21 February 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 5.

Last weekend we held our first Children’s Mass for the year.  It was great to see staff and students together to celebrate the Eucharist in this Lenten season.  Thanks to Mrs Carter for organizing the liturgy as well as the community BBQ afterwards.

We are only early into the school year, but a terrible bout of flu has spread sickness across not only our school but our local area.  Please make sure that if you, or your children are unwell or showing significant symptoms, stay at home as a way to limit the impact on others when unwell.  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the P&F for both their generosity and ongoing support over the last three years in which they have helped resource the school with new state-of-the-art Commboxes in each of our learning spaces.  Over the last few years, the P&F have purchased 12 out of 14 interactive Commboxes with mobile stands that help with the delivery of the Australian curriculum.

You would also be aware of the tremendous support the P&F have given with our booklists being heavily subsidized in order to make the financial burden on families as little as possible.  For those wishing to come along and contribute to the great work being done by our Parents and Friends Association, meetings are always held on the second Wednesday of the month at 6:00pm in the school library.

Please note that below I have included a very important communication from Emmaus College regarding Year 7 enrolments for 2025.  Please take the time to read this if you are looking to enrol your child at Emmaus.

For those parents with students taking part in Friday Interschool Sport, we have experienced some issues with bus transport.  Prices to hire buses have increased significantly since last year with the price of an individual shuttle increasing from $220 to $275 per trip.  This equates to over $1.00 per trip per week increase for each child.

As a school we value school sport and respect that overwhelming feedback from both parents and students was to take part in Season A sport again.  Due to these increases, sports levies will also have to increase and will be reflected so in our next fee statement for 10-12 years students.  Thank-you for your understanding.

Finally, a message from our Year 6 cohort about Friday Pizza:

Important Notice from Year 6

We want to inform you of an important update regarding the cost of Domino's Pizza slices for our Friday fundraising.

Due to recent price increases from Domino's Pizza, we have reluctantly found it necessary to adjust the cost per slice of pizza. Beginning Friday, February 23rd, each slice of Domino's Pizza will be priced at $2.25.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your continued support.

Don’t Forget…

• School Board AGM, Wed 21^st Feb @ 5:30pm
• P&F meeting, Wed 13^th March @ 6:00pm
• NAPLAN, 13^th-25^th March
• St Patrick’s Race Day. Saturday 16^th March
• School Board meeting, Wed 20^th March
• St Joseph’s Feast Day Mass/Grand Parents Day, Fri 22^nd March
• Palm Sunday, Sun 24^th March
• Year 6 Camp, Mon 25^th – Thurs 28^th March
• Term 1 finishes, Thurs 28^th March
• Holy Thursday, Thurs 28^th March
• Good Friday, Fri 29^th March
• Easter Sunday, Sun 31^st March

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
Principal
St Joseph’s Catholic School, Park Avenue

St Joseph’s 2024 School Improvement Priorities:

• Christian Virtue – Dignity
• Increased Learning Gain & Achievement
• Learning Dispositions

Emmaus Enrolments for Year 7, 2025

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Enrolments for Year 7 2025 are now open via our online enrolment process.  

Enrolments for Year 7 2025, submitted by Friday 8 March 2024 are guaranteed an enrolment interview.  Applications submitted after this date, will only be granted an interview at the discretion of our Principal, Mr Eamon Hannan.

To begin your application, visit Enrol Your Child at our college website www.emmaus.qld.edu.au

Essential documentation required:

• copy of latest school report card
• certified copy of Birth Certificate or Extract or original must be sighted by Emmaus College.
• copy of Baptismal Certificate (for those of a Christian denomination)
• documents relating to special needs or medical conditions (any reports, action plans or assessments)
• any court orders or parental plans (if applicable)
• immunization records
• An application administration fee of $100 (non-refundable) is payable upon submission of the application.

Students applying for entry into Year 7 in 2025 at our college are encouraged to attend the Welcome to Emmaus information session on Tuesday 20 February from 3.30pm to 6.00pm on our Middle Campus, Yaamba Road. This event is a relaxed opportunity to take a tour of our Campus, see our facilities, experience our co-curricular activities and enjoy a BBQ dinner with your family. 

Enrolment Interviews for Year 7 2025  will be held as follows:

Term 1 – Tuesday 19, Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 March,  between 3.20pm and 6.00pm
Term 2 – Tuesday 30 April, Wednesday 1 May and Thursday 2 May, between 3.20pm and 6.00pm.

The student and at least one parent should be in attendance for their pre-scheduled interview with a member of our college staff.

Emails to parents/carers, indicating the outcome of the enrolment application will be sent out in the afternoon on the last day of Term 2, Friday 21 June 2024.  A $400 Acceptance fee is payable on acceptance of any offer made, in order to confirm your child's position. This fee will be credited to your 2025 school fees upon commencement at our college.

If you have any queries or require further information, please email 220_Enrolments@rok.catholic.edu.au

Kind Regards
Sonya Acutt

CURRICULUM NEWS

Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum

Each year students in all Catholic schools in the Rockhampton Diocese complete the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum.  At St Joseph’s, this is completed in Term 1 of every year.  Your child will learn how to keep themselves safe and will undertake lessons around the three messages of ‘recognise, react and report’.  Please let me know if you’d like more information about this program. 

Later this year, in June, we have organised for Bruce and Denise Morcombe to visit St Joseph’s to speak to the students regarding child safety.  We look forward to this visit. More information about this will come out closer to the date.

Learning Dispositions

Each year, our students work on developing skills related to our school learning dispositions of Resilience, Persistence, Creativity, Independence, and Collaboration. You will also see these Learning Dispositions appear on our student report cards. So, what do they mean and look like in practice?  Over the next several weeks, I will break these down to help develop a shared understanding across all of our Joey’s community.

At St Joseph’s:

Persistence is the capacity to continue on a course of action in spite of difficulties. 

In Prep I am displaying persistence when I:

• Have a go
• Keep trying even if it’s hard or boring
• Finish my work

In Year One I am displaying persistence when I:

• Stay calm and focused when learning gets tough
• Know it’s okay to be ‘in the learning pit’
• Am determined to meet my learning goals

In Year Two I am displaying persistence when I:

• Don’t give up on difficult tasks
• Try my best
• Keep trying even if something is difficult or boring

In Year Three I am displaying persistence when I:

• Develop a selection of strategies and use them to problem solve
• Don’t give up when things are difficult or boring
• Try, try and try again

In Year Four I am displaying persistence when I:

• Develop a bank of strategies and use them when I’m in the learning pit
• Keep going until the task is completed
• Try, try and try again

In Year Five and Six I am displaying persistence when I:

• Try hard 
• Don’t give up
• Make an additional effort when work is frustrating, difficult or boring
• Complete tasks instead of allowing myself to be distracted

Regards
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

1^st Sunday of Lent
Jesus is tempted in the desert.
Mark 1:12-15

WHEN YOU SEE A RAINBOW…

A rainbow is a symbol of diversity in harmony. In a rainbow, the individual colours are unique, but they blend together and form a beautiful unity. Being a ‘Rainbow People’ means we are a people of diversity who live together in harmony.

Can you think of people who are different from you yet live in the harmony of friendship with you? How are they different from you? How are these differences a blessing to your friendship?

A rainbow is a symbol of faithfulness. Have you ever broken a promise? Has anyone ever broken a promise to you? Have you ever had an experience of unfaithfulness in a friendship? What happened?

God said the rainbow was a sign of the covenant between God and the earth. How is your relationship to our planet earth and all of its life? What are some of the problems human beings are creating for other forms of life, and what are some things you can do to help solve those problems.

                                                      @Liturgy Help – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

CHILDREN’S MASS

The joy of community was evident at our first Children’s Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians, Saturday just passed. A huge thank you to those families who displayed their commitment to the Religious Life of our school by coming along. Students were wonderful in their participation and the way they led the reading and singing. A special thank you to the staff who came along to Mass and helped to build our community and witness the Gospels by doing so.

Liturgical Celebrations Coming Up

*SJPA – St Joseph’s Park Avenue
*OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church (next to St Joseph’s, Park Avenue)
*HF – Holy Family Parish Centre (next to Anthony’s School)
*STM – St Mary’s Church (next to St Mary’s School)
*MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

Elizabeth Carter
Assistant Principal Religious Education

FINANCE NEWS

School Fees for Term 1 are now 2 weeks overdue. They were due for payment on Wednesday 7^th February. If you are having difficulty with the payment of school fees, please contact Mr Fitzgerald or Mrs Crosthwaite (Finance) as soon as possible.

At the beginning of each year, it is highly recommended to check that you have amended your payments for any extra siblings you may now have at school and for any increases for the year. This will ensure that you don’t get behind in your school fees. You can check this at any time on Parent Lounge.

If you have a means tested Concession Card and have not yet given a copy to the Finance Secretary, please do so as soon as possible to receive the appropriate discount.

If paying by Direct Deposit or Centrepay, please use your Account Number as the reference instead of names (this is the 6-digit number on your Fee Statement).

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 1

Already in just a short time the Year 1 students have shown that they are settling into new routines and are growing their independence in their learning. It is wonderful seeing the strong relationships the students are building with their peers and teachers.

Here is a short summary of our Term 1 in Year 1.

In religion, we have been engaging in a range of prayers and have learnt about why Catholic believers pray. In English, we have been learning about letter sounds and names, practicing our segmenting and blending, and discussing the important parts of a sentence and the difference between letters, words and sentences. In Maths, we have been focusing on reading and writing numbers to 100 and learning about many kinds of measurements (length, mass, etc.).

It has been an exciting start to Year 1, and we cannot wait to see what we achieve in the coming term.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead,

Year 1 Team

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week.  They are: Jax M (Yr 6), Katie H (Yr 5), Siarra R (Yr 5), Avah P (Yr 5), Laylah T (Yr 4) and Cullen W (Yr 2).

Have a great day.

DRAKES SUPA IGA

Drakes Fundraiser for St. Joseph's Cathedral

I thank you for your support of this project which has raised over $40,000, of which the school community has played an important role.  Please continue to support the Cathedral by shopping at DRAKES using your key tag and receiving the benefits.

If you have not been part of this fundraiser you are invited to get a key tag from your local School or Church and shop at your local Drakes, one cent in every dollar you spend will go to the Cathedral.  No Fuss, only benefits.

Hoping to see you at Drakes 
Stay Safe

Shirley Hopkins,
Co-ordinator, Drakes Fundraiser for St Joseph's Cathedral