16 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

I would like to begin this week’s newsletter by asking if you have any class requests for your child in 2020 to book a time through the office to see me before Monday the 4th of November. After this date, the teaching staff along with the Leadership Team and Learning Support will be meeting and creating the class lists on the following Tuesday’s staff meeting. After this date, all class lists will be final.

In relation to this, our capital works have caused us to make alternate arrangements and some of our classes may need to work together in close proximity while the building works are being completed. As always, I will still be promoting my classroom teachers to partake in collaborative teaching practices as I feel this is necessary for any educational institution to provide equal opportunities for our students to access the curriculum.

A letter informing the school community about the scope of these capital works was sent home with the eldest in every family on Monday this week as well as a letter to our OSHC families detailing the closure and alternate arrangements put in place during the Stage 1 demolition over the Christmas break. A Community Information Evening will be held in the not too distant future that will highlight the scope of the work as well as having 3D walkthroughs supplied by the architects. I will communicate this date as soon as it comes to hand. The staff have discussed some of our immediate plans and we are hoping to have our 2020 learning spaces in place by Week 8/9 of this term.

Last week a light pink 2020 Confirmation of Enrolment note was sent home to each family. Annual school budgets, funding and staffing allocations are all dependant on our projected enrolment numbers each year. If, for whatever reason, your children may not be returning as students to St Joseph’s next year, either please make a time to see me to make me aware or fill in the note and return it to school as soon as possible. At this time of year, I hold many enrolment interviews for 2020 and it disappoints me to knock back families who are wanting to be at our school on the basis of not having spaces available only to find out in early January some of our existing families will not be returning. Letting me know if you are not planning to return, for whatever reason allows myself and new families a reasonable amount of time to fill those spaces before the 2020 school year begins.

All continuing enrolment notes are due back to the school by Tuesday, the 22nd of October.

This Thursday we will be welcoming our new Prep students and their parents to Joey’s as we host our Prep Orientation day. This is always a great opportunity to highlight all the great aspects that makes Joey’s such a wonderful school. I am very excited as we are welcoming a wonderful group of young students and families in 2020. The first group through for Prep Orientation will be 9:00-10:30am and our second group will be 11:00am-12:30pm. To accommodate our new guests, our current Prep students will be visiting Year 1 and our Year 1 students will be with our Year 4 students. This is always an exciting day on the Joey’s calendar.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Indigenous Liaison Officer Simone Giles who was successful in applying for a new job over the last holiday break. I thank Simone for her dedication to not only the indigenous students but all of the students at Joey’s for the best part of the last decade. It is sad to see Simone go but we wish her all the best on the next exciting chapter of her life. For those wishing to wish her well in person, Simone’s final day will be Thursday 24th of October.

Finally, a reminder that next Monday the 21st October is a Pupil Free Day. The third Monday of Term 4 is always a scheduled Professional Development day for the staff at St Joseph’s Park Avenue as well as most other schools in our community. OSHC will be operating that day but places are very limited.

Don’t Forget …

• School swimming Weeks 2-6 of Term 4
• Booklist 2020 Note sent home with every child, Wednesday 16th October
• Pupil Free Day, Monday 21st October
• Combined School Board & P&F Meeting, Wednesday 23rd Oct @ 5:30pm in Staffroom
• 2020 Prep students Orientation Day, Thursday 19th October
• Pink Confirmation of Enrolment 2020 forms due back Tuesday 22nd October
• Day for Daniel, Friday 25th October
• Crazy Sock Day, Thursday 31st October
• Final day for 2020 class requests, Monday 4th of November
• Swimming Carnival, Week 7 - Wednesday 20th November

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Principal

APRE REFLECTION

Jesus cures ten lepers, one returns with thanks.
Gospel of Luke 17:11-19

In ancient times, a wide variety of skin diseases were loosely labelled as ‘leprosy’. Because of Jewish purity laws, people with skin diseases were automatically regarded as ‘unclean’ and were forced to live away from others. The assumption was that such disfigurement must be a punishment from God for sinful behaviour. When Jesus encounters the men they are outside the town and keep the required distance from Jesus. He tells them to go and show themselves to the priest, whose authority was relied upon to declare a person healed and fit to return to society after extensive ritual purification.

‘The other nine, where are they?’ asked Jesus. Why would the other nine not have come back to give thanks? It is insufficient to say that the miraculous healing these men experienced changed their lives. Being healed of this disease meant so much to them: they could return to their families; they could return to work; they could touch another person; they could walk among other people; they could join in prayer at the synagogue. As they hurried back toward town they must have been overwhelmed by the possibilities and opportunities that lay before them. But they neglected to acknowledge the source of their great joy!

What are all the things in your life for which you are grateful to God?

@Liturgy Help Greg Sunter

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

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

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.

• On Thursday 31st October, we will hold a Crazy Sock Day and encourage the students to wear crazy socks all over their body. What is the most creative way to wear socks?
• To participate in the Crazy Sock Day we will ‘Pass the Sock Around’ the entire school collecting gold coin donations as a fundraiser for Socktober.

What’s Happening this Term

Bernadette Brennan
Assistant Principal Religious Education

SPORTING MATTERS

T20 @ Kalka Shades

Basketball

Oz Tag @ McLeod Park

Bernadette Brennan
Sports Co-ordinator

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates

Booklist Supplies Procedures for 2020

A very important note will come home today explaining a change in procedures for the ordering of back to school booklist requirements for 2020. I strongly encourage you to read it carefully as it has the potential to save you a significant amount of time and money on your child’s back to school supplies for next year. If you have any questions about the process or need some assistance with placing your order, please come and see me.

My Appraisal

As many of you may know, every person who holds a leadership position in a Catholic school undergoes a performance appraisal towards the end of their 5 year contract. Yesterday we welcomed Mrs Carmel Kris (Assistant Director: Teaching and Learning) from the Rockhampton Catholic Education Office to lead the performance appraisal process for my role of Assistant Principal Curriculum. This process included a selection of staff and parents being surveyed and then interviewed as well as myself writing a reflection statement on my own performance. I look forward to continuing to improve in my role and thank the St Joseph’s community for the support they provide to me.

Prep Orientation

Tomorrow we welcome our new 2020 Prep students and their parents for their orientation sessions. This is always a very exciting time for our new students. I hope they enjoy their introduction to life in Prep and we look forward to welcoming them again in 2020.

Day for Daniel

St Joseph’s will once again participate in the annual Day for Daniel on Friday, 25th October. Students are invited to wear a red shirt along with their normal sports uniform shorts. Classes will participate in activities reminding them of the three safety messages of: Recognise, React and Report. There is no cost associated with this free dress day as the day is all about raising awareness of the importance of child safety.

Ready Reading Workshop for Parents

Attached to this newsletter is information about a workshop being held next week at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School. It is aimed at adult volunteers and teaches strategies to use to teach reading in our Catholic Schools. If you are interested in learning more about how to teach reading and would like to volunteer in some of our classrooms as a reading helper, you are invited to attend this session. This workshop is free.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM MYTHBUSTERS

Year 5

Year 4

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 4 FEE ACCOUNTS

Fee Accounts for Term 4 have now been emailed and posted on Parent Lounge. These are due for payment on Monday 28th October.

If paying by Direct Deposit, please use your Account Number as the reference

(This is the 6 digit number on your Fee Statement).

Just a reminder to any Year 6 students that may be leaving the school at the end of the year, to please finalise accounts or make an appointment to see Mr Fitzgerald and myself in regards to this.

OSHC FOR 2020

ASC booking/enrolment forms are now open for 2020. Please see attachment below, Chelsea or the office for forms.

Thanks

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Miranda Brunton (Yr 6), Madilynn Harris (1H) and Ethan Roati (2F).

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

Welcome to the last term for the decade. It’s scary to think of it like that, especially as this term will fly. A reminder that this is the last term where the Tuckshop will accept cash and paper bags, because as of next year it’s 100% online through Quickcliq. If you haven’t already, go to the link below to set up your account. Don’t leave it until the last minute. It’s fast and easy to do, and if you have any questions, please see Debbie at the tuckshop.

Even though we’ve only just started swimming this week, our carnival is a mere 5 weeks away, so we’re asking for people to join the BBQ crew to help cook and serve snags for dinner. It’ll only be for an hour or two on the night and you can come and go in between children’s races. The more the merrier. Please see Amanda Conway if you can help.

Reminder:

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

TUKSHOP NEWS

Tuckshop is now in its fifth week of using online ordering with QuickCliq. If you haven't registered yet, you can simply go to the link below. Some features include ordering in advance and cancelling an order if you child is sick.

Tuckshop was trialling Home Ice Cream last term and we have now transitioned over. We no longer sell Peter's ice blocks. A new updated menu will be going out at the beginning of next term.

Tuckshop is always looking for volunteers, if you can spare an hour or a couple of minutes, please come and see me."

Thank you,
Debbie Rooney

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.

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