11 August 2021

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome to Week 5.

After an extensive search, I am pleased to inform you that Mrs Louise Bidenko has accepted the role as Year 4 teacher. Louise does however have prior employment commitments that only allow her to take on the role from Tuesday to Friday each week. To accommodate this, experienced teacher, Mrs Tarina Hancock will be taking on the Mondays in Year 4 in a Flexible Working Arrangement with Louise.

Louise and Tarina are excited to deliver educational opportunities for the Year 4 students as well as providing support and partnership for Mrs Carter, Mr Tennyson and the families of our Year 4 cohort. Louise and Tarina have commenced their roles this week. I am sure that you will join me in making both these new staff members feel welcome to our Joey’s community.

Congratulations to Ella, Juliet, Emilee, Madeleine, Paige, Amarli, Max and their families as these students celebrated the Sacrament of First Holy Communion at Our Lady Help of Christians last Saturday evening. Due to the large group that have taken part in the Sacramental program and COVID last year, this is the fourth week in a row that a group of students have taken part in the Sacrament of Eucharist.

For some families, this has been a huge two-year journey.

This Friday we will be hosting the normal 9:00am Parish mass in the Multi-Purpose Area. The mass will be held to celebrate Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop’s Feast Day mass. Everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate with us but please be aware that the mass will be held under current COVID protocols with 1.5 metre social distancing.

Have a great week.

Don’t Forget …

• P&F Meeting. Wednesday 11th August @ 6:00pm in Library
• Mary MacKillop Feast Day Mass. Friday 13th Aug @ 9:00am in MPA
• National Science Week. 15th – 21st August
• School Board Meeting. Wednesday 18th Aug @ 5:30pm in Library
• Prep 2022 offers emailed out 20th August.
• Season B Sport Grand Final Day. Friday 27th August.
• Father’s Day. Sunday 5th September.
• Prep 2022 Orientation Day. Thursday 21st October in Term 4.

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

St Joseph’s 2021 School Improvement Priorities:

• Writing
• Parent Engagement
• Social Emotional Learning

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

St Mary of the Cross Feast

Jesus tells us not to worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Historical Context – Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop is not only the first Australian to be recognised by the Church as a Saint, she is truly a very Australian saint. She characterises the spirit of the Australian mythology. She was an astonishing hard worker who put the needs of others before herself. She exhibited something of the larrikin spirit: constantly in dispute with authority but pressing on, regardless. She used the strengths of others but also didn’t tolerate those who were not genuine. Her commitment to the schooling of children from poor and rural communities established a model of Catholic education that continues today. A Saint for and of Australia!

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

Liturgical Celebrations Coming Up

*OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church – next to school

*MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

Peer Support

In Peer Support children will revise what they have learned about resilience and discuss the people who show them support. Through a story the children identify where the character has used her personal qualities, strengths and skills to help her overcome challenges. They identify times when she needed support to continue. The children discuss a range of challenges and determine the best person to approach for support. The children consolidate the protective factors for resilience by revising their own strengths and skills and identifying 5 people they can go to for support.

Remind your child of their qualities and skills and encourage them to ask for help in challenging situations.

Bernadette Brennan
Assistant Principal Religious Education

CURRICULUM NEWS

SCIENCE WEEK

Next week we will be celebrating Science Week. There will be two main activities occurring during Science Week plus other exciting Science lessons which class teachers might organise.

On Tuesday, 17th August we will be holding a Science expo for the students. This event is a small event which will be held during school time so is really only aimed at students, not parents. A number of our students have volunteered to run a display on that morning. The expo will run from 9am – 11am in the multi-purpose area. Classes will be allocated a time to come and interact with the displays. If your child is wanting to run an activity or display it is not too late to fill in the form attached to the newsletter.

The school community has been invited to participate in an astronomy night on Thursday, 19th August. This will be run by the Emmaus College astronomy club. The night will be held in the Emmaus College Main Street car park from 6pm – 7:30pm. Students will have the opportunity to look through telescopes and view the moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. If your child is interested in astronomy, please consider taking them along and supporting this event.

I’d like to thank Emmaus College for volunteering to be part of our Science Week activities. As well as the Astronomy night, a group of Emmaus College students will be attending our science expo to run a number of activities for our students. We value our close relationship with Emmaus and thank them for their willingness to be part of our school community.

BOOK WEEK

Our annual book week celebrations will be held in Week 7. We will have two events happening during that week.

On Tuesday, 24th August we will have our Joey’s in Jamas night where everyone is invited to come to the library with their parents in their pyjamas and enjoy some board games, lego building and reading of books together. The library will be open from 5:30pm – 7:30pm for this event. All Joey’s families are welcome. It will also be a great way to see our new library.

On Thursday, 26th August we will hold our annual book week dress up day. We will have a parade of all the costumes at 10:30 that morning in the MPA. The theme for the 2021 Book Week is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’.

ICAS

The ICAS competitions start this week and run over the next few weeks. Best wishes for all students who have entered any of these competitions. Please note that the ICAS writing competition has been postponed until next term. I look forward to celebrating their achievements with them when we receive their results.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 5

Last week some of our Year 5 students participated in Round 1 of the 2021 QMAT Year 5/6 Maths Quiz, with our highest scoring team progressing to the next round the Regional Finals at the beginning of September. Each team of 3 was made of Year 5 and 6 students with at least one person from Year 5. The questions were quite challenging at times and tested our thinking in Estimation, Speed, Written Problems, Individual questions and General Maths knowledge. It was great to see all students involved work together and have a go even when faced with a tricky question.

Max Harris – I found the math quiz amazing; it was great fun and you learn a lot and make new friends. You get to work in a team and fight for 1st.

Saba – I liked the part where I got to work with my team because they were really nice and helped a lot.

Bronson – I felt amazed just to get that far in math and to have all these people to help me and encourage me as well. It’s just been a great experience not just to do something I like but to also make new friends.

Connor – I found it tricky and challenging but we still gave it our best shot.

Brittney – The math quiz was very fun. We got to work together as teams and some people were better than others. We did practices so that we didn’t have a lot of pressure when the real quiz was on and it was good that we didn’t have to be around other schools, we could do it in our own classroom.

Slater – The math quiz was both fun and competitive at the same time. All the other competitors did great. We did 2 practices, and they were fun too and the teamwork in our teams were amazing. Although some people did better than others and got more questions correct.

Lucas – The math quiz was tricky in some bits, but I learned some new things and there were things that I didn’t have a clue about like the calendar one or the pyramid one.

Lani – The maths challenge especially needs the skill of teamwork, and I think a lot of teams showed that skill throughout the challenge.

Gabriel – When I was in the maths challenge, I felt comfortable because I was in my element doing what I loved which is math.

Mia Bolck – I found the pyramid question difficult because I didn’t know of anything that took 20 years to build.

FINANCE NEWS

Fee Accounts for Term 3 are now Overdue

Term 3, 2021 Fee Statements were emailed and posted to Parent Lounge on Thursday 15th July. These are now overdue for payment.

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).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday last week and this week. They are: Hudson Stewart (Prep), Jack Williams (Prep), Thomas Harth (Yr 3) and Rori Kipling (Yr 6).

Have a great day.

DRAKES SUPA IGA

Drakes Fundraiser for St. Joseph's Cathedral

I thank you for your support of this project which has raised over $40,000, of which the school community has played an important role. Please continue to support the Cathedral by shopping at DRAKES using your key tag and receiving the benefits.

If you have not been part of this fundraiser you are invited to get a key tag from your local School or Church and shop at your local Drakes, one cent in every dollar you spend will go to the Cathedral. No Fuss, only benefits.

Hoping to see you at Drakes

Stay Safe

Shirley Hopkins,
Co-ordinator, Drakes Fundraiser for St Joseph's Cathedral