2 November 2022

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

A reminder that the P&F will be holding a special meeting tonight, Wednesday, 2nd of November at 6:00pm. The meeting will be to adjust the SJPA 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.

Light pink ‘2023 Census & Confirmation of Enrolment’ forms were sent out to all families recently. Please fill these out and return them to the school office as soon as possible. This information is essential to both the staffing and financial planning for the 2023 school year.

This form is also essential for Finance Secretary, Megan Crosthwaite, when calculating fee discounts for families if you have multiple children across Catholic Primary Schools and Colleges. If you do have older children attending Emmaus, TCC, St Brendan’s or St Ursula’s, also be sure to make those Colleges aware that you have primary aged children at Joeys so that they too can adjust your fees.

This form needs to be returned by everyone, even if you only have one child at school.

If indeed you are not planning to return to Joey’s in 2023 for whatever reason, I would appreciate you making contact with myself as soon as possible. We have waiting lists in quite a few of our year levels and parents wanting to move their children to our school next year will find it easier to put plans in place now rather than in January when uniforms and booklists have usually been purchased. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.

A few weeks ago, a bright yellow ‘Parent Information Update’ form was sent home. This form provides us with up-to-date details and emergency contacts for our families. Please fill this out and return it to the school office as soon as possible even if your details have not changed.

Information on nominations for our school swimming carnival will be sent home soon. As in the past, there will be races for the younger students held in the 25m pool with options for kickboard and non-kickboard races.

These races will also have a number of Year 6 volunteers in each of the lanes helping me to keep our youngest students as safe as possible.

With the addition of LED lights now installed for this pool, we now no longer should be also racing against the setting sun for the first part of our carnival.

We will then swap over to the 50m pool for the older students and Age Championship events and would be hoping to be finished by 8:00pm.

As we are fully aware that many of our younger students will leave earlier after their events, Age Championship medals will be handed out at a special assembly on the following Friday morning as a way to properly acknowledge those student’s achievement in front of the whole school community.

Last week we received our new promotional video for our school which is now live on our website. The video is really lovely and captures some of the essence of what sets our school apart as well as promoting our welcoming, family environment. A big thanks to the Rockhampton Catholic Education Office for producing this lovely video on our behalf. Please visit our school website to have a look.

Finally, welcome to Mrs Kelsey Milburn who is taking up a full-time position in Year 3 for the rest of the year. Kelsey is well known to the students and is picking up Leah’s maternity leave. I am sure you will all join me in making Kelsey feel welcome at Joey’s.

Don’t Forget….

• 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

31st Sunday Ordinary Time

Jesus enters the house of Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

Have you thought? – Conversion

When we hear this story about Zacchaeus, our focus is normally on the conversion of heart that appears to take place within Zaccheaus. However, his determination to see Jesus from the outset suggests that the conversion has already taken place within Zacchaeus. It is the muttering, grumbling crowd who are called to conversion; called to soften their hearts and see a faithful man where they have previously only seen a sinner. Throughout the gospel, the welcome and acceptance Jesus extends to the ‘outsider’ and the ‘sinner’ confronts and challenges those who would hold themselves up as being better than these others.

@Liturgy Help – Greg Sunter

Friday Morning Mass

A reminder that each week a class from Joeys celebrates Friday morning Mass with our OLHC Parishioners. At this Mass, students from the class share with the Prayer of the Faithful. It would be great to have some family members come along to celebrate with the students. It is tricky today as most families have two parents working but, if someone can come along, I know the children would be thrilled.

All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day

This week the Catholic church celebrated two very important feast days. The first, All Saints’ Day is commemorated on November 1st. This is a day we remember our Catholic saints. Many of these brave people lost their lives in defense of their faith. Last week and this week, our Catholic meditation on Wednesday focused on the life of St Joan of Arc. St Joan of Arc’s story is one of bravery and I believe one all young people, especially young girls, can use for inspiration.

The second important feast this week is today, All Souls’ Day. This day calls Catholics to remember those who have died. In fact, for the month of November, Catholics remember especially, those close to them who have left their mortal life and we pray they reach their ultimate reward. I know I will be especially praying for those closest to me who have died, and I have asked our priests to offer the sacrifice of the Mass in their memory.

Sacramental Program

Last week a notice went out on our SkoolBag app calling for expressions of interest for our 2023 Sacramental Program. This program is open to children who will be 9 years of age (or older) in 2023.

Your family's journey through the Sacraments allows you and your children to develop a deep sense of belonging to our Catholic faith community and a richer relationship with one another and with our God.

We would love to have you join us. If your family would like more information, please use the QR Code below:

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

A reminder to give what you can to our Vinnies Christmas Appeal. Last week, we were fortunate to have Miss Di-Ann Rowan from the Rockhampton St Vincent de Paul Conference come to speak to our students to highlight the importance of this appeal. I thank you all for the generosity you have already shown and ask that you continue to give what you feel your family can. This week we are focused on tinned items. This might include tinned food, dressings and condiments or any other pantry items you feel a family might need for their Christmas meal.

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 4

Term 4 in Year 4

We can’t believe we’re already halfway through Term 4! This term has been busy.

In HASS, we’ve been learning about rules and laws. In Religion, we’ve been learning about the history of the Catholic church in Australia. In Maths, we’ve been doing measurement of lengths and temperatures and looking at probability. In English, we are working on poetry and have had a great time performing our pieces for our groups! It is nerve-wracking at times, but we’ve tried our best.

We have been learning about forces in Science and our project for Design Technologies was a marble run that used our knowledge of friction, gravity, push and pull forces. This project made our classroom VERY messy, but it was definitely worth it. We learnt that sometimes we have to depend on other people to find success, so our collaboration and communication skills had a good workout.

Here's what students had to say about their design and production process.

Pippa: It’s fun and entertaining!
Amelia: I like Science because we get to build a lot of things.
Rhyver: It makes me mad when people keep touching it and we’re trying to test it! But it’s fun.
Harper: In my design, I like the cups when the marble falls through. That’s my favourite bit.

All the students did such an incredible job that we’ll be enjoying our Zooper Dooper prizes this week! From here, we’re heading into a busy time of assessment and getting ready to wrap up our year.

From everyone in Year 4, we hope you all have a great finish to 2022!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Congratulations to the following students and staff who will celebrate their birthday this week. They are: Audrey Smith (Yr 5), Jack Rea (Yr 3), Paige Toby (Yr 4), Ned Wade (Yr 3), Gabriell Brosnan (Yr 6), Kenzie Fuller (Yr 5), Olive O’Keeffe (Yr 1), Kaeli Kirkman (Yr 3), Wyatt Pedersen (Yr 2), Mrs Tennyson (Yr 2) and Mrs Crosthwaite (Office).

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 at 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