Our Lenten Journey Begins

Wednesday marked the beginning of our Lenten journey as we gathered together for our Ash Wednesday prayer liturgy.  Coming together and receiving the ashes, gave us all an opportunity to consider ways in which we may approach the weeks ahead as we journey towards Easter. 

The Challenge

Classes will be tasked with daily challenges for the Lenten journey, offering a time to reflect, challenge, and commit to growth and change in the weeks ahead. For middle, upper Primary and Secondary classes, the challenge will be in the form of Lentopoly, making their way around the board to meet the set tasks before Easter.  In lower primary, students will be colouring in activities once they have been completed, with the final product being a giant coloured egg.

Journeying as Community

While we practise prayer, fasting and giving to others as individuals, Lent is a time of community, and so we encourage each other on the journey, preparing to celebrate the joy and significance of the risen Christ.

With God's blessings,

Megan Mahoney
Assistant to the Principal Formation & Identity

School fees for Term 1 Fee have now all been issued.  Invoices are issued from email address accounts@stjosephs.qld.edu.au and may go to your junk/spam folder.
Please ensure you keep an eye out for this email.  

Repayments can be made weekly, fortnightly or monthly to cover the Term fees. Payments can continue to be made or commenced now to apply to this years fees by either paying by cash, cheque or card at the office or direct transfer to the following account : 

Account Name	St Joseph’s School
Bank/Branch	064-431 Commonwealth Stanthorpe
Account No	1018-4376
Reference (e.g.)	STA001   Smith

NB - Payment for Year 7 School Camp is to be paid in full, prior to attending – DUE DATE is 23.02.24.

If a concession is needed, please contact the Principal's Assistant, Mrs Angelina Sims on 4681 5904 to make an appointment with Andrew Kendall to review and grant.  If a concession has been given previously this must be reviewed and re-approved.

If you have any questions in regards to your school fees, please feel free to contact the Bursar by either email Megan.Hines@twb.catholc.edu.au or phone 4681 5903.

Friday 9th February saw the students of St Joseph's come together to celebrate St Joseph's School Foundation Day which incorporates the Beginning of Year Mass and the Student Leader Inductions. The celebration of the Eucharist is an integral component of the Catholic tradition and enables us to foster our sense of who we are as part of the Catholic Church.

It was wonderful to gather and celebrate with the students, especially the Year 12 students who received their Leadership badges upon completion of the Mass.

Congratulations and we wish them all the best for 2024.

St Joseph's School, Stanthorpe will celebrate its' 150th year anniversary on 9 February 2025.

A committee (the "150 Committee") is being formed to discuss, plan and organise several events to mark this special milestone. To ensure the success of these events, we are seeking assistance and support from past students, staff, families and friends of St Joseph's School.

If you are interested in joining the committee, please email Angie Sims, Angelina.Sims@twb.catholic.edu.au by the end of February.

This year, the way that reading is taught across all schools in the Toowoomba Diocese is changing. This is due to a number of factors (including a revision nationally of the English curriculum) and is reflective of a growing body of research across the world which recognises the effectiveness of learning to read through a phonics approach. As a school, we are investing heavily in texts that encourage learners from P - Yr 2 to decode words using the specific sound alphabetic code they have learned. In this way, children will not be guessing words or using other cueing systems to determine unfamiliar vocabulary, which is considered to be a less effective way of developing reading automaticity.

Parents will notice a difference in the texts that are sent home as readers. Those texts that were used in previous years will now be books that we would like parents to read and discuss with their children. They will be marked with ‘Please read to me’. The decodable readers should be read by the children. Of course, these are not the only texts that children should have access to. At school and at home, it is important that they are engaging every day with high quality literature that contains more complex vocabulary and sentence structures. In this way, they hear what good reading sounds like as well as discuss aspects of the texts such as vocabulary which will support their ongoing reading development.

Alongside this development, as a school we are also modifying the way we teach spelling to include a more phonics approach. This is again in response to research and also the revisions of the Australian Curriculum: English. The approach we will be using is based on word studies around a structured progression of sounds. Weekly spelling lists to learn at home before a test on Friday will be no more as the learning of words out of context does little to improve spelling generally. Monitoring of learning will take a variety of forms and will be part of the teaching and learning process.

The main changes are relevant to those students in P - 2 at this stage, but some changes, including those related to spelling, will also be seen in Yr 3 - 6 over time.

More details will be shared with parents as we progress through this term. We will also hold an information session in the future.

With less than two months until the International Study Tour, preparations are well underway.

As part of their exciting schedule in London and Paris, the six staff and thirty-five students will also be visiting Flanders, Ypres, Passchendaele, Amiens, Fromelles and the Somme.  The group will be involved in the French-Australian Bridge of Friendship Opening Ceremony and as part of the formality, will be singing the French National Anthem. The group have been busy learning and rehearsing the Anthem twice a week and we thank Dr James Cuskelly for his guidance and assistance in ensuring it’s a perfected rendition.

We sincerely wish to thank Mrs Joyce Pozzebon (Grandmother of Patrick Moxham in Year 5), who has made two wreaths for the group to lay at Menin Gate and the ANZAC Day Service at Villers Bretonneux. The wreaths are light-weight but most effective portraying our school colours and school crest.

Hats off to Mr Allan Lahey and our exceptional Agricultural Science team for clinching victory in the Fruit Wall competition during the latest Stanthorpe Show.

A round of applause is also due for the numerous students showcasing their talents in various competitions, spanning from Vegie Creature creation to Lego building and horse riding. Witnessing the impressive achievements of our students is always a delight.

Thanks to Mrs Mary Roberts, who along with Tyron Fraser (Dalby), Joel Speranza (TCS) and Marty Hollis (St Mary's Toowoomba), facilitated the Hybrid Learning Day at the Micah centre in Toowoomba.

This day brought together students studying Modern History, Legal, Specialist Maths and Aerospace in Years 11&12 from St Jospeh's Stanthorpe, OLSCC Dalby, St Saviour's, St Mary's and St Joseph's Toowoomba.

This richness of dialogue and learning was evident, and the students will hopefully move forward with confidence having built and reinforced connections with the students operating in the hybris space.

Grace Roberts has been selling raffle tickets as part of her 2024 Premier’s Anzac Prize.

We thank the Stanthorpe RSL Club and Gleesons Mercery for their support in donating prizes for the raffle.

The raffle will be drawn 7^th March, so grab some tickets for a great cause.

Thank you to the following amazing people who worked and donated to bring this project to fruition in a very short space of time. It’s been heartwarming to be part of such a generous community who have given up their time, resources and energy to create such a lovely space for our kids to play and learn.

Special thanks goes to:

• Mr Kendall, the School Leadership Team, Dan O’Dea and the P&F Association for their support of the project.
• The stellar committee for their brilliant ideas in designing the spaces, enthusiasm, support, tireless work ethic, reliability, organisation, problem solving skills, availability and team work. They have been the best committee. (In particular, Jane Muller- for her design ideas and yarning circle expertise, Jane Viljak- fabulous design ideas & work for all the sensory play areas, Chelsea Vedalago- organising the hamburger days and fantastic catering for the working bees, Nicky Robinson- her wonderful  work with all the communications & admin, Kylie Gasparin- great design ideas for the space and cubby expert, Lisa Sunderland & Penny Potter for their organisation of volunteers and strong working bee participation, Amy Hill for her ideas and donation of plants, Paul Verri- all around amazing contribution to ideas, hard work, execution, problem solving, can do attitude and ute full of tools)
• Jonney Barker for soil & compost.
• Mick’s Nursery for plants.
• Wilshire and Co for paint, irrigation, piping and mulch.
• Terry Duff for his crane and transport of the cubby.
• Rylan Jurd for concreting of the yarning circle.
• Matt Patterson for making the large mud kitchen and Kristy for her work on the signs.
• Simon Gasparin for making Nonna’s mud kitchen and Kylie for her work on the cubby.
• Anthony Ricca for his earth works & plumbing expertise.
• Ben Potter for his Bobcat and fantastic bobcat skills.
• Dale and Jane Muller & Tim Robinson for his mathematical skill of designing & executing the perfect hexagon for the yarning circle.
• The Robinson Family for donating the steel edging around the yarning circle.
• The Ferrier Family for the logs for the yarning circle and garden areas.
• The Rizzato family for the stakes and mesh for the tree guards.
• Johnny Torrisi for donating pallets, sinks.
• Dr Cuskelly for donating musical instruments for the music wall.
• Andrea Shatte for donating pieces to the fairy garden.
• Ryan Brunckhorst for installing and putting the finishing touches on the cubby.
• Julie-Ann Spiller for all communications and marketing of the project.
• Sally Cameron for her stencil artwork on the yarning circle dial.
• Hamburger day ladies- Jane Muller, Chelsea Vedalgo, Chris and Lisa Sunderland, Penny Potter, Gianna Blaxland. And for anyone who bought a hamburger!
• The staff who supported the project, gave their input and leant a hand at the working bees; Linda Charlton, Sarah Day, Amanda Thompson, Andrew Kendall.
• The watering crew- Andrea Shatte, Chelsea Vedalago, Jane Viljak, Paul Verri, Janine Tyler, Kate Hourigan, Kylie Gasparin, Sam Heidrich who kept everything alive over the hot summer holidays.
• The school leaders (Claire Williamson, Bridgit O’Dea, Annaliese McCosker and Tay McNamara) who supervised & entertained the kids at the working bees.
• Massive THANK YOU to all the families who attended working bees to dig trenches, plant, rake, mulch, move rocks, remove weeds, build log seats, shift gravel, assemble steel edging, paint, construct, water or provide food for the workers.
  - Scotty (From The Ridge), Peter Baker, Paul Condon, The Mullers, Brad and Lisa Evans, Sam and Shane Heidrich,  Andrea Shatte, Tristen Peden, Jane and Luke Brunckhorst, Ange Brunckhorst & kids, Vedalagos, Potters, Ferriers, Riccas, Sunderlands, Paul & Jack Verri, Robinsons, Cavallaros, Collets, Rizzatos, Gasparins and Wilshires.

Please don’t hang up the gloves as we will need more help for Stage 2 Nature Play Yr3-6 Space to commence Term 2. Get involved, it’s a great way to contribute and get to know others in our great school community.

Amelia Wilshire
(Project Coordinator)

Friday 9th February saw many families attend the annual Parents & Friends Welcome BBQ, held on the Primary Campus.

It was a wonderful opportunity for many families to celebrate the start of the school year and a great way to meet and welcome new families to the school.