Term 2 Week 4 Newsletter 2025

Acknowledgement of Country

We respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of this land on which we stand, the Wulgurukaba and neighbouring Bindal people who are the custodians. We pray that we can walk together to a better future.

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, Staff and Students

Hope all of our wonderful St Joey’s mothers, grandmothers and mother figures had a lovely Mother’s Day on Sunday, and were spoiled by their families. It was wonderful to see a large number of our mothers at Monday’s Mother’s Day Breakfast and Liturgy.

With each Mother’s Day we celebrate, we should take the time to pause and honour the extraordinary women who shape our lives in so many meaningful ways. Mothers are often the first teachers of faith, kindness, and resilience. From morning routines and school drop-offs to homework help and quiet words of encouragement, their presence is a steady source of comfort and strength.

A mother’s influence is felt in the small, everyday moments—packing lunches with care, attending school events with pride, offering hugs after tough days, and celebrating achievements, big or small. She is often the heart of the home, nurturing not just with love but with wisdom, patience, and a sense of calm that brings stability to family life.

In our Catholic tradition, we see these quiet acts of love reflected in the life of Mary, who stood by Jesus with strength and grace. Like Mary, mothers walk with their children through every joy and challenge, offering guidance and unconditional support.

To all the mothers, grandmothers, and those who fill a mother’s role in the lives of our students—thank you. You are a blessing to your families and to our school community.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our P & F Association Vice President, Amanda Murphy, who was instrumental in organising this year’s Mother’s Day Stall, along with President Meagan Middleton who helped out where possible. A big thank you also to our many volunteers, and there were many, who came in and assisted with selling and wrapping gifts, and to those wonderful people who donated gifts. Without parents/carers who are willing to organise, contribute and assist, these types of events just do not happen. So thank you and much appreciation to all who contributed in any way. Our students and their families truly benefit from your generosity.

It has been wonderful to see the large number of parents, caregivers and family members attending our Open Classrooms this term. Prep, Year 3, 4 and 5 classes held their Open Classrooms in Week 2 this term, with Year 1’s taking place in Week 6 and Year’s 2 and 6 in Week 9. The invitation to your child/ren’s classroom is a wonderful opportunity for them to show you the work they have been doing and share with you what they have been learning. It is a chance to engage with your child/ren on their educational journey to date. Open Classroom dates have been sent out to parents / caregivers via Compass, and are also pinned to the top of our Facebook page along with our Term 2 Important Dates document. 

Enjoy the rest of your week.

God bless

Tracy

ARPE News

Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was elected pope on May 8th, making him the first Augustinian pope who was born in the United States. He's a talented multilingual canon lawyer and mathematician who really cares about making the church more inclusive. His chosen papal name reflects his dedication to social justice, and his public stances on issues like migration, climate change, and supporting survivors of abuse show he's committed to tackling some of the world's biggest challenges. In his first message to the faithful, he encouraged the Church to move forward together, without fear, and always guided by Christ.

Almighty God,  

shepherd and protector of everyone,  

we’re asking for your help for your servant Pope Leo.  

Give him the strength to follow in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd,  

to preach the Gospel bravely,  

to bring your people together in unity and peace,  

and to serve them with humility and love.  

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  

Amen.

Whole School Meditation 

We will be holding a Whole School Meditation next Thursday morning at 8:45am in the Shelter Shed. We will come together to pray and celebrate the feast day of Mary Help of Christians which falls on the 25th May.

Save the Date: Year Level Masses Term 2

Assemblies

Our next assembly will be in:

Week 6: Reconciliation Week Liturgy hosted by Bimbi Wadja students 

Week 8: Will be hosted by 3B

May God’s blessing be with you, Peta.

Right to Disconnect Protocols

The Catholic Employers Single Enterprise Collective Agreement Diocesan Schools of Queensland 2023-2026 (EB10) contains a new provision regarding the employee's Right to Disconnect. The Right to Disconnect means that an employee has the right to disconnect from work and to not respond to, or engage with, work related electronic communications including emails, texts, telephone calls, messages, video calls or sending or reviewing other messages during certain times and in particular circumstances. 

Consultation is an important part of the Right to Disconnect process and, at St Joseph's Mundingburra, involved draft protocols being discussed and feedback sought prior to the final decision being made.  Groups which the school included in this consultation included, staff via staff meetings, the School Board and the Local Consultative Committee (LCC). In 2024, a Local Consultative Committee was formed at St Joseph's and, in addition to providing feedback on the Right to Disconnect Protocols, its purpose was to:

1. provide an environment for greater two-way communication between TCE and the employees;
2. provide advice on the priorities for the implementation of the Enterprise Agreement;
3. provide a forum in which employees participate in the implementation of the Enterprise Agreement;
4. address issues and provide advice to the school regarding matters arising from the Enterprise Agreement;
5. provide TCE with the opportunity to utilise employee knowledge and experience; and
6. consider and provide advice about workload issues that affect employees at the school.

Please find below the final version of the St Joseph's Catholic School Mundingburra Right to Disconnect Protocols.

2025 Annual School Improvement Plan

Please see below the 2025 Annual School Improvement Plan (ASIP). The 2025 goals have been drawn from the five year School Renewal Strategic Plan 2025 - 2029 which was drafted from the feedback gathered during the recent Verification and Validation processes in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Feedback on both the 2025 ASIP goals and the School Renewal Strategic goals have been sought by staff, the School Board (8 October 2024) and copies of the Draft Strategic Plan were also taken to one of the 2024 Term 4 P & F Meetings.

A Google Form Link seeking feedback / suggestions from the school community on what our school does well and what we could improve on, was included in the Term 1 Week 6 and Week 8 Newsletters. Thank you to those parents / caregivers who provided feedback.

I am happy to receive further feedback on our current 2025 Annual School Improvement Plan (below). Please email me: tnuttall2@sjmbtsv.catholic.edu.au

The School Renewal Strategic Plan 2025 - 2029 will be included in our next Newsletter. It requires a couple of updates from our Marketing Department at Townsville Catholic Education. Both documents will be sent to the school community via Compass in due course.

The Joey's Way

St. Mary of the Cross MackKillop Parish, Townsville

Join Us as We Celebrate God's Blessings He Has Bestowed! The St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop Parish, Townsville Golden Jubilee of "The Blessing of the Holy Family Church" at 6PM on 30th May 2025. 

Star Students

From the Office

School Fees 

Term 2 school fees have been issued and are due on Friday, 6th June 2025. 

School Photo Day is this Friday, 16th May.

Students are required to wear their Academic Uniform.
Please ensure that students are dressed in:

• Plain white ankle-length socks

• Black leather shoes or joggers (no coloured trimmings)

Hair must be neat and tidy. 

Prep students should wear their Prep uniform.

 You can still  place your order online by clicking HERE.  If you prefer to pay with cash, please collect an order form from the office and return it, along with your payment, on school photo day. 

Sibling photo envelopes are also available from the office.

PREP VISION SCREENING

A Registered Nurse will be visiting our school on Tuesday the 24^th and Wednesday the 25^th of June to conduct vision screening for children in their Prep year. Good vision is important for a child’s educational, physical and social development. Vision screening checks for common eye conditions that may impact your child’s ability to see and therefore impact their learning and development. Please complete an online consent form below if you would like your child to participate in Prep Vision Screening:  

Year 6 Camp

Our Year 6 students had a fantastic time on camp at Magnetic Island!  From raft building and archery to abseiling and more, it was an action-packed adventure with lots of teamwork. A huge thank you to the wonderful parent volunteers, we truly appreciate your time and support!

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Billabong Sanctuary

Last week, our Year 1 students visited Billabong Sanctuary and had a fantastic time! The rangers engaged the students with hands-on experiences, including animal feedings and close encounters with a variety of wildlife. When asked about their favourite animal most students simply couldn’t choose, they were all a hit! 🐊🐨

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Cross Country

We enjoyed wonderful weather for this year's Cross Country event. It was great to witness students participating enthusiastically, trying their best, and enjoying themselves. Congratulations to Gordon, who finished in first place with 102 points. Norris came second with 79 points, and MacKillop followed closely in third with 76 points. A big thank you to Miss D for organising the event, and to all the families who came along to support and cheer on the runners.

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National Reconciliation Week 2025

Reconciliation Week Liturgy - 2pm on Monday, 26th May. Followed by afternoon tea. 

Library News

READ MORE IN MAY 

In 2024, over 2.3 million children listened to the National Simultaneous Storytime event, making reading an enchanting literacy experience!  Join us this year for another nationwide reading adventure with this year’s book selection, The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel, with illustrations by Danny Snell. This delightful story of belonging and connection will capture the hearts of many.

Our school, as well as other libraries, schools and communities from across the nation and world will celebrate the joy of reading together. Everyone is welcome to join the adventure which streams live on Wednesday, 21 May, 2025 at 12.00pm. Visit the ALIA website for further information: https://alia.org.au/Web/Web/Events/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=NSS25

The NSS event will be streamed on You Tube on the 21 May at 12.00pm…see you there to celebrate and share literacy and literature!

During next week there will be varied lunchtime activities and crafts held in the library for National Simultaneous Storytime. In conjunction with our special reading book, ‘The Truck Cat’ by Deborah Frenkel, students and teachers may bring in a photo or drawing of their favourite pet, to be displayed on the ‘Pet Wall of Fame’ in the Library. Students who are without a pet may send into the library a drawing of their past pets or one they would love to have, so no one misses out! (Please ensure students name/class/pet’s name are on the back of the picture!

Teachers will be encouraged to bring in a favourite pet photo & reveal their favourite pet storybook!  For fun and enthusiasm, children will have the chance to guess the names of the Teachers’ pets or their favourite pet story! This is an entertaining way of making reading and literature enjoyable and a shared by both parents and students!

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE (PRC) is another annual event held between April and October 2025. This challenge has been taken up by our school this year to encourage and improve literacy skills for our students and encourage students to read varied literature for both learning and pleasure!

For any enquiries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Cathyn Cornish or the St Joseph’s Library and find more informatoin below!

Visit the Premier’s Reading Challenge website for further information: https://readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au/

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SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB – Issue 3 book orders have now been closed.

‘Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!”
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There…..Lewis Carroll

Happy May Reading !!!!

Under 8s Morning

Zippy

Miss Green and 1A loved looking after Zippy during Week 2 and 3 of this term. They took Zippy to the Yarning Circle where they connected with Country and also visited our Butterfly Garden where they saw a number of butterflies flying around. 1A students also spent time doing a clean up of eating areas in the school, noting which year level had the cleanest area. They participated in an Australasian Recycling Label lesson, and took a peek in the Containers for Change bin to make sure it was being used properly. 1A looked after Zippy very well while he was part of their class, and were sad to see him go. We are sure the next class who has Zippy for the fortnight will give him as much care and attention as 1A did

Digital Technology News

Year 6s Build, Program, and Innovate with EV3 Robots

Our Year 6 students have been diving into the exciting world of robotics during their Digital Technologies lessons! Using EV3 robots, motors, and sensors, they’ve been tackling a range of small programming challenges that spark creativity and teamwork. 

Throughout this term, students will be learning to navigate obstacle courses and use the sensors to respond to their environment. These lessons develop valuable problem-solving and coding skills — all while having a lot of fun!

 Year 4s Create Games with Scratch!

This term, our Year 4 students are diving into the world of coding by building their very own games using the Scratch app. This week, with the help of Nano the chatbot, they’ve been learning how to program sprites using algorithms to make them talk, respond, and bring their games to life. What starts as a simple idea quickly transforms into interactive fun! Scratch is also available for students to access at home through the St Joseph’s Student Intranet.

Guidance Counsellor

Butterfly Foundation - Let's Talk About Being Body Bright Sessions

Last Tuesday our Year 5 and 6 students participated in a virtual Let's Talk about Being Body Bright Session hosted by the Butterfly Foundation.  Butterfly (butterfly.org.au) has been developing and delivering evidence-informed, age anddevelopmentally appropriate body image education programs to students and young people, since 2007. Through their various programs and initiatives, they reach over 250K young people each year, Australia-wide.The programs that Butterfly delivers are strength-based, universal prevention presentations to young people, they cover a range of topics to address the modifiable risk and protective factors that underpin body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes and behaviours and offer positive strategies to support emotional wellbeing and body image. Our students enjoyed listening to the presenter (Rachel) talk about topics such as:

• Resilience, self-esteem and positive body image
• Information about the many influences on body image
• Strengthening of media and social media literacy skills to develop critical thinking
• Supporting the building of protective factors; role of friends/peers, the importance of
• Jealthy relationships with their body, eating and physical activity, respecting diversity.
• Help-seeking if they are worried for themselves or a friend.
  

It was a pleasure to see how engaged our students were in the session and the presenter made comments on how wonderful this was also. Well done Year 5 and 6!

Inclusive Education

Thank You to Our Inclusive Education Committee!

A heartfelt thank you to the wonderful parents and staff who participated in our Inclusive Education Committee this term. Your thoughtful contributions and knowledgeable discussions are truly the driving force behind inclusive practices here at St Joseph’s.

Together, we are building a school community where every student feels valued, supported, and empowered to thrive.

We’re excited to keep the momentum going, and we warmly invite others to join us for our next meeting, which will be held on a Thursday in Term 3 (date to be confirmed). Whether you’re a returning member or curious to learn more, we’d love to have you involved as we continue shaping a more inclusive future for all at St Joseph’s.

Christian Meditation

Friendology

P&F News

The school disco is happening this Friday! Please note that the tuckshop will remain closed for the evening. However, the P&F will be selling a limited selection of snacks and drinks, and there will be a sausage sizzle available, with meat purchased from Procut Meats. This year, we also have two exciting raffle prizes up for grabs: a meat tray from Procut Meats and movie vouchers for Event Cinemas. We look forward to seeing you there! 🕺🏽🪩

Community News

Mass Times

Parish Mass Times

Wednesday 7.00am

Friday 7.00am

Saturday 5.00pm

Sunday 7.30am