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6th March - Interschool Swimming Carnival
7th March - P & F Disco
8th March - NQ Cowboys Day - Wear NQ Cowboys colours
8th March - P and F Meeting @ 7:45am
8th March - P&F Raffle Easter Raffle Drawn
17th March - School and Parish Mass - 8:30am - Morning Tea to follow
17th March - P & F Meet & Greet - Tickets via Facebook
19th March - St Joseph's Day - 1.45pm Liturgy
25th March - Mercy Assembly
28th March - Last Day Term 1
28th March - Netball NQ Cup
29th March - Good Friday
31st March - Easter Sunday
15th April - First Day Term 2
PLEASE Check SCHOOL CALENDAR on WEBSITE for more details
FRIDAY 26th APRIL
is a Pupil Free Day
for 2024 only
Dear Parents and Carers
World Day of Prayer
Each year on the first Friday of March, Catholic communities around Australia come together to celebrate World Day of Prayer. This year, the focus country is Palestine.
Our school gathered for whole school meditation this morning to pray for the children and families of Palestine whose communities are often affected by decisions beyond their control.
During meditation, we reflected upon our gratefulness for the fortunate of our school community.
Please read more about World Day of Prayer here.
St Joseph's Day Celebration Mass
On Sunday, 17th March families are invited to celebrate the Feast of St Joseph with the school parish at 8:30am Mass.
There will be a sausage sizzle and morning tea to follow.
Hope all are able to join us.
On Monday, 26th February we recognised and congratulated the following students on receiving a Mercy Award.
| Love | Sylvie Christopher |
Sylvie shows the Mercy Value of Love every day in our classroom. She shows kindness and respect, and she also brings a joyful approach to her learning. Sylvie is always happy to help, raising her hand to volunteer as soon as it's needed. You're a star, Sylvie. |
| Eponee Pilcher |
Eponee is a beacon of love and joy in our 6A classroom. Her ever-present smile and infectious happiness creates a nurturing and positive atmosphere. She embodies the essence of this award through her unwavering kindness and encouragement towards her peers. Her joyful spirit and care for her classmates make her a cherished member of our school community. Eponee exemplifies the values of caring, kindness, and consideration of this award. |
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| Bavleen Tamber |
How wonderful it is to have Bavleen in our class! She is considerate, kind and thoughtful towards her friends. She has proven to be selfless on many occasions in supporting her peers. While Bavleen’s writing is beautifully constructed she put forward her peer's work as an example to be shared before her own and then went on to celebrate their success together. She finds pleasure in helping others to see their happiness. We are so lucky to have Bavleen in 4B. |
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| Olive Cato |
If love is patient and kind, then Olive Cato exemplifies true love. She demonstrates daily how to be a wonderful friend and shows a tremendous amount of love towards her classmates. Olive always notices when someone is lonely and patiently supports those around her. Her warm, infectious smile spreads positivity throughout our classroom. Thank you, Olive, for showing love in 5A. |
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| Jade Cunningham |
Jade lights up our room each and every day with her smile and positive attitude. She includes others and is friendly to everyone she comes in contact with. Jade is grateful for those around her and treats others the way that she wishes to be treated. She is leading our school by example and has made a great start to the year as a Year 6 leader. Thanks Jade for being a kind and considerate classmate. |
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| Isabelle Goodwin |
Isabelle consistently and frequently demonstrates the Mercy Value of Love. Her smile lights up the classroom and her happy attitude is very much appreciated by her teachers and classmates. Isabelle shows kindness and compassion to those around. She is a quiet achiever who contributes to group tasks in a humble manner. Keep being you Isabelle, we are so lucky to have you at St Joseph's. |
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Community |
Tom Andrews |
Tom has made a remarkable impression in Year 5 by demonstrating maturity and responsibility. He has an eye for detail and uses his initiative to set a positive example for his peers. Tom is always the first to offer assistance and regularly supports others. We are fortunate to have such a friendly and helpful student in our school community. Thank you, Tom. |
| Ray Freeman |
Ray is a shining example of community spirit in our Year 6A class. His natural ability to bring people together is a gift that enhances the sense of unity and camaraderie among his peers. With a keen sense of humour, Ray adds a joyful dimension to our classroom. He often takes the lead in rallying his classmates, demonstrating leadership qualities that he may not even realise he possesses. |
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| Sofia Di Giacomo | Sofia displays kindness and consideration to everyone. She quietly makes sure her classmates are ok and is very good at including and co-operating with others. Sofia has also been an amazing help around the room - often doing jobs without being asked. Well done Sofia for looking after others in our school community! | |
| Robin Kim |
Bob is a kind and caring student who displays a strong sense of community at St Joseph’s. He has taken it upon himself to ensure that the Prep students are settling into their new school environment by showing them the different areas around the school and being a friend to talk to. Bob happily lends a helping hand when needed and always strives to do his best. Thank you for being an outstanding role model around the school Bob! |
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Excellence |
Isabelle Storey |
Isabelle has started the year with an excellent attitude towards learning. She is striving for high standards and showing rigour in everything she does. She is working hard on her writing and had some fantastic results. Well done, Isabelle. |
| George Boucher |
George has started Year 5 by putting in excellent attention and rigour to all his classwork. He shows respectful listening and is an independent worker. George is also working hard on his writing, which is showing some impressive progress. Great work, George. |
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| Zyah Robinson |
Zyah strives for excellence in all areas. He focuses on each task and always presents work that is his very best. Zyah has excellent manners. He listens carefully and his behaviour is consistently exceptional. Well done Zyah! |
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| Cooper Gianni |
Cooper is a standout example of excellence in our class and he has consistently demonstrated a sound work ethic. Cooper's approach to learning is reflective of the values embodied in the Mercy Award of Excellence. He strives for high standards and embraces the challenge of personal growth, and exhibits the resilience and determination to achieve. He exemplifies the qualities of an independent learner who is always striving to achieve his best. |
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| Finlay McKeown |
Finley has had an incredible start to Year 5 and has demonstrated excellence in many learning areas. He continues to push himself in Mathematics to achieve amazing goals and his enthusiasm is contagious. Finley takes great pride in his work and loves to complete all his tasks with great skill. He deserves the Mercy Award for Excellence due to his commendable rigour. Congratulations Finley! |
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| Maximillian Sinanan |
What a great start Max has made to the school year. He is always on task, focused and always listening to the teacher. Max is keen to share his knowledge and experiences contributing to class discussions sensibly and clearly. In HASS and Science, he displays a wealth of knowledge and we all enjoy hearing his insights. His desire for learning is a wonderful example to his peers. Well done Max, keep up the great work. |
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| Hutton Ralph |
Hutton has had a fantastic start to Year One. He is an excellent example of a student who is striving to achieve their best. Hutton has engaged in all learning activities with enthusiasm, always tries his best and is proud of his outcomes. Well done, Hutton. |
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| Skylar O'Neil |
Skylar has had a wonderful start to Year Two. She is a true Joey’s kid who comes to school each day with enthusiasm to learn and gives everything her best go. Skylar always follows our Joey’s 5R’s and goes out of her way to help others. Well done for such an amazing start to the year, Skylar! |
In the News - Teaching of Reading
Have you noticed the information regarding reading recently as seen on 7 News, ABC and articles in the Australian? We are proud to be leading the charge in reading, having engaged specialists to ensure our programs are on track with the latest evidence of how children learn. When we teach reading at Joey's we use a framework built on the 'Simple View of Reading'. Don't let the name fool you. It is anything but simple. Reading involves a complex process whereby a child must be able to decode (lift the code off a page) AND understand the meaning of the words. To have 'reading comprehension' we need BOTH of these skills.
If you can't decode you can't comprehend.
Likewise, if you can't understand the word when you hear it, you won't understand it when you read it.
Students at Joey's learn to read by decoding initially. We use a program called Sounds-Write which is a gold-star systematic synthetic phonics program. There is a free parent course to assist with the beginning stages of reading. Click here.
Writing - What's the big deal?
Our journey of the Writing Revolution has seen teachers halfway through their professional development. Focusing on the fundamentals of writing-sentence construction, students are explicitly learning the difference between spoken and written language.
Have you heard of an 'appositive'? Appositives are used frequently in written texts to provide additional information and further identify the noun. This feature of writing assists the reader to comprehend the text they are about to read. Teaching this written skill is important as we don't tend to speak using appositives as speech also uses gestures and context to help the listener.
Consider the below appositive used to start a sentence:
My mum, the queen of my house ....
Our Year 4 writer, Claire, has used an appositive to begin her sentence.
Using appositives assists students by:
- creating an effective strategy for use in topic and concluding sentences
- providing a way to vary sentence structure
- prompting for the inclusion of more information in a sentence and add complexity
- demonstrating comprehension when explaining a subject
- providing a scaffold for the reader
- examing a form of writing often seen in texts but rarely in spoken language
Year 6 students have been learning about appositives.
Naplan - Year 3 & Year 5 Reminder
What is NAPLAN?
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 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 measures whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and their productive and rewarding participation in the community.
When is NAPLAN?
The NAPLAN testing window begins in Week 8 of Term 1. Our school schedule is as follows.
- Wednesday 13th March - Writing at 9 am
- Thursday 14th March - Reading at 9 am
- Monday 18th March - Conventions of Language at 9 am
- Tuesday 19th March - Numeracy at 9 am
Please advise your child's teacher if you do not wish your child to participate or if your child will be absent for the above dates.
How can I help my child be ready for NAPLAN?
You can support your child by reassuring them that NAPLAN is part of the school program and to simply do their best. Our teachers are providing learning experiences to familiarise students with the online platform and format of tests to ensure students feel comfortable with the experience. The Public Demonstration Site has examples of the online format. Further information regarding NAPLAN can be found here.
If you have any concerns about your child’s participation, please contact your child’s classroom teacher or via my direct email below.
Have a great week.
Julie Wallace
Assistant Principal - Pedagogy and Learning
Sports at Joey's
It’s been a big couple of weeks of sport at Joey’s! We have had our St Joey’s Swimming Carnival, Tennis Townsville visits, and a visit from Joe from the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys.
St Joseph’s Swimming Carnival 2024
Despite the threats of some wet weather, St Joseph’s Swimming Carnival went ahead at Tobruk Pool last week. Our Year 6 seniors demonstrated excellent leadership, guiding their houses with rousing ‘war cries’ and preparing competitors for their events. This year, Ryan took home the Overall trophy while Faulkner showed some excellent displays of team spirit and won our Spirit trophy. All houses showed great sportsmanship and should be congratulated on their efforts. Congratulations to our parent/teacher relay team, in keeping the winning tradition alive. A great day was also had by our Prep to Year 2 students at the water park. Without our incredible staff, the day would not have been the success it was. A special thanks also goes out to our wonderful parent volunteers who helped with walking, set up and pack up. Our Interschool Carnival (A Schools) will be held on Wednesday 6th March at Long Tan Pool. We wish our Putney team, all the very best of luck.
Tennis Townsville Visits
For the past 5 weeks, we have been lucky enough to have had Coach Dan from Tennis Townsville attending PE lessons. Students from Years 4 and 5 worked on various skills for the first 4 weeks. This prepared them for a round-robin competition in the final week where students went head to head with their doubles partners. All students are to be commended on their excellent sportsmanship during this competition. Year 4 and 5 students had a great time working with Dan and are keen to continue to refine their new skills in the coming weeks. A big thank you to Dan for the wealth of skills and knowledge he brings to our students.
Cowboys Community Visit
Last week our Prep and Year 1 students had a visit from Joe from the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys. He worked with students on a variety of skills and drills designed to provide them the opportunity to engage with rugby league in a controlled environment. Students had an excellent time participating in activities including, Football Tag, Football Relays and Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Cones. We thank Joe for taking the time to come and work with our younger students.
