17 February 2016

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Last week we entered into the Lenten season as we participated in our Ash Wednesday liturgy, led by 5C. It was wonderful to see the very prayerful and respectful manner in which the children participated; an acknowledgement of the significance of the season. Lent, as we know, is a time when as Catholics we prepare for the pivotal celebration in our church calendar – that of Easter, when we commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. I would encourage parents to discuss with their children some of the things that the children can focus on, at home and school, during this Lenten season.

Thank you to the many parents who were able to attend last week’s Parent Information Sessions. It was great to see these well attended and I trust that you found the information provided by your child’s teachers useful. A special thank you to the mums from the P&F who attended the various meetings and were able to give an insight into some of the activities in which the P&F are involved. My thanks also to the staff for their time and preparation of these meetings. Once again I would encourage members of our community, parents and staff, to foster the ongoing, direct communication between the school and home.

This Saturday evening we will be celebrating Mass together at our first Children’s Mass for the year. Celebrating the Mass as a faith-filled community is always an important event and I would ask that you consider making Saturday night your weekend Mass this week. Mass will commence at 6.00pm.

While I realise parents and families are very busy and have lots happening in their lives, the school could really use your help on Saturday 5th March for our school fete. If you can help out for even 30 minutes on the day we’d be most grateful. Just let your child’s teacher know or grab one of our hard-working P&F committee members.

Don’t forget that this Friday, 19th is a Pupil Free Day. This is the Bishop’s Inservice Day involving all staff from all the Rockhampton Catholic Schools and provides an opportunity for staff to reflect on various aspects of their own faith development and faith journey.

Don’t Forget …

• Wed 17/2 - School Board Meeting @ 5.30pm;
• Fri 19/2 - Bishop’s Inservice Day – Pupil Free Day;
• Sat 20/2 - Children’s Mass @ 6.00pm.

Have a great week!

Alan

APRE REFLECTION

LENT – Project Compassion 2016

During the 40 days of Lent we try to ‘Turn Back To God’ by living more like Jesus taught us to.

We refocus our minds through Prayer, we prepare our bodies by fasting and we prepare our souls through alms giving to the poor.

At Joey’s during Lent we support Project Compassion through Caritas Australia. This year the theme is ‘LEARNING MORE CREATING CHANGE’ with donations helping to empower the world’s poorest people. This year donations will support programs around the world that provide vulnerable people with the education they need to provide both hope and more positive opportunities in life.

“Education is an act of hope.” Pope Francis

During Lent all classrooms will have a Project Compassion box where students can put donations in over the next 5 weeks. The class with the highest total, and the class with the highest average per student will win a reward at the end of Lent. If you are able to contribute, please do so to this worth cause.

Lenten Prayer:

Lent is a time for renewing our lives as Christians, as followers of Jesus. May the Spirit who guided Jesus to a life of self-sacrifice, self-giving and love inspire us to follow in his footsteps.

Lord send us your Spirit to help us walk the journey of Lent with honesty, faithfulness, generosity and love. Help us to renew our belief in you and to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

Amen

I hope you have a great week.

Regards

Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA APRE

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Prayer Assembly

Due to all St Joseph’s staff attending the annual Bishop’s In-service Day professional development, there will be no scheduled Prayer Assembly in OLHC church this Friday.

Children’s Mass

This weekend we will celebrate our first Children’s Mass for 2016. Mass will be celebrated in Our Lady Help of Christians church this Saturday, February 20th at 6:00pm.

It is always wonderful to have a great representation of staff, students and parents celebrating with our parishioners as a combined faith community.

Please bring along a plate of food to share for a light supper after mass.

Hope to see you there.

The Sacrament of Confirmation and Eucharist 2016

If you wish your child to participate in the Sacrament of Confirmation/Eucharist in 2016 there will be a ‘Parent Information Nights’ will be held in the Holy Family Church Hall.

Tuesday, 23 February at 6:00pm (for a 6:30 start)
Wednesday, 24 February at 6:00pm (for a 6:30 start)

Children are asked to not come along, but one parent/carer must attend as this is an important part of the programme.

Families who participated in the 2015 Penance programme should have received an email last week.

If you have not received the appropriate paperwork please contact Bernard Fitzgerald through the St Joseph’s School office.

For further information, please contact the Parish Office
(4928 2800) or berylmills18@gmail.com

Regards

Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

Friday Inter-school Sport

Due to all St Joseph’s staff attending the annual Bishop’s In-service Day professional development this Friday, there will be no scheduled Friday inter-school sport for Catholic schools this week. Inter-school sport for Catholic schools will recommence on Friday the 19th of February in week 4.

Rockhampton District Selection Trials

I have received details about Rockhampton and District Trials for the following Primary School sports. If your child has the prerequisite skills and you wish for them to trial in the following sports you will need to contact me through the school office to obtain the appropriate trial forms.

• Golf – Boys & Girls (10-12yrs)
• Tennis – Boys & Girls (10-12yrs)
• AFL – Boys (10-12yrs)
• Soccer – Boys (10-12yrs)
• Basketball – Boys & Girls (10-12yrs)

Please be aware that for your child to attend these trials as a 10 year old student that they would need to be exceptional and will be competing against students up to 12 years of age.

Regards

Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA APRE

CURRICULUM NEWS

Term 1, Week 4

Important Curriculum Dates

ICAS

The University of New South Wales will, once again, be running the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) in 2016. These competitions are open to any children in Years 3 to 6, and some of the competitions allow the year 2 children to participate, (Science, English & Mathematics). Those children wishing to be involved can participate in the areas of Digital Technologies, Science, Spelling, Writing, English and Mathematics.

Dates and costs associated with the competitions are as follows:

These competitions are a great way for students in our school to compare their academic achievements against students in other schools around Australia. If you would like more information please visit the UNSW website:

It would be appreciated if anyone wishing to enter any of the competitions could return the permission slip (sent home last week) to the office, along with entry fees by Monday 21st March (beginning of Week 9 - Term 1).

DANIEL MORCOMBE CHILD SAFETY CURRICULUM

Weeks 3 and 4 focus:

Prep – Year 2

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• review the meanings of recognise, safe and unsafe
• use LOOK, SOUND and SMELL clues to help recognise unsafe situations

Year 3-6

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:

• be able to explain and provide examples of ‘risk’ activities
• identify how risks can be assessed
• be able to provide examples of how risk affects personal safety and the safety of others

Information about the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum can be found at

I encourage you to talk to your child(ren) about the week’s session to re-enforce the important message of being safe.

If you have any questions about the program please feel free to come and see me.

LITERACY CORNER

Reading:

Learning to read involves children learning skills in comprehension, fluency, accuracy and expanding on their known vocabulary. This week’s skill comes under the heading of Fluency.

Strategy – Practise Common Sight Words and High-Frequency Words.

Once children have a solid bank of sight words which they can recognise quickly their fluency will improve because they won’t be stopping at every word to try to decode it. It is essential for fluency that your child knows their sight words.

Spelling

Strategy – Bubble Letters: Write and colour each of your spelling words in bubble letters or fancy shapes.

Regards,

Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 1 FEES are due on Friday 19th February

Fee Accounts for Term 1 are due for payment this Friday 19th February.

If your account still remains unpaid please contact the office to advise when it will be settled.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Year 4

It’s been a pretty exciting start to the year here in Year 4. The students are really enjoying working in a flexible learning environment and have quickly adapted to the different learning styles promoted so far.

In History we are learning about Marco Polo and his travels into Asia along the Silk Road. We learned that he brought back many spices and gems from Asia back to Europe.

In Geography we are looking at maps and the cartographic conventions. Cartographic conventions are title, scale, compass points and legend. We have enjoyed using our Chromebooks to label the continents on a world map.

We use our class website every day. It is a source of many lessons, activities and links to resources. We have been using the google apps, such as docs, slides and drive regularly.

This week we start our Kicking It Maths program. It is a short program designed to improve our knowledge and recall of multiplication facts. It just happens to be fun too. Kicking It Maths in incorporated into our daily Mathematics lessons.

That’s just a snapshot of what we’ve been up to in Year 4 in these first 4 weeks.

Thanks for reading,

The Year 4’s, Mr Hosie, Mrs Mooney and Miss Crane.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Gabriel Maker (PW), Kathleen Phillips (4M), Angus Ballinger (5T), Shari Wust (4H), Kasey Pont (5T), Jack Wooler (1N), Lauren Handford (2H) and Mr Carrington.

FREE PARENTING SEMINAR

Free Triple P – Power of Positive Parenting Seminar
with Professor Matt Sanders

Ever wondered: ‘why does my child do that?’ Find out how to get more of the behaviour you like – and less of the behaviour you don’t like!

Thursday March 3 – 6.30pm Central Queensland University, CQIRP Conference Centre, 361 Ibis Avenue, North Rockhampton

Come early for tea and coffee – seminar starts promptly at 6.30pm

FREE DRESS DAY

On Thursday the 25th of February we will be having a Free Dress Day.

This Free Dress Day will involve your child bringing a gold coin donation and coming dressed as your grades choice of theme.

Themes for Year Levels are as follows…

Prep – Fairytales (Life itself is the most wonderful Fairytale)
Year One – Nursery Rhymes (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Year Two – Heroes (I think a hero is any person)
Year Three – Sporting Colours (It never gets easier, you just get better)
Year Four – The Colour Yellow (You’ve Gone Bananas)
Year Five – Movie/ TV Character (May the force be with you)
Year Six – I’M A CELEBRITY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!! Come as your favourite celebrity/ Pop Star.

P & F FAIR COMMITTEE

Don’t Forget your unlimited wristbands!

• Unlimited ride passes are available from the Office, the tuckshop and the Uniform Shop.
• Help is needed on the day, notes went home yesterday. If you can spare 30 mins please fill out the form and return it this week. We would love to see you!
• Don’t forget to check with your class to see what they need to get their stall ready for the Fair. There is a Pizza Party for the year that can raise the most funds in their stall
• Fair Meeting at 3:15 in the Library every Wednesday
• Can you donate a prize or know someone that can? Drop them into the office for the Multi Draw Raffle on the day!
• Raffle tickets are being sent home this week….1st Prize is a SKYDIVE and Accommodation at Cool Waters Holiday Village!

Let’s make this a day the kids will never forget!

WALL PLANNER

Our new 2016 Wall Planner has been sent home. This calendar has all of our happenings throughout the year on it. If your planner did not make it home, please call into the office and pick up another one.

CAPRICORN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

We have been advised by CER that the Write & Wipe Folders that were on your child’s booklist are unavailable until late March. The supplier has run out and they are not available in Australia at this point. CER will notify us once they are in stock.

VOLUNTEERS INDUCTION SESSIONS

WPH&S Volunteers Inductions are necessary for the safety of your children. Therefore we ask that all parents who generously volunteer their time to the school, either in a classroom or in the tuckshop, attend a very brief induction regarding maintaining a safe environment for the children of St. Joseph’s.

These sessions only take about five minutes and are available after assembly on a Monday morning with Deanne Senini, or with Ray Carrington on Friday mornings at 9.00 am. Tracy Wren will also be conducting induction sessions in the tuckshop, if you are helping out in there.

Thanks,

Ray Carrington

UNIFORM SHOP

Our uniform shop is run by VOLUNTEERS of the school and is open

Monday morning from 8:15- 8:45 and
Tuesday afternoon from 2:45 - 3:15
Friday morning 8:15 – 8:45

Please feel free to drop by any uniforms you no longer need to sell. Proceeds can go back to you or you can donate it back to the P & F.

FRIDAY PIZZA

Meatlovers, Chicken and Aioli and Hawaiian Pizza are available every Friday for $1.50/slice. Please have your order in a Brown Paper Bag with your name, class and order on it, with the money in side.

Please use a brown paper bag with child’s name and class written on the front.

TUCKSHOP IS UNAVAILABLE ON FRIDAYS

CASSEROLE CLUB

For a number of years, we have had what we call a Casserole Club at school. What happens here is we ask parents to cook dinners (Casseroles, spaghetti bolognese, mild curry dishes etc) and freeze them. We keep them on hand and distribute to families in need. Families don’t ask for the meals, but are very appreciative of receiving them, and we are appreciative of the families that donate them. Takeaway dishes are available from the tuckshop, so pop in and see Tracy and grab one or two.

OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE

Hours of operation for Pupil Free Day (This Friday) are 730am-6pm

Bookings essential- 0408 703 482 or pachildcare@internodeon.net

What to bring: Morning Tea/Lunch/Afternoon Tea, Water Bottle, Wide Brimmed hat and enclosed shoes.

Thanks

Chelsea Holden

YR 7 2017 EMMAUS INFORMATION EVENING

TENNIS

Rockhampton Junior Tennis Association’s 2016 season will start on Saturday, January 30, with fixtures ($10/session) held from 8.00 – 11.00am Saturdays, and from 4.00 – 6.00pm Tuesdays.

Coaching ($12/lesson) will also begin on January 30. Register any Saturday at Rockhampton

Regional Tennis Centre, Victoria Park, or by phoning (07) 4927 1436. Qualified coaches and experienced supervisors are employed.

TUTORING

D2A Tutoring, Rockhampton has vacancies for Prep to Year 12 students for Term 1, 2016.

Individual, affordable, fun. One-on-one sessions in a nurturing environment with an experienced teacher and tutor. D2A Tutoring, Rockhampton is celebrating 10 years of providing professional and effective tutoring to Rockhampton's students. Morning, afternoon and evening lessons available.

Phone Jody 0400 378 843 or 0749 210 663.