16 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's News

Dear Parents and Carers

You will have received a letter from the Executive Director, Dr Pat Coughlan, announcing the appointment of Mr Phil McGreevy as Principal from 2017. Phil comes to Stanthorpe from Brisbane, where he is currently APRE at Southern Cross Catholic College, Scarborough. He will visit during Term 4 as part of the handover process, and I know he will be made to feel very welcome. This is an exciting new phase of leadership at St Joseph's School and I know he will have broad support from the school community.

The Strategic Directions (2017-2021) detail the areas of focus for the next five years, and is the result of consultation with staff and school leadership. These areas are Catholic Identity, Teaching and Learning, and Continual Renewal. This document was presented to the P&F on Tuesday night and will be officially distributed to all families in 2017 and has been included at the end of this newsletter for your information. This is an important document in that it illuminates the performance dimensions of the school through clearly articulated targets, and if you have any comments or questions about the Strategic Directions document, please make contact with me before the end of the first week of Term 4.

Friday was a busy day for the P&F with both Palgrove and Trivia Night fundraisers taking place. The P&F runs the BBQ at the Palgrove bull sale and this year was a very successful one. Thanks to our parents Sally Rowen, Jolene McLellan Rose-Alba Musumeci, Amanda Bonner, Peter Alldridge and Year 12 students Jordan McLellan, Natalie Cannavo and Steven Testa for their work on the day. During the evening, the Trivia got into full swing and was the usual professionally organised affair, with challenging questions in a variety of modes. Thanks to all of our parent volunteers and especially co-ordinator Jodie Cosmo, question master Dan O'Dea , and the creative director Jen Wren. Many thanks to all our supporters who booked tables for the night.

Our Secondary students will receive reports in the first week of the holidays. These reports are a new addition to our reporting cycle to ensure parents receive up-to-date information about their child's progress. The results detailed on the report are interim results for Term 3, with final results for the Semester detailed in the final report in December. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's performance this term, please make contact with the relevant teacher.

Dr Michael McCarthy

Leader's News

Gifts, rainbows, dots and stars were key words being spoken by students in Years 3 to 6 when they had the opportunity to participate in half day retreats last Tuesday and Wednesday. These retreats, facilitated by John Mahoney as well as classroom teachers, allowed students to listen with new ears to those around them while focussing on themes including the gifts we bring to God's beautiful world, the uniqueness of us all and the message of acceptance. Students participated in prayer rituals as well as a forgiveness and blessing ritual for older students. Being held on the Secondary campus allowed students to experience what the next stage of their schooling journey will involve, which also included some fast paced handball games with Secondary students. Students had the opportunity to reflect on their experiences, samples of which are below:

"Something special I will remember is the gift tree because it was filled with thoughtful and encouraging reflections."
Zoe Bray Year 4

"I especially enjoyed getting gifts from other people and giving gifts."
Luke Webb, Year 4

"A new experience was to get in front of everyone and let them describe me."
Isaac Kay, Year 3

"Something new I learnt – if you talk to God he will understand you."
Jade Poole Year 3

"Retreats are like life lessons, for example they help you gain trust. Retreats also tell you how to keep that trust. Retreats also tell us how to show dignity."
Lucas Wren Year 6

"It will help us by helping us to realise that we need to consider other people's ideas because they all have different GIFTS."
Taylor Organ Year 5

"The retreat helps us to listen with our ears, eyes and heart. You listen with your eyes by looking at them, you listen with your heart by showing love to them."
Emily Dunn Year 5

Mrs Megan Mahoney
APRE

School News

Term 3, Week 9 was certainly a busy one if you were in Year Three or Four. Not only did we participate in retreats run by Mr John Mahoney and travel to Brisbane to listen to four fantastic authors, but we were also visited by a past student, Teresa Gasparin. Teresa is the Aunty of one of our current Year Four students, Luke Gasparin, and came to speak to us about her vocation and her impending trip to England as part of missionary work with Verbum Dei missionaries. She explained to us how she will be helping people to find God in their lives and that this mission might involve much travel around the world. We were most impressed with her developing Spanish language skills and will look forward to hearing stories about her travels and mission over the coming years.

Year 5/6 Camp

In response to the statement that school camps are not a meaningful use of time and that students would be better off staying at school learning times tables, handwriting, and other skills, the students in 5/6FY offered these thoughts:

'Camp is just a time to get away from things and have some fun while learning. On camp you learn heaps of things such as pushing out of your comfort zone. If I wasn't on camp I would not have put up my hand up to test our raft, although because I was on camp I did.'
Lucas Wren

'So much can be learnt at camp. Things that are important to life, but aren't vital to living comfortably, things like outdoor skills, life skills like confidence, self-esteem and teamwork. These things aren't vital to physical survival but vital to being successful.'
Georgette Forbes

'When I was on camp I learned that you don't have to work by yourself. You can work together and you can achieve more with a team than by yourself.'
Luke Taylor

'At the Mission Mud course you learned teamwork and looking out for each other. When one person was stuck you would get them out of the mud and walk or run together'
Kaitlin Carpenter

'I learned that working by yourself is not the best way. It teaches you to listen to everyone and work as a team. When you work together you make better choices and make new friendships or get to know more about someone. Camp helps you to be more confident and take a risk.'
Jordan Waterworth

'When people come back they are more brave and more competitive.'
Rieley Beckett

'One of the main things that I learnt on camp was to take responsibility for my own actions and to be aware of those around me who need help or might be struggling.'
Taylah Organ

'Confidence boosting is something we acquire if we participate. Most kids have at least one thing they are not confident with. For example, Mrs Yates jumped into a pit full of mud twice even though it was out of her comfort zone. This was only one of the many things our classes have been through to boost our confidence for life.'
Michael Westerhout

Retreats

Last week, students in Years 5 and 6 participated in a retreat.

The focus of the Year 5 retreat was for the students to take the opportunity to reflect on their own uniqueness and also the gifts that each of them has that can be shared in order to enhance the lives of others. After reading the story 'You are Special' by Max Lucado, they offered each other stars with affirming messages.

The students in Year 6 reflected on the need to build trust within relationships, and considered how important it is to have the courage to own mistakes and ask for forgiveness. They participated in a liturgy at the end of the retreat, where friendships were recognised and strengthened.

Thank you to Mrs Mahoney for her organisation of the retreats and also to Mr John Mahoney who led the sessions.

Congratulations to Crisp Art Show Winners

Charlotte Zanatta
Olivia Favaro
Ashley Juriss
Allara Campbell
Sienna Zanatta
Dominic Rossiter
Lochie Westlake-Rix
Freya Creer

Mini Vinnies Social Justice Day

Year 6 students Joshua Carlson, Alyssa Gasparin and Cydney McErvale represented the school at a Mini Vinnies Social Justice Day held at St Mary's School, Toowoomba on 15 September.  The day involved working with students from other schools from the Diocese to discover ways in which random acts of kindness might make a difference to people's lives.  The three students came away with many ideas which they look forward to sharing with Mr Grew in Term 4. 

Sports News

On Tuesday the 6th of September the following students attended the Darling Downs Track and Field Selection Trials: Felicity Dachs, Georgette Forbes, Genevieve Gasparin, Isabel Kay, Taryn McCosker, Jack McMeniman, Ashley O'Brien, Brigid O'Dea, Shania Politch, Mackenzie Rowen, Hannah Widderick, Charlotte Widderick, and Claire Williamson.

On a perfect day for competition the students performed well in all events entered with a number of personal bests achieved. The highlights in terms of achievement were Ashley O'Brien placing third in her 100 metre heat, and in a sensational result, Georgette Forbes has been selected to attend the State Titles to compete after finishing third overall in the 100 metre event and first place in the 200 metre event. She has also gained selection in the relay team.

David Fleming
Assistant Principal – Primary Campus

P & F News

The P&F have had an extremely busy weekend holding 2 fundraisers on the one day. Firstly the Palgrove Bull Sale was on Friday morning where we catered morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. The cakes, slices and biscuits were provided for us by Home Economics teacher, Alyssa Taylor, and her students, which proved very popular with salegoers. The steak, which was provided by Prue and David for our burgers at lunch, was second to none, and enough of a reason to travel from all over Australia to be there… that and the magnificent animals for sale.

There was quite a large crowd on the day, and even with the weather closing in, everything moved ahead like clockwork. Many thanks to Sally Rowen and her band of helpers: Peter Alldridge, Amanda Bonner, Jolene McLellan, Rose-Alba Musumeci and the three wonderful hospitality students that helped out on the day. There were many positive comments on the day from the patrons regarding the wonderful quality of the steak burgers that we provided.

Sally will have a full report for us at the next P&F meeting. Palgrove has always proved to be a great day for all who volunteer their time out there. Congratulations also to Sally Rowen who was lucky enough to be the winner of the Whip, which was generously donated by the Nemeth Family.

The Trivia evening was held Friday night with the theme of "A Night at the Movies". It too was a successful event with much fun had by all who attended. It was great to see teams dressing up in theme. A fantastic effort by all, with a lot of time and thought put into all the outfits. There are always a number of people who deserve recognition after an event like this. In particular, Jodie Cosmo did an outstanding job coordinating this event with the help of her committee and helpers on the night:

Peter Alldridge
Kirstin Widderick
Jen Wren
Chris Wren
Julieanne O'Brien
Michael O'Brien
Kylie Beckett
Gianna Blaxland
Glen Brunckhorst
Robert Reeves
Dan O'Dea
Michael McCarthy

A special mention to Jen Wren for her outstanding and very creative decorations and props for the evening, and Dan O'Dea who once again did an outstanding job creating and presenting the questions for the evening with his PowerPoint presentation. A very big thanks to Rob Reeves (aka Superman) for hosting the evening with very some entertaining antics (as only he could deliver).

From what I could see, everyone had a wonderful evening in the company of good friends, which made for a great evening for the P&F and the school.

The funds from the Photo Booth on the evening will be donated to the Kloppers family, after the very sad loss of their son Sean, who unfortunately passed away last Wednesday.

Peter Alldridge
P&F President