10 March 2021

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINICPAL

Week 7 is upon us and we are well beyond the halfway mark of the Term. With this in mind, I spoke at last week’s whole school assembly and challenged the student body to recommit to their efforts in being the best learners that they can be. As the dust has settled on our new school and we have gotten used to our new surroundings, it is now most certainly the time to ‘knuckle down’ and be performing to the best of our abilities and aiming for Semester 1 Academic Awards. I am sure that you, as parents, would also be promoting this as a priority with your children.

Stage 3 elements of the final phase of our Capital Works plan are beginning to take shape with landscaping beginning in the coming weeks. Catholic Identity elements will be installed as well as a new electronic notice board on Main Street. The turf is coming along well and when it is ready, the staff will formulate a new duty plan that includes the new oval spaces and the library, albeit with limited numbers, as options for lunch play. The Leadership Team have also engaged Adventure+, who supplied the Lower Adventure Playground, to design and install an Upper Playground for Years 3-6 by midyear. This playground will be a ‘ninja course’ and will run parallel to the path into the school from Haynes Street.

Mr Senini met with a number of student representatives from Years 3-6 a few weeks ago who voted on the elements they would like present in the new playground. When the design comes through, I will put it in the newsletter for all to view. Thanks also to the school P&F Association who have committed some funds to put shade above the playground and continue to be a SunSmart school.

Well done to our Semester 2, 2020 Gold Academic Award winners who finally got presented their Joeys bags on Monday’s assembly. The kids were pretty chuffed with their new school ports and again, my apologies for the delay.

Catholic Education’s St Patrick’s Race Day will be held at Callaghan Park on Saturday, March 13th. Raffle tickets for this event will just be sold at the event as they did last year.

Again, I would like to show my appreciation to the Roser family who donated a $100 Va Voom voucher as a spot prize for the day on behalf of St Joseph’s. Thank you, this gesture is much appreciated.

As we are not sending out Raffle tickets to the community, we will be holding a Free Dress Day next week on Wednesday 17th March. We would like to encourage students to wear something green in the spirit of St Patrick whose Feast Day is the 17th of March. We would ask all students to bring in a gold coin donation with all proceeds from this event contributing towards CARITAS. We will also be hosting the first ‘Meal Deal’ for the year. This ‘Meal Deal’ will contribute towards Joey’s community families that are currently in need.

On Saturday it was lovely to see 13 children baptised at Our Lady Help of Christians 6:30pm mass. Congratulations to Olivia, Pippa and Zara all celebrating their baptism. It was a beautiful celebration.

School Fee reminders were recently sent out and are now overdue. Can I please ask that this is dealt with as a matter of priority and have this sorted before the end of Term. If this will not be the case and you are experiencing some form of difficulty with fee payment, contact should be made with myself through the school office as soon as possible.

Don’t Forget …

• P&F Meeting. Wed 10th March @ 6:30pm in Library
• St Patrick’s Race Day. Sat 13th March.
• Corwin Leadership Professional Development Day. Mon 15th March
• P&F Meal Deal to support school families. Wed 17th March
• Free Dress Day (St Pat’s Theme) Wed 17th March – Gold Coin Donation
• School Board Meeting. Wed 17th March @ 5:30pm in Library
• Leesa Jeffcoat school visit. Thurs 18th March
• St Joseph’s Feast Day Mass. Fri 19th Mar @ 9:00am in School MPA
• Principal Diocesan Gathering 24 – 25th March
• Year 6 Camp. Chaverim Bundaberg. 29th March – 1st April

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

Third Week of Lent

We are now in the third week of Lent with the Project Compassion story of Oliva, a 22-year-old woman from Tanzania. She did not have the opportunity to go to school and was embarrassed that she was unable to read, write or count. As an adult, her business was losing money because she couldn’t add up her money and give the right change to customers.

Then Oliva enrolled in Caritas Australia’s literacy and numeracy classes. She also set up a home classroom to teach her neighbours, for free, because they were too shy to attend larger classes.

Oliva has now graduated, attendance at her classes is growing, her kiosk is thriving, and she is helping her children with their homework. She aims to become a pastor and run for leadership in the next local election - to help her community to ‘Be More.’

Watch a short film about Oliva’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.

Liturgical Celebrations Coming Up

• OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church – next to school
• MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

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 begin looking at Part 2 of the Teaching and Learning Framework – The School Curriculum Guide. This section is broken up into 5 sub sections: Curriculum Vision, Learning Culture, Curriculum Organisation, Data for Learning and Teacher Expertise. This week’s focus is on the Curriculum Vision.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School’s Curriculum Guide is designed to guide and inform staff of the whole school curriculum processes and procedures used to inform teaching and learning practices in our school community.

Curriculum Vision

At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue, we strive to create a safe, positive and dynamic learning environment where each person in our community is valued and empowered.

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue strives to instil the Gospel values of Self Worth, Mutual Acceptance and Personal Responsibility in all that we do.

We believe that students need to be both challenged and supported. We deliver the Australian curriculum in a way which is responsive, relevant and purposeful for our learners.

At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue, we provide a relevant education which encourages:

Learner centeredness:

• Integrating our Catholic faith with contemporary culture
• Delivering authentic, meaningful and connected learning opportunities
• Exploring local, regional and global knowledge and issues of importance for our learners

Care and transformation:

• Developing the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, imaginative, and creative capacities of our learners
• Partnering with parents, families and the community to bring forth the potential of the learners in our care

A community of thinking and learning:

• Responding to individual and group learning needs through the use of high-impact teaching strategies and digital tools
• Setting high expectations for each learner and actively engaging learners in the learning process
• Preparing learners for a life beyond the classroom, filled with purpose and hope

ART COMPETITION

Students are invited to enter the 2021 Independent Education Union’s Awards for Excellence in Art Design competition. All students from Prep – Year 6 are eligible to enter.

Design Task:

• Your task is to produce a piece of artwork that best reflects the theme: Our World.
• You may include a statement or caption to reinforce your visual image.
• You may use a variety of media (paint, crayon, pencil, ink etc). It must also be suitable for exhibition purposes.

Entries close: Friday, 23rd July. Cash prizes of $100 - $350.

Please note: All entries must be posted to the appropriate address in time for it to be received by Friday, 23rd July. Parents are responsible for posting their child’s entry.

Please see Mrs Senini for an official entry form if you are interested in entering this competition.

LITERARY COMPETITION

Students in Years 5 and 6 are invited to enter the 2021 Independent Education Union’s Literary Competition. Submit your poetry, short story or non-fiction prose. If you are interested in entering this competition, please see Mrs Senini for an official entry form.

Entries close: Friday, 18th June.

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

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 1 FEE ACCOUNTS NOW OVERDUE

School Fees for Term 1 were due for payment on Tuesday 16/2/21. These are now overdue for payment.

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.

If you currently have a direct debit set up with us, you do not need to do anything further.

If you have a means tested Concession Card and have not yet given a copy to the Finance Secretary, please do so as soon as possible.

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).

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 3

Year 3 has hit the ground running this year with the new classroom.

We have used our “green theme” to create a calm learning environment, so students are able to settle into flexible learning. We are glad to report that the students have adapted well to the new classroom and it’s set up.

We thought a video would be the best way to capture the essence of how our classroom runs and what our students like best about it.

Enjoy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Kaeleb Harris (Yr 5), Marlowe Harris (Prep), Alexis Lyons (Yr 1), Kasey Sherriff-Hearn (Prep), Koby Goody (Yr 3), Zara Wogand (Yr 2), Lachlan Bragg (Yr 2), Tyson Arnold (Yr 2), Heidi Nembach (Yr 5) and Miss Sloan (Prep).

Have a great day.

P & F NEWS

Wonderful news!!! Breaky Club started back this week! We would like to say a big thank you to all of our volunteers for making this possible.

Don't forget, the next meeting is tonight,10th March, at 6.30pm in the Library. We hope to see you all there.

POSITION VACANT

The Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton (Bishop’s Office) is seeking an Administration Officer – Clergy Visa.

This casual support role will be up to 10 hours per week and will support the work of the Bishop and Chancellor with the process of renewals and applications for international clergy Visas.

Experience needed - proven relations working with government agencies including Immigration Department and Catholic agencies, attention to detail, efficiency with processing of information and forms, confidentiality and strong verbal and written communication skills.

Please contact Kristy Gear, Human Resource Manager on 4887 3090 or email your resume and cover letter to hr@rok.catholic.net.au. Applications close Friday 19 March 2021.

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