2 November 2016

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE ACTING PRINCIPAL

With St Joseph's being a school founded by Josephite Sisters, we have St Mary of the Cross MacKillop's most famous quote in each of our classrooms;

'NEVER SEE A NEED WITHOUT DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.'

With this in mind, as a school community we are beginning to collect items for the 'Joey's Christmas Hamper Appeal' over the next four weeks. Families are asked to donate an item each week to their child's classroom hamper where possible. Please ensure that all items have an expiry date that would reach into early 2017 allowing ample time for the St Vincent DePaul society to distribute the food to those who are less fortunate than us in our own local community.

On a similar note, we are also collecting toothbrushes and travel size toothpastes for MacKillop Gate Ministry. This organisation creates care packages for those who exit correctional facilities with very little to no basic resources as they re-enter back into society. These care packages are designed to help with the basic essentials needed in order for them to get back on their feet in the first few days.

If you are able, please help support these worthwhile causes.

This Friday, we will be attending a special mass celebrating All Saints day.

This Mass will be held in OLHC church at 9.00am. As we will be celebrating this mass with the Parish community, there will be no class led prayer assembly at 11:40am. All are welcome to attend.

Swimming nomination notes were sent home on Monday of this week. Please fill them out and return them as soon as possible to your child's classroom teacher in order for Mrs Brennan to collate them and begin preparing the 2016 swimming carnival program.

As we are well into a relatively short Term 4, I would like bring to your attention that we have a significant amount of outstanding school fees. Without payment of these fees, it is increasingly difficult to properly resource the school as we would like. With this in mind, I would ask that you give this matter your urgent attention.

If you are having legitimate problems meeting these commitments I would encourage you to make an appointment through the school office to see me as soon as possible.

Failure to meet the financial commitment of school fees has a detrimental effect on the teaching and learning of all students.

Finally, next Monday evening we will be holding our annual P&F AGM in the staffroom at 6:30pm. We invite you to come along and meet our current P&F members as well as gain some insight into the invaluable work they do within our school community.

Don't Forget …

• Fri 4/11 - All Saints day mass
• Mon 7/11 - P&F AGM
• Wed 16/11 - Swimming Carnival.

I hope you have a great week.

Regards,
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph's PA Acting Principal

APRE REFLECTION

All Saints Day

All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. The day is dedicated to all the saints of the Church. One of the interesting things about the saints is that many of them were imperfect people. They sinned. They experienced doubt. For many saints, the turnaround in their lives was gradual — it did not necessarily come in one big moment of clarity.

That might sound a lot like your own spiritual journey. One special trait of any saintly person is that he/she always seeks the face of the Lord. When you really think about it, we're all "saints in the making" and examples of canonized Saints of the Church can help us along our way.

Prayer for All Saints Day

Dear Father,
You have given the saints in Heaven eternal happiness and they now live in the fullness of Your glory.
Because of their holy love for You,
they also care about me and my family, my friends, my church and my neighbours.
Thank you for the gift of their friendship
and the witness of their holy lives.
I ask our patron saints
and every saint who has become especially dear to me to intercede for us.
O Lord, give us their protection.
Grant us their assistance in overcoming temptation and gaining the fullness of life with You.
Amen

Enjoy the week ahead.
Bernadette Brennan
St. Joseph's PA Acting APRE

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

No Prayer Assembly

This week all the students will be participating in a school mass at 9:00am to celebrate with the local community the feast days of All Saints (1st November) and All Souls (2nd November.)

'Vinnies' Christmas Hampers – Term 4 Joeys Giving Plan

As a school community we are going to collect items for the 'Joey's Christmas Hamper Appeal' over the next four weeks. The aim of the appeal is to help our brothers and sisters in the community who find they are enduring hard times. Our generosity isn the past has been met with profound gratitude: quiet smiles, a murmured thank-you, sheer relief from parents, exuberance, excitement and happy noise from kids.

Families are asked to donate an item each week to their child's classroom hamper where possible. Please ensure that all items have an expiry date that would reach into early 2017 allowing ample time for the St. Vincent DePaul society to distribute the food over the Christmas period and into the New Year.

If you are able, please help support this worthwhile cause.

SAVE THE DATE – Final Children's Mass for 2016

Our final Children's Mass with the Our Lady Help of Christians Parish will be held on Saturday the 19th of November. It would be lovely to have as many of the Joey's community come along to celebrate. It would be especially great to have as many of our Year 6 students as possible as it will be their last parish mass as St Joseph's Park Avenue students. Hope to see you there.

Peer Support – 'Moving Forward - Resilience' 6th Session

This week the focus is on step 2 of the model, Plan. In Peer Support children learn the need to develop a range of coping strategies and be creative in drawing on these when planning responses. Responses include persevering, seeing the positive side to situations and engaging in activities they enjoy as a distraction for a short time.

Encourage your child to talk with you about strategies they could use as difficulties arise.

Regards,
Bernadette Brennan
St. Joseph's PA Acting APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

SAVE THE DATE - 2016 Swimming Carnival

Our annual St Joseph's Park Avenue swimming carnival will be held on Wednesday, the 16th of November at the Southside Pool.

The carnival will be held in the evening, commencing at 5:30pm sharp with the Prep races and finish at approximately 8:00pm. As it may be a late night for some of our younger students, age championship medallions will be presented in the MPA at 8:35am the following morning in front of the entire school.

The nomination form for races was sent home earlier this week. Please return these to school by this Friday 4th November to indicate whether your child will attend and in which races they will be competing.

Regards,
Bernadette Brennan
St. Joseph's PA Acting APRE

CURRICULUM NEWS

DAY FOR DANIEL

Last Friday we participated in Day for Daniel. Thank you to everyone who participated. We had a large proportion of both students and staff wearing red shirts to help promote the important message of child safety. As a school group we raised just over $400 to contribute to this fantastic cause.

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 – Trade a Word / Guess a Word That Makes Sense

When readers encounter words they don't know, but they understand the gist of the text, they insert a word that makes sense in place of the unknown word. This strategy provides the reader with the option to continue reading by using a similar word for an unknown word. Reading continues and meaning stays intact.

Spelling:

Activity: Write an advertisement, song and poem using your spelling words.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 4 FEES were due on Tuesday 25th October

Fee Accounts for Term 4 were due for payment on Tuesday 25th October.
If your account remains unpaid, these are now Overdue.

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

If you are unable to settle your account, your immediate contact with either Bernard or Megan is requested to advise when the account will be settled.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Year 1

WOW! We cannot believe it is already term 4! We have had such a busy year doing lots of learning and having heaps of fun! We have been learning about how to write procedures and had the chance to make yummy food like fairy bread and chocolate crackles. We have looked at past and present life, how to read maps and we got to make spaghetti towers in Science!

Here are some pictures of our year so far!

From Year 1, Miss Noake & Mr Joyce

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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

Sydney Hornagold (3A), Megan Shephard (5C), Gabriell Brosnan (PW), Royston Gibbins (2F), Callan Bedford (3A), Le Turner (4H), Lucas Anderson (4H) and Mrs Tennyson (3T) Have a great day.

NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME

Do you know of someone who has a diagnosed disability? If the answer is YES then PLEASE READ THIS….

The NDIS supports people with a permanent and significant disability that affects their ability to take part in everyday activities. This scheme is currently being trailed in Queensland.

The scheme is designed to identify supports to help individuals

• live their life as independently as possible.
• achieve goals in education, employment, health and wellbeing.

It also focuses on early intervention where getting early supports can reduce the impact of disability on you or your child. PLEASE READ the attached flyer and attend this session if you are able. Other information and sessions are happening regularly and if you are unsure about whether or not you should attend or have any questions in general please ask and I can point you in the right direction.

Dates: 6th December 2016
Location: CPL Centre 39 Macaree St North Rockhampton
Time: 9:30.00am – 12.30pm
Register Now – Reserve a seat Places are limited

Thanks,
Kath Howell (Learning Support Coordinator)

CASSEROLE CLUB

We are in need of some frozen meals for our Casserole Club. These meals can be Stews/casseroles, mild curries, Spaghetti Bolognese, etc – whatever can be made, frozen, defrosted and heated.

We distribute these meals to families who are finding things a little tough from time to time. And as little as a frozen meal for dinner goes a long way. If you could help us out, please see Sue in the Tuckshop for some containers for the meals to go in. We do ask that you put the name of the meal and the date that it was cooked on the lid. Your help is greatly appreciated by all who receive.

Thank you

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. Sue Clarke 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
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.

Extra Opening Hours

Shellie Harkin will be opening the Uniform Shop on the following dates from 5pm – 6pm. Monday 21st November, Tuesday 22nd November, Monday 28th November and Wednesday 18th January 2017.

Shellie will also open from 9am – 11am on Thursday 19th January, 2017

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

A NIGHT OF WINE AND ART

On Friday night the 25th of November at The Cathedral College Assembly Hall, the AZAR Dementia Unit invites you to A Night of Wine & Art. Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased by calling Debbie on 0432 350 486 or Louise on 429 518 483. For more information, please see attached flyer.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN 2017

Are you wanting your child to learn a musical instrument in 2017? Enrolments have now opened!

All interested students can pick up an information note at their school office. Copies of these forms are also available at the link below. There is also an option to enrol online – just follow the link on the above webpage. Students currently enrolled in 2016 will receive their note in their instrumental music lesson in the next two weeks.

New and existing students must enrol for 2017 and a $10 enrolment fee is payable at time of enrolment, either in a sealed envelope with the child's name and INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, or directly to Emmaus College (either campus).

Enrolment forms will not be accepted at your school's office after Week 7 – all enrolments after this time must be online, or handed to Reception at Emmaus College, Yaamba Rd campus.

Any queries can be directed to Alexia Lally at Emmaus College (Yaamba Road) - Alexia_Lally@emmaus.qld.edu.au.