17 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE ACTING PRINCIPAL – MRS DEANNE SENINI

Science Week

This year to celebrate Science Week, we will be holding a ‘science day’ tomorrow, Thursday, 18th August. On this day each class will set up experiments / displays for students to visit and interact with. This will take place during school time on this day. Students are invited to come in free dress on this day with a science theme if possible. Perhaps they might like to dress like a scientist or get creative with a different idea which is science related. The theme for Science Week 2022 is ‘Glass: More than meets the eye’.

Book Week

This year, Book Week will be celebrated a week later than normal due to a clash with Year 6 camp. Joey’s in Jamas will be held on Wednesday, 31st August in the library. Our annual dress up day will be held on Thursday, 1st September. Both these events are generally very well supported by our community so I look forward to seeing everyone at Joey’s in Jamas and seeing the wonderful creative costumes at the dress up parade. The theme for Book Week 2022 is ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’.

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.

All reading record forms need to be returned to the office by 26th August to be eligible for a certificate.

Write 4 Fun

All students are invited to enter the 2022 Write4Fun competition. There is no set theme this year so students can choose to write about anything they wish to. It needs to be either a poem (no more than 16 lines) OR a short story (no more than 500 words). There is a poster on display on the drama/media room door or you can head to the link below for more information and entry forms. Entries close 28th August. There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs.

Don’t Forget….

• National Science Week: 15th – 19th Aug
• Rescheduled Year 6 Camp @ Chaverim: 22nd – 24th Aug
• Season B Sport Concludes: Friday 26th Aug
• 2023 Prep Offers Emailed Out: Fri 26th Aug
• P&F Trivia Night: Sat 27th Aug
• Mr Fitzgerald’s Principal Performance Appraisal: Tues 30th Aug
• SJPA Book Week: 29th Aug – 2nd September
• Book Fair: 29th Aug – 1st Sept
• Joey’s in Jamas: Wed 31st Aug
• Book Week Dress-up Day: Thurs 1st Sept
• Pupil Free Day: Fri 2nd Sept
• Semester 2 Parent/Teacher Interviews: Week 9, 5th – 9th Sept
• National Child Protection Week (NAPCAN): 4th – 9th Sept
• R U OK? Day: Thurs 8th Sept
• Colour Run Day: Fri 16th Sept
• Last Day of Term 3: Fri 16th Sept

Regards,
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum/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

20th Sunday Ordinary Time

Jesus tells his disciples he has come for division.
Luke 12:49-53

Living the Gospel – Speaking a hard message

Today’s gospel reminds us that the message of Christianity is not always a popular one. Sometimes we are called upon to speak a hard message; a challenging message; a confronting message. The message of the gospel frequently confronts our popular culture and accepted social practice. It often contradicts the expedient decisions of our political leaders. There is a responsibility on us to speak the hard message of the gospel even at the risk of unpopularity and even in the face of threat. The Christian heroes of our time are those who call leaders to measure up to the demands of the gospel.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION

This week, we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Each year, on 15th August the Catholic Church honours the Assumption of Our Lady. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, Mary the mother of Jesus, having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven.

There is much we can learn from the mother of Jesus. She was selfless and gave herself completely to the call God made to her.

I wanted to share with you this reflection on the Gospel from the Mass celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Living the Gospel – Saying ‘Yes’

In a world that is increasingly selfish and negative, there is a trend towards isolation from family, neighbours and community. In the face of social isolation, the call to a Christian life is a call to say ‘Yes’ to life itself and all it offers. To say ‘Yes’ to life is to say ‘Yes’ to life-giving relationships and decisions and ‘No’ to life denying relationships and decisions. To say ‘Yes’ to life is to say ‘No’ to those things that harm self and harm others. A ‘Yes’ to life is a ‘Yes’ to hope; to possibility; to love; to God; and to yourself.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

Congratulations to those children who made their First Holy Communion last weekend. This important occasion was celebrated by our students at Our Lady Help of Christians church on Saturday. I was not able to be there to share in this joy, but Mrs Senini helped me to be part of it by sharing some lovely photographs with me. This is the last of our students to receive this sacrament for 2022. Please keep these children and their families in your prayers. I especially pray that they will continue to attend Mass, so they are able to regularly receive Jesus at Holy Communion. If you would like your child to complete their Sacraments of Initiation in 2023, please contact me. It is a wonderful way for Baptised Catholics to be  fully participating members of our faith.

CHILDREN’S MASS THIS WEEKEND

Saturday night, the staff and students of Joeys will be playing a very special part in our local parish’s weekend Mass. This gives our students an opportunity to play a role in the ministries at Mass. We will be proclaiming the word through the readings, leading the congregation in our special hymns and bringing forth the offertory. I’d love to see lots of familiar faces there.

Keep an eye out for a note sent home on Monday that asks you to indicate if you can join us at this occasion. We will be sharing a meal together again and I look forward to feeling the sense of community I feel this brings to Mass.

If you can come, please complete the form, and return it to your child’s teacher.

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

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 6

Year 6 is working on adding and subtracting fractions and fractions as division in Maths.

In Hass we are learning all about the Asian continent, we are learning about the features of Asia and where famous things are. We have found out that Russia is the biggest continent in the world, the tallest building in the world is in Dubai, there are hills made of chocolate in the Philippines and chewing gum is banned in Singapore. We are SUPER excited to be going to school camp next week.

From Izabella Darwin.

This term Year 6 held our first school disco in 3 years, from the feedback from each year level, everyone seemed to have a great time.

We also had our annual NAIDOC Day, the year six Indigenous Students participated in their last NAIDOC Day liturgy at Joeys.

We went and watched the last dress rehearsal of Emmaus’ Beauty and the Beast Musical. Year 5 and 6 really enjoyed it, I thought that it was really good and my favourite part was when Gaston got pushed out of the window. My cousin was in it. In English we are writing biographies about a person of our choosing, it could be people who are famous or a person that has made a discovery in their life or just someone in general. I wrote about a palaeontologist called Burman Brown; he is the person who discovered the T-Rex.

From Max Toby

SJPA SUSTAINABILITY

Vermicomposting (Worm farming) is another way to dispose of our unwanted food waste and produce liquid fertiliser here at school. Students from Year 2 are excited to now be the ones in charge of looking after our school worm farms and help us reduce our school waste. Year 2 have been learning different facts about worms, what they can eat and how to look after worm farms.

Exciting times ahead for the Year 2 cohort helping the school to answer Pope Francis’ call to ‘Care for our Common Home’.

Well done Year 2!

Mr Tennyson

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Jimmy Farr (Yr 3), Gracie Simpson (Yr 2), Kelsey Kinlyside (Yr 4), Mason McLean (Yr 4), Kyiah Tobin (Yr 6) and Miss Hamilton (Yr 6).

Have a great day.

UNIFORM SHOP

Our Uniform Shop is open Friday Mornings from 8:00 – 8:45am. The Joeys and Friends Facebook page will still have what is available for sale.

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 (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

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

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