St Joseph's School, Tara eNewsletter

Our Vision & Mission Statements

From the Principal

Welcome to the Term 2 Week 2 Newsletter!

Birdie Tree

Students participated in the Birdie Tree Workshops this week. This is a programme developed by the team at Child and Youth Mental Health Services. Our presenter, Dr Andrea Baldwin, engaged the students using their books, puppets and other mindfulness activities.

Birdie Tree helps children and families emotionally prepare for and recover from natural disasters. It also helps children increase their emotional resilience so they can cope better with stressful or disruptive events.

Stressful and disruptive events like bushfires, floods or a pandemic can be scary for young children and make them feel worried and sad. Parents and carers may also struggle to cope when these events affect their home, work and family life.

Birdie's Tree helps support the mental health of young children and families by:

teaching young children what happens in a natural disaster.
helping young children learn the words for 'big feelings' such as anger, fear or worry
encouraging adults to take care of themselves, so they can take care of children.

Dr Andrea has kindly donated 3 kits to the school which can be used in classrooms when needed to support our students. We are very grateful for this donation.

A huge thank you to our Guidance Counsellor, Jacinta Jensen, for organising this experience for our students.

Reference - Birdie's Tree | Children's Health Queensland

Berry Street – Ready to Learn Scale

As part of our new Berry Street wellbeing initiative, classrooms have introduced a Ready to Learn Scale model so that students can indicate how they are feeling and if they are indeed ready to learn and engage in the lesson. This is also a way for teachers to monitor student wellbeing and engagement in learning.

If a student is not ready to learn, a discussion takes place to find out how they are feeling, why and what we can do together to move them to the ready to learn level.

Classes have discussed the meaning of each level of the scale, what it might look like, sound like and feel like. This is to ensure that everyone is of the same understanding that learning is not a choice but sometimes our brains are just not ready to accept new pieces of information.

Please ask your child/ren about their Ready to Learn Scale and how they use it in their classroom.

Diocesan Approach to Reading

As identified in the school’s 2024 Annual Action Plan, we have committed to implementing the new Diocesan Approach to Reading model. Teachers and School Officers have been working hard to ensure they have clarity about the approach and how to effectively deliver the model of learning to their students.

Last week’s Pupil Free Day saw teacher’s travel to Chinchilla for a professional development opportunity with staff from Chinchilla and Roma and to work with our Education Officer to gain further clarity around the Daily Review, Low Variance Routines and the new assessment platform “Sparkle”.

The Diocese of Toowoomba has created a parent information sheet which provides a great overview and some initial clarity about the new model approach.

Policy updates

A number of the policies that we implement as a school have recently been reviewed. These policies are a part of the enrolment agreement we have with you as parents/legal guardians and are available on the school’s website and from the links below. If you have any questions about these policies please contact the principal.

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

Fr Jack’s Final Mass

As mentioned in previous correspondence, Fr Jack is retiring. He has certainly become a constant figure in our school and wider community. Fr Jack is certainly going to leave a big hole in our community.

I attended a parish meeting on Sunday with Bishop Ken Howell who discussed the next steps for the parish of St Mary of the Angels. Plans have been made for Fr Rod MacGinley from Chinchilla to travel to Tara on the first and third Sundays of the month to celebrate mass as well as perform other sacraments such as baptisms and funerals when required. St Joseph’s will also be able to have Fr Rod celebrate key school events with us. Fr James Cronin from Dalby will be the administrator of the parish. Fr Jim will ensure that all financial and administrative details are taken care of.

A celebration of Fr Jack’s work as a priest will be on this Sunday at 10am at St Mary of the Angels Church. All students are encouraged to attend to represent the school and thank Fr Jack for all he has done for the school over the past 39 years.

ANZAC DAY

What a great commemorative day this was! Thank you to all the students, staff and parents who marched with the school at yesterday’s parade. It was very warming to see our school gather to remember those who have fought and for some, died, so that we can live in freedom in this country.

Thank you to Jorjah, Nateesha, Cooper and Bentley for representing the school by laying the wreath and raising the Australian flag. You all did a wonderful job and showed great leadership to our younger students and also to the wider community.

Learning at St Joeys

Prep - Year 1 Classroom

English

This term students will learn the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts through the exploration of the topic of Australian animals. They will explore quality and decodable texts that build an understanding of the features of fiction and non-fiction texts and gain an understanding of an Australian animals. As part of this unit, students will create a fiction and non-fiction text on an Australian animal and express their own personal preference for the type of text they have created and the Australian animal. They will use text specific and emotion-based vocabulary.

During Term Two, Prep students will continue to learn the relationships between letters and sounds with an increasing focus of blending and segmenting sounds in words to read and spell. They will continue to develop their verbal literacy skills through the daily practice of speaking and listening and students will verbally indicate what happened during events using who, what, when, where and why, as a guide in their story telling.

During Term Two, Year One students will continue to develop their understanding of diagraphs, spelling skills, decoding and encoding, and will use these skills for to improve effective strategies in reading and writing. They will apply this knowledge to writing constant-vowel-constant and constant-constant-vowel-constant words and simple dictated sentences. Students will build skill, stamina, and confidence in their own writing abilities.

Religion

In Term Two, students will explore the symbols and their meanings of events in the Church. They will explore the ritual of baptism and the importance of this ceremony to the Church Community. Students will research the River Jordan where Jesus was baptised and compare the symbols and rituals of Jesus’ baptism to those performed today.

Mathematics

In Term Two Mathematics, students will explore how to use mathematical skills and knowledge to understand our Australian animals better. They will measure the lengths of certain animals using formal and informal units, use counting and knowledge of more and less to understand the importance of the conservation of endangered animals. Students will use patterning and sequencing skills to recognise different Australian animals. They will explore number and continue to develop their ability to recognise number in a variety of ways by practicing skills such a subitising and linking various forms of the same number, such as tens frames, tally marks, base 10 blocks and collections of real materials. Students will develop their addition skills by exploring the different ways we can make numbers to 10.

Science

Throughout Term Two, students will explore the topic of Australian animals and will discover what an Australian animal needs to survive. They will compare the needs and habitats of different animals. Students will create a visual representation of an animal’s habitat and present an oral or written report that explains the requirements of the animal’s habitat and why.

HaSS

In Term Two, students will explore natural and man-made aspects of our town. They will develop an understanding of the features of our town, why it is special to both people and animals and how they can care for our town. Students will develop an understanding of the differences between the managed, constructed, and natural features of our town and how these different features require different types of care. They will collect, represent and interpret data about various aspect of the town of Tara.

Photo Time

Tara & District and Small Schools Cross Country

P & F News

Another friendly reminder that the P&F General Meeting is being held next week on Wednesday May 1 at 3.15PM in the school library. The executive committee are looking forward to working with families to support our students in their educational journey.

Our P&F is only as strong as its volunteers, and we need to increase our numbers. We have some great things planned to raise money to support our school and need the parent body to help make the magic happen.

The General Meeting agenda will include topics like our fundraising calendar, planning for tuck shop and importantly, we will be moving to change from our current P&F Constitution to the new Parent Engagement Network Constitution.

Don’t forget that we are still looking for tuck shop volunteers. Just one Friday a term will be a great contribution or turn your oven on and create some home bake for tuck shop morning tea.

Next Thursday and Friday, our Mother’s Day Stall will be open during lunch breaks. There will be a wonderful array of gifts available for students to purchase to spoil the special ladies in their lives.

The executive committee look forward to seeing you next week.

Stay safe.

Krissy Aylott (Chair – St. Joseph’s Tara P&F)

From the Parish

**Parish Priest**: Fr Jack MacGinley **Presbytery**: 4665 3401 (Tara)

St Mary Of The Angels - Tara

Fr Jack's final Mass will be this Sunday at 10am at St Mary of the Angels Church.

New Church times with Fr Rod MacGinley will be uploaded when advised.

The Catholic Fete will not go ahead this year.

St Joseph's Awards

Principal's Award

Isabella French, Charlotte Partridge, Kadence McGill and Braxton McGill

Students Of The Week

Week 2 - Frankie Nystrom, Milo Kelly, Ivy-Grace Anderson, Leakella Norford and Braxton McGill

From the Administration Officers

Term 2 school fees have been processed to your accounts and you should recieve your statements today (Friday) via email.

School photo's are not too far away! You can go onto the Queensland School Photography's website and by using the schools access key you can order your photo's online. If you are paying cash, please have the slips ready on the day of photos or you can hand them into the office prior. Reminder to have the correct payment in the slip as no change will be given.

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

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.