25 March 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 10.

St Joseph’s Day/Grand Parents Morning Tea was held last Friday with a lovely mass celebrated in OLHC with Fr Jomon.  Well done to Mrs Carter for organising such a wonderful celebration.

Congratulations to Mrs Michelle Roberts who was the recipient of this year’s ‘Spirit of St Joseph’ award.  Michelle is a worthy recipient being a passionate staff member and past parent within the Joey’s community.  Well done Michelle, Joeys is lucky to have you.

The Grandparents Morning Tea was also a great way to honour the role that our grandparents play in the lives of our students.  Joeys is known as a family community so it is always wonderful to celebrate a day, inspired by St Joseph, that acknowledges the importance of our grandparents and in some cases, great grandparents who were present on the day.

Thanks to the P&F and Year 6 staff and students for all of their preparation and hard work on the day.  We could not host a day such as this without the help of so many in our community.

NAPLAN has been completed for yet another year.  Congratulations to all of the students and staff who took part as well as the rest of the school community who made a very big commitment to reduce the possibility of distractions while testing was happening.  Thanks to Mrs Senini who is always ultra-organised and on top of this very important part of our educational calendar.

At the time of reading this, our Year 6 Students, along with their teachers and myself, will be taking part in the Year 6 Leadership Camp at Chaverim, near Bundaberg.

‘Chaverim’ when translated from Hebrew means ‘friends’ and this camp is a wonderful opportunity for our Year 6 students to not only learn more about the gifts of their peers over the week, but to also discover more about the unique gifts they have to offer those around them.  I know both students and staff will have a great time.

As I myself will be attending camp, I would like to take this opportunity to wish our whole community a happy, holy and safe Easter break. 

Just a reminder that school resumes for Term 2 on Monday, the 15^th of April.

Don’t Forget …

• 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
• Easter Monday, Mon 1^st April
• Term 2 Recommences. Monday 15^th

Have a great Holy 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

CURRICULUM NEWS

Parent Teacher Interviews

Semester One parent teacher interviews will be available during Week 2 next term.  To book an interview with your child’s teachers, please log on to Parent Lounge.  Bookings will be open throughout the upcoming holidays from 1^st April and will close on 12^th April. This is a great opportunity to see how your child is progressing with their learning and to begin building a positive relationship with your child’s teachers.

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: 

Wishing everyone a happy, holy and safe Easter break. 

Regards
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Palm Sunday of the Passion of Our Lord

The Passion.
Mark 15:1-39
Living the Gospel – Before the cock crows

Peter is an interesting character in the gospels. He is one of the first of the disciples to be called; Jesus changes his name and places great trust in him; he is witness to the most significant moments of Jesus’ life; he is able to profess his faith in Jesus as the Christ and yet it is he who denies even knowing Jesus. We might have thought that Peter was Jesus’ most loyal and faithful follower, yet it is he who can’t stand up and claim that he was a follower of Jesus. Is it any wonder that it is difficult for us today sometimes?

@Liturgy Help – by Greg Sunter

HOLY WEEK

Holy Week is the most significant week in Catholicism. Spanning from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday, it marks the final stretch before Easter Sunday, the celebration of Jesus' Resurrection. During this sacred week Catholics pray and reflect on the profound journey of Jesus’ suffering, sacrifice, and victory over death.

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, a day that commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Holy Thursday celebrates the Last Supper, when Jesus gave us the Eucharist while Good Friday reflects on Jesus’ death by crucifixion.

Throughout this week, Catholics reflect on the emotional intensity of Jesus' Passion, contemplate His boundless love and mercy, and anticipate the joyous hope of His Resurrection.

An intentional Holy Week can serve as a spiritual pilgrimage that deepens our faith. God be with you all as you journey this week together.

EASTER LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS ACROSS ROCKHAMPTON

Please see the details below for liturgical celebrations offered in Rockhampton.  Everyone is most welcome to join the Rockhampton Catholic Community at these. It would be great to see our families taking time over the Easter weekend to spend time with Jesus.

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

INCLUSIVE CURRICULUM NEWS

This year we have introduced Case Managers to our Inclusive Curriculum Team.  Case Managers assist students in accessing the curriculum by liaising with class teachers, specialists, and parents, completing relevant paperwork, and advising teachers on supports to implement in the classroom.

The Case Managers are as follows.

Penola Precinct (Prep & Yr1)

Leonie Mooney
leonie_mooney@rok.catholic.edu.au 

MacKillop Precinct (Yrs 2, 3 & 4)

Kira Tickner
kira_tickner@rok.catholic.edu.au 

Inclusive Curriculum Facilitator

Tennison Woods Precinct (Yrs 5&6)

Lesley Donohoe
lesely_donohoe@rok.catholic.edu.au 

Inclusive Curriculum Teachers

Specialist Support

Many specialists support the learning process at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. Visiting specialists include Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, and psychologists.

Prep Screeners

At St Joey’s we are committed to supporting students in their development and evidence supports that early intervention is most effective. Earlier this term we engaged with Allsorts Developmental Services to conduct Speech Language and Occupational Therapy screeners on all our prep students. We have also conducted hearing screeners using the Sound Scouts App.  All these results have now been sent home.

Leonie Mooney

Writing Extension

The purpose of Writing Extension is to give students who are already doing well in writing the opportunity to excel further at it. Students in Years 2, 3 & 4 have the opportunity to participate in extension at St Joseph’s Park Avenue. As each year level is focusing on different topics and text types, our focus in each of the classes is different.

Year 2

This term Year 2 has been focussing on sentence structure and noun groups. To enhance this learning in extension, we have been working on learning how to plan and write a narrative using paragraphs. Students have also been learning how to self-assess and peer assess their own and others work to check that they have achieved the success criteria we are aiming for.

Year 3

In Year 3, students have been working on developing quality paragraphs and choosing better quality words. We’ve been looking at how to write an engaging paragraph about their favourite animal, with a focus on bumping up our word choice.

Year 4

Year 4 students have been working on narrative writing this term. These students are proficient at self and peer assessment now, so they have been taking on more responsibility when editing. They have been focusing on checking that their work is meeting the success criteria and giving feedback to each other on the parts of their writing that need improvement. Check out some of our extension students working hard on their editing skills!

Next term I will be giving all students from Year 2 to Year 6 the opportunity to join our lunchtime Literacy Club. In Literacy Club, students will be able to learn new writing skills and create pieces of writing to enter into our very own SJPA writing competitions. Watch this space to see what we achieve throughout the year.

Tarina Hancock

Numeracy Extension

Students in Years 2, 3 and 4 are given the opportunity to participate in Numeracy Extension if they are achieving at a high level. 

Here are a few of our favourite things from Term 1 Numeracy Extension.

Year 2

Georgia – My favourite thing was when we played ‘I have …. Who has?’. This game helped me practise my number facts.

Bella – I really liked learning about big numbers. I enjoyed the game where we were given a card and we had to hop in line from smallest to largest.

Evelyn – I have enjoyed learning about big numbers and playing ‘I have…. Who has?’

Addison – I liked when we played the caterpillar game. We had to sort numbers from smallest to largest.

Harrison – I liked playing Kahoot. We had to answer lots of questions about place value and calendars.

Year 3

Willow: I liked solving maths problems and having a try. We have been using ‘guess and check’ and ‘act it out’ strategies to solve maths problems.

Jack: I liked playing Kahoot to practise our maths and also learn new maths.

Nate: I enjoyed Numeracy Extension this term. My favourite activity was when we used spinners to work on our place value.

Matilda: I liked Numeracy Extension because we get to solve tricky maths problems. I learn new things every time.

Year 4

Meilah – I liked learning about 24-hour time. We completed cards which helped us change between 12 and 24-hour time.

Gracie – Each day we start Numeracy Extension with Times Table Challenge. I am getting better at my times tables each day.

Orlando – We have been learning lots of mental maths strategies. I liked using these strategies to help me with my multiplication with regrouping sums.

Harrison – The best part about Numeracy Extension was the games we played to help us with our learning.

Kiara – I enjoyed Numeracy Extension because it was always a challenge. One of my favourite activities was the game we played in silence. We were given part of a sum and we had to look for a friend with a card that balanced our equation.

Alice Wayman

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week and over the holidays.  They are: Skylah Mc (Yr 5), Sadie T (Prep), Nathaniel O (Yr 6), Prithik S (Yr 1), Matilda W (Yr 4), Mr Fitzgerald, Mrs Brady (Yr 4), Mrs Mac (OSHC), Makenna D (Prep), Matilda H (Yr 3), Koa L (Yr 1), Milena L (Yr 1), Leon S (Yr 1), Nahla W (Yr 4), Mrs Rooney (Tuckshop) and Mr Smith (PE)

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