Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to St Joseph’s for another term of learning and growing! These days it’s not all that helpful to let yourself become overly confident with what the future brings. For now however, it is nice to be back together at Joeys, in the hope that we continue our long road towards returning to some sense of ‘normal’.

This term, I am trialling a newsletter format to help communicate news, events and celebrations to our community. I must admit that I struggled with some of the limitations I experienced trying to communicate using the blog and with the onset of COVID-19, I heavily relied on email. Hopefully, this format works for you and evolves over time so that it provides us all with a new way of keeping in touch with all of the news from St Joseph’s.

This term we welcome Mrs Rebecca Padgett to St Joseph’s each Tuesday to Thursday as she takes up the role of Guidance Counsellor. Rebecca has a wealth of experience and has worked within our BCE system for a number of years. We also welcome Mrs Katie Meehan back to St Joseph’s with the conclusion of her maternity leave. Katie joins Mrs Jessica Oliveri in Year 2 Gold and will be with us every Thursday and Friday.

I’m sure that you are aware that we have been searching for a School-Based Speech Pathologist. We have advertised twice for this role and, although each time we have initially had suitable applicants, they have all been employed before we could arrange interviews. Please be assured that I am working closely with BCE personnel in the pursuit of a great Speech Pathologist and will hopefully have positive news for you soon.

To the left of my column here you will notice some initial dates starting to return to our calendar. Please be aware that we are in an incredibly uncertain time and we respond to protocols and advice from Brisbane Catholic Education, as they come to us. At this stage, we cannot have any gatherings (assemblies, liturgies etc). This restriction will impact on the carnivals I have placed on the list also. We will strategise to ensure that our students can happily participate in events but, at this stage, we are not permitted to have parents in attendance for these events. I think that we have all become somewhat comfortable working with an adaptable mindset these days, and I will keep you informed when restrictions around gatherings ease. When we are able to accommodate parent and caregiver attendance at our events, I will certainly let you know.

We will soon offer a variety of formats to parents and caregivers in order to commence Parent Teacher Interviews. Hopefully I am able to give some firm guidance on how these conversations will run in the coming days.

Thank you for your support of learning and growing at St Joseph’s in 2020. There is some comfort knowing that we are all in this together but you encouragement of our staff and students has been appreciated. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers, communities in NSW and Victoria that are returning to lockdown and learning at home. We know how hard those parents, students and school staffs are going to be working in Term 3 and possibly, beyond.

Finally, you will be able to access Semester 1 Reports from this Friday at 3:15. I am incredibly grateful for the work of our staff in preparing these reports within a very difficult context. Having read through our Semester 1 reports, I’m very proud of the efforts of our learners. Please read the beautiful comments on your child’s report as these not only give insight to the determination of our students, but also the way in which each of our learners is known and loved at St Joseph’s.

Have a wonderful week!

Nic

OFFICE HOURS Our office is a,ended Monday – Friday

8:00am - 4:00pm

P: (07) 3201 6188 E: pnthipswich@bne.catholic.edu.au A: 42 Pine Mountain Road, North Ipswich, Q, 4305 W: http://www.stjosephsnorthipswich.qld.edu.au/

IMPORTANT DATESTERM 3

JULY

Fri 17th Semester 1 Reports (3:15pm) Mon 27th Catholic Education Week Fri 31st National Tree Day

AUGUST

Fri 21st Proposed Cross Country Thur 27th Proposed Jnr Field Events

SEPTEMBER

Thur 3rd Proposed Snr Field Events Fri 4th CTJ - PUPIL FREE DAY Fri 11th Athletics Carnival

Sat 19th Sep - Sun 4th Oct SPRING HOLIDAYS

TERM 4

OCTOBER

Mon 5th Labour Day (Public Holiday) Tue 6th Students resume

Laborare Et Orare - To Work And Pray

FB T I M W

16th July, 2020 Term 3, Issue 1

for 2017

Please continue to visit the Ipswich Catholic Community Website to book

in for Mass times.

www.ipswichcatholic.com/booking

Ipswich Catholic Community

From our APRE

Term Leaders

I would like to give a big thanks to our Term Leaders from Term One (and Two) who led us positively through the difficult time of Covid and At Home Learning. Jorja and Marcus were always so willing to look for new ways of being able to keep everyone connected at our school. Thanks for a great effort.

This term we have interviewed the students and selected three Term Leaders for Term 3. These students have shown great leadership within their Year 6 group this year and have reflected on what it means to be a leader and have great ideas for how they can lead our school this term. It is with great joy that I announce that our Term Leaders for Term 3 are: Oscar Graves, Lola O’Brien and Claudia Cronk. I am sure that these young people will take on the role with great responsibility, care and concern for all. I look forward to working with them this term.

Term 3, Week 1

Congratulations to all of our award recipients for Week 1 of Term 3. We are so proud of your efforts!

St Joseph’s Awards Leo M , Oni L, Aidan H, Amity R, Eli S, Lucas W, Matthew D, Domitri F, Hayley P, Max H, Hunter K, Ashton P, Olivia V, Braydon M, Jasmine L.

Lorax Award Aubrey L, Hannah N, Sienna D, Willow V, Charli C-M, Bentley D, Ivy B, Eamon S, Joshua G, Alissa S, Blaze T, Sophie M, Oscar G, Max K.

AWARDS

RELIGIOUS LIFE OF OUR SCHOOL

Sunday’s Gospel for 19th July 2020 (16th Sunday in Ordinary Time) Matthew 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." Prayer: God of Love,The tiny mustard seed produced a large tree. May we remember that we are unique, and you want us to grow free, strong, whole and happy.We join our prayers with Jesus who appreciated mustard seeds.Amen.

Sacrament of Confirmation

Yesterday a number of students from our school joined with other children in the Parish to begin their journey to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Their parents began their journey through their Baptism and now they are continuing that journey. Please keep these children in your prayers as they continue on their faith journey.

Congratulations to Oscar, Lola and Claudia, our Term 3

Leaders.

From our APRE

RELIGIOUS LIFE OF OUR SCHOOL

National Tree Day – 31st July

The theme for this day is, ‘Get Outside and Grow’. As our theme this year is about being stewards of creation we are going to be planting trees on this day. National Tree Day is Australia’s biggest community tree planting event. Since it began in 1996 over 10.5 million trees and shrubs have been planted.

Tree planting makes a positive difference to our environment, and the benefits reach into schools and communities, and also help our precious native animals and plants survive in Australia’s diverse natural settings.

On Friday 31st July we will ‘Get Outside and Grow’ and help make nature a part of our everyday lives where we live, learn, work and play.

Each year level will be planting a tree in our school grounds and caring for it so it can grow.

Catholic Education Week 2020

The theme for Catholic Education Week 2020 is: “A Spirited Tomorrow". This theme acknowledges the 175th anniversary of the opening of the first Catholic school in Queensland, the long tradition of Catholic education and its continued relevance in preparing students for the future. The theme also references the work of the Plenary Council in discerning the way forward for the Church in Australia.

During Catholic Education Week we will be celebrating at school through a range of activities in class. Sadly, we can’t share in these celebrations in person with you at school but we will let you know and send photos of our celebrations. Part of this week is the students participating in an act of kindness, which lets us be people of justice to the world. Keep an eye out for updates about this week

CELEBRATING LEARNING

2020: The year we did the incredible!To say we have had an eventful year so far, is an understatement. While we were trying to envision what COVID-19 had in store for our country, our school provided an Alternative Education Provision. Thank you to all of our families for supporting St Joseph’s through this turbulent time. Here are some of the images you sent in, to show what AEP looked like for your family!

CELEBRATING LEARNING

Our focus on writing: Sizzling StartsWe are currently working on renewing our pedagogy and understanding around teaching writing and have started using the Seven Steps to Writing Success resources. Seven Steps is a wonderful Australian writing resource which helps students focus on the essential components of composing powerful texts. Every class has been working on developing Sizzling Starts for our texts. Here is a selection of some of that great work from 3 Blue!

POLICIES

All Brisbane Catholic Education schools are provided with a range of policies and procedures to ensure effective operations which help to support all members of each community.

Within each Newsletter Issue, a number of our policies will be presented. It is highly important that all members of the St Joseph’s community are aware of these policies and the roles they play in supporting each student, their families and our staff. Please click on each image to be redirected to the BCE Policies page on our website.

Student, Parent and Guardians Complaints Management

The purpose of this policy is to outline the principles Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) employees must follow when managing a complaint from a student, parent or guardian. Complaints are an important source of information for the organisation in identifying issues and risks and improving processes and systems.

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Student Protection Processes

Student protection and wellbeing are paramount in Catholic Schools. Our commitment to the protection of students is based in our belief that each person is made in the image of God, and our ethos is to provide a safe and supportive environment for all. All students have the right to expect that the school will always act to protect them from any kind of harm.

These processes have been developed to ensure that appropriate responses are made whenever student protection concerns come to the attention of staff.

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Dear Parents and Caregivers,

What our staff, parents and students think about our school matters. From Monday 17 August to Monday 31 August, we will engage with our community of staff, parents and students through the Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) Listens Survey. Survey findings will be used to inform our school’s future work and improvement journey, as well as the direction of Brisbane Catholic Education. What you need to know To ensure privacy and confidentiality are maintained, an independent survey provider — Australian Survey Research — will conduct the surveys on behalf of our school and Brisbane Catholic Education. Parents who complete the survey will not be identified when the results are later provided to the school. The school will only receive information based on the collective answers of all parents who participated in the survey. It is important to note that school leaders and teachers will be able access individual student survey results. Student’s survey data will be linked to their learning data to improve the understand of their educational needs. Only students in year 4 through to 12 will be surveyed, and they will complete the survey at school.

Please be assured that all survey responses are treated confidentially and all data will be stored securely in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld). No identifying information will be published or released.

If you do not wish your child to complete the survey please fill in this short form before Friday 7 August 2020.

If you have any questions, please contact me at your earliest convenience. As partners in your child’s education, what you think of our school matters. Thank you for supporting our school community with the BCE Listens Survey.