Newsletter Term 1 Week 7, 2025

Principal's Report

Dear Community,

This week we celebrated Ash Wednesday which marks the commencement of Lent within the Catholic Church. During the forty-six-day journey towards Easter, we are called to grow deeper in our relationship with God. Ash Wednesday comes from the ancient Jewish tradition of penance and fasting. The practice includes the wearing of ashes on the head. The ashes symbolize the dust from which God made us. As the priest applies the ashes to a person's forehead, he speaks the words: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The Lenten period provides a time for us where we might consider doing something for others that enriches lives and shines a light on how to lessen the suffering of others. Please consider donating to St Vincent de Paul or make a financial contribution to the Project Compassion appeal currently being run at our school.  As we journey through the Lenten period, I encourage all to think about how we can be a servant to  others in our families and communities, and how by action we can enrich lives and be a light for others.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone in our community who volunteered their time to help out at the Millmerran Show. Whether that be baking or doing a shift in the canteen, the show was a success because of your time and efforts. A big thank you to our PPF for all their organisation and for the new aprons.  They look fantastic! Our students also accomplished great things in the Millmerran Show with many of our students winning prizes for their handwriting and artwork.  I am pleased to say that our St Joseph's students took out the champion prize in all age categories again this year.  A bit thank you to our wonderful teachers who spent countless hours helping to prepare the students for this.

In staffing news, I am delighted welcome Mrs Rebecca Pfingst to our school community.  Rebecca will be teaching the Year 1/2 class for the remainder of the term.  Rebecca comes to us from Warwick, where she resides with her family.  I look forward to Rebecca joining the St Joseph's community.

This week our Year 3 and Year 5 students have been participating in NAPLAN. These assessments provide a snapshot of a student’s and year level cohort abilities in numeracy and literacy. Our students are prepared for these assessments through their regular classes where teachers provide explicit instruction in literacies and numeracies.

The most important literacy skill is the ability to read and comprehend what has been read. There are five key pillars which underpin successful readers:

1. Phonemic Awareness – the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds.
2. Phonics – the ability to identify the relationship between letters and sounds to decode words.
3. Fluency – the ability to read text accurately and quickly.
4. Vocabulary – refers to the words learners use to communicate through reading and writing.
5. Comprehension – the ability to make meaning from what has been read.

Some tips for supporting literacy development at home with your child:

1. Have regular conversations with your child about a range of topics. This helps increase their oral language and their vocabulary range.
2. Encourage your child to read what they are interested in e.g. sports reports, books made into films.
3. Read with your child and then ask questions about the text.

Next week I will accompany the Year 5/6 students on their annual school camp.  Miss Ailie Lewis will deputise in my place while I am away.

God Bless,

Michelle

Show Winners

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From the APRE

Last week we shared in a bit of fun for Shrove Tuesday - also known as Pancake Tuesday, to kickstart our Project Compassion campaign.  Our annual Pancake Flip competition is always a hit with our students and we once again had some great competition and laughs.  A big thank you to our Mini Vinnies members and their parents, who cooked all of the pancakes for this competition. We appreciate all your efforts.

As a school, we also begun the season of Lent with our Ash Wednesday mass. Lent is a time where we spend time reflecting on how what we can do to be closer to God.  In our classes we encourage students to try giving up something for Lent.  This is to remind us that Lent is a time for fasting. - where Jesus went out into the desert to pray and spend time in reflection.  We encourage our students to try and give up something that will be difficult or a bit of a challenge as it helps to teach them about commitment and the importance of this season. It should not be an easy task and it takes strength and willpower to continue to stick to our commitment.

Today our Mini Vinnies club organised a 'Crazy Hair Day' to raise money for Project Compassion.  Thank you to everyone for getting involved. There were some wonderful styles.  

On Monday, we will celebrate St Joseph's Day. St Joseph's is the patron saint of our school, so this is an important celebration for us.  All are welcome to join us for Mass at 9:30am at the church.

Pancake Flip

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Ash Wednesday

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Students of the Week

Congratulations to all our student of the week award winners.

Term 1 Week 6 - Helping Hand

Term 1 Week 7 - Enthusiastic Learner

Learning Behaviours

Term 1 Week 6 - Respectful Rosella

Term 1 Week 7 - Respectful Rosella

Date Claimers