St Joseph's, Tara - Term 2 Week 6 2024 Newsletter!

Our Vision & Mission Statements

From the Principal

Welcome to the Term 2 Week 6 Newsletter!

PARENT ENGAGEMENT NETWORK (PEN)  

I am pleased to announce that a Parent Engagement Network (PEN) is being established for St Joseph's School, Tara. Thank you to our parent community for sharing your views during our consultation processes, leading to this decision.  

We are now calling for expressions of interest for the roles of Chair and Secretary as a part of the Executive of the PEN. These key roles, work alongside me as principal, and our Parish Priest/nominee to plan and lead the PEN. Further details of the role and responsibilities can be found in the model constitution for PENs linked below.  

LINK TO MODEL CONSTITUTION 

The first PEN forum will be Wednesday 29 May. I strongly encourage parents, carers and friends of St Joseph’s to attend the forums as they will be an important place for consultation, education or information about your child’s schooling.   

If you are interested in one of these roles, please email me at  kylie.williams@twb.catholic.edu.au  by  5PM  FRIDAY 24 MAY. 

PREP 2025 ENROLMENT AND INTERVIEWS 

We have started interviewing for Prep placements for 2025. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and so we ask that, if you know someone with a child who will be ready to start Prep in 2025, you encourage them to submit an application online through the school’s website or visit the office for an enrolment package.  

We all love our school and we want to share the love to others in our community.  

PRINCIPAL’S FORUM 

Last week I attended the Term 2 Principal’s Forum in Stanthorpe. This is a professional development opportunity provided to all 32 principals of Toowoomba Catholic Schools. The week is a variety of collegial conversations, updates from the office as to new policies and procedures and times to reflect on the type of leaders we are and strive to be. I always find it a very refreshing week and one which provides time to stop, consider what we are striving for at St Joseph’s and reassure ourselves that we are indeed “on track” with our Strategic Plan and direction.  

Term 3’s Principal Forum will be hosted by St Joseph’s School, Chinchilla and St Joseph’s School, Tara has been asked to share this. All 32 principals will visit the school and then have a meal locally to support the community. More details will be provided once the organisation of the week has been finalised.  

NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME 

National Simultaneous Storytime is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association. The event sees a picture book written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, book shops and many other places around the country.  

The book chosen for 2024 is The Bowerbird Blues written by Aura Parker.  

St Joseph’s participates in this event annually to promote the joy of reading. This year we were invited to read the book and participate in activities about the book at the Tara Shire Library. We sincerely thank Sam Beckingham at the Tara library for welcoming us and supporting the school to promote the importance of reading everyday.

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

PENTECOST SUNDAY 

Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the Church’s birthday and because you are part of the church it becomes your birthday as well. So, happy birthday to the Catholic Church and happy birthday to you. 

Pentecost is a Greek work which means 50th. Pentecost is the 50th day after Easter Sunday where we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming to Jesus’ disciples and their followers. The Holy Spirit gave them gifts to help them begin Jesus’ ministry here on earth. There were seven gifts - wisdom, understanding, knowledge, right judgement, reverence, courage and spirit of wonder. The people who received these gifts were the very first member of the Catholic Church. One of the disciples present when the Holy Spirit came was Peter and he became our very first Pope.  

As we celebrate the Church’s birthday, we ask that these same gifts fill our hearts so that through our words and deeds we may be shining examples of Jesus’ love bringing hope to the world.  

The students changed their classroom prayer space cloths to the colour red and then participated in a liturgy in the afternoon. The students are thoroughly enjoying celebrating liturgies in the church and participate fully and respectfully which is wonderful to see.  

TARCOOLA VISIT 

Last Friday the MacKillop Club Leaders started visits to Tarcoola. They happily chatted with the residents and helped them play a game of indoor bowls. Both the students and residents thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and we are looking forward to visiting more regularly this year. Our next visit will be on Wednesday 29 May for a game of Bingo.  

Learning at St Joeys

Year 4 - 6 Classroom

English 

During English this term, students have explored the narrative “The Elves and the Shoemaker”. They explored the text and used its text structures to organise and link ideas. Students also used this text and information texts to build their knowledge of how a shoe is made. They were given the opportunity to design and create their own shoe to inform, influence and engage various audiences. Students described the characteristic features of different text structures and used paragraphs to organise and link ideas. They explored language features including complex sentences.  

Students also have been engaged in a phonic spelling program that has continued to enhance their skills in literacy. They have been developing their skills to be able to spell words including multisyllabic and multimorphemic words with irregular spelling patterns, using phonic, morphemic and grammatical knowledge. 

Religion 

In Religion this term, students analysed information from a variety texts, including Scriptural references to the Holy Spirit and the words, symbols and actions of the Catholic Rite of Confirmation. They explained the actions of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. Student explored and participated in various prayer rituals.  

Mathematics 

This term in Maths, students used their understanding of place value to represent tenths in decimal form.  They used mathematical modelling to solve financial and other practical problems and choose efficient strategies and interpreted results in terms of the situation. Students developed their proficiency with multiplication facts to add and multiply numbers efficiently. They explored how to use scaled instruments to measure mass, capacity and temperature. Students measured and calculated the perimeters and areas of spaces while using the appropriate metric units. They identified line and rotational symmetry in plane shapes and created symmetrical patterns. Students explored how to order events or the outcomes of chance experiments in terms of likelihood and identified whether events are independent or dependent. 

Science 

In Term 2, students have investigated the inquiry question, ‘Why does the Earth’s surface changes over time and how can we positively impact this?’ They explored the slow and rapid changes made by natural processes and events, along with human impact. With a focus on weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition, students explored how these processes work together to make changes. They investigated case studies of the 12 Apostles, the Indian monsoon season and the Great Barrier Reef to allow children to connect these concepts to real-life events and places. Students developed their scientific inquiry skills through comparing and analysing photographs, making predictions, recording data and creating models. They have also investigated ways humans can positively impact these changes.

HaSS 

In this term's unit, students identified different ways humans influence and manage the land, including their management of severe weather events. They described the positive and negative impacts of urban development, mining and the First Nations Australians’ practice of firestick farming. Students recognised that while humans cannot always prevent severe weather events, such as bushfires and floods, they can implement strategies to mitigate their effects. 

During an inquiry process, students developed questions and conducted research by locating, collecting and organising information and data in various ways from different sources. They evaluated information and data in different formats to identify patterns and infer relationships. Students analysed information and data to develop evidence-based conclusions. They proposed actions or responses to issues. They used ideas, findings and viewpoints from sources to present descriptions and explanations. 

From the Parish

St Mary Of The Angels - Tara

New Mass Times

Tara: Sunday: 9am

on the 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month

Meandarra: Sunday: 11am

on the 3rd Sunday of the month

St Joseph's Awards

Silver Awards

Damon Grose

Bronze Awards

Charlotte Davis, Charlotte Partridge, Deakin Cole and Kaileigh McChrystal

Students Of The Week

Week 5 - Adrian Vines, Brett Allen, Deakin Cole, Malia Adhikary

Week 6 - Brett Allen, Charlotte Davis, Meliaceae Hockley-Black and Arnika Frid

From the Administration Officers

Monthly customer statements have been emailed out this week. If you may think there is an error on your statement please contact me via phone or email to rectify this. 

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, in person 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 

*Direct Debit: COMING SOON!!

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