3 March 2021

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINICPAL

Welcome to Week 6.

After our School Board AGM in Week 4, we have a newly elected Board Chair as well as a new Board Secretary, Teacher Representative and new Parent Members.

I am delighted to announce the following members of our community as members of our School Board for 2021.

Board Chair – Matthew Thompson (Continuing but new to Board Chair Role)
Board Secretary/Parent Member – Hannah Hamilton (New)
Teacher Representative/Parent Member – Michelle Hannah (New)
Board Liaison from CEO – Tracey Novak (Continuing)
P&F and Board liaison – Lorinda Goodsall (Continuing)
Parent Member – Michelle Brook (Continuing)
Parent Member – Jason Conway (Continuing)
Parent Member – Sally Compagnoni (New)
Parishioner/Parent Member – Dane Coughlan (New)
Parish Priest – Fr Marcel Kujur (Continuing)

Breakfast club will be looking to begin again this week with the inclusion of certain COVID safe protocols. As always Debbie is looking for parent volunteers to help with both Breaky Club Tuesday – Thursday mornings as well as Tuck-shop for Monday – Thursday. Those wishing to volunteer some of their time will need to complete a brief volunteer induction program with Mrs Senini. If you are interested in helping out, please contact the school office as Mrs Senini runs these sessions each week.

I would like to provide a shout out to the Roser family who, even though they do not attend Joeys anymore, donated our St Patrick’s Day Races spot raffle prize of a $100 voucher from VaVoom. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Finally, our car park is beginning to run more smoothly with the majority of our students cleared between 3:10-3:15pm of an afternoon. I assure you; this is no small feat. I must however point out that the flow through zone has experienced issues with cars backed up trying to exit the space because some cars are attempting to turn right out of the exit. The exit is turn left only. This is due to the short space between the exit and the Main Street lights. Please ensure that the flow-through zone is a 2-minute pick-up zone and that you must turn left when exiting this space.

Don’t Forget …

• Friday Inter-school Sport – Week 2, 5th March
• P&F Meeting, 10th March @ 6:30pm in the Library
• Friday Inter-school Sport – Week 3, 11th March
• St Pat’s Race Day – Saturday, 13th March @ Callaghan Park
• School Board Meeting, 17th March @ 5:30pm in the Library

Have a great week.

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

St Joseph’s 2021 School Improvement Priorities:

• Parent Engagement
• Writing
• Social Emotional Learning

APRE REFLECTION

Second Week of Lent

This week through Project Compassion we learn about 39-year-old Margret, a teacher at a vocational school for deaf students in the Solomon Islands. She was born deaf, so she knows the challenges it poses to education and employment. Apart from the difficulties the students all have, the school also faced water shortages, with not enough to supply staff and students with safe water for drinking, cooking, washing and growing vegetables.

Then Tropical Cyclone Harold damaged the school and its vegetable garden, amidst the threat of COVID-19. Staff and students rely on the vegetable garden to provide food for their meals.

With Caritas Australia’s support, the school installed water tanks, provided cyclone-proof building materials and helped to implement COVID-19 prevention measures. Margret’s school now has enough water for its students and the capacity to cater for more, with plans to boost food security, through increased agricultural production.

Watch a short film about Margret’s story here.

“Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” Please support Project Compassion by contributing to the classroom fundraising money boxes.

NDA

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 Friday 19 March 2021.

We're proud to be an NDA school. We're proud to say “Bullying! No way!”

At our school we encourage students to take hold of the issue and talk about what works. Let's support our students to drive powerful messages and take action to prevent bullying.

On Friday 19 March 2021 we will wear our “BE KIND” T shirts.

Students were invited last week to bring a clean, blank T-Shirt to school. Classes will be stencilling “Be Kind” messages on the shirts. These can then be worn on NDA and other kindness days throughout the year.

Bernadette Brennan
Assistant Principal Religious Education

CURRICULUM NEWS

ST JOSEPH’S TEACHING AND LEARNING FRAMEWORK

Throughout 2019, the staff assisted me to develop a teaching and learning framework for our school. It has since been endorsed by the Rockhampton Catholic Education Office and is currently being implemented across our school. Each week throughout this year I would like to share a section of this framework with the school community so that everyone is aware of what teaching and learning looks like at our school.

This week we will look at Part 1 of the Teaching and Learning Framework – The Vision and Mission.

School Vision Statement

To create a dynamic learning environment where each person is valued and we live the Gospel message, in and through a Christian community.

School Mission Statement

Inspired by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop and living our Gospel values of Self Worth, Mutual Acceptance and Personal Responsibility, we strive to enrich our Catholic community by providing a learning environment that is empowering to all.

The Key Messages of our Vision/Mission

• The actions and teachings of Jesus permeate every aspect of our school
• What we do as a Catholic community is nested in Gospel values
• The life and work of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop inspires our decisions
• Every person is valued
• Every person in the community is a learner
• Relationships are important
• Dynamic learning environments are essential and empowering to all

The implications of our School Vision/Mission

All members of St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue community strive to:

Encourage positive relationships between staff, parents, students and Parish

Provide a safe learning environment

Provide and support learning opportunities for all community members

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue staff strive to:

• Model the actions of Jesus
• Encourage positive relationships between staff, parents, students and Parish
• Focus on the Gospel values of Self Worth, Mutual Acceptance and Personal Responsibility
• Provide a safe learning environment
• Provide learning environments which cater for the needs of all learners

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue learners strive to:

• Contribute to a safe learning environment
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with fellow students, staff and parents
• Learn about Jesus and live guided by His actions

VOLUNTEERS

In 2021 volunteers are welcome back at school. There are many different ways you can volunteer here at Joeys. If you’d like to volunteer in the tuckshop, please either contact the office or catch up with our tuckshop convenor – Mrs Debbie Rooney. If you’d like to volunteer in your child’s classroom or perhaps another classroom, please approach the class teacher to see what activities are available to assist with.

Before beginning your volunteering, you need to complete a volunteer induction session with myself. These are offered on Monday mornings straight after assembly in the stage area and Friday afternoons at 2:30pm in the office. If these times don’t suit you, please contact me through the office or via email: deanne_senini/rok.catholic.edu.au to arrange another time. Even if you have completed an induction with me before, the induction must be done every year.

To keep everyone safe, please follow the following safety requirements:

• do not volunteer if you are unwell
• sanitise your hands using the supplied hand sanitisers in each classroom or the tuckshop before and after volunteering
• maintain social distancing from any other adults

I look forward to welcoming many volunteers to Joeys this year.

MEDICAL DETAILS

With the start of a new school year, please ensure your child/ren’s medical details are up to date. To check this information, log on to parent lounge and check the medical tab. Please update if necessary. If your child has a medical action plan, please make sure it is current. If it is due for renewal, please drop a copy of the updated plan to the office or upload it to the medical section for your child in parent lounge. It is essential for the school to have updated medical details on file. Your cooperation with this request is appreciated. If you have any questions regarding this process, please come and see me or email me at: deanne_senini@rok.catholic.edu.au.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

YR 6 EASTER RAFFLE

From the start of this week to the end of Week 8 Year Six will be selling raffle tickets for our Easter Raffle. The tickets will cost $1 each and will be sold at the back of the office every morning and afternoon. There are many prizes to be won such as chocolates, stuffed toys and lollies.

All the proceeds of the raffle will be going towards Year Six Camp Fundraising.

All prizes will be drawn and given out on Friday the 19th which also happens to be on St Joseph Feast Day.

Thank you for your support, it is always a great event!

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 4

Year 4 started 2021 in full swing embracing fun and challenging lessons.

This term in Maths we are focusing on Place Value and Patterns, including numbers up to 10,000 and Rounding to the nearest ten and hundreds.

With the implementation of our new Maths Program called Top 10 Maths Resources, students have opportunities to consolidate their learnings through hands-on activities, like building a ‘Tower of Terror’ using place value blocks, where the aim was to create the largest tower possible by using thousands, hundreds, tens and ones, then adding them.

In Science, students had a great time learning about the life cycles of plants, insects and other animals.

Students were given a seed to create a growing environment to witness the germination process and growth of a plant. Some were more successful than others, generating discussions about how environmental factors can impact plant life cycles. Now we are learning about Ecosystems and their importance for the survival of living things.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Tallon Kinlyside (Prep), Ryan Hallam, (Yr 4), Melody Cooke (Prep), Hudson Street (Prep) and Charlotte Lambert (Yr 4).

Have a great day.

BOOK CLUB

Book Club is up and running again!

All orders can be placed via the Parent Loop (please note that all Book Club orders are now cashless and processed online).

Happy reading!

P & F NEWS

We would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of our volunteers who have offered their services to St Joey's. Joey's Angels has been supporting our families who have been doing it tough by providing delicious home cooked meals for over 20 years! Hopefully, Breaky Club will be starting back soon, watch this space!

What a wonderful school community to be a part of!

Next P & F meeting: Wednesday 10th March 6.30pm in the Library

EMMAUS COLLEGE

Enrolment interviews for Year 7/2022 at Emmaus, will commence on Tuesday 9th March and therefore enrolment applications should be lodged before this date.

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