23 March 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE ACTING PRINCIPAL – DEANNE SENINI

It was lovely to be able to hold our first school mass last Friday to celebrate the Feast of St Joseph. Thanks to Elizabeth Carter for organising the special mass and to Fr Bill for presiding.

It was also great to have Breakfast Club restart as well as our Monday morning assemblies. Despite the easing of these COVID restrictions, we are still being challenged by the realities of COVID and feeling the effects of regular occurrences of positive cases in our school. As previously discussed, notifications of COVID positive staff and students will be general in nature.

Please be assured that we are continuing to ensure COVID safe practices at school. These include sanitising affected classrooms immediately upon hearing of a positive case in that room.

If your child or a member of your household tests positive for COVID, please inform the school as soon as possible.

Please remember that the last day of this term (Friday, 1st April) is a pupil free day. Staff will be attending the annual Bishop’s Inservice Day.

Bernard Fitzgerald will be taking leave for the rest of this term. If you have any concerns, please see either myself or Elizabeth Carter.

Regards
Deanne Senini
Acting Principal

St Joseph’s 2022 School Improvement Priorities:

• Prayer
• Family Partnerships
• Increased Learning Gain & Achievement

Positive COVID Case Notification

St Joseph’s Catholic School Park Avenue wishes to advise you that, during the past week, we have been notified of positive cases of COVID-19 in our school community.

St Joseph’s regularly consults with the Catholic Education Office and relevant authorities, and continues to follow the advice of Queensland Health regarding cleaning requirements.

Queensland Health has advised that no quarantine of students or staff is required.

As COVID-19 remains active in our community we ask you to continue to monitor your child’s/children’s health and if they develop any flu-like symptoms:

• Keep your child/children at home
• Seek a PCR or Rapid Antigen test where it is recommended and notify the school of positive results. Please be aware, a negative COVID test does not change the requirement to be symptom free to attend school.
• Follow the advice of Queensland Health

As we continue to navigate the pandemic, please remind your child/ren to:

• maintain good hand hygiene at all times
• cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or the inside of their elbow and dispose of tissues in the bin immediately.
• practice social distancing from others where possible
• wear masks when required

We will continue to work closely with health authorities to keep our school community informed of any developments and advice. Thank you once again for your ongoing support.

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

3rd Sunday of Lent

The Parable of the Fig Tree
Luke 13:6-9

Scriptural context – Parables

The parable of the unproductive fig tree at the end of today’s passage is not a straightforward story with a clear message. Indeed, this is a hallmark of the style of storytelling that we call ‘parable’. A parable is deliberately open to interpretation at different levels. In the first instance, today’s parable is a simple farming story. However, the original audience knew (as we know) that there had to be more to the story. Parables use metaphoric and symbolic language that invites the listener or reader to explore deeper and find a meaning that lies beyond the literal.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

A reminder for families who are part of the Northside Parish Sacramental Program for 2022 to access the program’s webpage. On it you will find all the important dates. Our first family workshop will be held Tuesday (Holy Family) and Wednesday (Our Lady Help of Christians). The Masses to remember Baptism are this weekend; Holy Family and OLHC Saturday night and Sunday morning at Holy Family. Please find time to celebrate at one of these with your family.

Liturgical Celebrations Coming Up

*SJPA – St Joseph’s Park Avenue
*OLHC – Our Lady Help of Christians church (next to St Joseph’s, Park Avenue)
*HF – Holy Family Parish Centre (next to Anthony’s School)
*MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

PARISH BULLETIN

Elizabeth Carter
Assistant Principal Religious Education

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 1 FEE ACCOUNTS NOW 3 WEEKS OVERDUE

Fee Accounts for Term 1 were due Tuesday 2nd March and are now Three Weeks Overdue

Term 1, 2022 Fee Statements were emailed and posted to Parent Lounge on Wednesday 16th February. These were due for payment on 2nd March 2022 and are now three weeks overdue.

Please ensure that you have increased your payments if you now have extra siblings in the school to ensure that your fees don’t get behind.

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).

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 5

Prayer Experiences in Year 5

This term we have been exploring many different forms and ways of praying, both as a group and individually. We have learnt how to write our own prayers following a structured model and said prayers out loud, but we have also participated in a range of creative prayers such as

• Paper square prayers - where while we hold a piece of paper we pray and talk to Jesus and then rip out a symbol to match our prayer and thoughts.
• While listening to quiet music we have contemplated what we are thankful for and are grateful for in our lives and drawn images to match.
• Prayer labyrinth where we have followed a set thought prayer focus has we have used our finger to wander through to the centre and back of a labyrinth
• Created paper chain prayers - to hang in the classroom.
• Created a thankful/grateful jar of our own personal prayers.

Some of our students reflected on their favourite prayers.

Harper - I liked when we did the labyrinth because we had to follow the maze and it made me feel calm.

Samson - I enjoy making cards to say what we are grateful for and putting them into the prayer jar.

Olivia - I liked when we ripped a paper square into a shape and it made me feel grateful for my friends and teachers.

Delany - I enjoyed ripping a piece of paper into a shape because it helped me feel calm.

Emma - I enjoyed being able to draw my prayer and having peace and quiet.

Ethan - I enjoyed ripping up pieces of paper because we made whatever shape we wanted. I made a circle to represent the sun because it gives us light.

Maycie - I enjoyed the labyrinth because it was tricky and when you get it it makes you feel good.

Tyler - I enjoyed drawing what we were thankful for because I enjoy drawing my thoughts.

Slater - I liked the labyrinth because it is like a maze and I like mazes. It made me feel excited because when I first heard about it I thought we were drawing in it and then I got to draw in it one time to learn how to do it. It made me feel peaceful.

Finn - I liked the paper ripping because ripping paper made me feel calm.

Charlee - I enjoyed the paper ripping because it was quiet and peaceful. I made a heart and a cross.

Matilda - I really liked the thankful prayers because you could write down anything you were thankful for and anytime of day you could do it and put it in the big jar.

Gustavo - I really liked the drawing prayers because I can really express myself for drawings easier than writing.

Liam - I liked drawing my prayers because it is easier than writing and I can explain more what I am feeling in a drawing than in writing.

Izaiah - I enjoyed the labyrinth because it was peaceful trying to get into the middle but it was a bit hard trying to get out.

YR 6 EASTER RAFFLE

This term the Year Six major fundraiser is an Easter multi-draw raffle that will be drawn on Monday 28th March 2022. Tickets are $1 each and will be sold in Weeks 7, 8 & 9. Students will be selling tickets from just inside the gate each morning so please send your child/ren money to purchase tickets.

If you think you might be able to sell a book of 20 or 50 tickets within your workplace or at your sporting club etc please reach out to the year six teachers and we can arrange to get a book of tickets to you for selling. The contact email addresses are;

hannah_hamilton@rok.catholic.edu.au
alana_jones@rok.catholic.edu.au

Thank you for your support, it is always a great fundraiser for our year six students.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Olivia Green (Yr 3), Elle Honeyball (Yr 6), Ryder Millar (Yr 5), Ayla Scott (Prep), Isabella Hill (Prep), Charlotte Hopkins (Yr 4) and Skyla McLean (Yr 3).

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