Enhancing our Catholic Identity 

Each year at the conclusion of Catholic Education Week, schools across our diocese gather for Bishop’s Inservice Day to celebrate, reflect and learn.  In the past schools met in three different locations across the Diocese.  Last year, Covid saw staff remain in their schools, with programs implemented by APREs and this year, with the continuation of Covid precautions, the same procedure will occur.

The day will commence with all staff gathering for prayer, followed by a pre-recorded address from Bishop Robert McGuckin and Dr Pat Coughlan, Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Schools.  This is then followed by a workshop which focuses on a particular theme within Catholic Education.

This year our school staff will unpack the data received from the ECSI (Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity) project.  This is a collaborative research project with the Catholic University of Leuven and will assist our school in understanding how our Catholic identity is expressed in work and practice. “It aims to then support schools as they nurture their Catholic identity into the future in a way that is meaningful to all in their community” (BCE).

A report gives our school a summary of the qualities and strengths, potential challenges and questions, and importantly recommendations to enable our school to strengthen our Catholic identity.  Our ultimate aim being to become a dialogue school where the Catholic faith remains credible, recognisable and meaningful for all.  Our staff look forward to working in this space throughout this day.

God's Blessings

Megan Mahoney
Assistant to the Principal Formation & Identity

St Joseph's School is using the new Check In Qld app to help keep you COVID safe the next time you visit. 

All you need to do is:

• visit www.covid19.qld.gov.au/check-in-qld for links to download the app from Google Play or Apple App stores
• enter your details once when you first open the app
• open the app when you next visit us
• select ‘Check in Now’ and scan or enter our code

Using this digital check in means your details will be stored securely by the Queensland Government for 56 days to assist with COVID-19 contact tracing (if needed).

Normal school sign-in procedures in addition to the Check In app will continue for visitors to school grounds through the school's Kiosk. These records are held for purposes other than COVID-19, such as fire evacuation, student protection and contractor records. 

The Check In Qld app is safe, secure and private. The benefit of the Check In Qld app is that it allows faster contact tracing, should a person test positive to COVID-19. The app sends a text message to people who have attended an exposure site, in addition to informing the site itself. 

There are a 2 Check In Qld apps as follows:

• St Joseph’s School-Office & Primary Campus
• St Joseph’s School-Secondary Campus

The Qld QR code posters have been placed in various areas across both campuses at specific entry areas, ie. School Office, Bathersby Centre, etc.

We appreciate your understanding and assistance with keeping our school safe.

Check in and you’re good to go!

Visitors to our School

An important reminder to all contractors, parents and visitors that you must sign in and out at the School Office kiosk when visiting classrooms or coming into other parts of the school. 

This does not apply to parents dropping students off before school and collecting them after school.

Once you have signed in, you will then be assigned a “Visitors” sticker which you must wear at all times within the school. 

If you are collecting your child within school hours, please present to the School Office where we will then contact the classroom to have your child come to the office to be collected.  Please do not proceed directly to the classrooms during school hours.

Early departure & late arrival slips

A friendly reminder regarding correct procedures for late arrivals, early departures and visitors as follows:

If your child is absent from school, please advise the office by calling on 07 4681 5900 or emailing stanthorpe@twb.catholic.edu.au. When leaving a message please clearly state your child's name and their class. Please do not ask your other children to advise the office as often these messages are not passed on. If no advice is received, an SMS will be sent seeking confirmation, followed by a phone call if required.

Primary carpark 

Parents are reminded that the carpark at the Primary office is strictly for teachers and staff only during school hours. Please do not use the car park to collect your children.

Catholic Education Week will be celebrated in Catholic schools in Queensland from 25 – 31 July 2021.

The theme for this year’s celebrations is:  A Spirited Tomorrow.

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.

There are 309 Catholic schools in Queensland that educate around 154,000 students and employ more than 20,000 teachers and staff, and most will celebrate Catholic Education Week in some way.

To celebrate the launch of Catholic Education Week, mass will be celebrated in St Joseph’s Church at 8:30am on Sunday 25th July.  Students and their families are invited to join in celebrating the liturgy and are asked to wear their formal school uniform. Students will be participating in readings and prayers, as well as the offertory procession.

COVID Fatigue & Youth Mental Health

The physical impact of the pandemic has mostly spared our young people, however as the nation remains to be on alert and in various stages of lockdown, restrictions continue to be mandated. The pandemic has had a great affect on our young people with many paying a heavy emotional and developmental price. Psychological disorders are on the rise and emergency interventions have skyrocketed.

As hard as it is being a young person today, it's also draining being the parent of one. It has been reported that many parents are struggling to keep their child's mental health afloat, often proving it is difficult to juggle parenting responsibilities whilst at the same time providing much needed emotional support for their children. 

Unlike the coronavirus itself, the emotional blowback of the pandemic cannot be vaccinated away. Psychologists are seeing more depression and anxiety across all age groups, but in adolescents it seems to be on steroids, with some choosing to self-medicate using alcohol or other drugs. When they look into the future now, they're looking at one that wasn't what they envisioned before.

This report explains the current state of youth mental health in a post-COVID era and offers guidance on how best to support young people today. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback. 

If this Special Report raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://stjosephs.qld.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-covid-fatigue-youth-mental-health .

We are pleased to welcome Ms Sarah Day and Ms Claire Richardson to the staff at St Joseph's School.

Sarah is an experienced Health & Physical Education and Maths teacher who comes to us from Stanthorpe State High School. She has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement Studies) and Bachelor Education from the Queensland University of Technology.

Sarah will be teaching Primary Physical Education for Semester 2, while Mr Grew is on leave, and Year 10 Physical Education. She also is an experienced soccer player and coach and is well known and respected in the Stanthorpe community.

The Mercy Foundation Youth Awards is a competition open to high school students across Australia from Years 7 to 12. The competition aims to encourage you to learn more about social justice issues in Australia.

Year 12 students at St Joseph's have spent the last few weeks of Term 2 preparing their entries for this worthwhile competition.

Stayed tuned as over the next few editions of the school newsletter, we will display the entries that our students have been preparing.

Seasons come and go. Just as winter can be bare and lifeless at times our life can sometimes feel the same, we may feel cold and alone as if nothing matters. But just as a tree springs to new life we can also see the joy in life if we search for purpose and ways in which to live life to the full.

Vanessa Petroccitto

A tree standing alone represents that in those times when we may feel isolated and companionless, we can still flourish if we look beyond our immediate despair. We can build and maintain good mental health every day by looking forward to the new day and standing strong in front of things that might want to take away our capacity to live life to the full.

Struan Trenning

These meals continue to be a wonderful way for our School community to express care for one another.  This was a new initiative launched earlier this year by the School's Teen Vinnies.

Last week we were also able to assist the local Cancer Support group working with a young mother of three who is undergoing Radium treatment for Breast Cancer. We provided several home cooked frozen meals to the family for those times when Mum isn’t up to cooking.

Thank you to all who have cooked meals and enable us to be generous and offer hospitality to others. 

If you would like to be involved in helping to support families in our school community by making a meal, this would be greatly appreciated.  Keep it simple and heartfelt while taking into account the ease for the family.  Something that can be simply popped in the oven to rehaeat is ideal.

Meals can be dropped to the main office and will be collected promptly for freezing.  

If you know someone who is having a difficult time and would appreciate a meal, please contact the office.

St Joseph's School has long been associated with assisting and partnering with Meals on Wheels both by students and staff.

It is a great experience and allows us to perform a simple act of kindness.

Any parents or carers who are able to join the roster for a day and help us deliver this service can contact John Mahoney on 0408 937 828.

Our next Roster is for the week of Monday 16^th to Friday 20^th  August.

We depart the Church Carpark at 10.30am and return by approximately 12pm.

Year 10 Science students are currently engaging in a Physics unit.

Students have been learning about different types of forces, both contact or non-contact forces. Students then had a chance to interact with several types of forces they learned about via various stations around the classroom.

Congratulations to the group who built a buoyant aluminium foil boat strong enough to hold 75 marbles before sinking!

Rainy days on the Primary campus recently saw some of our Year 6 Primary leaders, teach our young Prep students how to play Handball.

So much fun and enjoyment was had by all.

Year 7 and 8 students have been busy preparing for our inter-school debating competition, with their first debate held this week at St Joseph’s School.

These debates see St Joseph’s compete against Stanthorpe State High School and provide students with an excellent opportunity to practice their public speaking and critical reasoning skills.

The Year 7 students argued for the affirmative ‘That violent video games should be banned’ whilst the Year 8 students argued for the negative on the topic of  ‘That it should be mandatory for masks to be worn in all public spaces’. 

Both teams prepared well and performed fantastically on the day, each coming away with wins. Great work teams!! We’ll now start preparing for round two in three weeks time.

A reminder to all parents that Parent Teacher Consultations bookings are now open for both Primary and Secondary.  All parents will have received an email through Parent Paperwork with details on how to book their interview times.

The Parent Teacher Consultations are an important opportunity for parents, staff and students to have collaborative conversations to reflect on the students academic performance in Semester 1 and refine future directions to build upon this success, as well as seek improvement. 

If there are any issues with the booking system, please contact the school.

A friendly reminder that we at St Joseph's encourage families to collect their bread tags and bring them into school where they can be dropped off to a number of places.

Each Primary classroom and Secondary PC classroom have been given a container where the bread tags can be collected.  Alternatively, bread tags can also been dropped in to the Administration building on the Primary campus.  You will see a small pink wheelie bin in the foyer in which your bread tags can be placed into.

Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs is a registered charity that collects bread tags nationally in Australia. These are recycled in Robe, SA, into craft items such as boards and bowls. The funds raised through recycling are used to buy wheelchairs for the needy in South

Africa. They currently have 500+ collection points nationally and are recycling 200kg of bread tags per month.

You can see more about the organisation at https://ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au/, including pictures of the collection community and wheelchair recipients and the products of the recycling process.

All lost property on the Primary Campus can now be located in a container clearly marked "Lost Property" in the lunch shed during school hours.

Please check there in the first instance of any lost property.

All clothing should be clearly marked with your child's name to avoid loss.

That awkward moment when you arrive at work and see someone else wearing
the same outfit !!
Not the case for Ms Jones, Mr Cook, Ms Coxon and Mrs Roberts who all turned up to work this week with co-ordinated outfits (purely just by chance).