27 April 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

Welcome to Week 2.

It was wonderful to see our little school represented so well at both the Dawn Service and the ANZAC March on Monday. It is always great to see so many people prepared to honour those who made the supreme sacrifice to provide us with the freedoms we enjoy today.

Congratulations to Year 3 teacher Ms Leah Ward who got married over the Easter holiday break. Leah is now Mrs Leah Muhling or affectionally known as Mrs M to the students.

As of Monday, we have reverted to the normal 3:00pm pick-up time for our Joey's students in the afternoon. All students from Prep to Year 6 will be released at the regular 3:00pm bell. Please re-enforce with your children that they should sit with their siblings and be on the lookout for their car. It would also be extremely helpful if all families make sure that pick-up vehicles are displaying the laminated surnames on the passenger side visors for easy identification.

With redirected traffic from Glenmore Road still in place since the beginning of the school year, please be aware that the carpark is quite congested for 10-15 minutes. Please keep this in mind and continue to be kind and understanding during this time.

Your help and understanding in this matter is much appreciated.

Our National School Improvement Tool visitors have arrived and will be getting to know our school community over the next few days. On Friday afternoon the team will be presenting their findings that will consist of commendations and recommendations over 9 different school domains to the staff.

The visitors conducting the NSIT review will be:

• Mr Mike Kelso – Assistant Director: Schools – Rockhampton Region.
• Mr David Paul – Principal: St Brendan’s Catholic Primary School Mackay.
• Mr Ron Bamford – ACER Lead Reviewer.

Once the final report is completed, I will then begin to share this information that will help shape our future directions with the school community.

We have had a number of small staffing changes over the Easter holiday break.

• Mrs Daena Walton is an expert in the field of Digital Technologies and will lead STEM lessons 2 days a week in addition to her 3 days in Year 4.
• Mrs Lesha McLeod has accepted the extra 2 days in Year 4 replacing Daena in addition to her normal PE days.
• Mrs Kylie Farr who has been with us on a nearly full-time capacity since the beginning of the school year, has officially become a full-time staff member. Kylie will be internal relief and due to her vast experience and wonderful skills, you may see Kylie in the office, or in any of our classrooms as an Educational Support Officer.
• Mrs Kira Tickner, who is our specialist Arts teacher, has taken on some additional days in the classroom as an Inclusive Curriculum teacher.
• Ms Brooke Black will still be in her role as an Inclusive Curriculum team member but will expand her role in Student Protective practices to include Staff and Student Well-Being.
• Mr Paul Nicholson who has had vast experience in our Joey’s rooms has picked up an extra day as an Inclusive Curriculum teacher in Year 3.

All these staffing moves are exciting as they all help us to improve the academic opportunities for our Joey’s students.

Don’t Forget….

• Parent/Teacher interviews 26 – 28 April.
• Primary Maths Challenge. 27th April.
• NSIT School Review. 27 – 29 April
• Peer Support commences this week
• Labour Day Holiday (Pupil Free Day). Mon 2nd May
• Whole School Assembly. Tues 3rd May
• Small Town Culture visit. 3 – 5 May
• CAPRAS Challenge 11-12 years Rugby League Gala Day. Fri, 6th May
• Mother’s Day. Sun 8th May

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

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

2nd Sunday of Easter

Doubting Thomas

John 20:19-31

Historical Context – My Lord and my God

By the time the Gospel of John was written – in the last decade of the 1st Century – there were already diverse beliefs about Jesus. As is recorded in the gospels, there were those who regarded Jesus as one of the prophets of Israel; others recognised him as the promised Messiah; others still had come to believe in Jesus the Christ as the incarnation of God. That is certainly the theology expressed in the Gospel of John. Perhaps as a means to further his community’s theology and correct other ideas, the gospel writer has Thomas declare, ‘My Lord and my God!

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

Last week our families who are part of our Sacramental program on the northside, undertook their second family workshop. They have explored the idea of making mistakes and asking for help and forgiveness. It is great to see these young people being supported by their families in preparation for the sacraments.

The next stage of this journey is for the children to make their first Reconciliation. This will be offered to families after 9am Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Church. The dates will be May 6th and May 13th. Please keep an eye out for a Google Form that will ask you to indicate which date is most suitable for your family.

A reminder that our Prayer Assemblies are now held in the Church. We are excited to be able to use this sacred space again and welcome all our community to join us. They will continue to be celebrated at 10:30 each Friday. We begin these again in Week Three with a special Mother’s Day Liturgy led by Year One.

A list of the Prayer Assemblies and other celebrations planned for the coming weeks is outlined below.

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 NEWSLETTER

Elizabeth Carter
Assistant Principal Religious Education

CURRICULUM NEWS

Parent Teacher Interviews

This week and next week are our Semester One Parent Teacher Interviews. If you haven’t booked a time to meet with your child’s teachers, please contact them to do so. This is a wonderful opportunity to discuss your child’s progress. Thank you for the teachers who are giving up many hours of their personal time to make this opportunity available. With this in mind, if you suddenly can’t make your appointment, please let the teachers know so that they are not waiting around for you.

NSIT Visit

This week we welcome Mr Mike Kelso, Mr David Paul and Mr Ron Bamford to our school to conduct a review of our teaching and learning practices. We look forward to hearing their insights into what we currently do well and areas we can improve upon.

Under 8s Day

Our annual Under 8s Day will be celebrated on Thursday, 23rd June. If you know of anyone who might be interested in setting up a display with some activities on that day, please let me know. More information about the day will come out closer to the date.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

CLASSROOM NEWS

The week that was in Year 4……

Amelia

This week has been a very busy week but here’s what we’re learning in HASS. We are learning what caused the First Fleet to come to Australia or as Britain called our land, New Holland. The things that motivated them are Captain Cook, The American War of Independence and Industrial Revolution. THAT IS WHAT WE ARE LEARNING IN YEAR 4 TERM 2. Teacher teaching us: Mrs Chapman

Zara

This week we have been learning about parables in Religion, Mrs Chapman has taught us all about parables. What are parables you might wonder, well parables are stories that Jesus has said and Mark, Luke and Mathew. You also might wonder why did Jesus teach us in parables, well Jesus has taught us because he wanted to tell and teach us about him, what he did and his mission. Parables announce that the Kingdom of God was arriving on earth as in heaven. That is what we have been learning about in religion YR 4 Term 2, I can’t wait to learn more.

Pippa

This week in History, we have been learning about the First Fleet and the three main reasons why the First Fleet came over to Australia. The first reason was because of Captain James Cook, the second reason was because of The War of Independence and the third reason was because of the Industrial Revolution. In year 4 we are also responsible for the recycling and for organising the rubbish into the right bins. That is what we are doing in year 4.

Audrey

This week in Science, we’ve been learning about what we could dress animals in. Also, what materials we could use to make the right type of clothes for an animal. For example, we did a pig and we used lycra for the pig’s clothes because lycra is breathable and it can hold moisture. Because pigs are warm blooded animals you have to make sure that it is cool.

Emilee

This week, in extension writing, our extension group has been learning how to write narratives. We have watched a video to help us come up with ideas for our stories. We have also been learning how to plan out a story. We have all taken a piece out of the video, to write our own narratives. Mrs Hancock, our extension teacher, has also helped us with how we can improve our writing. We are starting to write a story to either put in the newsletter or in our school library. We are having an amazing time in extension writing, and we cannot wait to write more.

Kelsey

This week we have been loaded with work which is so good and amazing. So, in HASS we have been learning about the First Fleet. We have also learnt about the 3 main reasons and the 3 main reasons are, Captain James Cook, the American War of Independence and Industrial Revolution. I can’t wait to learn more!

Ella C

This week, in extension writing, we are learning to write a good narrative. Our extension group has watched a few videos about how to plan and write an amazing introduction. The story that we are writing about, is based on a video called Scarlet. Soon we’ll watch more videos about how to write the rest of our story. Mrs Hancock is helping us to write a story for the library or the newsletter. Extension Writing is in the middle session on Tuesday and Wednesday. Writing is really fun and amazing and I can’t wait to learn even more fabulous things in this subject.

Juliet

This week in Year 4 Term 2 we’ve been learning about “The First Fleet”, and what are the three reasons. The first reason was because of…

Captain James Cook:

Captain James Cook went to look for another place to put all the convicts, then he found Australia then he went back to Great Britain and he said there’s no one there the place is “totally free”

American War of Independence:

Great Britain kept sending their convicts to North America and they didn’t like it so they went to war America won and Great Britain couldn’t send anymore convicts.

Industrial Revolution:

Kids and parents were getting jobs but at the same time James Watt made a steam engine and they lost their jobs and went to jail if they committed a crime. But the jails were getting too full and they had to send them somewhere else, so they found Australia and sent them there.

Charlotte

This week we have been learning about parables. Parables is what Jesus used to teach people, he spoke through stories, he was a master teacher. Some questions I wondered were, how did Jesus teach others? Why did he use parables? The answer is some of us prefer to learn through stories. People wondered how he could be the son of God if he was poor. Mark wrote first in the Gospel, Luke and Matthew copied him, but John wrote his side of things. These parables explained who Jesus was and what he was up to.

Lucia

Wow this week has been really busy here is what we have been learning in English. Well, we have been told to write a remix of the three little pigs, and I have swapped the little pigs for tigers and a giant chicken for a wolf. Everybody likes the idea. We also had to create little pictures and I also tried to put in little emoji’s. I LOVE the idea.

Madilynn

I have been working on The Three Little Pigs in English. We are changing the characters and writing our own story. In my story the characters are Bella (eagle), River (wolf), Blake (crocodile) and Ella (gecko).

Wow, can you believe that we have learnt all this, plus more, during week 1 (lucky we have a long weekend to rest).

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 2 FEE ACCOUNTS

School Fees for Term 2 will be emailed out & posted to Parent Lounge this week.

Please ensure that you check your email or log into Parent Lounge to check your School Fees on a regular basis. If you now have another child at the school you may need to increase what you are currently paying so as to not get behind with Fees.

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 and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week and over the holidays. They are: Amelia Jones (Yr 1), Laythen Schneider (Yr 2), Paige Brydon (Yr 3), Natalia Gray (Yr 1), Sophie Green (Yr 1), Lucia Jarrett (Yr 4), Olivia Kaufman (Yr 2), Evelyn Boswood (Yr 4), Rosalie Castles (Prep), Lucas Hodgson (Yr 1), Jacob McLean (Yr 6), Cruz Nolan (Yr 5), Kaidyn Stuart (Yr 6), Mrs Chapman (Yr 4) and Mrs S (Yr 1).

Have a great day.

WONDER RECYCLING REWARDS

Calling all students, parents, grandparents, neighbours, and friends!! St Joey’s will be participating in the Wonder Recycling Rewards program! By collecting your BREAD BAGS for school, we can earn points for new sporting equipment.

What kind of bread bags are we collecting?

The rule of thumb is that if it has contained bread of some sort and

is a soft plastic, then it's a bread bag that we can collect (all brands). lf it hasn't contained bread, then it's not a bread bag we can use.

How clean do the bags have to be?

Bread bags should be free from crumbs to ensure no contamination during the recycling process but they do not need to be washed.

Are we collecting bread TAGS too?

No, at this stage we are not collecting bread tags, but you can still recycle them!

When do we start collecting?

NOW!! We can start collecting our bread bags while we wait for our official collection boxes to arrive.

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