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Dear Parents, Carers and the St Joseph's Community,
Loving God,
Thank you for the gift of our children.
Help us to set boundaries for them, and yet encourage them to explore.
Give us the strength and courage to treat each day as a fresh start.
May your Holy Spirit help them to grow in faith, hope, and love,
so they may know peace, truth, and goodness.
May their ears hear your voice. May their eyes see your presence in all things. May their lips proclaim your word. May their hearts be your dwelling place. May their hands do works of charity. May their feet walk in the way of Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
Amen.
Social and Emotional Learning
It has been wonderful to be back in the classrooms as I continue to teach the students skills to help support them to feel confident as learners and to help them manage the array of difficult and challenging emotions that arise in day to day life. Over the coming fortnight, my focus is on growth mindset. Research has shown that students hold two ‘theories’ of intelligence, in that that they believe intelligence falls into one of the following categories:
Fixed: It is unchangeable or uncontrollable despite one’s efforts.
Growth: It has a malleable quality and can be improved over time.
We want our students to develop a growth mindset in order to embrace opportunities to grow, and to make and learn from mistakes. Students with a growth mindset embrace challenges and persist in adversity. During my time in the classrooms, I am focusing on the power of ‘yet’. A statement such as, “I cannot tie my shoelaces” changes considerably when we add the word yet. “I cannot tie my shoelaces yet” allows students to understand that with practice, commitment and effort they are able to strive for mastery.
Follow this link to a Ted Talk by Professor Carol Dweck which highlights the power of believing that you can improve, it is worth a watch!
What’s happening in the Classrooms!
Whilst the staff and students have made an easy transition back to face to face teaching, in reflection, I started to think how hard it must be for all of you, our amazing parents who are helping to keep us safe by not coming into the school. Today I spent some time in classrooms checking out all the amazing learning that is happening. Foundation are learning about shapes in Maths and life in the time of Jesus, Year 1 are still enjoying Fairy Tale Fridays and using a growth mindset. Year 2 are learning about the seasons and Year 3 is engrossed in Harry Potter and enjoying dancing, whilst Year 4 are working on lots of maths investigations and comprehension strategies. Year 5 are focused on migration and Year 6 are learning about light and getting prepared to make lamps. Have a look at the gallery for photos from each class!
Car Park
At present, our school carpark is busier than usual as we adapt to current restrictions that are in place. In order to help keep everyone safe, please remember to use the school crossing if you are walking from the carpark to the blacktop and, if in your car, please give way to those using the crossing. This not only ensures the safety of pedestrians but also models safe practices for the students.
Canteen Manager
We are again looking for a wonderful new Canteen Manager to work in our canteen and to provide a much-needed service to our school community.
We are blessed to have two long weekends in a row and this coming weekend we are even more blessed that we are able to travel. If your family is travelling like myself and half of Canberra down the South Coast (or anywhere), please stay safe, I dare say it will be a slow trip down the Clyde! We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday.
Yours in Christ,
Amy Doszpot
Assistant Principal
Religious Life of St Joseph’s
Deepening Our St Joseph’s Catholic Identity
Our 2019 - 2021 Strategic Plan articulates our priorities as a St Joseph’s School community. Our Mission priority is to deepen our St Joseph’s Catholic identity.
As a school founded by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, our identity is grounded in Saint Mary Mackillop’s spirituality and teachings. At the beginning of 2020, staff participated in an overnight retreat which focussed on developing our own understanding of Saint Mary Mackillop’s spirituality and her teachings. Throughout the retreat, staff collaborated to identify which Josephite values are a key part of our St Joseph’s O’Connor identity. The fruit of this collaboration was the development of our St Joseph’s Values which are based on the Josephite Charism.
The word Charism is Greek for ‘gift’ and is a gift of the Holy Spirit which is taken up by a group to carry out the mission of Jesus with a special spirit. A charism is expressed in the values that lead to ways of being and acting. Our goal is for every person in our St Joseph’s community to know our St Joseph’s Values and to live them in their thoughts, words and actions.
During prayer led by Year 6 this Friday, we will begin to unpack the first of our St Joseph’s Values.
The word respectful is defined as, “feeling or showing of respect.” Respect is frequently something that has to be earned. Dignity, on the other hand, is, “the state or quality of being worthy of respect” and is our fundamental human right. Throughout her life, Saint Mary Mackillop’s example of caring for the dignity of all is something we can all strive to follow.
Melanie Stratford
Religious Education Coordinator
Sustainability in Action
What are we recycling? With COVID-19 disrupting some of our recycling norms, here is an updated list of what we are still collecting at St Joseph’s.
Lids 4 Kids are temporarily postponed due to sanitary reasons. Please continue to wash and store your lids, and we will be ready to collect them as soon as this initiative returns.
Sadly, our Easter foil contest was cancelled as well. However, continue to bring in your flattened coloured foils and we can get a head start on next year (idea credit- Sharlene McGurk).
Coffee capsules- these single-use pods are not recyclable in a standard recycle bin, but with thanks to the Collett family, can be recycled through our school system.
Writing tools are also part of our special recycling centre. Pens, markers, crayons and textas are all welcome.
All of these white collection buckets can be found in the Sustainability Corridor, outside 1 Teal.
Batteries! Please do not dispose of these toxic items in your landfill bin. They can be recycled at participating Aldi stores or here at St Joseph’s.
Do not forget to bring in any oral care waste! Toothbrushes, floss containers, tubes, etc. They will all be recycled here through Terracycle.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”- New England Proverb
Ryan McGee
Sustainability Coordinator
Defence School Mentor News
I trust you all enjoyed the Reconciliation Day long weekend. I am sure that the Defence families who have recently moved to Canberra especially enjoyed their extra day off. This week I caught up with all the Year 5 Defence students while we planted some Remembrance Day poppy seeds. We talked about the significance of the flower and hopefully, we see these in abundance in time for Remembrance Day in November.
The Defence Community Organisation has loads of information to support your families, including webinars and facts pages relating to Covid-19. Please find out more at the link below.
https://www.defence.gov.au/dco/coronavirus.asp#FAQs
Sally Adams
Defence School Mentor
Thank You!
A big thank you to our wonderful families who have dropped off uniforms to go into the second-hand clothing pool. We have a large range of items available at a very cheap price! More donations are always welcome.
Congratulations to this week's award recipients.
Students will receive their awards in class on Friday.
Photos will be shared later in the day via SZapp.
| Foundation Red |
Gwendolyn V-F Andrew S |
Foundation White |
Ivy E Dakota W |
| 1 Purple |
Ian C Chase S |
1 Teal |
Clementine C James S |
| 2 Magenta |
Miriam S Amelia F |
2 Yellow |
Sophia A Zach B |
| 3 Black |
Yuetsho W Freyja H |
3 Navy |
Zoe H Scarlett P |
| 4 Gold |
Samuel S Carys K Adam S |
4 Green |
Hudson W Dexta W Benjamin C |
| 5 Blue |
Ashera D Knox P |
5 Orange |
Joshua G Amelia G |
| 6 Lime |
Andie McF Milana R |
6 Silver |
Thomas E Bridgette D |
| Sustainability |
Oliver A |
Happy birthday to these students celebrating their birthdays this week:
| Esmee V-F |
| Antonija K |
| Jimmy P |
| Beatrice J |
| Amelia G |
