19 October 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

On Monday’s assembly, I congratulated our school community, especially the students, on their behaviour while celebrating the Blessing and Opening of our school buildings last Friday.

Many of our special guests including Bishop Michael and Miss Jeffcoat commented on the way the students participated in the celebration, especially the way they sang and performed actions to the songs.

We were also very lucky to have three Josephite Sisters attend who were very thankful of our acknowledgement of their past works while also honouring our charism with the many elements of our Catholic identity visible around the school.

I also acknowledged the support from the Catholic Education Office who committed to such a big project and dreaming big. This support shows a huge commitment to our school community and the wider Park Avenue area, ensuring a quality Catholic Education for our students well into the future.

Well done to Mrs Carter who put a tremendous amount of work in, over many months to make the day very special.

A reminder that our October P&F Meeting that was due to be held last week has been rescheduled to be a Combined P&F and School Board Meeting tonight, Wednesday the 19th of October at 6:00pm in the school library. During this meeting we will be led by Mrs Mooney and Mrs Crosthwaite while discussing the movement of the Parents & Friends Associations bank accounts under the school umbrella. This is happening Diocese wide and if you wish to hear about these processes, you are more than welcome to attend.

Congratulations to all of our past Joey’s students who were presented with Academic or special awards at Emmaus and TCC last week. It was wonderful to see so many of our students thriving at our Catholic colleges.

Finally, thank-you to those who supported me during my Principal’s Appraisal yesterday. These appraisals are held in the penultimate year of a principal’s 5-year contract and are used to set future goals for the principal in their Leadership journey. Again, thank-you to those who filled out surveys and made themselves available for face-to-face interviews yesterday as this is a very important process for my growth as a catholic leader.

My thirteen years at Joey’s has been a wonderful journey so far and I am humbled to be Principal of this lovely, family-based community.

Don’t Forget….

• Combined P&F and School Board Meeting. Wed 19th Oct @ 6:00pm in Library
• Prep 2023 Orientation Day. Thurs 20th Oct
• Children’s Mass. Sat 22nd Oct @ 6:30pm in OLHC
• Day for Daniel/Canteen Day. Fri 28th October
• All Saints Day. Tues 1st Nov
• All Souls Day. Wed 2nd Nov
• Remembrance Day. Fri 11th Nov
• Swimming Carnival @ Southside Pool. Thurs 17th Nov
• Year 4-6 Intra-school Sport concludes. Fri 18th Nov
• Children’s Mass. Sat 19th Nov @ 6:30pm in OLHC
• Semester 2 Performance Arts Assembly. Mon 21st Nov @ 8:35am in MPA
• Emmaus Year 7 2023 Orientation Day. Thurs 24th Nov. 8:45am – 2:30pm @ Emmaus.
• SJPA Presentation Night. Thurs 24th Nov
• Semester 2 Academic Awards Assembly. Mon 28th Nov @ 8:35am in MPA
• Semester 2 Reports posted to Parent Lounge. Wed 30th Nov
• Year 6 Graduation Mass & Dinner. Wed 30th Nov
• Year 6 Fun Day @ Keppel. Thurs 1st Dec
• End of Year Mass & Leadership Changeover. Fri 2nd Dec @ 9:00am in OLHC
• Term 4 Concludes. Fri 2nd Dec

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

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

29th Sunday Ordinary Time

The widow and the irreligious judge.

Luke 18:1-8

Scriptural context

Since chapter 9 of this Gospel, Jesus has been making a steady journey towards Jerusalem and the events of the Passion that await him there. This whole second half of the gospel is a series of teaching moments as Jesus seeks to prepare his disciples to continue his ministry after he has gone. Remembering that the gospel is written 50 or more years after the events described, the gospel writer has also deliberately structured these teaching moments for the audience of believers struggling day by day to live out the message and ministry of Jesus. As such, these teachings are just as important for modern audiences.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

What a fabulous celebration we had last Friday for the Blessing and Opening of our refurbished school buildings. It was fantastic to hear the many, many positive comments about our students, their behaviour and their participation in the ceremony. I felt such pride in our school and community. We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful environment to come to each day. Joeys is looking top notch at the moment, and this is due to the effort put in by everyone in the last couple of weeks. Thank you to all.

Children’s Mass

This Saturday evening, the Joeys community will be leading Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians church. We will gather at the usual 6:30pm celebration and after Mass will share in a BBQ. Children’s Mass is a beautiful occasion and I know the parishioners love seeing the families who come along. If you think your family would like to join us, please complete the form that was sent home on Monday.

Sacramental Program

It is coming up to the time of year when parents are asked to consider beginning the Sacramental Program for their baptised children. This allows children to become fully initiated in the Catholic faith. If you have a child who will be at least 9 years of age in 2023 and is a Baptised Catholic they are eligible to be part of this program. Please contact me if you wish to take part in this opportunity.

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

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to the following students who took part in the QLD Premier’s Reading Challenge.

Prep:

Evelyn Arthur, Walt Benson, Harrison Brady, Korbin Hain, Finn Jarrett, Magenta McBean, Georgia McDonald, Harry Moffat, Ayva Pearson, Ted Perkins

Year 1:

Marshall Bell, Reuben Benson, Briannah Boylan, Olivia Coleman, Melody Cooke, Cruz Couper, Emelia Evans, Natalia Gray, Matilda Hancock, Aurora Irving, Sophie Lawrence, Declan Roati, Kasey Sherriff-Hearn, Jaxon Stevens, Ryan Thistlethwaite, Millie Watson, Jack Williams

Year 2:

Logan Gudgeon, Oscar Jarrett, Alexis Lyons, Ruthie Perkins, Hamish Taylor, Laylah Thomas, Matilda Wooler

Year 3:

Nate Bolck, Amelia Gray, Benson Perkins

Year 4:

Lucia Jarrett, Madeleine Watson

Year 5:

Monica Bartsch, Xavier Boswood, Abbie Thistlethwaite

Year 6:

Mia Bolck, Quinn Rooney

Prep Orientation

This Thursday we welcome our new prep families for 2023 for their orientation sessions. We hope they enjoy their first experience at St Joseph’s.

Regards
Deanne Senini
Assistant Principal Curriculum

TERM 4 FEE ACCOUNTS

Fees for Term 4 are due this Thursday 20th October 2022.

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.

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).

ORANGE PARENT INFORMATION UPDATE FORMS

If you have not yet sent back your Orange Parent Information Update Form, please do so as soon as possible.

It is important that the school has the most up to date information in case of sick children or emergencies.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Yr 6

We are super excited for our last term of primary school.

This term we are learning about fractured fairy tales in English, Prophets in Religion, the impact our decisions make in HASS and side by side graphs in Maths.

We are looking forward to Friday sport starting up again this week, although it is going to look a little different this term as we stay at school and learn skills and drills for cricket, basketball, and touch football. We are doing Basketball skills and drills for the next 2 weeks.

We had our School Blessing & Opening Ceremony on Friday, and I had a reading part, along with 7 other Year 6 students.

On Wednesdays in P.E. we are learning to skip to music and do cool tricks with skipping ropes.

We are looking forward to our Year Six Graduation and fun day to end a very busy last term at Joeys.

From Bronson and Connor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Flynn Kirkman (Yr 4), Joanna Newbury-Janssen (Yr 3), Ava Burns (Yr 2), Mason Vass (Yr 2), Harper Corry (Yr 4) and Lilah Kipling (Yr 4).

Have a great day.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC in 2023

Enrolments are now being accepted for new and continuing students to learn the following instruments at St. Joseph’s Park Avenue.

FLUTE, CLARINET, SAXOPHONE, TRUMPET, TROMBONE, PERCUSSION, VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO, GUITAR & VOICE.

Instrumental Music provides so many benefits to a child – please watch the attached link to a fantastic video about Music and the Brain: Instrumental Music Learning and Brain Fireworks

Please see the attached information letter for details on required year levels for each instrument, and a downloaded version of the enrolment form.

Enrolment is available online from the link below.

KEYBOARD LESSONS

Leanne Voss will continue to offer Keyboard lessons in 2023 for interested students in grades 1 – 6.

Lessons are of 30-minute duration and will be conducted weekly at school.

Students will be required to have access to a keyboard for practice and purchase a music tutor book and theory book. Lessons will generally be given to groups of 2 or 3 students with some individual lessons available when it is not possible to match students of similar musical ability. The lessons will focus on using a chord bass with an emphasis on utilising keyboard features such as different tones and rhythms.

Playing keyboard is an excellent extra curriculum activity to develop not only musical skills, but creative thinking, hand-eye coordination, concentration and commitment to task.

Enrolment forms are available from the office and in the newsletter for both new and continuing students.

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.

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