Welcome back to the new school year and a special welcome to all new students and their families who have joined the St Joseph’s Catholic School Community. This year, we welcome many new staff: Mr Raymond Pearson who will be teaching across the school; and Mrs Sue Sheather will be working across St Joseph’s Queenstown as our Student and Literacy Project Support Teacher; Mrs Mary-Ellen Gileece teaching Kinder and Little Miners; Carine Kruger teaching Music across the school, Aiden Quinn teaching PE, We welcome back Joaane  working to teach LOTE (Auslan), Art and Year 1/2 (Friday). A huge thank you to Ms Kerri Bugg and Miss Clare Hales who have been working hard to organise students and staff for a good start to the year as well as David Young who has the school looking great. Teachers have transformed their classrooms into welcoming learning spaces. 

Staffing for 2023

I am looking forward to meeting and working with you and your children at St Joseph's.

Communication

All Parent Newsletters, information and upcoming events are shared via a number of ways including:

• St Joseph’s Catholic School Website at http://stjosephsq.tas.edu.au/
• By downloading our app Compass School Manager, available from the App Store
• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stjosephsq/
• Hard copies of the Newsletter are available from the school office.
• Parental notes and permission slip
• Seesaw will be used to update parents on the learning that is happening in classrooms.  Throughout the year teachers will be beginning to use this as a mode of communicating feedback to parents about the learning and outcomes in classrooms.

We welcomed back children on Friday.  We were so happy to see their smiling faces:

Parent Information Evenings

Teachers will be available Thursday 16th February from 3.05 - 4.00pm in classrooms.  Please come in and introduce yourselves.  This would be a great time to meet and greet the teacher, discuss any needs that your child has and learn about the new routines and expectations of the classroom.  

Safer Internet Day-7th February 2023

The internet has enabled kids to learn, share and create more easily. But it has also become a space for cybercriminals to cause trouble and steal information from others. It’s vital to instil cyber secure behaviours early, so children learn how to identify cyber threats and mitigate against them.

What is Safer Internet Day?

Safer Internet Day is a global event that brings together communities, families, schools and organisations from more than 200 countries to help create safer online spaces.

This worldwide initiative is celebrating 20 years in 2023, making it a great time to reflect as well as look forward. 

Technology has evolved dramatically in the past two decades and the benefits have been huge. These developments have also exposed us to many risks with real-world impacts, making online safety awareness even more important.  

 That's why we are calling on Australians to Connect. Reflect. Protect. 

 Connect safely and with purpose – by keeping apps and devices secure and using social media in positive ways. 

Reflect before we act – by taking a moment to consider how what we do and say online may affect others. 

Protect ourselves and others by taking action – by telling family, friends or colleagues about eSafety and how we can help.  

By doing these simple things, we can work towards making every day a Safer Internet Day.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Kids Cyber Security Checklist provides simple tips for primary school-aged children about the basic cyber security steps to stay secure online. The ACSC’s Kids Cyber Security Checklist is available at: https://www.cyber.gov.au/cyber-security-kids.

Use the ACSC’s learning resources

Help create a more secure online environment for children by sharing our easy-to-follow guides, including:

• Kid’s Cyber Security Checklist
  A one-page list of suggestions to enhance cybersecurity
• Cyber Security Instruction Manual
  A Kid’s Guide to Using the Internet Securely
• Cyber Security Poster for Kids
• Cyber Security colouring in sheet for Kids

What can you do?

The ACSC is encouraging Australian families to strengthen their children’s cyber security online by taking the following steps:

• Turn on automatic security updates on all devices to fix weaknesses.
• Activate multi-factor authentication to add multiple layers of protection.
• Regularly back up devices to help easily restore your files in the case your device is ever hacked, lost, stolen or damaged.
• Use strong passphrases to secure gaming, social media and all other accounts.
• Check settings and set portable devices to require parental approval before software is installed. Parental controls can also be used for this purpose.
• Report and recognise scams.
• Educate ourselves about dangers and how to alleviate them.

Our primary classrooms at St Joseph's this week will be looking into ways that we can remain safe online.  Parents are also invited to participate in the newly launched Parent and Carer webinars for Term 1 2023.

Hats

All students in Term1 are required to wear a hat when outside.  Please ensure that your child has a hat each day for school.  If students are without their hat they will be asked to play in  the undercover area.

Is this you?

The Tasmanian Catholic Schools Parents Council (TCSPC) is the Parent Representative Body that was established by His Grace Archbishop Porteous a number of years ago.  It is in place to assist Catholic School parents (and children), ensuring they have voice at both a local and national level.  The TCSPC also assists with Parent Engagement within Catholic Education, and helps parents take an active role in the education of their children. The current President of the TCSPC is Charlotte Geeves, and the Executive Officer is Don Ryan.

The TCSPC is a member of Catholic Schools Parents Australia (CSPA), which is the National body representing parents with children in Catholic schools. The TCSPC also has a representative on the Tasmanian Catholic Education Commission and the CSPA has a representative on the National Catholic Education Commission.

It is highly desirable for all Schools and Colleges to have a parent represent them on the TCSPC, and it would be appreciated if you could please nominate or seek a parent representative for your School/College.  The representative could be a member of a School Advisory Board, Parents and Friends group or similar, or a parent/carer who would like to be involved.  The role is not onerous or time consuming.  If you are interested in this role please email teresa.mcleod@catholic.tas.edu.au or see Teresa McLeod for further information.