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Tuesday 28th July - P & F Meeting 6.30pm in the Staff Room
Friday 31st July - Book Club due - Money to office or order online
Friday 21st August - Book Week Celebration - Theme - "Curious Creatures"
Tuesday 15th September - Interschool Athletics Carnival @ The Red Track Townsville Sports Reserve
Good Intentions Aren't Enough
Most of us know what we SHOULD be doing.
We SHOULD do the most important things FIRST!
We SHOULD get some exercise, even when we are busy!
We SHOULD stop and eat a healthy lunch!
We SHOULD drink more water!
We SHOULD be more positive and optimistic.
Having good intentions isn’t enough - it’s your behaviour that counts! To reduce our stress levels we need to have the discipline to stick to the things we KNOW we SHOULD do.
Our own thought processes and self-talk have a significant impact on our stress level. We virtually ‘beat ourselves up’ for what we haven’t done or what we ‘should’ do.
The first step to managing our stress level is to have reasonable expectations of ourselves and what can realistically be achieved within a day. One of the challenges of teaching is that we have a number of commitments each and every day. Our time with students IS our core job. This fixed component of our day, limits the flexibility for completing the other things we endeavour to do.
Any day can also be unpredictable. We never know what issues or concerns arise. We can become resentful of these ‘interruptions’. However, helping to address these issues is also part of our core business.
It is important NOT to have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved in one day. There will be issues that arise that we hadn’t anticipated. Recognising and acknowledging at the end of the day that there were priorities that we had to deal with that we had not expected, helps us appreciate what we have achieved.
Part of the problem of job stress is that it can become a cycle. Being unrealistic about what you can accomplish in one day can lead to further frustration and a snow-balling affect. This then leads to more negative self-talk, an increase in your stress and a decline in the quality of your work.
Be realistic in planning what you need to achieve in that day. There will be unexpected events - allow for that.
A great question to ask is, “If I could only achieve ONE thing today what does that need to be to feel satisfied?”
Steve Francis MScM, BEd, DipT www.SteveFrancis.net.au
Steve is an expert in school leadership and work-life satisfaction. Steve was a Principal for 20 years and is the author of four books, ‘Time Management For Teachers’, ‘A Gr8 Life...Live it Now!’,’First Semester Can Make or Break You!’ and ‘Attitude is Everything’. Steve lives in Brisbane with his wife and family but works with school leaders and staff in schools across Australia and internationally.
Have a great week
Tim
Mercy Values
The sign on the front of our school says that St Joseph’s is a Catholic school in the Mercy tradition. But what does this mean? It means that we follow in the tradition of Catherine McAuley and the Mercy Sisters. The Mercy Sisters were founded by Catherine McAuley, whose qualities included compassion, humility, friendliness, prayerfulness, a strong sense of giving, courage, sympathy, peacefulness, gentleness and love. Above all, Catherine encouraged and lived a life of charity. Mercy is showing God’s loving kindness and compassion to all. It is love in action. St Joseph’s is focused on building an environment that reflects our rich Mercy heritage.
This year sees us begin to embed our Mercy Charism throughout our school. You might wonder why we are doing this? A few years ago, St Joseph’s participated in the Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project. This project aims to assist schools to explore and better understand how their Catholic identity is expressed in work and practice. One of the recommendations from this report was to develop our Mercy Charism. This is not to say that our Mercy Chrism hasn’t existed in the past but somewhere along the way, it has gotten lost amongst changes and the busyness of school life. It is important that we acknowledge this. The development of our Mercy Charism will help to tell the story of who we are and what we stand for as a school community.
As a Catholic school, St Joseph’s is governed by Gospel Values, the greatest of which is love. The Mercy Charism is based in love. It is listening to the heart, ready to be open and to respond. This response or action is the Charism of Mercy. At St Joseph’s School, our witness of Christ is filtered through this lens of the Mercy Charism.
Our Mercy Charism values are
LOVE, COMMUNITY, EXCELLENCE
As a school, we are developing our Mercy values with the students and exploring how they link to the teachings of Jesus, our Patron saint St Joseph and Catherine McAuley. Over time we expect that there will be a greater awareness of the school’s heritage and understanding of how we can live out our Mercy Charism.
This years theme is 175 YEARS - A SPIRITED TOMORROW. This theme acknowledges the 175th anniversary of the opening of the first Catholic school in Queensland, the long tradition of Catholic education and its continued relevance in preparing students for the future.
At St Joseph's teachers will be talking about the importance of Catholic Education with their classes. Due to Covid-19 we won't be attending the annual Catholic Education Week Mass this year. Below you will find some words from Pope Francis about the future as taken from the Catholic Education Week website.
"To Christians, the future does have a name, and its name is Hope. Feeling hopeful does not mean to be optimistically naïve and ignore the tragedy humanity is facing. Hope is the virtue of a heart that doesn’t lock itself into darkness, that doesn’t dwell on the past, does not simply get by in the present, but is able to see a tomorrow."
POPE FRANCIS
Have a wonderful week
Take Care and God Bless
Amanda
http://readiscover1.blogspot.com.au/ Click this link to see articles on reading and other educational literature, photos of library events and any upcoming competitions.
Book Club: I have handed out book club this week children must have orders done by July 31st.
Term 3 Literature: When classes visited the library, we explored the theme: Curious Creatures, Wild Minds by reading the story ‘Bunyip at Berkley’s Creek’ by Jenny Wagner. The children had to listen to the text without the pictures and draw what they thought a bunyip looked like. They followed this up by designing their own curious creatures.
This is Year 1D showing their art work.
Badge Ceremony: Last week we had a little ceremony in the library to acknowledge these wonderful students for their persistence and hard work. Congratulations to Oskar Bourne, Eva Davis, Indiana Lalor, Chloe Guilfoyle, Zahra Bligh, Sophie Lee, Ayoola Akinyemi, Lynette Njau and Phoebe Morris as they are presented with their Badges. They are now officially Junior librarians and Should wear their badges proudly.
Friday Before school: Join us Friday morning to stock up on books for the weekend. Chess club is also operating again.
Congratulations to our Year 5 Litpro certificate winners, Lynette Njau, Lauren Barry , Kareena Wiltshire, Tahlia Webster, Zachariah Thomson.
Happy reading
Belinda Walker (Teacher Librarian)
