13 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

As we are well into the fourth week of Term, I take the opportunity to officially welcome back our Kindy, Prep and Year 1 students. Over the next few weeks we will be returning to ‘normal’ schooling as we have our students from Years 2 -6 return. If you have children split between these year levels and are finding it difficult with children at school and some still at home, please make it easy on your family and send in all students to school if it lightens the burden at home.

As all students return to school over the next few weeks, we will also be communicating about how we will be reporting at the end of Semester 1. With COVID being quite disruptive to our normal educational processes, reporting has been a hot topic of debate between Government agencies and Educational facilities across the nation. As you will appreciate, no school will be able to send out their usual Semester 1 Report cards in their normal format. With this in mind, we will be negotiating with our teachers on how best to adjust our report card format before the end of term. Our school APC, Mrs Deanne Senini will be communicating these processes as soon as possible.

Last night we held a combined P&F and School Board meeting via zoom. This meeting will replace the May meetings for both groups. My apologies that this month’s P&F meeting was only available to Executive members due to our current situation. Last night’s meeting was an opportunity to update both organisations on both COVID and Capital Works progress, processes and upcoming dates. We will be looking into maintaining our normal P&F and Board dates for June. More details will be sent out closer to these dates.

It is unfortunate that sport in all forms and at every level has taken a back seat due to COVID-19 processes and precautions. Primary sport as you know has not been immune to these changing times. It is with both sadness and understanding that as Principal, I was notified that the 2020 Challenge Cup has been cancelled.

With this knowledge in hand, I also withdrew our team from the Netball State Cup. As you probably all know, I absolutely love school sport and what it offers our students, but during these times I cannot justify attending the Challenge Cup where students from thousands of kilometres all come together to one place and in the instance of the State Cup, we travel from a relatively safe Central Queensland to South East Queensland where population and potential exposure are far greater. I hope you can understand my decision during these times.

Today you will notice that we are advertising for a new ‘Facilities Manager’ at school. Over many years Tim Harkin has done a wonderful job in beautifying Joey’s and began his role as a parent volunteer showing his love for the community by mowing on the weekends. With the role now requiring 25 hours a week and a presence at school each day combined with Tim’s commitment to the hospital and his normal job, he has indicated that a step away from the ‘Groundsman Role’ may be best for the school moving forward.

Tim will not disappear overnight, but I will take this opportunity to thank his generous commitment to the Joey’s community over the years.

If you are aware of someone who may be a great fit for the new ‘Facilities Manager’ role, please pass on the application details as well as the role description from this week’s newsletter or the posting on the school app.

In the upcoming weeks, please keep an eye out for communication regarding Capital Works processes as we begin another big move in preparation for the commencement of Stage 2 while also moving into the new Stage 1 buildings. Stage 2 will involve the removal of the remainder of asbestos in the school, as the last of our old buildings come down. As a part of this communication we will need to address how this may affect Outside School Hours Care, Vacation Care and tuck shop availability throughout Semester 2. Please watch this space for upcoming important information.

Have a great week and remember our 2020 Joey’s theme;

Happy every day. Learning every day.

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

APRE REFLECTION

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Jesus the way, truth and life

John 14:1-12

When a seed grows it doesn’t need to be taught how to grow: the new shoot ‘knows’ how to find the light and the roots ‘know’ where to go for moisture. This kind of knowing is somehow built into the genetic structure of the plant. Our relationship with God is like that too, it is part of the fabric of our being. Built into our human structure is the knowledge of God, but in the coming and going of life we lose the ability to access that knowledge easily. In the Gospel, Jesus names himself ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’. To us he says ‘you know the way’ and this is our challenge, to rediscover our organic knowledge of God by looking at Jesus.

CURRICULUM NEWS

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE

All students are invited to participate in the Queensland Premier’s Reading Challenge again this year.

Reading plays an important part in students’ lives during their school years and beyond. It allows children to actively engage their imagination and opens up a world of educational opportunities.

Last year, 168,000 students from 937 schools took part in the challenge, reading an astounding 2.31 million books. What an incredible result.

The reading period for the 2020 Premier's Reading Challenge commences on Monday 11 May and closes Friday 28 August.

This year the Premier has invited all state and non-state school students to take on the challenge:

• Prep to Year 2 should read or experience at least 20 books,
• Years 3 and 4 should read at least 20 books, and
• Years 5 to 9 should read at least 15 books.

Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories, or reading picture books. The aim for the 2020 challenge is to engage more students reading more books than ever before.

Every student who completes the challenge will receive a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier. Students who participate but don’t complete the challenge receive a Certificate of Participation from the school.

Attached to this newsletter is the form to be used to record the books read during this period. Once completed, please send this form back to the school office.

For more information about the Premier’s Reading Challenge, please visit the link below.

You can play a big part in your children’s future by encouraging them to be part of this positive initiative.

I look forward to seeing as many of our students as possible take part in the 2020 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

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.

ICAS COMPETITIONS 2020

St Joseph’s Park Avenue will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS Assessments again this year. ICAS is developed by UNSW Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of UNSW Sydney, with over 35 years’ experience in educational assessments.

ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies.

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition. Every student will receive a printed certificate and an online result report. Top performers will be eligible for medals and are invited to attend special award ceremonies to have their academic excellence publicly recognised.

I encourage you to consider entering your child into ICAS this year. The assessments are suitable for students wishing to extend themselves academically and take up the personal challenge of competing in an international assessment. Your child will be presented with high-quality, expert-developed questions, allowing them to apply their learning without the need for prior study or revision.

ICAS Assessments are now online, a move that reflects a sector-wide transition to computer-based assessments. This allows greater accessibility for students and faster delivery of results.

In 2020, students have the opportunity to participate in the following subjects:

Cost per test: $15.95 including GST

In 2020, all payments for the ICAS tests are to be made by parents online. These assessments will take place during the school day as per the above schedule. If you would like your child to participate in any of the subjects listed above, please visit the new online Parent Payment System to make a direct payment to UNSW Global. The Parent Payment System is a simple and secure online payment service specifically for parents to purchase ICAS Assessments.

Our school’s unique access code is: XRM723

Online payment closes Friday, 17 July 2020.

IMPORTANT: Please enter your child’s name accurately into the System as it will appear on their ICAS certificate.

Privacy notification

UNSW Global stores, uses and modifies the ICAS Assessments data in order to generate reports, conduct research and analysis, and improve its products and services. UNSW Global will not hold or use ICAS Assessments data that constitutes personal information for longer than 15 years. As the parent or guardian of a student who intends to sit ICAS Assessments, you consent to the school collecting the ICAS Assessments data that relates to the student, disclosing it to UNSW Global and to UNSW Global’s use of it in the manner outlined above. You also consent to the school assigning this consent to UNSW Global.

We are proud to partner with UNSW Global in offering the ICAS Assessments and look forward to some fantastic results later in the year.

Learn more about ICAS here: unsw.global/ICAS

Please do not hesitate to contact me on deanne_senini@rok.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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

They are: Peppa Davey (Yr 4), Aliana Fitton (Yr 3) and Lilly Payne (Yr 6).

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

This week we welcomed our Kindy, Prep and Year 1 children back to their regular classroom routines, and we hope the week has gone well so far.

Have you been keeping an eye on our Capital Works progress from the comfort of your car? Mr Fitz has been keeping us all updated with the progress over our Facebook page, and we can’t believe how much has been done and how good it looks. It’ll be amazing to get up close and personal when all of our students are allowed back to school.

Remember to keep those Breaky Club, Tuckshop and P&F ideas coming in. Please see or message Amanda Conway (President and Year 5 Mum), Debbie Rooney (Tuckshop Convenor, Treasurer and Year 4 Mum), or Kate Nembach (Vice President and Year 4 Mum) and Claire Morrison (Secretary and Year 6 Mum). As you can see our P&F executives and their children are nearing the end of their time at Joeys. If being a part of our executive committee is something that you might be interested in, but are a bit unsure of what’s involved, come and see us, or send us a message and we’ll answer any question you have. We’d love to keep up our tradition of having a strong P&F, and a strong sense of community for our school.

Have a great week!

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

JABBERING WITH JOEYS

Time to turn our attentions to our beloved School Counsellor, Michelle Hoffman, and the things she’s interested in.

Name: Michelle Hoffman
How long have you been at Joeys?: 2 years
Favourite Food: Raspberries
What did you want to be when you grew up?: Marine Biologist
Favourite Music: RnB
Coffee or Tea: Coffee
Favourite subject at school: Biology & Drama
Hobbies outside of Joeys: Reading
Favourite book/movie: Megamind
Favourite colour: Dusty Pink
Best “Dad” joke:  How do you make a tissue dance? You put a little boogie in it.
Favourite thing about Joeys: The warm welcoming smiles on the kids’ faces.

VOLUNTEERS INDUCTION SESSIONS

These sessions are currently not running.

FRIDAY PIZZA

Due to the current situation we have had to change the way we run pizza and icy cups on a Friday. The following changes have been made:

• Pizza and Icy Cups to be ordered and paid for from outside the Year 6 room in the morning from 8:15 – 8:35am.
• Brown bags not required for pizza – students simply bring their money ($2 per slice) and tell the Year 6 students what you would like to order.
• Pizza slices will be delivered to classes in provided brown bags in tuckshop boxes at lunch time.
• Icy Cups will be delivered to the classrooms at approx. 2:55pm ready for home time.

Please note: There is a pizza order form available if you think this will be helpful to assist your child with the ordering process. Also, Icy Cups can sell out, so it is first in best dressed when ordering in the morning.

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