Dear Parents and Carers

With the end of the term in sight, there are many events over the coming weeks across all year levels.  This is always a hectic time for families, staff and our students. Changes in routine, hot days and school events can take their toll.  Over the coming 2 weeks we would appreciate your support in helping to reinforce the message that all students need to stay on track.  Please talk about the need to continue to follow our school rules, to be kind to one another, to be respectful and sensible.

It is an exciting time of year, but can also be a difficult one and your support would be greatly appreciated.  Teachers will be reinforcing this message at school as well.

2022 Staffing

With regard to staffing, an announcement about class teachers will be made on Monday the 22nd of November.  I am grateful for your patience while we have been piecing together the plan for 2022.  While there are some small pieces still to be decided, we now have our class teachers finalised.  As you are aware we have a number of new teachers and assistants joining our staff in 2022, a significant change that we have not seen for some time. I am confident that you, as a community, will make all new members of our staff feel very welcome.

Changes in staffing also precipitate a change of classrooms for some year levels.  In the last week of school a number of teachers will be changing rooms.  This can be a big job and I am certain that any help would be greatly appreciated by our staff.  Teachers will make parents and carers aware if they are changing rooms, and if you are able to assist them in any way please let them know.

Exiting Students

The end of the year also sees some families leaving our school community.  As with our staff, we are always sad to see students and families move on from the school.  If you are leaving our school community at the end of the school year, I would ask that you notify us as soon as possible.  We have waiting lists for most year levels in the school and would like to notify families if a vacancy becomes available.  Please email your class teacher, the school office or myself, or alternatly call into the office to discuss with me in person.  If you could make contact via these options by Friday the 26th of November it would be appreciated. Thank you for your support in this matter.  

Rite of Passage

Next Tuesday evening, our Year 6 students will take part in their Rite of Passage celebration, marking the end of their primary school journey and their contribution to St Joseph's the Strand.  I would like to extend the invitation to attend the service to all families.  This is a chance to thank our current Yr 6 leaders and their families, some of whom are leaving the community as well. I hope you are able to attend.

Finally this week I would like to share a section of an article I read recently.  At this crazy time of year, I think anythig that can help me think clearly and be focussed on the positives is worth reading.  I hope you can find something in here to help you as well.

Have a great week

Tim

Remaining Positive….When Others are Stressed

Have you ever noticed that some people are able to maintain their positivity, even in stressful situations, whereas others do the opposite? Why is this?

Positive co-workers have the right attitude. They realise that although others can act in ways that help to make us stressed or happy, ultimately our happiness is determined by the choices we make. They don't expect perfection from themselves, their colleagues or their workplace. It is OK to have a bad day or two. But a bad week or month is not so good.

Positive people also appreciate that their happiness is not determined by the absence of challenging circumstances at work. Putting off your happiness until circumstances are better is not the answer. If you are waiting until your workload is more reasonable, changes are better managed and difficult co-workers disappear, before you allow yourself to be happy, you may be waiting a long time.

Happy people also take action. They appreciate it is up to them to know what helps them to feel more satisfied at work and to communicate. Rather than settling for a miserable time, they do their best to influence change within their environment and aim to get satisfaction from their day.

It is also very important to be resilient - our ability to bounce back when faced with adversity. Resilience is more than just who we are - it is what we do. Our resilience is largely determined by the choices that we make in response to the challenges life sends our way. Fortunately, many of these choices can be learned and practised over time. 

One of the best ways to become happier is to endeavour to make others happy. Although some material items may bring about temporary feelings of satisfaction, ultimately these things will never make you happy.  Lasting satisfaction comes from helping people to feel happier.

The good news is that although negativity is contagious, so is happiness. It is also easier to stay positive when you have positive people around you. Helping people to increase their happiness is a win-win for all.

Ken Warren BA, M Soc Sc, CSP                                  

Ken is an expert on relationships and provides insights and practical advice on dealing with the challenges we face.  Ken is a passionate cyclist who lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast with his wife and two school age boys. He draws on the experience he has gained both as a counsellor and through his career working with a wide array of government, corporate and not for profit clients.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

Next week we begin our annual Christmas appeal for St Vincent de Paul. On Tuesday, four of our Faith and Service Pastoral group attended the launch at St Benedict's Catholic School with Bishop Timothy Harris and Mayor Jenny Hill officially opening the Christmas Appeal. 

We are very fortunate to have close links with our local Vinnies Conference and so we have a very clear insight into the needs of our community. This year we are responding in a very specific way to those who need our help.

Each classroom will receive a large blue box or basket in which to put donations. What is hard for many of us to grasp is that for the families that we will be supporting, it is not uncommon for the pantry cupboards to be completely bare after a few days. It is also difficult to understand that many of these young families have not been given the skills to prepare their own meals from scratch and so they rely on very easy to make dinners. Therefore we are asking for very specific items this year, that may not seem very 'festive' but when combined in a big hamper are exactly what each family needs.

Suggested ideas for hamper items are listed below; 

All monies raised from Joey's Pokemon Design Challenge will be used to purchase gift cards for the Christmas hampers. 

Thanks for your support. 

Hope all have a wonderful week, 

Trina

Book Club

All students have received their book club.  Quite a few are on back order and hopefully they will be here before holidays. 

End of Year Returns

Parents you will receive 2 emails before the end of year letting you know what books your child still has outstanding.  All books should be returned during week 8.

If you are leaving the school and wish to pay for lost books please print off the overdue note but first check with the library as it may have been returned, before proceeding to the office to pay for the book.

Holiday reading

You can visit the Public libraries but there are 2 digital options that we subscribe to.

The user name: read@joeys and the password: read247

Sora online library: Download the sora app and log on as an ACEN collection member and your normal login to have access to 1000s of digital books.  Instructions are on the blog above published June 15^th.

Junior Librarians

The junior librarians have done a great job organising activities for our students at lunchtime.  Craft, quizzes, Lego, Kirigami, dress ups and Storytime were some of the fun activities.  We celebrated our Junior Librarians with a party this week to thank them for their hard work.

 Lunchtime Christmas Art 

Happy Reading  

Belinda Walker (Teacher Librarian)