5 August 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's News

Dear Families

As you know, last week marked Catholic Education Week. We started our celebrations with Parish Mass and many of our students and families attended. We enjoyed morning tea after Mass prepared by students under the guidance of one of our teachers, Mrs Alyssa Taylor.

As you would expect, Catholic Education Week was a focus among students, and we had a few things happening on each campus to mark this special occasion. The theme was "Opening Doors to Mercy", and so we carried this "door" theme across the school. I want to thank Mrs Megan Mahoney (APRE) for preparing our celebrations; to our musicians and choir members for enlivening Mass with beautiful music, and to all our students and staff who contributed to and cooperated with all the activities. A beautiful day at the Athletics Carnival was a great way to punctuate a special week. I have included below a copy of the address I gave at Mass last weekend.

Principal's Address: Catholic Education Week, 2016.

Catholic Education Week is both a time of celebration and reflection. The first Catholic school was established in 1845, located at the site of the current Myer Centre in Queen St. It was only 30 years later that our school was established by the Sisters of Mercy. While the Catholic Church might be accused of moving slowly in some areas, when it comes to fulfilling a need, the progress is relatively rapid.

I say to our students that they are so fortunate to be students in a Catholic school which is well resourced, and staffed with experienced and qualified personnel. This was not always the case, and we stand on the shoulders of those pioneers of Catholic education – both religious and lay people – who persevered in the face of great hardships, motivated by the transformative power of education in the lives of young people.

But Catholic Education Week is also a time for reflection; a time to consider our place and function in the world in the face of a rising and powerful secularism which emphasises the values of individualism, relativism and a secular humanism. Catholic schools are constantly scrutinised and questions are raised about the relevance of faith-based education in a so-called modern, 21st century world.

Not unlike the Israelites who were called by God to sing the Lord's song in a new land, Catholic schools are called to sing the Lord's song in a new age, and strive to not be drowned out by the sirens' songs, characterised by a progressive modernity. Catholic schools have always been called to discern the signs of the times and to interpret these in light of the Gospel, and our role as teachers and staff in a Catholic school is to draw on the deep, rich well of Catholic spiritual and academic tradition to equip our students to be disciples for a contemporary world.

Turn on the news, read a newspaper and you will see that the world is at a critical point in its history. Humanity is increasingly divided along political, religious, racial and cultural lines. This makes Catholic education, and its evangelising mission, ever more relevant. Our young people live in a world of constant change, and they too can be agents of positive change in the world. Our role as Catholic educators is to instil in them an understanding of this powerful influence, and inculcate in them religious, political and intellectual understandings which allows young people to see with clarity that a world of change inevitably pushes some to the periphery. We want them to reach out to those on the margins, and to recognise poverty in its various forms, and to act. Pope Francis tells us this:

It is not a question of a mission reserved only to a few: "The Church, guided by the Gospel of mercy and by love for mankind, hears the cry for justice and intends to respond to it with all her might".[153] In this context we can understand Jesus' command to his disciples: "You yourselves give them something to eat!" (Mk 6:37): it means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter. (11/24/13, no. 188).

Schools across all systems are under pressure to perform; to improve student outcomes, to improve teacher quality; to use funding responsibly. We have league tables which record our performance against arbitrarily selected standards which allegedly indicate progress or lack thereof. But, Catholic schools should express differently their measures of success. Perhaps we should determine whether we have deepened young people's relationship with Jesus; whether have we offered life-giving learning to all our students; and if we have empowered staff to see their work as transformative rather than focused on an agenda of mere improvement. If we do not measure ourselves by these criteria, we are no different to any other school. We cannot be imitators of current practice; we have to be uniquely different (Whitby, 2016). And if we – teachers, parents and students - spend our time and energy worrying about what the school down the road offers, we're missing the point of Catholic education. Being competitive is important, but our Catholic identity and what the rich tradition of the Church offers to our humanity is of far greater value than all the subject offerings, extra-curricular activities and social opportunities combined.

Personally, I become frustrated when I see Catholic families choosing other systems to educate their children. And while they may make their decisions for reasons other than religion, as a school we need to seize opportunities, just like this, to really express what our school and Catholic education seek to achieve for those who are members of its community; to illuminate for them our unique, life-giving difference, and the inestimable ways in which a Catholic education can truly transform lives.

[Acknowledgements: Whitby, G. (2016). Sing the lord's song. Topics (26)2.]

U16 Boys Futsal

Last Friday our U16 Boys Futsal Team competed in the Championship finals of the Queensland Futsal Competition in Brisbane. The team qualified for this tournament by coming 2nd in the South-West District competition.

The team played extremely well against some well-honed, experienced and skilled players who attend schools with actual futsal programs. The team won 1, lost 3 and drew 2 games in total, placing them 4th in their pool. While this was not enough to get them into the semi-finals, the boys competed brilliantly against those schools that made the finals.

As is always the case, the boys were a pleasure to take away, and were great ambassadors for our school. They played fairly, in the spirit of sportsmanship and persevered to achieve some fantastic results in spite of the 4am start to the day. I offer my thanks to Graham Hitchener for assisting me and the team on the day.

Finally, the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office will re-advertise the Principal position this weekend. This is a positive sign that recruitment is focused on appointing the most suitable person.

Dr Michael McCarthy
Principal

Leader's News

"Opening the Doors in the Year of Mercy" was the theme for Catholic Education Week celebrated throughout Queensland last week. The week began with a wonderful representation of students at the Parish Mass last Sunday. Students were involved in various roles and, together with the Church choir and staff musicians, provided beautiful singing for families and parishioners. A delectable morning tea followed.

Each student on the primary campus marked the occasion by creating their own individual doors which opened to display a special message or mercy intention. These were displayed behind wooden door props for classes to view throughout the week. On the secondary campus, students were invited to write their own mercy intention on one of four old wooden doors which had been painted in our Mercy colours. Many of the staff and students took the opportunity to write personal messages to share. Our week culminated with beautiful weather for our annual sport's carnival. The participation, encouragement and support offered to all students was a wonderful example of the mercy values St. Joseph's School continues to uphold and foster.

Mrs Megan Mahoney
APRE

School News

Year 2B News

Learning about Jewish Culture

Last term in Religion 2B learnt all about Jewish faith and culture and how it links to the Catholic faith. We read some covenant stories and presented our favourite, Noah and the Promise, to the primary school for our prayer assembly. The students have loved learning about the significance of a rainbow and how it is special to us as Catholics. During this unit we also came across different artefacts of Judaism and had turns wearing the yarmulke, as well as the prayer shawl. To finish off our Jewish culture unit the students got to show off their sewing skills and make their own head-tefillin. The head-tefillin (also known as a shel rosh in Hebrew) is a Jewish prayer band that people wear to remind themselves that God saved the Israelites by moving them out of Egypt. The student wrote down a special prayer to put inside their tefillins. It was a wonderful lesson and the children loved being able to sew on their own!

NAIDOC Week Activities

On the 20th of July, 2B spent some time with the Year 12s and did some fun activities for NAIDOC week. All of the students, both Year 2s and 12s had a wonderful time painting boomerangs, doing dot paintings and completing some outdoor games. Here are some photos of the fun we had!

Book Week

Book Week begins for us on Monday 22nd August until Friday 26th August. The theme is... Australia: Story Country.

We are also celebrating Book Week with our Book Fair. The Book Fair will commence on Thursday 18th August and go until Wednesday morning 24th August. As the final date coincides with the Parade, you will have the opportunity to buy and stay for the parade.

We will also be having a very special LAUNCH for Book Week, in the shape of a Primary picnic lunch. will take place on Thursday 18th August. Students, in picnic groups Books, Bears and Blankets will have stories read to them as they enjoy their lunch with their friends. Parents are most welcome to attend and after the students return to the classroom you will be invited to enjoy our library displays and check out the Book Fair. Reminders and further details will be sent out closer to time.

Students are becoming increasingly excited about our Book Week Parade which occurs in the Bathersby Centre at 9.00am on Wed 24th August. Children are invited to dress as their favourite book character – or with the theme of Australia Story Country in mind. Either is acceptable. As we always emphasise, costumes that are created from what you have already – and created by the children themselves - is the way to go. There are many great characters who are children and only require an outfit already in the wardrobe and we are also available to help students and parents with their choices.

Please note: The information book The Amazing True Story of How Babies are made is a brilliant resource for sharing the reproduction system and process with your children. It is very graphic in parts but presented in picture book illustration and style, and is best suited as a book for parents to read with their children. For these reasons it is located in the Teacher Reference section and can be borrowed by parents. Please feel free to come in and borrow this very useful and beautifully presented book.

Mrs. Grant (Teacher-Librarian)

Year 11/12 Biology Excursion to Girraween

ROBO Cup Success

This year, for the first time, a student team from St Joseph's travelled to Toowoomba to take part in the Darling Downs Robocup Junior competition, held as a regional event at the Clive Berghofer Centre at USQ on Tuesday 26th July.

The Robocup Junior competition, which has run since 2000, is a competition which requires students to build and program robots with various capabilities. The St Joseph's team chose to enter the most difficult division of the competition, designing a team of two robots to compete in a game of robotic soccer.

The team of students, despite being the youngest in the "Soccer" division of the competition, and never having competed in a Robocup competition before, made it to the Grand Final of the competition, where they defeated their more experienced competitors in a tie-breaking "golden minute" and walked away victorious as the overall winners of their division.

The five students from Year 8 - Rory McDonagh, Peter Thompson, Mel Petroccitto, James Humble and Tiana Bray - began working on an entry in the Soccer division of the competition in Term 1. Meeting weekly as a Robotics group and demonstrating skill beyond their age and experience the team built their two robots using Lego robotics kits, and programmed them to chase an infrared soccer ball. The task was complex, requiring them to design their robots to fairly tight specifications, and to employ a variety of sensors so that the robot could track and follow the ball independently.

With success and a little more experience under their belt, the team are now looking forward to refining their approach as designers and programmers, and to seeing the Robotics group continue to grow in success in future years at St Joseph's.

Sports News

Athletics Carnival

Athletics Carnival

Week Three of Term Three saw our annual Track and Field Carnivals take place. After a couple of average days' weather wise we were blessed on Friday with a magnificent day. It was great to see so many of our students striving to do their best as they competed with class mates to gain selection to the Granite Belt or Border District Athletics events.

Our record breakers on the day were Anika Spiller in the 15 Years 200 metre event, Darcy Daddow in the 9 year boys 80 metres, the 15 year McAuley girls relay team and Alesha Westerhout in the 15 years girls Javelin.

Thank you to our sponsors the Green and Cook families for our Age Champion and Runner Up trophies. The Kay, Sullivan and Fleming families, Santina Leonardi and the Alumni for our Champion house and Spirit trophies. Thank you also to our Tuckshop committees for your hard work and support.

Overall Age Champions and Runners Up were as follows:

9 Years

Age Champions: Boys - Dustin Alldridge
Girls - Shania Politch
Runners Up:Boys - Charlie Haynes & Darcy Daddow
Girls – Claire Danzey

10 Years

Age Champions: Boys - Mack Rowen
Girls - Claire Williamson
Runners Up Boys - Jye Cook
Girls - Ava O'Reilly

11 Years

Age Champions: Boys - Jordan Waterworth
Girls - Ashley O'Brien
Runners Up: Boys - Jack Lewis
Girls - Chelsea Debnam and Eliza Telfer

12 Years

Age Champion: Boys - Jack McMeniman
Girls - Georgette Forbes
Runners Up Boys – Brayden Spiller
Girls - Charlotte Widderick

13 Years

Age Champion: Boys - Matthew Biddulph and Rory McDonagh
Girls - Gianna Newman
Runners Up: Girls - Lilly Earl Jones

14 Years

Age Champion: Boys - Daniel Gasparin
Girls - Bridgette Kay
Runners Up: Boys - Lachlan Mahoney
Girls - Georgia Harris

15 Years

Age Champion: Boys - Lachlan Swan
Girls - Anika Spiller
Runners Up: Boys - Spencer Jensen
Girls - Hannah Debnam

16 Years

Age Champion: Boys - Zac Thompson
Girls - Eve Perrett
Runners Up: Boys - BJ Perrett
Girls - Celeste Buda

Open Years

Age Champion: Boys - Nigel Eldridge
Girls - Caitlin Debnam
Runners Up: Boys - Regan Sullivan
Girls - Alyssa Mouws

Parish News

THURSDAY 4TH AUGUST 2016

FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH

Each year St. Joseph's Parish provides an opportunity for interested adults and youth to find out more about preparing for Baptism or how to become a Catholic. This is always of interest to many, especially those married to a Catholic wishing to know more about the faith of their spouse or children; those not Baptised or of no religious background; or anyone wanting to know more about the Catholic faith.

Fr. Brian invites anyone who may be interested to come to an Inquiry opportunity on this Sunday 7th August at 11AM at St. Joseph's Presbytery or to contact St. Joseph's Presbytery to indicate your interest 4681 2157 or email stjosephsparish@halenet.com.au Without any obligation you can find out about what is involved in preparing for Baptism or to become a Catholic. You will be most welcome.

FOR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

INVITING PARENTS
TO PREPARE THEIR CHILDREN FOR THE SACRAMENTS

Children who are in Year three or older are at an age
when they can be prepared for the Sacraments.

Please contact the Parish Office
(4681 2157 or stjosephsparish@halenet.com.au)
if you wish to enrol your child to prepare
for the Sacrament of Reconciliation this year.

(Parent Night Sunday 11th September at 6PM)
four weeks of Instruction in October and November after the holidays.)

The children will be Confirmed
and receive their First Holy Communion in 2017.

Please contact Fr. Brian if you need advice or guidance.