Newsletter Term 1 Week 8

Principal's Report

Dear Community,

It is hard to believe that the first term is approaching the end! It just seems like yesterday we were welcoming new students to our school and inducting our Year 6 leaders into their new roles. As the old saying goes, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’.

NAPLAN

This week our Year 3 and 5 students are sitting the NAPLAN tests. 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. Previously it has been scheduled Nationally to occur in Term 2, however for 2023 it has been brought forward to Term 1. 

Wednesday 15^th March- Writing Test (paper test Year 3, online Year5)

Thursday 16^th March- Reading Test- online

Friday 17^th March- Conventions of Language- online

Monday 20^th March- Numeracy- online

If you wish to discuss the NAPLAN testing, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

For further information please visit the following website:

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

COUNCIL PLANT VOUCHERS

As you may have seen, our Yarning Circle/Outdoor Learning Area at the front of the school is starting to take shape and is looking incredible!! To finalise this project we are planting Australian native around this area. If you have any council plant vouchers that you do not intend on using, we would greatly appreciate you donating these to the school. If you would like to donate these vouchers, please drop them to the school office.

Zones of Regulation

Across the school students have learnt / will learn about the zones of regulation. To assist parents with this, I have included some information in this newsletter about the Zones, the language associated with each, and strategies that students can use to regulate their emotions. There is also a parent PowerPoint/PDF that you may find useful.

What are the Zones of Regulation?

Zones of regulations is a social thinking and social skills curriculum that helps children to achieve an optimal state of alertness for the activity that they are partaking in.

The Zones concept helps children to categorise their emotions into four coloured categories (blue, green, yellow and red), this helps to open a channel of communication and self-reflection that children often find difficult.

It helps students:

• Self-regulate their body through identifying and understanding their feelings
• Identify their physical characteristics associated with their feelings and when to implement calming or alerting strategies/tools
• Identify triggers that cause children to feel unregulated
• Manage their sensory needs
• Utilise social thinking strategies within the moment that will assist with problem solving conflicts

The Zones of Regulation will not replace our behaviour policy it will be used as a support to help students identify how they are feeling and what strategies they can use to bring themselves back into a learning mindset. This resource is all about teaching student’s life skills and how they can be self-aware of their emotions and I know that as adults we often use these strategies to help us. I look forward to sharing our progress with you next term.

If you would like any more information on the Zones of Regulation, please feel free to contact me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful last few weeks of school!

All the best,

Lawson Short
Principal

School photo's this FRIDAY!!! 17th March 2023

Date Claimers

From the APRE

This Friday, we will celebrate the feast day of St Joseph, the patron saint of our school. The Year 2 class will lead us in mass at 9:30am at the church.

Congratulations to our first Mary MacKillop Award winner for the year, Jose Lehuede.  Jose was recongised for his welcoming nature and for being a great friend to others.  Well done Jose.

Congratulations also to the Mini Vinnies Club on running three successful events so far for our Project Compassion campaign.  Thank you to everyone for supporting them.  This Friday, they are holding a scavenger hunt.  It will be lots of fun and there are prizes on offer also.

God Bless,

Michele Sanders

AWARDS

Year 2 News

Dear Parents and Friends,

I cannot believe we are already in Week Eight of Term One. This term has absolutely flown by! In Year Two, we have been doing some amazing learning.

In English, we started the term off by learning how to describe characters using their appearance and traits. We have now moved on to learning how to retell stories and write about main ideas in these stories. We have just finished our writing assessment which was to retell ‘The Very Brave Bear’.

In Math’s, we learnt all about numbers to 1,000. We learnt how to partition these numbers into hundreds, tens and ones, read and write them. We are now learning how to add and subtract 2-digit numbers. I can’t believe how quickly they have all picked up this very tricky math’s concept! We are going to start learning how to use this concept in problem solving questions and unfamiliar situations.

In HASS, we have been learning all about how artefacts tell us a story of the past. We have finished all our show and tells and have had some amazing objects shown. There have been some great stories told about parents/grandparents pasts which have been extremely informative for us all.

In Health, we are continuing to learn about the zones of regulation. We are currently looking at how we can affect other people depending on what zone we are in. We also had the chance to watch the movie ‘inside out’ a couple of weeks ago to look at our different emotions and how they make us feel.

In Religion, we have been learning about different stories told by Jesus in the bible. We have been looking at what Jesus said and did in the story as well as what Jesus is trying to teach us. So far we have learnt about the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and Zacchaeus.

In Science, we are learning all about our place in space and looking at different planets and stars. Recently we have learnt about the sun, moon and the night sky. We had the opportunity last week to learn about constellations and then design and make our very own. It was so much fun!

These last couple of weeks, we have been so busy doing all our show work. I am so proud of all the Year Two’s and how much dedication they put into their work. They all deserve to be celebrated!

Our St Joseph’s learning behaviour focus at the moment is “Respectful Rosella”. The Year Two’s have been working really hard at being respectful in the classroom as well as outside the classroom. They are doing an absolutely amazing job at showing respect to everyone and themselves!

Everyone should be so proud of the Year Two’s and how much effort they have put into their learning already this year! I can’t wait to watch them continue growing over the next few terms!

Until next time,

Lauren Grant

Year 2

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REMINDER FOR YEAR 2 ONLY

 Don't forget to bring $2 into class and to sign the ONLINE permission slip on the Parents Sentral app 

Student Success

Congratulations to Will Purnell who was selected in the Under 11's Inner Downs Rugby League Team.  Will now goes on to compete at the Bunya Trials to be selected in a combined team to compete at Darling Downs Trials.  All the best Will.

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.

PPF News

Dear Community

A big thank you to all of the helpers with the Millmerran Show at the start of March.  From those who baked delicious treats to sell, to the volunteers who worked shifts in the canteen and those who helped with collecting goods, setting up and packing up, the PPF is very grateful for your help.  The profit made from this event which will go a long way to purchasing more resources, etc for our children’s classrooms. 

This coming weekend we are catering for the Millmerran Power Station 20 year celebrations, whilst we would not normally run two events so close together, this opportunity was too good to pass up.  Thankyou to those who have once again put their hand up to help out.

A reminder that our monthly PPF meeting is coming up, this month on Monday 20^th March at 5.30pm in the school hall. We would love to see some new faces at the meetings!  We try to have them done by 7pm or earlier.  These meetings are your opportunity to have a say about some of the decisions being made and to share your feedback. 

At this upcoming meeting we will be discussing fundraising events for the rest of the year and would welcome some new and fresh input and ideas from the school community.  You are also welcome to share these with a member of the PPF committee prior to the meeting if you are unable to make it in person.

Hope to see you Monday night,

Marg Gaske on behalf of the PPF.

Term 2 Tuckshop roster will be coming out soon!!!