29 October 2024 (Week 3 Term 4 2024)
Dear St Joseph's Community
Wishing our families well as we commence Week 3 of term!
VALUES VAULT
This week, we launched a new initiative called the Values Vault to ‘catch’ our amazing students demonstrating our school values each week. Last week’s value was Self-responsibility, and our behaviour focus was “I put my rubbish in the right bin”. Each week, all those students the teacher has spotted doing the right thing will have their names added to the Values Vault, with one name to be drawn out each week. That student will then earn 10 minutes of extra playtime or fun class activity for the whole class sometime during that week. We look forward to seeing our students live up to these values that make our school such a special place.
NEW RECESS TRIAL STRUCTURE
As our community knows, we made a number of changes to the structure of the day for the start of 2024 based on good research and the needs of the new curriculum. Particular changes were the times and structures of the breaks.
We sought some feedback from students earlier in the year and shared this with families. The feedback was generally very positive, and as we have settled into the year, we have seen significant benefits for students.
An ongoing challenge has been our recess time and encouraging our students to eat a snack at this time. I know this has been a challenge for parents, with some students not eating as much across the two breaks. Despite having an allocated time at the beginning of recess for students to eat, with students eager to play, most students don’t take this time to eat. We also know there is a real need for students to refuel so they have the energy to continue with the day’s learning and fun.
We discussed this in our staff meeting, and our plan is to trial a shift in the structure of recess for a two-week period to see if this makes a difference. In weeks 4 and 5, we will flip the structure of recess, with students heading straight out to play before returning to their eating areas for some dedicated time to eat and drink, which is important for students across all year levels.
With your support in packing food that can be eaten across both breaks, we hope this might ensure our students are fueled up and ready for their learning for the last 90 minutes of the day and won’t be starving when they jump in the car or while waiting for their bus.
We’ll seek to determine if this structure makes a difference in students’ eating habits at recess and seek some feedback from staff, students and parents at the end of the trial to see whether this trial had the desired impact.
If you have any questions, please let me know, and we thank you for your support while we try a new approach to help ensure our students are healthy and ready to learn.
OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOALS
At last week’s Staff Meeting, we spent some time reviewing our 2024 School Annual Improvement Goals to evaluate where we have had the most impact. This was a rewarding process, where we considered the explicit targets we hoped to see by the end of the year and considered what our data were telling us about where we had success.
I’ve summarised some successes below.
Our Mission Goal - to strengthen Catholic identity and Religious Education through staff formation and prayer and liturgy opportunities.
- Most of the initiatives for this year occurred after the data were collected and so we look forward to measuring impact in 2025.
- We have implemented some amazing initiatives which have been very well received:
- Year-level Masses for Stage 2 and 3 students in the parish
- Stage Family Masses in the Parish
- The Yarners knitting group connecting students to the parish
- Staff formation in Staff Meetings
- Our Mary Mackillop Feast Day Social Justice Day
Our Learning and Teaching Goal - To improve student learning outcomes in literacy.
- Our PAT Reading data showed an improvement on average from the end of last year to the middle of this year. We look forward to seeing more growth as we analyse the newest PAT data that is currently being collected.
- Our Sentence-level Writing data has shown excellent improvement across all grades, with more students moving from at-risk to being at grade level for their writing of sentences.
- Our DIBELS Reading data has shown terrific improvement from the beginning of the year in 2023 to now. The proportion of students AT or ABOVE grade level for reading has grown from 46% at the start of 2023 to 48% to 56% to 61% and was at 63% at the middle of 2024. We look forward to collecting this data for the end of the year for DIBELS reading data in the coming weeks to hopefully see even more growth!
Our Pastoral Care Goal - To build a strong sense of belonging through evidence-informed pastoral care practices.
- We saw strong growth in the proportion of students valuing school outcomes in the Tell Them From Me data.
- We saw a reduction in the proportion of students and parents reporting bullying, both in the number and the severity of Tell Them From Me data.
- Our attendance rate was still strong, but due to many community illnesses, it didn’t allow us to hit our 2024 target.
- We didn’t hit our target with belonging, but we have put significant work into this in 2024 and hope to see some movement in the data in 2025.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
In this week’s Gospel (Mark 10:46-52), Bartimaeus, a blind man, calls out to Jesus for help despite others trying to quiet him. His persistence and faith lead to his healing, as Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.”
As parents, we often find ourselves calling out for guidance and strength as we raise our children. Bartimaeus reminds us to trust that God hears our prayers, even in challenging moments, and that His support is always present.
When Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” it’s an invitation to bring our needs to God. May we, like Bartimaeus, find the courage to ask and trust in God’s grace to guide and strengthen us in our role as parents and carers, knowing He is with us on this journey.
You are invited to listen to Bishop Greg’s Homily from Sunday’s Mass.
JOEYS AT THE SHOW
If you visited the Alstonville Agricultural Show over the weekend, you might have seen our school’s display at the pavilion. We represented a range of student artworks, including those from the art competition earlier in the year and those from the new mural. Thanks to Mrs Graveson, Mrs Lewis, and Mrs Jones for assembling the display, as well as to all the students who made the beautiful artwork and those who supported them.
Congratulations to all of our students who also submitted their own items for display and judgment at the show. One student, I believe, submitted 51 items across the arts and crafts categories! We truly have some amazingly talented students.
SCHOOL COMMUNITY GROUP TERM 4 MEETING - JOIN VIA ZOOM!
Our Term 4 School Community Group meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 5th of November from 6:30 - 7:45 pm. Parents are welcome to join in person or to join via Zoom.
At this stage, the school would like to present on:
- School Improvement Planning for 2024
- Student Reading and Writing Growth 2024
The feedback has led us to have a learning focus on how is Mathematics taught at St Joseph's and what you can do to support maths at home,
There is also a space to provide the school with a feedback focus.
Here is the link to RSVP and contribute to the agenda. We hope to see you there!
UNIFORM REMINDER - JEWELLERY
A reminder that the only jewellery that the school accepts is a single pair of plain studs or small sleeper earrings, or a non-smart watch. Necklaces, rings and bracelets are asked to be left at home. Smartwatches, if brought to school, must be left in the front office in an envelope, regardless of whether they are in locked mode during school time.
TERM 1 2025 COMMENCEMENT DATES
For your calendars for the start of 2025, please see the commencement dates below.
EXPLORE THESE MATHEMATICS LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR K-2 STUDENTS AT HOME Kindergarten
Investigating Numbers to Ten Measuring and Comparing Area
YEAR 1
Time Measuring and Comparing Area
YEAR 2
Estimating Measuring and Comparing Area
HOW TO BUILD YOU CHILD'S LITERACY SKILLS FROM GRADES 3 TO 6
This page includes tips on how to help build your child's skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It provides advice on:
- Discussing news and current events
- Helping your child to read and write
- Family Projects
- Helping your child to speak and listen
- Creating a literary-rich home
STRUCTURED PLAY ROSTER
The structured play roster is below for parents to have conversations with their children about the exciting sporting and cultural activities we have on offer at break times this term.
PSSA Athletics
Last week, Jonty Allen and Zeke Kubils travelled to compete at the PSSA Athletics Carnival. We congratulate both boys for representing our school with such pride and talent.
Zeke placed 7th in the 12/13yrs boys shot put where he managed a PB, and 25th in the discus event. He was also awarded a finalist pin. Jonty placed 3rd in the Senior boys Multiclass Long Jump, and has qualified to compete at Nationals. He also placed 16th in the Senior boys Multiclass 100m.
Good attendance in primary school will be a skill that will help them succeed in high school.
Good attendance in primary school is a fundamental building block for academic success and overall wellbeing, and it sets the stage for success in high school and beyond. Primary school is the foundational stage of a child's education. Regular attendance ensures that children build a solid understanding of fundamental concepts and skills that serve as the basis for more advanced learning in high school.
By recognising the long-term benefits and reinforcing the importance of regular school attendance in primary years, students are better equipped to succeed in high school and beyond. Attending school regularly instils a sense of responsibility and work ethic in students and participating actively in class are essential components of success.
STAGE 1
In History, we are learning about the history of our school. Yesterday Miss Julie Schmit visited Stage 1 to talk to us about her time at our school. Miss Schmidt was both a student and then later, a teacher here at St Joseph’s. The information she shared with us was very interesting and we would like to share some of her experiences with you too.
- The games she played at school were marbles, jacks, football (she was very good at football and was a goal kicker!) and cricket.
- Every morning the milkman would deliver milk for the students. The flavours were chocolate, strawberry, banana or lime. Often these sat in the hot sun and curdled but the students still had to drink it!.
- There were no flush toilets. The toilet was a seat on a big tin can. A man came in a truck to empty the cans
- The room Rainbow Region Kids uses was once a Kinder - Year 9 boarding school.
- To do her work, Miss Schmidt initially used a slate to write on. Later she used ink and a pen. There were no worksheets.
- There were no male teachers when she went to school here, only Sisters of St. Joseph.
- The students were allowed at school from about 8am. They played unsupervised until 8:30 am . The Sisters would listen to the students read one at a time, then they could go back and play until 9:30 am when school started. School finished at 3:30 pm
Thank you so much Miss Schmidt for coming to speak to us about what our school used to be like.
SCHOOL FEES REMINDER
Term 4 Tuition Fees were invoiced in Week 1 and are now due. A reminder that all levies and fees for the year are to be finalised no later than November 30, 2024 (unless you have a previously approved payment arrangement in place).
If you are experiencing financial difficulties and wish to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact Caroline McInnes in the first instance caroline.mcinnes@lism.catholic.edu.au or by calling Administration on 6628 1009.
Gift of the Gab
Well done to those students who received their certificates for participating in Gift of the Gab for 2024!
Sports Awards
Congratulations to Zeke Kubils and Jordy Thompson for representing at the Diocesan Athletics Carnival recently.
