Baptism 

This week we were super excited that three of our students continued their journey to get closer to God.  These students were baptised into the Catholic church.  As a school community we support and celebrate their relationship  with their faith.

Congratulations to Chelsea, Spencer and Aylah. 

National Walk Safely to School Day 2023

On Walk Safely to School Day, primary school aged children are encouraged to walk with their parents or caregiver to school. This encourages healthy habits as well as teaching vital road safety skills.

Primary school aged children across Australia will make those important steps towards a healthier future by participating in National Walk Safely to School Day on Friday 19 May 2023. National Walk Safely to School Day is a community initiative that aims to raise awareness of the health, road safety, transport and environmental benefits that regular walking (especially to and from school) can provide for the long term well-being of our children.

Now in its 24th year, the annual event encourages parents and teachers to teach road safety skills and support the importance of regular walking, not just on 19 May, but every day.

Staff will meet students and families  at the Train Station Carpark at 8.20am.  Please join us.  Any students who participate will receive a tattoo. 

Staffing

It is with sadness that I announce that Ray Pearson has resigned form his position as teacher from St Joseph's.  We thank him for his time and dedication to our students throughout the first term and are thankful of his expertise that he shared with both staff and students.  We wish him every success and happiness in his new adventures. We are currently seeking applications to fill this position.

Radio Excursion

I was super proud last Friday to receive this email:

We look forward to our ongoing relationship with the radio station.  Stay tuned.

Circle of Life

Next week your child will participate in the 'Circle of Life' Relationships program conducted by Monique Hall from Catholic Education Tasmania. 'Circle of Life' is a values rich approach to Relationships and Sexuality Education for Catholic Schools. 'Circle of Life' is aligned to the Archdiocese of Hobart guidelines Growing Towards Wholeness and presents a Catholic approach for the Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning area of the Australian Curriculum. 

While we acknowledge that parents/guardians are the primary educators for their children, we are committed to partnering with you to provide supplementary resources to support you in this role. 

The topics included in the program are dependent on your child's grade level. Below is an outline of the focus for each year group. 

Early Childhood (P-2 Years) 

The Early Years program consists of age-appropriate content, facilitating a gentle unfolding of the child's discovery of 'who they are' in relation to God, their family, others and creation. 

Primary Years

Building upon the Early Years, the Primary program focuses on our sacred life journey from the moment of conception through to adulthood. The program explores how we express love for ourselves and others through our body and how the complementary design of our bodies facilitates new life. Puberty is sensitively explored as a stage in our life journey of spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional and social development that is part of our flourishing as human persons. 

If you have any further queries about the program please contact me via email at teresa.mcleod@catholic.tas.edu.au 

Mother's Day Breakfast

To the P and F who helped us celebrate our Mums on Thursday.  The time devoted for the Mothers Day stall and the preparing and cooking of pancakes helped make our celebrations at school  a success. Thank you to this hard working team.

Happy Everything,

Teresa McLeod

PRINCIPAL

Term 1: 3rd February - 6th April

Term 2: 26th April - 7th July

Term 3: 25th July - 29th September

Term 4: 17th October - 13th December

Congratulations to all students who received awards in our last Assembly. 

Xzavier Viney & Cruz Becker

Sydney Gray & Mason Crawford

Paislee Burden & Hudson Coleman

Elise Clarke & Ajay Harrison

Spencer Jones & Keely Austbo

Jasmine Cracknell & Calin Jones

A friendly reminder for parents to update any details that may have changed within the last 12 months with the school office. 

These details might include:

• Home/Postal Address 
• Student Medical Information / Updated Action Plans
• Phone Numbers
• Email Address
• Emergency Contacts 

COMPASSPAY

Our new Finance Management System, TechOne, is integrated with Compass, it is possible to view your account balance as well as pay your school fees, and for some Compass Events, via the Compass Parent App.    Please see the attached infographic which shows how to navigate to School Fee payments in your Compass App.  

Please NOTE, if you already have a CDF Direct Debit, CentrePay or other Automatic Payment Plan in place, you do not need to action any payments for School Fees  through Compass.  It simply provides another option for those parents who wish to pay via Credit or Debit Card, as well as a way of accessing your account balance at any time.

MONTHLY STATEMENTS

Accounts with a balance or with any movement since the last statement was sent, will receive a statement via email the first week of each month, to the email address registered for you in Compass for each parent/guardian on the school fee account.  

Any balances owing or credit balances that have been brought over from our old finance system will be reflected as opening balances on your initial statement from TechOne (to be sent the first week of May).

Please check we have recorded balances and payments correctly to your account and get in touch should you have any queries at all. 

POSSIBLE DEBTOR ACCOUNT NAME CHANGE

You may notice that your account name has changed.  This may be due to legal requirements regarding who signed your child’s enrolment form and if these individuals have a parent profile in Compass.

Where possible, we tried to retain what we had in QuickBooks to rollover into the System, but at times, this was not possible.  We may have already contacted you regarding changes to your account name. 

If you have any questions or concerns around this, please get in touch and we will be happy to investigate and clarify the change.

BPAY CUSTOMER REFERENCE NUMBERS (CRNs)

For anyone that pays via BPAY, you will notice your new statement (the first TechOne Statement will be for April and will be sent the first week of May) will have a new BPAY Customer Reference Number (CRN).  This new number will be active from 1st May.  Until then,  you can continue to use your old BPAY CRN number.  After this date your old BPAY CRN will no longer be valid. If you have scheduled future BPAY payments you will need to amend for a new BPAY CRN after the 1st of November.

FEE ASSISTANCE

Please remember we have fee assistance and concession card discounts available to anyone in our school community who may need to make use of these.  While it may be a difficult conversation, we are here to help.  Please contact Mrs McLeod for a confidential discussion.

Leatherwood News

In Religion we have been learning about Church and what it means to be a part of the Church community.

First we explored our most important communities- our families- and then we started looking at other groups and communities we belong to, including the Church.

We have been learning about ways we can be like Jesus and be kind to one another.

Myrtle News

Tesselaar Bulb Fundraiser:

Thank you to all families that purchased bulbs as part of our fundraiser. We raised a total of $162.80.

Caritas Easter Raffle:

Our Easter Raffle and Caritas Boxes raised $770.00, which is donated to Caritas Australia. 

Mother’s Day Raffle and Stall:

We hope everyone in our school community had a wonderful Mother’s Day celebrating with the special ladies in their lives.

Thank you to everyone who purchased stall items, raffle tickets and came along to our pancake breakfast. We raised a total of $787.00.

In this day and age, parents, teachers and students need as much help as possible in this area. you will see that I have the knowledge and passion to positively impact on this important topic.  The topic of ‘Internet Safety and Social Media’, is extremely relevant to those in our school communities.  We all need to work together in our school communities to ensure those in our care are aware of the dangers, but as well understand the advantages of knowing the best way to use the technologies being presented to us every day.

Marty Ogle an expert teacher, principal, education officer and education consultant ‘Internet Safety and Social Media’ which I believe is relevant to both students, staff and parents. He will be attending our school on Tuesday May 23rd. 

Thanks to a grant from TCPSC ( Tasmanian Catholic School Parents Council), Marty will present an array of (age appropriate) topics associated with ‘Internet Safety and Social Media’ in a carefully differentiated delivery that will cater for their needs according to their age plus social circumstances. Some of the areas Marty will  present to students and then to parents and carers may include;

1. IT – it is here to stay so how best to be involved
2. Laws in Tasmania
3. The eSafety government website
4. Pressures associated with social media including peer pressure, screen time, cyberbullying plus more
5. Pornography & Groomers
6. Gaming – benefits and problems
7. Other issues including online gambling, scams, etc

Marty will be offering two sessions for parents next Tuesday 23rd May in the  Huon Classroom.

Session 1: 8.30-9.30am 

Session 2: 3.00-4.00pm.

We would love to see you here.  Any further questions please contact Mrs McLeod on 03 64711139.