4 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 6

Last Friday I was lucky enough to attend the 2020 Indigenous Year 12 Commencement mass along with Mrs Ivers and our Year 6 indigenous students. It was wonderful to see all of the Year 12 Indigenous students from all of the secondary colleges across the Rockhampton Diocese at St Joseph’s Cathedral to mark the last 30 weeks of their Catholic Education Journey. I was very proud of our students in attendance who proudly represented Joey’s on what was a very hot day.

I would like to take the opportunity to let the St Joseph’s community know that after experiencing both our Opening School Mass and our whole school Ash Wednesday Mass, Leadership, in conjunction with the School Board and the P&F have made the decision to not hold our annual St Joseph’s/Grand Parents Day as we have in the past. We are committed to continuing the tradition of what has always been the biggest day on our Joey’s calendar each year. However, we do not believe that we can hold the event safely as we have in the past with the current Capital Works taking place. Due to the lack of multiple entry and exit points from the church, no place to store food, even less parking than usual and having to move over 500 people from the church via Main Street and the car park in single file, we have decided that at this point in time we do not have the facilities to hold the event in it’s current format.

This year we will be holding a whole school St Joseph’s Feast Day mass in Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Everyone is welcome to join us but as mentioned above, we will not be hosting our annual Grandparents Morning Tea afterwards. We hope to review this again in 2021 but we will then need to consider how the Stage 2 Capital Works will affect our use of the Multi-Purpose Area and tuck shop as we approach the end of our projected 16 months of scheduled works.

I am sure you realise that we have not reached this decision lightly and I thank you for your understanding and patience as we adapt to our current situation. I would also like to offer my sincerest apologies to those families in Year 6 who were looking forward to their final Grand Parents Day in 2020.

In times of disappointment like this I am always buoyed by focusing on the end goal and the tremendous facilities we will be enjoying upon the works completion as well as the tremendous commitment we receive from Catholic Education and the support of the Park Avenue community.

Don’t Forget

• Teacher Profiling Training. Tues 10th - Wed 11th March
• P&F Meal Deal Day. Wed 11th March
• P&F Meeting. Wed 11th March @ 6:30pm in Staff Room
• 2019 Non-Government School Census Post Numeration Exercise Visit. Thurs 12th March
• Children's Mass. Sat 14th March @6:30pm OLHC
• St Patrick’s Race Day. Sat 14th March.
• School Board AGM. Wed 18th March @ 5:30pm in Staff Room
• National Day of Action Against Bullying - SJPA. Thurs 19th March
• Year 6 School Disco. Thurs 19th March
• St Joseph’s Feast Day Mass. Fri 20th Mar @ 9:00am in OLHC
• Fun Run/Colour Explosion - Cross Country Trials. Wed 25th March.

Have a great week

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

APRE REFLECTION

First Sunday of Lent

Shirley, 36, is an indigenous Manide woman living in a remote province of the Philippines. She is a mother of four and the sole breadwinner of the family, as her husband is sick. But Shirley was struggling to support the whole family and keep her children in school. With Caritas Australia’s support, Shirley trained to become an indigenous health worker and a leader in her community. She has learned to supplement her income as is able to feed her family. The program has also helped Shirley’s children with school fees, uniforms and supplies.

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

Project Compassion

Project Compassion 2020 focuses on working together for our global community. Project Compassion invites us all to work together in support of the world’s most vulnerable by putting community, love, compassion and faith into action. Together we can help shape a better future for all because when we Go Further Together in love and compassion, the whole world thrives.

Together we have the power to build a movement and create lasting change for our global community. We can help break the cycle of poverty and injustice by taking the next steps from charity to justice – to go further together.

The most important thing to know is – every single dollar raised is vital to empowering our world’s most vulnerable to grow stronger and share their strengths with their communities to lift themselves out of poverty.

Each classroom has a donation box for students and families to contribute to. Your fundraising efforts contributes to programs in Australia and overseas providing communities with the tools they need to transform their lives. With your help, we can continue to empower vulnerable women, men and children and strengthen the communities around them. Let’s Go Further Together!

Catholic Identity Surveys

Surveys are still 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 06/03/2020

Bernadette Brennan
Sports Coordinator

CURRICULUM NEWS

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.

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 – Cross Checking

Do the pictures and /or words look right? Do they sound right? Do they make sense?

Cross Checking is a strategy for ensuring the words (and sometimes pictures) make sense and match the letters on the page. When a word doesn’t make sense in the sentence, students cross check the word with the pictures and look at the letters and sounds in the word. This concept is usually used for beginner readers.

Spelling:

Strategy: Definitions

Knowing and understanding the meaning of a word is an essential part of any spelling program. Whether your child looks up the word in a dictionary, asks you for the meaning, draws a picture to illustrate the meaning or writes out the meaning, it is important that they understand what their spelling words mean. They can then confidently use any new words in their speaking and writing.

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 – Cards

• Using a pack of cards, turn over two cards and race your child/ren to mentally calculate the sum of both cards. This game can also be used for subtraction, multiplication and division. You could also extend the game by using more than 2 cards.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 4

After a very exciting start to our adventure in Year 4, here are some of the things that amaze us:

Lachlan – getting to do flexible learning for example doing independent work is helping me to move faster than a normal classroom. I like the choice of using my Chrome to complete my math work.
William – I’m enjoying working on the Chromes especially accessing Google Classroom because I can work at my pace. I love how we get challenged in Year 4.
Kiara – I love the workshops because we get to learn lots of different things
Gabby – I’m enjoying learning all about the explorers of the world
Peppa – Visual Arts is fun and I’m learning heaps
Bronson – I love all the new flexible learning equipment like the e-tabs
Slade – I like learning in HASS about the old sailors.
Elle – I enjoy Science – learning about lifecycles
Lani – I like how we do science different to other years. Like how we grew our own plants.
Quinn – I like how we do Soundwaves in small groups and with lots of dancing and singing.
Gabby – I like how we can move around the learning areas for example when we have to talk to other students for lessons.
Cairon – That we do handwriting every week and it’s helping us to get even better. I also like flexible learning because we don’t have to always stay in one spot all the time.
Brittney – All the different Inquiry Workshops where we get to do different activities. I also like how our belongings are kept in one small tray.
Saba – Learning regrouping in small workshops is helping me
Mackenzie – I love learning about explorers and the world they travel
Hayley – I like instead of having our own desk we can choose where to sit and work
Heidi – We don’t just have desks we can work where we feel we need to on the day
Connor - I like how we have been able to get to know each other better in this environment and we all feel comfortable in here.
Lilly – I like the flexible learning – I can work anywhere
Gabe – I like meditation – It calms me down ready to work.

A big reminder that we have our first Prayer Assembly on Friday this week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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

They are: Ryan Hallam (Yr 3), Thomas Lill (Yr 6), Charlotte Lambert (Yr 3), Noa Barnes (Yr 5), Kaeleb Harris (Yr 4), Estelle Hunt (Yr 6) and Mrs Duncan (Yr 5)

Have a great day.

FINANCE NEWS

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

Please ensure to check your Junk Mail if you do not receive your Statements via email and have a Hot Mail Account.

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

Have you set up the online fundraising profile for your child for the Cross Country/Run4Fun Colour Explosion yet? It’s quick, easy and the perfect way to fundraise amongst friends and family near or far. Head to the link below to register your child.

We’ll be running our first Meal Deal for the year on Wednesday March 11th. A note was sent home today with all the details. Orders and money needs to be in a brown paper bag by Monday March 9th.

Our next P&F meeting will be next Wednesday March 11th in the Staffroom at 6:30pm. There’s always plenty to discuss, so we hope to see you there.

We also hope you enjoyed the first edition of Jabbering with Joeys.

Have a great week!

Reminder:

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

JABBERING WITH JOEYS

We hope you enjoyed our first instalment of “Jabbering with Joeys”. This week we shine the spotlight on Prep M teacher Kirsty McLeod.

Name: Kirsty McLeod
How long have you been at Joeys?: 5 years
Favourite Food: Indian food
What did you want to be when you grew up?: Always wanted to be a teacher
Favourite Music: Australian Hip Hop
Coffee or Tea: Coffee
Favourite subject at school: English
Hobbies outside of Joeys: Spending time with my family
Favourite book/movie: That’s a tough one because I love to read. I’m currently reading Matt Okine's Being Black 'n Chicken & Chips.
Favourite colour: Turquoise
Best “Dad” joke: Where does a cow like to go? The Moooovies.
Favourite thing about Joeys: The community feeling, the wonderful people I work with and the amazing students.

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  $2
• Chips  $2
• Lolly Bags  $2
• Poppers  $1
• Water  $2
• Small glow sticks  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.

Raffle tickets for the Easter raffle (drawn at the Disco) will be available for purchase  before and after school from Monday 9th March.  Tickets $1 each.

We look forward to seeing you there.

FROM THE SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

Sleep – are you getting enough? is your child getting enough?

At the halfway point of the first Term – you might be noticing that your child is dragging their feet a little; they are slower in the morning or are irritable and grumpy. They might be less cooperative, maybe emotional or teary and are not behaving their usual cheery selves. Not getting enough sleep can affect brains, emotions and behaviour.

Sleep is as important for us as food and exercise. We all need good sleep to help us recuperate from the day, recharge and rest. Sleep is important for kids to allow them to be ready for learning, be happy, help them grow and build their immune systems. Primary school aged children need about 10-12 hours sleep each night to be able to perform at their best, to learn and focus each day.

Having a consistent sleep routine is important to help kids both big and little, get ready for sleep, and helps them know and predict getting ready for bed. Having a consistent bedtime, technology free space for at least an 1 hour prior to bed, and a cool comfortable, quiet and dark enough room without bright lighting can all help your child get ready to rest. There isn’t a magic routine that will work for every parent or every child. What is important is having a routine that you are able to stick to and is something you can keep up every night. Keep it simple, easy, consistent and a time that you can find enjoyable moments to connect with your child and help prepare them for sleep.

Creating consistent sleep habits helps them and you have a happier calmer household.

Happy sleeping. May your March feel more rested and recharged.

Below are some links you might like to check out for further reading.

Michelle Hoffman
School Counsellor
SJPA – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

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