30 October 2024

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Term 4, Week 5

Dear Parents & Guardians

We had a wonderful ‘Day for Daniel’ celebration last Tuesday.  It was great to see so many staff and students turn up in red and support the 20^th anniversary of such an important event. Over the past 20 years, Bruce and Denise Morcombe have put Australian youth's safety at the forefront of our consciousness.   Thank you to all who contributed to making the day special.

Please remember that if you are attending the swim carnival tomorrow night, we will begin the younger students in the 25m pool at 5:00pm sharp.  Be mindful that the sections of the pool that we are not using will still be open to the public.  Even though this is a school event, parents and carers are required to monitor the safety of their own children when they are not directly competing in the pool.

As many of the younger students and their families tend to go home after their events, we will award all of the Age Champions as well as the overall house champion trophy, at next Monday morning’s whole school assembly.

Year 1 hosted a lovely World Teacher’s Day Prayer Celebration last Friday that celebrated the important role that our entire staff play in the educational journey of our students.

The entire staff were presented with a wonderful, laminated placemat with images of Joey’s staff that had been hand-drawn by our Year 1 students.  This was a fantastic gesture and, as promised to those who were in attendance, I have included a digital image for the community to also appreciate.

Our school P&F Association have recently engaged Indigenous Artist, Brandon Butler to design and paint a number of indigenous murals around the school.  The first of these murals has been designed and painted on the MacKillop Precinct wall facing the Multi-Purpose Area.  I am sure that you will all agree that this unique artwork is absolutely fantastic.  Brandon has also provided us with an explanation of the inspiration behind the mural design that has a number of unique Joey’s elements.  I will endeavour to include this text as well as updated images over the next couple of weeks.

We began advertising the Tuck Shop Co-Ordinator role at St Joseph’s last week.  Applications for the role close at the end of this week.  If you know of someone suitable or who may be interested, please forward on the following information.

This Friday, we celebrate All Saints Day, where we honour all the Saints of the church who have dedicated their lives to the service of God.  On Saturday, we celebrate All Souls Day to commemorate all of the faithful departed.  Both days are significant dates for our Catholic faith.

Don’t Forget….

October

• 31^st Swimming Carnival

November

• 1^st All Saints Day
• 2^nd All Souls Day
• 5^th Melbourne Cup Day
• 8^th Leadership Team Offsite Strategic Planning Sem 2
• 14^th Emmaus Graduation Mass
• 14^th P&F AGM (due to Leadership Gathering & Mass)
• 20^th Board Meeting
• 21^st Emmaus 2025 Year 7 Orientation Day
• 25^th Semester 2 Performing Arts Assembly
• 27^th Board & P&F Executive Meal
• 28^th Presentation Night

December

• 2^nd Semester 2 Academic Awards Assembly
• 4^th Graduation Mass and Dinner
• 4^th Semester 2 Report Cards posted to Parent Lounge
• 5^th Year 6 Fun Day
• 6^th End of Year Mass & Leadership Handover
• 6^th Term 4 Concludes

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

ICAS

Congratulations to Magenta McBean, Ayva Pearson, Orlando Wyatt, Jack Williams, Matilda Wooler and Elizabeth Compagnoni who all participated in the 2024 ICAS competitions.  A special congratulations to the following students who achieved highly on these assessments:

Jack Williams achieved a Credit in Mathematics and a Distinction in Spelling.

Matilda Wooler achieved a Credit in both Science and Digital Technologies as well as a Distinction in Mathematics.

Elizabeth Compagnoni achieved a Distinction in Spelling.

Chess

Congratulations to the chess team who competed in the last competition for the year last week. A special shout out to Harrison B who placed 7^th overall, closely followed by Ryver M, Tayte M and Jimmy F who placed 11^th, 12^th and 14^th respectively.  Well done to Mr Smith and all the boys who participated in this event.

Regards
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

RELIGIOUS NEWS

The 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus gives sight to Bartimaeus.
Mark 10:46-52

Scriptural context – Blindness

Blindness is a powerful metaphor that is used repeatedly throughout scripture. It is almost always a metaphor for blindness of heart or blindness of mind rather than a purely physical affliction.

There are multiple accounts of healing blindness in the gospel. Saul/Paul is blinded on the road to Damascus and only has his sight restored when he is baptised. The Pharisees are described as being ‘blind fools’ and there the prophets make numerous references to blind seeing as a sign of the Messiah’s arrival.

It is a very powerful image of being ‘blind’ to truth and ‘blind’ to the teaching of Jesus.

@Liturgy Help – by Greg Sunter

Catholic Missions Thank you!

What a delight it was to see the lines of coins last week for our Socktober Coin Line challenge. A big thank you to all who supported this initiative.

Year One were the winners of the longest line, followed closely by Year Four. Together, our community raised $445.75 for Catholic Missions! An amount like this will fund the building of a bore hole and ensure a rural community has constant access to a clean water supply. A bore hole also removes the risk of travelling over long distances or dangerous areas to access clean water.

You all did that! AMAZING!

Liturgical Celebrations Coming Up

*SJPA – St Joseph’s Park Avenue
*OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church (next to St Joseph’s, Park Avenue)
*MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

Elizabeth Carter
Assistant Principal Religious Education

Day for Daniel

Last Tuesday (22/10), Joey’s held their Day for Daniel. The students and staff were encouraged to wear red and donate a gold coin.  Day for Daniel is the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s biggest fundraiser each year. This year our Joey’s community raised $307.15. Your fundraising support helps the foundation develop free resources and programs for parents, carers, and educators to teach children to stay safe. These resources promote child safety messaging. Encouraging children to recognise their safety cues, react in a way that will keep them safe and then report to safe adults who can ensure their safety.

Educators, parents, and carers are encouraged to start conversations about personal safety with children and young people.

Please follow the link below to the Daniel Morcombe website for access to fabulous free resources:

Brooke Black
Pastoral Support & Wellbeing

SPORTING NEWS

Our Joey’s Swimming Carnival will take place tomorrow night commencing at 5:00pm at the Southside Pool.  It is appreciated that all participants be at the pool no later than 4:45pm, so that the first race can start on time, and the night can run to schedule.  The night will commence with all 25m events taking place first, then we will transition over to the 50m pool for the open events. 

The program has been posted on Audiri, so please check this to be familiar with the running of the night. 

This year we will be having a Teacher/Student/Parent relay race, if you are interested in being part of this, it will take place in the 25m pool before moving over to the 50m pool.  Keep an ear out for the announcement over the speaker on the night.

Students are welcome to leave the carnival with their parents at the completion of their swimming events, as the official trophy presentation and Age Champion announcements will be held at our school assembly next Monday, 4^th November at 8:35am.

Looking forward to a great night of participation and team spirit.

Please note that the water play area will be OUT OF BOUNDS and there will be NO FOOD OR DRINKS available during the carnival.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 4

This term in Year 4 has kicked off with exciting learning across all subjects! In Science, we've been exploring forces and how they work in everyday life. Here’s what Gracie says about forces.
“They can be pushed and pulled. Gravity pulls us down. Pretty much every object can be pushed or pulled.”
We did an experiment with friction using our school shoes and found out that carpeted surfaces have more friction than lino surfaces.

In Maths, we’ve been diving into fractions and grid references. The students are learning how to break numbers into parts and understand how fractions are used in real-world situations. We’ve also had fun exploring maps and using grid references to locate different points—turning Maths into a bit of an adventure!

Our Religion lessons have focused on understanding different text types in the Bible. It has been a great way to learn more about the Catholic faith. We are creating presentations, quizzes and posters about our learning.

In English, we’ve been honing our skills in identifying and using different sentence types. We are learning to use simple, compound, and complex sentences to make our writing more interesting. Here are some examples from our students:

Kiara: Although it is summer, kids love to play in the sun. (Complex)

Alyssah: We need more plants in school because it makes the school look very beautiful. (Complex)

Laythen: The cat ran and it jumped on the mat. (Compound)

In Media Arts, we have been learning about how to make films and digital art works. We are creating our own digital works about gender stereotypes. This links with our learning about identities in Health.

We’re looking forward to what the rest of the term brings as we continue to grow, learn, and have fun together!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following staff and students who will celebrate their birthday this week. 

Cruz P (Yr 3), Lexianna C (Yr 2), Jacob W (Yr 6), Henry Y (Prep), Luca M (Yr 1), Paige T (Yr 6), Ned W (Yr 5), Olive O’K (Yr 3), Rylen T (Yr 5) and Mrs Robson.

Have a great day.

JOEYS GALACTIC ENCOURAGEMENT AWARDS

This week, the Encouragement Awards for Joeys Touch goes to the following students: -

Jackson L, Isabella H, Elizabeth C, Reyd C, Kirra H, Oliver M, Holly A, Harriet O, Henry Y and Tuscani C.

Keyboard lessons

Leanne Voss will continue to offer Keyboard lessons in 2025 for interested students in grades 1 – 6. 

Lessons are of 30-minute duration and will be conducted weekly at school. Keyboards will be provided at school for lessons.

Students will be required to have access to a keyboard for practice and purchase a music tutor book and theory book.   Lessons will generally be given to groups of 2 or 3 students with some individual lessons available when it is not possible to match students of similar musical ability. The lessons will focus on developing note reading and counting skills and using a chord bass accompaniment.  There will also be an emphasis on utilising keyboard features such as different tones and rhythms.

Playing keyboard is an excellent extra curriculum activity to develop not only musical skills, but creative thinking, hand-eye coordination, concentration and commitment to task.

Enrolment forms are available for both new and continuing students.   

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC in 2025

Enrolments are now being accepted for new and continuing students to learn the following instruments at St. Joseph’s Park Avenue.

FLUTE, CLARINET, SAXOPHONE, TRUMPET, TROMBONE, PERCUSSION, VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO, GUITAR & VOICE.

Instrumental Music provides so many benefits to a child – please watch the attached link to a fantastic video about Music and the Brain: Instrumental Music Learning and Brain Fireworks

Please see the attached information letter for details on required year levels for each instrument, and a downloaded version of the enrolment form.

Enrolment link is included here: Instrumental Music Enrolment 2025

Further information is available online at 

ROWING

Emmaus Rowing will be conducting "Come and Try" sessions on Friday 1st November and Friday the 8th 2024.
All are welcome
Dates: Term 4 ~ Friday 1st November and Friday the 8th 2024.
Time: 3.30pm – 5pm
Address: Emmaus Rowing Shed, 30 Harman Street, Wandal, QLD 4700
Come and Try Registration: FREE
Please return form to 220_sport@rok.catholic.edu.au or can be handed in on the day.
What to bring? Hat, socks, and water bottle.
If you are unable to attend this session another session will be held early next year.
If you have any queries, please email 220_sport@rok.catholic.edu.au.

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