27 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

On the weekend, I was contacted by our Year 5 TA Miss Georgia Agius with both fantastic and sad news at the same time. Georgia informed me that she has been successful in applying for the vacant Campus Minister position at Emmaus College in 2019. Just as she has been at Joeys, Georgia is a past student at Emmaus and I am sure will be a welcome addition to their staff. Georgia is someone who has taken on extra responsibility at our school well beyond her role and will be greatly missed.

I am sure you will join me in wishing Georgia all the best in her future endeavours.

As we have been currently experiencing excessive heat with temperatures at school reaching the 36-40 degree mark each day, the school Leadership Team have taken actions to try and limit the amount of time in which the students are exposed to the heat. I realise that our students, like all children love to run around and play, however, if this heat continues, the Leadership Team will continue to make decisions based on the best interests of the safety of our students.

This week, I will be calling for Prep enrolments for 2020 by sending home notes and posting notices on our LED signs and school app. It is crucial for us to know of any siblings within the current school community that may be enrolling in Prep next year so we are aware of the available spaces we will have to offer. Even families that have been at the school for some time still go through an interview process for each new child who joins our community. Please, if you have a child that is due to begin Prep next year, or you know someone who has, please urge them to visit the school office for the appropriate enrolment forms as spaces have been very limited in the last few years.

Don’t Forget …

• Bernard at Leading with Integrity for Excellence 3-day intensive study, 26th-28th Feb
• P&F Mini Conference, 1st-2nd March @ Emmaus
• Year 6 Peer Support Training, 4th-5th March @ SJPA
• Ash Wednesday Mass, Wed 6th March @ 10:00am in OLHC
• Mike Kelso, AD Schools Rockhampton visit, Wed 6th March

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
Principal - St. Joseph’s Catholic School Park Avenue

APRE REFLECTION

The readings of this Sunday instruct us about our right and wrong choices. The right choices lead us to God, and the wrong ones break our relationship with Him and with one another. In the Gospel (Luke 6:27-38) gives us Jesus' revolutionary moral teaching about correct choices in our human relationships, placing special emphasis on the golden rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This golden rule is amplified by a string of particular commands: "Love your enemies...Do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you and pray for those who maltreat you." From my point of view the quality known as grace, makes Christianity distinct from any other religion, hence, we need to practice grace-filled behaviour and we need to pray for the strength to forgive, so that we are able to treat others, not as they deserve, but with love, kindness and mercy. Therefore, we must forgive, because only forgiveness truly heals us. Let us stop judging and start forgiving right now by curbing the sharp tongue of criticism, suppressing the revenge instinct and tolerating the irritating behaviour of a neighbour.

Fr Marcel

@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
5.00pm Holy Family
6.30pm Our Lady Help of Christians

Sunday
7.00am St Mary’s
9.00am Holy Family

Bernadette Brennan
APRE

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Liturgical Celebrations for Term 1

• OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church – next to school
• MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)
• LOW – Liturgy of the Word

Bernadette Brennan
APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

Rockhampton District Selection Trials

Term 1

Below are the Rockhampton and District Trials (RDS) for the following Primary School sports happening in Term 1. If your child has the prerequisite skills and you wish for them to trial in the following sports, you can contact me through the school office to obtain the appropriate trial forms. Alternatively, the forms can be downloaded in the Parents Notes section of the Skoolbag App.

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

Run4Fun / Cross Country

Thank you to date for your support with our School Run4Fun. Fundraising is full steam ahead!

How are you tracking towards your fundraising goal? If you haven’t already, create a Profile Page at the link below. There are some awesome features like setting your fundraising goal by choosing your favourite prizes. You can also register for online fundraising – it’s the key to your success! Share your Profile Page to family and friends anywhere around the world and request support! The average raised is over $120 per student. Don’t forget to see if you’ve won FREE sponsorship donations by using your unique code on page five (5) of the Sponsorship Form. The highest fundraising student at the completion of the fundraiser will go into a draw to win a HUGE Apple Prize Pack. Happy fundraising!

Friday Sport

Soccer

Yr 5 boys St Joeys Navy v RGS @ RGS 12:40
Yr 6 boys St Joeys Maroon v RGS @ RGS 1:35
Yr 6 girls St Joeys v Frenchville SS @ Norbridge 2 12:40
Yr 6 Blue (mixed) St Joeys v Lakes Creek SS 1 @ Pilbeam Park 12:40
Yr 5 White (mixed) St Joeys v Lakes Creek SS 2 @ Pilbeam Park 1:35

Softball/Teeball

St Joeys Navy v Gracemere 1 on W1
St Joeys White v Mt Morgan on 4B
St Joeys Maroon v Mt Morgan on 1C
St Joeys Blue v Mt Archer on 2C
St Joeys Gold v Ridgelands on 2A

CURRICULUM NEWS

The 2019 Schools Writing Competition is now open. Write4fun encourages students to read and write through fun competitions. School students across Australia battle it out for the great cash and prizes on offer. First prize is $500 cash for the winning student and $500 cash for their school plus their choice of an Apple iPad 32GB, Xbox One X, $500 Rebel Sport Gift Card or a PlayStation 4.

To enter this competition you need to write either a Poem consisting of 16 lines or less OR a short story consisting of 500 words or less. You can choose any writing style and any topic. The competition is open for any student in Kindergarten through to Grade 12.

For more information and details on how to enter please visit the link below.

Entries close on Sunday 31st March 2019.

Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum

Throughout Semester One, our school will be implementing the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum with students in all year levels. The curriculum is based on principles of best practice in child safety education and centres around three key messages: Recognise, React and Report. Through a series of lessons, students will learn how to recognise, react and report when they are unsafe or find themselves in situations that can have a significant detrimental effect on their physical, psychological or emotional wellbeing.

The Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum has been mandated by our Diocese to be actively taught in all of the Rockhampton Catholic schools each year. In 2019, classroom teachers will teach these lessons on a Friday morning as part of the Health Curriculum.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this program please don’t hesitate to contact either Mrs Senini, Mr Fitzgerald or your child’s classroom teacher.

More information about the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum can be found at

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: Back Up and Reread

This strategy is used when a child reads a sentence or passage and realises that what they have just read doesn’t make sense. They then go back and reread the sentence or passage again to understand the meaning of the sentence.

Spelling:

Strategy: Rainbow Words

This strategy involves students writing each of their spelling words. They use two colours. They write their spelling pattern in one colour and the rest of the word in a different colour. An example of this is:

Mental Computation:

Knowing strategies to assist students to recall number facts quickly is essential for success in mathematics. Each year level will be focussing on particular number facts strategies throughout 2019. Please contact your child’s teacher to find out the strategy your child should be practicing this week.

Game – Cards

Using a pack of cards, turn over two cards and race your child/ren to mentally calculate the sum of both cards. This game can also be used for subtraction, multiplication and division. You could also extend the game by using more than 2 cards.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

FINANCE NEWS

Fee Accounts for Term 1 were due Tuesday 19th February. If these have not been paid they are now overdue.

If you have not received your Fee statement or are unable to make any payment, can you please make immediate contact with Bernard or Megan to advise your current situation?

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

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.

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

CLASSROOM NEWS

We have had a great start to the year learning many new things. We are building our stamina in writing and working towards achieving our own writing goals.

In Science we have been investigating the properties of different materials and how they affect the use of an object. We have learnt how to draw a labelled scientific diagram and worked in groups to study the properties of objects within our classroom.

In Math we are starting to extend our knowledge of numbers by moving into numbers over 100. We are looking at the different ways we can represent numbers with our concrete materials.

In Religion we are learning about how we can make good choices in our life by following the model of Jesus.

From Mrs Farr and the students of 2F

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Antal Atkinson (Yr 5), Amarli Batchelor (Yr 4), Mia Jahnke (Yr 6), Coco Barnes (2M), Cooper Bosel (PM), Caitlin Dives (Yr 6), Adam Neden (1C), Laria Barnett (Yr 6) and Ryan Hallam (2M).

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, please find an invitation to the P&F Mini Conference to be held this weekend, 1st-2nd March 2019. Registration details can be found on the flyer.

The P&F are needing help this Sunday 3rd March from 7am to 9am to help prepare salad rolls for the Rugby League 10-12 year old muster (trials). If you can spare a couple of hours this morning to come along and help us make rolls in the tuckshop, please let Amanda Conway know, or the lovely ladies in the office. The school receives a large donation for providing this service, so we’d appreciate your help.

This Tuesday is our annual Shrove Tuesday or “Pancake Day” breakfast. Please drop in your donations of pancakes, fruit and/or spreads to the Tuckshop on the morning before the bell. This will be instead of Brekky Club. More information about what each grade is to bring specifically will come home with the kids.

Reminder:

Thanks, and have a great week
Joeys P&F

EASTER RAFFLE

This term the Year 6 major fundraiser is an Easter multi-draw raffle that will be drawn on Grandparent’s Day (Week 7 – Friday 15 March). Tickets are $1 each and to be sold before and after school in Weeks 5, 6 & 7:

• before school - in the undercover area
• after school - outside the Year One & Learning Support rooms

Thank you for your support, it is always a great event!

PARENT LOUNGE

Changes to your address, phone number or work phone number can be made in Parent Lounge. Simply log in, go to the Parent Details tab, make your changes, and then submit.

ABSENTEES

Absentees can be done through the Skoolbag App. Click on our School Logo, eforms and then Absentee Form.

All notifications from the school are done through this app. Our weekly Newsletters are also posted to this app.

Please make sure that you have downloaded it.

SCHOOL BANKING

School banking happens every Thursday.

If you wish to start school banking, you need to open a Youth Saver Account at the Commonwealth bank, make no deposit and they will provide you with your banking book and details.

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 and Wednesday afternoon from 2:45 – 3:15.

Please feel free to drop any uniforms you no longer need so they can be 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 inside.

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