Year 1 – Southern Cross University Practicum Student Teachers

St Joseph’s will be hosting two practicum student teachers from Southern Cross University in Weeks 5-10 of Term 3. Ms Shahni Willis will be working alongside Ms Mantach in 1 Blue and Ms Olivia Trevethon will be working alongside Ms Cook in 1 Gold. During their time at St Joseph’s, practicum student teachers will be observing lessons in the classroom, facilitating small group learning, teaching whole class lessons, completing playground duties and attending staff professional development meetings. We have so much to share here at St Joseph’s and it is great to see that we can nurture and build the future of our teaching profession in this way.  

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PBL)

This fortnight we are focusing on Being Respectful: Listen well and follow instructions. This may be a particularly useful discussion point for families at home. Below you will find a couple of links to videos which reinforce these concepts. Hopefully they are useful.

• Primary Students - Active Listening
• Infants Students - Active Listening

Students have been working hard to demonstrate these positive behaviours already this week and this is reflected in our current dash token tallies. The Green House is currently out in front. Our first half of Term 3 winners will be announced at the end of Week 5! Will Green House retain their lead?

National Science Week

This week is National Science Week.  The school theme in 2025 is Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language.

This theme invites students and teachers across Australia to delve into the mysteries of the Universe by exploring the fundamental languages of nature, including mathematics and the groundbreaking field of quantum science.

Year 3 and Kinder classes have been exploring exciting activities to celebrate National Science Week. Guided by class teachers and our school GEM, Ms Bek Henshaw, students engaged in the CSIRO's Wild Watch project and took to the playground to observe and photograph living things in their natural environment. These observations will be uploaded to the iNaturalist website, contributing to a global collection of nature data. What a fantastic way to connect science learning with the wider world!

Public Speaking

Public Speaking is currently a key focus across our school. As part of the curriculum, students are developing vital communication skills that will benefit them throughout life. In classrooms, students are exploring speech content, expression, and delivery. Each grade will select one student to represent their class in the upcoming Stage competition. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to showcase their talents and support one another. We’re also excited to announce that the Central Region Public Speaking Competition will take place on the 8^th September at St James, Kotara South. We wish all our budding speakers the best as they prepare to shine!