31 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

School News

HAPPY EASTER

For many weeks now, perhaps months, the aisles and shelves of stores have been filled with foil covered chocolate treats. At every turn, we seem to witness a never ending barrage of bunnies, bilbies, and hot cross buns. Easter, according to Bishop Robert Barron, has become “domesticated”. Preparing to celebrate the joy of Easter, the challenge is to remain mindful of the significance this period has for all Christians. Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Christ, is a powerful and deeply moving celebration of the light of resurrection – an event so powerful in scripture that it changed everything.

Just as the Lenten season is a forty day period of conversion and repentance, the Easter season is fifty consecutive days of rejoicing and retelling the events surrounding our salvation in Christ who came to redeem all creation. The Easter Season enables us to listen with renewed passion to the Gospel and the new life that Christ’s offers to his people. “It is the beginning of a new season of grace and a time of joy and thanksgiving” (K Irwin).

Wishing you all the joys of the Easter season, and may this time be one of joy, hope and thanksgiving for you and your family.

Mrs Megan Mahoney
APRE

Secondary news

When in doubt answer “C”!!

On Monday, Year 12 OP eligible students spent the day becoming prepared for the annual Queensland Core Skills Tests, to be held in late August.

The group of twenty students engaged in sessions focusing on answering multiple choice questions, the star system in short response items and the stimulus based writing task.

Students were provided with feedback on a practice writing task completed earlier in the term by Chris Gilmore. Bill and Chris commended the students on their approach, especially after lunch when faced with mathematics questions! Students by the end of the sessions realised that it was their approach to the test that was key; to have a positive, ‘can do’ attitude about the tests.

Staff were also engaged in a staff session, with focus on writing valid and reliable multiple questions. Year 9 NAPLAN questions were completed by teachers and it was a great experience to work through the same process that students participate in. Parents didn’t miss out and they also had a session in the evening that identified the role of QCS tests and how students are awarded an Overall Position. Past tests were handed around and parents were amazed at the rigour in some of the questions on the papers and were keen to hand them back in!

We thank Bill and Chris for their continued visits, where they share their wisdom and cheery personalities to the St Joseph’s School community.

PRIMARY NEWS

NOOSA CAMP

6:00am Monday morning the 5/6’s gathered, bouncing around full of excitement ready for their long journey. It was quite a wet, miserable morning but no one really minded.

When the bus arrived people were shivering because of nerves and excitement. We were all restless for five to six hours but in the end it was worth the long trip. We were welcomed by Phil and met three instructors who we would work with for the day. The day activities were all about teamwork and working as a team, which means: TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHEIVES MORE, and also THERE IS NO I IN TEAM. Night time came and we were set off for our hike which was filled with many, many excitements. One sighting was toads which were seen quite a lot and secondly kangaroos, two of them which came BOLTING past.

The second day came and we were fed with three different cereals and afterwards some bacon, eggs and toast, by choice. Group three started off with the GIANT SWING!!! Ross explained to us how the swing worked and our whole class went all the way to the TOP! The swing went up by the pull of your class mates and you were released by the pull of a chord. Next we were onto Mountain Bike riding which was led by Declan. He explained everything we needed to know and gave us each a bike to the height of us. There were a few tracks and bridges along the way but we all made it to the end. Last but definitely not least came canoeing. It was awesome. Firstly we were spoken to by Johnny on how we were to paddle the canoes and on how we were to sit. Afterwards we had races and we really had to focus on our teamwork and how we spoke to each other.

Sadly it was time to go once we got back from our last activities. When the bus arrived the teachers packed up the bus, we got ready and said our final goodbyes and thankyous. I got a lot out of camp; there is no I in team, when you work in a team you get to discover other people’s personalities and characteristics and finally I learnt a lot of new and different skills that I can take back and use in the future. Noosa camp was amazing.

We would really like to thank dearly our teachers Mr Fleming, Mr Grew, Mrs Charlton and Ms Benson, our parents and our Instructors for this amazing camp experience.

Taryn McCosker

Camp 2017 was a challenge for all the Yr 5/6 students – but lots of fun. With activities like going 20 metres into the air for the giant swing with an instant drop, mountain bike riding with the challenge of a wet floor and tree roots and having to trust your classmates not to capsize your team’s boat, there were lots of opportunities to show our skills. Getting along with your cabin buddies wasn’t too much of a challenge. When we had our meals we got a number and we had to go sit at the table with the number you received from the teacher which gave us the opportunity to communicate with others. Getting over your fear of toads on the hike in the dark was a challenge - especially for the girls. Playing ‘lantern stalk’ and having fun trying to get the lantern without getting caught by the teachers was a really fun activity. The instructors were amazing with preparing the activities and food for us all. We are sure that everyone would have taken something home that they will remember about camp. Camp challenged everyone in different ways and we are proud of all our classmates.

By Hayley Danzey and Annie McCosker

LIBRARY NEWS St Joseph’s BOOK FAIR!

What a wonderful Book Fair we had!

This year’s theme “Bookaneer” highlighted the treasures to be found in stories, non-fiction books, novels, and picture books. Going by the amount of sales it is clear that our St. Joseph’s families appreciate the importance of reading and the joy of sharing a book.

On the first morning of the Fair we received over $1000 in sales and by Friday afternoon we had taken more than $5500!

As a result we receive a commission of over $1600 worth of Scholastic books for the library. So, all of our students benefit from your generosity.

Thank you so much to all of you who came along and purchased items, and a special thanks to those who lingered and browsed with their children, discussing and sharing books together. That is the best treasure of all.

Lesley Grant
Teacher-Librarian

Students busy rehearsing for Back to the 80’s Musical

St Joseph’s School is renowned for bringing musicals to life and presenting their biennial musicals, providing entertainment for all to enjoy. Performances of “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Coat”, “Oliver”, “The Pirates of Penzance”, “Back to the 80s”, “Bats”, “Joseph”, “Man of Steel” and “Annie” have all showcased the talents and skills of the students over the past years.

This year, St Joseph’s School is thrilled to recreate “Back to the 80s”. The musical is a trip back in time to the eighties when Atari was cutting edge technology, big hair and shoulder pads were all the rage and the talents of Cyndi Lauper, The Proclaimers and Madonna were first discovered.

As with past musicals the school has previously produced, a number of talented performers have been unearthed. Many secondary students have eagerly jumped on board to be part of this icon musical. The students have busily begun rehearsals during lunch times with some of their Easter holidays dedicated to fine-tuning this musical, ready to be showcased on Friday 21st July and Saturday 22nd July. The musical will be held at the Bathersby Centre.

Reminders and Updates

Academy Photographers have advised that the school photos will be dispatched to the school early in Term 2.

These will then be distributed to students.

Sport News

2017 YMCA JUNIOR BASKETBALL

Registration is now open for all players aged from 10 – 17yrs to join the Stanthorpe YMCA Junior Basketball Competition.

Trial games will be held over 2 weeks - Friday 21st April and again on Friday 28th April. The competition will then commence early May.

Registrations close Thursday 27th April - and NO LATE registrations will be accepted as Teams will be selected after the final trail game on the 28th April.

Registration forms can be downloaded from our website or collect one from the YMCA.

Parish News