10 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

Message from the Principal

I was reminded of the importance we play as parents and carers in helping our children to read and learn when we welcomed the new Prep students for 2018, with their parents and carers, to the school this week. It was an exciting time to see all these wonderful young people having their first experience together before they start school next year.

The Australian Literacy Educators’ Association provides us with the following helpful advice about helping young people with their reading and learning.

Reading and Learning

Reading should be seen as a means by which children learn about the world around them. Children’s literature offers rich opportunities for parents and carers to chat with their children during and after a story as they meet new animals, travel to strange lands, or learn about the physical world of plants, rocks, weather, shapes, colours, sounds and more. While the story or factual book will offer many spontaneous opportunities for learning, parents can also direct their child’s attention to specific content.

• Look at a picture and encourage your child to tell you what the picture or story may be about.
• When your child completes a drawing, painting or a model, you can ask questions like: ‘What do you want to tell me about this? How can we write it down?’
• If you cook with your child, it can become a reading and learning activity. When following a written recipe, you and your child can try to read the instructions.
• Your child can try to read the instructions for toys and games and may recognise some words in the instructions. Ask your child questions about the instructions.
• Let your child discover that words are everywhere, not just in books. Words in the environment include ‘Danger’, ‘Stop’, ‘Exit’, ‘Ladies’, ‘Gentlemen’, ‘Bus Stop’, ‘Walk’, ‘Don’t Walk’ and so on.
• Let your child discover words in the supermarket. Look at words on the labels together. Let your child recognise the words, or you can point out the words on packets or foods, toiletries and other household goods on display.
• Allow your child to read communications such as names and addresses on envelopes, letters and greetings cards from Australia and overseas, also texts and emails from friends and relatives (with your permission, of course).
• Help your child write a letter or an invitation to grandparents or friends.
• It is a good idea to talk to your child about selected suitable pictures in a newspaper, magazine and non-fiction book, or selected suitable stories in the newspaper or magazine.

For more advice on Little People's Literacy Learning click below.

God Bless,

Andrew Kendall
Acting Principal

School News

Awards Night

On Thursday 3rd November parents, students and special guests we brought together in the St Joseph’s Bathersby Centre to celebrate a year of academic success. Special guests welcomed for the evening included Member for Southern Downs Lawrence Springborg, Mayor Tracey Dobie and Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Education Dr Pat Couglan.

Awards for community and cultural pursuits, sports, leadership and academic awards were handed out to those students who throughout the year have pursued excellence in their education and school endeavors.

Primary Awards

McAuley Award-Year 3/4C - Rhianna Richards, Halley Duff, Charlie Chen
McAuley Award-Year 3/4I - Ella Green, Darius Jansink, Aryanna Davie
McAuley Award-Year 3/4T - McKayla DeMamiel, Sienna Dunn, Eden Shatte
McAuley Award -Year 5/6B - Brigid O'Dea, Salvatore Coco, Belinda McIntyre
McAuley Award -Year 5/6CG - Liam Harrison, Jessica Thomas, Luke Gasparin
McAuley Award -Year 5/6F - Eliza Telfer, Claire Williamson, Freya Creer

Sports Awards

Crisps Primary Sports Star - Billy Webb
Crisps Secondary Sports Star - Anika Spiller
Pierre de Coubertin Award - Anika Spiller

Champion House – McAuley
Overall House Champion - McAuley

Community and Cultural Awards

The St Vincent De Paul Recognition of Service - Teen Vinnies-Benjamin Manahan (President)
Mini Vinnies - Taylah Organ (President)

Leadership Awards

Donna Shannon Leadership Award - Eliza Telfer, Grace Caruso, Christopher Gasparin
The Young Winemakers Award - Daniel Gasparin and Hannah Debnam
SBA Award - Hollie Grasso
Caltex All Rounder - Eve Perrett
The Mayor's Medal - Justin Carter
Principal's Recognition – Prefects - Eve Perrett, Jessica Westerhout, Justin Carter & Megan Kay
Principal's Recognition – Captains - BJ Perrett & Katie Yates

Academic Awards

The Fr. Valente Award-Year 3 - Jack Brown & Harry Wren
The Fr. Valente Award - Year 4 - Heidi Favaro
The Fr. Valente Award - Year 5 - Samuel Ellis
The Fr Valente Award - Year 6 - Taylah Organ
RSL Primary Award - year 6 - Emily Dunn
Year 7 Awards-Distinction - Kirra Daddow, Kira St John
Year 7 Awards-Excellence - Kaelie Doyle, Caitlin Ellis, Georgette Forbes, Isabel Kay
David Littleproud Top Achiever Year 7 - Georgette Forbes

Year 8 Awards-Distinction - Cooper Wren
Year 8 Awards - Excellence - Shaylah Daniells, Arwen Keith
David Littleproud Top Achiever Year 8 - Arwen Keith
Year 9 Awards-Distinction - Bridgette Kay, Rory McDonagh
Year 9 Awards-Excellence - Tiana Bray
David Littleproud Top Achiever Year 9 - Tiana Bray
Year 10 Awards-Distinction - Weylin Alldridge, Lara-Jane Biggin
Year 10 Awards-Excellence - Hannah Debnam
David Littleproud-Top Achiever Year 10 - Hannah Debnam
Year 11 Awards -Distinction - Joshua Mahoney, Alexandra McLellan, Kate Saxby, Anika Spiller, Ann-Mary Vincent
Highest Achievement Year 11 Male - Joshua Mahoney
Highest Achievement Year 11 Female - Ann-Mary Vincent
David Littleproud Top Achiever Year 11 - Ann-Mary Vincent
Year 12 Awards-Distinction - Justin Carter, Rhiannon McGreevy, Abbie Reeves, Zachary Thompson
Year 12 Awards-Excellence - BJ Perrett, Eve Perrett, Katie Yates
Highest Academic Achievement Year 12 Male - BJ Perrett
Highest Academic Achievement Year 12 Female - Eve Perrett/Katie Yates
David Littleproud Top Achiever Year 12 - BJ Perrett

Special Awards

USQ Year 10 & 11 Excellence Award - Sonya Perrett & Georgia Harris
Lawrence Springborg Scholarships - Abraham Caruso and Dane Palier-Kizana
Excellence in Catholic Education - Grace Caruso, Taryn McCosker, Isabel Kay, Mya Perrett, Neil Perrett, Bridgette Kay, Ben Manahan
Sr Ursula Frayne Award - Melissa Cannavo
True Legends Award-Year 11 - Ann-Mary Vincent
University of the 3rd Age - Eve Perrett
ADF Leadership Awards-Year 10 - Jared Hitchener
ADF Leadership Awards-Year 12 - BJ Perrett
USQ Year 12 Excellence Award - Katie Yates
The Betty Yap Excellence Award - Megan Berlese
St Joseph's Alumni Award-Dux - BJ Perrett

A highlight of the annual Awards Night is the announcement of next year’s school student leaders. Current St Joseph’s School Captain’s and Prefects eagerly took the stage to hand over the responsibility of student leadership to the 2018 School Captains: Ann-Mary Vincent and Liam Hitchener, and Prefects Natasha Petrocitto, Anika Spiller, Joshua Mahoney and Hunter Murphy. 2018 Leaders will be sworn in Term 1, 2018 when they each undertake the task of implementing one of the schools Mercy Values: Compassion, Mercy and Justice, Options for the Poor, Service, Respect and Dignity, into the school community.

Congratulations to all the St Joseph’s Students who received awards and to those newly announced 2018 school leaders.

For full Awards Night Gallery please visit Acadamy Photography – Details Below

Awards Night Photographs

Photos from the annual Awards Night taken by Academy Photography can now be viewed and ordered online.

To access photos, please visit the link below and enter the shoot key SPDJ743K.

Alternatively please call Academy Photography on 38014407 to place your order.

Primary News

‘From little things, big things grow.’

This week we welcomed the students who will join us in Prep in 2018. It is amazing to think that it will be 2030 before these students graduate – and into a world which is probably very different to the one we know now in terms of technology, types of employment and travel to name a few examples.

During their two hour visit they met their classmates, listened to a story, drew pictures, completed an obstacle course, took turns with equipment, explored the classroom environment and generally had fun. They also spent some time with the current Year 5 students who will be their ‘buddies’ next year. It is very important to us that every one of these new students – as well as those who are already part of the St Joseph’s community – feel welcomed at school and are looking forward to returning in January. As part of this transition process from Kindy to school, each student was presented with a personalised bag containing a range of activities and resources which we hope they will use over the holiday period.

We look forward to welcoming these children and their families to St Joseph’s School next year.

This week during assembly we reflected on the significance of Remembrance Day and observed a minute’s silence in memory of those who have lost their lives as a result of war and also those servicemen and women who continue to fight for peace in the world. Perhaps one of the most well-known poems from this time is ‘In Flanders Fields’ which was written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War 1 who served in Ypres, Belgium and who tended to the wounded soldiers from the trenches. It was the death of his close friend that caused him to reflect on the war and the poppies he saw growing in the fields where so many lost their lives. In a letter home to his family he reported that there was a seventeen-day period where the soldiers did not take off their boots and there was not one minute where gunfire could not be heard, such was the intensity of the fighting. Recounting his story to the students during our assembly and the sacrifice made by so many others throughout history and in more recent times, it was impossible not to reflect on our Mercy Values and the responsibility we each have to choose the right way to behave towards others.

Since our last newsletter we have recognised the academic, social, spiritual and leadership successes of our students. The Donna Shannon Award was awarded to three students this year, all of whom have demonstrated qualities of leadership. In their submissions, all 18 students who applied showed a sense of maturity, self-reflection and a humility in what they said and it was not easy for the Primary teaching staff to make a decision as to the final recipients. Here are just a few comments made by the students:

‘I don’t do leadership to get an award. I do it because it is the right thing to do and if everyone is a little kinder than necessary without expecting an award, our world would be a better place.’

‘I think leadership is about respect and service for other people.’

‘To me, leadership is about working as a team and using my knowledge and skills to help out others…. Being a good leader has not only been of benefit to myself but also to those around me.’

‘I may not be the most popular student at St Joseph’s but I feel that this award isn’t a popularity contest so I feel that I can nominate myself for this award.’

‘Anyone can be in charge, but to be a good leader you must lead by example.’

‘We don’t need to do big things in order to show the Mercy Values. All it takes is little things that matter to the people you show them to.’

Congratulations to all the Primary Campus students who were presented with awards on 2 November.

Mrs Sarah Yates

Secondary News

This week has seen our Year 12 students engaging in their final exams. Next week these 24 young men and women will head off to Leslie Dam for a two day retreat, prior to their graduation mass and dinner next Thursday evening.

The culmination of thirteen years of schooling is exciting yet tinged with some sadness. Our students at St Joseph’s School gather as a community each day of the school year and as many Year 12’s have said, there’s a sense of loss when you have to say goodbye to the friends and staff who have been on the journey with them, some since Prep.

We pray that our Year 12’s enjoy their final days at St Joseph’s and look forward to the farewell assembly next Friday, when our school acknowledges their efforts.

We also look forward to the Year 11 Leadership Camp at Emu Gully next week where the students will spend time developing their leadership skills and team work. It will be a challenging but fruitful time for the students and we look forward to working with them next year when they become our senior leaders.

Mrs Linda Perrett

Dreamtime Spirituality

On Tuesday the 7th November, the Year 3/4 classes had the pleasure of a few Year 11 students presenting some reports to them from their studies. The PowerPoint and oral presentations were on the Australian Indigenous culture and how important the land is to them in the Past, Present and the Future. The Year 11s read Dreamtime stories they had rewritten into picture books as well as demonstrated how the Aboriginal people had taken care of the land for thousands of years and showed some of the tools they used in hunting and celebrating.

The Year 3/4 classes were entertained and informed by enthusiastic readings and explanations and asked relevant and intriguing questions. It was great to see how well the two campuses worked together so well and how the curriculum links throughout the year levels combined, as the Year 3/4s are just completing a unit in HaSS on sustainability and care for the earth.

Top Gold Wine Makers

The St Joseph’s 2017 Pinot Grigio took out Top Gold at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show – National Schools Wine Competition, on Friday 27th October, scoring an outstanding 18.6 out of 20 to beat teams from all around the country.

This is the first Gold for the St Joseph’s School Young Winemakers program since entering the competition in 2015. The win takes pride of place amongst the 5 bronze medals taken out over the last 3 years with the school’s Cabernet and Rose` varieties at Royal Adelaide and Australian Small Winemaker’s shows.

Much to the students excitement, the Pinot Grigio was not only awarded Top Gold but was awarded ‘Best Wine Commercially Produced, made by the school in conjunction with a local winery’, which is accompanied by the University of Adelaide Trophy for top school in Classes 2 and 4.

“To put this win in context, we have won this major award over prestigious local Adelaide schools who produce wine in conjunction with big South Australian wineries. Not bad for a little Catholic school from the Granite Belt in Queensland, ” - Mr Matthew Brown.

A massive thank you goes to Mike Hayes, Ewen McPherson and the team at Symphony Hill Wines for their on-going support of the Young Winemakers program. Mike has been instrumental in guiding the development of the Young Winemakers (along with former Symphony Hill assistant winemaker, Tom Battle).

Congratulations to the 2017 Young Winemakers, Mike and the Symphony Hill team. This is reward for the hard work, passion and commitment shown in producing excellent quality wine here on the Granite Belt.

Library News

Hooray! The Book Fair cases have arrived!

The library ladies will be busy unpacking and displaying all the wonderful Book Fair items in readiness for next week.

Flyers wand wish lists will go home this week. All are welcome to browse and enjoy the great reading material on offer. We hope to see many of you net week!

Year Ones and Twos have been working very hard and very creatively in their library lessons. They have been exploring the function and purpose of iPads, particularly focusing on photography and manipulating photos within apps. I have been extremely impressed by their ability to share with a partner, collaborate on the decision making process, and create beautiful and clever photo collages. Here are just a few examples of their wonderful work.

All eyes were on the data screen at 2.00pm last Tuesday! Congratulations to the winners and to all students who were sooooo quiet during the race!

Congratulations Aryanna Davie

Congratulations to Year 3 student Aryanna Davie whose art work was selected from over 200 entries in the diocese by Bishop Robert McGuckin for the cover of the Christmas Horizons Magazine.

Sporting News

Primary Swimming Carnival Details

Please find below a few reminders regarding the upcoming Primary Swimming Carnival which will be held on Wednesday 15th November.

• All students are to come to School as normal.
• Our students turning 5, 6 or 7 years of age in 2017 will travel to the pool by bus at 8:45 am. This age group will be participating between 9 am and 9:45 am.
• The 5,6 and 7 year olds will travel back to school by bus at 10.15am
• 8 to 12 Years students will walk to the pool at 8.45am
• Age Championships will be awarded to students 8 years of age and above. Students in these age groups are eligible for selection to the Granite Swimming Trials in 2018 if qualifying times are met.
• A program for the day is attached. All times allocated are approximate.
• If you are collecting your child at the end of the Swimming Carnival please arrange to inform your child’s class teacher in writing prior to the Carnival.
• Students are NOT permitted to stay behind at the pool or to leave the pool without adult supervision.
• Students (8 to 12 years) will be walked back to School in time to catch buses.

In the event that the carnival has to be cancelled due to adverse weather, notifications will be made via Facebook and Twitter.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on 15 November.

P & F News

HOLIDAY RAFFLE

This year, the P&F decided to run a Major Raffle, the difference with this raffle is that the winner is able to choose their holiday.

Sydney Getaway Package for Two
OR
Family Gold Coast Getaway

The school very generously paid for the printing of our raffle tickets, which meant that our only expense is the purchase of the chosen holiday.

We would like to thank very much all the parents & children who spent quite a number of hours at various locations over the six weeks selling the raffle tickets and to our school families and the community who supported us, by buying the tickets as well. Without you all, this would not have been such a success with all 300 books of tickets being sold.

Our immense thanks & gratitude must go to Bec Telfer, who managed to book all the spots, arrange our volunteers for 2 sites and then spend many hours herself, selling tickets as well.

Huge Congratulations to Anealia, Shane, Imogen & Caitlin Rossow who are the lucky winners of the Raffle! We hope you have a fantastic Holiday!!

Community Notices

Flashing lights to be activated

Next week flashing light school zone signs were installed on High Street.

St Joseph’s was nominated to receive these new signs as part of a Queensland Government commitment to improve school road safety.

You will notice that the new signs look similar to standard school zone signs with the addition of a red flashing ring around the speed limit as well as two flashing yellow lights at the top of the sign. The installation of flashing light school zone signs is proven to improve visibility of school zones, serving as an active reminder for motorists to slow down.

So next time you’re dropping off or picking up your child, keep an eye out for the new signs and make sure you stick to the signed speed limit.