10 August 2016

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

On Monday of this week we celebrated the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, an amazing woman responsible for the founding of the Sisters of St Joseph and a great number of our Catholic schools; including our very own. Mary is very well known for her saying ‘Never see a need without doing something about it’ and this is something of which we often remind the students. We encourage the students to take action and care for one another. A question for all of us may be that as adults, what are we doing? Mary was also responsible for challenging us to:

‘..Seek first the poorest and most neglected parts of God’s vineyard..’

while many people may look at this quote quite differently, for me it speaks to our children, our struggling families, those who may have very little, those who have fallen on tough times. As we are now in the second half of the Year of Mercy, I believe the challenge for all of us is to ask ourselves what can we do to help the poorest and most neglected in our community? How will we make a difference?

A reminder for any interested parents that our August P&F meeting will be held this Thursday in the staffroom, commencing at 5.30pm. Changes to date and time have been made so as to try to accommodate new faces who may wish to attend. We’d love to see you there if you can spare the time.

I would also like to flag that this month St Joseph’s will be hosting the Diocesan P&F meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, 24th August. This will commence with a shared supper at 6.30pm, with the meeting to commence at 7.00pm.

As I return this week from a couple of weeks leave, I would like to thank Bernard Fitzgerald for stepping into the Acting Principal role in my absence and to our APC, Deanne Senini for taking on extra responsibilities during this time.

Don’t Forget …

• Thu 11/8 - P&F Meeting @ 5.30pm;
• Wed 17/8 - School Board Meeting;
• Fri 19/8 - Letters of Offer for Prep 2017 sent out;
• Sat 20/8 - Children’s Mass @ 6.00pm.

Have a great week!

Alan

APRE REFLECTION

It was wonderful to have Sr. Marg Smith from the Josephite Sisters join us for our whole school mass last Friday. The Josephite Sisters continue the good work that Mary started many, many years ago.

Sr. Marg said she was always happy to come and celebrate with the school community and praised the way in which our student’s honoured Australia’s first Saint.

During his homily, Fr. Don mentioned Mary’s quote, ‘Remember we are but travellers here’, telling us all how important it is to make the most of our time on earth. He mentioned that Mary spoke these words to bring attention to our everyday actions and that we should look after each other. We should spend our time building each other up, not tearing each other down. Helping and respecting everyone in all that she did was fundamental in the actions of Mary MacKillop while she was alive, and the way she inspires us to follow in these actions, continues to be a part of her legacy even today.

‘Remember we are but travellers here’

Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Mary MacKillop Feast Day Prayer

Dear Saint Mary,
You have a special place in our school community.
Thank you for the Sisters of Saint Joseph,
whom you gathered together, to teach in the schools
that you opened in small country towns here in Australia,
so that children could learn about their faith,
as well as their other lessons.
Help us to remember what we learn about God, Mary,
the saints and the angels, and all the other things about our faith.
Help us to be true to our faith all our lives.
Please pray for all the people in our school community.
Thank you Saint Mary of the Cross.

Amen

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Acting Principal

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

3T Prayer Assembly in Week 5

3T will be leading us in prayer at 11:40am in OLHC this Friday morning. The Grade Three class will be focusing on ‘CHOICES’ and how God has given us free will to make decisions in our own lives and how we should make the best choices we can to take personal responsibility for both our own actions and in caring for the world around us.

Hope to see you there.

Thank You to Sizzlers Rockhampton for Class Awards

Sizzlers Rockhampton have been generous enough to present us with some free kid’s salad bar certificates.

These vouchers were given to a student from each class who had exhibited exceptional behaviour in being a ‘Good Shepherd’ both in and around the classroom over the last couple of weeks.

The included image shows the students who received their Sizzler vouchers last Friday after our Mary MacKillop whole school mass.

Well done to those students and again, thank-you to Sizzler Rockhampton for their generous donation.

Children’s Mass – Save the Date

With this time of year being extremely busy for all families I thought you may wish to circle Saturday the 20th of August at 6:00pm in OLHC Church as the date of our next Children’s Mass in Term 3.

Hope to see you there.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

Athletics Sporting Representative

Congratulations to Gabby Yarrow and Seth Carpenter from Grade 5 who were selected into the Rockhampton & Greater District team by winning the 10 years girls shot put and placing in the 10 years boys sprints respectively. Both will now compete for a place on the Capricornia athletics team.

All the best to Gabby and Seth.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s Park Avenue APRE

Friday Sport 12/08/2016

Netball

SNR B 12:30

St Joseph’s PA v Mt Morgan on court 6

SNR C 12:30

St Joseph’s PA v Berserker on court 8

SNR D 1:10

St Joseph’s PA v Mt Archer on court 12

JNR C 1:10

St Joseph’s PA v Frenchville on court 8

JNR D 1:50

St Joseph’s PA v Heights Green on court 10

All Netball games played at Jardine Park

Hockey

1:20

St Joseph’s PA 1 v Frenchville 1 on turf 2

St Joseph’s PA 3 v Frenchville 3 on turf 3

1:00

St Joseph’s PA 2 v St Mary’s 1 on turf 4

2:00

St Joseph’s PA 1 v Crescent Lagoon 1 on turf 3

St Joseph’s PA 3 v Lighthouse Christian on turf 4

1:40

St Joseph’s PA 2 v Allenstown 1 on turf 4

All Hockey games played at Kalka Shades

Rugby League

6A 12:45pm Minor Semi-Final

St Joseph’s PA v Berserker @ Colts

5A 12:45 Minor Semi-Final

St Joseph’s PA v St Anthony’s @ Victoria Park Top

All students will be required to wear a wide brimmed school hat and it is advisable to have a frozen water bottle each week.

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates

Joeys in Jamas

This year sees the revival of the Joey’s in Jamas evening. The purpose of this evening is to provide an opportunity for parents and children to share stories together. The event will be held in the school library from 6pm until 8pm during Book Week on Thursday, 25th August. Children and parents who come along are asked to come in their pyjamas to celebrate a night of stories and their love of reading. It is not an expectation that you stay for the whole 2 hours, it is more a case that the library will be opened between 6pm and 8pm where people can come and go anytime during that time period. It is a requirement that all students attending have an adult with them whom they can share stories and conversations with. Tea, Coffee, Milo and biscuits will be on offer as a light supper.

Book Week Character Parade

Once again during Book Week we will be having our annual character dress up parade. Students are invited to dress up as a character from a book. The parade will be held in the multi-purpose area from approximately 10:30am.

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 accuracy.

Strategy – Chunk Letters and Sounds Together

Chunking letters and sounds together (familiar word patterns such as blends, digraphs, prefixes, suffixes, compound words and smaller words within a word) to make decoding more efficient, rapid and accurate. For children to be able to understand what they read, they must be able to read the words rapidly as well as accurately. This frees children to focus their attention on the meaning of what they have read.

Spelling:

Activity: Tracing words

Trace your words into sand, shaving cream or paint. This is a fun way for students to learn their spelling patterns.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

YR 6

This term’s HASS unit ‘Stand up and be counted’ is examining the rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens in the past. The focus is on the Indigenous, women and children. The students have created a series of hash tags for the Instawindow. These include:

#equalityforwomen
#womensrightstoequalpay
#givewomenherindependence
#votingforwomen
#keepworkingafteryouremarried

The Mathematics investigation the children are currently working on is Pyramids and Pharaohs. In this unit the students will create a diorama of the Great Pyramids of Giza. The constructions need to be built precisely to scale and proportionately to match the three pyramids that are guarded by the famous Great Sphinx. Before attacking the building of pyramids the students are learning to construct tetrahedrons.

Each week the children participate in a ‘Think Tank’ to develop their skills of thinking and learning. The children regularly refer to these dispositions when they are working in groups or independently. The skills help remind the children to be better thinkers and learners which contributes to their success in many areas of learning, creating, reflecting and information processing. Some of the 20 thinking and learning skills are:

In RE, we are exploring the foundation of the Early Church. Looking at Spirit-filled people and the qualities or characteristics that we have when filled with the Spirit. We reflected on our knowledge of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit and expressed these as a digital collage.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Egan Cass (1N), Isaiah Dale (6BR), Charlie Harris (4H), Grace Mundy (4H), Harrison Hopkins (4H), Nicola Dobbs (2H), Rori Kipling (1N) and Jaiden Wust (2F). Have a great day.

TERM 3 FEE ACCOUNTS

TERM 3 FEES were due on Tuesday 2nd August

Fee Accounts for Term 3 were due for payment on Tuesday 2nd August.

If paying by Direct Deposit, please use your Account Number (6 digit number on your Fee Statement) as the reference.

If your account still remains unpaid please contact Alan or Megan to advise when it will be settled.

SCHOOL COUNCILLOR

SELF ESTEEM

Before a child can overcome problems or can build healthy self-esteem, it helps to know what might be causing problems in the first place.  Two of the most powerful influences include how they see themselves and how others see or treat them.  As parents you can help support your children by using the 7 connecting  habits described by William Glasser .

1. Listening
2. Supporting
3. Encouraging
4. Respecting
5. Accepting
6. Trusting
7. Always negotiating disagreements.

This type of communication helps to encourage positive self-esteem in your child.  The alternative of criticising, controlling or setting unrealistic expectations will all have a negative impact on their self-esteem.

Children should be encouraged to try new things and to see their mistakes as an opportunity to learn.

Allowing your child to have their own opinion and ideas also enables them to feel valued.

For more information go to:

Camelia Perkins
School Counsellor
Direct: (07) 4923 5700
Fax: (07) 49235 716
Emmaus College & Saint Joseph's Park Avenue: Tuesday to Thursday
Email: Camelia_Perkins@emmaus.qld.edu.au

TRIVIA NIGHT

Find a babysitter as we are holding a Trivia Night. This will be held here (MPA) on Friday, the 2nd of September, starting at 7pm. Cost is $10 per person, with a maximum of 10 people per table. Prizes for the best table, and prize money for the winning team. A great time was had by all at our last one. To book a table, please call the office and Tracey or Megan will be able to help you. Hope to see you all there.

CHANGE TO FRIDAY PIZZAS

We are now going thru Domino’s for our Friday pizzas. This means that there will NO LONGER Chicken and Aioli available. Thanks

LOST PROPERTY

At the end of last term and last week, a large amount of lost property has accumulated. If your child or children has misplaced their shirt, shorts, shoes, socks, jumpers, lunch boxes or water bottles, this is where they will be. Lost property is located at the back door of the office.

Please name ALL of your child’s belongings, so when it is “misplaced’, it will be easier to return to them.

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 Thursday afternoons from 1:30pm - 3:30pm. 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.

SCHOOL BANKING

Pip Mundy, our School Banking Co-ordinator, has asked if you could please check your child’s balance for any discrepancies. We have an outstanding amount of notes and coins that was in a banking deposit book last week, but no slip was written out. If you think this was you, please contact the office to verify the amount so it can be deposited into your child’s account. Thanks

FRIDAY PIZZA

Meatlovers 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

DRAKES SUPA IGA

Simply scan your Drakes Supa IGA key tag and the checkout with your groceries, and automatically 1 cent of every dollar you spend goes to the Cathedral Conservation Fund.

Key tags are available from the office, local church or Drakes stores. Put it on your car keys so you remember to use it.

Key tags can be used at any Drakes Supa IGA supermarket in Queensland. Currently in our Diocese Drakes stores are located at

• Glenmore (North Rockhampton) Gladstone
• Emu Park Toolooa Street
• Calliope Sun Valley

COLTS RUGBY UNION CLUB JUNIOR SIGN-ON

Saturday 13th August 2016 11 am – 1pm
TA Nutley Field
Knight St, Park Avenue
Ages 4 -17 years

For more information
Email: coltsrugby@hotmail.com
Ph: Jeff Ballinger 0428 794 296