St Joseph's Catholic School The Strand eNewsletter

Friday 31st July - Book Club Due - Money to office or order online

Friday 21st August - Book Week Celebration - Theme - "Curious Creatures"

Tuesday 15th September - Interschool Athletics Carnival @ The Red Track Townsville Sports Reserve

Dear Parents and Carers

With some states struggling once again with COVID outbreaks it is timely to remind everyone that while restrictions in Queensland have relaxed schools are still being asked to reduce risk by continuing to promote social distancing. Advice from Queensland Catholic Education is included below.

Physical distancing within schools

Schools should encourage staff, parents and other adult visitors to observe physical distancing measures by not congregating in areas inside or around the school. Local school arrangements to practise physical distancing and minimise the interaction of students and adults within the school and at school entry points may include:

restricting adult (including visitors and parent) access to school grounds.
supervision at school gates, including during, drop off and pick up times and supervised movements between the school gate and classrooms.
minimising adult access to office environments and recommending contact be made to the school via electronic means.

While the school at this time is not enforcing these suggestions I would ask all families to consider their options and where possible limit their levels of interaction and maintain sensible social distancing protocols within the school where possible. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Recently the Diocesan Education Council revised their Privacy Policy. As part of this review, I would ask that you familiarise yourself with the information outlined below. As always should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The school collects personal information, including sensitive information, about pupils and parents or guardians before and during the course of a pupil's enrolment. This may be in writing, through technology systems or in the course of conversations. The primary purpose of collecting this information is to enable us to provide schooling to pupils enrolled at the school, exercise our duty of care, and perform necessary associated administrative activities, which will enable pupils to take part in the activities of the school. Some of the information collected is to satisfy legal obligations. The Townsville Catholic Education Office Collection Notice for Schools and Privacy Policy offers more detailed information about information collection and can be found on our school website.

PHOTOGRAPH/VIDEO/SOCIAL MEDIA PERMISSION

On occasion, information such as academic and sporting achievements, pupil activities and similar news is published in school and Townsville Catholic Education newsletters and magazines, intranet, social media pages, websites or otherwise shared with the Townsville Catholic Education/school community. This may include photographs and videos of pupil activities such as sporting events, concerts, masses, assemblies, school camps and school excursions. Copyright of images is retained by the Townsville Catholic Education Office, the Diocese of Townsville or their contractor, and there is no remuneration or compensation for the images. If you DO NOT wish to consent to your child's photograph/video appearing in any or all of the above, or if you wish to withdraw this authorisation and consent, you must notify the school in writing.

Have a great week

Tim

Mercy Values

Over the past few weeks, the students have been exploring our Mercy Value of Love. When exploring our values it is important that we look at each value through the lens of the Gospels, St Joseph our Patron Saint and Catherine McAuley, founder of the Mercy Sisters, so that we can fully understand how the value applies to us here at St Joseph’s. Today we will examine the value of Love through each of these lenses.

As a Catholic school, St Joseph’s is governed by Gospel Values, the greatest of which is love. Jesus called us to love one another just as he loved us. No one showed the depths of true love more than our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God. He set the example for believers to show love to each other and to the world by what he did. He spread love and peace to everyone he met. He gave his life for us. We are also reminded of our school motto of Love God, Love Each Other. When we think about the value of love we think about:

Love expressed as a dedicated commitment to goodness and life - “walk the talk”.
A love that makes us fully aware of the presence of Christ in others.
Love is lived out in constant acts of kindness, both planned and spontaneous.
Care and compassion (care for self and others)
Being open to the power of Social Justice

(taken from TCEO Gospel Values document)

Our school is named after St Joseph. In the Gospels, St Matthew identifies Joseph was “an upright man.” He loved Mary and Jesus and they loved him in return. He followed and respected God's commands. St Joseph loved God enough to follow and respect God’s call to care for and look after Mary and Jesus.

In 1879, St Joseph’s was taken over by the Sisters of Mercy after the departure of the Sisters of St Joseph and we have been a Mercy school ever since. Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy. Catherine McAuley loved God very much. She prayed and spent her time helping others and leading others to God. Throughout her whole life, Catherine kept listening to God and doing what God was asking her to do. The Sisters of Mercy have said that “our gift is to know God’s loving-kindness and share it with others”.

Prayer

Loving God, in your great love you have given us your son, Jesus, to be our model and guide. You also blessed us with St Joseph and Catherine McAuley as role models for how to show and live the value of love. Open our hearts to listen to your word. May our growing love and kindness be a sign of your love at work in our lives. May we strive to live out our school motto of Love God, Love Each Other. We make this prayer to you in Jesus’ name. Amen

The theme for Catholic Education Week 2020 is: “A Spirited Tomorrow".
This theme acknowledges the 175th anniversary of the opening of the first Catholic school in Queensland, the long tradition of Catholic education and its continued relevance in preparing students for the future.

Let us pray.
God of this brand-new day,
You have filled the world with life
through the gift of the Spirit.
As we celebrate 175 years of Catholic Education in Queensland,
We ask that you continue to pour out your Spirit upon us all,
so that each one of us will be strengthened to take your Word into our world.
We make this prayer in the name of Jesus our Lord.

Amen

3HF explored Catholic Education Week by talking about why they love going to a Catholic School. Check out some of their work below.

Work from 4O

Check out some of the work from the students in 4O about what God's love is like. Well done 4O!

Have a great week!

Take Care and God Bless

Amanda

http://readiscover1.blogspot.com.au/ Click this link to see articles on reading and other educational literature, photos of library events and any upcoming competitions.

Changed Book Week Format: This year we will be changing the Book Week format to stay in line with Covid restrictions. This means it will not be a whole school gathering.

The format will be as follows:

Children will come down with their buddy classes in this order-

Yr2 & 4s, Yr1s & 6s, Preps & 5s and finally Yr3s & Kindy kids.

Children will do some fun reading activities with their classes.
There will be no reading games
Parents can’t attend…sorry
Junior librarian/teacher play will go online.
Plenty of photos will be posted online.

Book Week Theme - Curious Creatures, Wild Minds.

Prep- Cranky Bear, Trolls, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales

Year 1- Eric Carle, Bugs and insects found in stories

Year 2 – Roald Dahl, Bugs

Year 3- Wizard of Oz,

Year 4 -Chronicles of Narnia,

Year 5 - Greek Mythology,

Year 6- Alice in Wonderland

Costume Tips –

Make a costume rather than buy one.
Involve your child with altering something you have at home.
Using felt is a great material to cut out some necessary shapes such as ears, bowties or crowns to add to the costume.

Here are the junior librarians making their own costumes at school. A piece of cheap fabric and some coloured pens was all they needed. So, they are uniform card soldiers wearing black and white clothes underneath.

Junior librarians preparing for the book week play.

Ava Reguson and the card soldiers preparing for a secret junior librarian mission happening all over the school.

You are safe if you are a reader!!

Litpro Certificate Achievers:

Congratulations Thomas Griffiths, Lua Jennings, Aoife Fitzgerald,

Eamon Thorley, Atticus Rahmel

Happy Reading Fun

Belinda Walker (Teacher Librarian)

Sporting Schools Grant

We are pleased to announce that our federally funded Sporting Schools grant will be used for a Years 4-6 Cricket program conducted by Queensland Cricket.

A Queensland Cricket coaching specialist will be visiting St Joseph’s over the next four weeks to deliver his expert teachings to our Years 4, 5 and 6 students. The Cricket Australia-devised Sporting Schools program is specifically designed for primary school students and centres on a ‘learn through play’ philosophy that allows children to develop their fine motor skills and cricket abilities through fun, skill-based activities. After three weeks, the students will put all the skills they learned together and play an exciting and inclusive modified game of cricket.

Walla Challenge 2020

Our much awaited 2020 Walla Challenge commences next week.This is a sporting and pastoral initiative that has become an annual event. This challenge sees students in Years 4-7 (mixed teams) representing their designated country in a round robin event held over a number of weeks. The challenge is a non-contact game, where modified rules have been created to especially support our Year 4 students. The great sportsmanship that Joey's is renowned for, 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. The whole school is invited to attend the 'World Cup' final, which will be streamed live, with students podcasting the game. The St. Joey’s Year 6 Sporting Pastoral group are instrumental in organising and running this much-loved event.