Newsletter Term 4 Week 7
Principal's Report
Dear Community,
Very quickly we find ourselves approaching the end of the school year! It is certainly hard to believe how quickly the year has gone by.
I am very pleased to be able to announce our final staffing and class structures for 2023. Thanks to the amazing work of our community, staff and all associated with St Joseph’s we have seen continual growth over the previous few years, which has allowed us to expand the school next year, as we add an additional class. A big thank you to the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office for their support in this, as they have provided some extra funding to help make this possible. This highlights the faith they have in our wonderful school and reinforces the wonderful things that we are doing here.
I would officially like to announce that Tanya French has accepted the Administration Position commencing full time in 2023. Tanya will continue to do relief admin for the remainder of 2022.
I would like to officially thank Lisa Crellin for her work in the admin position in 2022 and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.
In taking on the Admin Position, Tanya has stepped back from Workplace Health and Safety. The Workplace Health and Safety position will be advertised shortly.
I once again welcome our two new teachers to St Joseph’s, Grace Twidale and Georgia Tocknell. I know you will make them feel very welcome.
In welcoming our new staff, we farewell Mr Mitch Albury. I know you will all join me in showing your appreciation for his hard work and dedication to St Joseph’s over the last 3 years.
Staffing for 2023
Principal- Mr Lawson Short
APRE- Mrs Michele Sanders
Year 5/6 Teacher- Mrs Michele Sanders & Mrs Fiona Andrews
Year 3/4 Teacher- Miss Georgia Tocknell
Year 2 Teacher- Miss Lauren Grant
Prep / Year 1 Teacher- Miss Grace Twidale
Learning Support- Mrs Maree Twidale
Library- Mrs Trudi Burgess and Mrs Sheralee Gunning
LOTE Teacher (German)- Mrs Ina Winters
HPE- Mrs Michele Sanders
School Officers- Mrs Sheralee Gunning, Mrs Debbie Stower, Mrs Catherine Folker, Mrs Kassie Clark
Administration- Mrs Tanya French
School Counsellor- Mrs Jen Fenn
WHS- TBA
Grounds- Mr Eddy Crellin
Cleaner- Mrs Marie Lewis
God Bless,
Mr Lawson Short
REMINDERS
As usual Santa will be giving every St Joseph’s student a book as a Christmas gift during our awards night celebrations. If there are younger siblings / family members that would also like to receive a gift from Santa, could you please drop a wrapped book, with the recipient’s name to the school office before the night so we can pass this on to Santa to hand out on the night.
Date Claimers
- Year 4/5/6 Musical - Thursday 17th November 5:30pm for a 6:00pm start
- Prep Transition Day - Friday 18th November, 12:45pm to 3:00pm
- Awards Night - Friday 25th November
- Desk cleaning day - Monday 28th November
- Graduation Mass - Friday 2nd December 11:00am
Awards
Term 4 Week 4
- Aria Klein- A huge improvement in her letter and sound knowledge.
- Harper Turner- Using some great strategies in math’s testing.
- Ellie Purnell - For her diligent approach to all work this week, especially her procedural text about fluffy slime. Keep it up!
- Iahnelle Bejarin - For leading by example this week, helping those around her and being a fractions whiz!
- Will Purnell– Always giving his best effort in class a producing work that he can be proud of.
- Harry Farrington – for consistently setting a great example for his peers, by following directions and showing responsibility.
Term 4 Week 5
- Madeline Folker- Adding lots of detail and creativity into her writing.
- Chase Sinclair- Being able to add and subtract like a math’s wiz.
- Amelea De Coning - For showing excellent engagement in most lessons this week, especially in our Landcare lesson with Bec Kirby. Well done!
- Des Commens - For showing great attention to detail all week, ensuring his work is correct and well presented. Keep it up!
- Luke Kirby– for wonderful participation in the musical and making your character come alive!
- Aidan Wright – working hard to complete all work this week.
Term 4 Week 6
- Lola Fitzgerald- Always being ready to learn and setting a good example for others.
- Brodie Hallam- Taking lots of care with his handwriting this week.
- Harlen Pink - For continuing to lead through his actions, and work diligently in all activities to complete his work to the best of his ability. Keep it up!
- Layla Stoker - For her excellent effort and patience with her assessment this week, making sure to read every question carefully. Well done!
- Ryan Abbott – for greater effort and attitude to all school tasks this week. Keep it up
- Talon Giddy – for continuing to step outside of his comfort zone and work on building his confidence. Great work.
Award Recipients
From the APRE
Well, we are well and truly on the downhill run now. What a busy couple of weeks we have had. Thank you to everyone for their participation in Crazy Sock Day. This day raises vital funds for Catholic Mission, which goes to helping some of the most disadvantaged people in some of the poorest nations on Earth.
Thank you to the 4/5/6 class for leading us in Mass for All Soul's Day and liturgy for Rememberance Day, you all did a wonderful job. A big thank you to the other classes also for doing their parts to make these celebrations special.
Last week, five of our students: Liam Folker, Benjamin Wise, Bella Sese, Matilda Evans and Heidi Sanders completed their sacrament of Reconciliation. These students have been participating in lessons for the past four weeks. A big thank you to Nicole Farrington and Pat Taylor for all their work preparing the students for this Sacrament.
Mini Vinnies will start their Christmas Appeal drive this week. They are looking for donations of food that can be sent out to families in need this Christmas. These donations go to people in the Millmerran community who may not have the means to provide their families with presents and food on Christmas Day. This helps them to enjoy Christmas, that little bit more. We appreciate any and all donations that can be made to this wonderful cause. Everyone deserves to have a happy and holy Christmas filled with joy.
Our last mass for this year will be our Graduation Mass held on the last day of school at 11:00am. This will be followed by a shared lunch. Everyone is welcome to attend and farwell our Year 6 students and also any other families and staff who are leaving us at the end of this year. Please bring along a plate of food to share.
God Bless,
Michele Sanders
Awards Night
Just a few reminders about our upcoming St Joseph’s Awards Night on Friday the 25th November.
Meals will need to be ordered online via the Quickcliq tuckshop system. Orders are due THIS FRIDAY! If you cannot access this, please place your order with the school office by this Friday.
Dinner will be served from 5pm in the undercover area, and our Awards Ceremony will commence at approximately 6:15pm.
This is a wonderful event, where our community can come together to celebrate the year that was, and the successes of our students.
Students in Years 3-6 receive awards for academic success and for growth from year to year. They need to wear their best formal school uniform and bring their Christmas clothes to change into.
Students in Prep-Year 2 can come in their Christmas clothes.
Concluding the ceremony, students will perform their usual Christmas songs / dances and we will have a very special visit from Santa himself!
It is expected that all students attend the evening- if you are unable to attend, please contact your classroom teachers.
Prep Transition Days
Prep/ 1 News
We have had a crazy and busy two weeks in Prep/One doing lots of learning and assessment. We have also welcomed Miss Leo into our classroom. We have done lots of fun lessons with her.
P/1 were given the challenge of writing the newsletter item this week. This is what some of them had to say:
Madeline: In the last week we have been writing about getting a guinea pig. We begged Mrs. Sanders to get a guinea pig.
Layla: We did some writing to Mrs Sanders to get a guinea pig.
Bella: In Prep/One we’ve been learning in HASS how places change. We all sometimes disagree but we all get along.
Sophie: In Religion we have been learning about how Mary got to Elizabeth and all about Mary. In Math’s we have been learning about directions. We are going to be learning a new dance for the awards night. We hope we get a class pet, and we want a guinea pig.
Tessah: Last week we went for a walk around school, and we found a puzzle of Carl. We were learning all about following directions.
Matilda: Last week the Prep/One’s learnt Contexto. There’s a word that is the right one and you see how many guesses you can get it in. It is lots of fun!
Chase: In Prep/One we have been asking for a pet guinea pig. We can play with it and have fun. We wrote a letter to Mrs Sanders and she said yes! But Miss Grant said no ☹
I can’t believe we are almost at the end of the year already! All our assessment is almost done, and we can soon get started on some fun Christmas activities! Prep/One’s have worked so unbelievably hard these last couple of weeks and you should all be very proud of your children!
Lauren Grant
2/3 News
Hi St Joey’s community! Hope you have had an excellent few weeks. We’re definitely on the downward slide to the end of the year, and I know these next few weeks will be super busy!
The students in 2/3 have been working extremely hard the past few weeks across all their subjects, and standardized tests. I am really happy with their effort and dedication to their work this term, and their continued progress and improvement shows this.
We have finalising most of our assessment this week, with investigations in math around data collection wrap up. We ended our procedural unit by enjoying a day making fluffy slime! The students have been experimenting with poetry this week, creating some fantastic haikus and limericks. We will be trying a range of different poetic styles next week as well which the kids are excited for. The 2/3s have been finalising their HASS unit on history, we have been exploring why historical sites, people and events are so important. We have examined topics such as Port Arthur, Uluru and Jack Simpson just to name a few.
This term in religion we focused on the importance of being ‘Stewards of Creation’, and who are great examples and role models of taking care of our natural environment. We explored international figures like David Attenborough and the Pope, national icons like Steve Irwin, and finished with a local Landcare warrior, Rebecca Kirby. The students were very lucky to have Bec come out and talk to them about the importance of Landcare, what it is and how we can do more everyday in our own homes and lives.
Its safe to say it has been a busy few weeks. We also have a range of events coming up this next fortnight. None more important than our school’s awards celebration next Friday night. We also have the 4/5/6 class musical this Thursday night, with a viewing for the students Thursday afternoon after lunch. We have our end of year Mass in the last week, as well as a range of other important class events. Make sure to stay posted via Facebook and the parent portal. That is where you will find all the important updates.
Have a great couple of weeks, hopefully see you all next Friday night!
Mitchell Albury
4/5/6 News
The 4/5/6 students have been working extremely hard over the past two weeks to complete all of their units of work and assessment. We have also welcomed Miss Wigan to our class, who has settled in nicely and has been teaching a number of lessons across all curriculum areas.
In Maths, we have been studying angles. The students have participated in a variety of different learning activities and are becoming pros at identifying, measuring and constructing angles. Who knew that there were so many angles in everyday life! The best part of the last week was when a number of students said, "We had some lightbulb moments today Mrs Sanders!" This is great to hear and shows that they are committed to their learning and striving to find new ways of doing things.
In English we have almost finished our comparisons of the novel and movie Storm Boy. The students have made some great inferences about why certain things were the way they were in both the book and the movie. We have also been working in groups to review movies. The students will present these reviews as oral on Thursday and I look forward to hearing their thoughts on the movies they have watched.
We are very much looking forward to everyone coming to view our class musical on Thursday. The students have been working hard for the past two terms on putting this show together. I'm sure you're going to enjoy the story and seeing the kids up on stage, some of them may even surprise you with their talent!
Michele Sanders
4/5/6 STORM BOY COMPARISONS
Storm Boy is a classic Aussie novel made by Colin Thiele in 1963. In 1974 there was a second edition containing illustrations by Robert Ingpen. The book was then made into a movie in 1976 and it was directed by Henri Safran. The story is about a boy named Storm Boy and his Dad Hideaway Tom living in the Coorong with no one else around in South Australia. Storm Boy finds out about how important friendship is by talking to his best mate Finger Bone Bill and his adopted pelican and pet Mr Percival. In both the book and the movie they have the same plot although the film has more events than the original book. - Sam Folker
A character that I think catches everybody’s attention is Fingerbone Bill. In the book Fingerbone Bill is described as old and wrinkled, however in the film he is shown as young and athletic. Both the interpretations still share a few things in common though they both showed him as a traditional man who cares about his heritage. They did this by giving him on very important line that said, “When kill pelican storm roll in,” in this line they also show that he doesn’t speak English very well. - Jo Wise
The important plot in the movie is when Finger Bone Bill and his friend Storm Boy find three baby pelicans in the reeds, on the bank of the Coorong. In both the movie and the novel, Storm Boy keeps the three pelicans and takes them back to his humpy and calls them Mr. Percival, Mr. Proud and Mr. Pounder. When they grow up his dad Hideaway Tom says that he must take the pelicans back to the Coorong and release them. Not long after Hideaway Tom and Storm Boy got home Mr. Percival was there and Hideaway Tom said that Mr. Percival could stay. - Will Purnell
A major issue is the importance of education. In the film the Teacher comes to visit Storm Boy at his humpy trying to convince him to go to the local school although in the book the teacher does not come to their humpy at all. In the book it was not mentioned as much and it was not as important as it was in the film. - Haylea Evans
Overall, I prefer the movie because it's better to picture. It is a bit easier to understand than the book because you can understand what is happening compared to the book. This is a great series and a classic too. - Charlie French
Day for Daniel
PPF News
PSHS Transition Days
Millmerran Family Christmas
Every Day Matters
Absence notifications
School commences at 8.30am each morning and rolls are marked between 8.30 and 9.00am. Daily absences must be reported by 9.10am each morning either by phoning 07 4695 3600, emailing millmerran@twb.catholic.edu.au or through the Parent portal app. If an absence has not been reported, parents will be contacted via SMS to alert them to their child's absence. Parents are then required to contact the Office to confirm the absence.
This procedure follows strict student protection guidelines for always ensuring safety of students.
Guidance Counsellor News
Please see below two resource links you may find useful:
Gearing up for Parent Engagement in Student Learning (parentengagementcspa.edu.au)