Dear Parents

As we head into Week 4 of term, we can already look back and be very proud of all that has been achieved right across the school. I commend staff and parents for their effort and focus on settling the children into good routines and habits for learning in 2025.

A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Please remember that for many students, ‘promotion’ into a new year level can be an anxious time, particularly when this is coupled with change of class or teacher.  It is important that as parents you are recognisably supportive in the first few weeks of ‘transition’ while children settle into new routines and accustom themselves with different expectations and teaching styles which vary from teacher to teacher, class to class.  A positive working partnership between home and school is vital in ensuring that a shared sense of responsibility is geared towards always maintaining what is best for each child.  

As parents, we ask that you get involved in your child’s school. This is harder than ever due to work and other commitments, but you can still be positively engaged in the life of your child’s school even when you work. Here’s a few tips on how this can be achieved: -

1. Ensure that you child attends every day. Research has proven that there is a high correlation between school attendance and academic performance and success.
2. Direct conversations through the correct channels such as your child’s teacher. Classroom teachers are in the best position to provide the facts.  
3. Read the school newsletter, and stay up-to-date with happenings in our school. Why not follow St Joseph’s School on Facebook as well?
4. Get the MyCE app, and follow our calendar of events; place important events in your own diary so you can plan.
5. Meet with your child’s teacher at the start of the year and ask for practical ways you can help at home. Every teacher has his/her own style and way of doing things.  If you missed our Meet the Teacher afternoon, please make a time to have a conversation with your child’s teacher soon. 
6. Encourage your child to take pride in their school, and don’t ‘bag’ it yourself. Your positive advocacy of your child’s school will send a powerful message about school and learning.
7. Model learning and reading. Your child needs to see you learning new things and reading so they become normalised. In particular, boys are more likely to latch on to reading when their dads read to them and also read at home themselves.

There are lots of ways you can support your child’s learning. However, you can’t go too far wrong if you start with these basics; take a real interest in your child’s schooling and be an active, risk-taking learner yourself.  Most importantly…. remember that getting your child to school every day is of utmost importance.

NAPLAN ONLINE 2025 – Year 3 and Year 5

NAPLAN will take place this term commencing in Week 7. 

Please familiarise yourself with this timetable if your child is in Year 3 or Year 5.

WINDOWS NEAR CLASSROOMS

Parents are asked to please be mindful if waiting near classrooms at the end of the school day as noise from conversations can easily distract children from their learning or their end of day prayer.  Please wait away from classrooms.  As always, thank you for your understanding.

HOME LEARNING REMINDER

Home Learning reflects the importance we place on reading which is why the only compulsory home learning required from every student is reading.

Each week it is an expectation that our students borrow from the library to facilitate this compulsory requirement. In the early years this will be in the forms of  'read to me', 'read with me,' and library books of interest. In middle and upper years students will be asked to choose books of interest from both fiction and non-fiction. It is important to note, particularly with 'read with me' books, whilst a student may be able to read some of their books independently, they still require you to assist them with language comprehension, vocabulary or the decoding of unfamiliar words. For a child to become a competent reader they need to practise the skills they learn at school to both decode and comprehend texts. 

Sadly, over time, we have noticed slippage in reading at home, with some students not bringing their reading bag to school on library days, not bringing their reading diary to school or just not reading.  We need your support to help turn this around. 

Reading is the key skill which underpins all learning, and this cannot be emphasised enough. 

PRIVACY REMINDER - Photographs and Videos

As a new school year commences, it is a timely reminder that when taking photos and/or videos at our school events, please be conscious that some students cannot be photographed. We kindly ask that you be mindful and avoid capturing or sharing images and videos that may include other students in the foreground. 

Your cooperation is essential in maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all our students and their families. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Enjoy your week!

Rita Petersen

Opening School Mass

Our opening school Mass held on the February 6 was a lovely celebration for our school community. Thank you to the many families who were able to join us for this special occasion.

Congratulations to our school and house leaders that received their badges at the mass and to all our Year 6 students as they begin their final year of primary school.

Prep Welcoming and Blessing Ceremony

Last Thursday, February 13, a welcome and blessing ceremony was held for our Prep students. They received their St Joseph bookmarks and got a backpack blessing from Father Greg.

Our choir sang a beautiful “Welcome” song the new members of our school family.

Thanks so much to the families who joined us to celebrate this important welcome for our Prep Students.

Shrove Tuesday/ Pancake Day- March 4

Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as “Pancake Day” will be celebrated on March 4 this year. This follows the tradition where people used up ingredients in the house that they would go without during Lent.

At St Joseph’s, we will celebrate Pancake Day with a small reflection reminding us of the significance of this day. This will be followed by the distribution of pancakes to students at Second Break. I hope we can have some Parent volunteers to assist our Year 6 students with the Pancake making on that day.

A letter with information about Pancake Day will be sent out to Parents shortly. Please be sure to inform us of any specific dietary requirements your child may have.

We invite all students to bring in a gold coin donation on Pancake Day, to start our Project Compassion fundraising which our school supports during the Season of Lent.

Caritas Australia – Annual Project Compassion Appeal

The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2025 is ‘Unite Against Poverty.

This Lent, Caritas Australia's Project Compassion invites you to Unite Against Poverty and take action to make a lasting difference.

Each family will receive a Project Compassion box on Ash Wednesday.More about Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent in the next newsletter. For more information visit Caritas Australia website at: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Sacramental Program Update

Each year, Atherton Catholic Parish conducts parish-based sacramental programs for Catholic Students in Year 4. Programs will be running throughout the year to prepare for the Sacraments of Penance, Confirmation and Eucharist. Letters will be given out this week to Catholic students in Year 4, and other interested families, about the Penance program which is starting soon. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding the Sacramental program.

Hello Parents and Friends,

Welcome (albeit belatedly) to the 2025 school year. An extra special warm welcome to new families and their children joining the school community this year. We hope the first week or so of school has been a positive experience for your children and your family.

A focus of the Parents and Friends Association (P&F) is to encourage parent engagement and participation in school activities, and to strengthen communication and connections between the parent body and school staff. We are committed to ensuring our children receive high-quality education in a welcoming and inclusive environment, where families and schools work well together so that our children benefit.

The P&F Association meets once per term, usually on a Wednesday at 5pm in the staff room. The meetings generally last for around an hour. The P&F meeting is a great opportunity to meet the school leadership team and other parents, to hear about plans for the upcoming year and how you can be involved to support your child, the teachers, the school community and each other. We would love to see some new faces at the meetings. Everyone is welcome and it’s not uncommon to have a child (or two) present, so please don’t let that be a barrier to your attendance.

The first P&F meeting for the year was held on Wednesday Feb 12. We took the opportunity to combine the meeting with an AGM and can announce the following Committee positions for the 2025 year:

President:                 Steven Montgomery

Vice President:          Cassie Twine

Treasurer:                 Shannon Reynolds

Secretary:                 Tamara Grace

Deb Ball Liaison:        Therese Watson

Diocesan Rep:            (vacant).

The Committee have identified the following priorities for the 2025 year:

• Installation of AV and sound system for the basketball court/assembly area
• Shade sail for the internal playground (school side)
• School representative uniforms
• Seating on the oval

Please take note of a few date for P&F events which are happening in Term 1 and 2:

• Tuesday February 18: Deb Ball Committee Meet and Greet: for SJA parents/friends to meet the Deb Ball organising committee, find out more about the event and how you can become involved.
• Sunday March 2: Deb Ball information night – for registered debutantes, parents and partners.
• Wednesday March 19: St Joseph’s Feast Day and “Monty the Monstar’s Colour & Slime Fun Run”. A sponsorship booklet will be handed out to your children in the next week regarding the event and logging into the fundraising portal. Refer to the letter for in the colour run section for some information.
• Wednesday April 30: Term 2 P&F meeting, 5pm in the staff room – all welcome
• Tuesday 6 and Thursday 8 May: Mother’s Day Stall
• Wednesday May 14: Mother’s Evening at school
• Saturday May 31: Deb Ball

As a parent group, we acknowledge that we are all leading what feels like increasingly busy lives, so it can be hard to keep on top of things. Here is a list of some of the most common ways to find out information about what is going on at school:

• School Newsletter: distributed via email every second Tuesday. Great source of news and event information, regular updates from Mrs P and Mrs Mac, news and event
• Assembly: held each Friday at 2.30pm on the basketball court area. The assembly is led by the Year 6 School Leaders. Students of the Week are announced, along with those staff and students who are celebrating birthdays. Mrs P and Mrs Mac usually speak to assembly and provide information about upcoming events and any issues that may be impacting on school life. You might hear a joke (or two) and find out which children have been nominated for “Kids who care”. Sports Updates, Mini-Vinnies updates and information on various school clubs and events also usually occur at assembly.
• MyCE app: you need to log-in to this app using the email address linked to your school. It includes a “My Students” tab where you can report absences, access parent slips, review your child/s school report and timetable. On the “My Schools” tab, there is a link to the calendar, the newsletter, school documents (booklists, tuckshop menu, policy documents), and links to the Booked portal (for parent-teacher interviews), the school website, Facebook page and the Flexischools (tuckshop and uniform ordering) site.
• Parent Portal: basically, an online version of the My CE app. Links to the Parent Portal can be found on the school website and selecting Diocese of Cairns. https://login.bne.catholic.edu.au/#
• St Joseph’s School, Atherton Facebook page: this is a great way to keep informed as this page is posted to regularly with weekly updates, date claimers and photos of school activities.
• SJA School Parents Messenger group: helpful for reminders of school events, answers to queries, requests for volunteers, purchase/give-aways of uniforms

There are many ways that parents/families can participate in and contribute to the St Joseph’s School community. These may include: volunteering in your child’s classroom; reading the fortnightly newsletter; attending assembly; volunteering for tuckshop duty; attending class liturgies; attending organised school events (eg Mother’s and Father’s evenings, Parent-Teacher interviews, information nights), attending sports events; volunteering for the Deb Ball or Colour Fun Run events; attending P&F meetings, coming into the school ground for drop-off or pick-up. We encourage you to consider what works best for you and your family situation. We value our families being connected to the school, having a visible presence and playing a role within the school in whatever capacity suits you best.

With this in mind, we are looking for volunteers who may be interested in co-ordinating the Mother’s/Father’s Day stalls this year. We are also calling for expressions of interest for people who may be interested in organising a school float for the 2025 Maize Festival parade on August 30. To register your interest or for more information, please contact Tamara on 0478 387 338; martybel@hotmail.com or via Messenger (Tamara Grace).

The start of a new school year is also an opportune time to draw your attention to the School Drop-off and Pick-up Parent information document that was developed at the end of last year. It is an attempt to improve the safety of our school community and to clarify expectations around School Drop-off and Pick-up, particularly use of the Stop, Drop and Go zone on Jack Street. Please review the document (section below) and discuss it within your family. Be sure to share it with any others who may assist with dropping off and collecting your child/children from school.

We look forward to a productive and fun-filled year together.

The 2025 P&F Committee.