St Joseph's, Tara - Term 3 Week 2 2024 Newsletter!

Our Vision & Mission Statements

From the Principal

Welcome to the Term 3 Week 2 Newsletter!

START OF TERM

It has been a very busy but wonderful start to Term 3. It was great to see all our students back with smiling faces and saying they missed us over the holidays. Students have also been stepping back up to the expectations for learning and behaviour which has made for a very calm start. We hope we can continue this through the whole term.

Term 3 is a very busy term with lots of events, public holidays and pupil free days. Please ensure that you keep an eye on the Parent Portal for information that is sent out as well as the school calendar and also the week ahead posts on Facebook so you do not miss anything important.

QUALITIES OF A LIFELONG LEARNER

Over the past 6 months, the staff have been working hard on redesigning the school’s Learning SuperPowers. The new name will be Qualities of a Lifelong Learner as these qualities are what we all need throughout our lives, as children and adults, to be successful in the communities in which we belong. These Learner Qualities have been aligned with the social learnings of the Australian Curriculum as well as the Josephite Values we encourage our students here at St Joseph’s to live by.

Each Learner Quality has been defined and given a criteria for success, so that students know how they can be successful in displaying each quality wherever they may be. Time will be given to each quality to be explicitly taught to the students. Therefore, a gradual roll out of each quality will occur with the first focus being on learning to display RESILIENCE.

A copy of the Resilience poster with the success criteria was sent out via the Parent Portal earlier this week and we encourage all families to discuss how we can be resilient with their children.

We look forward to our future roll outs and supporting all students in being lifelong learners through displaying Resilience, Persistence, Self-Motivation, Curiosity and Courage.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

We held our second round of Parent Teacher Interviews this week and it was so encouraging to see the conversations and communication happening between school and home. We set a new record with 100% of families booking in for interviews with their respective teachers.

Meeting with you child’s teacher is an important part of a child’s learning as it is these conversations which ensure that we are all on the same page and we each know everything we need to about the child.

Thank you also to the Parent Engagement Network (PEN) executive for providing afternoon tea for waiting parents on Wednesday afternoon. Again, it was wonderful to see the interactions between the families while you waited.

So, thank you everyone for making this round of interviews such a success!

JUMP INTO JOEYS

We held our first Jump Into Joeys Pre-Prep Program this week and it was a huge success. 16 students on the list with 14 attending the first day and one more booked in ready to start next week.

These types of programs are so very important to ensure that the child has developed the skills ready to start school. These skills include social, fine motor and gross motor.

Places are still available if you know someone with a child who will be starting Prep in 2025 or 2026. Please ask them to contact the office to book in. Bookings are essential.

ENROLMENTS FOR 2025

It may seem very early; however, we are already beginning to look at enrolment numbers and class structures for 2025 so that we can ensure that we have the staff available to cater for our needs.
Enrolments for 2025 in all year levels are now open so please ensure that you spread the word if you know of anyone wanting to send their child to St Joseph’s next year.

SPECIALIST LESSONS

The students were very excited to meet their new PE and Arts teacher this week. Mrs Lisa Lincoln and Mrs Jackie Sullivan will come out to Tara from Dalby every second Monday.  We have some great things planned with these two ladies and cannot wait to work with them to ensure that the students of St Joseph’s has access to all Key Learning Areas.

SMALL SCHOOLS ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

A big thank you to the 15 students (Yep! – that was disappointingly it!) who attended the Small School Athletics Carnival on Tuesday this week. Your participation and representation of the school was outstanding, and we have had nothing but great reports from community members on the sportsmanship you all showed. A huge thank you to the staff who attended given the weather was bleak and cold.

PICK UP BEFORE THE AFTERNOON BELL

I would just like to bring to your attention some information that you may not be aware of and would like to see all of us on the same page.

The final bell for the day rings at 2.50pm. If the students and staff are waiting in the pickup area prior to the final bell ringing and parents would like to take their child, then you will need to sign them out at the office. Yes, even if it is 2.48pm. This is because, up until 2.50pm, the students are under the “duty of care” of the school staff. Unfortunately, if you were to take your child before the bell, without signing them out and they had an accident outside the school gate, the school would be under question surrounding our “duty of care”. It may seem very “over the top” and unnecessary from an outside perspective but I would not like to put myself or my staff under any unnecessary stress if this occurred.

I sincerely thank you for your understanding in this matter to keep our students safe.

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

NAIDOC WEEK CELEBRATIONS

The staff and students had a wonderful afternoon last Friday celebrating the Indigenous members of our community. The afternoon began with a respectful liturgy in front of the Indigenous story poles with the students then moving into mixed groups for ochre painting, damper making and beading. It was wonderful to see the students in each group helping and supporting each other through the activities. We finished off with a late afternoon tea and tried emu and kangaroo meat along with different flavoured damper.

A huge thank you to Mrs Ash for making the damper and Ms Anne and Mrs Warwick for organising the day for us.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

Catholic Education Week is celebrated annually in Week 3 of Term 3 and is an opportunity for all 312 Catholic schools in Queensland to celebrate and promote their distinctive mission and ethos.

Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate contributing, life-giving members of society.

As a school community, we will celebrate Catholic Education Week with a whole school liturgy next Monday afternoon at 2pm. This will be held in the church and all family members are invited and encouraged to attend and help celebrate everything that makes us uniquely St Joseph’s.

Staff will continue the celebrations in Toowoomba on the Friday (26 July) with the annual Bishop’s Inservice Day. Our guest speaker this year will be Graeme Connors. Please remember that this is a Pupil Free Day.

Learning at St Joeys

From Prep/1 Classroom

English

This term, students will examine different texts to learn language features at a word, sentence and text level. They will be learning about rhyming patterns, describing words, using language to communicate likes, dislikes and preferences and to recognise how texts are created for different purposes. Students will continue to learn the relationships between letters, diagraphs and sounds with a 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 take part in fluency reads that are designed to meet students at their current reading level and develop this further.

Religion

This term, students will explore creation and recreation stories in the Bible. They will make connections to their own lives to understand the importance of taking care of our planet and things living on the earth. Students will make connections to their personal experience when explaining ways of living in accordance with God's plan for creation. They will identify how people live safely and happily in community and in loving relationship with God.  Students will relate stories from some Old Testament texts that describe God's presence in action in the lives of individuals and communities. They will participate in a variety of personal and communal prayer experiences including meditative prayer practices, especially closing eyes, praying with beads and music.

Mathematics

In Term 3 Mathematics, students will explore how to use mathematical skills and knowledge to understand practical and authentic mathematical problems. They will measure the lengths of different objects within our environment, use counting and addition and subtraction skills to solve mathematical problems. Students will explore patterning in numbers, colours and in various other ways. 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 connecting ways to create the same number in various forms, such as tens frames, tally marks, base 10 blocks and collections of real materials. Students will develop their addition and subtraction skills through their daily number practice. 

Science

In Science this term, students will explore how living things grow and using plants as a focus, will investigate what living things require to grow and change. They will look at the seasons and how the different seasons within Tara affect the growth of different plants and the lives of people and animals.

HaSS

In Term 3 HaSS, students will investigate how the places we belong to can be looked after, how the people of Tara live and how it has changed and stayed the same over time. They will explore how the people of Tara lived in the distant and recent past and compare it to how people live now within Tara. Students will develop an understanding of how the lives of people have changed and stayed the same over time.

Miss Heather Sheppard (Prep/1 Teacher).

From the Parish

St Mary Of The Angels - Tara

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

Cooper Davis

Bronze Awards

Isa Hawkins

Certificates of Recognition

Week 2 - Frankie Nystrom, Cash Hawkins and Havoc McLuckie. 

From the Administration Officers

Monthly Statements have been distributed today including your Term 3 fees. Please check your junk folder. Thank you everyone for being persistent with your customer accounts. We wish you all a very warm and safe holidays and cannot wait to see everyone for Term 3!

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