St Joseph's, Tara - Term 1 Week 10 2023 Newsletter!

Our Vision & Mission Statements

From the Acting Principal

Welcome to the end of Term 1. It has certainly been a very busy start of the year for us all. I would like to bring to your attention a few pieces of information ready to begin Term 2.

Mary Porter's Extended Leave 

As you would be aware, Mrs Mary Porter took leave for 7 weeks this term. Unfortunately, she is needing to extend her leave for the whole of Term 2. I am very blessed to have been asked to continue my acting position for this time. We wish Mary well during her period of leave.

Pupil Free Day - beginning of Term 2

A reminder that the first day of Term 2 will be TUESDAY 18^TH APRIL. Monday 17^th April is a Pupil Free Day.

Staff Travel Days

Every year, as a rural and remote school, our staff are given two extra days attached to their holidays as travel days. St Joseph’s Travel Days for 2023 will be Friday 23^rd June (end of Term 2) and Friday 1^st December (end of Term 4). There will be no school on these days for both staff and students. Reminders will be sent out closer to these dates.

Parent Portal

Below you will see our new Parent Portal being advertised. The Parent Portal will be an important platform for communication between the school and parents. It will be your go-to place for: activity permission slips, academic report cards, absences and personal detail changes. The portal will be rolled out to all St Joseph’s parents on Thursday 27^th April. If support is needed to sign on to the platform and download onto devices, parents will be able to do this between the times of 3.05pm and 5.30pm on the same day as the roll out. Further information will be provided in the first week of Term 2. 

School Uniform Prices

Unfortunately, due to a price increase from our school uniform suppliers, the prices of some of our items of clothing have needed to change. Please see the document below for further details.

Healthy Food and Litterless lunches 

Please send only healthly unprocessed and unpackaged food for snacks and lunches. e.g. banana in it's own skin, carrot sticks, cheese, salad, sandwiches etc in a named container. No processed  junk food please. Healthy in means healthy out i.e. healthy emotions,  healthy brains, healthy bodies and healthy friendships. 

Blessings on you and your family and I wish each and every one of you a blessed and Holy Easter. Please stay safe over the holidays period. 

Regards

Kylie Williams

"Be calm and full of hope." Mary MacKillop (1871)

"Jesus calms the storm." Matthew 8:23

From the APRE

This final week of Term 1 is also the second last week of Lent. Next week is Holy Week, the most sacred time in our church’s liturgical calendar. It is now that we will commemorate and remember the last week of Jesus’ life on this earth. The Year 3-6 class led us in a reflective Holy Week play which walked us through the final week of Jesus' life. It began with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday and finished with the Easter Triduum. This is the three days just before Easter - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. On Holy Thursday Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and shared his last meal with them. We, as Jesus’ disciples, participate in a meal together (Eucharist) each time we attend Mass. Good Friday is the day Jesus was crucified on the cross and died for our sins. He was then taken down and buried in a tomb. Holy Saturday is the last day of Lent and a day of vigil where we are waiting for the resurrection. We will celebrate Easter Sunday with a liturgy on our first day in Term 2.  

I sincerely thank Mrs Ann Smith, Mrs Peta Harwood and the Year 3-6 class for a wonderful performance. I was so proud of them all. 

Meet the Teacher

Learning at St Joeys

It has been a fantastic term in Years One and Two. I have enjoyed getting to know the students, and it has been wonderful meeting and interacting with so many of you. 

In Literacy, there has been a strong focus on reading and spelling, with students working hard every day to practice and develop the skills needed to become successful readers and creators of literature. We are also discussing narrative texts and what features make up this genre.

During Math lessons, we are talking all things numbers, with Year one’s focused on the place value of two-digit numbers, and Year Two concentrating on three-digit numbers. We are also looking at how the value of a number stays the same no matter how it is represented.

Science has been all about the changes that living things make as they get older, and we had a great time looking at photos of students and staff when they were babies and toddlers and seeing if we could tell who they were now.

In HaSS, we are concentrating on our location in the world, with students getting to know the continents and oceans. By now, I students should be able to sing the “continent song” by hopscotch to you, which lists the continents in order of size. They have also learnt about the five oceans and this week we are planning a world trip stopping at ports on all continents.

Finally, our Religion lessons have been dedicated to meditative prayer and how we are created in God’s likeness. Students have all created a self-portrait which will be on display outside the classroom. Come and check them out!!

All students have been given a note with times that I am available for 3-way parent, student, and teacher meetings, and I look forward to sharing your child’s amazing progress. The times are allocated on a first-in basis, so get your note back ASAP. I will send out meeting times by the end of the week.

God Bless,

Mrs Ash

Photo Time

P & F News

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!

We are doing tuckshop again, but we will be running it a bit differently until we get some more volunteers to help lessen the load. We will have either one or two main menu choices to choose from. This will make it easier to handle organizing all the orders. If we don’t get more volunteers to help in the tuckshop, we will have to run the tuckshop like this for the whole year.

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

Students Of The Week

Week 9 - Eleanore Aylott & Dominic Parsons

Week 10 - Charlotte Davis, Ben Phillips, Malia Adhikary, Roco Phillips, Evelyn Allen, Kaileigh McChrystal, Braxton McGill, Decklin Bramich and Violet Ash.

From the Administration Officers

SCHOOL FEES

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!

2023 Volunteers! If you are wanting to volunteer in the school please come see myself or Sue in the office for Volunteer forms and information. Volunteers can range from Tuckshop, Classroom, Library, Grounds and Coaching. 

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 – Mon 10 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