Term 3 | Week 4 Newsletter

Key Information

• Friday 6th August - Pupil Free Day, 2022 Prep Enrolments Due 12pm
• 21st-27th August - Book Week (Dress Up Day to be decided)
• Friday 27th August - St Colman's Parish & St Joseph's Fete
• Friday 3rd September - Pupil Free Day

Tuckshop Menu:

Uniform Shop

• Week 4 - CLOSED due to staffing arrangements

Homework Club

Homework Club is every Thursday from 3-4pm in the MacKillop Room for Years 5-9.

Coffee on Fridays

Coffee, Tea & Hot Chocolate will be available at each Assembly unless otherwise advertised.

Volunteers are always welcome, please contact the office and we'll pass your details on to the P&F.

Principal News

Welcome to Week 4, 

At our assembly last week I spent some time talking to staff, students, parents and community members about the ongoing cycle of reflection that the teachers and leadership team at St Joseph’s engage in on a 5 year cycle. This cycle is consistently seeking feedback to ensure St Joseph’s is the best possible school for our students and the community. On Monday the 2nd of August we completed our most recent 5 year cycle by validating what the school has achieved and forward planning for the upcoming 5 year cycle. To do this a Validation Panel of 5 members joined us including Fr. Mick Lowcock our Parish Priest, Stephanie Giorcelli our Education Consultant from Townsville Catholic Education Office, Elisa Rigano - Deputy Principal from Burdekin Catholic High School, Kylie Helmore - Principal of Marian Catholic School and Damien Brennan - Panel Chair. We also had Lesley Wall represent our school as our ‘Critical Friend’ to share insight into our school history and context. We also sought the feedback from our staffing body (Miss Sonja, Mr Delaney, Mr Murray and Miss Brock), students (Maddison, Knox, Brielle and Sam) and parents (Rene, Aaron and Chris). We are very grateful for our staff, student and parent representatives that took time out of their schedule to assist us in this process.  

As a Principal I always encourage feedback from our students, staff, parents and local community on areas that we can improve. It is in partnership that we can provide the best possible school for our students. In the feedback received yesterday the word ‘community’ was used consistently. Our leadership team, students, staff and parent representatives talked about the wonderful community that we have at St Joseph’s - upon reflecting on this we truly are so lucky to be supported by so many. The process went really well and it was a good reflection of the wonderful things that we do at St Joseph's.

I will be engaging in Professional Development myself this week. On Thursday I will be joining a team of teachers from Cloncurry, Mount Isa and Townsville to deliver a speech on my journey into leadership. I am looking forward to engaging with inspiring leaders in our Diocese and sharing how wonderful it is to be living and working in a Western Town. On Sunday I will travel to Townsville for a 2 day course with the other Principals in our Diocese. I will be contactable via email on skelley2@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au or alternatively please see Mr. Shadley Davids who will be Acting Principal in my absence.    

Thursday 5th August 2021 - Mary MacKillop Feast Day & DanceNorth Workshops 
We have a busy end to the week on Thursday with our Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations, as well as our DanceNorth Workshops. On Thursday our day will begin with an assembly where prep students will lead us in prayer, followed by a morning of activities, topped off with a BBQ lunch and cake. 

We also have Dance North coming to visit us on Thursday. DanceNorth Australia are a major champion of the arts in Regional North Queensland, empowering students by providing a creative outlet to support, enhance, inspire and heal. We are excited to be able to engage with programs like this to provide these opportunities to our students. 

Have a fantastic week! 

God Bless, 
Samantha Kelley
Principal

APRE News

COVID-19
With COVID-19 escalating in South East Queensland as well as in other states, I am aware of many of our families, like mine, who are restricted to visit family in other parts of Australia. I am conscious that some of us may personally have a loved one, afar,  who have been COVID positive I would like to share Pope Francis’ prayer against coronavirus

Mary MacKillop Feast Day
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop is one of our school’s Patron Saints. Her feast day is each year on the 8th of August, however due to our IPRASS Day on Friday we will be celebrating Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day on Thursday the 5th of August. We will start our celebrations with an assembly on Thursday morning followed by activities as well as a sausage sizzle and cake. As always parents are invited to come along to the assembly.

Gospel Reading - John 6:41-51

Jesus responds to the murmurs of the crowd, who wonders what he means when he says that he came down from heaven.

Today’s Gospel focuses our attention on our faith in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. Jesus is the bread of life. He gives us his Body and Blood as bread so that we may have eternal life. When we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, our lives begin to reflect the reality that our communion with Jesus prepares in us. Our Eucharist leads us to live as people of the promise, confident that we will one day share the fullness of life with God.

As you gather as a family, talk about our hope that one day we will share eternal life with God in heaven. This hope can transform the way we live our daily lives, calling us to be people of hope and expectation. In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises us this gift of eternal life in the Eucharist. Read together today’s Gospel, John 6:41-51. Observe that Jesus taught us that those who listen to God know that Jesus has been sent by God for the life of the world. Jesus fulfills this promise to us through his passion, death, and Resurrection. He gives us the gift of himself in the Eucharist, which is his Body and Blood, given so that we may have eternal life. Conclude in prayer together asking God to increase our faith in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. Pray together the Act of Faith.

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches, because you have revealed them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Amen.

Shadley Davids

Assistant Principal - Religious Education

Pastoral Care

Altruism is vital for the human race to survive and thrive; and each of our lives is supported by countless kind acts from other people. Yet in our world today, so much is directing us to think only about ourselves - and we often forget the happiness that comes by caring for others. This August Action for Happiness is asking everyone to take one kind act per day. Let's create a wave of kindness to spread around the world (Action for Happiness, 2021).

For more information, please visit https://www.actionforhappiness.org/altruistic-august

Kind Regards,
Mrs Schneekloth
Pastoral Care

Prep

We will be taking our 100 days of Prep display down this week. The items in bags will be put in a plastic tub on the round table. If you want to keep yours can you please take it out. Otherwise we will utilise the items for craft etc. 

Once again some hats belonging to Preps have gone missing. Please check the hats that your child has to see if they belong to them.

Prep will be hosting assembly this Thursday. Our theme will be Saint Mary Mackillop. It would be great if you could attend!

Please return readers on Thursday this week and we will endeavour to have them ready to go home again by the end of the day. If not we will send them home Monday.

The Prep class will be involved in a session with Dance North on Thursday. We will also be celebrating Mary Mackillop on Thursday morning by joining a rotation of activities with the rest of the school. What a busy day!

Yours in fun and learning,
Mrs McLauchlan

Year 1

Hello parents and caregivers,

I hope you have had a lovely weekend. Here is a snapshot of our week ahead.

English: This week our focus is on the suffix ‘ed’ at the end of words. 

Mathematics: We have started our new unit of work learning about our Australian coins. We have also opened a classroom shop and have a new monetary reward system.

Reminders: 
The Show and Share: Our topic this week is; Tell us about a holiday you have been on. Favourite memory. (You are more than welcome to bring photos, drawings, souvenirs or send a photo to my email.

Sport: Tuesday with Mr Murray
Library: Thursday with Mrs Chaplain

Our assembly this week is on Thursday followed by Mary McKillop Feast day activities. 

Please remember friday is our IPRASS (Pupil Free) day. 

Have an amazing week,
Miss Brock and the always fun Year 1's.

Year 2

Welcome to Week 4,

One more week until our chickies hatch!

We are also learning about:
Tricky words: through, every, only
English: Procedural texts
Maths: Flips, slides and turns

Our school fete is coming up on Friday of Week 7. Year 2 will be running a fishing game. For our game, we are asking parents to donate fun size, individually wrapped chocolates or lollies to use as prizes.

Reminder:
Wednesday is PE day
Thursday is Library day

Pupil Free Day this Friday

Have a great week,
Miss Ansell

Year 3

Hi everyone!  

The learning highlights for Year 3 this week are:

• In Maths we will begin our new unit on symmetry. Students will identify symmetry in the natural and built environment as well as symmetry in shapes, letters and Aboriginal rock carvings and art. 
• In Science we are investigating the way Aboriginal people classify living things such as ‘edible/inedible’ and ‘venomous/non-venomous.’ We will look at how this differs to the systems used by contemporary science. 
• In Digital Technology we are learning about peripheral devices such as headphones, keyboards and USB drives. We are also learning about the definition of ‘data’ and the way data is transmitted in information systems. 

Homework and home readers were sent out on Monday. Please let me know if you haven’t received these. 

Reminders 

• Library: Wednesday 
• PE: Thursday
• Mary Makillop Feast Day: Thursday morning 
• Dance North Workshop: Thursday afternoon 
• Pupil Free Day: Friday
  
  Fete News:
  Year 3 will be holding a ‘bottle stall’ for the upcoming Fete. It would be a great help if students brought in any clean glass jars (e.g. jam jars, pasta sauce jars etc) These jars can be sent into school empty or filled with small ‘knick-knacks’ such as hair-ties, lego pieces, bubbles, chocolates, lollies or any other fun item! Thank you!

Have a great week ahead. 
Miss Coombs

Year 4

Hi everyone,

I hope you are enjoying Week 4 and are gearing up for a fun rodeo weekend.

Fete: The Year 4 class is holding a mini putt putt stall and a lollipop pick competition at this year’s Fete. It would be great if we could have donations of lollipops and other wrapped sweets such as chocolates. On the night I will just need help from the students, so feel free to put your name on the roster for some of the P&F stalls. This will be out soon. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Fete!

Design Technology: We are well into making our recycled objects. The students have completed their design plan and now need to be bringing in items needed to make their project. Could you please have a chat with your child to see what they need and let me know if you don’t have any at home.

English: The students have almost finished their unit on persuasive advertising and now we are moving on to writing persuasive arguments. We will be lucky enough to have Grace Reid, our speech pathologist, helping us on a Wednesday for our writing sessions.

Have a great week,
Mrs Wall

Year 5

Welcome to Week 4!

Here is a snapshot into Year 5 this week!

ENGLISH: This week we are continuing to develop our vocabulary skills when reading - we like to call it “adding to our brictionary” as the more words we decipher and use in our writing, the bigger our brain dictionary grows!

MATHS: Students are learning to use more than one operation when creating number sentences this week - we will also be continuing with adding and subtracting fractions with the same and different denominators. Next stop, mixed numbers and improper fractions!

SCIENCE: During science this week, students will be learning more about the Jovian planets. 

JAPANESE: Students have been working on their HA, HI, FU, HE, HO and NA, NI, NU, NE, NO sounds this week. Soon we will be learning how to introduce ourselves!

DESIGN TECH: This term for design technologies we will be looking at the nutritional benefits of healthy eating and using that knowledge to create a healthy menu! For our assessment, students will be creating an item from their menu to present to Miss Campbell.

Reminders:

• This Friday is a pupil free day (IPRASS) so Assembly will be held Thursday morning followed by Mary Mackillop feast day activities.
• DANCE NORTH will be here on Thursday for a workshop with students in Years 3-5. 
• There is a fun run next friday the 13th August in the Funtastic Friday time slot - 2:00 - 2:50pm.

Enjoy the Merry Muster this weekend and see you all next week!

Miss Campbell. 

Year 6

Welcome to Week 3!

This term’s learning focuses are:

Religion: Students are learning about the significance of Passover.

English: We will be learning about creating tension filled body paragraphs for our informative writing.

Maths: Students will begin to learn how to multiply and divide decimals by whole numbers.

HaSS: This week, students will be creating a timeline of key events that led to federation in addition to learning more about the important figures.

Science: We will be planning an investigation to test the effect that environmental conditions have on the growth of mould.

Health: We explored the role that challenges play in the development of our identity.

Have a great week ahead!
Mr. Delaney and the Year 6 legends

Subject Spotlight - English

Year 7: This week, we will continue our reading of the literary text ‘Black Snake - the daring of Ned Kelly’. Students will analyse particular key events in detail to determine whether their opinion of Ned remains the same or changes - is he a Hero, a Villain or a Victim? Did he shoot to kill or was it an accident as a result of acting in self defence? It’s been great to have discussions about such a controversial person in Australian History!

Year 8: The students will continue with their analysis and response to David Attenborough’s “A Life on Our Planet’. They will engage in various forms of discussion about the importance and significance of this documentary film in 2020, whilst recognising the intention of influencing an audience this text possesses. We will begin developing a ‘travel planet Earth’ brochure (with a twist) - foreshadowing what Earth will look like if we don’t act now to save the planet. 

Year 9: It’s all things SciFi speculation in our classroom this Term! Students are developing an article that blends informative structure and language with fictional ideas and features. They’re on the money with a range of engaging and relevant ‘what if’s’ to develop a story with. More to come in this space, soon!

Student Awards

Congratulations to our Week 3 Award recipients, well done!

Cloncurry Merry Muster Parade

The Cloncurry Merry Muster Street Parade is to be held this Friday night, 6th August.  St. Joseph's will be entering the street parade with a float and we welcome your student(s) to participate and ride on the float.

This year's theme is Survivor: Brains vs Brawn.  If your child/children would like to ride on the float, we would like them to dress in costume as either our Brains or Brawn team. And what would that look like you ask? For Brains - think scientists, professors, doctors, entrepreneurs, authors, teachers, nurses, managers, business people etc.  For Brawn, think muscle men, tennis players, people in active wear, sportspeople, body builders etc.

Please meet on Station St at the Showgrounds at 5pm ready for the 5.30pm departure. Students will be available for pickup from inside the Showgrounds after the street parade. Please ensure to bring your phone to check in participants via the provided QR Code.  

For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Lovett, Miss Sonnie or Mrs Schneekloth.  Hoping to see you all this Friday!

Library News

A reminder that Book Week is this Term from the 21st-27th August. We will communicate with parents which day is dress up day.

The theme for 2021 is "Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds"

Rock Pop

Rockpop practices will continue this week, running from 3-3:45pm under the Mary Mackillop shed.

The junior group (students in years 3-5) will take place each Tuesday of the term.
The Senior group (students in years 6-9) will take place each Thursday of the term.

Please bring some afternoon tea, a drink bottle & appropriate clothing/footwear to dance in.

Keep an eye out in the Newsletter/School FB Page for any RockPop updates.

Fete

You will see some emails come through from your child's teacher/s about donations for their stalls.
- Year 6 are seeking donations of chocolates
- Year 3 are seeking glass jars (filled with prizes or empty) for their bottle stall
- Year 4 are seeking donations of wrapped chocolates or lollies

If you are unsure if you've received email from your teacher please remember to check your junk folder or contact them directly.

A HUGE thank you to the sponsors listed in the attached flyer that have come on on board for the 2021 St Colman's & St Joseph's Fete

Casual Employment Opportunties

We are seeking casual School Officers and qualified Teachers to cover sick and leave days.
For more information please contact our office.
Teaching staff will need to apply here > https://tceo-portal.applynow.net.au/jobs/TCE679-supply-teacher-registration-2021

Community Notices

Advertise your Community Event or Notice here!