22 May 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 2.

2024 St Joseph’s Park Avenue Satisfaction Survey closes today.  I would like to pass on my appreciation to those who took the time to complete their surveys and help us shape the future directions of our school.

Our St Joseph’s Kindy will be hosting an Open Afternoon on Wednesday the 12^th of June from 3:15pm-5:00pm.  Come meet the dedicated teachers and explore some of the experiences offered in their play-based, approved kindergarten, early learning program.  Please read the included flyer and for more information, please phone the Kindy on 0437 658 756.

We are currently beginning to interview new applicants for our Prep intake class for 2025.  If you have a child looking to join us in 2025 or know of someone who is interested in joining our Joey’s community, online enrolments are open with interviews currently taking place now and up until the first few weeks of Term 3.

Please keep in mind that even current student’s younger siblings need to have full enrolment information submitted online and an enrolment interview before attending any Catholic school.  Existing families will have an abbreviated enrolment interview with one of our Assistant Principals while all new families will have a more substantial interview with myself as Principal.  Please, if you are looking to join our Joey’s community in Prep next year, let us know as soon as possible so we know what positions are available beyond our current sibling group.

With our sports days just around the corner on Monday the 3^rd and Tuesday 4^th of June, I am wanting to clarify which students will compete on the Field Events Day on Monday the 3^rd of June.  On this day, students aged 9-12 years will compete in shot put, high jump and long jump on the St Joseph’s oval. 

This means that all students from Years 4 – 6 with the addition of our Year 3 students born in 2015 will take part.  The events are broken into age groups with students born in 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012.  This is due to the fact that we as a school community have always awarded ‘Age Championships’ to our students aged 9 – 12 years.

The following day will involve all students as we take part in our ‘Track Day’ on Brosnan Oval at Emmaus.  More information about our Athletics Carnival days will be sent out to the community next week.

This Friday the 24^th of May, we will be celebrating the Feast Day of Our Lady Help of Christians with a special Mass in OLHC church at 9:00am.  This is always one of the biggest days on the Joey’s calendar but in 2024 it will be even more special as our Bishop, the Most Reverend Michael McCarthy will be our celebrant.

To add to our special celebration, Bishop Michael will also be presiding for our monthly Children’s Mass this Saturday the 25^th of May at 6:30pm at OLHC church.

All of the community are welcome to join us at either the Friday mass at 9:00am and/or Saturday’s mass at 6:30pm.  It would be great to see as many of our school community as possible there to celebrate with our Bishop on his annual visit.

Don’t Forget …

• OLHC Feast Day Mass. Fri 24^th May in OLHC @ 9:00am.
• Children’s Mass/Sacraments Celebration. Sat 25^th May in OLHC @ 6:30pm.
• 10^th Anniversary Mass of Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Michael. Wed 29^th May 10:00am @ St Joseph’s Cathedral.
• Athletics Field Events Day. (9-12yrs) Mon 3^rd June @ SJPA Oval.
• Athletics Track Events (Whole school) Tues 4^th June @ Emmaus Brosnan Oval.
• Semester 1 Performing Arts Assembly. Mon 10^th June in MPA @ 8:35am.
• Show Holiday. Thurs 13^th
• Children’s Mass. Sat 15^th June in OLHC @ 6:30pm.
• Semester 1 Academic Awards. Mon 17^th June in MPA @ 8:35am.
• Semester 1 Academic Reports posted to Parent Lounge. Wed 19^th
• Under 8’s Day. Thurs 20^th
• Semester 1 Concludes. Fri 21^st

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

CURRICULUM NEWS

Premier’s Reading Challenge

I am delighted to invite all students to join in the 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC).

The PRC is not a competition but a way to encourage students to develop a love of reading for life. Students are encouraged to select a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their reading ability and record books read during the reading period, from 7 May to 23 August. Attached to the newsletter is a reader record form to tally books read throughout the challenge.

To complete the challenge:

• Prep to Year 2 must read or experience at least 20 books
• Years 3 and 4 must read at least 20 books
• Years 5 to 9 must read at least 15 books.

Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories, or reading picture books. The aim for the 2024 challenge is to encourage students to make time to read. Last year saw more than 110,000 children from around the state participate.

Book suggestions are available on the PRC website: 

Every student who completes the challenge, and returns the completed record reader form, will receive a Certificate of Achievement. I look forward to seeing as many of our students as possible take part in the 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

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: 

Regards
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

RELIGIOUS NEWS

Pentecost Sunday

The Spirit will guide the apostles to all truth.

John 20:19-21

Pentecost is called the birthday of the church because before Pentecost, there really was no church. Jesus had ascended back into the heavens, the Apostles were hanging around, scared and confused, and nobody knew what to do. Going out to baptise people and preach about Jesus was the last thing they had in mind because their lives would be in danger.

But Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit – the force that turned a bunch of frightened, mixed-up people into church. There was a rush of wind, tongues of fire, and then suddenly there was courage, knowledge, direction and commitment! Everyone started speaking and was understood, no matter what the language of the listener was! These were saints suddenly on fire with the Holy Spirit. And it all began with the wind and fire of the Spirit.

What changes in you do you wish the Spirit could blow your way?

                                                                        @Liturgy Help – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart

Our Lady help of Christians, Patroness of Australia and our Park Avenue church.

The feast of Our Lady Help of Christians is an opportunity for Australians to thank God for His blessings they enjoy. When Our Lady Help of Christians was selected as patroness for the Australian church in 1844, a considerable proportion of the population were convicts, others were discriminated against because they were ex-convicts and at this time, Catholics were often treated unfavourably in the new settlements. They would surely be proud of the changes made in the last 150 years.

However, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians is also a call to all Australians to work against social trends that marginalise sections in our community and those that are creating an underclass of people entrenched in poverty and disempowerment.

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 2

Year 2 has been very busy learning about God’s Covenant in Religion which has led us to share our learning with the whole school in our Prayer Celebration last Friday.  This is what our students have been learning: 

Octavia: I enjoy listening to stories about God.
Andie: Learning about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Penelope:  I really enjoyed learning about the Covenants as they are interesting.

We have also been using concrete materials when exploring the connection between addition and subtraction. 

Caleb: I love learning new problems in maths.
Lincoln: Writing down the sums.
Brooklyn: Using our hundreds, tens and ones.

SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS

Rockhampton District Sporting Teams 

Congratulations to Izabelah Z, who was selected in the Rockhampton District Soccer Team to compete at Capricornia Trials in Emerald last week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week.  They are: Kalani I (Yr 5), James L (Yr2), Hunter J (Prep), Nadia R (Yr 2), Miss Walker (Prep), and Mrs McCutcheon.

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