St Joseph's, Tara - Term 3 Week 8 2024 Newsletter!

Our Vision & Mission Statements

From the Principal

Welcome to the Term 3 Week 8 Newsletter!

PEN Forum Summary 

Wednesday saw the first PEN Forum take place. Thank you to the PEN Executive for the time and effort put into running this forum.  

Unfortunately, except for the executive committee, no other parents attended the meeting to discuss, be informed or be consulted with the agenda items.  

I strongly encourage all parents and carers to support this network as this is where much of the school’s financial and social support comes from. If we do not have parents attending forums and volunteering at PEN initiatives it will be the students who miss out on experiences such as:- 

camps, tuckshop, decodable readers, sporting equipment, classroom resources, playground items.  

If it wasn’t for the generous donation from the PEN for this year’s camp, Year 4-6 families would have paid an extra $200/student.  

How can you help? Volunteer for ‘JUST ONE THING!’ such as:- 

attend the forums (there's only one each term), volunteer for tuckshop once a term, volunteer for homebake once a term, put your name down to help with an upcoming event, attend any upcoming events.  

For further information about how you can support our PEN please contact the PEN Chair, Ellen Andersen on 0477 869 103.  

So again, please support this group of parents who are volunteering their time for your children.  

Guidance Counsellor details 

Unfortunately, our beloved guidance Counsellor, Jacinta Jensen, has been away sick and will be for the rest of this term. Fortunately for us, we have been able to access the support of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Dalby’s Guidance Counsellor, Katrina Ballantyne. Katrina visited St Joseph’s for the first time this week and will be back for a day each in Week 9 and 10. She will just be working with urgent matters that come to light through the week and administrational support. We are praying that Mrs Jensen makes a speedy recovery and is able to return to us in Term 4. 

Noose Film Academy

What an amazing day the Year 4-6 students had on Monday, learning how to be actors and film makers with the lovely Andrea and Greg Huglin from the Noosa Film Academy. The positive feedback from both the students, staff and visitors was wonderful to hear. It was also great to see so many families attend the Red-Carpet Premiere Screening on Tuesday night, joining with Tara Shire State College and The Gums. We are definitely keen to have Andrea and Greg visit again in the future.  

Student V Staff lunchtime competitions 

It was with great excitement on Monday that the Year 2/3 students had the opportunity to play a game of Goori against the staff. The Year 2/3 students had the opportunity, in PE lessons, to learn the rules and skills and techniques required to play this game with the staff not learning the game until the day. The Year 2/3 students had a great time being persistent and resilient, tried their best and had the other students cheering them on (pom poms and all) but unfortunately the staff came home with the win on this occasion.  

The next competition will be on Monday of Week 10 and it will be the Year 4-6 students versing the staff in a game of basketball.  

CTJ Day

Consistency of Teacher Judgement Day is a state wide pupil free day where schools and teachers are provided time to meet with their colleagues from other schools to discuss, moderate and reflect on their teaching and learning practices.  

St Joseph’s, Tara teaching staff will be traveling to Chinchilla for the day to work with the teaching staff of St Joseph’s, Chinchilla and St Patrick’s, Mitchell (joining via Teams). They will discuss, share ideas and reflect on their current teaching practices in our new phonics programme (PLD) and looking through their current English Units, reflecting on its alignment with the components of Scarborough’s rope theory which has been the research-based approach used to develop the TCS Diocesan Approach to Reading Strategy. Teachers will then be given time to start working on developing their Term 4 English Units.  

Monica will be attending professional development for her role as the school’s Administration Officer in Toowoomba and the School Officers will be participating in online training for their roles in the classrooms.  

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

Father's Day

Father’s Day, a day of honouring fatherhood and paternal bonds, is celebrated across the globe. However, as cultures vary, so do the ways in which this special day is observed. In Australia, Father’s Day takes on a unique flavour, distinct from other countries.  

The origins of Father’s Day in Australia can be traced back to the early 20th century when it gained recognition as a tribute to fathers and their contributions. It was influenced by the American version of the holiday, which was established in 1910. In Australia, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September, setting it apart from many other countries that celebrate it in June. 

 Australian Father’s Day is often characterized by outdoor activities and gatherings, reflecting the country’s love for the great outdoors. Families often come together for barbecues, picnics, or beach outings, taking advantage of the pleasant early spring weather. Gift-giving is also a cherished tradition, with children presenting their fathers with personalized gifts, tools, or gadgets that cater to their interests. 

In the Catholic Church it is a time to remember and reflect on the role of Joseph, Jesus’ father and how he loved and supported Jesus through his life, even knowing that he may not have been his biological father.  

We wish all our fathers and father-like figures in our St Joseph’s School community a very happy Father’s Day and we hope you all get spoilt with love (and presents) by your wonderful little people.  

 Josephite Colloquium 

Next week, Tara Fisher, myself and two TCS colleagues from St Stephen’s in Pittsworth will be travelling to Sydney to attend a Josephite Colloquium. This is a time to spend with educators from other Josephite schools from around Australia to immerse ourselves in the charism and really learn what it is to walk in the footsteps of Mary MacKillop. It is our vision that what we learn and experience at this Colloquium can be brought back to St Joseph’s, Tara and shared with staff, students and the parent community to grow our faith and love for our school.  

Stay tuned for the updates on our learnings and experiences via Facebook and next fortnight’s newsletter. 

Learning at St Joeys

From the Specialist lessons

Physical Education

Prep/1 - Students will acquire and/or continue to develop their locomotor skills (running, hopping, leaping, skipping, galloping, walking, and dodging). They will develop object control skills of rolling, catching, bouncing and throwing though active participation in activities, games and movement challenges.  Students will use personal and social skills to follow rules, demonstrate resilience and cooperate with others. 

Year 2/3 - Students will continue to develop their object control skills (throwing, bouncing and catching) and they will begin to develop striking (including kicking and racquet, bat and/or hockey stick).  Students will learn how to apply these skills to game situations whilst incorporating personal and social skills to follow rules, demonstrate resilience and co-operate with others. 

Year 4/5/6 - During Physical Education lessons, students will focus on building their ball skills through participation in basketball drills and games. They will focus on resilience, sportsmanship and their ability to follow the rules of unfamiliar modified games. 

Visual Arts

Prep/1 - Students will develop a knowledge of identifying primary and secondary colours. They will use hands-on investigations of mixing primary colours to create secondary colours. Students will create a colour smash monster puppet. They will investigate indigenous stories, and complete artworks in relation to these stories.  

Year 2/3 - Students will develop an understanding of the colour wheel and investigate the difference between warm and cool colours. They will focus on creating a shadow self-portrait and identifying all the different things they enjoy and placing them around their portrait. This will be placed on a cool or warm coloured background.  

Year 4/6 - Students will conduct an artist study focused on Pablo Picasso. They will be inspired to add a Picasso twist to their own self-portraits. Students will use different techniques for their background to use with warm or cool coloured background by mixing a variety of colours with a blowing technique. The portraits will be based on an abstract version of Picasso abstract portraits. 

From the PEN

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

Charlotte Davis and Alexia deBoeck.

Bronze Awards

Evelyn Allen and Arnika Frid.

Certificates of Recognition

Week 7 - Joseph Cole, Eleanore Aylott, Charlotte Partridge, Kaileigh McChrystal, Cooper Davis and Havoc McLuckie

Week 8 - Joseph Cole and Amanii Saunders.

From the Administration Officers

Thank you everyone for being persistent with your customer accounts. 

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: Forms are availiable in the office. Please see me or call the office.

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