St Joseph's Catholic School The Strand eNewsletter

Friday 5th February to Friday 26th March - Swimming Lessons Yrs 4-6

Tuesday 16th February- Project Compassion Launch

Wednesday 17th February - Ash Wednesday

Friday 26th February - Swimming Carnival

Friday 5th March- Whole School Meditation

As we settle into the first term, it has been great to see our students begin the year so positively. It takes a bit of time to adjust back into normal school routines but this is now well underway.

It has been another big week for our new school leaders as they celebrated their induction and followed this with a leadership day on Thursday. It was terrific to once again gather as a school community to celebrate the beginning of the new school year. We are grateful to have been able to do so despite some lingering restrictions from Covid. A special thanks to Jason Bennett for arranging the live streaming of our mass so families could join us online. It was also a special occasion for Ms Neilson our APRE. This was her first whole school mass in her new role, and we are very grateful for her efforts. It was a wonderful way to begin the new year.

We were also visited this week by the new service team from Townsville Catholic Education. Mr David McNeale (Education Consultant), Ms Nicole Beltramelli (Curriculum Adviser), Ms Tammi Webber (Indigenous Education Adviser) and Ms Melissa Turner (Religious Education Adviser) joined us to familiarise themselves with our school, our plans and our context. It was a pleasure to show them around the school and introduce them to the students. We look forward to working with them this year.

Next Tuesday night we will hold our first P&F meeting for the year. The meeting is at 6pm in the staffroom. All are welcome to attend.

Finally this week I hope that everyone enjoys Valentines Day this Sunday. I am sure no one has forgotten and has remembered to mark the day in some small way.

Have a great week.

Tim

On Wednesday, we celebrated our Beginning of Year Mass and Commisioning our Year 6 student leaders. Thank-you to Father Siby for leading us in our Eucharistic celebration. This year we are called to live out our Mercy values of Love, Community and Excellene.

We are striving to be like Catherine McAuley and the Sister of Mercy to serve our community.

Next week, is the launch of Caritas Project Compassion. This Lenten season is themed 'Be More.' Through your generoisty and by aspiring to be more, your family with assist some of the world's most vulnerable people to build a better future.

Your child will bring home a project compassion box for donations. Each class will learn about the projects Caritas creates with our donations. If you wish, you can make donations online.

Shrove Tuesday; 16th February

Shrove Tuesday is the day that traditionally pantries in homes were eradicatied of all the 'good stuff' in preparation for the 6 weeks of Lent. These six weeks involve prayer, fasting and alms giving.

Ash Wednesday; 17th February

Ash Wednesday follows Shrove Tuesday on February 17th. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent for Christians. We will begin the day with a Celebration of the Word. Ashes will be distributed to our students through classroom prayer.

Hope all have a wonderful week,

Trina

Our Year 6's have participated in our annual Year 6 Leadership Day. The day began with a liturgy that highlighted the service leadership model and incorporated our schools mercy values. Our guest speakers were Mr. Ham and former school captain of both St. Joey's and Ignatius Park, Harri Keir. We thank them both for their valuable contributions.

Students experienced leadership activities and games that involved teamwork, cooperation, trust and leadership. Pastoral groups (The Arts, Faith & Identity, Environment & Sport) met for our initial meeting to brainstorm ideas of how these groups can best serve our school.

Students were treated to a pizza lunch and everyone appreciated the school's generosity in providing this. War Cry practice in houses was an afternoon activity and our leaders are ready for our swimming house meetings in Week 5.

We are proud of our 2021 leaders and look forward to their contribution to St. Joey's in 2021.

http://readiscover1.blogspot.com.au/

Library lovers Day

On February 14^th it is Library lovers Day but we celebrated today. The library is always open on a Friday before school but today was a special day to welcome so many parents to our Friday DEAR Program. We open every Friday at 8:00am to make reading DEAR to us. This acronym stands for Drop Everything and Read. Take time out to read some of our fabulous books with your child as that starts the true love of reading by spending some quality time with our children.

Dad making origami hearts

Henry with Mum

Thalia with Dad

Leo with Mum

Why read

This infographic is one of my favourite as it demonstrates the power of daily reading. Gently encourage a reading time before bed. This could be the new school time routine for 2021.

Playful story Telling for reluctant young readers

When Preps and Year 1's visit the library I use puppets to retell many stories. When I am finished the children then take turns using the props to retell a story. They love it.

Have you ever tried using a story bag, basket or prop box to help you share a story with young children? If you sometimes get frustrated trying to keep a child’s attention while reading stories why not try making this time a little more playful and interactive for those short attention spans and put together a few story bags/boxes that you can use over and over.

Story bags are a fantastic literacy resource (especially useful for those children who might be reluctant readers, not very interested in books or ‘sitting still’ to listen!) and the best part is you can keep adding to your collection over time for very little cost. More information can be found at the empowerededucatoronline.com.

The rest of the article can be found on my blog.

Encouraging middle primary readers

It is an exciting milestone when your child is independently reading. The next hurdle is ensuring that we keep them moving on to new and exciting authors to keep them interested. Many children get stuck on a series and aren’t willing to take a risk and try something new. If you are a facebook user there is a wonderful group of teacher librarians and authors here to help you. Join the group ‘Your kid’s next read growing readers and writers’ for ongoing tips and suggestions.

Happy reading

Belinda Walker

Teacher Librarian

This week, our school participated in the Safer Internet Day event for 2021. This event is held in many countries around the world with a single shared vision of making online experiences better for everyone. The theme of S.I.D this year is Start the Chat.

At St Joseph's, we ensure that cybersafety is embedded across learning for the entire school year and S.I.D is a great focus on building the skills and knowledge needed to be responsible digital citizens and stay safe in the online world.

Our littlest learners in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 visited Hector's World and learnt how to be an eSafe kid.

In Year 3, students kicked off with some conversation starters and then created internet safety posters. Our Year 4 learners explored Google's Interland and learnt how to be Internet Awesome.

Students in Year 5 are working their way across The Lost Summer and learning how to access support. Finally, our seniors defined rules for being a safe Digital Citizen and worked collaboratively on Netiquette posters.

I encourage parents and carers to check out the resources I have linked above. You can also access a variety of online resources and webinars created especially for parents at the eSafety Commisioners site.

Warm Regards

Jason Bennett

Technology & Instrumental Music Coordinator

Dear Parents and Carers

Students are now settling into their instruemtal music lessons for term 1. Our young musicians are forming good habits through remembering to check their timetable and arriving at their lesson on time and bringing their music folders and books with them each week. It is wonderful to see this across the year levels.

We have an additional piano teacher, Fiona Moran, joining the St Joseph's music community next week. Fiona will be teaching some of our younger piano students on Tuesdays. I am sure Fiona will be warmly welcomed by our school community. Fiona's timetable will be emailed to the parents involved later today.

If you have any questions or need any information about the Instrumental Music Program at our school, please feel free to reach out to me via email.

Warm Regards

Jason Bennett

Technology & Instrumental Music Coordinator

St. Joseph's Annual Swimming Carnival.

Who: Students turning 8 years - 12 years in 2021 (year 2’s turning 8 this year are invited and encouraged to attend).

Prep to Year 2’s (not involved in the carnival) will have ‘Wet Day’ activities @ The Water Park. Information to follow.

When: Friday 26 February (9.00am - 12.00 noon approx)

Where: Tobruk Pool

What: Annual Swimming Carnival (Freestyle & Relay Events - including parent, staff, student relay). Students come to school with swimmers on, ready to swim. House colours may be worn.

If any parents are able to assist it would be greatly appreciated. The success of the carnival is reliant on parental support. Please advise the office or email Anthony Meekin (ameekin@sjnwtsv.catholic.edu.au) if you are able to assist with one of the following jobs. Parents are encouraged to walk to the carnival from St Joey’s from 8.30am if able.

Volunteers Needed:

7.00am - Set Up (Tobruk).

Judges

Marshalling

Caps (for each House)

12.00 - Pack-up