Newsletter Term 3 Week 6

Principal's Report

Dear Community,

Welcome to the Week 6 newsletter in what has been a very busy Term 3. The remainder of the term will certainly fly by, and it will be the holidays before we know it!

Last week Millmerran was fortunate enough to hold the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Principal Forum. We welcomed all 31 Principals from across the Toowoomba Diocese, and members of the Executive Leadership Team and Senior Leaders from the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office to St Joseph’s and to the wider Millmerran community. For the week these 42 people called Millmerran home. The feedback from the Principal Forum has been absolutely amazing. The group were extremely impressed by our students, the school, and the wider Millmerran community. This is a great reflection of the amazing work that is done to make St Joseph’s a wonderful place of learning.

Our students did an amazing job assisting in prayer on Tuesday morning, and with Mass on Tuesday evening. All did a fantastic job and represented our school spectacularly.

On Tuesday evening the conference attendees gathered for Mass, followed by dinner in the school hall. The principals were very impressed with our school, the upgraded facilities and the way our school is presented. Everyone should be very proud of our special school.

A big thank you also the PPF and Lindsay Sese and her helpers, who did an absolutely amazing job catering for the dinner on Tuesday night. This was a great success which was thoroughly enjoyed by our guests, and also raised around $2000 for the school PPF.

All in all, the forum was a huge success and made me very proud of our school, our students, our staff, and our community! Well done everyone!

God bless,

Lawson Short

Principal

Book week 2023

This year we will celebrate Book Week, the week after the ‘official’ Book Week. This is because we are very fortunate to have two special guests visiting St Joseph’s. We will be welcoming local author, Gary Fogarty and local illustrator Darcie Harris to St Joseph’s where they will be presenting and reading from the freshly launched book, “I wish I was a Farmer” a children’s bush poetry book.  This book is officially being launched at the end of the official book week, hence moving our book week to the 28^th August- 1^st September.

We are still waiting to confirm which day our visitors will come and will notify you as soon as possible. The day will begin with our usual book week dress up, followed by a book reading and illustration activities.

I trust all students will thoroughly enjoy this unique opportunity.

Student of the Week

Term 3 Week 4

Prep/1: Bentley Garner - For working hard and persisting with his writing, reading and maths.

Year 2: Aleeah Garner - For doing a great job and trying her hardest during ball games practices and carnival!

Year 3/4: Lejay Johnstone -  For not giving up in ball games and giving it his best go

Year 5/6: Felicity Clark – for her fantastic letter writing. You really captured the character well.

Term 3 Week 5

Prep/1: Lane Eden - For settling so well into St Joseph's and being such an awesome student.

Year 2: Sophie Clark -  For being a great friend and sharing some coins on Mary MacKillop fun day!

Year 3/4: Jack Stubbin – For following the reading group routine and reading really well

Year 5/6: Levi Bryce – For consistently participating well in class discussions and being willing to share his ideas.

Learning Behaviours - Curious Cockatoo

Term 3 Week 4

Prep/1: Noah Orchison-Hood - For asking great questions during show and tell and in class.

Year 2:  Matilda Jones - For asking a lot of great "I wonder" questions during religion!

Year 3/4: Nate Sinclair - for always asking great questions and extending his learning!

Year 5/6: Liam Folker – for always asking the questions that nobody else thinks of.

Term 3 Week 5

Prep/1: Jaxon Luland - For asking great questions and sharing his amazing knowledge on fish.

Year 2: Jose Lehuede - For asking questions to gain a deeper understanding during class!

Year 3/4: James Andrews – for extending his learning in Maths and always striving for more knowledge!

Year 5/6: Jo Wise – for always asking for feedback on her work and asking how she can improve.

PE News

Hi everyone!

This term we started our PE lessons with a focus on Ball Games.  The students worked really hard in their lessons, and we culminated in Week 4 with a Ball Games carnival.  Although both houses worked really well in their teams, and shared some great war cries, Evans was victorious in the end, winning by one point over Oxley.

Starting last week, we moved onto another sport, which is Lacrosse!  The students have picked this up really quickly, learning some new skills and will be putting them into action soon by playing games.  It is a tricky sport, and something many of the students have not done before, but they are all enjoying it and picking up the rules quickly.

The weather has been lovely the last few weeks, and we have all enjoyed getting out and getting some fresh air, without being frozen!

Until next time! 

Mrs Andrews.

Date Claimers

REMINDER:

Friday 1st September - Pupil Free Day 

Year 3/4

Hi family and friends,

I cannot believe we are already in week 6! The term is flying by, and Year 3/4 have been working very hard. I am so proud of their progress in not only their learning, but also in their enthusiasm toward learning and pushing their limits, as well as their ability to follow routines. It has been a busy term and year, and I am sure it will remain this way for the next few weeks with the musical and other events coming up.

In English, we have been learning all about informative texts and their features, and have been exploring how we can research and note take in order to begin writing this. This is a great opportunity for students to read texts about topics they are interested in, and I am excited to start seeing what they come up with in their writing. Transferring this knowledge into their reading group activities has given them a chance to display their understanding, and they have blown me away with their skills in the area. We have been reading Harry Potter as a class, as a great opportunity to compare and contrast fiction and non-fiction texts. They love the story and have started to analyse the story line, and compare with their own lives.

In Maths, we have been focusing on fractions, and once again the students have impressed me with their knowledge and motivation to extend their learning. The Year 3s have moved onto focusing on division and multiplication, diving deeper into the strategies they can use to divide bigger numbers. For the rest of the term we will move onto time and then probability. We will be very busy these next 4 and a half weeks getting through this, but I am excited to see the students continue progressing!

Science has brought us the opportunity for an excursion to the airport as we have been learning all things force! We did an experiment this week focusing on friction and how it impacts movement, and will continue experimenting with push and pull forces and what impacts this. I am excited to get to the airport for an excursion, and grateful that I have a pilot in the family that can come out and teach the kids all about something they are interested in, that can also relate to the content of the term.

We have also been working very hard preparing for the musical, and I am beyond excited to see it at the end of this term! It is getting close, so we are sure to practice more in the coming weeks.

Have a great rest of your week, and please feel free to contact me for any questions or concerns!

Regards,

Georgia

Musical Update

3 weeks to go!!!  Things are really ramping up at school and we are starting to put everything together.  The class numbers are looking amazing and each class is practicing hard to get their parts absolutley perfect.

Props are being made, sets are being constructed and costumes are starting to come in.  Just a reminder that all costumes are due at school on Friday 22nd August.

We are still chasing an old casting net if anyone has one that we could use.  We would need all hooks and sinkers removed for safety.

Tickets are now on sale, so make sure you go to Trybooking and secure your tickets.  It's going to be an amazing show. To book- Follow this link:

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1086115?fbclid=IwAR0ZsX_Wn5PC5b6mTKQfUMZhc4lUZV6bB4t5Ini_Nqk1sbZTLplV0lom36s

From the APRE

Last week, we celebrated a most important time in our school calendar - Mary MacKillop Feast Day.  This day is always a big one for us as we base our school values and learning behaviours off the life and teachings of Mary MacKillop.  We celebrated with our annual Fun Day.  Thank you to everyone for paticipating in the activities, we raised over $300.  This money will go to Father Thomas' charity - Mission of Mercy and Hope.  

Congratulations to our Mary MacKillop Award winners from each class.  These students were recongnised for consistently following our school learning behaviours based off the values of Mary MacKillop.

Prep - Elsie Willett

Year 1 - Chase Sinclair

Year 2 - Layla Huth

Year 3 - Paige Byers

Year 4 - Ellie Purnell

Year 5 - Heidi Sanders

Year 6 - Josephine Wise

Last Tuesday, we also hosted all of the Toowoomba Catholic School principals for mass.  A huge thank you to the following students who gave up their lunch hours and their night to help make this mass a big success; Harlen Pink, Cooper Klein, Kobi Turner, Heidi Sanders, Liam Folker, Luke Kirby, Bella Klein, Bella Sese, Felicity Clark, Josephine Wise, Benjamin Wise. Also, a massive thank you to Miss Twidale for her beautiful music and help with our singers.  It was certainly a very big day!

Next, we will celebrate Father's Day with a barbecue breakfast and liturgy, led by our Year 2 class.  Please remember to send photos to lauren.grant@twb.catholic.edu.au and to respond with numbers if you are coming to the barbecue to millmerran@twb.catholic.edu.au

We look forward to seeing you all there.

God Bless,

Michele Sanders

PPF News

Wow! This year is flying by! Thank you to all the parents who have helped with different aspects of school parent life over the last few months, whether it is volunteering in the tuckshop, helping with special events, or coming to PPF meetings, your support is greatly appreciated.Last week St Joseph’s hosted the Principal’s Forum in Millmerran, and we would like to say a massive thank you and congratulations to Lindsay Sese and her crew of helpers, who put together a magnificent dinner for all the Principals and office staff. From decorating and setting up, to catering, serving and cleaning up afterwards, it was a massive job, and we appreciate everything that you have done.  Also a huge thank you to those parents who contributed a dish to make it such a wonderful multicultural feast. There was a lot of wonderful feedback, and it was lovely for the executive committee to take a step back this time and let others do the heavy lifting.  This dinner was also a great fundraising event for our school, raising about $2000. Thanks again Lindsay!The PPF will be donating bacon and eggs for the Father’s Day breakfast on Thursday the 31st of August, so please RSVP and bring along the Dads, Grandads and special people for that breakfast and Liturgy.Our next PPF meeting will be held in the School Hall on Monday the 28th of August at 5:00pm.  If you are unable to join us in person, you can also be a part of the meeting online.  Coming to PPF meetings is a great way to have a voice, and to know what is going on in the school, and we would love to see more people at the meetings!If you have any questions about the PPF, or would like to help in any way, please contact any of the executive committee, we would love to chat.

Cheers, Fiona Andrews.

St Joseph's Parent Partnership Forum

General Meeting Minutes – 31.7.23

Date: 31.7.23

Meeting Opened:  5:05pm

Attendees:  Lawson Short, Marg Gaske, Fiona Andrews, Catherine Folker, Billie-Dee Sinclair, Lindsay Sese (Online).

Apologies:  Kelsee Huth

Opening Prayer: LS

Previous Minutes:

• Moved: Billie-Dee
• Seconded: Catherine.

Issues arising from previous meeting:

• Nil

Principal’s Report: LS

PPF Principal’s Report 31/07/2023

Enrolments:

• 71 Welcome Lane in Year 1
• 2024- Possible 80 enrolments. Possible structure P, 1/2, 3/4, 5/6

Staffing 

• Advertising for 4 hour position

PD Undertaken

• Writing PD in Inglewood

Activities

• Inner Downs athletics
• Catholic education week mass.
• Grandparents Day

Discuss:

• Principal Forum- bar

Correspondence IN: 

• Reply from Homestyle Bake
• Menus from Lindsay re: Principal’s Forum.

Correspondence OUT:

• Email to Homestyle Bake re: Pie Drive.

Chairperson Report:

• Thank you to everyone who has helped with recent events, your support is much appreciated.
• Pie Drive – there were quite a few issues, an email has been sent to Homestyle Bake, and has been replied to as well.

Team Coordinator – Finance Report:

• All true and correct.
• Bank balance is currently $21894.25.

Committee Reports:

• Maintenance: Hot water situation in the tuckshop is ongoing.

• Tuckshop: All going well.

Agenda Items:

1. Principal’s Forum

• Menus from Lindsay – Lawson and Lindsay have chosen a suitable menu.
• Lindsay has spoken to a number of families within the school with an international background and all will contribute to a grazing table for nibblies.
• Fi to borrow cutlery from the Church Hall, Lawson to borrow plates from Cabarlah Hall.
• Glasses are in the tuckshop.
• Set up from 3pm on Monday.
• Lawson to organise drinks.

1. Bench top fryers – Marg got a quote from Betta Electrical and it was cheaper than the previous quote so she ordered it. It has arrived and was used in tuckshop today – worked well.
2. Father’s Day Social Night – will leave it as Thursday morning (31^st August) as it is a pupil free day on the Friday. PPF to donate bacon and eggs for a breakfast before the liturgy.
3. Musical 8^th September – no need for any catering.
4. Cent Sale – will be in Term Four – will discuss further at the next meeting. Will need to start asking for donations of prizes.
5. Parking – with so many new families in the school, afternoon pick up especially is very busy. Would it be possible for staff to park on William Street to allow for less congestion?  Lawson to talk to staff.
6. Tree grant – Marg to forward information to Lawson.
7. Parent Helpers at morning teas etc – thank you to those who volunteered to help. Maybe we need to do up a procedure so that helpers know what is expected.

Agenda items for next meeting:

• Cent Sale
• Ham Drive

Next meeting date: Monday 28^th August

Meeting Closed: 5:50pm