30 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE ACTING PRINCIPAL

Well done to our Netball grand finalists who both went down valiantly in their respective games last Friday afternoon. Taking Friday’s games into consideration, both teams only lost twice throughout the season, falling both times to their respective grand final opponents. Even in defeat this is a wonderful achievement. We all enjoy winning, but a lot of valuable life lessons are also learnt when we experience defeat. These lessons, however hard, are valuable in our future growth and in the appreciation of the gifts and skill of others. I know it is not easy from a lot of personal experience, but we need to strive to be humble in both victory and in defeat. Well done to all the girls and coaches involved on Friday for a wonderful netball season and look to a great Samsung Cup in a few weeks.

Congratulations to Deanne Senini and all the staff involved who made our book week celebrations so wonderful last week. The ‘Big Book Swap’ and the Book Week Character Parade were wonderful events that celebrate the wonderful gift of literature and the importance of the gift of reading when it comes to life long education. It was great to see so many students and staff members take part in the celebration.

Next week our school will be acknowledging that it will be National Student Protection Week from the 3-9 of September. During this week each class will be doing some extra work on age appropriate student protection activities as well as reminding the students of all the people they could talk to if they felt unsafe.

As parents, you may wish to use this week to highlight some protective behaviours that your family puts in place to ensure the safety of your own family while also asking your child if they know who our student protection officers are here at school. I am certainly hoping that they will know who they are, but just in case you need to let them know they are Brooke Black, Ray Carrington and myself. Miss Kerrisk will also be revising some of the protective behaviours already explored in the Daniel Morcombe curriculum during Health lessons that week.

Finally, a reminder that Term 3 school fees are now past due. To adequately resource the school, we rely very heavily on the partnership between both school and home. I believe that our school and staff show great commitment to our students every day and I acknowledge those who in turn prioritise their commitment back to our school community. I have always said that a roof over your head, along with adequate clothes and food should always be your first priority. If providing these things for your family is putting you through undue stress, I invite you to book a time to see me through the school office. If school fees for this term have just slipped through the cracks so to speak, I please urge you to make contact with my Financial Secretary Megan to rectify the situation as soon as possible. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

I wish all Fathers/Grandfathers a Happy Father’s Day for this Sunday. Hope you all enjoy the day.

Don’t Forget …

• Father’s Day, Sunday 3rd September.
• Applications for Tuck-shop Assistant close, Friday 1st September
• School Disco, Thursday 7th September
• Children’s Mass with visiting Net Team, Saturday 9th September
• Catholic Schools Year 6 Touch Carnival, Wednesday 13th September
• School Board Meeting, Wednesday 13th September @ 5:30pm
• Andrew Chinn School Visit & Concert, Thursday 14th September
• Samsung Cup Netball, 15th – 17th September @ Sunshine Coast

Have a great week.

Regards

Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Acting Principal

After School Care Program.

Our St Joseph’s Outside of School Hours Care runs from Monday-Friday 3-6pm. To seek further information, please contact the OSHC Coordinator from 2-6pm weekdays on 0408703482 or via email at sjpa_oshc@rok.catholic.edu.au

Our OSHC will also run Vacation Care for the upcoming holidays which will be available Monday-Friday 18-29 September 7.30am-6pm. Bookings welcome from children attending all schools. For further information please contact Chelsea Holden on 0408703482.

Position Vacant – Tuck-shop Assistant

An exciting opportunity currently exists within the St Joseph¹s Park Avenue Community.

Applications are now invited from suitably qualified and enthusiastic persons for the position of Term-Time Tuck-shop Assistant for 12 hours per week. The successful applicant will have appropriate experience and an understanding of and a commitment to the ethos of Catholic Education. A Working With Children Check (WWCC) and eligibility for a Suitability Notice will also be required. To apply for this position, a letter of application and current resume can be emailed to; The Principal - school.information@sjparok.catholic.edu.au

Applications close Friday, 1st September 2017.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Acting Principal

APRE REFLECTION

This week be sure to wish your dad or grandfather a happy Father’s Day, or say a prayer for him.

***
God our father, we give you thanks and praise for fathers young and old.
We pray for young fathers, newly embracing their vocation; may they find courage and perseverance to balance work, family and faith in joy and sacrifice.

We pray for our own fathers around the world whose children are lost or suffering; may they know that the God of compassion walks with them in their sorrow.

We pray for men who are not fathers but still mentor and guide us with fatherly love and advice.

We remember fathers, grandfather, and great grandfathers who are no longer with us but who live forever in our memory and nourish us with their love.

Amen
***

Let’s make Week 8 great!

Mrs. Bernadette Brennan
Acting APRE

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Prep W Prayer Assembly

This Friday 1st September, Prep W will be leading the prayer assembly in OLHC church at 11:30am. The Prep students will be presenting a Father’s Day themed assembly. Parents, families and friends of the school are all welcome to come along and share this prayer celebration.

Operation Christmas Child is a giving program designed to reach children in poverty around the world. Each class in our school will be given two shoeboxes to fill (one boy & one girl) with something from each of the following six categories:

• something to wear
• something to play with
• something for school
• something to love
• something special
• something for personal hygiene

For the rest of this term we are going to make a greater effort to ‘prefer to help the poor’ and reach more people in remote regions of the world through Operation Christmas Child.

Andrew Chinn Concert

On Thursday 14th September, Australian religious songwriter and singer, Andrew Chinn, will be visiting our school to share his songs with our children. Andrew’s songs, such as “These Hands”, “Rainbow” and “An African Blessing” are used in classrooms and liturgies around Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. Parents/parishioners are warmly invited to be a part of the celebration of faith and fun. There is no charge for adults. The concert will take place in the multi-purpose area, at 1:35pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Peer Support

During Peer Support this week the children will be looking at how to play in a friendly way in order to maintain friends and build positive relationships. Through various activities children will discover the importance of taking turns and having consistent rules throughout a game.

This week help your child practice these skills by encouraging them to play games with siblings, family or friends.

Sacramental Program

Please read the attached letter explaining the changes to the sacramental program which affects this year’s penance program and the future organisation of the program in the North Rockhampton Catholic parishes.

Bernadette Brennan
Acting APRE

Mass times

Weekday

Tuesday 9.00am Holy Family
Wednesday 12.00 Noon St Mary’s
Thursday 8.00am Emmaus College (Yaamba Rd)
Friday 9.00am Our Lady Help of Christians

Weekend

Saturday – Vigil

6.00pm Holy Family
6.00pm Our Lady Help of Christians

Sunday

7.00am St Mary’s
9.00am Holy Family

Bernadette Brennan
Acting APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

Season C Interschool Sport

After collating the Season C preferences, we will be participating in interschool sport for Term 3. In preparation for the next season of sport, students will join in training sessions on Friday afternoons for the rest of this term. These trainings will take place from 2:00pm to 3:00pm on Fridays. Please encourage your child to check they have hats and water bottles on Fridays. Interschool commences week 1 Term 4.

Hats for PE

Over the last few weeks I have noticed an increasing number of students who are coming to PE lessons without hats. PE lessons for the rest of this term will be held on the oval and as the days are certainly heating up it is imperative all children have a hat on their PE day. Please remind your child/ren to check their bags before school for a school hat.

Braydon wins High Jump

Congratulations to Braydon on his successful jumping at the Capricornia Athletics trails in Emerald last week. Braydon jumped an impressive 1:32m which nearly matches his own height. He now heads to Brisbane to compete at the State Championships.

Good Luck Braydon

Swimming Term 4

The major PE focus for Term 4 will be our swimming program. Swimming will commence in week 2 and continue each week until week 6. The swimming program then culminates with our annual carnival in week 7 on the 15th November starting at 5:30pm. More details will come home week 1 next term.

Bernadette Brennan
Acting APRE

CURRICULUM NEWS

Book Week

Thank you to everyone for their efforts during book week. I was amazed on Tuesday to see the number of books donated by families for the big book swap. Every child in the school (including our Kindy students) received a book to take home. There are still plenty of books left over which, once sorted, will be donated to classrooms as classroom readers.

Thursday was our Character Dress Up day. The number of staff and students who made the effort to dress up was amazing. The effort put into costumes was also incredible. Please enjoy the selection of photos from the parade.

The Joey’s spirit was truly alive this week.

Book Fair Competition

Congratulations to the following Book Fair Competition winners:

Prep Colouring Competition – Aliana Fitton
Year 1 Colouring Competition – Chloe Crosthwaite
Year 2 Colouring Competition – Patrick Joyce
Year 3 Colouring Competition – Riley Roser
Year 4 Poster Design Competition – Sarah Marlin and Isabella Doblo
Year 5 Poster Design Competition – Abby Richardson
Year 6 Poster Design Competition – Alisallar Seaman

All winners receive a certificate and a $10 voucher to spend at the Book Fair this week. All entries will be displayed in the library and the drama room during Book Fair week.

Thank you to Mrs Roberts for coordinating this competition and our annual Book Fair.

Write 4 Fun Competition

I have received an invitation for our students to participate in a writing competition. Entry is free and students can win money for themselves and the school as well as other great prizes. The competition is open to all students from Kindy - Year 12. Students can either write a poem or a short story. Entries are due by Friday 31st August. If your Joey’s child is interested in entering the competition, please go to the following website where you can find more information and details about how to enter the competition:

Woolworth’s Earn and Learn

Once again St Joseph’s has registered to be part of the Woolworth’s Earn and Learn program. Through this program we will be able to get new educational resources for our school.

From Wednesday 26th July to Tuesday 19th September we are collecting Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers. You will get one Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker for every $10 spent (excluding liquor, tobacco and gift cards). Place the Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker onto a Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker Sheet and when it’s complete, the Sticker Sheet can be dropped into the Collection Box here at the school office.

At the end of the promotion we’ll be able to get some great new equipment. The range is extensive and offers lots of items ideal for our students – including resources for Maths, English, Science and some fantastic fun supplies for Arts & Craft, Sport and for our library. Last year through this program we purchased a variety of maths equipment including a teaching clock for every classroom, some stopwatches and sporting equipment.

You can get a sticker card from any Woolworths Supermarket and we will keep spare ones here in the office if you need an extra one. Please make sure you completely fill the sheet before you return it to school as partly filled sheets are not counted.

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 comprehension.

Strategy – Use Text Features

Nonfiction texts contains common features such as titles, headings, subheadings, captions, maps, diagrams, charts, graphs, legends, bold and italicised text, glossaries and indexes. Readers recognise and use these features to help them understand what they are reading.

Spelling:

Activity: Words without consonants

Write your spelling words in a list but replace all the consonants with a line. Then go back to the beginning of your list and see if you can fill in the correct missing consonants.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

YR 4

Science week

Term 3 in year 4 started off with a BANG with Science Week. The students researched and created displays based on science concepts. We thoroughly enjoyed engaging other classes and parents with fun and exciting interactive activities.

Liturgy

Week 2 in year 4 we had our Liturgy on friendship. All the students enjoyed many aspects of preparing for their Liturgy, particularly singing ‘Wherever We Go’ by Andrew Chin. They loved capturing the many friendships in our imovie featuring Bruno Mars ‘Count on Me’.

Book Week

Last week year 4 celebrated book week ‘Escape to Everywhere’ and what an amazing effort from the year 4 students. The entire school went above and beyond in their efforts. A huge thank you to ALL the parents for your support in the hours upon hours of preparation for yet another great Joey’s event.

We are as busy as bees in year 4!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Ella Bath (4W), Millie Rothery (2F), Ava Semple (PW), Maycie Zanette (PW), Patrick Joyce (2F) and Mrs H (Learning Support).

Have a great day.

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 3 FEES Overdue

Fee Accounts for Term 3 were due for payment on Monday 7th August.

If your account remains unpaid, these are now 3 Weeks Overdue.

Your immediate attention to this matter would be appreciated.

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.

DISCO

In Week 9, on Thursday the 7 September we will be holding a school disco. It has been a long time since our last so it would be great to see you all there.

Time: 5:30 – 7:30
Entry Fee: $2
Theme: Movie characters
Food: *Pizza will be available for dinner.

Pizza orders need to be in by Wednesday 6 September.
* Drinks and chips will also be available on the night
See you there!!!

SCHOOL BANKING

If you are wanting to start school banking but are unsure of what to do, pop in to the office and we can help you out.

School banking is done thru the school every Thursday.

LOST PROPERTY

The lost property is starting to mount up. If your child/ren are missing their jumper or school jacket, lunch box, water bottle or hat, this is where it could be.

At the end of the term, all unnamed items will be discarded or donated to the Uniform Shop.

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, and on Tuesday afternoons from 2:30pm - 3:00pm. Sue Clarke will also be conducting induction sessions in the tuckshop, if you are helping out in there.

Thanks

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 any uniforms you no longer need so they can put out to sell. Proceeds can go back to you or you can donate it back to the P & F.

The Uniform Shop has quite a lot of good second hand uniforms. Please feel free to pop in (at the opening times above), and have a look.

There are second had Emmaus uniforms also.

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)
• Emu Park