As Term 3 draws to a close I share with you some exciting news.  Over the last 18 months there has been a shift in how reading is taught in our schools.  As a school we are beginning to see the benefits.  In recent testing, we can confidently say that 80% of our Year One students are fluent decoders, which is the skill needed for independent readers.  In our 2024 NAPLAN data, our Year 3 and 5 students have shown that they are achieving at significantly higher levels than their peers in similar schools.  This is due to the hard work of our teachers, who have embraced the changes necessary, to deliver the teaching required so that our students at St Joseph's are meeting the benchmarks and expectations for development of essential skills and understandings.  

Each week, our children visit the library (Thank you Miss Walker) and are invited to select a book of interest.  I wonder what book your child chose this week?  Last week?  Spending some time reading together, even when your child can read fluently and independently, is so important. 

Why is it important to read to your child?

1. Develop language skills- help build the language pathways in your child’s brain.  By reading to your child starting from a young age, even before they’re able to communicate verbally, you help lay the neurological groundwork for effective language use and literacy. That’s partly because books expose children to vocabulary and grammar that they wouldn’t normally hear. Research states that young children whose parents read to them daily have been exposed to almost 300 000 - 1 000 000 more words by the time they enter kindergarten. This makes it easier for kids to expand their vocabularies and understand the variety of texts they’ll need to read as they get older, both inside school and out.
2. Develops a wide base of background knowledge. With more general knowledge — whether it’s about geography, transportation, nature, or countless other topics — kids have more context for the information they encounter at school and an easier time learning about new topics.
3. Develops empathy. As children read books about people whose lives are different from their own they gain an appreciation for other people’s feelings, as well as other cultures, lifestyles, and perspectives.
4. Teaches how to handle feelings in healthy ways. Seeing characters in books experience big emotions like anger or sadness lets kids know that these feelings are normal — and gives them a chance to talk about their own difficult feelings, too.
5. The parent-child bond- having consistent, focused time together, without other distractions or demands gives both you and your child a chance to slow down and connect with each other.

Term 3 Highlights

I thank our staff for all they do.  In addition to this explicit teaching of content they organise and support all of the extra events that we celebrate at school:

NAIDOC Week

Olympics Celebrations

Fathers Day

Science Week

Book Week 

Lyell Wing visits

Reconciliation 

Baptism Celebrations

Catholic Education Week

Chess Tournament

Drama/Band performances

And that is just term 3.  Not a surprise we are ready for a break to refresh, so we are energised for an amazing final term for the year.

As Term 3 draws to a cose, we wish Mr Dylan Semmens well as he embarks on a period of leave.  Dylan will be travelling throughout Term 4.  We pray that God will journey with him on his travels and keep him safe.

Further School News

We are very sad to let families know that some staff will be leaving our school at the end of 2024. 

Miss Rebecca Bounds- Bec has taught at our school for over seven years.  Over that time she has taught in a number of different classes.  Supporting student achievements both inside and outside the classrooms has been very appreciated by many students.  Bec commits many outside school hours to watch sport, participate in Lego league and run discos.  Bec is moving on to St Finn Barrs in Invermay next year and there will be more opportunities for us as a school to say goodbye.

Mr Barry Jones- Barry has been the leader of teaching and learning for the past three years.  He has been instrumental in leading teachers and providing curriculum support to teachers.  Mr Jones is heading to St Patricks Latrobe in 2025 where he is  looking forward to applying the knowledge and skills he has nurtured in others in his own classroom.

Ms Joanne Thompson- Jo has been a teacher of Art and LOTE (Auslan) for the past Three years.  She is a caring  teacher who always creates activities and tasks involving high engagement.  Jo is going to spend some of 2025 travelling and we hope to have her back in a relief capacity at stages throughout the year.

As a school we will be able to farewell our leaving staff and welcome new staff, including Mrs Tammi Crosswell as Deputy Principal, Mrs Patricia Walsh as a classroom teacher in addition to having Ms Alice Karpienic as a permanent member of staff.  

School Improvement Surveys

Thank you to the many families who participated in the survey.  Early Term 4 we will have the opportunity to sit and discern the results and create some goals to improve the work that we do. 

With Kindness,

Teresa

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved!

2024 TERM DATES

Term 1: 7th February - 11th April

Term 2: 29th April - 5th July

Term 3: 23rd July - 27th September

Term 4: 15th October - 17th December

2025 TERM DATES

Term 1: 7th February - 10th April

Term 2: 28th April - 4th July

Term 3: 22nd July - 26th September

Term 4: 14th October - 17th December

Term 4 

Coming up.....

Socktober - Friday, 25th October

Sacramental Mass - Saturday, 26th October

School Photo Day - Wednesday, 30th October (more information to come)

As we head into Summer uniform for Term 4, a reminder about the expectations.  Students are permitted to choose to wear the sports uniform or the traditional summer uniform. Both of these options rely on the students wearing black shoes (sneakers or leather) everyday.  Prep students should continue to wear sports uniform only each day.

The school uniform shop provides a service for parents by stocking all items of the approved school uniform, except for shoes, at minimum possible prices. The shop also maintains a pool of good second-hand uniform clothing.

• Girls dress length should be knee length or within five centimetres of the knee.
• All members of the school staff are conscious of their role in implementing this policy by setting an example in their own neatness and appropriateness of dress and by ensuring that children are neatly attired when participating in any school activity.

We will make a decision by week 5 Term next term for 2025 and beyond.

Myrtle has been learning about Christian Life and what it means to be made in God's image. We created these pictures using the bible verse Genesis 1:26- 27. The students used their fingerprints to create the people and then decorated them in their own style to show that we are all unique.

Last Friday some of our students travelled to Strahan Primary for a chess tournament.