St Joseph’s School, Millmerran eNewsletter

Principal's Report

Dear Community,

The term is well underway and our students have been very busy in their classrooms with learning, and with preparing their items for the Millmerran Show! The students are very proud of what they have been doing, and are eager to share their work with the wider community.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN (The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9, and is the only nationwide assessment that all Australian children undertake.

It’s a measure to see whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning, and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community. Previously it has been scheduled Nationally to occur in Term 2, however for 2023 it has been brought forward to Term 1. NAPLAN assessments for Year 3 and 5 students will be in Week 8 from Wed the 15th of March.

If you wish to discuss the NAPLAN testing, your child’s participation, or you wish to withdraw your child from the upcoming NAPLAN testing, please feel free to book a time with myself, to catch up around the NAPLAN tests.

For further information please visit the following website:

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/faqs

Library@Lunchtime

Over the next few weeks we will be trialling a new initiative at St Joseph’s called Library@Lunchtime. During this time, I will be on supervision duty in the library and students may access this space for quiet activities if they wish to. This is designed to provide a calm space for students who would prefer this. Students may bring with them books, drawing, games, puzzles etc (no toys).

Until next newsletter,

God Bless.

Mr Lawson Short

Date Claimers

Mini Vinnies 'Blue and Purple' Free Dress Day - Friday 3rd March
International Women's Day - Wednesday 8th March
Mini Vinnies Cake Stall - Friday 10th March
St Joseph's Day Mass - Friday 17th March 9.30am
Mini Vinnies Scavenger/Treasure Hunt - Friday 17th March
Cross Country - Friday 24th March
Mini Vinnies Water Play Day - Friday 24th March
Easter Liturgy - Thursday 30th March
Mini Vinnies Easter Raffle drawn and colouring competition winners announced - Thursday 30th March
Last day Term 1 - Thursday 30th March
Toowoomba Show Holiday - Friday 31st March

From the APRE

What a busy couple of weeks it has been. We held our Opening Mass two weeks ago and our Year 6 students were presented with their badges. During this mass, we introduced our theme for this year 'Rise up - don't hold back. This year we are challenged to create, to build, to envision a life for each one of us and for our community that is filled with amazing possibilities, exciting opportunities and great challenges that will enrich us and help us to reach our potential. To do this we will need to rise up from the things that have bound us over the last few years and take chances, reach out and embrace life again. God is with us walking this road, loving us, holding us and wanting us to live fully the life we have been given.

Last week we begun the season of Lent with our Ash Wednesday Mass. This is a very important time in the Church calendar and during this time we focus on fasting and giving to remind us of the great sacrifce that Jesus made for us. With this in mind our Mini Vinnies Club has prepared some activities this lenten season to raise money for Project Compassion. Our first event - Pancake Toss was very successful and we look forward to the next few weeks.

God Bless,

Michele Sanders

LENT

In this week's Gospel we hear how Jesus spent 40 days in the desert. Living in the desert is tough as there’s no water, no food, it’s very hot and it is difficult to survive. Sometimes in our lives we can feel like things are very tough and we are struggling. Let us remember that God is always present in our lives when we are feeling hopeless and will give us the strength to rise up and keep going.

Reflection

A desert is a very tough place to be in.
During the day it is very, very hot and at night it can be very cold.
It is very dry and it is hard to find water.
Nothing much grows or lives in the desert as there is no water or food.
In the Gospel we hear how Jesus spent 40 days (that’s about 6 weeks!) in the desert on his own. It must have been very, very tough just trying to stay alive.
Although this story is about Jesus actually being in the desert, there were plenty of times in his life when he must have felt like he was in the desert. At times in his life Jesus was challenged by others, was doubted by his friends, attacked for what he believed in, and had his words and actions questioned by others.
But throughout all of this hardship, Jesus rose above those difficult times and trusted that God was with him and would never leave him. He prayed constantly that God would give him strength and courage to bring a message of hope and compassion to others
Sometimes, we can feel like we are in a desert. We can feel alone, hungry for someone to care for us. We can feel hopeless and have nothing to look forward to.
But we know that Jesus is our constant companion, and we can pray for the strength we need to look forward with hope and courage, not back with despair and regret.
We can be encouraging and supportive of others and focus on lifting them up rather than on ourselves.
Let the feel of sand/dirt be a reminder that although we feel like we are in the desert, we are never alone. God is always with us.
When we are feeling like we are without hope, may we pause and remember that God is our hope.

Opening Mass

CLASSROOM AWARDS

Week 5

Emily Andrews - for trying so hard when learning her letters and numbers

Fletcher French - doing a great job at adding 2-digit numbers together

Iahnelle Bejarin – for helping a new student settle in

Harry Farrington - for getting more involved in class discussions and volunteering his thoughts more. Keep up the good work.

LEARNING BEHAVIOUR AWARDS - RESPECTFUL ROSELLA

Elana Hughes (Respectful rosella) - for being kind to all her classmates and trying hard with her school work.

Kingston Pink- always using his manners in the classroom

Desmond Commens – for always following teacher instruction and being kind to his classmates

Felicity Clark - for always being well-mannered in class and putting her hand up to speak.

Year 3/4 News

Hello family and friends! We are already halfway through Term 1, and Year 3/4 have been working hard in all their learning areas. I am proud of the students’ efforts during the busy term, and am looking forward to plenty more events towards the end of term such as Cross Country and the Millmerran Show! We have finished off our writing and artwork and can’t wait to display it this coming weekend to Millmerran.

In Maths we have moved on from our first learning cycle which focused on place value and representing numbers for the Year 3s, as well as decimals, and odd and even numbers for the Year 4s. Both 3s and 4s are now working on extending their addition and subtraction skills, practicing word problems and partitioning.

In English we are learning all about narratives, and will be starting to read “The Twits” by Roald Dahl in the coming week. The class loved learning about Roald Dahl last week, and are looking forward to reading one of his books together. This will be used to learn all about narrative features, and intertwined into writing practice throughout the remainder of the term. In the coming weeks, we will also be switching between narrative and persuasive writing in preparation for NAPLAN at the end of the term.

Science has included lots of discussions about food chains and making different displays showing their knowledge of these. The students have been engaged in learning about what living things depend on, and how this impacts the environment.

Our third student has taken Harry home for the week, and we are loving hearing stories about what he has been up to at different homes!

I hope everyone has a great week.

Georgia Tocknell

Year 3/4

Schools Student Protection Contacts

It is a legislative requirement that all non-state schools have at least two nominated staff members to whom a student can report the behaviour of another staff member that the student considers inappropriate. We call these specially trained staff members School Student Protection Contacts, or SSPCs. Each SSPC has been nominated by the principal in recognition of their integrity, approachability and knowledge in the area of student protection. Whilst students are encouraged to speak up to any trusted adult in the school community, it is important that they know they can access these specific staff members at any time should they have worries, queries or concerns. You will have noticed posters throughout the school depicting our current SSPCs. The SSPCs are also published on our school website along with information about our student protection processes. In everything we do at St Joseph's Catholic School student safety is our highest priority, therefore the SSPCs at our school are key personnel in our overall safeguarding processes. Please see the poster below depicting our current SSPC team.

International Women's Day - Wednesday 8th March

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides us with an opportunity to educate and inspire students about gender equality. It is important to this cause that we celebrate the
achievements of women and challenge gender stereotypes and bias. Here at St Joseph's we have shared these messages in the classroom and the playground, to supplement the conversations that families have over the dinner table. We asked our students to help ‘Embrace Equity’ (this year’s IWD theme) and we adopted the ‘Embrace Equity’ pose. We learnt that collective activism is what drives change. This means creating inclusion and success for all. Equality is the goal, and equity is the means to get there.
** include pictures and details of any activities the school has undertaken for IWD

PPF News

The PPF committee have been busy behind the scenes working with the Catholic Parish to bring together a wonderful canteen at the Millmerran Show this weekend. This is one of our biggest fundraising opportunites for us and also great publicity for our excellent school and school community. Thankyou to everyone who has their name on the roster or have offered donations of baked goods, it is truly appreciated. So pop in for a super fresh sandwich or afternoon tea on both Saturday and Sunday in the canteen at the Pavillion.

This type of fundarising event is just one of the ways the PPF are able to provide financial assistance to the school for various items and experiences. So far for Term 1 the PPF have provided the Deadly Australians visit, art supplies, funded the licencing and show kit for the school musical, Year 2 classroom interactive whiteboard and a substantial amount of new library books. All of these items wouldn't have been possible without our volunteers giving up their time to fundraise and provide for our students.

If you have any questions about the PPF, or would like to help in any way, please contact any of our executives, we would love to chat.

Chairperson: Marg Gaske

Secretary: Fiona Andrews

Finance officer: Tanya French

Events coordinator: Kelsee Huth

Cheers, Tanya French

Newsletter Term 1 Week 6