St Joseph's School Stanthorpe eNewsletter

The last two weeks have demonstrated the exciting activities and programs St Joseph’s School has to offer and, most importantly, the wonderful talents of our students and staff.

Thanks all for a successful Catholic Education Week (CEW) – the St Joseph’s CEW Parish Mass, the CEW Launch Mass in Toowoomba, the Athletics Carnival, numerous sporting events, and important professional development around our Catholic identity for the staff. It was a week in which all 313 Catholic Schools across Queensland, and St Joey’s in particular, celebrated our distinctive mission and ethos. Assistant to the Principal Formation and Identity, Megan Mahoney, the staff and the students did so well. Thanks also to the many family members and friends who turned up for the Athletics Carnival. It is always a great community day.

I was particularly proud of our two School Captains, Isabel Kay and Kira St John, for their calmness and confidence hosting the Spirit of Catholic Education Awards on Tuesday . To get up in front of all the top echelon of Catholic leadership in Queensland was an outstanding effort and a proud moment for the school. Similarly, well done to School Vice-Captain Kaelie Doyle and Primary Leader Alex Stefanon for their part in the Catholic Education Week Launch Mass on Tuesday 26 July, and to all who attended the St Joseph’s CEW Parish Mass on Sunday 24 July.

The Birmingham Breakfast this week was also a special moment for the school. To have the honour of being one of only five schools across Australia to host a live link with athletes at the Commonwealth Games was a real treat for our Primary students and staff.

We look forward to a successful remainder of Term 3, both inside and outside the classroom.

God Bless.

Andrew Kendall

PRINCIPAL

Over the last two weeks, it has been a very busy time for students and staff alike. We enjoyed some wonderful days of athletics competition, BD trials, interschool soccer and debating, with students striving to compete at their best despite some challenging conditions. I thank all staff, parents and students for their excellent involvement in these extra-curricular events and congratulate all students for competing at their best across all the events.

Parent Teacher consultations took place on the Secondary campus recently and I thank all those involved in these conversations. Hopefully, they provided a valuable opportunity for students, parents and teachers to collaborate around academic performance and put plans in place to continue to improve and achieve success in all subjects. As always, as the year progresses, I encourage you as parents to be proactive in touching base with your child’s teachers if you have any questions, concerns or simply want an update on how things are travelling in class and around school.

The Year 7 2023 Open Afternoon and Information Night for students and families will be held on 11 August commencing at 4.30pm. I thank our Secondary students and staff in advance for their wonderful work in organising activities that will provide a valuable and valuable insight into the quality of the teaching and learning programs on offer at St Joseph’s.

Live Jesus in our hearts

Matthew Brown
Deputy Principal

Last week at our Prep 2023 Open Morning, a parent of a current Prep student remarked that St Joseph's School should not be underestimated in what it can offer learners from Prep through to Year 12 from a classroom perspective with Visible Learning as well as other arenas such as sport, cultural opportunities, service to the community and social justice. This parent also commented that it was a feeling that much more is possible and the community should 'watch this space'!

It was also humbling to hear the reflections from this parent and others who were present about how much their children have grown since starting school and the care and attention that had been showered on them by their teachers. I have no doubt that, had I canvassed such opinion from parents of students in other year levels, such sentiments would have been echoed many times. Our priority at St Joseph's is to see each child as the individual they are and to support them to be the person they can be in all facets of life. We do this with the support of families which we welcome and appreciate.

The busyness of the campus has continued in recent weeks with the school athletics carnival, the opportunity for some to represent the school in touch football and netball in a Catholic Education Week competition and then the Birmingham Breakfast where we asked questions to two Australian athletes currently performing in the Commonwealth Games. Alongside this has been the learning in classrooms, preparations for future assemblies and live virtual sessions presented by authors talking about their books and teaching some skills around illustrating. At one point in the last week when we had a large number of students away, those who were left were able to spend some extended time on their Crisps Art Show entry. This year, Mrs McLucas has developed a wonderful theme for the entries and I encourage families to visit the exhibition when it is opened in September.

Currently we have a 4th year Masters' student working with the Year 6 class. Ms Helena Humble is a former student of St Joseph's and is honing her skills with Ms Thompson and Year 6.

Finally, I would like to welcome Eden and her family to our school. Eden has joined the Year 3 class and has been made to feel very welcome.

With God's blessings

Sarah Yates
Assistant to the Principal Primary

Have you got your bottle or carton of the St Joseph's School ASWS Bronze Medal winning 2022 Reisling yet ?

Well, don't despair, it's not too late.

Head on down to Ballandean Estate Winery to purchase yours now.

$120 / carton - you won't be dissapointed !

Retreat Experiences in Catholic Schools

Retreat experiences and reflection days form part of the distinctive character of Catholic Schools, offering an opportunity for fostering the potential and spirituality of students. These experiences enrich the lives of our young people and honour the development of the whole person. Retreat experiences and reflection days can take many forms, be whole or half day experiences, and be facilitated by staff or outside sources. Ultimately these days offer deep reflection where prayer and scripture are at the core.

At St Joseph’s School the following experiences are offered to students:

Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 half day retreat experiences facilitated by staff (Term 4)
Year 6 full day Leader’s Retreat Program facilitated by staff (Term 1)
Year 7-11 half day retreat with outside facilitators (Term 3)
Year 12 full day retreat and reflection experiences facilitated by staff (Term 4)

Year 7 – 10 students will be undertaking their retreat experiences this week with facilitator Az Hamilton from Just Motivation. “Founder and Director of Just Motivation, Az Hamilton is on a mission to challenge hearts to connect with small ideas that can bring about BIG change in the world”. Using group activities, multi-media, discussions and story-telling the couple of days with Az will be inspiring and uplifting.

God Bless

Megan Mahoney
Assistant to the Principal Formation & Identity

Year 10 students compete to build the most buoyant boat with the same size piece of Aluminium foil.

This is part of their Physics unit, where they are studying a forces such as buoyancy.

Year 10 Science students have also spent time investigating how speed changes with increased ramp angle.

This is also part of their unit in Physics.

Our Year 6 students recently took the time to pass on words of wisdom about the upcoming Year 5 camp.

For the Year 5 students, this is their first camp experience so there are plenty of questions!

What is a maths club?

A Maths Club is a chance for everybody (not just the highest or lowest attainers) to have fun with Maths in an entirely non-judgemental, and ideally relatively free flowing environment.

Students on Secondary enjoy Maths Club every Thursday during their lunch breaks.

Debating season is back! This year St Joseph’s School have proudly entered two teams across each of the Years 7, 8 and 9 debates.

Teams prepared well and demonstrated commitment and dedication to their speech and topic preparation. Team 1 debated strongly against Stanthorpe State High this week, with our Year 7's coming away with a draw, and Year 8 and 9 teams with narrow losses.

Our Team 2 debaters will begin preparations this week for their debate against the Stanthorpe State High teams in a few weeks.

We wish them all the best.

Thursday 28th July saw Year 6 students engage in a Neurographic Art activity, an art method developed by Russian artist and psychologist Dr Piscarev which transforms negative beliefs and emotions into something positive and peaceful through drawing.

Students developed a composition using freeform lines then rounded off intersections which created organic and curved shapes and spaces. They then added colour with watercolour paints.

It was a calm, meditative and relaxing activity and the room was silent the whole time! Mrs Lee even joined in!

Tuesday 2nd August, saw students and staff film the 'Birmingham Breakfast' with Brenna Kean and Brandon Wakeling - two Australian weightlifters who have been competing in the Commonwealth Games in the UK. Some of the footage will be used by Channel 7 as part of their coverage of the Games in forthcoming days.

This was a wonderful opportunity for some of our students to pose questions to an athlete who is competing at the Games. The footage was recorded and will then be used by Channel 7 during their coverage. We were very excited as we are the only QLD host school and one of five schools chosen from 111 who nominated themselves to be host schools.

Well done students and Good Luck to all athletes competing in the Commonwealth Games.

This week, as a lead up to Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week later this month, the Primary students have participated into Step into Stories, a celebration of children’s literature that is organized by the Toowoomba branch of Queensland School Library Association and Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office. It has offered students the fantastic opportunity to listen to, learn from and question inspiring Australian authors and illustrators.

On Monday morning, Prep and Year 1 students enjoyed a very engaging virtual visit by Sue DeGennaro. Year 2 and 3 students joined students from St Maria Goretti School, Inglewood in another virtual session with Sue on Monday afternoon. Sue is an author illustrator who has illustrated over 20 picture books, as well as writing and illustrating 11 books of her own. Her illustrations are quirky and infectiously funny. Sue spoke to students about how she develops her book ideas and then helped students to recreate some of the characters from her books.

On Tuesday, Year 4-6 students joined students from St Patrick’s School, St George in a virtual visit with writer and illustrator Mark Wilson. He is one of Australia’s best-known author/illustrators, with numerous awards to his credit. Mark spoke to students about how he finds inspiration for his books and his illustration techniques. He also discussed endangered species and Australian history, the main themes that run through his books. Mark concluded the session with some drawing activities with the students.

Author Talk – Prep-1

On Monday 1^st August, the Prep class and Year 1 attended the Author Talk via Teams video link which was organised by Mrs Stanford.

We were lucky to have Author – Sue De Gennaro link up and speak to the classes live.

Sue spoke about a book she has both written and illustrated – “We’re Stuck.” It was shortlisted as an Early Childhood Book back in 2020.

All the students enjoyed the session immensely and were very engaged and interested in the step-by-step drawings of the characters from the book. All the students were very proud of their drawings and how they too were able to draw the characters so easily.

Sue spoke and told the students about how she comes up with characters for her books and how she gets ideas to write about her stories. Lots of practise and never giving up.

She also encouraged the students to do the same and keep trying.

Thank you, Mrs Stanford for organising this great event.

Prep and Year 1 classes

The Children's Book Council of Australia's annual Book Week returns in 2022 with the theme "Dreaming with eyes open... ". T

Every year the CBCA holds a Book Week across Australia to promote the importance of reading and the joy that children can find in it.

Bears, Books and Blankets – Thursday 18^th August at 12.40pm on the Primary Oval

Book Week Dress up parade – Thursday 25^th August at 9am in the Stadium

CRISPS YOUTH ART PRIZE 2022

Welcoming art from students of all ages for the 2022 Crisps Youth Art Prize.

The 2022 theme is Stanthorpe 150 - celebrating the history of Stanthorpe.

Crisps Art Prize – https://www.srag.org.au/events/2022/9/12/crisps

Canal to Creek Prize Student Art Competition

To celebrate the Transurban Public Art Program, students in Years 7-10 are invited to create their own artwork, inspired by the 21 signature art pieces that form 'Canal to Creek'.

The theme for the Canal to Creek Prize is 'Connections'. Consideration is to be given to connections to earth, culture, history, movement and environment.

There's over $15,000 in prizes to be won! Entries open 15 August 2022 until 4 November 2022, and winners are announced on 30 January 2023.

Visit - https://canaltocreek.com/wcx/art/prize for more information

If you have any:

- old newspapers, they are always welcome for the Art room!

- plastic and/or paper shopping bags, these are needed to help our Containers for Change program to bag up our recycling to take into the depot.

Please take any of the above items to the Office or Secondary staffroom.

Any donations are appreciated.

Athletics Carnival

Monday 25th July saw the staging of the annual Athletics Carnival at CF White Oval. On a glorious winter's day, the commencement of the day was well and truly underway and students were eager to get behind their teams, McAuley & Davadi.

Students are to be commended on their whole-hearted efforts, with no complaints and plenty of competitive spirit shining through.

The other equally important part of Athletics Carnival is field events day, held in the days preceeding the track carnival. It was so pleasing to see such a high level of participation, with all students putting in their best efforts.

At the culmination of both days Davadi took home three trophies to McAuley's two in an ultra competitive tussle. Trophy winners on the day were as follows:-

Santina Leonardi Overall School Award – Davadi
Sullivan Cup (Secondary Points) – Davadi
Kay Cup (Primary Points) – Davadi
Fleming Family Primary Spirit Trophy – McAuley
St Joseph's Alumni Secondary Spirit Trophy – McAuley

A big thankyou to all staff and volunteers who helped out across both days to bring such enjoyment to the students. It is a real team effort and your work is truly appreciated.

	Runner Up	Age Champion
U9 Girl	Mia Howard	Chloe Inch
U9 Boy	Oliver Hayson	Patrick Moxham
U10 Girl	Billy Skuse	Benjamin Kerridge
U10 Boy	Gracie Zanatta	Ivy Hill
U11 Girl	Milla Fraguas	Georgia Petrie
U11 Boy	Lyndon Morello	Will Favaro
U12 Girl	Faith Lancaster	Natalie Gasparin
U12 Boy	George Mason	Ted Bonner
U13 Girl	Jessica Pradella	Addison McCosker
U13 Boy	Darius Jansink	Stephen Ellis
U14 Girl	Jessica Ellis	Eliza Bonner
U14 Boy	Darius Lees	Harry Wren
U15 Girl	Claire Danzy	Katie Lee Jansink
U15 Boy	Darcy Daddow	Nichols Gallego
U16 Girl	Brigid O'Dea	Claire Williamson
U16 Boy	Samuel Ellis	Ryan Whiticker
Open Girl	Caitlyn Hennoste and Chelsea Debnam	Eliza Telfer
Open Boy	Will Bonner	Jack Bell

Records

Name	Event	Time	Previous Record
Eliza Telfer	Open Girls High Jump	1.34m	1.33m Mikaela Sullivan 2014
Darcy Daddow	15Yrs Boys Triple Jump	9.75m	9.61m Cameron Girgenti 1999
Natasha Brierley	Open Girls Shot Put	8.46m	7.62m Alkeer Kamara 2014
Darius Jansink	13Yrs Boys Shot Put	13.33m	12.7m Cameron Beale 2001
Katie Lee Jansink	15Yrs Girls Shot Put	11.64m	10.95m Julie Mattiazzi 1987
Chloe Inch	13Yrs Girls 80m	13.35s	13.60s E Bonner 2017

Orienteering

The weekend of the 23rd & 24th July saw the 2022 Queensland Schools Orienteering Championship take place in the Ipswich area.

St Joseph’s had 7 student representatives on the Darling Downs team. Those students were Eden Shatte, Erin O’Dea, Addison McCosker, Aryanna Davie, Margaret O’Dea, Damon Pompetti and Oliver Lahey. For most of our St Joseph’s ‘team’, this was their first State Championship. Despite this, the team achieved very well.

We were blessed with great weather to compete in the three events – a sprint through the campus of USQ Ipswich, a hagaby (kind of like a one person relay) and a long distance event along a section of Deebing Creek. At the sprint, Oliver placed second in the 11yr Boys category. In the 13yr Girls section, a last minute course correction put Addison in 4^th place by just 11 seconds.

The hagaby courses were done on a brand new map. Our team finished around the middle of the field in each category – see full results below.

		Sprint @ USQ Ipswich		Hagaby @ Mt Crosby		Long Distance @Deebing Creek
		Time	Place	Time	Place	Time	Place
Damon	B11	9:09	6 of 14	15:16	7 of 13	19:33	4 of 14
Oliver	B11	7:14	2 of 14	15:07	6 of 13	13:50	2 of 14
Addison	G13	13:14	4 of 19	18:44	6 of 17	24:34	6 of 17
Aryanna	G13	17:16	8 of 19	24:03	12 of 17	28:44	9 of 17
Margaret	G13	19:16	12 of 19	23:55	9 of 12	33:32	10 of 17
Eden	Junior		*1		*1		*2
Erin	Junior		*2	31:06	7 of 11	1:43:54	1 of 2

*1 mispunched
*2 given wrong map

The last event was the long distance race. Erin came first in the Junior Girls Standard category after being out on her course for 1 hour and 43 minutes. She got lost but found her way back to a big applause. Unfortunately Eden was given the wrong map and couldn’t record a result. Oliver gained another second place medal, missing out on the top spot by only 14 seconds.

With the help of our students, the Darling Downs team placed first overall. In the schools competition, St Joseph’s came 4^th out of 46 schools.

If you are interested in orienteering, please contact Mr Allan Lahey.

Touch Football & Netball - Toowoomba Primary Catholic Schools Carnivals

On Thursday 28^th July, students attended the Toowoomba Primary Catholic Schools Touch Football and Netball Carnivals.

In the touch football, St Joseph's entered a Year 5 team and two Year 6 teams (Davadi and McAuley). Each of our touch teams played five games, winning all but one game between them in the non-competitive division.

The netball teams all had a great carnival learning a lot of new skills. Our year 5 team was successful in the non-competitive competition drawing one of their games and winning all the others.

The year 6 team was in the competitive section so were unlucky not to have any wins but all played really well.

Overall a wonderful day and a great experience for our students.

Border District Athletics

Last Thursday 28th July, the annual Border District Athletics Carnival was held. A great representation of St Joseph’s students attended the day with 16 students stepping up to the next level.

Four students on the day jumped, run or threw qualifying distances/times to compete at the Darling Downs Championships. These students were Addison McCosker, Claire Williamson, Katie-Lee Jansink and Darius Jansink.

In a special mention for Darius, he took out the 13 Years Boys Shot Put event setting a new record of 14.22m. Congratulations Darius.

And a huge thankyou to Mr Jacob Steele and the parent group who transported the students to the event.

Red Lion Soccer

Last Tuesday 26th July, our Open Girls Soccer team travelled to Toowoomba to contest the Red Lion Cup Soccer event.

The girls finished top of their pool on the day with 2 wins and a draw from their 3 matches which now sees the girls move on to the next round of the competition.

Finishing on top of the pool, the girls secured a home semi final match up against St Saviour College, Toowoomba. A date and time is yet to be ratified for the home final but will be communicated as soon as it comes to hand.

Congratulations girls and Ms Cullinan on your hard work.

Equestrian Success

On the 27^th of June, Year 12 student Lara Parnell, competed at the Qld Interschool Equestrian State Championships held in Toowoomba.

Lara competed in the Working Hunter class and was awarded with 4^th place overall in this event.

In more exciting news for Lara, she received notification on Tuesday evening that she has now secured a position on the Qld State Team for the Interschool Nationals at SEIC NSW ffrom the 26th to 30th September where she will not only be representing St Joseph's School but Queensland also.

Congratulations Lara - well done !

1 - 5 August	Inspire Maths Week
5 August	Year 12 Bingo Night
	Granite Belt Athletics
11 August	Year 7 2023 Open Day
12 August	Prep & Year 1 - Dental Talks
15 August	Assumption of Mary
15 - 19 August	Science Week
15 August	Year 11 / 12 Hybrid Learning Day
18 August	Bears, Books & Blankets Picnic
	Vietnam Veteran's Day
19 August	Darling Downs Cricket Trials (10-12 Yrs)
22 - 26 August	Book Week
25 August	Book Week Dress Up Parade

SSPC_Poster_PRINT.pdf

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Set_a_Safe_Pace_at_School_A4_Landscape.pdf

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Aspire_2_Health_flyer_Stanthorpe.pdf

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Ordinary_Time_17th_Sunday_24.07.2022.pdf

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5 Jun	School Photo Catchup Day All day

19 Jun	TCS Arts Festival 19 Jun 2023 - 22 Jun 2023

19 Jun	Year 10 Work Experience 19 Jun 2023 - 23 Jun 2023

19 Jun	Year 9 Camp 19 Jun 2023 - 21 Jun 2023

19 Jun	Primary Field Events 19 Jun 2023 - 22 Jun 2023

20 Jun	Year 11 RSA All day

21 Jun	Year 8 Camp 21 Jun 2023 - 23 Jun 2023

21 Jun	Year 11 First Aid Training All day

23 Jun	Term 2 Finishes All day

23 Jun	End of Term Liturgy All day

24 Jun	School Holidays 24 Jun 2023 - 09 Jul 2023

25 Jun	QISSN 25 Jun 2023 - 30 Jun 2023

2 Jul	NAIDOC Week 02 Jul 2023 - 09 Jul 2023