5 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

This week is National Child Protection Week. During this week, we focus on all the many things we can do to ensure the ongoing safety of our children and how we can continue to create a learning environment that is empowering to our students. All of our students will be taking part in various age appropriate activities within their class groups but I would ask that you also please try and reinforce the following school processes that focus on student safety with your own children at home.

• During pick-up times, students are waiting in the correct pick-up zone under the direct supervision of the teachers on duty
• Students proceed to pick-up zones promptly after the 3:00pm bell
• Students who walk or ride to school, travel directly to their destination in the morning and afternoon
• Correct use of the toilet facilities at the school, ensuring that these areas are not used for play.
• Using the appropriate toilets in respect to the current laws surrounding our Outside of Schools Hours Care service
• Students are entering the school grounds promptly after being dropped off and proceed to the school’s MPA until duty begins at 8:15am

Your help with this would be greatly appreciated.

As you will be aware, many people in our community are raising funds for Drought Relief to aid families in affected areas of rural Queensland. In the past, we have adopted another Josephite school, St Joseph’s Blackall as our ‘sister’ school and focused on helping any of their families who may need it. We will again be doing this in the next few weeks as we will be running a few activities to help raise some funds to support some western families.

Our Year 5 students have just commenced a new project in which they will be looking after four new therapy chickens at school. The Year 5 students researched all about the project, including the procedures needed to look after the chickens and presented their findings to me earlier in the Term. A big thanks to the Brook family who constructed the ‘Chook Pen’ over many weekends as well as Michelle Roberts who provided expert advice on the selection of the breeds. It is wonderful to see the smile on the student’s faces throughout the week.

Don’t Forget …

• National Child Protection Week 2018, 2nd – 8th September
• Parent Presentation: The Future for our Children. Tony Ryan @ Emmaus 7:00 – 8:30pm
• School Disco, Thursday 6th September
• Parent/Teacher interviews, Week 9
• P&F Trivia Night, Saturday 20th October

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Principal

APRE REFLECTION

In this week’s Gospel Jesus cures a man who cannot hear or speak. Instead of curing him in public, he takes the man aside in the street and says to him ‘Be opened.’

If you were blind or deaf or couldn’t speak, what do you think would make you perfectly happy? If such a miracle occurred for you, you would probably find that great, but other things would still happen that would make you unhappy. This is because human lives are full of ups and downs, sadness and happiness. The sight for the blind, hearing for the deaf, etc. are symbols of complete happiness as used in the readings this week.

@Liturgy Help

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
APRE

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

No Peer Support

Due to many of our Year 6 students attending CQ All Schools Touch Football this Friday, there will be no Peer Support this week.

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Child protection is everyone's business. The responsibility lies with adults in keeping children safe from harm. All members of society need to play a part in ensuring children are nurtured and safe.

Socktober

Socktober is an initiative of Catholic Mission which aims to ‘sock it to poverty’ to help some of the most needy and vulnerable children in the world have better opportunities in life and a hope-filled future.

This October, Joey’s will engage in a variety of activities to raise awareness and help ‘strike out’ at social issues such as poverty, child labour, homelessness and lack of education opportunities.

Some ideas for next term include:

1. Hold a Crazy Sock Day and encourage the students to wear crazy socks all over their body. What is the most creative way they can wear socks? Get children to donate a gold coin to participate.
2. Pass the Sock Around as a fundraiser in our classrooms.
3. Have a competition to see which student can create the best sock puppet, then hold a puppet show.

These are just ideas at this stage, but it’s time to start keeping an eye out for crazy and interesting socks!

Bernadette Brennan
APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

CQ Bulls All Schools Touch Championship

This Friday, 7th September is the inaugural CQ Bulls Primary All Schools Touch Football Championships. The championship is a new event involving four teams: Year 6 Boys, Year 6 Girls, Year 5 Boys & Year 5 Girls from school competing against other schools from Rockhampton in a full-day, round-robin competition. We have entered a team in each division and wish them an enjoyable and competitive day of sport.

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 21st November starting at 5:00pm. More details will come home in week 10.

Season C Sport

The next season of sport commences on Friday of Week 1, Term 4. The sports we are competing in are softball/teeball, T20 cricket and basketball. All sports are played at the same venues every week.

• Basketball is a round robin intra-school competition run by Mrs. Senini at school
• Softball/Tee-ball is held at Kele Park, Kalare Street, (off Western Street)
• T20 is held at McLeod Park

Softball/Tee-ball players can bring their own mitts and bats if they have them. Otherwise the school has plenty of equipment.

T20 cricket is a modified version of cricket. If players have their own bats, they can bring them to school for approval prior to interschool sport commencing in week one.

Season C Sport preferences notes have been sent home this week and are due back this Friday for collating and nominating of teams.

Bernadette Brennan
APRE

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates

UNDER 8s MORNING

Our annual Under 8’s morning will take place at St Joey’s in Term 3 on Thursday 13th September. This is a day where we celebrate the learning and development of our younger students. The day will begin with a short liturgy in the multi-purpose area. Following the liturgy the children will be free to investigate the various hands on activities prepared by our Prep – Year 3 teachers. Parents are most welcome to attend this part of the day. After first break students will head back to class where they will complete activities with their class for the rest of the day. Students in Prep to Year 3 are invited to come along to this day in free dress. It is essential that this free dress consists of clothing which is sun safe (no sleeveless shirts), a school hat and fully enclosed shoes. If you are able to assist your child’s teacher on the day please let them know as soon as possible. If you have any questions about this day please don’t hesitate to 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 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

FINANCE NEWS

Term 3 Fees are now FOUR weeks overdue.

Term 3 Fees were due for payment by Monday 6th August. If these have not been paid, they are now 3 weeks overdue and 2nd reminder letters have been sent out. Your urgent attention to this matter would be appreciated.

Fee Accounts are now being published to Parent Lounge and will no longer be posted out in hard copy. You will need to Login to Parent Lounge to access your Fee Statement.

If you have an outstanding amount and are unable to make any payment, can you please make immediate contact with Bernard or Megan to advise your current situation?

Please remember to update your Concession Card if it has expired, as you are unable to get the Concession without a new card being presented.

CLASSROOM NEWS

3F

Lilly: “In science I have been learning a lot, I didn’t know that the earth rotates on its axis and that helps give us our seasons, the sun shines on the earth and gives us night and day.”

Nathan: “In math we have been learning about how to tell time to and past. I know how to break large numbers into place values and use that to help me add them together.”

Chloe: “We have been drawing in art, but we have been trying to add texture into our drawings by adding shades and being a little more creative. We sat outside and drew the bricks and wood. We add texture into our drawings so that it looks more real.”

Elijah: “In our English rotations we are learning about sentences by colour coordinating them, like green for what is happening, red is who or what is involved, and blue is for where, when and how. I am learning more about how to write good sentences.

Paige: “In Humanities we have been learning about where all the states and territories, and the capital cities are in Australia. We are also drawing our own maps and making sure they have a title, a legend, and an orientation. Our neighbouring countries are New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu.”

Rhys: “We have been making a magazine cover in Technology. We have been research into a target audience and designing a magazine cover to suit them. We are making sure out main image stands out and writing eye catching articles for the front.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Isabella Cleland (Yr 6), Ella Bath (Yr 5), Ava Semple (Yr 1), Jacob Bennett (PG), Marhella Purcell (PM), and Maycie Zanette (Yr 1).

Have a great day.

DISCO DISCO DISCO DISCO DISCO

Tomorrow night Year 6 will be organising a school disco. You can come dressed as your favourite sporting team or dressed in your favourite colour.

Entry will be $2.

Pizza orders need to be in TODAY.

Chips, lollies and drinks will be for sale.

There will be plenty of prizes to be won so make sure you come along ready to dance to Mr Fitzgerald’s music. There will be fun, games and plenty of dancing.

Starting at 5:30, finishing at 7:30 with dinner at 6:30.

FROM THE SCHOOL COUNCELLOR

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is something everyone experiences from time to time; it is a normal and natural response that occurs when a person feels threatened or is worried that something bad or unpleasant might happen. Feeling anxious for short periods of time, from time to time is normal and can help you do well. Many people from all walks of life may feel anxiety from time to time. Many times, anxiety can be a normal part of life, however when it persists it may be helpful to talk to someone about it.

Some signs of anxiety can include: excessive overthinking and worrying, tummy pain, sweating, shaking, hot and cold flushes, a racing heart, a dry mouth, fast breathing, an urge to go to the toilet, tight muscles and difficulty concentrating.

Anxiety may be a problem if you are worried much of the time, feel tired, have difficulty concentrating, feel irritable, have tight muscles and are not sleeping well. It can be helpful to talk to your child’s Teachers and School Staff to know that a student may have signs of anxiety. The school may support a student’s learning so their anxiety is not impacting their learning success.

There are also opportunities to build your knowledge and develop some strategies as the parents to help chat to your child about some their fears and understanding what is worry and how that is impacting their thoughts and feelings, and that it is normal to sometimes have worries. There are many avenues to explore building some skills to help them manage their anxiety or response to worries.

It’s always a good idea to have a chat to a health professional like your GP or Psychologist if you feel like you need more information, and the School Counsellor can be an opportunity to chat about this if you are unsure.

Here is a list of different websites that you may like to check out:

Regards
Michelle Hoffman

OSHC/VACATION CARE

Outside School Hours Care are looking for old phones (not mobiles), old hard drives – things that the kids can take apart and put back together – tinker with. These can be dropped at After School Care or to the office.

Also please find attached the Vacation Care Program and the Booking Form. If you are requiring care for your child/ren for the September/October holidays, please complete the Booking form and either drop over to Chelsea or into the office.

TRAVELLING SCHOLAR

Parents and Educators are invited to the ACSSQ 2018 travelling scholar who will be visiting the Queensland dioceses.

2019 KINDY ENROLMENTS

St Joseph’s Park Avenue Kindergarten are currently taking enrolments for 2019. If you or family/friends have a child born between July 1st 2014 and June 30th 2015, they are eligible for Kindergarten in 2019. We currently have positions available in both groups for next year. Expressions of Interest forms can be collected from the Kindy, or emailed on request. Please phone 4994 9302.

SCHOOL BANKING

School banking every Thursday.
Please send your child’s banking book in so they can place it in the grey classroom-banking bag.

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 do not take long and are available after assembly on a Monday morning with Deanne Senini, and on Wednesday afternoons from 2:30pm - 3:00pm. Debbie Rooney will conduct induction sessions in the tuckshop, if you are helping 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 hand 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