5 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome back to the start of the 2020 school year, with our first official newsletter.

Even with the shortened Week 1, it has still been a great start to the year with both new and familiar faces settling well into the school routines. You may have noticed a few differences around the school since last year with tremendous progress being made on our new facilities.

A very special welcome to all of our new families; we trust that you will find the Joey’s school community to be very warm and welcoming.

Last week I broke tradition and elected not to send a first week parent letter out to the community. This decision was made due to the communication surrounding the ongoing capital works, as well as the need to send a number of other correspondence home last week.

In 2020 we welcome Miss Leah Ward in Year 6, Mrs. Paula Roati in Year 1, Mrs. Aimee Watson who will be share a Year 3 class with Mrs. Kerrie Tennyson and Miss Brooke Black who has moved into a Inclusive Curriculum (Learning Support) role in the upper school. We also congratulate Mrs. Jess Ivers on her official appointment as the school’s Indigenous Liaison Officer. I am sure we will all make these people feel very welcome as they get to know our wonderful school community.

We will be celebrating our opening school mass this Friday, February the 7th. The mass will be held in OLHC at 9:00am with everyone welcome to attend. Please remember that car parking will be at a premium.

This year we opted to combine our annual P&F Welcome BBQ with our Parent Information Night. This was quite a new experience for us as it would also be for our Joey’s families. As this was our first year running the event in this format, I would appreciate any feedback into how we can improve the evening in future years.

Applications for the vacated Indigenous Educational Support Officer role will be advertised this week. After shortlisting and then interviewing, I hope to have the role filled in the very near future. The role is for 20 hours per week and if you know of an indigenous community member who may be suited to this role, please let them know.

Finally, thank-you to all of our parents and students who have made a tremendous effort to begin the school year not only with both the correct school uniform and suitable haircuts, but also for the ongoing patience and understanding surrounding our capital works projects and in particular our carpark drop off zones.

Don’t Forget …

• Opening School Mass, Fri 7th Feb 9:00am in OLHC church.
• First P&F Meeting for 2020, Wed 12th Feb @ 6:30pm
• Children’s Mass, Sat 15th Feb in OLHC @ 6:30pm
• School Board AGM, Wed 19th Feb @ 5:30pm
• Bishop’s In-service Day, Fri 21st Feb (Pupil Free Day)
• Ash Wednesday, Wed 26th Feb

Have a great week and I look forward to working with you in 2020.

Regards

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

APRE REFLECTION

THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
Jesus is brought to the Temple by Mary and Joseph
Luke 2:22-40

The token price that Mary and Joseph paid to 'buy back' Jesus was two pigeons – a modest price for a poor family. Jesus was only on loan to them. Not all the riches in the world could ransom him from his destiny and he lived in the shadow of the Cross all his life.

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

Catholic Identity – We Need Your Input

One of the most important things about being a Catholic school in the 21st century is knowing who we are and what purpose we serve. We need to have a clear understanding of our role as a Catholic school. To assist with this and as an important part of our School Improvement process, St. Joseph’s Park Avenue will shortly participate in a Catholic Identity survey which is conducted by Leuven University in Belgium. The research project is aimed at assisting us with understanding how our Catholic identity is expressed in work and practice as well as supporting plans to further enhance our Catholic Identity for the future.

All staff and students from Years 5 and 6 will participate in the survey at school. We would also like to give parents a voice by inviting and encouraging you to take part in the survey, which will be conducted online and is not identifiable.

Please keep an eye out for further information through the school newsletter and the Skoolbag App.

Liturgical Celebrations for Term 1

*OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church – next to school
*MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

The Mother Effect

Families are warmly welcomed to come along to the North Rocky Catholic Mother's Group, Mother Effect.

Term 1 dates are:

Feb 5th
Feb 19th
March 4th
March 18th
April 1st

Bernadette Brennan
Assistant Principal Religious Education

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.

Friday Inter-school Sport

Inter-school Season A sport commences Friday 14th February for all children aged 10, 11 and 12 (born 2010, 2009 and 2008).

The sports we are participating in this year are softball/teeball and soccer. Season A runs through until week 2 of term 2 when the finals are held. Draws will be published in the newsletter and on the Skoolbag App each week.

Students playing in inter-school Soccer are required to have their own socks, boots & shin pads as safety equipment. Children cannot take the field if they are not wearing shin pads and football socks. The school has a supply of soccer socks for students who are new to Friday sport or haven’t played soccer or rugby league previously.

Please ensure children have sufficient sized water bottles to take with them.

If you are spectating and wish to take your child home after their game, it is imperative to let the teacher with the team know.

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates – Term 1

Welcome back to another school year. I hope everyone had an enjoyable break. A special welcome to all our new families. I hope you have felt welcome at Joey’s and enjoy your time with us. Please ensure you have downloaded our school app: Skoolbag. All important messages and notes are communicated through this app.

School Supplies

Thank you for your patience regarding delays in delivery of ordered stock and missing items etc from Kookaburra Educational Resources. I have been dealing directly with the Rockhampton sales representative from Kookaburra Educational Resources and he is ensuring all of our issues are sorted as soon as possible. If you are still missing equipment, please let me know so I can follow up for you. Although I realise that some of our parents have found ordering from Kookaburra frustrating, the majority of our parents have enjoyed a stress-free positive experience. I’m hopeful that Kookaburra will sort out the issues so that ordering for next year will be a positive experience for all.

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 2020, classroom teachers will teach these lessons 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 the link below:

Parent Information Night

Last night we held our annual Parent Information Night. It was lovely to see so many families take this opportunity to meet their child’s teachers and catch up with other Joey’s families at the Welcome BBQ. If you were unable to attend, please feel free to drop in when you drop your child to school to introduce yourself to their teachers and ask any questions you might have about the year. At St Joseph’s we really value strong positive relationships between school and home.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Semester One Parent Teacher Interviews will occur in Week 9 of Term 1. More information about how to book an interview will be communicated closer to the date.

I hope everyone has a wonderful year. If you have any teaching and learning questions, please don’t hesitate to book a time to see me.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

TUCKSHOP

Welcome to the start of the new year and welcome to all new and returning families.

Tuckshop is opened Monday through Thursday and is cashless. You can order at the link below and a link can also be found on the Skoolbag app as a tile.

There is a cut-off time for ordering which is 8:45am. Hopefully, you should have received a new menu and it can also be found on the Skoolbag app.

Tuckshop is always looking for help, so if you can help in any way, please feel free to drop by Tuckshop, or fill out the Volunteers help note that went home on Monday.

Thank you, Debbie Rooney

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week.

They are: Spencer Barber (1H), Zane Barber (1R), Mia Bolck (Yr 4), Laine Hockings (Yr 6), Raven McKenzie Weeding (PM), Eliana Stevenson (1H), Mia Duncan (3MC), Grace Lloyd-Jones (Yr 6) and Amaya Murphy (Yr 4).

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

A big welcome back to all the members of our Joeys community, new and old. We trust everyone had a great break and are ready and eager to get involved in our school crew for 2020.

For those who don’t know, the Parents and Friends Association or P&F members work closely with our Leadership Team and Board Members to achieve the best outcomes for our school by means of representing the interests of the school community and allocating funds to assist in purchasing valuable equipment, educational tools and classroom facilities to name a few. Every person involved with Joeys is automatically a P&F member, but we’re always welcoming new faces to join our crew.

Well done to the Year 6 crew for manning the BBQ, and for keeping everyone hydrated for the afternoon at the combined Welcome BBQ/Parent Info sessions yesterday. Money raised from the sale of drinks goes towards their camp fundraising efforts.

With a new year, comes new activities, new challenges, and new events, and as previously mentioned, some new faces. We encourage anyone who’s interested in helping especially as a part of the Tuckshop and Breaky Club crew, and classroom helpers to come and see us as we’d love to meet you. Even if all you can offer is one day a month, it’s better than nothing. All help is a blessing and we can’t wait to see what your “Just One Thing” is.

Have a great week!

Reminder:

Mon Feb 10th: 9:00am P&F Coffee and Chat, after assembly
Wed Feb 12th: 6:30pm First P&F Meeting for 2020, location TBA

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

PIANO

There are vacancies for Piano lessons (Keyboard to practice on will suffice). Please contact Lynette Anstey on 0419 358 485 or email – anstey.family@bigpond.com

TOUCH NEWS