Newsletter Term 2 Week 8

Principal's Report

Dear Community,

Welcome to our Week 8 newsletter. This term is certainly flying past and things have been very busy here at St Joseph’s. Last Friday we came together to participate in our Athletics Carnival. This was a fantastic day with our students once again showing the St Joseph’s spirit through their participation and their encouragement and support of each other. Great sportspersonship was shown throughout the day, and we got very lucky with the weather!

A massive thank you to our wonderful PPF for running the canteen, and to all our volunteers who helped out on the day! We couldn’t do it without you!

Parent Portal

Thank you everyone who has already signed up to the Sentral Parent Portal. We have had a great take up so far, and most families have registered for their parent teacher interviews through the portal.

If you are yet to sign up to the Parent Portal and App, please do not hesitate to reach out. It is a simple process and is designed to make communication between school and home more convenient, clear and simple.

A reminder that the Parent Portal is becoming our primary method of communication, so to ensure you don’t miss out on important information please sign-up ASAP.

Attendance Matters

We certainly have had a challenging first half of 2022 with COVID, isolation rules, flooding and other illnesses. This has meant that through no fault of anyone, some students have missed a large number of school days. Hopefully as things start to return to normal, our attendance rate in Semester Two should greatly increase.

From the Research-

Did you know that a child who misses one day of school per fortnight, misses twenty school days in a year, which equates to 4 weeks of schooling? If this is consistent over the 13 years of schooling, this pattern of absence is equivalent to finishing school nearly 1.5 years behind their peers.

Attendance matters, and here at St Joseph’s, as part of the Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Schools we are committed to raising awareness about the importance of regular attendance.

• Student attendance is marked twice per day (AM & PM)
• Students who arrive after 8:30am are classed as a late arrival and are required to be signed-in through the front office by an accompanying adult.
• Parents need to provide the school with a reason for absence and this can be done via; a phone call (46 953 600), email to the office and classroom teacher or notify of absence through the Parent Portal/ Sentral app.
• Any student who is absent from school without explanation (unexplained absence) requires same day follow-up and we do this through our SMS system to alert parents. A follow-up phone call will be made by our administration staff if we do not hear from you to explain an absence. This procedure is designed to be in the interests of your child’s safety!
• Early departures: Parents/Carers must sign the student out through the front office and office staff will call for students to be collected from the office. Please do not go to classrooms.
• Regular monitoring of attendance takes place and a letter will be sent home to families of students who fall below the 90% target each term.

Poor attendance patterns can develop as early as Prep and continue throughout school. We all get sick, and there will be days when your child legitimately needs to stay home as a result of illness. However, together we can develop a positive mindset towards attendance for your child, encourage resilience and persistence when things get tough and help students to understand the importance of attendance every day, on time, all day.

If you need any assistance with this, please reach out, as we have a wonderful support team here at St Joseph’s who can be of assistance in all matters around attendance.

God Bless,

Mr Lawson Short

From the APRE

I can't believe we are in Week 8 already.  The term is moving far too quickly. This month the Mary MacKillop value we are focussing on is 'Be considerate'. Each classroom has a display about the monthly value and it can also be found on the noticeboard outside the office. Last month's award, 'Be Kind', will be presented at our next formal assembly.

Catholic Education Week is coming up in Week 3 of next term and this year, Toowoomba will host the state launch.  The theme for Catholic Education Week this year is 'Communities of Faith, Hope and Love.' We will be sending a number of students to the state launch Mass.  Some of these students will have a job during the Mass and some will be ushers for dignitiries. This Mass will be live streamed and will be a wonderful showcase for our diocese. We will also be having our own school Mass for Catholic Education Week.

It seems like it's a long way off, but Mary MacKillop Feast Day is coming up early next term.  That means that you need to start collecting your 20c coins.  Mini Vinnies runs a number of activities on this day and each student will need a bag of coins to participate in the activities.  We normally say $4-$5 worth.  There is lots of fun to be had and all money raised goes to Father Thomas' charity, 'Mission of Mercy'.

Mini Vinnies will be running a Free Dress Day in Week 10 of this term to raise much needed funds for the Vinnies Winter Appeal.  If you have any old blankets lying around that you are not in need of, please drop them at the school office.

Michele Sanders

Prep/ 1 News

Students of the week 27/5 

Fletcher French- For doing some amazing descriptive writing! 

Chase Sinclair- For doing some great writing all by himself! 

What a crazy two weeks that we have had in Prep/One, doing so much amazing learning. We have spent most of the last week busily doing assessment.

In English, we have started completing our reading tests. So far everyone has done an amazing job and jumped so far in their reading progress!

In Maths, we have been revising lots of our previously learnt concepts and testing our knowledge.

In HASS, we had to describe what is different between the past and present. Some of the responses were very interesting.

In Religion, we have been learning all about Sacraments. We were lucky enough to be able to go over to the church to have a look at the things used during Baptisms and First Eucharist. We loved being over at the church and looking at everything that we have been learning about.

In Health, we learnt the Macarena. We even performed it at lunch time to the whole school! It was so much fun!  

I can’t believe it is almost the end of Term Two. We have loved watching all our Prep/Ones grow and witness their improvements over the term. We can’t wait to see where they keep going! 

• Lauren Grant and Catherine Folker

My New Gallery

News from 2/3

Hi parents, friends, and St Joey’s community.

Hope you have all had a great couple of weeks, I know we have had a busy and productive fortnight at school! This fortnight was jam-packed with events and general school business.

Thank you to everyone who participated and joined the community in celebrating Under 8's Day a few weeks ago. It was a great day and perfect weather; we couldn’t have asked for a better day.

Thank you to everyone who participated and attended the school athletics carnival last Friday. It was a great day, and all the students did an awesome job, both on Tuesday at the Millmerran State School, and on the main day back at St Joey’s. The kids trained each morning for two weeks, and I know they all tried their hearts out, especially at high jump! I got to see some excellent jumping.

This fortnight also saw the students participate in special music lessons conducted by professional Arts teachers from Toowoomba Catholic Schools. The students enjoyed it immensely and it was definitely informative for us as teachers on how to better incorporate the arts into our classrooms.

We are also busy finalising all our term 2 assessment, reading tests and group work, so these final weeks will be challenging. The students will definitely have earnt their winter break!

Good luck to all the 3-6 students this Friday who are participating in Singfest! I am thoroughly looking forward to the concert. I know you will do our school proud.

Go Queensland!!

Have a great couple of weeks,

Mitchell Albury

4/5/6

Once again, the 4/5/6 class has been extremely busy over the last few weeks working on assessment.  It is now getting to the pointy end of the term and the students are knuckling down to get everything completed. 

This term has seen us working on persuasive structures and writing with a particular point of view in mind.  We are busy at the moment writing articles that portray a certain point of view on a particular environmental issue. We are also creating stop motion animations that focus on an ethical dilemma and the path that each character will take.

In Maths, we have been focussing all our attention on multiplication and division and the strategies we can use to help us calculate big numbers. Some of the students have been suprised at how easy it can be to complete large mathematical problems.

Congratulations to all our students on their participation at athletics last week.  It was so great to see the students sharing in each other's successes and cheering each other on.  Some students in our class have now been selected to compete at Gore Hwy Athletics, which will take place next week.  We wish these students all the best.

It seems like so long in the making, but we finally get to perform at Singfest on Friday night.  Our class, along with the Year 3 students have been practising their songs for months and are ready for a big day on Friday.  Last week, we had the opportunity to perform our school song for Ann-Marie Spalding, a visiting music teacher, and she was very impressed at how much energy our students had and how well they performed their song.  We can't wait for you all to see us perform on Friday night.

Until next time,

Michele Sanders

2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge

Dear parents/carers

I am delighted to invite all St Joseph’s students to join in the 2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC).

The PRC is not a competition but a way to encourage students to develop a love of reading for life. Students are encouraged to select a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their reading ability and record books read during the reading period, between 9 May to 26 August.

To complete the challenge:

• Prep to Year 2 must read or experience at least 20 books
• Years 3 and 4 must read at least 20 books
• Years 5 to 9 must read at least 15 books.

Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories, or reading picture books. The aim for the 2022 challenge is to engage more students to read than ever before! Last year saw more than 168,000 children from around the state participate.

For suggested books or for more information about the PRC, please visit: readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au or contact Mrs Burgess or your class teacher.

Every student who completes the challenge will receive a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier. I look forward to seeing as many of our students as possible take part in the 2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Short.

TRC Youth Connect

Youth Connect delivers workshops, programs and events with young people in our Region. We provide a wide range of arts, music, health and sports activities.

We believe strongly in celebrating the passion, energy and achievements of our young people, and work to provide low-cost, accessible youth programs in regional communities.

Youth Connect works with young people, families and service providers to:

• Identify local needs, issues and opportunities
• Support young people's health and well-being
• Empower young people to take a lead role in the delivery of youth programs
• Create platforms for young people to connect, belong and participate in their local communities.

For further information: Youth Connect (tr.qld.gov.au) Or follow them on facebook Youth Connect | Facebook

Battle of the Bands

We are so excited to support and showcase all the local talent across the Toowoomba Region! 
This year's entrants will compete for a prize pool worth over $7,000 – with prizes for the top three acts in each category.
Event details: 17th June at the Toowoomba State High School
*This is a free event but you must purchase a ticket to ensure your entry as seats are limited.*
For further information and to get your free ticket: Battle of the Bands | Toowoomba Tickets

AUSLAN Sign Language Classes for Young People
Are you a young person interested in learning sign language? Between June–August, we're running free AUSLAN classes for young people between 12–25 who live, work or study in the Toowoomba Region.
Age: 12–25 years only
Eligibility: Must live, work or study in the Toowoomba Region
Venue: Community Rooms, Level 3, Toowoomba City Library
Cost: Free
Places are strictly limited! To reserve your place, please complete the online registration form