18 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

I am sure by now you have all become acutely aware of Covid-19/Corona Virus and the effect it is increasingly having around the world. I would also like to take this opportunity to assure you that as a school community, we are consulting daily with the Catholic Education Office as well as organisations such as Queensland Health on various ways in which we are making ourselves prepared.

We see this as an ideal time for us to review our processes in dealing with sick or injured staff and students within the school community. To help us in doing this, I ask that you make it a priority to ensure that the contact information we currently have for you and your family is currently up to date. This includes current addresses, updated phone contacts and importantly, clear and updated emergency contacts.

Updates to your current information can be done through on Parent Lounge or the school office.

Our school, like many others, are using the current heightened climate to review and formulate our action plans surrounding student safety and welfare.

We are addressing all Year Levels on matters concerning personal hygiene and especially the importance of the using and disposing of tissues and the importance of washing our hands multiple times a day. I am sure you will reinforce the importance of these practices with your children within your own home setting.

We also request that if your child is exhibiting flu like symptoms, that you refrain from sending them to school. No child displaying any symptoms of illness should be sent to school where there is a chance that they may pass on their illness to others. I have emphasised this also with my staff as we all have to play our part in restricting the possibility of spreading disease. If your child exhibits or develops flu like symptoms at school such as excessive sneezing, coughing or fever, you will be contacted to come and collect them promptly from school. Our staff are not medical professionals and beyond basic first aid training, are not equipped to provide medical attention over a long period of time. This is not a new process as this has always been the action taken with sick or injured students in the school community during my time at the school.

We realise that parents are very busy and that collecting your child from school can be very inconvenient for both yourself and your employer. If this is the case, just as we are doing here at school, we encourage you to sit and formulate a plan with your family that outlines who will be able to collect your child in case a situation arises that they may be sent home from school. Once this plan has been agreed to, please update your school records to reflect this action plan.

In implementing procedures relevant to the containment of COVID-19, the school will follow all government advice.

Again, I reemphasise that we will be consulting with the Catholic Education Office as well as various health organisations on a daily basis in order to make the most informed, up to date decisions in regard to the safety and welfare of our school community.

Current school events cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19….

• Year 6 School Disco. Thurs 19th March ‘Easter Theme’
• St Joseph’s Feast Day Mass. Fri 20th March
• Year 6 Camp, Chaverim. Mon 30th Mar – Thurs 2nd April
• Fun Run/Colour Explosion - Cross Country Trials. Wed 25th March

Don’t Forget …

• School Board AGM. Wed 18th March @ 5:30pm in Staff Room
• National Day of Action Against Bullying - SJPA. Thurs 19th March
• Rescheduled 2019 Non-Government School Census Post Numeration Exercise Visit. Thurs 19th March
• Parent/Teacher Interviews. Mon 23rd – Fri 27th March
• Principal’s Conference. Tues 24th – Thurs 26th March
• Enhancing Catholic School Identity surveys close. Fri 3rd April
• St Mary’s Grandstand Classic Race Day, Saturday 4th April

Have a great week.

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

APRE REFLECTION

Third Sunday of Lent

"There is no true peace without fairness, truth, justice and solidarity. "
(Pope John Paul II)

Barry, a Gamilaroi man originally from western NSW, remembers his early years as a time of enormous hardship. He didn’t have a stable home or support network and was mostly brought up by his grandparents.

He became a father in his late teens and was suddenly faced with responsibilities for which he wasn’t ready. He started drinking heavily, behaviour that he’d witnessed previously.

Barry, and others like him, were able to take part in Red Dust Healing – a cultural healing program, which encourages participants to examine their own personal hurt and allows them to heal from within. The program addresses family and personal relationships, and what may have been lifelong patterns of violence, abuse and neglect.

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

Children’s Mass

Project Compassion

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!

National Day of Action Against Bullying

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence is an important day in our school calendar to join with other schools across Australia to say ‘Bullying. No Way!’ We’re joining the nationwide movement with schools across Australia to Take Action Together against bullying on Thursday 19th March 2020.

This Thursday, we will be participating in school wide activities to raise awareness and stand against bullying. We invite everyone to wear something orange in recognition of the day. You might wear an orange hairband, bandana, socks, shirt, earrings etc. This is not a Free Dress Day.

As part of the day classes will be buddying up and making friendship bracelets and participating in classroom activities.

Catholic Identity Surveys
Surveys are still open and we need your help

We have sent home a second round of PINK survey notes this week in the hope to catch some more opinions. Thank you to the 40? families who have responded. If you are one of the 19? families that have started your survey and not quite finished, log in again and once completed send your pink form back to redeem a thank you gift and for your ticket in the survey raffle.

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

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

CURRICULUM NEWS

Parent Teacher Interviews

Semester One parent teacher interviews have been scheduled for Week 9 of this term (23rd March – 27th March). Parent lounge is now open for parents to book an interview. If you wish to book an interview with your child’s teacher please book through parent lounge before 3pm on Friday, 20th March.
Due to the COVID-19 the format that these interviews will happen in is yet to be determined.

NAPLAN 2020

In 2020, St Josephs will be participating in NAPLAN online. All students in Years 3 and 5 will be completing all NAPLAN assessments online with the exception of the Year 3 writing assessment which will be completed on paper. Last year we participated in a practice NAPLAN online test in order to ensure our technology infrastructures and equipment were sufficient. This year, we will participate in another practice test which is designed to allow for any technical complications to be identified and resolved before the official test occurs in May. There will be two practice tests this year. The first one will be on Monday, 23rd March for both Years 3 and 5. This test allows the students in Year 3 and 5 to be exposed to the type of questions that they will find on the NAPLAN tests. The second practice test will be for Year 5 students on Tuesday, 24th March which will be a practice online writing test.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child sitting either the practice test or the official tests, please make an appointment to discuss these concerns with either myself or Bernard Fitzgerald.

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 – Retell the Story

A story retelling usually includes characters, setting, problems and solution or the main ideas of the text. It involves telling what is important in the story without telling too much. Retelling helps readers recall what is happening in the story, develop a sense of story structure and become more accurate in monitoring their understanding. They can transfer this knowledge of story structure to their own story writing.

Spelling:

Strategy: Letter Writing

Write a friendly letter to a teacher or a friend using at least 10 of your spelling words. Underline the spelling words that you use. This activity is useful as it allows the student to use their spelling words in context. It will allow them to think about the meaning of their words.

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 2019. 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 2

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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

They are: Amelia Nolan (Yr 4), Siella Holland (Yr 2), Blake Reading (Prep), Olivia Green (Yr 1), Elle Honeyball (Yr 4), Ryder Millar (Yr 3) and Hanna Haigh (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 4 weeks overdue and require your immediate attention. Reminder letters have now been sent.

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

We hope you enjoyed the St Patrick’s day themed Breakfast Club and Tuckshop yesterday. We hope to create some fun themed days throughout the year to make things more appealing.

Did you miss out on the 90th Anniversary Tea Towels last year, or have one, but want another? There’s still a handful of Tea Towels left in the office. They’re on sale for $10, and available from the office.

Have a great week!

Reminder:

Thanks,

Joeys P&F

JABBERING WITH JOEYS

This week in Jabbering with Joeys, we get to know our other amazing Prep teacher Rebecca Gabriel.

Name: Rebecca Gabriel
How long have you been at Joeys?: This is my 3rd year
Favourite Food: Anything that my husband cooks
What did you want to be when you grew up?: Flight Attendant
Favourite Music: Country
Coffee or Tea: Tea
Favourite subject at school: Physical Education
Hobbies outside of Joeys: Playing touch
Favourite book/movie: Any Elvis movies
Favourite colour: Yellow
Best “Dad” joke: n/a
Favourite thing about Joeys: My work colleagues and students

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

National Day of Action Against Bullying for Australia falls in this week usually occurring on the 3rd Friday in March. At St Joeys we are committed to educating kids and are to be going to be acknowledging this day on Thursday 19 March 2020 by everyone wearing something orange and hosting class room and playground activities to raise awareness amongst the students.

Bullying is a complex issue that can happen anywhere at schools, at sports and online. St Joeys aim to create a safe and supportive school community for everyone. Parents play a key role in preventing and responding to bullying if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone.

You can:

• Learn what bullying is and what it is not. This is the first step in talking about how to prevent or respond to bullying with your child. 'Bullying' is a word used to describe lots of things that are not actually bullying. These other behaviours may be just as serious, but may require different responses.

If your child talks to you about bullying:

1. Listen calmly and get the full story. Your calm response is important to allow your child to tell you all about the situation. After they’ve told you their story, ask questions to get more details if you need: who, what, where, when. Although you may feel some strong emotions about your child’s experience, try to keep calm to avoid more distress to your child.
2. Reassure your child they are not to blame. Many children blame themselves and this may make them feel even worse. You could say things like, ‘That sounds really hard to deal with. No one should have to put up with that.’ or ‘I’m so glad you told me. You should be able to feel safe at school; that’s not fair at all’.
3. Ask your child what they want to do and what they want you to do. A critical part of your response is to avoid jumping in to solve the problem. While it is natural to want to protect your child, helping them to find their own solution is a better option. It helps them feel they have some power in the situation.
4. Visit www.bullyingnoway.gov.au to find some strategies. The website has tips and ideas for different bullying situations. One idea is to practise strategies at home to help your child feel more confident.
5. Contact the school. Your child may be reluctant for you to do this, so discuss the idea and reassure them that the school would want to know and is able to help. Make an appointment to meet with your child’s teacher and, if you need to, ask to talk with the principal. Contact the school immediately if you have a concern about your child’s safety.
6. Check in regularly with your child. Keep the conversation going. It can take time to resolve issues, so check in regularly with your child about their experiences and their feelings. Your ongoing support is important.

Helping kids have some tips and some ways to respond to someone who might be bullying them, to remove themselves or behave in a way to try not to show any reaction is key strategy to build their confidence in what to do. Also helping them identify a safe adult they can talk to, or tell and to persist to tell an adult until they feel heard is an important part of reassuring them that speaking up can be a way to keep themselves safe.

Ignore; Tell them to stop and walk away ; Go somewhere safe and Speak up

Together we can all play our part in preventing and responding to Bullying – NO WAY !!!!!

Check out this animated video – about Bullying is Never OK.

Be kind to yourself and each other

Michelle Hoffman
School Counsellor
SJPA – Wednesday; Thursday & Fridays.

VACATION CARE

Please see below the attached Vacation Care program.

If you have not yet booked your child/ren for these holidays, please use the booking form, also attached. You can email form to Chelsea on sjpa_oshc@rok.catholic.edu.au. Or choose to drop it into her.

Thanks

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