St Joseph's, Tara - Term 1 Week 2 2024 Newsletter!
Our Vision & Mission Statements
From the Principal
Welcome to the Term 1 Week 2 Newsletter!
Welcome to the 2024 school year and the first newsletter for the year. It has certainly been a wonderfully positive start to the year for our community with a few minor changes to routines to help students stay calm and always be ready for learning.
Changes have included the morning (arrival at school) routine. Students no longer do a lap of the oval but remain in the undercover area. At the end of last year, the lap of the oval was turning into a playing time for some, with students coming in hot and sweaty, rather excitable and finding it hard to refocus themselves ready for their day.
Students are now expected to arrive at school, remain seated in the undercover area and chat to their friends. Encouraging conversations is such an important developmental stage for all ages especially in our current technologically based world. This new routine is showing positive signs of students being ready for the day ahead and students entering the classrooms of a morning calm and prepared for learning.
Another routine which has had a small change is eating time at breaks. Students now come to the eating area as a class and before opening lunch boxes, a “grace before meals” prayer is said as a whole school. Students are then invited to begin eating while seated and chatting with friends. This too, has proven to be a routine well received by the students.
New Students
Over the past week we have welcomed 3 new students to our St Joseph’s family with the possibility of another 4 starting next week.
We give a warm St Joseph’s welcome to these students and their families and know that they will love their time at our wonderful school.
It is wonderful to see so many new families to the Tara area and St Joseph's.
Parent Handbook
Over the holidays, I created a parent handbook for our parent community. This is a document which will be updated at the beginning of every school year and provides parents with information of our daily routines, expectations, policies and procedures which helps the smooth running of the school and the school’s duty of care for all students.
The handbook link was sent to all current families via the Parent Portal. This link will take you to the school’s website. New families have access to this document via a QR code or by visiting the school’s website.
I encourage all parents to read through this document so you are aware of the contents.
Audiology and Vision Screening
Unfortunately, the Audiology Prep Screening which was due to happen this week has been cancelled. The audiologists are unable to get through with all the road closures. They will reschedule us in their mid-year trip.
Monday 12th February has been scheduled for the Prep Vision Screening coordinated by Darling Downs Health. Permission forms for this screening will be sent home with all Prep students tomorrow (Friday) and will be due back by Wednesday of next week.
Both these screeners are free for our Prep students and is a wonderful service which is provided for our school.
Professional Photos
Every few years, Toowoomba Catholic Schools provides schools with the opportunity to have professional promotional photos done. These photos are used in all our advertising and promotion of the school to the wider community.
Our photo day will be next Tuesday (6th February). Not all students will be involved in this. Students will be identified by the photographer depending on the location and context of the photo we require.
We ask that all students attend school is correct uniform with hair neat and tidy incase they are required to be a part of a photo.
Thank you for your support with this.
Annual Action Plan
Each year, schools are asked to write an Annual Action Plan. This is a document which shows a direction and improvement strategies for the school for the current school year. This plan covers the areas of Teaching and Learning, Being Distinctively Catholic, Using Resources Wisely, Valuing People (Wellbeing). This is also quite a detailed document so below is a snap shot of the main goals which have been set for the 2024 school year. In the newsletter each fortnight, I will break open and explain each goal in further detail for the wider community.
God bless,
Kylie Williams
"Always remember to help and be of service to others." ~ Mary MacKillop.
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12
From the APRE
Religious Life of the School Theme
It is important as part of a Catholic school that we have religious theme as a focus for staff and students to live by. The 2024 theme is:
TOGETHER UNDER GOD’S RAINBOW WE WILL HELP AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER
This theme has come from a Mary MacKillop quote and also John’s gospel. St Mary MacKillop said that “we should always be of help and service to others” and John tells us that Jesus said “we should love one another as I have loved you”.
A beautiful theme for all of us to strive to achieve.
Leadership Positions
It was with great privilege this week that I spent some time with the Year 4-6 class talking and discussing what a good leader sounds, looks and feels like. What are their characteristics which make them a quality leader?
Students brainstormed vocabulary which described each leadership position and then used this to begin writing their speeches.
Students have nominated themselves for a leadership position they are interested in and speeches will be held next Monday (5th February) from 1.50pm in the hall.
We invite all parents to attend and support their child in this big step of representing the school and its students in one of these positions.
Once staff and students have voted and the votes counted, position recipients will be announced at the Opening School Liturgy next Friday (9th February) at 9am in the church. Parents of the successful nominees will be phoned prior to Friday and encouraged to attend the liturgy.
What exciting times ahead for these students.
Learning at St Joeys
From the Prep/Year 1 classroom..............
English
This term in English, students will learn the difference between narrative and persuasive texts through exploring the topic of pets. They will explore a variety of quality texts to build understanding of the features of narratives and persuasive texts including text structure, characters, settings, plot, and language features. Students will compare these features and create their own persuasive text.
Throughout Term One, Prep students will learn the names and sounds of the letters of the alphabet, how to write these letters and ability to find the initial sounds of constant-vowel-constant words. Students are also learning how to communicate ideas verbally through a show-and-tell time where students develop oral language skills.
Throughout Term One, Year One students will continue to develop their knowledge around the names and sounds of the alphabet and will use this knowledge to spell constant-vowel-constant and constant-constant-vowel-constant words, develop reading skills and write simple sentences. Students will continue to explore oral language skills through show-and-tells and start to develop dictation skills. They will practice letter formation through handwriting.
Religion
This term, students will explain ways of living according to God’s plan. They will identify God’s plan for creation through scripture and make connections to their own experiences. Students will share their thoughts and experiences of caring for creation and determine how they live in community with others. They will identify how people live safely and happily, explain how to respect the dignity and rights of others and identify the nature of Jesus’ mission and ministry. Students will explore the meaning of Easter and the importance of Jesus’ sacrifice.
Mathematics
This term, students will learn to count by 1’s to 20 (Prep’s) and 120 (Year 1’s). They will describe 2D shapes and explore duration of time through explaining and sequencing events based on everyday events. Year One students will develop their ability to carry out simple addition and subtraction sums while Prep students will build knowledge and skills around naming, representing and ordering numbers and recognising numbers to 5 using subitising.
Science
This term, students will explore the topic of recycling and how it affects our school when rubbish is not disposed of correctly. They will investigate and observe how paper and plastic decompose within the garden and develop an understanding of how not disposing of rubbish in the correct manner and throwing it in the incorrect bin, can impact the environment negatively. They will learn how science is used in their daily lives and will observe, question, and predict to build understanding of how science helps them learn about the world we live in.
HaSS
In HaSS this term, students will build their knowledge and understanding about how families and significant events of our daily lives have changed over time. They will identify the similarities and differences in family structures and discuss why this has changed or stayed the same. Students will identify the toys and games used in different periods of time and compare them to those used today.
Photo Time
Welcome back to St Joey's!
P & F News
From the Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Jack MacGinley Presbytery: 4665 3401 (Tara)
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
Students Of The Week
Week 2 - Flynn Burgess, Charlotte Davis, Arnika Frid, Charlotte Partridge, Nateesha Laird, Torben Andersen and Damon Grose.
From the Administration Officers
SCHOOL FEES
Welcome back to school! and welcome to all our new families!
Term 1 2024 fees have been distributed via email yesterday afternoon. If you have not received your account statement yet, please call or see me at the office. If you have any questions or queries about your statement please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see below the new fee procedure and guidelines. The new fee list for 2024 was emailed out at the end of Term 4 last year. Please do not hesitate to contact the office if you have any queries or concerns.
If you need any financial assistance, be sure to come in and see myself or Kylie to see how we can help. It is completely confidential!
HOW TO PAY YOUR SCHOOL FEES:
*Cash / Cheque, at the office.
*BPoint, at the office or over the phone.
*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
2024
Term 1 2024 – Tue 23 Jan (Public Hol 26 Jan) - Thur 28 Mar
(Good Friday 29 Mar)
Term 2 2024 –(Student Free Day 15 Apr) Tue 16 Apr - Fri 21 Jun
Term 3 2023 – (Student Free Day 08 Jul) Tue 09 Jul - Fri 13 Sep
Term 4 2023 –(Kings B'day 07 OCT) Mon 30 Sep - Wed 04 Dec
(Travel Day's Thur 5 Dec & Fri 6 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
