15 June 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

I thought I would begin this week with acknowledging the special celebrations taking place for both our Parish and Our Lady Help of Christians Church.

In 2022, our Parish celebrates 80 years (1942-2022) and our lovely church, Our Lady Help of Christians celebrates 70 years (1952-2022) in the Park Avenue area.

I have included a lovely image that was displayed at mass on the weekend that shows OLHC church as it was opened 70 years ago. This was a little before my time, but if you look in the background, you may see some older Joey’s buildings.

Last week was the first time that our new school song, ‘Let’s Go Joeys!’ was used with our 3:00pm bells for the end of our school day.

On Monday to Thursday, we will hear the chorus of the song at the end of the day. Each Friday at 3:00pm, we will celebrate the end of the week by hearing the entire school song.

It was wonderful to see our students singing and doing the actions for our new song each afternoon last week.

Let’s Go Joey’s!

It was wonderful to see our students hop up and perform at our Semester 1 Cultural Arts Assembly. This assembly is growing each year and is a chance to celebrate the many and varied skills our students have. This Semester we had students performing musical instruments, singing and for the first time, speech recitals. We definetly have some very talented students and dedicated teachers in our Joey’s community.

During the week, I was made aware of an excellent show that is currently being shown on ABC and streamed on ABC iView. The show is called ‘Our Brain’ and episode 2 explores the effect technology, which our children are exposed to now more than ever, has on the health of our brain. I have provided the link to the show below. You will need an iView login to view the show. It is well worth a look for our children as well as our own health.

Please remember that next Monday’s assembly will be our Semester 1 Academic Awards Assembly. If your child is receiving an award, you will receive a notification sometime this week.

Semester 1 Reports will then be posted on Wednesday 22nd of June in the last week of the Term. Please make sure you have your Parent Lounge login in order to access these reports.

Finally, it is that time of year again. Prep interviews for 2023 have begun with sibling interviews being conducted by Mrs Senini and Mrs Carter. If you are wishing to enrol your child in Prep for next year, please remember that you must apply and interview even if siblings already attend. Interviews will continue into the first few weeks of next Term with new families to the school meeting with myself.

Have a great second last week.

Don’t Forget….

• Mr Fitzgerald at Qld Primary Principal’s Conference. Wed 15th – Fri 17th June
• Semester 1 Academic Awards. Mon 20th June.
• Sem 1 Report Cards. Posted to Parent Lounge. Wed 22nd June 
• Rockhampton Catholic Schools Gala Concert. Wed 22nd June @ 6:30. Pilbeam Theatre
• Under 8’s Day. Morning of the 23rd of June
• Emmaus Musical, Beauty and the Beast. 22nd – 24th July
• Term 3 Commences. Mon 11th July

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

Survey of Bicycle and Scooter use in Schools

Dear Parents, Guardians and staff

In partnership with Arup and Zwart Transport Planning, the Department of Transport and Main Roads is gathering insights from parents/ carers and staff about bicycle and scooter parking at schools across Queensland. The Queensland Department of Education and Catholic Education Diocese of Rockhampton has granted permission for schools to be involved in the research.

If you would like to contribute your experiences and assist in improving bicycle/scooter parking at schools, we invite you to complete the following online survey by Friday, 24 June 2022. Click on the link below to take part in the survey.

Bicycle and scooter parking at schools survey

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

Feast of the Holy Trinity

The Spirit will guide the Apostles to all truth.

John 16:12-15

Living the Gospel – Trinity

Every time we make the sign of the cross we reaffirm our belief in a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although some people have difficulties with the gender-specific language of ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ and look for other ways to express this reality, all Christian people profess a belief in the one God who is experienced in three distinct ways. We are baptised ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ and we remind ourselves of this reality when we pray and when we bless ourselves or others.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

This Thursday, our Confirmation Candidates will reaffirm the Baptismal Promises made by their parents and godparents at their Baptism. They will be confirmed by Bishop Michael at Holy Family Church. This is an important Sacrament of Initiation, together with Eucharist which will be celebrated soon. Our prayers are with these children and their families.

A reminder that the link to the important dates for families and other information about the program can be accessed using the link below:

FRIDAY MORNING MASS AT OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

Each week, one of the classes from Joeys joins the parishioners at OLHC in celebrating Mass. We are very excited that children from the class will be involved as readers at these Masses. We are also part of the musical ministry at these Masses and will be leading the congregation in a hymn at the conclusion of Mass. We would love it if you could all join us for these occasions. They offer a wonderful way for us to be part of not just our school community but also our parish.

CHILDREN’S MASS THIS SATURDAY NIGHT

This Saturday, 18th June will be the final Children’s Mass for the Term. The community at Our Lady Help of Christians Church are so welcoming and love our school being able to lead them in their usual weekend Mass. It would be great to see lots of our families make an effort to come along to this occasion.
Please bring a plate to share with the Parish community after mass. 

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)
*STM – St Mary’s Church (next to St Mary’s School)
*MPA – Multipurpose Area (Basketball court)

PARISH NEWSLETTER

Elizabeth Carter
Assistant Principal Religious Education

CURRICULUM NEWS

ICAS

St Joseph’s is offering ICAS assessments again this year.

ICAS Assessments are online assessments, designed to recognise and reward academic excellence. Students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts, using higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills.

The assessments are based on the curricula for the relevant year. Students are asked to demonstrate a deeper, integrated, and thorough level of knowledge. Our team of expert academics develops new ICAS Assessments annually for each subject in every year level to ensure an engaging and beneficial experience for all students.

Benefits of ICAS:

Provide objective ranking of performance
Encourage students to attain greater academic success
Require students to think beyond the classroom
Recognise student success through medals and certificates

If you would like your child to participate in ICAS this year, please see the table below for prices and the year levels eligible for each assessment. You will then need to log into the ICAS Parent Portal through the link below to make your order. The school will receive notification when an assessment is ordered by a Joey’s parent. Orders close on 1st August.

Your school access code is: ZOV299
Your parent page link is:

If your child is away on the testing day, there is some flexibility for them to sit the assessment, but it must be in the same week as the scheduled date and fit in with the availability of staff trained in the implementation of ICAS assessments.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier's Reading Challenge (PRC) is an annual state-wide initiative for state and non-state schools and home-educated students up to Year 9, as well as children attending early childhood centres. Since the program’s inception in 2006, more than 20 million books have been read, and in 2021 alone, 168,000 school, early childhood and individual readers participated in the challenge reading more than 2.39 million books throughout the PRC reading period.

The challenge is not a competition but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to read widely for pleasure and learning. Students can participate in the challenge within their school or as individual readers (home-educated students or students whose schools are not participating in the program).

For a student to successfully complete the challenge they must read or experience the allocated number of books for their year level during the reading period. Students who complete the challenge have their efforts recognised through the receipt of a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier of Queensland.

Why read? Literacy skills are vital to ensuring children have the best chance to succeed in their schooling and life. The PRC is an opportunity for students to be enthusiastic about reading, writing, authors and illustrators. Reading a variety of books builds vocabulary and knowledge, improves spelling and comprehension, can improve confidence and is also a great way to relax.

To successfully complete the PRC, students must read or experience the number of books indicated in the table below in English or additional languages.

The requirement for Year 5 through to Year 6 students to read 15 books acknowledges that older students are likely to select longer, more complex books that may take them longer to read.

Please see the link attached to this newsletter for the reading record form if your child is interested in participating. All forms need to be returned to the office by 26th August to be eligible for a certificate.

Under 8s Day

Our annual Under 8s Day will be celebrated on Thursday, 23rd June. Prep – Year 3 students are invited to wear free dress that day. Please ensure the clothes they wear are sun safe with fully enclosed shoes. Please also send a shopping bag with them to keep the things they make on that day. Students will be provided with a sausage on bread for first lunch. They will still require their own food for second break.

Self Defence Lessons

Next term as part of PE, students in years 4-6 have the opportunity to participate in a 4 week self defence program where they will learn basic skills to assist them to escape from various holds. These students should have received a note regarding this which included a double sided permission note. This double sided sheet needs to be completed and returned to school by the end of this term please. Without this permission, the students won’t be able to participate in the course.

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Charlee Dixson (Yr 4), James Eyles (Yr 4), Lily McDonald (Yr 6), Charlotte Mills (Yr 2), Jack Wade (Yr 1) and Mrs Gray.

Have a great day.

NCCD

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability

Every year, in August, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about the support provided to students with disability.

It is now a legislative requirement for the school to inform you if your child will be included in the NCCD. Your child’s teacher would have discussed this with you during your Semester One Parent/Teacher Interview.

If you would like to access other information about the NCCD, this is a link to the NCCD Portal

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact Inclusive Curriculum.

GALA CONCERT

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