Term 3 Week 6 2023

Key Information

Term 3 Important Dates

• Monday 14th August - Friday 18th August - Book Week & Science Week 
• Friday 18th August - Learning Breakfast and Book Week Dress Up
• Friday 25th August - School Fete 
• Thursday 31st August - Bush Dance 
• Friday 8th September - Cross Country

Tuckshop News

Please email Jamie-Lea on jmcconachy@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au or call the office to let us know if you're available to volunteer!

Our special for Week 6 is: Apricot Chicken, Carrot cake and a Popper

Please have your orders in by WEDNESDAY 8:30am.

To order: https://myschoolconnect.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 6, 

What a busy week we have had and will continue to have. 

All week our students are celebrating Science Week. Miss Humes and Mr Kelley have some fun activities scheduled at morning tea and/or lunch for our students to enjoy. Yesterday our Prep to Year 3 students enjoyed making Oobleck, which involves the chemical reaction between cornstarch and water! The simplest mixture to create a slime that they all enjoyed! Take a look at some of the photos below:

We also had Dance North visit today. Dance North ran sessions with all students from Prep to Year 9 in The Mary MacKillop Shed. We love being able to offer a range of opportunities for our students, particularly in The Arts. A big thank you to Mr Purcell for facilitating this. 

On Friday we also have our Learning Breakfast, Open Classrooms and Book Week Parade. 

• Breakfast - From 7.45am - Home Economics Room 
• Classrooms Open - From 8.00am
• Book Week Parade - From 8.30am - The Primary Courtyard.

St Joseph’s Catholic School & St Colman’s Parish Fete:
Our Fete is two weeks away and there is still so much to do! Although a lot of our classes don’t need volunteers from parents/carers at their stall, we do need your help with other St Joseph's run stalls. Follow this link https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/ypp5d, log in and see what stalls need help. Your help is greatly appreciated and goes a long way to making this event a success. 

The school is still looking for donations of household goods to fill up our assorted items wheelbarrow. This wheelbarrow is used as a prize at the Fete so we want it to be chock-a-block. 

All classes are completing an artwork for the fete, which can be won at The Silent Auction. Make sure you go and check out the silent auction on the night and place a bid on our masterpiece. 

If you are looking at attending the Fete, you can pre-buy ticket cards that will be used on the day. This ticket system will run in similar fashion to the ticket cards which are used on Cloncurry Race, Show and Rodeo Days. If you are definitely coming, we recommend purchasing some or all of your tickets before the Fete so you can avoid long cues. 

Upcoming - Fire Drill 
On Monday 21st of August we will have our termly Fire Drill. This will sound at 10.30am, just before morning tea. Our students are fantastic at remaining calm, leaving all of their belongings and following their teacher to The Mary MacKillop Shed, which is our assembly point. We mark the roll to ensure all students are accounted for. This is a drill, talk with your child/children this weekend to let them know what to expect. Our staff will do the same prior to the drill.

May God Bless you and your families for the week ahead, 

Mrs Samantha Kelley
Principal 

APRE News

Welcome to Week 6!

Today I am writing to you from Townsville. This week I am gathering with all APREs across our diocese to engage in a  course titled  'SPIRITUS’ in this program we will be exploring the mission of the Church to evangelise and the process that is involved. I enjoy participating in these networking opportunities and building my capacity to better serve our school.  

Today, 15th August the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Assumption of Our Lady when according to our faith, the Holy Mother, “having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”.

Assumption of Mary
The Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. While the bodies of both Jesus and Mary are now in heaven, there is a difference between the Assumption and the Resurrection. Where Jesus arose from the tomb and ascended into heaven by his own power, Mary’s body was taken up to heaven by the power of her Son.

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral Care

Bullying is an ongoing or repeated misuse of power in relationships, with the intention to cause deliberate psychological harm. Bullying behaviours can be verbal, physical or social. It can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious or hidden. Bullying in any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders.

Despite the efforts made to reduce bullying behaviours, the research tells us that one in four students still report being bullied every few weeks. However, not all negative behaviour should be considered bullying. The key difference is that bullying does not stop on its own. It’s important young people learn how to identify behaviours that are rude, behaviours that are mean, and behaviours that are related to bullying. 

Often the reasons for bullying can be complex. Some young people do it to get approval from others, some do it to regain control, whilst others may do it because it makes them feel safe. Supporting young people as they work through their emotions will help them unpack the motivation and reason behind the behaviour. 

In this edition of SchoolTV, caregivers can better understand why some young people engage in bullying behaviours and what to do to support a child experiencing it.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact our Pastoral team of Mrs Schneekloth, Pastoral Care Leader, Miss Bec, Guidance Counsellor, or Miss Pete, School Chaplain, for further information or seek medical or professional help.

On Monday Mrs Kelley and I joined the students from Prep to Year 9 to unpack what bullying is. Our students talked about this year's theme - making connections and how through connections students feel safe and welcomed. Our students joined in small groups to outline the safe people in their lives, the connections they have and how they can communicate how they're feeling. It was a great reflection activity that our students took very seriously. See some snaps below:

Here is the link to the Bullying edition of SchoolTV

https://sjctsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/bullying

Mr Dom Purcell
Acting Pastoral Care Leader

Prep

Welcome to Week 6, 

This week, on Monday morning, Prep had the privilege of painting a canvas with instruction by local artist Ruth Chaplain. The canvases look amazing! Thank you to volunteers who helped out with this session.

During literacy this week, the class will consolidate the "ch" sound and learn "x" and "v". The tricky words taught will be put, as, do. Our story focus continues the Wonky Donky theme and is based on the story; Wonky donkey the big surprise. The class will continue to explore describing words/adjectives and sentence structure.

During math Prep will learn about capacity and the class will continue to explore "How things move" during science lessons.

Today Dance North will be doing a dance workshop with us. On Friday there will be a Learning Breakfast of pancakes from 7.45am and classrooms will be open to have a look around 8. At 8.30am all the students get to show off their Book Week dress up costumes in a parade.

Reminders:

• Monday - Canvas painting at 8.30am in the art room
• Tuesday - sport uniform and Dance North session
• Thursday - homework and readers will be sent out. Tuckshop day.
• Friday - students are to wear their Book Week costume to school in preparation for the Book Week parade at 8.30am. Parents are welcome to stay for this. Students may change into their uniform if they wish after the parade. A Learning Breakfast will be held from 8.45am outside the Home Ec room and classes will be open for parents to visit. 

Yours in fun and learning,

Mrs Sharon McLauchlan, Miss Tamara Williams and Miss Brie Thew

Year 1

Welcome to Book Week!

For book week this week, Year 1 is exploring different texts and text types each day. We are identifying the characters, settings and events in these stories. This week we have the Learning Breakfast before school followed by the Book Week parade on Friday morning. We are looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday morning.

In Mathematics over the last week, Year 1 has started to represent and solve simple addition and subtraction problems using a range of strategies including counting on, partitioning and rearranging parts. We are spending the next week solving addition problems using the counting on strategy. 

Reminders:

• Sport is on Wednesday. Children may wear their Sport Uniform to school.
• Friday:  Learning Breakfast and the Book Week Assembly.
• Homework will be handed out on Friday. Homework, if your child has outstanding books it would be great if they were brought back.

Have a fantastic week,

Miss Mae-Louise Brock and Miss Erin Haley

Year 2

Hi all,

During Writing this week, students are creating a text to present for Learning Breakfast. In HASS over the next few weeks, student will be creating an informative text about Ernest Henry, John Flynn or Burke and Wills. In Maths, we have begun to look at 2D shapes. In Science, we are looking into Earth’s resources and how they are used in a variety of ways. We will also be examining messages and advertising during Health and communicating about music we hear and make.

Reminders:

• Homework - Homework day is Wednesday
• Library - Friday Week A (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)
• Resilience Project - Friday Week B (2, 4, 6, 8, 10)

Have a great week,

Miss Leonie Ansell

Year 3

Welcome to Week 6!

Here’s what we are learning this week:

English: This week we will learn how to write an introduction and conclusion for information texts. Students will also research about an Australian animal to plan their own information text. 

Spelling: Students will be focusing on the sound ‘t’ as in table, which is represented by the graphemes t and tt.

Maths: This week students will explore metric units for mass, working to measure, compare and order masses and consider where we measure with grams and kilograms in the real world.  

Religion: This week students will compare Luke and Matthew’s scripture for the Beatitudes. Students will also consider if and how the purpose and audience of the Beatitudes have changed over time. 

Health: Students will practise rehearsing assertive behaviours and strong non-verbal communication skills. We will also discuss who students can talk to if they need help or ever feel unsafe.

HASS: This week students will explore what life is like in Papua New Guinea, investigating characteristics such as culture, languages, food, settlement, population and climate. 

Science: This week, students will draw labelled diagrams of the living things they found in our school last week. Students will also be able to justify that things are living using MRS GREN characteristics (movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion, nutrition). 

Other Reminders:

• Homework - Homework will be taken home Monday 
• Dance North Visit - Tuesday 8:40-10am
• Chaplain’s Breakfast - Tuesday & Thursday at 7:45am in MMS 
• Tuckshop - Must be ordered before 8:30am Wednesday 
• Rock Pop - Thursday 3pm-4pm
• Learning Breakfast - Friday 7:45am
• Classroom Visit - Friday 8am
• Book Week Parade - Friday 8:30am
• National Anti-Bullying Day - Friday 

I hope you all have a great week.

Thanks,

Miss Laura Cook

Year 4

Hi all,

Writing: Our sentence focus for this week is The Red, White and Blue Sentence. Sometimes you have three or four things you want to say about a topic. With the Red, White, and Blue Sentence, you can quickly list three or more things—people, places, objects, actions, adjectives—all in ONE sentence. Check this out:

• Alpacas are easy to look after, incredibly soft, and surprisingly affectionate.
• Tim visited Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and Buckingham Palace when he was in London.
• Careful application of heat, light, and nutrients helped the beans grow extremely large.

Spelling: Our spelling sound this week is the ‘t’ sound in tiger. It can be represented by the graphemes: t and tt.

• The ‘t’ sound in tiger is most commonly represented by the grapheme t (e.g. start, table).
• The grapheme tt for tiger is seen in the middle of words, after short vowel sounds (e.g. button, lettuce).
• The suffix ed can represent the ‘d’ sound in duck (e.g. called), the ‘t’ sound in tiger (e.g. helped) or ‘er’-’d’ sound (e.g. wanted).

Reminders:

• Tuckshop - Please make sure Tuckshop orders are placed by Wednesday morning.

• Library - Students have their library visit this Friday.

• PE - Students have PE on Thursday.

Have a great week,

Miss Mairin Borlase

Year 5

Dear Families,

Remember that we have the Learning Breakfast from 7:45am on Friday in the Mary Mackillop Shed, followed by an opportunity to share your child's classroom from 8am. The Book Week Parade follows this and then our busy morning is completed with a visit to Aged Care.

This week is Science Week! Children are able to visit the Lab during lunchtimes throughout the week to investigate several Science related fun activities. We also have several Space investigations - the photos above show the children discovering more about the Phases of the Moon.

RELIGION: In our Religion work, we are currently investigating several pieces of scripture. We will compare the gospels of John and Luke. We will also begin to create our playscripts for the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

ENGLISH: In English, we will continue our investigation into - paragraphs used in Persuasive texts. The first we look at is the Lawyer Paragraph. In spelling, we are investigating the multiple graphemes used to represent the phoneme (sound) [t, tt] and also investigate into the prefixes inter- (between) tele- (distant) and trans- (across) and continued work on Latin Origins - prefix rupt- (break/burst) and sect- (cut). Our comprehension structure continues to reflect on shorter texts that learners read and respond to. The focus of our work continues to involve hidden meaning - discovering authors' inferred meaning.

MATHEMATICS: In mathematics, we are continuing our revision of strategies for the four operations in our Think Mentals. We will spend some time discussing the expanded and compact strategies for adding/subtracting large numbers (5-digits). We will also wrap up our work on 3D Shape, before starting our investigation into angles. This connects nicely with the rotation work from earlier in the term as well as the Phases of the Moon in Science.

Wishing you all a magnificent week 6.

Mr Mike Tarleton

Year 6

Welcome to week 6!

This week has been a very busy one in the year 6 classroom. Students have been lucky enough to engage in a dancing session with guest speakers from DanceNorth.

They have also spent some time completing and finalising their Art Canvas to be auctioned at the school fete. We have als spent a significant amount of time practicing our class dance for the Bush Dance night. 

In Maths and English students have been very busy revising math concepts taught this term as well as planning for their Federation Newspaper articles. 

We have finished the week looking at some Anti Bullying activities and highlighting what bullying is, and how we can talk to people within the school community to stop it. 

It has been a super busy week!

Mr Domonic Purcell

UMY Spotlight

Yr 9 Geography with Mrs Renee McConachy
Throughout this term students have explored the biomes of the world and investigated the impacts of human alterations, including agriculture. Students focused particularly on understanding the impacts of food production on the environment and how advancements in technology have allowed for higher crop yields and more efficient farming. They developed an understanding of global food security and identified patterns between world hunger, biomes and social and economic factors.

Students will begin working on their Assessment Research Tasks this week. They are required to select a food, fibre or industrial material and investigate any alterations or environmental impacts made to the biome it is produced in. Students will then assess current or past strategies used to minimise these impacts and recommend possible future strategies.

Yr 7 & 8 HPE with Mr James Delaney
Health: In Health this term, we are learning about all the changes associated with puberty (social, emotional, physical and intellectual). The students took time to understand their sense of identity, explore how hormones impact emotional changes, completed social scenario roleplays, and had an opportunity anonymously ask any questions they have about puberty via Google Forms. 

This week, the students will split into two groups; the girls will go with Mrs Delaney-Lovett and the boys will stay with me. In these sessions, we will learn about the physical changes and have a chance to answer questions that the students have. The students will complete a short response exam based on puberty scenarios drawing upon decision-making and coping strategies. 

Physical Education: This term, the students have been engaging with Touch Football. They have been learning the basics of the game, learning about some basic strategy, and putting attack and defence priniples together in modified gameplay. By the end of the term, the students will play in teams in a round robin competition during class time. If time permits, we will also explore OzTag and TRL.

Yr 9 HPE with James Delaney
Health: We started this term by exploring the concept of stereotypes, in particular, gender stereotypes. This led the students to considering advertising from the past and even in the present. The goal of this learning is to use it as a lens to interpret the barriers of access and professionalism for women in sport. The students will write a short text that highlights these barriers, including evaluating an advertisement and interpreting how it portrays sportswomen in the media. 

Physical Edcation: PE has been a mixed bag in Year 9 this term. We began the term by participating in frisbee/flying disc games. These included Ultimate Frisbee and Frisbee Golf. The students loved both of these highly unique opportunities. Moving forward, we will be playing Table Tennis and Badminton to finish the term. This will be a welcomed relief as it starts to heat up again!

Yr 7 English with Rachel Delaney-Lovett
We’ve been busy writing this term in year 7 English! The students have been developing their imaginative text skills - focussing on combining description with detail. The students have shown that they understand the impact of being precise when constructing a creative writing piece - it becomes the anchor to our imagination! We are following a specific structure for our short stories - Where, Who, Why, Resolve. As a class, we are moving into the ‘’pre-assessment’ phase: this means that students will begin the planning phases for their imaginative short story. It is truly wonderful to see their excitement, engagement & enjoyment with this text type and to hear their creative ideas is what makes teaching so special. 

Touch base with your child and see what setting they have chosen for their assessment text - I’m positive you will be just as impressed with their creativity as I have been!

Yr 7 Religion
We have nearly wrapped up our unit - Christian Communities, Past & Present. Students are currently in-task, working through their assessment pieces. Ideally, this will be completed by the end of the week. Students have selected either St Peter or St Paul, and discussed their respective impact and influence in the development of Christianity over time. We then focus on Emperor Constantine - the Roman Emperor that legalised religious freedoms and the practice of Christianity in approximately 313 CE - and differentiate the practices of faith (change and continuity) over time and place. This unit is very grounded in History - so the students have enjoyed looking at facts about the development of the Catholic Christian faith.

Book Week Parade - Friday!

It’s our Book Week! Just a reminder that this year’s theme is ‘READ, GROW, Inspire’ and the costume parade will be on Friday at 8.30am in The Primary Courtyard. Come as your favourite book character, or your favourite author, or even your favourite book! Dress as whoever or whatever in the literary world inspires you to keep growing to be your best self.

Indigenous Education - World Indigenous People and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day

Deadly Dancers Opportunity

Spirit in Action

Please note date change to Wednesday 16th August!

St Joseph's Catholic School & St Colman's Catholic Parish Fete

The Fete is only 2 weeks away! We are very excited for this year's event, however we need your help to make it happen. We need volunteers! A link has been sent out via emails to families asking them to volunteer for just one hour of their night (if you can do more, you are a champion!). If you missed this email use the QR code below to get on and register your availability to one of our school run stalls. 

Alternatively use this link: https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/ypp5d 

If for any reason you have trouble, come into the office and we will book you in. 

St Joseph's School Blessing

Fathers Day Stall

Reminder: Fathers Day Breakfast is on Thursday August 31st, MMS, 7.45am - 8.15am.

Community Information

GIDGEE INN MOTEL

Under New Management and Employing locals

We are looking to hire:

Housekeepers, School hours available – flexible with days.

Receptionist for front office M - F – we can teach you our reservation system however you must have some computer experience.

Breakfast staff – Saturday 6.30am – 9.30am

We are employing locally to support the Cloncurry community.

If you are interested in any of the roles, please pop into the Motel to discuss or phone Monica on 0408 551 834