18 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

Message from the Principal

On Tuesday this week the school celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. This was a special occasion in which we joined with our fellow parishioners for mass in the Battersby Centre. It was a time for prayer and reflection about the special place Mary holds as the mother of Jesus. It was also an occasion to thank all the mothers in our community, and recognise that all girls can succeed in life. A clear message I have for all girls at the school is that you can achieve success with anything you want in life. Work hard and strive to be the best you can. In this respect, it is also important that all our boys understand that they should respect and support all females in their journey through life. Thanks to Father Brian and Mrs Mahoney and her team their efforts.

In my six weeks here this term I have seen and heard some wonderful singing talent. It was on display at the musical and at times during our mass this week. To that end the school is keen to develop that talent and provide an opportunity for our students to be involved in a school choir. Mrs Jo Barker has enthusiastically agreed to lead both a senior choir and junior choir. The senior choir has started up already and the junior choir will start on Thursday next week during lunch time. I encourage all students to get involved.

NAPLAN Success

Recently we have received the NAPLAN results for the students in Yrs 3, 5 7 and 9. These national tests are completed in May each year and cover strands of Literacy (reading, writing, grammar, punctuation and spelling) and Numeracy (number, measurement and statistics and data). They provide a snapshot in time of a child’s progress to date and provide important information to the School regarding teaching and learning programs.

These results again show that our students are performing well when compared to schools in the local area. In fact, in all strands across the four cohorts, our students have outperformed their counterparts in other town schools. Combined with the great success of the school with OP achievements (100% of students in the OP1-15 range) in recent years, this is testament to the high quality of teaching and learning which is evident every day at St Joseph’s School and the commitment shown by the teachers to the needs of individual students.

All parents of students who participated in NAPLAN this year will shortly receive their child’s report in the mail, indicating their position in relation to the state and national means for the year level.

I encourage all students to finish the term well. Every student should be striving to be the best they can.

God bless.

Andrew Kendall
Acting Principal

School News

Secondary News

Our Year 12’s are quickly approaching the end of Term 3, with the end of their senior schooling years in sight. Each year Term 3 presents itself with plenty of assessment deadlines and exam preparations for Year 12’s. In the past two weeks they have been completing their Macbeth assessment and by the look of it have been getting very much into their character roles; PE students have been running circles with their fitness testing; Geography students are sharpening pencils to complete their choropleth maps; BCT students are hooked up in the world of social media and our Legal Studies students are on the hunt for criminals. With many of our senior classes being composite, it is a great opportunity for our Year 11’s to have some insights into what is in store for them next year.

It’s not all about assessment on the secondary campus at the moment, with some key projects being engaged in by many of our students. In week 10, our Year 12 students will travel to Toowoomba to donate blood to the Red Cross Donor Blood Bank. Prefect, Eve Perrett has been responsible for the project, working with the Year 12’s to enrol as part of the Stanthorpe25 RED group. At this stage there will be 12 students donating blood along with three teaching staff. This is important to our students as many of their family or friends have needed donated blood during their lifetime. Our Year 7 students are committed to their pastoral care “Colour Run” project this term. Already many of our P – 12 students are signing up sponsors to make the colour run a fantastic event. Year 9 Pastoral care are readying themselves to make what will hopefully be dozens of lamingtons in their upcoming lamington drive. All profits will be donated to Lifeflight, a service regularly called upon on our local community.

It is very clear that our students grow to become not only capable and educated young adults but also those who engage with our school’s mission of service. This is what makes St Joseph’s School different to other schools. Our students strive to consider others before themselves and work towards not only making the lives of those in their wider school community better, but also for others in our nation and around the world. We pray for our Year 12 students as they work towards the end of a busy term and we also look forward to all of the fun times to be had making lamingtons and throwing bags of colour on our last day of term.

Megan Kay and Eve Perrett – “Banquo and Lady McBeth”

God bless
Linda Perrett
APA – Secondary

BOOK WEEK TIME!!

Once again Book Week is almost here. Next week, beginning on Monday August 21st St Joseph’s celebrates the joy and wonder of story and reading.

This year’s theme is Escape to Everywhere which gives us the chance to focus on magical lands and places that exist in our imaginations when we read that special book.

In the time leading up to Book Week, students and teachers share the short-listed titles that are contending for Book of the Year. These wonderful authors and titles will be listed in the newsletter over the next few weeks.

As usual, the Wednesday of Book Week will see us celebrating with our annual

Prep – YEAR 12 BOOK PARADE

The parade commences at 9.00am in the Bathersby Centre. All families are welcome to attend and little ones are also invited to dress up and join the parade.

Students dress as their favourite book characters, and as we always say, costumes that are cheap, simple and home-made are the best! Teachers and students have been sharing ideas and suggestions for some weeks now. If you or your child is stuck for an idea, send them to the library and we will help.

We hope to see you all in Book Week!
Mrs Grant and Miss Gangemi

Short List for Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards

(Primary levels)

Early Childhood

Go Home, Cheeky Animals! By Johanna Bell. Illustrator: Dion Beasley
At Canteen Creek where we live, there are cheeky dogs everywhere. But when the cheeky goats, donkeys, buffaloes and camels make mischief in the camp, the dogs just lie there - until those pesky animals really go too far. Then the cheeky camp dogs roar into action!

All I Want for Christmas is Rain. By Cori Brooke. Illustrator: Megan Forward
An Australian Christmas is threatened when drought takes hold. A little girl has only one wish – for rain. Will her wish come true?

Nannie Loves. By Kylie Dunstan.
Nannie lives on a farm with rolling hills, a muddy creek and lots of animals. Nanny loves her farm. But what Nannie loves most is when her family comes to stay.

The Snow Wombat. By Susannah Chambers. Illustrator: Mark Jackson
It’s a big journey through the snow for a little wombat, meeting animals, birds and people along the way ... but there’s no place like home!

Gary. By Leila Rudge.
Any bird can find adventure. Even Gary. A story for birds who dare to dream.

Chip. By Kylie Howarth
Chip would do anything for fish and chips. When he is banned from his favourite food he is desperate to get it back on the menu.

Short List for Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Awards

(Primary levels)

Picture Book of the Year: Mostly for Middle Primary onwards

One Photo. By Ross Watkins. Illustrator: Liz Anelli
Dad came home one day with one of those old cameras, the kind that use film. But Dad didn’t take photos of the regular things people photograph. A memorable story about love, loss and legacy; one son, one family, one photo.

The Patchwork Bike By Maxine Beneba Clarke. Illustrator: Van T. Rudd
What’s the best fun in the whole village? Riding the patchwork bike we made! A joyous and beautiful Picture Book that is also suitable for the early years.

Out. By Angela May George. Illustrated by Owen Swan
I’m called an asylum seeker, but that’s not my name. A little girl and her mother have fled their homeland, making the long and treacherous journey by boat to seek asylum. Timely, powerful and moving, Out celebrates the triumph of the human spirit in the darkest times, and the many paths people take to build a new life.

My Brother. By Dee, Oliver & Tiffany Huxley
When a gentle creature sets out to search for a lost brother, we are taken on an ethereal journey across land and sea to strange, beautiful and faraway places. My Brother is a metaphorical picture storybook for older children that looks at loss and grief from a sibling’s perspective.

Mechanica. By Lance Balchin
Welcome to future Earth. Welcome to Mechanica. The environment has become so polluted that wildlife is now extinct. From the ashes, a new type of “wildlife” is created. Wildlife that will not remained harnessed by humankind. A cautionary tale about the environment.

Home in the Rain. By Bob Graham
Waiting out a storm by the highway inspires a name for an unborn baby sister in a tender, exquisitely observed tale from the incomparable Bob Graham

Art Gallery Visit Yr 5/6

Last Tuesday 5/6 CG walked to the Art Gallery to see the NAIDOC Week Exhibition. There were paintings, statues, drawings, decorative bowls and more! The paintings weren’t all dot paintings and showed a large range of artistic creations.

Mary Findlay welcomed us and encouraged us all to participate in the upcoming Crisp’s Art Expo. The theme this year is “Transport through the Ages”

Mary gave us a task, which introduced us to Art Analysis. We chose two paintings one we liked and one we didn’t like and had to give reasons to justify our reactions. There were some wonderful art pieces by local and national indigenous artists.

When we returned to school our class watched a video about artist Guido Van Heldon who painted Angelo Valiante on the newsagency wall. He is an amazing Street Artist who has painted faces and eyes on silos and trains across regional Australia. Guido believes that people’s faces and eyes tell their story. Street Art is important to regional Australia as it brings culture and art to the country.

Annie McCosker and Clancy Moncada

Cathy Sullivan

Cathy began work at St Joseph’s School as a volunteer when her children were attending.

Cathy then worked as a teacher aide, then in the role as Principal’s Assistant for 22 years.

Cathy retired at the end of 2013 to enjoy some time with her husband Steve but unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer in early February 2014.

Cathy battled cancer until she passed away peacefully on Monday 31st July.

Cathy’s funeral was held on Wednesday 9th August at St Joseph’s Catholic Church Stanthorpe.

Past Principals, Bob Knight and Michael McCarthy attended, Pamela Sullivan who is Cathy’s sister-in-law was also a past Principal of St Joseph’s School.

Social Justice Thought for the Week:

(Migrant and Refugee Week – 21/27 August)

Message of Pope Francis for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2017.

On the occasion of the annual World Day of Migrants and Refugees, I feel compelled to draw attention to the reality of child migrants, especially the ones who are alone. In doing so I ask everyone to take care of the young, who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves. I ask everyone to help those who, for various reasons, are forced to live far from their homeland and are separated from their families….

Among migrants, children constitute the most vulnerable group, because as they face the life ahead of them, they are invisible and voiceless: their precarious situation deprives them of documentation, hiding them from the world’s eyes; the absence of adults to accompany them prevents their voices from being raised and heard. In this way, migrant children easily end up at the lowest levels of human degradation, where illegality and violence destroy the future of too many innocents, while the network of child abuse is difficult to break up.

DATE CLAIMERS

Year 11 Information Night 6pm 30th August Frayne Room 2 – Year 10 parents 2017
Year 7 Information Night 6pm 6th September Frayne Room 2 – Year 6 parents 2017

Sport News

Granite Belt Success

Age champ Katie (also a record breaker),Felicity Dachs, Harry Wren (absent) and runners up Claire Danzey and Mackenzie Rowen

Border District Results

Georgette Forbes 13 Years Age Champion

• 100m 1st
• 200m 1st
• 400m 2nd
• Long Jump 2nd

Jack McMeniman

• 200m 3rd

Anika Spiller 16 years

• 200m 1st
• 100m 2nd

Lachlan Swan 16 Years

• High Jump 3rd
• Javelin 4th

Amelia McMeniman 15 Years

• 200m 4th

Liam Hitchener OPEN

• Triple Jump 3rd
• Long Jump 2nd
• High Jump 3rd

Natasha Brierly 13 Years

• Triple Jump 2nd
• Long Jump 3rd

Rory Williamson 13 Years

• High Jump 4th

Boys 14 Years Relay 3rd

• Adam Green
• Ethan Zamprogno
• Jack McMeniman
• Zac Donnelly