Term 3, Week 2

July 26, 2023

Principal's Piece


Dear Parents and Carers


Nearly everyone has enjoyed the cooler weather this week; it is a beautiful time of the year to be in our part of the world.


Well done to all children who have been remembering to take home their jumpers and jackets so that they will be ready for wearing to school the following morning.


Thank you to everyone for keeping to the limited canteen menu this week. This has been very helpful.


Thank you to those families who have returned their forms for the Parent-Teacher Conferences next Tuesday. This is an opportunity for you to meet with your child's teacher to support their learning. If you have not already returned the booking form, please send it in as soon as possible.


This is a good time to remind families to update email and telephone details if these have changed recently.  It is important to have the most up to date details available so that we can contact you easily if an emergency arises.


This week, we've had some queries about absences from school. If your child misses one day per week or 10 days for the term, that means they will miss 20% of their learning time. We understand that there are family emergencies or a child may be unwell, however we encourage you to send your children to school outside of these times as this is a fabulous way to support their education.


The children are settling into the new term well and it is terrific to see that all classes are well underway with their learning.


We are planning for a Well-being Week in Week 4. There will be a variety of different student activities to help develop the soft skills of 

  • learning how to be aware of how I'm feeling and
  • then take steps to calm down and get in the "Green Zone" 

to be ready for learning and spending time with friends.


There will be opportunities for the children to join in activities like zumba and footy skill development during recess or lunch breaks. We are also planning a mini expo between recess and lunch on Friday August 11 in which different community organisations (Boab Health, Allied Health, Police, Mirima Language Nest, etc) will meet with us and share some ideas that can be used to help keep ourselves in the Green zone. You are most welcome to attend.


Feelings are complicated. They come in different sizes, intensities, and levels of energy that are unique within our brains and bodies. To make them easier to talk about, think about, and regulate, at school we refer to different zones to organize our feelings, states of alertness, and energy levels. We use four coloured Zones – Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red, to  help describe how we are feeling:

  • The BLUE ZONE describes low states of alertness and down feelings, such as when a person feels sad, tired, sick, hurt, lonely or bored.
  • The GREEN ZONE describes a calm, alert state. We may be feeling happy, focused, content, peaceful or calm in the Green Zone. 
  • The YELLOW ZONE describes when our energy is higher, and our internal state starts to elevate. Our emotions get a little stronger. We may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, confusion, nervousness, be overwhelmed or have the wiggles, when in the Yellow Zone.
  • The RED ZONE describes a state of extremely high energy and intense, very overwhelming feelings. We may be in an extremely heightened state of alertness, potentially triggering our fight, flight, freeze or flee protective response. We may feel elated, euphoric, anger, rage, devastated, out of control, panicked or terrified when in the Red Zone.

We learn to regulate our zones to make it possible to achieve our goals, as well as support our overall well-being.

This week we've hosted visitors from our Regional Office in Broome and staff from the Literacy Acquisition for Pre-Primary Students (LAPS) program. It is always great when our visitors see how well our children and staff work together and even take away tips and strategies from our staff.


Our Year 3 and Year 5 classes will participate in the annual Religious Literacy Assessment in the coming weeks. All Year 3 and Year 5 students enrolled in Catholic Education in WA will be participating in this assessment program.


Remember to check the calendar for events that are coming up at school and we look forward to seeing you next week at the Parent-Teacher Conferences.


Finally, our school community has another opportunity to come together next week for our Movie Night. The P & F are working hard behind the scenes in preparation. This is an event for our community to celebrate us!



Go well this week.

Miss Therese

Principal


Canteen Volunteers


We are looking for parent helpers to assist Hellen in the Canteen. Even if you have just an hour to spare, it would be very welcome. Please drop by the office and we'll take you over to meet Hellen.



(You won't need a Working With Children Check if your child is enrolled at St Joseph's)

Send Your Kids to School


Send your kids to school - it is the best possible way they can get a good education.


If your child misses one 1 day per week of school,

by the time they are in Yr 4 they will have missed 1 whole year of school.


Already they will by 1 year behind expected learning!


It may take some tough love, but it is worth the effort to make your child go to school every day.


Set a good routine from Kindy, don't let them miss a day.


It will give them the best start in life.



Thank you to those generous families who have donated their recycling money to our school through Containers for Change!


School Recycling Bags

CHECK FOR THE 10¢ MARK


We've ended up with a lot of non-recyclable containers in our school recycling bags.

Which means we have to sort through the bags to remove them.

It's easy to save your 10¢ containers from landfill so they can live another life — just check for the 10¢ mark!


Most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel, and liquid paperboard drink containers that are 150ml to 3L are accepted.

This includes:

  • Most single-serve water and fizzy drink containers up to and including 3L.
  • Most single-serve alcohol containers, like beer bottles and pre-mixed spirits.
  • Flavoured milk containers that are 150ml to 999ml.
  • Coconut water, pure fruit, or vegetable juice containers that are 150ml to 999ml.


~ Make sure you take off the lids ~

~ Bring the lids into the school office and we'll recycle them separately ~


Items that we don't accept include:

  • Glass bottles or jars of any sort - too many get broken when dropped into the recycling bag
  • Plastic milk bottles
  • Unflavoured, plain milk cartons
  • Cordial bottles
  • Non-food plastic containers (eg laundry detergent)
  • Steel food cans

SACRAMENTS and other matters

 

As in previous years, all classes will learn about Sacraments and rites of initiation in their Religious Education programs. For students of the Catholic faith, there will also be an opportunity to receive these Sacraments at St Vincent Palloti Catholic Church.


Term 1 – Reconciliation Year 4

Term 2 – First Eucharist Year 5

Term 3 – Confirmation for Year 6 will be held on August 27th. Notify Sr Julianne ASAP,  if you have a year 6 student, older siblings, or know of an adult, that you wish to be Confirmed by Bishop Michael at this time of his annual pastoral visit. At this stage, we have only one adult candidate.

 

This term, all classes have been doing a unit of work on Confirmation as part of their Religious Education Program.
 

Baptism              

Please contact Sr Julianne at school, or Fr Vinu (0475 846 331), at any time, to collect a “Request for Baptism” form. Baptism can occur during the week, or Saturdays/Sundays.


Other Matters

Mass is held each weekend, at St Vincent Pallotti Church on Saturdays at 5.30pm and Sundays at 8.30am. Weekday masses are held from Tuesday to Friday at 5.30pm. On Sundays, we have Children’s Liturgy during mass.


Fr Vinu is available for Reconciliation on any day, usually from about an hour before mass.


Juniper Visits

Visits to the Juniper Aged Care Facility continue to be a highlight, especially in light of the NAIDOC theme this year being "For Our Elders". We have a wonderful two-way learning between ourselves and our Juniper friends.


Other Dates

Tuesday, 8th August - Mary MacKillop Feast Day

Saturday, 26th August - Parish Multicultural Dinner


Thank you to our Year 3 students for helping to clean up St Vincent Pallotti Church yard after the big winds!


Please don’t hesitate to contact Sr Julianne or Miss Marion Roberts, through the school office, at any time if have queries or questions about our Religious Education program.

Sr Julianne

Science News


In Science, the Year 5/6 class have been learning about types of energy production and the differences between renewable and non-renewable sources. This week they created circuits to test if items were conductors or insulators. Students predicted whether things such as an apple, metal spoons, popsticks and tin foil would conduct electricity and make a light globe glow or a buzzer sound. They then put their predictions to the test. Students also discussed electrical safety issues. They worked very well together.

Miss Roberts

Specialist Teacher

Sport News


In Sport we are learning about tennis. We have focussed on how to hold the racquet and control the tennis ball as well as the difference between forehand and backhand. We have worked together to help improve our skills, team work and perseverance. Everyone has progressed, whether it be bouncing the ball on the racquet, flipping the racquet for 'fish and chips', rolling the ball as if it is an egg in a pan or returning the ball to our partner!


Miss Roberts

Specialist Teacher

MacqLit


In Semester 2 we had a great start to MacqLit with all our groups working hard to improve their reading skills from the first lesson.  We are so proud of our students, who are already understand that it takes hard work and resilience to really improvetheir spelling and reading.  Moving forward into this term our goal is to maintain this impressive attitude and have everyone reading with fluency and comprehension every day.   


Below is some information I shared earlier in the year about the success of the MacqLit program.   


Report by Dr Nicola Bell and Emeritus Professor Kevin Wheldall 2019

Since the release of MacqLit in 2016, we have loved hearing from teachers who have implemented the program and found it successful. As a company founded on delivering evidence-based programs, MucqLit has also been very keen to back up this positive anecdotal feedback with hard data. With that in mind, we’ve recently taken a close look at the data we’ve collected while running MacqLit programs. The analysis included 292 students, from Years 3 through 6, who attended MacqLit at school for two terms. Trained MultiLit tutors delivered the program for roughly four hours per week during the semester, and trained MultiLit testers collected the assessment results at the beginning and end of the program.  According to the raw score results, the students made substantial and statistically significant gains across the semester in word reading accuracy, nonword reading accuracy, spelling accuracy, passage reading fluency, passage reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. 

 

We are seeing similar results at St Joseph’s School, with many children entering the program with significant reading challenges and leaving as fluent capable readers.  We are so excited to be able to offer this program to our school community as we know there are still plenty of students who need that extra assistance. 

 

As always if you have any further questions about the program or just want to have a chat, contact the school and speak to me. 


Shaun Joseph

Assistant Principal


Olivia and Grace’s farm fresh

free range eggs 

~ $8 a carton ~

Call or text

Mary (Mum) on 0428 524 611


Canteen Menu Terms 2 & 3

School Bus Pick-ups and Drop-offs


For the safety of our children, we would like to remind parents that children catching our white Coaster school bus will be dropped off in the afternoon ONLY at the address from which they are picked up in the morning.


Attempts to accommodate parents who ring during the day asking that their children be dropped off elsewhere have resulted in an number of confusing situations, whereby children have ended up going home to an empty house or to a house where they are not expected.


Children who live in Lakeside or out of town may not catch our bus home to a different address.


Your child can only be dropped off at a different address if it is an emergency situation (eg you have an emergency visit to the hospital and an arrangement has been made for your child to be cared for by another family member or friend).


Many thanks for your cooperation.

St Joseph's School Calendar Term 3 2023

School Bus Contact Details


The School Bus Contractors are Dylon and Chelsea Lodge.


Chelsea: 0450 250 691

Dylon: 0415 945 330

Email chylanholdings@hotmail.com

Please note that cash payments for Book Club are no longer accepted at St Joseph's. All orders should be placed through Book Club Loop.


See: https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/

St Joseph’s Student Code of Conduct


The St Joseph’s Student Code of Conduct was developed by the students of St Joseph’s. Students participated in Steps 1 to 4 during Term 1 2021. Step 5 was worked through during term 2 and Step 6 completed during Term 3. The Student Code of Conduct was reviewed by students in Year 3 to 6 on two separate occasions. The Student Code of Conduct was shared with the wider school community during Term 3. 


At St Joseph’s School, Kununurra we want to feel Safe.

1. In order to feel Safe we will follow school rules.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will ask an adult for help.

2. In order to feel Safe we will listen and follow instructions.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will ask an adult for help.

3. In order to feel Safe we will help and care for others.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will ask them why they are feeling that way.

4. In order to feel Safe we will keep our hands and feet to ourselves.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will ignore them or walk away.

5. In order to feel Safe we will treat others the way we would like to be treated.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will remind them of the golden  rule.


At St Joseph’s School, Kununurra we want to feel Happy.

1. In order to feel Happy we will smile, laugh, sing and dance.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will ask them if they are alright.

2. In order to feel Happy we will be kind to others.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will ask an adult for help.

3. In order to feel Happy we will make friends and play with them.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will play with and include them.

4. In order to feel Happy we will come to school everyday.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will look after them.

5. In order to feel Happy we will listen to the teacher and other adults.

When someone isn’t feeling this way, or there is conflict, we will try to make them feel happy.

 

Our Code of Conduct prohibits bullying, harassment and other forms of peer-to-peer abuse and we require respect for the privacy and human dignity of other students.

 

Reminders

Term Dates 2023

Term Dates 2023

Term 1: Wednesday 1 February - Thursday 6 April

Term 2: Tuesday 26 April - Friday 30 June

Term 3: Tuesday 18 July - Friday 22 September

Term 4: Monday 9 October - Friday 8 December


Public Holidays  During Term Time 2023

Monday 6 March: Labour Day 

Friday 7 April - Good Friday

Tuesday 25 April: ANZAC Day

Monday 5 June: Western Australia Day


Pupil Free Days 2023

Monday, 24 April

Thursday & Friday, 1 & 2 June

Monday, 17 July

Monday, 4th September (Catholic Day)


Assemblies

Our assemblies are every second Friday afternoon at 1.10pm. 


Week 2: 28 July - Year 3

Week 4: 11 August - Year 2

Week 6: 25 August - Year 1

Week 8: 8 September - PP

Week 10: 22 September - Kindy



Kindy Days

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday

7.50am - 2.00pm

Description Title

We are ready to collect your recyclable containers. Our drop off point is located in the staff carpark, just inside the fence. Money earned goes towards Mini Vinnies.

If you change your phone number, please tell us. We many need to contact you if your child is sick or doesn’t get picked up after school.


Most school age children are eligible for free dental care in Kununurra School Dental Clinic. 

Primary School children become eligible to attend the School Dental Service in the year they turn 5.

High School children are eligible to attend the School Dental Service until they complete Year 11 or the day they turn 17 (whichever occurs first).

If you changed your address or phone numbers, please advise dental clinic staff. Missed appointments may result in suspension from the School Dental Service.

We are located on the hospital grounds in the Dental Health Building, 69 Coolibah Drive and are open Monday to Friday 7:30 to 3:30. 

Please feel free to call us on 0419 939 179 or email: kununurramobile@dental.health.wa.gov.au to organise an appointment. 



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Vision Statement Inspired by Mary MacKillop, we strive to achieve excellence in education and pastoral care, foster well being, develop strong values and include all cultures and community members.
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Vision Statement Inspired by Mary MacKillop, we strive to achieve excellence in education and pastoral care, foster well being, develop strong values and include all cultures and community members.
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