23 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

A letter informing the school community about the scope of these capital works was sent home with the eldest in every family last week as well as a letter to our OSHC families detailing the closure and alternate arrangements put in place during the Stage 1 demolition scheduled over the Christmas break and into the new year.

A Community Information Evening will be held on Tuesday the 29th of October at 5:30pm in the Multi-Purpose Area that will highlight the scope of the work as well as having 3D walkthroughs supplied by the architects. I would encourage all to attend but also must mention that if children were to attend, they must sit with their parents.

Outside of School Hours Care will still be operating until 6:00pm and may be using school facilities up until this time, however the option for other children who may be attending to play at the school or on the Adventure Playground will not be available. Thank you for your understanding on this matter and I look forward to seeing you at this event.

A reminder that 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.

Don’t Forget …

• Booklist 2020 Note sent home with every child, Wednesday 16th October
• Combined School Board & P&F Meeting, Wednesday 23rd Oct @ 5:30pm in Staffroom
• Purple Confirmation of Enrolment 2020 forms due back Tuesday 22nd October
• Day for Daniel, Friday 25th October
• Capital Works Open Information Session - Tuesday 29th October, @ 5:30pm in MPA
• Crazy Sock Day, Thursday 31st October
• Final day for 2020 class requests, Monday 4th of November
• Year 5 School Disco - Thursday 14th November
• Swimming Carnival, Week 7 - Wednesday 20th November

Have a great week.

Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
St. Joseph’s PA Principal

APRE REFLECTION

The widow and the irreligious judge.
The Gospel of Luke 18:1-8

In the gospel of Luke, widows represent the lowly of society. They also are a measure of how the society is travelling. In the Old Testament, God commanded the people to care for widows, orphans and strangers. Widows, in particular, were to be cared for by the whole community. From that point on, the level of compassion within the society could be measured by the care extended to the widows. The gospel of Luke picks up this prophetic tradition and, on several occasions, uses widows as the key figures in stories or parables.

In this parable, the widow is petitioning her local judge for justice towards the widow, but the judge fobs her off repeatedly. The widow, knowing that her cause is just, persists and finally wears down the judge. When Jesus tells this parable about the widow and the judge, he is actually painting a picture about God for his disciples. The parable is told to reinforce the need to pray continually. The continuous prayer is not to wear God down – like the judge – but rather to demonstrate the genuine need.

Does this teaching about the need for continual prayer mean that God needs to be convinced of our cause? Does a one-off prayer not get heard? Is God swayed by the force of numbers? Can the prayers of ten people carry more weight than the prayers of one? All these questions miss the point of the parable. It is not God who needs our prayers, but we who have to recognise, through prayer, our need for God’s mercy and gracious love. The constancy of prayer is not to convince God but to remind ourselves of our dependence upon God.

There are 168 hours in a 7 day week. Where in your weekly schedule could you make time for regular prayer?

@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

• Crazy Sock Day - Thursday 31st October
• What is the most creative way to wear socks?
• We will ‘Pass the Sock Around’
• Gold coin donation
• Students wear school uniform with Crazy Socks

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.

What’s Happening this Term

Bernadette Brennan
Assistant Principal Religious Education

SPORTING MATTERS

T20 @ Kalka Shades

Basketball

Oz Tag

Bernadette Brennan
Sports Co-ordinator

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates

Booklist Supplies Procedures for 2020

A very important note went home last week 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. To have your order delivered to school you must have your order in by 5pm Sunday, 3rd November.

Day for Daniel

St Joseph’s will once again participate in the annual Day for Daniel this 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.

Regards,

Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM MYTHBUSTERS

Yr 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: Kiasharn Henaway (Yr 5), Mackenna Kinlyside (Yr 4), Flynn Kirkman (1H), Joanna Newburry-Janssen (PM), Harper Corry (1H), and Lilah Kipling (1C).

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

Thank you to those of you that were able to lend a hand at Prep Orientation last Thursday. From all reports, it was a very informative morning. Debbie re-iterated the “Just One Thing” message, and it’s a timely reminder to think about what your “Just One Thing” that you can do for our school is. Is it:

• Helping in Tuckshop
• Helping in Brekky Club
• Helping in the Classroom
• Helping at events such as Swimming Carnival, Fetes, Grandparents Day, Under 8’s day, NAIDOC Day, Sports Day?..... and many others

Our combined Board and P&F Meeting is this afternoon, and with the impending works taking place around our school, the “Just One Thing” message becomes very important as we all band together.

Even though we’ve only just started swimming, our carnival is only 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

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