26 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 5.

Last week, details were sent home about our Enhancing Catholic Schools Identity  (ECSI for short) surveys for parents. For the school to receive any data from parents for our ECSI visit, we need a minimum amount of completed responses. This is why the P&F have added a small incentive for all parents who complete the survey. Either a $5.00 coffee voucher for the adults or a $5 tuck shop voucher for your child.

The staff and the Year 5 and 6 students will be completing their surveys in the near future. The data from these surveys will help us to formulate part of our School Improvement Plan moving forward.

On another note, I thank all those families that have made a concerted effort in regard to school uniforms. I have recently spoken with the students and mentioned that our School Uniform Policy, which can be found on the school app, notes that all school socks should be pulled up above the ankles for both safety and aesthetic reasons. Over the last few years, the School Board and the P&F have resisted the urge to have specific school branded socks so that both the plain navy (formal) and plain white (sports) socks can remain both affordable and easily purchased from a number of different outlets.

I must also mention student haircuts. Particularly male student hairstyles that we would consider holiday haircuts. St Joseph’s has never supported tracks, shapes or numbers shaved into student’s hair. Boys styles should be gradually blended and not have shaved hair adjacent to long hair. Some of our students also have the area where their hair is parted, prominently shaved like a track. I know these hair styles are neat and quite fashionable at the moment, but it still remains a fact that they do not adhere to the school’s uniform policy.

I thank you for considering this when your child next receives a haircut.

The School Board AGM that was scheduled for last week unfortunately had to be postponed. For our School Board to remain strong, we need some new members from the parent community. If you know of someone who may be suitable or ‘on the fence’ about joining either the Board or the P&F, please give them some encouragement and a gentle nudge my way.

Don’t Forget …

• Enhancing Catholic School Identity Parent Surveys Open, Mon 17th Feb
• Ash Wednesday, Wed 26th Feb
• Year 12 Indigenous Commencement Mass, Fri 28th Feb – 10:00am @ St Joseph’s Cathedral

Have a great week.

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

APRE REFLECTION

ASH WEDNESDAY
The Father sees what is hidden
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Lent is a time for prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In the gospel reading Jesus tells us to do these things with humility and dignity: 'go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret'. Ash Wednesday is the start of our long and contemplative journey to Easter.

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 Surveys

Surveys are open and we need your help

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 constantly plan to further enhance our Catholic Identity for the future.

We would also like to give parents a voice by inviting and encouraging you to take part in the survey. Your responses are anonymous, and your personal data is treated confidentially in accordance with ethical and legal guidelines.

The survey period is open until Friday 03 April 2020.

It’s best to finish the survey in one shot, without having to come back later.

As an added incentive, when you have completed the survey, please return your pink form to claim a thank you gift and for your ticket in the survey raffle.

Liturgical Celebrations for Term 1

*OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church – next to school

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.

*Forms must be returned to Mrs. Brennan, at least one day before the trial for processing*

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 Sport 28/02/2020

Bernadette Brennan
Sports Coordinator

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates – Term 1

Competitions

Literary Competition:

Students in Years 5 and 6 are invited to enter the 2020 Independent Education Union literary competition. To enter this competition you need to write a poem or short story. If you are interested in entering this competition please see Mrs Senini for more information. This competition closes on Friday, 19th June.

Art Competition:

Students from Prep – Year 6 are invited to enter the 2020 Independent Education Union Awards for Excellence in Art Design competition. The task is to produce a piece of artwork that best reflects the theme: Perfect Places. If you are interested in entering this competition, please see Mrs Senini for more information. This competition closes on Friday, 24th July.

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.

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.

STRATEGY CORNER

There are many ways you can assist your child to progress with their literacy and numeracy skills. Over the year I will be providing ideas you can use to assist your child to progress in the areas of Reading, Spelling and Maths Facts.

Reading

Learning to read involves children learning skills in comprehension, fluency, accuracy and expanding their vocabulary.

Strategy: Back Up and Reread

This strategy is used when a child reads a sentence or passage and realises that what they have just read doesn’t make sense. They then go back and reread the sentence or passage again to understand the meaning of the sentence.

Spelling:

At St Joseph’s we teach spelling using a word study approach. Students learn different strategies and rules associated with spelling. They also participate in various activities to help consolidate their learning. As an additional resource, your child will be learning chants and actions to assist them to master the many and varied ways to spell particular sounds.

Below is a strategy / activity you can do at home to assist your child/ren to master their current spelling pattern.

Strategy: Rainbow Words

This strategy involves students writing each of their spelling words. They use two colours. They write their spelling pattern in one colour and the rest of the word in a different colour. An example of this is:

Mental Computation:

Knowing strategies to assist students to recall number facts quickly is essential for success in mathematics. Each year level will be focussing on particular number facts strategies throughout 2020. Please contact your child’s teacher to find out the strategy your child should be practicing this week.

Game – Yahtzee

Yahtzee is a great game to practice maths skills as it involves adding multiple numbers. Helping your child find ways of adding these numbers quickly is a worthwhile activity.

If there are any curriculum related concerns or questions you may have throughout the year please don’t hesitate to book a time to discuss these concerns or questions with me.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 5

Year 5 has had a very busy start to 2020. We are learning to use our new Macs and working towards our goal of personal responsibility within our learning.

What is your favourite thing in Year 5 so far:

Star: I have enjoyed learning how to use the Macs and that we get show our learning on the Macs.
Danielle: I have enjoyed working on STILE, which allows me to work with technology and still have fun with my learning.
Gemma: In Year 5 we have wonderful teachers who help me to learn and I love working on my Mac Book.
Alfred: I have enjoyed writing in Mrs Tranberg’s class and learning about Banksy who is an artist.
Mackenzie: I like Geography with Mrs Chapman where we are learning about natural disasters. We are learning about the layers of the surface and the atmosphere.
Chloe: I like how we are learning different strategies in Maths and this helps me by giving me different options to work out the answer.
Kobe: I like having extended personal responsibility. We have to look after our Macs and take responsibility towards safety when using technology.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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

They are: Amarli Batchelor (Yr 5), Coco Barnes (Yr 3), Cooper Bosel (Yr 1), Diesel Gorringe (Yr 5) and Adam Neden (Yr 2)

Have a great day.

FINANCE NEWS

Fee Accounts for Term 1 were due for payment on Tuesday 18/2/20. These are now overdue and require your attention.

All new families should have received your Parent Lounge Login details.

If you have not received these, please contact Tracey or Megan in the office.

If paying by Direct Deposit, please use your Account Number as the reference instead of names (this is the 6-digit number on your Fee Statement)

P & F NEWS

Today marks 4 weeks until the School Cross Country Colour Explosion™ Run which is as a major fundraiser this term so we do ask for your support. The more money we raise the more we can provide for the students through vital school projects, in particular classroom resources for our new rooms.

The School Colour Explosion™ Run will be held on Wednesday March 25th starting at 9:00am at Colts Rugby Field (Tom Nutley Field). Come dressed in a plain white T-Shirt, or all white to get the full effect, as the students will be covered in powder from head to toe. The day’s focus is on fun and fitness with the added benefit of raising funds for our school. Notes and Sponsorships forms/details will be sent home this week.

Have a great week!

Reminder:

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

JABBERING WITH JOEYS

We all know we have the best staff here at St Joseph’s Park Avenue guiding, mentoring and aiding our children, but what else are they interested in when they step away from the classroom and school grounds? Let’s find out with our new weekly profiling segment, “Jabbering with Joeys”. Here, we’ll ask the fun, interesting questions so we can get to know our staff and what makes them tick. First cab off the rank is our Principal, Bernard “Mr Fitz” Fitzgerald.

Name: Bernard Fitzgerald
How long have you been at Joeys?:2020 will be my 11th year at Joey’s. I began as the APRE, PE Teacher and sports coordinator.
Favourite Food: As you can probably tell, I love food. I would have to say that I never met a pizza that I didn’t like
What did you want to be when you grew up?: An astronaut, a policeman or Batman
Favourite Music: All 80’s music, I love Rap music and all the 90’s grunge
Coffee or Tea: Not a fan of hot drinks. Lipton’s Ice Tea, Ice Break for coffee and plenty of Coke No Sugar. I do also love freezing cold water.
Favourite subject at school: Art and PE.
Hobbies outside of Joeys: I collect lots of things. I love sports shoes and have a significant collection. I love reading, LEGO, listening to music, watching my daughters play sport, watching TV, skateboarding, playing video games and going to the movies.
Favourite book/movie: The Empire Strikes Back. Sci-Fi/Horror movies in general. My favourite book as a child was Grover’s ‘There’s A Monster at the End of this Book.’ I still love reading comics. As an adult I will always remember being glued to Audrey Niffenegger’s, ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife.’
Favourite colour: Royal Blue
Best “Dad” joke: Q: What’s brown and sticky? A: A stick.
Favourite thing about Joeys: The family community feel. A wonderful staff, parents and student body.

DISCO INVITATION

On Thursday, March 19 in week 8 Year Six is hosting a disco.

Bring your Bunny Ears because the theme is EASTER. This year's Easter Raffle will be drawn at the disco.

There will be raffle tickets on sale on the night as well as before and after school starting in week 6.

At the disco we will be selling:

• Soft Drinks for $2
• Chips for $2
• Lolly Bags for $2
• Poppers for $1
• Water for $1
• Small glow sticks for 50c

The gates will open at 5:30pm and the disco will finish at 7:30pm. The cost of entry is $2 per person. Pizza will be available for $1.50 per slice. Pizza orders must be in by Wednesday, March 18.

The Disco is being held to raise money for the Year Six Camp.

We look forward to seeing you there.

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

St Paul's Gracemere Finance Secretary Position