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- PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
- DEPUTY PRINCIPAL
- ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL PRIMARY
- ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL FORMATION & IDENTITY
- UNWELL STUDENTS - CLARIFICATION
- GETTING “PINNED” FOR THEIR ENTHUSIASM
- YEAR 6 STUDENTS TAKE ON THE ROLE OF 'TEACHER"
- ADVANCED YEAR 10 MATHS CURRICULUM CONTINUED WHILST LEARNING AT HOME
- WATER CYCLE EXPERIMENT
- YEAR 7
- INSIDE OUT
- CONQUERING THE CUBE
- WORLD BEE DAY
- YEAR 7 GEOGRAPHY
- NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME
- PASTORAL CARE SPORTS & BBQ
- TUCKSHOP REMINDER
- WHERE ARE THEY NOW? PAST STUDENTS OF ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL
- LOST PROPERTY
- UPCOMING EVENTS
This week we welcomed all students back to school. It has been very pleasing to see them all back and their happy faces around the respective campuses. They have settled well and are back into their normal learning routines. Thanks to the staff for their efforts in managing the transition back and looking out for the wellbeing of the students.
On the building front, we currently have a number of projects happening around the school which will aid the learning of our students.
On the Primary Campus, work has been completed to refurbish the Year 4/5 classrooms. Acoustic tiles and painting have improved the acoustics, ascetics and functionality of the rooms. State of the art interactive (touchscreen) TV's have also been installed in the Prep and Years 4 to 6 classrooms. Work to paint the hallways and stairwells will be completed by the end of the Term 2 break. The other major project is the redesign and refurbishment of the music space. This involves stripping the space and reconstructing it into five functional spaces for music tuition and administration. It will also provide extra teaching space for Learning Support. Work on a new counselling space and an improvement to the current Learning Support space will commence once the music space is completed in June.
On the Secondary Campus, the improvements to the entrance of the Bathersby Centre have been completed. We also are currently finalising the renovation and redesign of the ground level of the Davadi Building. This will involve Learning Support moving into a new space next to their current space and the conversion of the Learning Support space into a literacy and study space for Secondary students. Students will now have an area on the Secondary Campus for study before and after school and at breaks, as well as an area that promotes reading.
Finally, I should mention that the school has lodged an application for planning approval to build our new hothouse and greenhouse (butterfly house) on our vacant block on Corundum Street. We hope to commence building towards the end of Term 3. The drawing below shows the layout of the buildings.
God Bless
This week, we welcomed back all students across the Primary and Secondary campuses after six weeks of learning@home across the end of Term 1 and start of Term 2. It was great to have all students back and the buzz around the school is really positive. I thank all students, parents and families for your patience and support during the learning@home period. It certainly presented its share of challenges, however from the school’s perspective we were very happy with the use of the digital platforms and student engagement in their learning during this period.
Heading forward, the digital platforms used during the Learning@home period will continue to form an integral part of the teaching and learning environment. On the secondary, OneNote, Teams and associated software will continue to be the central hub for students to access resources associated with their learning, and will be a vital tool in supporting their learning outside of the classroom. Such is the importance of building on the Digital Pedagogy structures put in place recently, I will be leading a Digital Pedagogy committee that will be tasked with developing a framework that will inform the future direction of the integration of digital platforms into the teaching and learning environment. It is exciting times ahead and ultimately this is about providing opportunities for all of our students to access quality teaching and learning.
Matthew Brown
Deputy Principal
ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL PRIMARY
School is more than a place where you come to learn. It is also a place where positive relationships matter and if those relationships are not present or as not as strong as they could be, then learning will not be as successful. As we welcomed back the students from Years 2 to 6 on Monday of this week, the campus came alive again with the incessant chatting, bursts of laughter and the shouts and groans from the handball courts. The smiles were very evident on the faces of the students - and the teachers! - as they reacquainted themselves with their friends. Whilst some had already caught up with each other using technology, others had been isolated from these friendships for many weeks. Naturally there were some nerves and our priority this week is to make sure that everyone feels safe and supported now that we are back at school.
Another of our priorities moving forward is to 'build back better', to coin a phrase that is being used at the moment in many contexts. We were forced into changing the way we taught and the students learned before the Easter holiday. It would be easy to slip back into teaching the way we have always done it without regard for the learnings that we can gather from the last five weeks. For example, students have developed a greater level of independence and an improved sense of their capabilities as a learner. Teachers have learned new skills in the implementation of technology to enhance what they do to deliver a quality learning program. Moving forward, we will be examining the successes of the learning@home program with a view to ensuring that each student has the opportunity to be the best they can be.
Since the start of Term 2, we have enrolled seven new students in to the Primary classes. It has been wonderful to see the way in which these students have been embraced by their classmates, despite the difficult circumstances of the last five weeks. Prof John Hattie, who has led extensive research into what factors have the largest impact on student learning outcomes quotes Maurice Galton as saying that the biggest predictor of student success when they move schools is whether or not they find a friend within the first month. I am sure that these students and their families will be made to feel very much part of the St Joseph's School by all of us.
Heard on the playground at morning tea on Monday from three Year 2 girls:
"Mrs Yates, can we please play 'walking' Red Rover because Jason isn't allowed to run and we don't want him to be left out?" Looking after each other is what our students do so well here.
Sarah Yates
Assistant to the Principal Primary
ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL FORMATION & IDENTITY
The Easter Season Concludes
This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost marking the conclusion of the Easter Season. Pentecost focuses on the gift of the Holy Spirit given to timid, fearful men “huddled behind closed doors”, and transforms them to bold men who “bear witness to [Jesus]” (Jn 15:27). The gift of the Holy Spirit continues to provoke change, guiding the heart and people in new directions, so as to renew hope, joy and new life.
As we emerge from our recent struggles and challenges may we wake up each day and say: ‘Come, Holy Spirit, come into my heart, come into my day’.
Hearts Ablaze
Beautiful Lord,
may we say “yes” to you
so that the Spirit in our hearts
will once again be set ablaze.
Spirit of Wisdom,
guide our actions so they tell of God’s love.
Spirit of Truth,
open our eyes to see the world as it really is.
Spirit of Power,
enthuse us to work for justice throughout the world.
Spirit of Love,
inspire us to respect the dignity of each person.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill our hearts.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill us.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Come.
Stephen Davies
Megan Mahoney
Assistant to the Principal Formation & Identity
UNWELL STUDENTS - CLARIFICATION
As you are aware, students who are unwell should not attend school and if a student is unwell at school we will ask that parents and caregivers take them home.
By way of clarification, the advice and direction we have received on this matter is that students should be symptom-free before returning to school. This is due to increased hygiene requirements, for example, staff being required to wipe noses for younger students and the difficulty stopping kids coughing on each other.
GETTING “PINNED” FOR THEIR ENTHUSIASM
St. Joseph’s School Captains, Bridgette Kay and James Humble, along with teacher Lisa McPherson recently pinned our 2020 Maths and Science Club Leaders and thanked them for their leadership and enthusiasm.
So far, 2020 has seen the Maths Club teach junior students how to solve the Rubick’s Cube whilst Science Club hosted bovine (cattle) eye dissection for Years 6 to 10.
YEAR 6 STUDENTS TAKE ON THE ROLE OF 'TEACHER"
The Year 6 students assisted the Year 1 students writing certificates to award to their parents for helping the young students with their learning at home.
The Year 6 students expressed both pride in their small learners but also some frustration when they, the 'teacher' realised that their explanations weren't always well received or delivered with the clarity necessary for the Year 1's to follow.
ADVANCED YEAR 10 MATHS CURRICULUM CONTINUED WHILST LEARNING AT HOME
Whilst learning@home students were able to continue their 10A curriculum via an online platform called Education Perfect, Year 10 students dug deeper into trigonometric functions and their graphs.
Regular lunch sessions will resume with face-to-face learning in Week Six.
Year 4 and 5 students recently took part in making their very own Water Cycles.
A water cycle is also known as hydrologic cycle or hydrological cycle. It describes how water moves continuously on Earth. Water loops through different stages – evaporation, conensation, precipitation and flow. It then goes back to the evaporation stage.
The whole cycle starts all over again and hence the name “water cycle”.
How the Water Cycle Experiment Helped Me Learn - Thomas Telfer
The water cycle experiment helped me learn how unique it actually is to the world.
Watching the experiment happen was way easier to learn than trying to pack all the words from a YouTube video into my brain. I even learned about learning from that experiment, I learned that learning isn’t that hard when you can see it close up. Learning can be really easy if you just try to look at it. So basically what I’m trying to say is that the water cycle experiment made my learning way easier so I don’t have to work super hard to learn I can now work normally and my work will flow through, kind of like this paragraph that you’re reading. My work can just flow out of me.
Year 7 students upon their return to school not only covered some of the learning@home work but also began exploring the Cartesian Plane with Mr Cullen. It was cool to see the positive and negative integers come together on both the x (horizontal) and y (vertical) axes.
Students also spent some time exploring their learning at home experience and sharing their experiences of the year so far and what is yet to come.
First day back activities for our Year 6 students had them exploring clips from the movie 'Inside Out' and discussing emotions - how do we respond to situations and how we can move through our different feelings in various situations.
A big shout out to Year 11 students, Taylah Whiticker and Cooper Wren who can both solve the Rubick’s Cube in under 1 minute, 20 seconds.
Taylah and Cooper, the leaders of St Joseph’s Math's Club conquered the cube whilst mentoring younger students with the puzzling cube.
World Bee Day was celebrated on May 20. On this day Anton Janša, the pioneer of beekeeping, was born in 1734. The purpose of the International Day is to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem. Well done bees!!
Here at St Joseph’s, we had many artists draw mini masterpieces and several of the Primary students taking part in waggle dances.
If you’re up for a bee boogie check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGHmHBA0RKs.
The return to school this week saw students from Year 7 complete fieldwork for their geography assessment. They are comparing the liveability of two locations.
Due to Covid 19, students were restricted to locations that could be seen from school grounds. Last week, some of the students started this task at school (High St) whilst others worked from their home.
NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME
National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually and this year it took place on Wednesday 27 May 2020 at 11:00am. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country.
This year, St Joseph's Primary school students participated in the reading, listening and sharing of Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas written and illustrated by Lucinda Gifford.
Tuesday saw our Year 11 and 12 Senior students, along with Mr Cook, Mrs Kirby, Mrs Ellis and Mr Mahoney plan a ‘Welcome Back’ BBQ and sports filled activity session during Pastoral Care time for the Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students.
The Year 11's created a rotation of four activities including kick tennis, fustal, Austag-style rugby and a gym fitness challenge. Students were placed into their house teams of Davadi and McAuley and pitted against each other to win the mini-tournament, with prizes being given to all students from the winning house – McAuley, who beat Davadi 21 to 19. The lucky winners will receive their prizes this Thursday during lunch time.
These activities were followed by a delicious free ‘Welcome Back’ BBQ, cooked by our awesome Seniors, with a little help from some of our support staff. Students enjoyed this session so much that there are calls for the Year 11 and 12's to organise more fun PC lessons like this.
Special thanks to Mr Citrigno, Mr Stone and Mr Steele for also running these activities along with the Year 11 students.
A reminder to all parents that Tuckshop will be recommencing Friday 29th May on both the Primary and Secondary Campuses.
The Secondary Tuckshop will continue in its usual format, however, the Primary Tuckshop will operate in a slimmed down version for the remainder of Term 2.
There will be no homebaking or popcorn, as food handling is being reduced as much as possible. Packaged drinks, chips and ice blocks will be the only over-the-counter items for sale during this time.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? PAST STUDENTS OF ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL
Hundreds of past students of St Joseph’s School are scattered throughout Australia and around the world, working across every industry. We’re proud of our past students and their achievements – big and small. In future newsletters, we will be highlighting a past student and sharing what they have been up to since leaving the Joey's gates.
HANNAH REEVES
What year did you graduate?
I graduated school in 2019, however I finished my schooling with St Joseph's in 2016.
What were your favourite subjects at St Joseph’s School?
My favourite subject while at St Joseph's was definately HPE.
Can you tell us about your time at St Joseph’s School? Is there anything you especially remember?
My time at St Joseph's was definately filled with so many great memories and always being surrounded with amazing students and teachers.
What has been your journey since finishing school? Briefly outline your career path and what you are doing now. Have you always wanted to pursue the kind of career you have embarked on?
I moved to Brisbane after leaving St Joseph's, to attend a golf school to pursue my golfing career. I have been travelling around the world playing in many golf tournaments throuout the years since leaving St Joseph's.
What piece of advice would you have for current students at St Joseph’s School?
The piece of advice I would give to a current St Joseph's student would be to respect everyone no matter what and to always follow your dreams no matter how hard it is.
1 x Windproof jacket - clearly labelled with "Lachlan Doyle" or "L Doyle" - most likley on the tag.
Could you please check to see if your child has accidently taken this item of clothing home with them and return it to the office if so.
A reminder to Parents and Caregivers to please ensure that all items of school clothing are to be clearly named.
26 June | Student Free Day |
Term 2 Finishes | |
13 July | Term 3 Commences |