5 May 2021

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

A reminder that our school photo day is scheduled for next Monday the 10th of May. Please ensure uniform is correct, neat, and tidy and that haircuts are in line with the school’s uniform policy. As in the past, there will be no Monday whole school assembly and morning play will be limited due to this event.

Our normal Monday whole school assembly procedures will commence again in Week 5 on Monday the 17th of May.

Well done to our Year 5 & 6 Maths Challenge teams. Our teams travelled to Glenmore State School to compete against other Rockhampton schools in what I am told was an enjoyable day for our students. One of our Year 5 teams was able to claim a second place in their age division which was a wonderful result. We will be endeavouring to take part in this competition each year as a way for our budding mathematicians to be able to show off their academic skills.

I must also thank Emmaus College who provided their bus for transportation for our teams. This is greatly appreciated and is just another demonstration of the working partnership we have with our neighbouring College down the road.

As our children are becoming more and more exposed to online content, I thought I would take the time to promote a free live webinar for parents on – ‘eSafety’s Guide to Parental Controls.’ The webinar will explore how parents and carers can set up devices and apps to help keep young people safer online. The webinar is targeted to parents and carers of 5 – 13-year-olds.

To register, visit

The remaining sessions are:

• Thursday 6 May 7:30 – 8:30pm
• Tuesday 8 June 12:30 – 1:30pm
• Wednesday 16 June 7:30 – 8:30pm

This week we wish Tracey Brosnan well as she takes some well-earned Long Service Leave.

After a very disruptive 2020, we are trying to re-establish Breakfast Club on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. If you can volunteer any of your time to help at Breakfast Club between 8:05 - 8:40am, Tuesday to Thursday, it would be greatly appreciated. If you are able, please contact Kate Nembach through the Joeys Families and Friends FB group.

Finally, I hope all Mothers and Grandmothers in our Joey’s community have a great Mother’s Day this Sunday. I hope you have a great time with your family this weekend.

Have a great week.

Don’t Forget …

• Mother’s Day. Sunday 9th May
• School Photo Day. Monday the 10th of May
• NAPLAN Dates 11th – 14th May
• P&F Meeting. Wednesday 12th May @ 6:30pm in the Library
• NRL Development Cup Gala Day. Friday, 14th May
• Mike Kelso, AD Schools Rockhampton Term 2 Visit. Tuesday 18th May
• Rockhampton Principal’s Cluster Meeting hosted at St Joseph’s. Wed 19th May.
• School Board. Wednesday 19th May @ 5:30pm in the Library
• Laudato Si’ Expo. Thursday 27th May
• Athletics Field Events. Monday 31st May @ St Joseph’s
• Athletics Track Events. Tuesday 1st June @ Emmaus Oval

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

St Joseph’s 2021 School Improvement Priorities:

• Parent Engagement
• Writing
• Social Emotional Learning

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Jesus the vine, the Father, the vinegrower.

John 15:1-8

Living the Gospel – Bearing fruit

The vinedresser of this passage cuts away the dead branches and prunes back those that are not bearing fruit. In what way do we bear fruit? When we strive to reach our fullest potential in whatever we do, we bear fruit. When we act out of motivation for the other person rather than ourselves, we bear fruit. When we strive to bring about the reign of God in our small part of the world, we bear fruit. Sometimes we too need to have some of our thoughts and actions pruned so that we might better bear the fruit that we are truly capable of producing.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

5th Sunday

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

MATHS TEAMS CHALLENGE

Last Wednesday morning we had students in Years 5 and 6 compete in the Queensland Association of Mathematics Teachers Rockhampton Branch Maths Teams Challenge. St Joseph’s entered two Year 5 teams and two Year 6 teams. Congratulations to all of the students who participated on the day. Our teams conducted themselves with integrity and showed a great deal of teamwork, determination and persistence. A special congratulations to the Year 5 team (Connor Johnson, Slater Malone, Max Harris, William Farr and Bronson Wall) who came second place in the Year 5 competition. Thank you to the team coaches, Mrs Louise Chapman and Miss Anna Young who prepared the teams for the competition and helped supervise on the day. Thanks also to Mrs Rachael Duncan for helping to supervise during the competition.

ICAS

St Joseph’s will be offering ICAS assessments again this year. These assessments are online assessments designed to recognise and reward academic excellence. The assessments are based on the curricula for the relevant year. Students are asked to demonstrate a deeper, integrated, and thorough level of knowledge. New ICAS assessments are developed annually for each subject in every year level. This is to ensure an engaging and beneficial experience for all students.

ICAS offers the following assessments:

Please note that your child may miss out on their PE or Arts lesson if the ICAS assessment is scheduled for that time. If your child is absent for the scheduled assessment, there is no opportunity for a catch up assessment and you would need to speak to ICAS directly to try to organise a refund.

To purchase an ICAS assessment for your child please log on to our ICAS parent page at the following link and using the following access code:

Your school access code is: XWG624

ORDERS MUST BE PLACED BY SUNDAY, 25TH JULY.

If you have any questions or concerns about ICAS, please let me know.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN will be occurring this year for our Year 3 and 5 students.

Please see below for our school’s official NAPLAN testing schedule:

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s participation in NAPLAN, please contact me through the office or via email: Deanne_senini@rok.catholic.edu.au.

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.

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 in this newsletter 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 Data for Learning.

At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Park Avenue we believe that data is an essential tool to inform teaching and learning.

Data:

• Is important in guiding individual and group learning
• Is useful when collected and analysed regularly
• Provides a clear picture of school strengths and areas for improvement, therefore informing school based decisions regarding curriculum priorities
• Informs teacher reflection on practices and impact

Teachers collect a range of data within classrooms every day to support and inform their teaching and learning decisions.

Whole school electronic data walls are updated at the completion of each data collection period and are used to discuss and monitor student growth and identify whole school strengths and areas for improvement.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

What’s Up in Year 1

Lately there has been so much enthusiasm and excitement in our room.

For Anzac Day we made some poppies and turned it into a wreath. Check out the photos of our investigation table and our kids that marched in the Rockhampton Anzac Day march. They were so respectful and proud to represent our school.

For Mother’s Day, we are celebrating with a ‘Pamper Party’ for the special women in our lives and are presenting a prayer assembly on Friday too. It’s going to be lots of fun!

We are also busy collecting tin cans for our Laudato Si week stall. If you have any at home, please send them in as we’d be very grateful.

As part of our English learning this term we are retelling and innovating on traditional tales. We’re really enjoying our Jack and the Beanstalk investigation area.

From the Year 1 team.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week and over the holidays. They are: Monica Bartsch (Yr 4), Addison Millar (Yr 1), Colte Nolan (Yr 6), Bella Austin (Yr 3), Ailey-Ahna Black (Prep), Gabriella Halil (Yr 5), Star Loader (Yr 6), Emma Clarke (Yr 4) and Mrs Paap.

Have a great day.

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