24 July 2019

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

I was lucky enough to attend some of last week’s Challenge Cup events at St Brendan’s College Yeppoon and see our Joey’s teams compete in both netball and rugby league. The students competed to the best of their abilities and played with great sportsmanship while creating great memories for the future.

Well done to the parents, students and especially Mrs Tranberg, Mrs Duncan, Mrs Brennan, Mr Conway and Mr Nicholson for all your efforts in preparation for this event. I would also like to acknowledge Mrs Vaz De Miranda’s daughter, Isadora from TCC who volunteered as our school’s netball referee over the three days. She, like the children in our teams, did a wonderful job.

As you may be aware the Learning Support position was advertised at the beginning of the year. With the wonderful job Mrs Lesley Donohoe has done so far, I have asked her to continue in the Learning Support Co-ordinators role for the remainder of the year. Due to this I have also approached Mrs Allison Johnson to continue her role in providing Targeted Support in the Years 4-6 Flexible Learning rooms. Allison has been admirably performing this role during Term 2 and has agreed to continue on providing this support until the end of the schooling year. Please be assured that this arrangement along with Mrs Alice Wayman providing support in Years 1-3, our many Teacher Assistants, and Speech Pathologist, Mrs Suzanne Vandeleur visiting school each week, this is by far the most amount of support made available to our current students to help them access the curriculum in my time at St Joseph’s.

The Leadership Team generated the student, parent and staff Satisfaction Surveys last week and spent time reading all of the written responses. I thank everyone for taking part, as this valuable data helps us in preparing for our new School Improvement Plan, by listening to the voice of our community.

The following charts show the overall results for both our student and parent results which all fell into the excellent category. Even though I would not consider the "school day beginning at 9:00am and finishing earlier than 3:00pm" or having "free dress day everyday" as some of the students suggested, there is some great stuff in the responses that we will look to put into action. Again, thank-you for your many kind words as the positive affirmations for both the school and my staff.

Student Survey Results Summary 2019

Parent Survey Results Summary 2019

Tomorrow our Year 5 & 6 students will have the pleasure to attend one of Emmaus College’s final dress rehearsals for their musical, ‘Cats.’ It is always great to hear the excitement of visiting the theatre as well as the wonder and awe from the students as they arrive back to school. Personally, I can’t wait to see it this Friday night as I am always astounded by the level of professionalism to which our senior students can perform as well as the amount of ex-Joey’s students who take part in this wonderful cultural experience.

Don’t Forget …

• Bernard Fitzgerald @ Leading With Integrity for Excellence Study, Tues-Thurs 23rd-25th July
• Emmaus Musical, 26th – 28th of July
• CAPRAS Cup Gala Day - Saturday 27th July
• Catholic Education Week 28th July – 3rd August
• State Wide Launch of Catholic Education Week Mass - Wednesday 31st July @ 10:30am in St Joseph’s Cathedral
• 2020 Prep Enrolment Interviews, Weeks 1-5 Term 3
• Whole School Disco, Thursday 8th August
• National Science Week, 12th – 16th August
• SJPA Science Week Expo Afternoon, Tuesday 13th Aug @ 3:30pm
• Book Week, 19th – 23rd August

Have a great week.

Regards

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

Catholic Education Week

Catholic Education Week is celebrated in all Catholic School across Queensland next week. Please see the attachment for all details

APRE REFLECTION

Jesus Eats at the Home of Martha and Mary

John 10:38-42

This week’s gospel passage can be a problematic one. Jesus is dining at the house of Martha and she busies herself trying to be a good host and serving her guest, while her sister, Mary, simply sits and enjoys the company of Jesus. Martha complains about her sister’s apparent laziness and finds herself chastised by Jesus. Martha has forgotten that the guest is also a gift! Having welcomed and shown appropriate hospitality to her guest, Martha should have then accepted the gift of the guest, that is, the company and presence of the welcome guest. Instead she continues to busy herself with serving while her sister shows true welcome: accepting the gift of the guest’s company.

When we welcome a guest into our house, we can be too worried about impressing the guest with lavish hospitality and our best serving ware, rather than relaxing and enjoying the company of the guest. Like Martha, we can overlook the fact that God is present when we welcome a guest.

Lord Jesus,
help us to make the right choices
and lead us to everlasting life
In your name we pray.
Amen

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

What’s Happening in Term 3

Prayer Assembly Time Change to 10:30am

You will notice the prayer assembly times above have changed. In the interests of less disruption to the curriculum and to maintain optimum productivity in classrooms, the decision has been made to bring the prayer assembly times forward to 10:30am. This change allows Friday lunch times to remain the same as the rest of the week and those students involved in interschool sport an opportunity to prepare for sport and board buses in a timely manner.

NAIDOC Day

SJPA's annual NAIDOC Day has traditionally been held during CEW.  This year, we will be celebrating the recognition of our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community on Thursday the 29th August.  

Bernadette Brennan
APRE

SPORTING MATTERS

Friday 26th July

Netball

Junior E @ 1:10pm
St Joey’s v St Joseph’s Wandal Gold on Grass 13

Junior B @1:50pm
St Joey’s v St Peter’s on Court 12

Senior E @ 1:10pm
St Joey’s v Mt Morgan on Court 11

Senior C @ 1:10pm
St Joey’s v RGS on Court 4

Senior B @ 12:30pm
St Joey’s v Mt Archer on Court 8

Senior A @ 12:30pm
St Joey’s v RGS on Court 4

Hockey

1:00 – 1:15
St Joey’s Blue v Heights 2 on Grass 2
St Joey’s White v Heights 4 on Turf 4

1:20 – 1:35
St Joey’s Gold v Heights 3 on Grass 2
St Joey’s Maroon v Heights 5 on Turf 4

1:40 – 1:55
St Joey’s Blue v St Peter’s 1 on Grass 3
St Joey’s White v St Peter’s 3 on Turf 2

2:00 – 2:15
St Joey’s Gold v St Peter’s 2 on Grass 3
St Joey’s Maroon v Heights 1 on Turf 2

Rugby League

Yr 5 C 12:45pm
St Joey’s v Parkhurst @ Brosnan Oval 2 (Emmaus) 12:45pm

Yr 5 A/B 1:45pm
St Joey’s v St Peter’s @ Brosnan Oval 2 (Emmaus) 1:45pm

Yr 6 A 1:45pm
St Joey’s v St Anthony’s @ Brosnan Oval (Emmaus) 12:45pm

Bernadette Brennan
APRE

CURRICULUM NEWS

IMPORTANT CURRICULUM DATES

ICAS ASSESSMENTS

Students are invited to participate in ICAS assessments in 2019. This year the ICAS assessments have moved to an online format and are occurring later in the year. These assessments are designed to recognise and reward academic excellence. The assessments are based on the curriculum for each relevant year level. These assessments are designed to allow students to demonstrate a deeper, integrated and thorough level of learning.

If you’d like to participate in the 2019 ICAS Assessments, please complete and return the sheet which should have made it home with students, along with the payment to the school office. Orders for these assessments will close Friday, 2nd August.

NED SHOW

On Monday, 5th August we will be having a special whole school assembly. The NED Show is an innovative, character education assembly. Using humour, storytelling, audience participation and amazing tricks including yo-yo and magic tricks students learn through the adventures of NED, a character kids (and adults) can relate to. His name is an acronym for:

N - Never Give Up
E - Encourage Others
D - Do Your Best.

The NED Program uses a multi-sensory learning model to motivate, encourage and inspire students to become Champions at school and in life. The message of this show fits in seamlessly with the messages we try to impart to our students each and every day.

This show has been offered to us free of charge if we make available some of their merchandise for parents to have the option of purchasing. Therefore, for the week after the show, we will have a display of merchandise in our office available for purchase. All purchases are given back to the show as payment. There is absolutely no expectation for parents to make a purchase, however, the option is there if you’d like.

SCIENCE WEEK EXPO

Week 5 is National Science Week. To celebrate the importance of Science in our school you are invited to attend a science week learning expo. This expo will be held on Tuesday, 13th August from 3:30pm until 6:00pm. At this expo you will see displays put together by each class showcasing their current Science learning. This event will be held on the Multi- Purpose Court, library and STEM room. You can attend at any time between 3:30pm and 6:00pm and spend some time wandering through the different displays.

BOOK WEEK

Week 6 is National Book Week. This year I’m hoping to hold the bi-annual book swap. The idea of the book swap is for students to bring in a book (or multiple books) to donate to the book swap. Each child is then able to come and look through the collection and choose a book to take home to keep. Any left over books are then donated to classrooms to top up the classroom reading resources. For this event to be successful I need your assistance. If you have any children’s reading books which you would like to donate to the book swap, please start bringing them in to Mrs Roberts in the library so that we can begin to organise this event. Please make sure all donated books are in good condition. The book swap is scheduled to occur on Wednesday, 21st August.

Also as part of Book Week, we will be holding our annual character dress up parade. All staff and students are invited to dress up as a book character and participate in the parade. The parade will be held on Monday, 19th August at 10:30am. Parents and friends are welcome to attend the parade.

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE

The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is an annual state wide initiative for state and non-state schools and home-educated students up to Year 9, and children attending early childhood centres. Over the past 14 years, more than 12 million books have been read, and in 2018 alone, 181,000 school, early childhood and individual readers participated in the challenge with more than 2.46 million books read throughout the PRC reading period.

The challenge is not a competition but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to read widely for pleasure and learning. Students can participate in the challenge within their school or as individual readers (home-educated students or students whose schools are not participating in the program).

For a student to successfully complete the challenge they must read or experience the allocated number of books for their year level during the reading period. Students who complete the challenge have their efforts recognised through the receipt of a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier of Queensland.

Why read?

Literacy skills are vital to ensuring children have the best chance to succeed in their schooling and life. The PRC is an opportunity for students to be enthusiastic about reading, writing, authors and illustrators. Reading a variety of books builds vocabulary and knowledge, improves spelling and comprehension, can improve confidence and is also a great way to relax.

To successfully complete the PRC, students must read or experience the number of books indicated in the table below in English or additional languages. The requirement for Year 5 through to Year 9 students to read 15 books acknowledges that older students are likely to select longer, more complex books that may take them longer to read.

If they have time, students are welcome to read more books than the challenge requirements. They just need to record them on another reader record form. All books will go towards Queensland’s total PRC tally.

The following activities can be counted towards the challenge:

• reading independently
• shared reading
• being read to (Prep – Year 2 for books written in English; and all year levels for additional languages).

The following literature forms can be counted towards the challenge:

• printed books
• e-books, virtual books and digital publications
• graphic novels and comic books
• audio and braille books
• newspapers, magazines and recipe books
• books in additional languages (other than English).

Your child should have received a reader record form. This is not a compulsory school activity, however, if your child would like to participate, please complete this form as they finish each book and return it to the school office once completed. It would be appreciated if these forms can be returned by Friday, 23rd August.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

During week 9 we will be holding our second round of parent teacher interviews. These interviews will be available to book through parent lounge during Week 7.

Kind Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 6

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Ella Coughlan (1H), Lilly Carpenter (Yr 4), Pippa Kaufman (1H), Jordana Corry (3M) & Mrs O’Brien (Prep M)

Have a great day.

DISCO

In Week 4, on Thursday the 8 August we will be holding a school disco. It is our first disco for the year so it would be great to see you all there.

Time: 5:30 – 7:30pm
Entry Fee: $2
Theme: Crazy Colours
Food: *Pre – ordered Pizza will be available for dinner. $1.50/slice Ham & Pineapple or Meatlovers in a brown paper bag.

Pizza orders need to be in by Wednesday 7 August.

* Drinks, chips and lolly bags will also be available on the night.

See you there!!!

P & F NEWS

Thanks to volunteers and students for their help with the running of the Meal Deal today. We trust that everyone had fun.

The dream of “Joeys” being a cashless tuckshop is fast becoming a reality. Logistics are being put in place and information, program details and how it will all operate will be circulated very shortly. It’s an exciting step for us.

Reminder:

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

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.

Changes to Parent Lounge are that you can submit your child’s absentee days through here (but only for the current term). It will be similar to the way you do this on the Skoolbag app. Once accepted our end (when we log into our computer), this will be entered straight onto our system, and saves the double handling.

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 at 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