Newsletter Term 1 Week 4
Principal's Report
Dear Community, it is very hard to believe that we are approaching the half way mark of Term 1.
Our students, and teachers have been very busy and students have definitely settled into the routine of school very quickly. Our wonderful Prep students have done an absolutely amazing job in their first few weeks of school, and our community should be very proud.
On Friday we will celebrate our opening school Mass at 9:30am in the church. We would love as many members of our community as possible to attend. During this celebration our Year 6 leaders will also receive their Leadership Badges, which is a great honour and milestone for our new school leaders. We will celebrate with a shared morning tea at school, directly after mass.
Thank you to all those who were able to attend our PPF AGM and General Meeting last night. Welcome to our new PPF executive members , Margaret Gaske, Fiona Andrews, Tanya French and Kelsee Huth.
Our PPF do amazing things for our school and the hard work they put into tuckshop, catering, fundraising etc goes directly back to our wonderful students. In 2022-2023 the PPF made several donations to St Joseph’s to the total of around $18,000.
These donations greatly enhance the education of our students, but also save parents additional expenses for things like camps, excursions, and technology levies.
The PPF donated things like; the cost of bus for our school camp, money towards senior shirts, thousands of dollars worth of library books, Christmas gifts for students, money towards new interactive boards, money towards resources for our Year 2 classroom etc.
If you are able to help out our wonderful PPF in any of their endeavours, your time would be greatly appreciated by the St Joseph’s community.
Thank you to all who were able to attend our information night and BBQ. This was a wonderful social event and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Next week I will be attending the Principals Forum in Toowoomba, where all 31 Principals from Toowoomba Catholic schools gather to ensure schools and education in our system are of the highest possible standard. Thank you to Mrs Sanders who will be Acting Principal in my absence over the forum days.
Until next time,
God Bless,
Mr Lawson Short.
Date Claimers
- Opening School Mass - Friday 17th February 9:30am
- Pancake Toss - Tuesday 21st February
- Ash Wednesday Mass - Wednesday 22nd February 9:30am
- St Joseph's Day - Friday 17th March 9.30am
- Cross Country - Friday 24th March
- Easter Liturgy - Thursday 30th March
- Last day Term 1 - Thursday 30th March
- Toowoomba Show Holiday - Friday 31st March
From the APRE
This Friday we will celebrate our Opening Mass and induction of school leaders. Our year 6 students will receive their leadership badges and make their pledge to be the leaders of St Joseph's in 2023, leading by the example of Mary MacKillop and following our school values. Mass will begin at 9:30am in the church and will be followed by a shared morning tea back at school afterwards. All are welcome.
Next week, the season of Lent will commence with Ash Wednesday Mass at 9:30am. Lent is one of the most important seasons in the church calendar. Lent is a time of transformation. In life, we are always transforming, evolving, growing stronger and more mature in our skills, our attitudes and our wisdom. Part of our job as teachers is to watch for signs of transformation in our students. In these weeks of Lent, let us look within to see what needs to be transformed in our own lives.
Our Mini Vinnies Club is up and running again this year and they will be preparing some activities this lenten season to raise money for Project Compassion. Our first event is our annual Pancake Flip, which will be held next Tuesday. This is always a bit of fun, before we focus our attention to the importance of Lent and its significance. More information detailing these activities will be distributed in the next week.
God Bless,
Michele Sanders
LENT
We begin the forty days of Lent by remembering Jesus’ temptations during his forty days in the desert. Jesus willingly suffered temptation so that he could unite himself with us, being like us in all things but sin. Jesus was tempted so that he could accompany us even in our temptations.
If you ever feel guilty for being tempted to do something awful, take comfort in knowing that since Jesus was tempted, we know temptation itself is not sinful! What matters is what we do when faced with temptation. The forty days of Lent are a kind of exercise program to build up strength against temptation. This is a time to be tested and to test ourselves by taking on disciplines and sacrifices. We deny ourselves in little things now to build up the strength we will need to deny ourselves when it matters most.
Reflection
It is sometimes easy to forget that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. We can recall the many miracles Jesus performs – healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, even raising someone from the dead – but we do not as easily remember the human qualities. Jesus walked and talked, loved and learned, and today’s Gospel notes another important human quality that we might initially overlook. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry.
Jesus is not some foreign, distant being with whom we share nothing in common. Rather, Jesus became one of us so that we might better know how to be fully human. When we are lonely, frustrated, and scared we can take comfort knowing that Jesus experienced the same feelings. Likewise, when we are overjoyed, hopeful and excited, we know that Jesus knew these feelings, too.
We grow in relationship with others through our shared experiences. Sometimes these experiences centre on our similar interests, while other time these experiences are grounded in similar feelings. Either way, we become closer to a person or group of people in sharing. The same is true of our relationship with Jesus.
As we begin this season of Lent we have the opportunity to grow in relationship with the God who shares so much in common with us. One simple way to do this is to tell Jesus how and what you feel as you go through the day. Jesus, I’m tried this morning. Jesus, I’m excited to be spending time with my friends this weekend. Jesus, I feel helpless as I watch my uncle’s health decline. Take a few moments this week to stop and tell Jesus how you feel. Nothing is too insignificant.
AWARDS
CLASSROOM AWARDS
Week 2
Alexander Burgess - for trying so hard with his school work and settling into new routines
Eli Hollis - always being there to help and support his friends
Nate Sinclair - For always helping his friend in class without hesitation
Cooper Klein - for his great start to 2023. Keep up the commitment and effort to your work!
Week 3
Callie Barker - for trying so hard at writing her name, letters and numbers
Lola Fitzgerald - her dedication and effort in completing all tasks to 110%
Ellie Purnell - For always trying her hardest with a smile on her face.
Charlie French – for showing great initiative and making an effort to catch up on work he has missed.
LEARNING BEHAVIOUR AWARDS - WELCOMING WAGTAIL
Week 2
Aria Klein - for looking after the new prep students
Jose Lehuede - going out of his way every morning to say 'hello'
Eloisa Lehuede - for always having a smile on her face and helping others
Darby Commens - for always looking out for others, helping to complete jobs and including all members of the class.
Week 3
Chase Sinclair - for helping the preps log onto the iPads and always smiling
Sophie Clark - saying 'good morning' to every person she sees
James Andrews - for inviting other students to join him at lunch and play, and always saying ‘good morning’
Heidi Sanders – for always greeting others with a warm good morning and going out of her way to include others
Year 5/6 News
We have been very busy in 5/6 already in the past 4 weeks. We have started and finished our first learning cycle in Maths all about factors, mulitples, prime and square numbers. We are now beginning work on decimal fractions and integers, which we will work on for the next 2-3 weeks.
In English we are focussing on our writing techniques in preparation for the Year 5 students doing NAPLAN at the end of the term. We are switching between persuasive and narrative writing and using the 7 steps of writing to help us improve the quality of our work. We have also been reading a book called 'Black Cockatoo', which details the thoughts of a young indigenous girl growing up in the Kimberley. The students have been making some great connections to books we have read in the past that are similar to this.
In Science it's all about farming and the effects of salt on the growth and health of plants and animals. The students have lots of great prior knowledge about this topic which is helping them to understand the process of investigations and analysing the results of experiments.
This week, we were excited to get our skateboard decks. We can't wait until we are ready to start painting on these and look forward to seeing how they all turn out.
Michele Sanders
Salt Solutions
Student Achievements
Congratulations to Charlie French who was selected in the Country Cricket Team. Charlie played the Toowoomba team at the Darling Downs Trials last Tuesday. Well done on your efforts Charlie.
PE News
PE News
In PE this term, we have been very busy, working on our fitness and learning some new skills. With the Cross Country coming up at the end of Term One, we have been practicing running laps of the oval, playing lots of fun fitness games, doing obstacle courses and fitness circuits, and the 3/4’s and 5/6’s even did the beep test!
This week, we have also started learning how to play Volleyball! Thanks to a Sporting Schools Grant, we have purchased some new volleyballs, and had the first lesson today learning all about the different skills we need to play a game. I was very impressed with how quickly the students picked it up, and how well even the littlest Preps could throw the ball over the net! We are looking forward to continuing to develop skills over the next few weeks, and hopefully culminating with a tournament at the end of the term.
Although the weather has been quite hot, we are very lucky to have such a great covered area to play in so we can stay in the shade, and we all enjoyed the much cooler weather today.
Until next time!
Mrs Andrews.
Volleyball
PPF News
PPF News
What a fantastic start to the year that St Joseph’s has had! We started our year off with having a wonderful bunch of parents turning up to help with the last minute scramble of getting the classrooms ready for the start of term, and they look amazing, so thank you to those lovely parents who volunteered their time.
At the end of week two, we had the annual Meet the Teacher night and social BBQ, which was a great chance for families to catch up and get to know some of our new faces throughout the school. Thank you to all the parents who helped in some way on the night, whether it was organising and cooking the food, running the bar, bringing desserts to share, or cleaning up afterwards. It was a lovely night for all.
Last night we held the PPF AGM and a General Meeting, where executive positions were filled for the year, and upcoming events were discussed. Thank you to those parents who were able to come along, and thank you to those who were willing to put up their hands and take on an executive role for 2023.
A big thank you also to Kass Clark and Katie Battisson for their work in the Chairperson’s role last year, we appreciate your time and efforts.
The Executive Committee for 2023 is as follows:
Chairperson – Marg Gaske
Vice Chairperson / Events Manager – Kelsee Huth
Secretary – Fiona Andrews
Treasurer / Finance Coordinator – Tanya French.
In a couple of weeks time, St Joseph’s School will be helping the Catholic Parish to run the canteen at the Millmerran Show, and we will be looking for volunteers to help, as well as donations of baked goods. Kelsee Huth will be organising the roster, so if you have some time to help, or can donate slices, pikelets, scones, biscuits etc that can be sold in the canteen, please let her know.
If you have any questions about the PPF, or would like to help in any way, please contact any of the above executive, we would love to chat.
Cheers, Fiona Andrews.
Millmerran Indoor Sports Centre News
School Counsellor News
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