28 February 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 6.

It was great for our school to have a number of our students in attendance to support Fr Peter Doherty’s Ordination Mass last Thursday at the Cathedral.  It was a wonderful celebration.  Even though it was incredibly hot, our students were exceptionally well behaved and represented our school beautifully.  Well done to all the students who attended.

Our school Board AGM was held last Wednesday evening with the following members all re-elected as Board members again in 2024.

2024 Board Chair – Mr Dane Coughlan

2024 Board Secretary – Mrs Melissa Bell

2024 Board Members – Pat McDevitt, Ann McCutcheon, Jill Kaufman, Brooke Black, Paul Stewart, Sally Compagnoni and Bernard Fitzgerald

During the meeting the Board began to review the school’s ‘Uniform Policy’ as well as updating our school’s ‘Student Mobile Phone and Electronic Communication Device Guidelines’ to align with the Queensland Government mandate on student mobile phone usage while at school.

I have attached the ‘Student Mobile Phone and Electronic Communication Device Guidelines’ document here and ask that all community members familiarise themselves with these updated guidelines.

It is with much regret that I must inform the school community that if we do not receive more volunteers to both our Tuckshop and Breakfast Club that we will have to consider reducing the days in which both services are offered.  As previously mentioned, the Tuckshop ran at a loss last year.  In consultation with the P&F, this has facilitated price increases to meet the rising costs of purchasing the food items for the menu.  I believe that we are the only local Catholic Primary School that has purchasable food five days of the week as well as running the Breaky Club in conjunction with this.  Some days Debbie Rooney is inundated with orders but does not have the volunteer personnel to fulfill them.

The same issue is being experienced currently at Breaky Club.  Breaky Club has always been voluntary, but without volunteers, I will have to review the service's viability and begin by reducing the days it is offered or if it is viable enough to offer it in the future at all.

Regarding Tuckshop from Monday to Thursday, until Debbie receives greater numbers of volunteers, she will have to implement two menus.  Those being:

1. A normal Tuckshop Menu for the days she has adequate volunteer personnel to fulfill the entire menu range.
2. A restricted Tuckshop Menu for the days in which she has limited capacity to fulfill the orders by 11:00am due to a lack of volunteer help.

As mentioned at multiple P&F meetings, I have never run the Tuckshop to make the school money, it is a service to help families when needed. It should however not lose money.  It is hoped that the implementation of the new menus as well as sensible price increases and increased volunteers will help alleviate this problem before we review the situation again early next Term.

Debbie has asked that I include the following dot points on volunteering at Tuckshop and/or Breaky Club.

• Parents don't need a blue card to volunteer.
• Grandparents and community members do need a blue card.
• All volunteers need to do a small induction before volunteering, both in the office and at the tuckshop
• Volunteers can help once a term, month, fortnight or week. (anything helps)
• Volunteers can help for as little as half an hour, an hour or more (again, anything helps)

Please consider if you can help in this space as I see the services as both worthwhile and I would love to keep them as readily available as they are now.

Don’t Forget …

• Year 12 Indigenous Commencement Mass. Wed 28^th Feb @ St Joseph’s Cathedral.
• AD Schools Rockhampton, Mr Mike Kelso Term 1 Visit. Thurs 29^th
• 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 

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

ICAS

Once again, St Joseph’s will be offering ICAS assessments for students who wish to participate.  ICAS continues to lead the way in international academic competitions. Over 10 million school students from 16,000 schools across 41 countries have been inspired, celebrated and challenged since the annual event began over 40 years ago.

ICAS recognises academic performance in a way others celebrate achievements in sport or the arts. Students can sit up to six literacy and STEM papers including English, Mathematics, Science, Digital Technologies, Writing and Spelling Bee. The questions are engaging and fun and have been designed by psychometricians, education measurement experts and experienced teachers to push students to their academic limits, as well as test higher-order thinking and problem-solving abilities.

More information on these assessments can be found at icasassessments.com

Purchases must be made before Monday, 29^th July

To sign your child up for any of these assessments and to pay for the assessment please log onto the following link and use the below school access code:

Your school access code is: WSO834
Your parent page link is:

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:

Creativity is the capacity to use imagination and critical thinking to create something or solve a problem.

In Prep and Year One I am displaying creativity when I:

• Use my imagination
• Try things in different ways
• Talk about my thinking

In Year Two I am displaying creativity when I:

• Build on ideas in ways that are new to me
• Think about things differently 
• Try different ways to solve problems

In Year Three I am showing creativity when I:

• Expand on known ideas to create new understandings
• Am imaginative, spontaneous and innovative
• Put my ideas into action

In Year Four I am displaying creativity when I:

• Am imaginative, spontaneous and innovative
• Put my ideas into action
• Talk about my thinking and apply my knowledge

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

• Use ideas and information from a range of sources to expand and create new and imaginative possibilities
• Generate alternative solutions to problems
• Tap into my own unique ideas, gifts and talents and share them with others

Regards
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

2nd Sunday of Lent
Jesus is transfigured
Mark 9:2-10

Have you thought? Mountaintop Moments

Throughout the Bible there are instances of important encounters with God on mountaintops. Even this week’s first reading, the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, occurs on a mountaintop. It is not the potential sacrifice, but the new relationship between God and Abraham that is a mountaintop moment. In modern language, we often speak about ‘peak experiences’ – moments of exceptional clarity, intense emotion or extraordinary accomplishment. Sometimes, like Peter, we are tempted to try to remain ‘in the moment’ rather than using the peak experience as a motivator for when we go back down the mountain to our normal (if perhaps changed) existence.

 @Liturgy Help – by Greg Sunter

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

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 4

Hi and welcome to another update from Year 4! It has been a bustling time in our classroom, filled with exciting discoveries and accomplishments.

In our Religion lessons, we've delved into the fascinating world of parables. The children have blown us away with their creation of their own modern day parables, and their ability to talk about Jesus’ vision for the world.

Our Instrumental Music journey has taken off, and we're already hearing melodic tunes echoing across the MPA. Some talented individuals have swiftly mastered the art of playing songs, leaving us all in awe. It's incredible to see the passion and dedication our young musicians are pouring into their musical pursuits.

Meanwhile, in Science, we've been on an exploration of a different kind – the intricate world of food webs and chains. From bacteria to apex predators, our students are unravelling the connections between living things and learning how all parts of the environment have their purpose. 

In HaSS, students immersed themselves in learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' lives in Australia. Through storytelling, discussions, and activities, they gained a deeper understanding of their cultures and traditions, fostering respect and appreciation.

In English, students have embarked on their narrative writing journey, diligently learning the fundamentals of paragraph structure. They have been exploring the importance of adding detail to their writing to set the scene and build loveable characters.  

As we continue our educational adventures, we look forward to sharing more triumphs and discoveries with you. Thank you for your ongoing support in making Year 4 a place of growth, curiosity, and accomplishment for our fantastic students.

Our favourite things about Year 4 

Olivia: Some of my favourite moments from this year is doing the Brain Breaks in the classroom. I enjoy them because they help me to learn and get all my energy out so I can focus on my learning. 

Hugh: I love learning in Maths. 

Wyatt: I have loved learning in Science this year. Learning about food webs. We have been putting animals to the test to find out what producers, primary consumers and secondary consumers are. 

Nahla: I have enjoyed learning Maths. We have been learning about algorithms and creating flow charts. I liked the dice game that we have been playing in class, two students throw a dice and must add or subtract the numbers, whoever answers correctly first is the winner. 

Fuller: This year, I have enjoyed being in extension Maths and Writing. In extension Maths we have been doing times table challenges. We have been using the online game Blooket, learning our multiplication and we can gain points as we learn. In extension writing, we have been creating stories using stimulus from the Catch It and Bubbles videos. Focusing on our sizzling starts and paragraph structure. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week.  They are: Cooper B (Yr 5), Leo P (Prep), Tahlie C (Prep), Adam N (Yr 6), Tallon K (Yr 3), Cohen M (Yr 2) and Carter C (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