6 May 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's News

Dear Parents and Carers

The School's 2016 Annual Priorities are focused on improving student achievement, and teachers are working extraordinarily hard to implement strategies to achieve this. The strategies undertaken by teachers are grounded in some significant research (an analysis of 52000 studies involving 240 000 000 students!), which identify those approaches to teaching and learning which have the strongest effect on student outcomes. For example, the research shows that students who have high expectations of themselves and can accurately self-report their own achievement have close to 7 years' of academic advantage over those who do not. Conversely, the research suggests that student control over learning has little impact on student achievement. Therefore, teachers are in a good position to make decisions about how to structure teaching and learning so that students can progress in their learning. But what can parents do?

There has been a great deal of discussion about the role of parents in their child's education, which has generally focused on either parents undertaking educational activities at home, or being involved in the life of the school. In many ways, this raised more questions for parents than it did solutions, leaving some even further disconnected from their children's education. However, like teachers, there are more useful approaches than others when it comes to parents' involvement in the education of their child, and these approaches have been shown to improve student achievement and wellbeing. I have summarised these below:

1. Authoritative Parenting refers to the balance between love and warmth, and the establishment of boundaries.
2. Know the value of education can be seen in parents who model behaviours of successful lifelong learners. When children see this in their parents, over time they begin to develop certain beliefs, values and attitudes about learning which helps them become independent learners.
3. Have high expectations and aspirations: Parents who talk to their children about their belief in their children's potential to achieve, and discuss their child's education and career aspirations.
4. Family-led learning at home can be achieved by making the home an extension of school which promotes academic achievement. Creating an environment at home which is conducive to focused learning is important, but of equal benefit is the linking of school work with current events, discussing learning strategies and linking the effort invested in learning with future aspirations and career goals.
5. Become and stay engaged throughout your child's schooling life can be achieved by consistently talking about school. This interaction is vital. For example, early interaction has long term effects: a 3-year old's vocabulary can predict a child's vocabulary at the age of 10. Engagement by parents through conversation is very important at transition points: Prep; Year 7, Year 11 and at the end of Year 12.
6. Family-school communication is essential in ensuring a positive relationship between home and school. Dialogue between school and parents is critical to a child's success, and can support the five other strategies (above).

[Source: Goodall, J. (2013)]

The research suggests that parents who use these strategies to engage in their child's education can have an effect which amounts to 3 years of achievement.

In the coming months and as a focus for P&F Meetings, the school will be holding forums to assist parents with engagement strategies, and how they can develop a learning culture at home.

ANZAC Day is a special day across Australia and is always celebrated in the right spirit at the school. You may have seen our newly constructed ANZAC garden on the Secondary Campus, which incorporates the emblems of the ADF, and specially bred plants commemorating the ANZAC tradition. Thanks to Mr Stephen Pace and the Stanthorpe Branch of the RSL for their contributions to this special space.

Staff, students and their families represented the school well at all of the services and, as is regularly the case, many people commented on the behaviour and presentation of our students. We had 48 students attend the Dawn Service and enjoy the Gun Fire breakfast at the RSL. RSL staff and patrons always comment on the way in which St Joseph's School supports ANZAC day, and it is an important way we contribute to preserving this important Australian tradition. So, thank you to students and their families for their support of the day. I also extend this thanks to our staff for their presence at the services.

Dr Michael McCarthy
Principal

Leader's News

It was wonderful to see parents at last week's Parent Teacher Interviews. Interviews provide an excellent opportunity for parents to meet their child's teachers, ask questions in regards to their son or daughter's progress and create valuable partnerships in a child's learning. At all times teachers can be contacted via their email address, using the teacher's firstname.lastname@twb.catholic.edu.au.

There has been much happening on the secondary campus. Year 9 Home Economics class made pasta from scratch last week and hundreds of strands of pasta adorned the kitchen. Students have been engaging in cooking foods from around the globe and each week when I make my way past the kitchen there are plenty of smiles and stories to tell about the day's cooking. Year 11 and 12 Geography students had a day in the field on Friday and planted approximately 700 trees, including sixteen species, at the headway of the Condamine River at Queen Mary Falls. The outdoor classroom lends itself to a range of learning experiences both curriculum and relational. The three hour planting session called for energy and consistency, which was readily offered by the 18 students. We thank Mr Brett Tunstall from World of Trees for offering this opportunity to our school.

Bill Turner Cup and Broncos Cup matches have occurred in the past weeks, with further games this week. The Bill Turner teams lost games last week but did so with enthusiasm and commitment. This Friday the teams will play against Warwick State High School at 1:00 pm. We wish both teams the best of luck. Broncos Cup sees the school host a home netball game for the B division girls in the Bathersby Stadium. The QISSN team continue to bake their days away to reduce the costs of the carnival and on the weekend had another successful bake sale outside the Country Club.

Year 9 Pastoral Care has continued their assistance with Meals on Wheels and last week Year 10 students began their weekly visits to Villa Carramar. Year 11 Pastoral Care carry on providing lunch for sale one day a week to raise funds for furniture to be donated to the Stanthorpe Hospital Children's Room.

Next week on Tuesday 10th May, Wednesday 11th May and Thursday 12th May, Year 7 and 9 participate in the annual NAPLAN testing. Students need to ensure that they bring the required equipment for these tests. Equipment includes 2B or HB pencils, sharpener, eraser, calculator and black biros. Teachers are currently supporting students in their preparation for these tests.

This term may be eleven weeks in length but there always seems to be plenty happening on secondary campus St Joseph's School.

God's Blessings

Mrs Linda Perrett
APA Secondary

School News

Year 3 and 4 News

How would you feel if you had to move to a new country? Where would you go? Would your life be better? These questions and more were answered when the Year Three and Four classes recently visited the Stanthorpe Art Gallery to view the New Arrivals exhibit by South African artist Jacques van der Merwe. This allowed us to combine a few areas of study including English, Visual and Information Literacy, History and Visual Arts. The curator of the gallery, Nicola Holly, taught us about some of the techniques used by the artist to capture the many individuals' personalities and life stories. We were intrigued by these stories of immigration to Australia, the hardships faced along the way and the benefits felt by many once they settled in our country. Both classes have continued to focus on stories of arrival to our nation as part of their History classes. We may be biased but the locals featured amongst the exhibit were our favourites with one of our students being a great-grandson of Angelo Valiante.

On that day we also visited the town library which allowed us to make some comparisons between it and our school library. We like considering similarities and differences and whilst on this occasion we didn't draw up a trusty Venn Diagram we certainly discussed the different ways of organisation, variation between displays and the different items that can be found at the two libraries. This year we are looking at audience and purpose and discussion around this allowed us to provide reasons for some of the differences we identified.

Speaking of libraries – Wednesday is a busy day for the Year Three and Four classes. For the entire middle session we descend upon the library for a flurry of business and learning. Not only do we return and borrow books but we also rotate around four teachers over the course of a fortnight. With Mrs Grant we learn about books and information and how we can successfully access this in a timely manner. During our time with Mrs Campbell we have been developing our computer literacy skills and looking at how we can best derive information from images by increasing our Visual Literacy. Novel Study incorporates discussion and comprehension activities around our class books "Tom the Convict Boy" (Year Four) and "Surviving Sydney Cove" (Year Three) with Mrs McLucas Finally during our time with Miss Thompson we have the opportunity to present our Book Review Homework items in front of the class.

Primary Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to the many parents who have availed themselves of the opportunity of attending Parent/ Teacher interviews in the early weeks of Term Two. We strongly encourage all parents to access this opportunity to meet with teachers to discuss all aspects of their child's educational experience. The relationship between the school and parents is vital to the success of the achievement of students. If for any reason you were unable to attend the recent scheduled meeting times you are most welcome to arrange a time that is suitable for both you and your child's teacher.

Library News

Library News

Miss Gangemi and I extend a big "Thank You" to the school community for their great support of our Book Fair last term. As a result of your purchases we received over $700 worth of credit to spend on Scholastic products, and cherry picked $300 worth of free books from the Fair itself. So far we have purchased many of this year's Notable books using our points. We will continue to top up favourite titles and authors as requested by the students and to extend our Non-Fiction resources with remaining points.

We also would like to thank Miss Barber who very generously helped with the sales through Book Week. It certainly makes for a more smoothly run operation!

Our next Book Fair coincides with Book week towards the end of August. That should make for a fun-filled week!

Mrs. Grant
Teacher Librarian

Excursion Policy

The School offers students and their parents many co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities which broaden the context of learning for students. Many of these opportunities have costs associated with them which are calculated based upon the number of students and parents attending, with most non-refundable.

The non-refundable costs of excursions are the responsibility of parents. We appreciate that students fall ill and other situations arise which makes cancellation the only option, but the school is not in a position to carry these costs. The School makes every effort to recoup refunds from suppliers to pass on to parents, but often this is not possible in certain cases (i.e. transport, catering, ticketed events, workshops and so on).

Parents need to be aware of their financial obligations when consenting to attendance to excursions, field trips and camps. Meeting these obligations will ensure the co- and extra-curricular opportunities continue into the future.

Families experiencing financial hardship are encouraged to speak with the Principal to ensure that school costs are managed appropriately so that children are not disadvantaged.

Cobb & Co Museum

As part of Semester 1's History and Science units, Year's 1 and 2 students travelled to the Cobb and Co Museum in Toowoomba on Friday 29th April to immerse themselves in a little Australian history . Forty-five students were joined by twenty parent volunteers to experience cultural and environmental collections which include the Australia's best National Carriage Collection, the Garrett Steam Traction Engine, ancient carvings and ceramics from Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island people, and 20 taxidermy animal displays currently on loan from the Queensland Museum. In class history units: The Olden Days – then and now, has had Year 1 and 2 students bringing in objects from home that are owned by older family members and comparing items to their modern versions. Visits such as these to museums and local environmental and historical sites enable students to interact with real historical objects and listen to stories, providing tangible stimulus and a solid understanding of cultural and engineering progress.

My Favourite thing:

Erin O'Dea Year 2 – I liked all the different Cobb and Co Coaches
Charlie Alldridge Year 1 – I liked all the stuffed animals
Maddison Wilson Year 2 – I loved the energy for life room and riding the bike.

Year 12 ANZAC Day Memorial

Just prior to Anzac Day, the Year 12 cohort gathered in front of the newly formed memorial on the secondary campus to offer a prayer to those who have served and lost their lives in conflicts around the world The beautiful rose garden and memorial was designed and constructed by Steve and Sue Pace who worked hard to have it ready for Anzac Day. The roses chosen are symbolic of the Anzac spirit, bearing names such as Peace, Honour, Gallipoli and RSL. The Year 12's were grateful to have the opportunity of being the first to use it for their remembrance activity.

Sports News

5 to 8 Years Tabloid Sports

The 5 to 8 Years tabloid sports day will be held on Wednesday the 18th of May. The event will be run by our staff and our senior students. Students will participate in modified throwing, jumping and running events that are age appropriate. Parents are most welcome to come along and cheer on the children. The event will take place on the oval on the Primary campus from 1:30 to 3:00 pm.

David Fleming
Assistant Principal – Primary

Sporting Success

Last Monday Brayden Spiller was selected to the possible verse Probable stage of the Darling Downs Football (soccer trials) and was ultimately selected in the Darling Downs team. Congratulations Brayden on your success in what was a tough selection process.