We have had an amazing two weeks.  So many special events.

Last week we welcomed Archbishop Julian to our school.  He confirmed three of our students alongside six other parishioners.  The Sacrament of Confirmation is the second of the three Sacraments of Initiation. Confirmation perfects our baptism and brings us the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It gives the strength to follow Jesus and to become involved in the mission which Jesus left to the Church. It is administered by the laying-on of hands and anointing with chrism accompanied by prayer. The chrism is blessed by the Archbishop and the Archbishop administers the Sacrament. We congratulate Zavier Drake, Spencer and Chelsea Jones.  We pray that they continue to experience and know God’s great love for them.

Book Week

Last week we also celebrated Book Week with a number of events including:

Book Fair- Thanks to families who supported this event.  It provided the schools with $519 to spend on new resources for our library.

Book week Disco- Thanks to Ms Bounds and Mr Semmens for organising. Congratulations to all our best dressed winners. 

Colouring in competition- Congratulations to all who participated, especially our winners: Jasmine Cracknell, Olivia Oats, Evie Mansson & Ruby Bellchambers. 

Science Week

An Amazing week consisting of:

• A Science Fair
• Visiting Scientist
• Incursion
• Brixhibition

Thanks to Mrs Reynolds and our 3/4 class who made the week special.  We all loved their science projects and exploring new thinking through their experiments and creations.

Brixhibition

We had a successful competition for Science week.  Many innovative and amazing creations.

Winners

5/6 -Xzavier Viney- Battle of the beach

3/4 -Zavier Drake- SS Charlie

1/2- Aylah Wildenauer-Ash - Horseland

Prep- William Oats- Scale

Fathers Day

We look forward to spending time with our fathers, fathers figures and important male figures on Thursday. We know that fathers play a role in every child’s life that cannot be filled by others. We thank them for all they do.

Move Well Eat Well

At St Joseph's Catholic school we are a Move Well Eat well school.  The messages from the Term 3 newsletter highlight some important information.  We all want children to feel good about food and eating as they grow and we know that this benefits their learning.  There is evidence that eating disorders are on the rise worldwide. Children start absorbing negative messages about food and their bodies from a very young age. The rise of social media and influencer culture is adding to the challenge.  It is more critical than ever that we support children to listen to their bodies and learn how to nourish them in a way that supports their health and wellbeing. One of the best ways that schools can support children in their care is by providing a relaxed, social and positive eating environment.

Who does what? 

The division of responsibility (DoR) considers eating a shared responsibility and assigns specific roles to the people involved in feeding children:

• Adults decide what food is provided. For example, parents decide what food is packed in the lunchbox. If food is provided at school, the school decides what is offered on these occasions. 
• Adults decide when and where children eat. For example, parents decide that the evening meal will be eaten at the dining table. The classroom teacher decides that the class will eat outside. The school sets out the timetable for the school day, including meal and snack times. 
• Children decide how much, in what order and whether they will eat. 

The DoR preserves children’s ability to eat and respond to hunger and fullness cues, as parents and caregivers (including teachers) respect and build a child’s autonomy by removing pressure around food. Children will eat the amount they need to grow and stay well it can be difficult at first to trust children to know how much and what to eat from what is on offer. The amount and type of food they eat can vary widely from meal to meal and day to day. However, when balanced out across a week or a month, children are very good at getting enough energy and nutrients to meet their needs. Research shows that if adults provide the structure around mealtimes, children will eat the amount they need to grow and stay well.

Actions we commit to support best practice feeding for your children 

• Creating a positive, relaxed, and social mealtime environment. 
• Not commenting on the food that children bring from home and how much or how little they are eating. 
• Taking a neutral approach when talking about food. Referring to food by its name, rather than through binary terms like good and bad or even healthy or unhealthy. 
• Enforcing a zero-tolerance policy around food teasing between children (eg. negative comments about the type of food that others are eating). 

Keen to learn more? 

See our Nurturing Healthy Eating at Mealtimes page for more information: 

www.movewelleatwell.tas.gov.au/primary_schools/plant_fruit_and_veg_in_your_lunchbox/nurturing _healthy_mealtimes_in_primary_schools

Chess Tournament

We have started a new lunch time club on a Monday.  A group of students gather in the library with Mrs McLeod and play chess.  

There is an interschool competition in Strahan on Friday 8th September.  We would be able to provide a number of spots to students if they are interested.  Please contact the school office by Friday if your child would like to be involved.

Lockdown

This term we will be having an unannounced practice lockdown whilst the students are at recess or lunch.  These events are essential to practise to ensure all staff and students know with confidence what to do if lockdown was required for a real situation.  Teachers prepare classes so that they know what to listen for and do.  If you are concerned that the lockdown will be upsetting for your child please let Mrs McLeod know this week.

Happy Everything

Mrs Teresa McLeod

Term 1: 3rd February - 6th April

Term 2: 26th April - 7th July

Term 3: 25th July - 29th September

Term 4: 17th October - 13th December

Term 3 Religion in Leatherwood

In Religion, Leatherwood have been learning about the many different kinds of prayer there are, such as Prayers of Petition, Prayers of Blessing and Prayers of Praise.

We have also explored the different ways we can pray to God. This includes using music, songs, items from nature, stillness and silence.

One day we were blessed with a sunny Winter’s day and went out to the garden to find items in nature that we could write a prayer of thanks for. Students took their iPads to photo the special item they found, and then wrote a prayer of thanks to God for such beauty in our world.