18 September 2019

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

At the recent Netball State Cup, our team of 9 girls won 4 and drew 1 of their first five games. They advanced to the finals where they met some stiff opposition going down by one goal in a couple of games and losing valiantly to the eventual state champions 13-5. The team again finished within the top 20 in Queensland which is a huge accomplishment for all who were involved. Thank you to Erin Tranberg and Rachael Duncan for training the team as well as Trudy Agius for umpiring and Bernadette Brennan for driving the team bus. I am sure this is an experience the girls will remember for a long time to come.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure to attend Tropicana at the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and watched as our Year 4 teachers and students were awarded a prize and a place in the Rockhampton City Council’s 2020 calendar. The Year 4 cohort were recognised for their efforts in separating out the different types of recycling at school in 2019. The student’s entry will feature on the November 2020 page.

Well done to the entire Year 4 cohort for their ongoing efforts in recycling and keeping Joeys cleaner and more environmentally friendly.

A quick thanks to our school counsellor Michelle Hoffman who in conjunction with Bernadette Brennan coordinated a number of ‘RUOK?’ activities last week. Like all forms of awareness, we should always strive to support those in our community that are in need. We should not wait for a special day to reach out and ask if somebody needs our help, nor should we shy away from asking for help if we need it. Even though yellow is definitely my colour, I am hoping we can make the commitment to extending RUOK? across the entire year. If you or someone you know needs help from the school, please encourage them to come in and see me to see what we can do to help them out.

Well done to the students who attended last weekend’s Children’s Mass. The students sung beautifully and all of the children who had a job did very well. As various sports begin to wind down for the year, it would be great to see a few more of our staff, students and families attend our remaining celebrations for the year.

I regretfully inform you that this week will be Speech Pathologist, Suzanne Vandeleur’s last week at Joey’s. Suzanne met with me last week to inform me that she will be moving down south to be closer to her family. Suzanne has been a tremendous part of the Joey’s community for an extremely long time, supporting countless staff, students and parents over this time. CQ Physio Group have contacted the school to assure us that they are making every effort to find a suitable replacement to support the school community moving forward. As we know, family should come first, and I am sure you will all join me in wishing Suzanne all the best for the future.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge all of the people both in the Joey’s and wider community who worked tirelessly to help during the bushfires scattered across the region over the last couple of weeks. Joey’s had a number of fire fighters, rural fire fighters as well as those involved in the management, coordination and implementation of plans to ensure the safety of our community. I saw some of this up close and very first hand late last week and will openly tip my hat to how well organised, professional and friendly everybody involved was. You are all absolute legends.

Don’t Forget …

• Term 3 concludes, Friday 20th of September
• Term 4 commences, Tuesday 8th of October
• P&F Meeting, Wednesday 9th October @ 6:30PM
• Season C Sport commences, Friday 11th of October (Week 1)
• Deanne Senini’s APC Summative Appraisal, Tuesday 15th October
• School Board Meeting, Wednesday 16th October @ 5:30pm
• 2020 Prep Orientation Day, Thursday 17th October
• Term 4 Pupil Free Day, Monday 21st October

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Principal

APRE REFLECTION

Loving Lord,
Thank you so much for holiday times
and the wonder and excitement that they bring about in all our hearts.
We praise You for all the goodness and grace
You generously pour out on us and all people,
and specially we thank You for the many blessings
we gain from these important times
of holiday fun and family reunion.
Amen

Bernadette Brennan
Assistant Principal Religious Education

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

SPORTING MATTERS

Swimming

Next term, we will commence our annual swimming lessons at the Southside pool. More information detailing days and times will be sent home next term. Some families may like to use the holidays as a time to get gear organised for these lessons.

Children will need:

• Togs
• Towel
• Thongs
• Goggles
• Sun shirts

Two piece togs are recommended for the lower grade girls, to make changing and toileting easier once sun shirts are on and wet.

Bernadette Brennan
Sports Co-ordinator

CURRICULUM NEWS

NAPLAN

NAPLAN reports have been sent home this week. I’m pleased to be able to share that we have seen improvements in our overall NAPLAN results this year, particularly in the areas of Numeracy and Writing. It is also pleasing to see our Year 5 students showing growth between their Year 3 NAPLAN assessments and their Year 5 NAPLAN assessments. Even though NAPLAN is a point in time assessment, it provides the school with valuable data to inform teaching and learning. I sincerely thank all of our staff members for their dedication to improve teaching and learning for all of our students.

ICAS

The final ICAS assessments will take place this week. All students involved with these assessments have participated with enthusiasm and have taken these assessments seriously. I look forward to receiving the results of all the ICAS results and celebrating the achievements of our students next term.

Thanks to everyone who assisted with any curriculum events this term. It was a very busy one with lots of exciting opportunities for our students. I hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday break.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

RUOK?

What a great week we had!

Check out the photos from some of our activities below. Remember, any day is a good day to ask someone RUOK?

LEARNING SUPPORT NEWS

At St Joseph’s we are committed to enhancing our knowledge and skills to provide support for our students. In Term 3 our Teacher Assistants participated in professional development including-

• A webinar on the diverse needs of students and strategies to support them presented by Sue Larkey, educator of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• A workshop on reading support strategies presented by Deb Foster, Teaching and Learning Consultant from the Catholic Education Office.

A big thank you to our amazing Teacher Assistants. We appreciate all your hard work supporting our students and teachers.

FROM OUR INDIGENOUS LIASON OFFICER

The 13th Annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Awards were held last Friday, 13th September 2019.

These annual awards contribute to addressing the Close The Gap targets and is only one of many strategies that focus on access to education, school attendance, improving reading, writing and numeracy; and finishing school.

The night was a great celebration and to see the students receive recognition for their success in each nominated category was wonderful. This year St Joseph’s put forward three students.

Matilda Walker- Sports Award
Amarli Batchelor- Academic Award
Logan Kane – Sports Award

Congratulations to Matilda, Amarli and Logan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week and over the holidays. They are: Chace Da Silva (Yr 5), Dominic Whiting (Yr 4), Olivia Hewett (PG), Zara Malone (1C), Logan McDonald (Yr 6), Karlin McKee (Yr 6), Myka Waters (PG), Oscar Tranberg (Yr 6), William Farr (3T), Xavier Rooney (Yr 6), Sarah Marlin (Yr 6), Tucka Andrews (PM), Cooper McCrohon (Yr 4), Anikah Savage (Yr 4), Esther Wehlow (PM), Alivia Muir (2F), Rahnie Muir (PM), Finn Wyatt (2M), Isabelle Barber (Yr 5), Abraham Hunt (Yr 6), Hayden Hamilton (Yr 6), Harper Cook (2F), Jake Kowald (3M), Riley Roser (Yr 5), Ruby Soboll (PM) and Miss Giles.

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

We can’t believe there’s only one term left in the school year! Term 4 is always a busy one, and Term 4 always means one thing….swimming. Whether your kids love it or hate it, here at Joeys we are firm believers of the importance of being able to swim and being able to play safely and confidently around water. Did you also know that the P&F subsidies swimming lessons to keep the costs down, as we believe this is an invaluable skill?

If being involved in the P&F is something you’d like to explore, please message or come and see Amanda Conway, or come along to one of our meetings. There aren’t any jobs to be handed out, just come sit, listen and provide an insight into areas that we haven’t thought about before. With only two meetings left for the year, and one of those being our AGM, now’s the perfect time to see what we’re up to.

Have a great holiday break.

Reminder:

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

ROSARY IN THE PARK

Come, pray with us!

When: 11 am Saturday, 12th October
Where: Central Park, Denham Street (opposite Hungry Jack’s)

All welcome!

(bring a chair)

Our Lady needs to hear from us!

PARENT LOUNGE

Changes to your address, phone number or work phone number can be made in Parent Lounge. To do this, log in through the Skoolbag App, go to the Parent Details tab, make your changes, and then submit.

Changes to Parent Lounge are the submission of your child’s absentee days (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.

SINGING AUDITIONS FOR CHRISTMAS MUSICAL

The singing students at St Joseph’s will perform “The Night the Reindeer Rocked” (a Christmas Rock-musical) in term 4. There are 5 lead roles and approximately 15 chorus roles and we are opening auditions to all students in year 3-6. Any interested students/families are invited to contact Mrs Kate Ellis by email. kate_ellis@emmaus.qld.edu.au

Please note that to participate in the production you must be enrolled for term 4 singing lessons and be prepared to attend rehearsals each Tuesday at 1st break. The exact performance time and date is still to be confirmed.

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