievement for each year level. This will be replacing the previous 10-band structure and the national minimum standard.
The new four levels of achievement are: • Exceeding • Strong • Developing • Needs additional support.  

The individual student report (the report we send home) will also change and will be based on the four new levels of achievement. This new report will continue to indicate the range for the middle 60% in each year level (the light blue shaded section on the old reports), with the dot to represent a student's achievement relative to their year level and the arrow (on the side) to communicate the national average.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about these changes please feel free to contact me at any stage and I will be happy to discuss further.

Kind Regards, 

Mr Dean Kelley
Head of Teaching and Learning

Prep

Good afternoon,

Can you believe it is already the last week of the term?

Week 10 is only a 4 day week as there is no school on Friday.

Healthy Harold visited the Preps this week. The Prep class loved this visit we learnt all about keeping our bodies healthy. The lead up to Easter is an important time in the Christian Year and will be celebrated with Holy Week Activities each day this week. Prep will also be involved with Easter craft and activities during class time. This week we are focusing on the “r” sound and revising all previously learnt letter sounds. Thank you very much to the parents who have been helping in our literacy time. As I mentioned in last week's newsletter I have started my holidays early and will not be at school this week. The Prep Class have a lovely new supply teacher Ms Wendy Bates who will be covering my absence. I hope you have a safe and restful Easter break.

Reminders:

• Holy Week Activities will be during our PE times this week.
• No tuckshop this week
• Thursday is the last day of school.

Yours in fun and learning,

Mrs Sharon McLauchlan and Miss Tamara Williams

Year 1

Hello parents and carers, 

Welcome to week 10! We have made it! The first term of year 1 is nearly done for the year. The class has had an amazing and busy start to the year. This term students have been growing and improving each and every week. We can not wait to continue learning next term.  

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. This week we are going to revise the tricky words and digraphs that we have learnt in the first term. 

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 are also continuing to learn about collecting data and creating graphs.

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

• Resilience Project: Monday
• Technology: Thursday

As it is the last week of School can you please ensure your child’s homework folder and readers come back to school. 

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. 

Just a reminder on Thursday, our last day of school for the term, we have an Easter Liturgy and the Easter hat parade straight after the bell in the morning. We will be making Easter Bonnets in class, however, there are prizes to be won for the best Easter bonnet so you are more than welcome to make one at home as well. 

Have a wonderful week and wonderful, safe holiday,

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

Year 2

Hi all,

This week is very busy but very exciting. We are finalising our assessments across all subjects. Along with this, we have a visit from Healthy Harold and will receive our Books in Homes. We are also doing some Easter craft. We will have our Easter Bonnet parade on Thursday - I’m looking forward to seeing the student’s creativity shine!

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 W 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:

• No Homework!

• 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 Ansell

Hi all,

This week is very busy but very exciting. We are finalising our assessments across all subjects. Along with this, we have a visit from Healthy Harold and will receive our Books in Homes. We are also doing some Easter craft. We will have our Easter Bonnet parade on Thursday - I’m looking forward to seeing the student’s creativity shine!

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 W 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:

• No Homework!
• Technologies is on Tuesday each week.
• 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.
• Assembly, Easter Hat parade and Good Friday Liturgy on Thursday morning. 
• No school on Friday due to IPRASS Day. 

Have a fantastic week,

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 3

Wow week 10! 

It's really hard to believe we are at the end of term 1. I would like to take this opportunity to say a sincere thanks to you all for the warm welcome and support this term. The children have had a busy term. They have worked hard in all areas of the curriculum and they have completed Naplan for the first time. They have also had fun and laughs. Each and every one of the children are a credit to you, their parents and to St Joseph’s school. I am really looking forward to term 2 already.

Reminders:

Monday: No homework will be set this week

Life Education for Y3

NWRH screening 

Holy Week Activities 

Tuesday: NO Chaplain’s Breakfast 

Books in Homes

PE the children can wear their sports shirt 

As this is Week B the children have Library please return all library and home reader books

NWRH screening 

Holy Week Activities 

Wednesday: NO Tuckshop

Mulkadee Fundraising 

NWRH screening

Holy Week Activities 

Thursday: Chaplaincy Breakfast today

NO Tuckshop

Good Friday Liturgy and Easter Hat Parade 8.30am MMS

Holy Week Activities 

Friday: No School

Have a wonderful school holidays!

Mrs Nicola Cullen

Year 4

Hi everyone,

Notice Board - Year 4 have just updated the office notice board with a cool craft activity they did as part of their reading rotations last week. We are focusing on developing our Reading Comprehension skills and as part of this, are trying to improve our vocabulary. We created envelopes for certain words and wrote synonyms for these on paper pencils that we can pull out. Pop in to the office and check them out!

Reminders:

• Homework - Homework was given out this Monday and it is to be returned on THURSDAY. 
• Tuckshop - There is no Tuckshop this week.

• Chaplaincy Breakfast - There is no Chaplaincy Breakfast on Tuesday this week. 

• Library - We have no more Library visits this term. If you’re looking for a book over the holidays, check out the town library!

• PE - Please wear your sports uniform on Thursday 

Friday - There is NO SCHOOL on Friday. We will be having a Good Friday Liturgy on Thursday at 8:30am.

Miss Mairin Borlase

Year 5

Dear Families,

ENGLISH - we will discuss reminders about narrative and persuasive text structure and organisation. Learners will continue to complete regular comprehension activities and their spelling programme will continue with <o and a> sound (as in orange and water) - segmenting, investigating prefixes, suffixes, synonyms and antonyms (non-), and the prefixes quad- and oct- They will complete activities for Unit 9 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.

• Life Education (Tuesday)
• Holy Week Activities
• Good Friday Liturgy (Thursday)
• Easter Hat Parade (Thursday)
• End of Term 1 (Thursday)

Wishing you all an AMAZING holiday - see you in Term 2.

Mr Mike Tarleton

Year 6

We made it to week 10!

The Year 6’s have had a very busy week:

• Life Education arrived with a specific focus for the year 6 and 7 students on decision making. They also enjoyed their annual catch up with Healthy Harold- everyone's favourite giraffe.
• We have been preparing our Stations of the Cross Freeze frame for Thursday’s final Assembly of the term. This has been the focus of our Religion Lessons this week and has tied in nicely with Holy Week. There is more information about this event in Mrs Curley's newsletter. Please come along to watch your child perform on Thursday at 8.30am.
• We are preparing for our Junior Ambassador United Nations presentations on how to help an Asian country facing Poverty.
• We are researching significant inventors in history who have used electricity to create some of the world's most amazing products! 

Just a few days to go until we finish term 1 for 2023!

Have a safe and enjoyable break! We will see you all back for Term 2.

Mr Dom Purcell

UMY - Spotlight

P-6 Sports Recap

Sport is often a favourite among the students, and I imagine a lot of that is just due to the chance to get out of the classroom for a while. Around this time we begin to look ahead to next term, but first it’s important to look back at what has been achieved during the past weeks.

Prep has been learning how they can move through spaces safely with a range of games - from those based in running, to some that require both balance and teamwork to get through. We’ve also been building a repertoire of games that can be used in the future for a warm-up at the start of our lessons.

Grades 1-2 have been developing their skills with a ball - namely rolling them along the ground, overarm and underarm throws, and catching the ball. These skills are fundamental to many sports and games that students will likely participate in throughout the years, and as such we’ll continue to work on these throughout the year. 

3-4 have been working on their striking and fielding skills by learning T-ball. This has not always been easy as students had to consider many different aspects in order to play the game, but all of them have demonstrated excellent progress in not only the game-specific skills, but in strategy as those who were stronger strikers went to the back of the line, and in working together. 

Meanwhile, 5-6 have discovered the necessary skills to play volleyball - focussing on the serve, dig, set and strike. Collectively, they have found this to be challenging, but all have risen to meet it and continued to persist in this venture. It took some time, but we managed to get a modified game going with the nets to the excitement of all.

Miss Shara Humes 

Books in Homes - Thank you Glencore

On Tuesday we had Martin from Books in Homes come to the school at 9.45am to give all students in prep to year 6 books to take home. Books-of-choice to children living in remote communities, ensuring crucial early literacy engagement and the development of reading skills needed for lifelong achievement. 

Speech Language Pathologist Information

Spark Club Colouring in Competition

Entries are to be completed and handed in on Wednesday. Presentations will take place on Thursday Assembly.

Good luck!

Student Wellbeing

In this busy world of drop-offs, weekend sports, late night homework and a hundred and one other tasks, many parents look forward to a break.

A break from the busy term-time routine to connect with their kids, yet taking the time to connect is often a challenge, and school holidays can often end up as a disappointing ‘disconnect’, say experts.

“We live in the age of ‘connection’ yet many parents feel disconnected from their kids because they are time-poor and school holidays give them a chance to complete other tasks.  All too quickly the holidays draw to a close and we haven’t achieved what we had intended, leaving both children and parents unfulfilled,” says Nicole Pierotti, psychologist.

Nicole says that rather than making grand plans to go on a round of excursions, movies and trips, to plan some ‘down-time’ that allows parents and kids to spend time connecting on real terms.

“Connecting is just about spending meaningful time together.  The time where you really listen or just be together without jumping up to flip the dinner, feed the cat or hang out the washing,” says Nicole.

Nicole says that just ten to fifteen minutes is all we need to connect with our kids.

“That connected fifteen minutes will be the fifteen minutes that they will remember about their day.  They won’t remember the washing, the meals, the tidying but they will remember you sitting down with them and gazing at them and really listening to what they are saying, making or sharing.  Even if you have to work this school holidays and they need to go to vacation care, you can still connect with your children at the end of the day and spend some meaningful time together,” says Nicole.

Here are Nicole’s top tips to connect with your child this school holidays:

1. Simply sit together and draw.  Whether it be scribbles for two year olds, shapes for three year olds, tracing for 4 year old and colouring in for school kids.
2. Grab the play doh, add a placemat and get busy having fun.  Try asking your child what it is they want to make and let them take the lead.
3. Take in some fresh air and play outside: find a ball and kick, throw, bounce and catch, kids of any age love this time.
4. Pick up a bucket of chalk and find a piece of concrete or pavers and draw.  What to draw? It can be a road to ride their bike on, a shop, their name to trace over, or a picture of them.
5. You can make car travel your connecting time, spot words on signs, letters on number plates, brands on cars.

https://mouthsofmums.com.au/connect-with-your-kids-this-school-holidays-say-experts/ 

Holy Week Schedule - St Colman's Parish

Holiday Fun

From Cloncurry Shire Council:

From our local Anglican Church:

Community Notices

LifeFlight - Free Trauma Training

LifeFlight Australia and the LifeFlight Australia Training Academy, are proud to present the LifeFlight First Minutes Matter FREE trauma training workshops program. This program delivers free community trauma training in remote locations that can experience longer than normal wait times for emergency response, in the event of a medical incident. The First Minutes Matter workshops are delivered over a 6 hour period and offer training in life saving techniques and skills and teach people how to best respond in a medical emergency. The program is taught face to face by one our critical care medical staff, who have worked in the pre-hospital setting for many years. Ages 14+ welcome.

Dates: Thursday 30 March 2023 and Friday 31 March 2023 (Two separate workshops) Location: Cloncurry Community Precinct – 37 Scarr Street Cloncurry.

We thank the Cloncurry Shire Council for funding these workshops.

To book, please go to firstminutesmatter.org.au

Poetry Competition

From Sister Lyn

Cloncurry PCYC Netball