St Joseph's, Tara - Term 2 Week 8 2023 Newsletter!

Our Vision & Mission Statements

From the Acting Principal

Welcome to the Week 8 Newsletter! 

Parent Engagement

We believe the partnership between the St Joseph's parents and staff  is key in achieving our prupose of 'enabling full and flourishing lives' for students, staff and families. 

Toowoomba Catholic Schools supports this partnership and has provided a Parent engagement charter which outlines and describes what parents can expect and what is expected of them. It provides a point of reference for staff and parents as they work together to provide the best possible education for all students and builds a  community in which everyone belongs, feels values and can succeed. 

At St Joseph's we aim to complement and build on the work of each family so that all students can pursue their gifts and affirm their sense of belongs and importance. Through this, we believe they will becom effective and successful learners. 

The TCS charter provides information on how parents can be full engaged with their child's learning journey at home and the best ways to communicate with the school staff. A copy of the charter will be going home to each family over the coming weeks. I ask that you please read this charter and keep it somewhere safe for future reference. Please feel free to come into the office and discuss this charter with us. 

Welcome to new staff member

St Joseph's is very excited to welcome Miss Heather Sheppard to our staff. Heather comes to us from Toowoomba as a Provision to Teach teacher. She will be working alonside Mrs Ash in the P-2 space for the remainder of Term 2. 

The students have welcomed her with the kindness and love that they show all new people and visitors. You will hear more about Heather in our Week 10 newsletter. If you see her around the school grounds, please introduce yourself and welcome her to our beautiful school community. 

Toys at school

We are beginning to see a large number of toys being brought from home to school. At Monday's assembly, I spoke with the students about this, explaining why we should not bring toys to school and have asked them refrain from doing so, with AFL footballs from their Auskick sessions still allowed at this stage. It is very distressing to a child when a favourite toy has been brought to school and they loose it, another student plays with it and then unintentionally breaks it or they take it into the classroom and it becomes a distraction from their learning and their teacher needs to speak to them about it. 

If a student brings a toy to school it will be stored in the office for the day until home time when it will be returned to them. If the same student continues to bring toys to school, they will be stored in the office until a parent/carer can come in and collect it on the student's behalf. 

A reminder about the importance of regular attendance at school

We are still seeing large numbers of absences across the school, with many students away for consecutive days. Please remember that regular attendance at school is so very important not only for their development in learning but also their social development as well. 

It is also policy that if your child is absent from school for 3 consecutive days, a medical certificate needs to be provided to the school on the third day. 

God bless,

Kylie Williams

"Find happiness in making other people happy." Mary MacKillop 

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12

From the APRE

Announcement of new Toowoomba Diocese Bishop

It was with great excitment that the Toowoomba Dicoese announced last week that Brisbane Auxiliary Bishop Ken Howell has been appointed the next Bishop of Toowoomba by Pope Francis.

Bishop Howell, who has been a priest of Brisbane archdiocese for 40 years, said he was humbled to be called by Pope Francis to shepherd Toowoomba diocese. 

Bishop Howell paid tribute to Toowoomba Bishops Robert McGuckin and William Morris for their leadership over the last 30 years.

Bishop Howell said his first priority as bishop would be to listen and learn. 

We are looking forward to working with Bishop Howell as part of Toowoomba Catholic Schools. 

Learning at St Joeys

During their library lessons, Year 3-6 are analysing various items such as photographs, documents, maps, objects, posters, cartoons, videos and sound recordings. Developing the skills to examine methodically and in detail, in order to explain and interpret, will assist them with their research and life observations.

Preps, Year 1 and Year 2 are exploring our Indigenous culture through Dreamtime stories and experiences of First Nation people. So far, we have explored a Dreamtime story from Broome and a recollection from Northern Territory.

Regards,

Margaret

Photo Time

Reconciliation Event @ TSSC

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P & F News

Tuckshop has been a bit touch and go this year. We thank Craig and Annie for doing tuckshop on Tuesday, we are still working out which days work best.

Our P&F team are working on some upcoming fundraisers! If you have any ideas, please contact the office and your brilliant ideas will be passed on! We would love to hear them!

The P&F commitee last week have donated students with decodeables, these decodeable books assist students with their home reading. St Joseph's P&F want to thank our school community and local community for their ongoing supporting with our fundraisers/raffles/stalls! In doing so we are able to support your children with their learning needs. 

From the Parish

St Mary Of The Angels - Tara
Mass Times

Tara: Friday: 9am
Saturday: 6pm

Moonie: Sunday: 9:30am
on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd Sunday of the Month

Meandarra: Sunday: 7:30am
on the 2nd & 4th Sunday of the Month

Glenmorgan: Sunday: 9am
on the 4th Sunday of the Month

St Joseph's Awards

Bronze Award

Braxton McGill, Rhys Warwick, Angel Ferguson-Knight, Charlotte Partridge and Jorjah Furniss

Students Of The Week

Week 7 - Isabella French, Evelyn Allen, Ashleigh Meyer, Eleanore Aylott and Marcella                                                 Ferguson-Knight

Week 8 - Dominic Parsons, Malia Adhikary, Angel Ferguson-Knight, Gnhevea McLuckie and                                  Decklin Bramich

From the Administration Officers

SCHOOL FEES

Term 2 fees, reminder letters 2 will be sent home Friday/Monday, if you have been making regular payments you would not have recieved one. Please, if you do need financial assistance, come in and see myself or Kylie to see how we can help. It is completely confidencial.

We give a big thank you to those who have been making regular payments and to those who have paid in full. We really appreciate it!

Parent Portal

An activity permission slip will be popping up in the portal this week. Please fill it out and send back at your earliest convenience. These activities need to have a due date on them and cannot be filled out over the portal when the time is up, meaning your child may miss out.

We still have a couple of families that have not registered yet. If you are needing help, please contact the office and I will help you over the phone or come in, as we are phasing out text/email/letter communication (when not nessessary). Thank you to the parents that have taken the time to download and have already registered for the Parent Portal! We are very excited to have this service in our school, making it easier for you to communicate with the school. Some features to check out are newsfeed, absences, calendar (keep up to date with your childs activity and important dates for Term 2 and Term 3), update family contacts and emergency contacts and updating medical.

Report cards will be distributed through the portal this term, making it easier for Parents to recieve.

HOW TO PAY YOUR SCHOOL FEES:

*Cash / Cheque, at the office.

*Direct Deposit:
Bank: ADF
Name: St Joseph’s School
BSB: 064-786
ACC: 100-025-583
Reference: Your Name.                         

*Centrelink Centrepay Deduction Payments can be made fortnightly or monthly.                     The School’s CRN: 555075545A

Not Sure how it’s done?  Ask at the office for assistance.

Term Dates

2023

Term 1 2023 – Tue 24 Jan (Public Hol 26 Jan) - Fri 31 Mar

Term 2 2023 –(Student Free Day 17 Apr) Tue 18 Apr - Thur 22 Jun 

(Travel Day Fri 23 Jun)

Term 3 2023 – (Student Free Day 10 Jul) Tue 11 Jul - Friday 15 Sep

Term 4 2023 –(Public Hol 2 Oct) Tue 3 Oct - Thur 30 Nov

(Travel Day Fri 1 Dec)

Wellbeing Matters

Student Safety

EVERY CHILD HAS THE RIGHT TO FEEL SAFE

It is a legislative requirement that all non-state schools have at least two nominated staff members to whom a student can report the behaviour of another staff member that the student considers inappropriate.  We call these specially trained staff members School Student Protection Contacts, or SSPCs.  Each SSPC has been nominated by the principal in recognition of their integrity, approachability and knowledge in the area of student protection.  Whilst students are encouraged to speak up to any trusted adult in the school community, it is important that they know they can access these specific staff members at any time should they have worries, queries or concerns. You will have noticed posters throughout the school depicting our current SSPCs.  The SSPCs are also published on our school website along with information about our student protection processes.  In everything we do at St Joseph's Tara student safety is our highest priority, therefore the SSPCs at our school are key personnel in our overall safeguarding processes.  Please see the poster below depicting our current SSPC team.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT