22 July 2020

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

A drum roll please………

I am happy to announce that we have officially tipped over the 50% completion mark for our Capital Works project. Even though it has only been 7 months of the projected 16, we actually have half of the buildings and General Learning Areas online. Please remember that the last couple of months will be finalising car parks and dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. We still have some way to go but it was tremendous to see the Prep and Year 1 students enjoying the Lower Precinct last week. We will look to have an open day as soon as possible.

To try and ease the burden of the current car park and make the best of the current situation, we will be sending home laminated name tags to each family to fit to the passenger side visors of their cars for pick-up of an afternoon. In Week 3, the school will be supplying 4 name tags for each family so that you may have them in parents, grandparents or other family members cars, for when they collect your children. For families with the same surname, such as cousins, your tags will be distinguishable by having the initials of your children, or their name printed on the tags. Please apply these to the passenger side visor and have them displayed in an effort to speed up the process.

I also ask that during drop-off and pick-up, you drive all the way down to the farthest bay possible in order to get as many cars off the street as possible.

As always, we also need our students to keep a look out for their cars and move as quickly as possible. If we can say our good-byes earlier and prepare our students to alight the vehicle before stopping in the drop-off zone, it would be greatly appreciated.

Weekly Awards began again this week with Year 6 students presenting them to each of the year level cohorts individually on a Monday. Thank-you to the Year 6 teachers for releasing the Year 6 students to do this. I know the awards mean a lot to our students.

This week we also welcomed some new staff to the Joey’s family.

Our new Facilities Manager, Mark Way began over the holiday break with Tim showing him the ropes.

We also had a new Arts Specialist Teacher, Kristy Whitehead begin last week. Kristy will be in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week teaching Drama in Term 3 and Dance in Term 4.

Finally, we have also been very fortunate to secure the services of Jacinta Biddulph who is in the last stages of her Bachelor of Education degree and will be taking up the position of Year 6 ESO when Kaitlyn Brosnan begins her maternity leave later this Term. I am sure, when you get the chance, that you will make these new Joey’s staff members very welcome.

With that being said, it was sad for us to farewell Mr Tim Harkin at the end of Term 2. Over the holidays I was able to catch up with Tim and present him with some cards, gifts and messages from our Lower School students.

I have included the images from a book that our Preppies compiled for Tim. These images honour Tim and the valuable work he has done. They are adorable and well worth a look. I hope you enjoy them as much as the staff did.

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

Happy every day. Learning every day.

APRE REFLECTION

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Parables of the weeds in the field and the mustard seed.
Matthew 13:24-43

This week’s Gospel contains three parables, namely the parable of the mustard seed, parable of the yeast and the parable of the wheat and weed. The parables of the mustard seed and yeast tells us how God’s kingdom or His rule grows in human heart and human lives from a very small beginning, by the power of the Holy Spirit. The parable of the wheat and weeds tells us how and why evil coexists with good in the world and how we should treat the evil ones.

Have you ever noticed that the people who are bad sometimes are the very same people who are good sometimes? It reminds me of a story called, “Two Wolves.” It goes like this: An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. He told the boy that a fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil: – the is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. He continued, the other is good: – the is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person, too. The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, Which wolf will win? The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed’. Today’s Gospel parable reminds us that we are a mixture of good and evil and, hence, instead of judging others we have to lead exemplary Christian lives and leave the judgment to God. We need to grow up as healthy wheat in God’s field, leaving the “weeds” for Jesus to take care of. We live in a violent and impassioned culture. For instance, where some are judged for embracing doctrinal errors, others for appearing not to have any doctrine at all. Some are condemned for not caring for the poor, others for caring too much for the poor. We often forget that appearances can be deceptive. The old saying, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s a duck,” may be true in the secular realm, but not in the Kingdom of God. If one talks like a Christian, sings like a Christian, etc. it doesn’t necessarily mean he or she is a Christian. Even in the small garden (the twelve Apostles) which Jesus tended carefully for the three years, the weeds persisted, yet didn’t write it off. We need to pray for the conversion of “weeds” to wheat.

Fr Marcel

CURRICULUM NEWS

Important Curriculum Dates:

SEMESTER ONE REPORTS

On Thursday, 30th July from 5pm the Semester One reports will be available for viewing on Parent Lounge. I encourage you to check that you can log in to your Parent Lounge account. If you require assistance to do this, please contact the school office.

SEMESTER TWO PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

At this stage we are planning on having parent teacher interviews in their normal format, however, we will make a final decision based on updated health advice and direction from the Catholic Education Office as the date for interviews (Week 9) draws nearer. More detailed communication will be sent out to the school community in due course. If you need to speak to teachers before the Week 9 formal interviews, please make contact with teachers via email to arrange a suitable catch up time and method.

SCIENCE WEEK

St Joseph’s will be participating in Science Week again this year, however, due to COVID rules and restrictions and due to the added issue of our current building works, Science Week will look different to normal. Students will be doing extra science activities in class during Week 6 as a way of celebrating science.

BOOK WEEK

St Joseph’s Book Week is normally scheduled for Term 3, however the National Book Week dates have been changed to October with the hope that COVID restrictions might have eased more by then. This year we will hold our annual Book Week activities in line with the new National Book Week dates. More information regarding our Book Week celebrations will come out next term.

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:

To download a reading record form click on the following link:

Interactive school reader record form (DOCX, 941KB)

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.

ICAS COMPETITIONS 2020

The cut off date for ordering ICAS tests online has now expired. If you have ordered tests for your child, the sitting date will be as per the schedule above.

Thanks for your continued patience and understanding of changes in processes during this extra difficult time at St Joseph’s. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 3 FEE ACCOUNTS

Fee Accounts for Term 3 have now been emailed and posted to Parent Lounge.

If you have a Means Tested Concession Card and have not yet provided a copy, please send this through to Megan in the office for verification.

If you have an outstanding amount and are unable to make any payment, can you please make immediate contact with Bernard or Megan to advise your current situation.

When paying by Direct Deposit, please use your Account Number as the reference

(this is the 6-digit number on your Fee Statement).

CLASSROOM NEWS

Welcome to the new Year 4 Learning Space.

We have had an amazing start to Term 3, getting used to our new surroundings, learning where we can walk and not walk and enjoying the excitement of watching the work continue on our new school. We have some photos to share with you that shows the transition from our old room to the new room.

Mrs McCutcheon was very sad to see the old rooms go. 17 years ago, she started working at St Joseph’s in those very rooms.

We are looking forward to the next two terms of learning.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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

They are: Roland Batchelor (Yr 1), Flynn Assay (Yr 6), Ella Coughlan (Yr 2) and Mrs O’Brien (Prep).

Have a great day.

TOUCH FOOTBALL

After discussions with the leadership team this week, it has been decided due to COVID safe requirements and the current stage 2 capital works that are underway at the school, St Joseph's Park Avenue will not be able to nominate any Touch Football teams in the upcoming Saturday Morning competition this year.

With the season set to start in early August, (if restrictions permit) you may wish to nominate your own team not affiliated with the school in any way or contact the below clubs to see if they have any teams that need players.

Magpies – magpiesrocky@gmail.com
Rebels – Andrew_pratt@emmaus.qld.ed.au
Crushers – dkels5@eq.edu.au

If you do have any questions or concerns regarding this decision, please contact the leadership team – Bernard Fitzgerald, Bernadette Brennan & Deanne Senini.

Thanks
Michelle Smith

SCHOOL BANKING TERM 3

Welcome back to Term 3 and School Banking.

Banking will be starting again tomorrow, Thursday 23rd July.

Please remind your children to put their bank books in the grey banking bags, which is in their classroom.

P & F NEWS

We hope that everyone has had a great start to Term 3 and was amazed to come back and see how much our school had changed over the break.

Thanks to COVID-19 and the building works, our P&F activities have been limited, but never fear, our executives and other volunteers are still developing ideas and working on things behind the scenes. If you’d like to be a part, but can’t make the meetings, simply let our executives, or your child’s teacher know. As a refresher, our executives for 2020 are:

President: Amanda Conway
Vice President: Kate Nembach
Secretary: Claire Morrison
Treasurer: Debbie Rooney

As our executives come to the end of their terms and time at Joeys, we will be looking for some new P&F blood and new P&F ideas next year. If any of these positions interest you, please let us know and we can give you info on what they entail.

Reminder:
Wed Aug 12th: P&F Meeting 6:30pm location TBA

Thanks,
Joeys P&F

Jabbering with Joeys

As we welcome our students back to school, we also welcome back our weekly staff chats. This week we see what our awesome Indigenous Liaison team, Jessinda Ivers and Sarah MacDonald, get up to when they’re not at Joeys.

Name: Jessinda Ivers
How long have you been at Joeys?: Since term 4, 2018.
Favourite Food: Chocolate.
What did you want to be when you grew up?: A mum and Teacher.
Favourite Music: Punk Rock
Coffee or Tea: Coffee
Favourite subject at school: Art
Hobbies outside of Joeys: Playing touch football and renovating.
Favourite book/movie: Billy Maddison
Favourite colour: Purple
Best “Dad” joke: "Dad, did you get a haircut?" "No, I got them all cut!"
Favourite thing about Joeys: The school community.

Name: Sarah MacDonald
How long have you been at Joeys?: I have been at Joey’s for 3 months!
Favourite Food: Chicken and Avocado Sushi, yummmm!

What did you want to be when you grew up?: When I was a little kid I wanted to be a Teacher, just like my Dad!
Favourite Music: Kanye West or anything Billie Ellish!
Coffee or Tea: None.
Favourite subject at school: I have always loved PE, but also was a lover of Maths!
Hobbies outside of Joeys: Swimming teacher, Oztag, Indoor and Outdoor Netball, going to the gym and spending time with my partner and our puppy dogs!
Favourite book/movie: Harry Potter
Favourite colour: Purple.
Best “Dad” joke: What did the Spanish fireman call his two sons? Hose A and Hose B.
Favourite thing about Joeys: It’s a happy place to learn and a happy place to work.

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.

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