26 October 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

The P&F will be holding a special meeting on Wednesday, 2nd of November at 5:30pm. The meeting will be to address the Parents and Friends Constitution to accommodate the P&F finances moving under the school’s umbrella. The meeting will be in the school library, and all are welcome to attend.

Our Prep Orientation Day was a success with many new and current families attending last Thursday. Many attendees commented on the lovely behaviour of our students and that the school looks absolutely sparkling at the moment.

I look forward to welcoming all the new students to Joey’s in 2023 and working with their parents.

Over the 2022/23 Christmas holiday break, Joey’s will not be hosting Vacation Care due to the replacement the roofs and solar system across the school from the hailstorm in April 2020. We are quite fortunate, as we are the only school to have this work done over a holiday break, due to the extensive time we had during our capital works. Half of the new buildings were just completed before the 2020 storm so those buildings as well as any existing structures need their roofs done. We will also hopefully be taking this opportunity to get our Multi-Purpose Area court resurfaced and install the Upper Playground’s shade at the same time.

Vacation Care families have been given information on multiple alternative options for other Catholic Education services by OSHC Co-ordinator, Chelsea Holden.

Sorry to those who have been inconvenienced but this option is the least disruptive to us as an educational institution. Thankyou for your understanding in this matter.

With Day for Daniel this Friday, our students are asked to wear a red shirt as a way to raise awareness for child safety. Classes will be looking at age appropriate activities on this day that will enhance and support the Daniel Morcombe curriculum that Catholic Schools participate in each year.

Don’t Forget….

• Day for Daniel. 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 @ 12:00pm
• 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

30th Sunday Ordinary Time

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

Luke 18:9-14

Gospel Focus – At rights with God

We are told that the tax collector, after his simple prayer, went home ‘at rights with God’. What does it mean to be at rights with God? It is nothing more and nothing less than the entire Judeo-Christian story. The story of the Old Testament is the story of God calling the people to live in right relationship with God and with one another. The Gospels are the story of Jesus calling all people to a richer understanding of his compassionate Father so that they may once again be at rights with God. The story continues and it is our constant challenge to be at rights with God also.

@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 joined together for Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians church. It was so fantastic to see so many of our families come along and join our parish to celebrate the Eucharist. Unfortunately, I had some technical issues that meant we weren’t able to sing our beautiful hymns the way we usually do but we muddled through. The BBQ was enjoyed by all.

All Souls’ Day

At this time of year we see lots of Halloween themed items in our shops. As a Catholic community, Halloween is not something we recognise. Instead, the Catholic Church remembers All Souls’ Day on November 2.

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

FINANCE NEWS

TERM 4 FEE ACCOUNTS NOW OVERDUE
Fees for Term 4 were due last Thursday 20th October 2022 and are now Overdue

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 2

Welcome to Term 4 in Year 2.

Our topic for Religion is - How can people work for justice and peace? We will be exploring questions like: What is God’s plan or vision for how to live? What were Jesus’ teachings about justice? Does the church work for justice? How do Catholic Social Teachings help people to follow God’s plan? Our prayer focus this week is a Visio Divina (Spiritual Seeing) which refers to the practice of praying with visual images, such as paintings, icons, photographs or stained glass windows.

In English our writing focus is Persuasive texts. A persuasive text is a form of non-fiction writing that aims to convince the reader of a certain point of view. In our reading groups we will be focusing on the reading strategies of Finding the Main Idea and Visualising.

We have a lot of concepts to learn this term in Mathematics including division, mass, place value, fractions and ending the term with some math investigations to revise content that has been taught in math this year. Students are enjoying Science this term, looking at natural resources, particularly when we are investigating ‘How to Make Ice-Cream in a Bag’.

We really enjoy taking it in turns to look after the worm farm with Mrs Lavender. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn about sustainable practices to help us look after the environment.

We look forward to welcoming Di Rowan this week to talk to the class about St Vincent de Paul and the practical ways they help people in need.

Our Prayer Celebration is in Week 5, looking forward to seeing many of you there. We have a few busy weeks with our learning in Year 2 to take us to the end of the year.

From Mrs Thorsen, Mrs Tennyson, Mrs Watson and the Year 2 students.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Ashtyn Schukking (Prep) and Jacob Wall (Yr 4).

Have a great day.

DAY FOR DANIEL

This Friday is Day for Daniel. Students and staff are encouraged to wear red and donate a gold coin.

This is a day that is annually recognised throughout Australia, honouring the memory of Daniel Morcombe. All Australians on this day are asked to Wear Red, Educate and Donate. A day where schools, early learning centres, businesses and the community come together to raise awareness of child safety issues.

The theme for 2022 is Brave Conversations.

Educators, parents and carers are encouraged to start a conversation about personal safety with children and young people. At Joey’s, in-class students will be working through safety lessons.

Day for Daniel is the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s biggest fundraiser each year. Your fundraising support helps them continue developing free resources and programs for parents, carers, and educators to teach children how to stay safe. Funds also contribute to supporting young victims of crime.

Please follow the link below to the Daniel Morcombe website for access to fabulous free resources:

INCLUSIVE CURRICULUM NEWS

October is Dyslexia awareness month.

Dyslexia is neurobiological and is characterised by poor reading accuracy and/or fluency. For more information visit the link below.

The link below is for an animation made by the British Dyslexia Association called See Dyslexia Differently, which explains real challenges individuals with dyslexia face whilst also acknowledging their strengths and potential.

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