Term 3 Week 10 2023

Key Information

Term 3 Important Dates

• Monday 4th, Monday 11th & Tuesday 12th September - Prep Enrolment Interviews
• Wednesday 13th September - R U OK Day
• Thursday 14th September - Upper Middle Years Vinnie's Hang Out Evening
• Friday 15th September - Free Dress Day and Last Day of School

Term 4

• Tuesday 3rd October - First day for Term 4
• Friday 13th October - Rock Pop Concert

Tuckshop News

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

Our special for Week 10 is: Chicken Linguine, Marshmallow Wagon Wheel Slice and a Popper

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

To order: https://myschoolconnect.com.au/

Uniform Shop

Our Uniform Shop is now located in the new office space (old library). We are open to orders being placed via the app, https://myschoolconnect.com.au/

Please give us 24 hours to organise collection for your order, we generally contact you when your order is ready to collect.

As this is a new system for us, please be kind and considerate while we find our feet in the new office space.

Miss Heather

Principal's News

Welcome to Week 10, 

It is amazing how quickly the school term has flown by. We have had a very busy term packed full of great activities for us to enjoy with one another. We began the term celebrating NAIDOC by joining The Cloncurry State School for a march and BBQ. We had a number of visitors throughout the term including QLD Ballet, QMEA, Gideon Bibles, Cloncurry Merry Muster Competitors, WATCO Rail and Road Safety, Bravehearts, Earth Science and Dance North. A number of events also occurred this term including our famous school fete, Mulkadee, 100 Days of Prep, Catholic Education Week, Staff Appreciation Day, Mary MacKillop Feast Day, Learning Breakfast, Book Week Parade, Science Week, Fathers Day Breakfast, Child Protection Week, Prep Interviews and R U Ok? Day. 

FACE Meeting - Postponed 

You may have noticed that a FACE meeting was scheduled for this afternoon at 4.30 pm. Please note due to staffing illnesses and absences this has been postponed to the beginning of next term, with a date to be confirmed ASAP.

Assembly:

To conclude our term there will be an assembly this coming Friday at 8.30 am in the Mary MacKillop Shed, all parents, carers and family members are invited to join us. Year 5 will be leading us in prayer for R U Ok Day?

Security Cameras:

You may have noticed that Bluetel are onsite this week from Mount Isa to relocate, fix and install better-quality security cameras around the school. A number of these cameras will replace the existing cameras that we have due to wear and tear. The other cameras are being installed due to the relocation of our school to the Upper Middle Years campus for the next year. 

R U OK? Day

R U OK? Day will be celebrated on Thursday the 14th of September. Reach out to someone on Thursday to check in with them, remembering that a conversation can change a life!  

R U OK? Day is to inspire and empower everyone across Australia to meaningfully connect with the people around them and start a conversation with those in their world who may be struggling.

Use these four steps and have a conversation that could change a life:

1. Ask R U OK?
2. Listen
3. Encourage action
4. Check-in

If you would like more information including webinars and the latest news jump onto ruok.org.au

The students joined together in the ‘Call to Action’ Assembly on Monday to discuss what R U Ok? Day means and how they can make a difference in the lives of others by reaching out and checking on their peers. On Friday we invite students to wear yellow, not only to celebrate the last day of term 3 but to raise awareness for R U Ok? Day.

Prep Enrolment Interviews:

Mrs McLauchlan and I had the pleasure of joining our 2024 prep enrolments yesterday and today for their Prep Enrolment Interviews. It has been great to meet so many new families that have selected St Joseph’s Catholic School for their child to begin their schooling journey in 2024. 

Writers Toolbox Filming:

St Joseph’s Catholic School has been recognised for our improvement and engagement with Writers Toolbox. A film crew attended St Joseph’s yesterday to film our year 5 class using this platform. They interviewed a selected number of students and staff about the impact that this has had on our schooling. What an amazing opportunity to showcase the learning that is happening at St Joseph’s. Once the proof is ready, we will share this with our community. If your child was involved in this permission was collected (not all students weren’t filmed). 

In Term 4 we hope to share our data in NAPLAN, Writers Toolbox and Early Years testing with parents and carers to show the progress that has been made. 

Term 4:

Term 4 will commence on Tuesday the 3rd of October after the King’s Birthday—that will take some getting used to — Public Holiday. 

I hope our families have a safe and joyful holiday period and I look forward to hearing all about it when we return in Term 4. 

BGA Update - Demolition and Building Works:

We are excited to be preparing for our upcoming demolition and building works. The office, uniform shop, library, learning enrichment, year 1, year 2, year 3, and year 4 have relocated to their new space. 

We wish to advise that Remploy from Mount Isa has been awarded the demolition contract. This contract includes the demolition of the existing administration building, Block B, Block C and the covered area. The works also include asbestos removal from the existing buildings. Remploy will be encapsulating the buildings whilst this is being undertaken and the air monitored for safety. An asbestos hygienist will be present during the asbestos removal. The works shall commence on Saturday 16th September 2023 with the following timetable:-

Asbestos removal – 16th September – 29th September (no students or staff on-site)

Building demolition – 29th September – 27th October

During the building demolition, Remploy will have dust suppression in place.

I would formally like to thank Evolution Mining for their generous donation of three storage containers for the duration of the building. It is such a blessing to have your support. These storage containers have been placed in an out-of-bounds area behind The Mary MacKillop Shed. 

Please see a diagram of the proposed new layout below, please note that this is not to scale:

Once we have a new fly-through of the building confirmed this will be shared via our upcoming newsletters. 

May God Bless you and your families,

Mrs Samantha Kelley
Principal

APRE News

Welcome to Week 10! Another term has come to an end. The year seems to be quickly disappearing. I know the students and staff are looking forward to the holidays so they can recharge their batteries and come back refreshed for the final term of 2023. The last term brings so many interesting and educational activities for the parents, staff and students, with Rock Pop, Swimming carnival, Founders Day Fun Run, Year 5 camp, Move Up Morning, Christmas Concert, Year 9 Graduation and our End of Year Mass. I wish all parents, students and staff a relaxing and healthy two weeks of school holidays.

Vinnies Hang Out:

Parents from Years 5 to 9 students should have received a Compass email inviting you to give consent for their child/children to participate in this evening. This event is based on a Vinnies "sleepout" minus the sleeping part and with more of a focus on awareness, rather than experiencing a night in the life of a homeless person. The focus of the evening is on homelessness and building awareness for social justice issues in the Townsville diocese. The session is run by Stephen Gasparini (the  Youth Engagement & Development Officer for St Vincent de Paul Society, Townsville). This gathering will consist of a meal ($5 meal deal of a hotdog and drink) a presentation and games. All money raised will go towards the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The event will be held in the St Mary MacKillop Shed from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Supervision is provided. Students will need to sign in on arrival and sign out at the end of the evening. If you are having issues giving consent via the Compass portal please let the office know. 

Socktober
Yesterday in our Call to Action Assembly we introduced the students to Catholic Mission’s 2023 initiative. We watched a video on how children from underprivileged countries around the world make a soccer ball from recycled materials. We discussed making these balls and having a socktober ball shoot out in Week 3 next term. More information will be provided early in Term 4. However, if your child comes home wanting to make a socktober soccer ball please refer to the catholic mission website https://www.catholicmission.org.au/ for more information and instructions.

END OF TERM PRAYER

We thank you Lord, for this term.

For the challenges, the successes,

and the mistakes from which we have learnt.

Be with us as we spend our time with family and friends.

Give us strength and courage to do what is right;

to be witnesses of our faith.

Help us to be a practical Christian these holidays,

to appreciate what others do for us,

to give time and effort to help others,

to be peacemakers in our family.

Keep us safe in our activities;

give us good rest and good fun.

Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term.

We thank you for our classmates, teachers, parents, and carers

and a community that cares for us.

 May we always be conscious of you in our lives. 

Amen

Have a blessed week,

Mrs Therese Curley
APRE

Pastoral Care

CHILD PROTECTION WEEK

(Taken from https://childprotectionweek.org.au/resources/schools-and-communities/)

Child Protection Week in Queensland is coordinated by the Child Protection Week Committee under the auspicing body of ACT for Kids. Most of us recognise that child protection is key to ensuring that children in our communities, families and schools are safe, nurtured and protected.  Sometimes this means acknowledging that children are neglected or harmed in these same places.  That is hard to acknowledge.  As such, children continue to experience child abuse and neglect in our society.

In order to stop child abuse and neglect and ensure child protection in our society, we all need to play our part by assisting families who struggle and by speaking out about abuse when we see it or hear about it.  Often children tell us what is happening to them through either very clear statements or in subtle ways.  Our role as adults is to pay attention regardless of the way children tell us what is happening for them.  Another role we can play is in hearing parents when they say they are finding their role of parenting difficult and offer assistance.

When children speak out or adults speak out on behalf of children they need those involved in the wider child protection system to be well trained and available to pay attention to what they are saying.  This includes the Queensland Police Service, professionals such as Social Workers, Psychologists and Psychiatrists as well as Teachers who are often in the key position of being able to note difficulties for children and their families.  Family members and friends also play a crucial role in such disclosures in terms of hearing what is stated and offering support and friendship. When unable to offer such support or when such support isn’t accepted, family members and friends can contact community organisations of the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services to seek further assistance for the child/ren and family. 

Throughout this coming week, various activities will be coordinated for our students.  

R U OK? Day is Thursday 14th September 2023.

It’s our national day of action when we are reminded that every day is the day to ask, ‘Are you OK?’ and start a meaningful conversation whenever they spot the signs that someone they care about might be struggling with life. 

Got a feeling that someone you know or care about isn’t behaving as they normally would? Perhaps they seem out of sorts? More agitated or withdrawn? Or they’re just not themselves. Trust that gut instinct and act on it. By starting a conversation and commenting on the changes you’ve noticed, you could help that family member, friend or workmate open up. If they say they are not OK, you can follow our conversation steps to show them they’re supported and help them find strategies to better manage the load. If they are OK, that person will know you’re someone who cares enough to ask.

Another busy term down! One to go and Term 4 always whizzes by and it is Christmas before we know it!

This week I have a few extra notices:

• Uniform - Please ensure that all students have fully black shoes to wear with their formal uniform.
• Hair - Hair is to be worn up or cut higher than the collar of the student’s shirt. Mullets, skullets and extreme hairstyles are not suitable and should be kept for holiday periods.
• The Year 9 Graduation Dinner is set for 23rd November.  Look out for invitations in Week 2, Term 4.

I have had parents ask about what coloured shirts their child needs for events and awareness days at SJC - what a great question! Check out the answer below!

Wishing you a great time on school holidays and looking forward to seeing you all return in Term 4 refreshed for the last nine weeks!

Mr Dom Purcell
Acting Pastoral Care Leader

Prep

Welcome to week 10!

It is hard to believe that this is the last week of this term! There will not be literacy groups this week. Thank you, Nerissa, Laura and Lauren for all your help with literacy time this term. The new sound for this week is "oo", as in moon. The class will spend this week consolidating and revising learning. I will be out of class on Monday and Tuesday to meet the 2024 prep students during their interviews. Miss Bates will be taking the class on these days. Please return all library books and home reader books so they can be accounted for before the end of the term. As you will have noticed there has been cupboard cleaning out and furniture moving happening in the prep class. This is in readiness to use the door closest to the road as our entrance and exit. In readiness for the demolition, we need to move and fit all of the toys, dramatic play props, costumes and dress dress-ups and art and craft supplies from the old prep storage room into the new storage cube. I underestimated how much there was in the old storage room!!! Wishing you a restful school holiday.

Reminders: 

Tuesday - sport

Wednesday - SRC meeting

Thursday - tuckshop

Friday - Free dress in yellow for RU OK day.

Yours in fun and learning, Mrs McLauchlan, Miss Tamara and Miss Brie

Year 1

Welcome to Week 10!

Last week of term 3! We have had an awesome term learning new things and revising all that the students have learnt topics.

As a class this week, we are continuing to spend time resetting classroom expectations and rules as we navigate working in a new environment.

This week in English, and for the remainder of the term, we are making connections to characters, settings and events in literature. Students are writing about their experiences, using both simple and adverb start sentences and drawing a picture to match.

In Mathematics over the last week, Year 1 has started to represent and solve simple addition and subtraction problems using a range of strategies. These include counting on, partitioning and rearranging parts. This week we are starting to use these strategies to complete subtraction problems. The students are loving our doubles song!

Reminders:

Sport is on Wednesday. Children may wear their Sport Uniform to school.

Homework- If you haven’t already brought back your readers, can they be brought back before the end of the week so they can be scanned back in ready for next term. 

Free dress on Friday! Students may choose to wear the colour yellow for ‘R U OK Day’. 

Have a wonderful last week!

Miss Brock, Miss Haley and the always fun Year 1’s

Year 2

We’ve made it to Week 10! This week we are finalising our Religion assessment. We have finished all other assessments. We are also revising Addition and Subtraction as well as our sentence types. 

There will be no homework this week.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. I look forward to seeing everyone in Term 4!

Have a great rest of your week,

Miss Ansell

Year 3

Wow - welcome to Week 10, our last week of Term 3!

This week students will be busily demonstrating their new knowledge, skills and understanding across all learning areas.

English: Students will be making informative presentations based on their chosen animal of focus to accompany their written informative text. 

Spelling: Students will be focusing on the sound ‘oo’ as in good, which is represented by the graphemes oo and u.

Maths: Students will finish up their unit exploring money and start their next unit of work learning about chance.

HASS: Students will demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills by comparing characteristics of place and people's connections to place. 

Science: Students will demonstrate their knowledge and skills by justifying characteristics of living things and sorting a collection of living things based on their observable features. 

Health: Students will demonstrate their knowledge and skills to manage their emotions when dealing with change.

Religion: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the Beatitudes and how they relate to their own lives. 

 Other Reminders:

• Writers’ Toolbox Visit - Monday
• Homework - Homework was sent out Monday and is due on Friday. 

No home readers for the rest of term but please ensure students read for enjoyment!

• Chaplain’s Breakfast - Tuesday & Thursday at 7:45am in MMS 
• Tuckshop - Must be ordered before 8:30 am Wednesday 
• R U OK? Day - Wednesday
• SRC Meeting - Wednesday Morning Tea
• Rock Pop - Thursday 3 pm-4 pm
• Free Dress in Yellow - R U OK? Day Friday

I hope you all have a great week.

Thanks,

Laura Cook

Year 4

Hi all,

Writing: We are continuing the same sentence focus as last week: The -ed Start Sentence. The -Ed Start Sentence is a sentence that starts with a verb ending in -ed. Like this:

• Exhausted after a hard day’s work, the miners trudged home.
• Thrilled with his results, Professor Snotty packed away the everlasting tissue experiment.
• Shoved off the diving board, Barton Brown screamed all the way to the water below.

To write an -ed Start Sentence, begin with the -ed phrase and place a comma. Then put your subject—that's who or what your sentence is about—and finish the rest of your sentence.

Spelling: Our spelling-sound this week is the ‘oo’ sound in book. It can be represented by the graphemes: oo and u.

• The ‘oo’ sound book is most commonly represented by the graphemes oo and u (e.g. good, push).
• Unusual graphemes for book used in high-frequency words include oul, o and ou (e.g. could, would, should, woman, courier).
• The ‘o’ sound in book is used in the middle of words, but never at the start or end of words (e.g. foot, butcher).

Reminders:

• Tuckshop - Please make sure Tuckshop orders are placed by Wednesday morning.
  
• Library - Students will have their final Library visit this Friday
• PE - Students have PE on Thursday.

Have a great week,

Mairin Borlase

Year 5

Dear Families,

Firstly, thank you to all of your children for another terrific term - this one has been particularly challenging with lots of events taking place. Your children have certainly risen to those challenges and should be extremely proud of the way they have managed themselves. Writer’s Toolbox film crew were in our classroom yesterday and it was lovely to hear their positive feedback about the class and how focussed they were on learning.

This week is an opportunity to finalise several assessments in English and Mathematics so that we can start Term 4 with a clean slate.

With one of our families leaving us at the end of this term, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish Cooper and the Kingston family all the best in their exciting new adventure. Cooper settled very well into the class and has developed many close friendships in a short space of time. It is always a sad time when people depart, however, it is important that we think about the positive impact that they have on our lives. All the best Cooper!

ENGLISH: The Lawyer Paragraph structure for persuasive writing and our Daily Challenges with a focus on writing for a sustained period of time will continue this week. In spelling, we will focus on the letters (graphemes) used to make the sounds (phonemes) [y, u] and also investigate word origins and continue to investigate homophones (words which sound the same but have different spellings and meanings). We are loving the Spaceboy text by David Walliams and reading comprehension continues as a daily task. With two weeks away from school, it is vital that all learners continue to read for at least 20 minutes a day, not as a punishment, but to develop a love of reading and discovery. I cannot state strongly enough how enormous an impact this has on children’s learning outcomes. Next term our reading and science focus will be about the adaptations of birds and animals in the rainforest and the local area - finding texts that would allow your child to investigate would stand them in good stead.

MATHEMATICS: In our work this week we will finalise our Shape/Angles assessment while our Think Mentals involves revision of the four operations of multiplication, division, subtraction and addition. We will use the compass to move around the school to locate orienteering flags and clues to the next location - this involves compass directions, angles of turn and distances (as well as observation skills) to be successful. 

Hope you all have a lovely time with family and friends, see you in Term 4!

Mike Tarleton

Year 6

Welcome to the last week of Term 3!

We have been super busy completing the last of our assessment tasks for the term. This week, we will spend a lot of time working through our Science Unit on Microorganisms and finalise our Religion posters on the Corporal Works of Mercy- to be displayed around the school.  

Everyone is looking forward to a well-deserved break after a huge term of learning in the classroom! To celebrate their hard work, at the end of the week, Year 6 will have their end-of-term Class party and celebrate making it through 3 terms of Year 6!

Only 9 more weeks of Year 6 before these Primary School students officially become High school students!

Enjoy your holidays everyone!

Subject Spotlight

Recap P – 6 Tech

Throughout this term, all primary classes have engaged in the teaching and learning of design technologies. In years Prep to 2, the students focused on understanding the purpose of different toys and how they work. They investigated the types of materials that toys were made from and practised following a sequence to build toys of their own.

In years 3 and 4, the students investigated how products are designed to best meet the needs of communities and their environments, including the importance of selecting appropriate materials for their design. For their assessment task, students planned, designed and created a water slide appropriate for a Lego Man to slide down.

In years 5 and 6, students explored how electrical energy can control movement, sound or light for design purposes. For their assessment task, they worked in groups to develop detailed plans, identified a criteria for success and created a Buzz Wire game suitable for their classmates to play.

Mrs Renee McConachy

Spirit in Action

Student Wellbeing

Over the last decade, mindfulness has been slowly rising in popularity with many individuals practising it on a regular basis. Evidence-based research has found that there are many benefits to mindfulness which has prompted schools across the nation to implement this practice into their daily routines.

Mindfulness can be described as attention training for your brain, enabling you to focus on something without judgement and to stimulate curiosity. Mindfulness can be practised in a number of ways and is something that can be done by everyone - no matter what your age! It has been practised by many cultures around the world, but it is not exclusively affiliated to any particular philosophy or religion.

Mindfulness helps improve memory, engagement and performance. Its positive effect on the brain can improve immunity, mental wellbeing, learning ability, emotional health and even, time management. It is especially important in this era of information overload as our attention is constantly being pulled in many directions making us more distracted.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn the best way to introduce this mindfulness to their children, implementing it into their daily lives to have an overall positive impact on family relationships.

Here is the link to the Mindfulness edition of SchoolTV
https://sjctsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/mindfulness

No Smoking Law

FOR ACTION - New Smoke-Free Law 01.09.2023

From 01 September 2023, new Smoke-Free laws apply. Smoking is already prohibited at public and private school facilities and in a 5-metre buffer zone extending from the boundary of the school.  These new laws extend the smoke-free protection to include all carparks provided for school communities.  This includes carparks located on council land that are intended for school community use.

Smoke-free requirements for schools apply at all times which means school carparks are also smoke-free areas outside of school hours, on weekends and in school holidays.  These laws apply to everyone using the school carparks (students, staff, parents, volunteers, visitors, contractors and clubs accessing school facilities).

Smoking products can include tobacco products, personal vaporisers (e-cigarettes/cigars, vape pens), e-liquids & e-cigarette parts etc.

Community Information