Dear Parents and Carers

What a hectic week it has been with illness taking its toll on our classes and staff.  The coming week promises to be another busy but exciting one.  Our 2019 Tech Expo is back next Thursday and promises to be another great afternoon of student led learning.  I know the work taking place in our classrooms has been fantastic and I am eager to see our students put their learning on display.  I sincerely hope you are able to join us for the afternoon.  

At the P&F meeting this week, the last position on the committee was filled by Emma Dobbins.  Emma has taken on the role of Vice President.  Congratulations and thank you, Emma.

Recently I have been quite confronted by stories of social media trolling and the very concerning effects this has on individuals and families.  If you are on a social media platform of any kind, you do not have to look far into comments to see a massive array of opinions, beliefs, and sadly aggression and intimidation.  We work hard to educate our students about responsible online citizenship and treating others with respect and dignity, but this is not something that is reinforced online.  Social media platforms have age limits to protect students from being exposed to this, and far more extreme types of behaviour.  The age restrictions are there for a reason and while there can be a great deal of pressure to ignore these, I would encourage all families to consider what consequences could come from allowing children access to these platforms prematurely.  

The real truth is that there are very few limits to what people will, or do post on social media.  Adults, professionals, public figures can all at times struggle to deal with the horrific sentiments expressed by individuals on these platforms.  Whether it be a news article or an item for sale on a community forum it seems there is no shortage of vitriol from someone willing to articulate their opinion.  Exposing students to this on social media platforms is dangerous.  An innocent or naive reply to a post from a student could open them up to any number of abuses or criticisms.  Those doing the trolling are not interested in the age, maturity or point of view.  Of course most of what is written would never see the light of day if those writing it had to say it in person.  As a 'keyboard warrior' they are not interested in facts or context, another opinion or point of view.  

When these issues are brought to our attention it is important that we discuss them, particularly with our children, who will at some point in the near future have access to the online world.  Encourage them to talk about concerns they have and to call out bullying in all its forms and to look out for their friends who may need their support.  The words we use and post have an impact, sometimes far beyond that which was intended.  When individuals are given platforms such as social media there will always be those who abuse it.  We can change that by educating our students and children and ensuring they have the skills and maturity to be responsible online citizens.

Homelessness Week

Thank you to all those who sent in donations for St Vincent de Paul's Homelessness Week Appeal.  

Solemnity of theAssumption (Holy Day Of Obligation) 

We celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on the 15th of August every day.  On this feast day, Catholics give thanks and praise for the holy and blessed life of Mary the Mother of Jesus. We celebrate how God has honoured her and welcomed her into heaven.

The Prep kids had a great time outside drawing on the windows with washable chalk.  Mr Ham even got in on the fun!

Have a wonderful week

Take care and God bless

Amanda

Science Week

This week is National Science Week. Destination Moon: more missions, more science is the school theme for 2019. This theme is a way for teachers and students to discover past missions to the Moon and space programs that have solved some of the seemingly unsolvable problems—and current and future space programs, operations and missions.

SJS  have incorporated the 2019 theme into our annual Tech Expo next Thursday, August 21st. Much of the big picture thinking used in Science,  Technology and Mathematics to solve problems and design new solutions will help forge our future paths in the areas of space operations, space science, Earth observations, positioning systems and communications.

This Friday and next Monday, our classes will also take a trip to the Moon using our VR kits to build on their knowledge of Space science.

Our Preppies are Artists!

Recently Prep M completed some artwork to complement their Health and Science units on living things and changing and growing. They used their classroom visitor as a stimulus for their artworks. Here are a few of  their friendly frogs ..how talented they are!

http://readiscover1.blogspot.com.au/

Book Week:  Aug 30^th Friday morning at 8.40. This logo is the theme for book week. Students are asked to find a book that has a character they can relate to. This character may have a secret power or talent. 

Students in year 1- 4 received a character dress up competition sheet last week. There are some great prizes to be won. The competition has been attached. This year we are shifting book week to a Friday morning as an end of week culmination to their reading successes throughout the year.  Not only do kids dress up as their favourite book character but they are involved in the Reading Games. 10 Students will be selected to participate from each class according to their borrowing records throughout the year and their reading attitude in the classroom.  They will all participate in the parade. It is an exciting way to promote reading especially to those students who haven’t quite caught the reading bug yet.

I encourage children to be creative and make their costumes from items they already have at home.  Please do not feel you have to buy a costume. Check out this site for some ideas of characters and costumes

Author Visit: Each year for book week I invite an author to visit our school and talk to our students. For students it’s like meeting a rock star.  The ripple effect is amazing as suddenly that author becomes instantly popular and reading seems to soar.

Junior Librarians: Congratulations to Emma Robinson, Elise Piper-Green, Bridget Boyle, Zahra Bligh and Greta Ramsay for achieving their Junior Librarian gold badges. They have worked very hard to earn these.

Raising readers: Sometimes it takes a little bravery to borrow a book and a little tenacity or perseverance to find one that you will enjoy. We have to be so grateful on the choice of books children have at their fingertips. Your contributions via the library levy ensures our school has a big choice of books to select from.

Year 1 borrowing certificates: Congratulations to the children who have received certificates for borrowing and reading 25 books to date. The next challenge is to get to 50 for a prize. 

Happy Reading 

Belinda Walker (Teacher Librarian)

North Qld Athletics 

We are pleased to announce that our very own Jy Gasa has been bestowed the honour of captaining the NQ Athletics team. Both Jy and Charli Russell will be competing in the Queensland Athletics Championships in Brisbane this week. We wish both students all the very best in their travels and we know that they are wonderful ambassadors for Joey's.

 (Jy with his NQ Athletics Captains certificate) 

Walla Challenge

After a five year break, we have relaunched a famous Joey's competition, the Walla Challenge. This event sees students in Years 4-7 (mixed teams) representing their designated country in a round robin event held over a number of weeks. It is a non-contact game, where special modified rules are used to especially support our Year 4 students. Whilst being a sporting initiative, it is pastoral in nature. The great sportspersonship that is a tradition at Joey's when competing with other schools, is on display in this event. Teams are encouraged to support all team members (in word and deed), give three cheers at the end of each game, shake hands and 'tunnel off' the opposition. Once pool games are completed, we will have semi finals, before the big game, the Walla Challenge World Cup Final. This will be an event not to miss.

Adopt A School Visit

Our wonderful Year 4 students were the lucky ones on Tuesday to host Josh Maguire, our Adopt A Cowboy. Josh discussed many things, including how to develop resilience. He managed to play a couple of games which we think he enjoyed more than the kids.