8 November 2018

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

On Thursday last week we celebrated the excellence of our students and their journey with Jesus at our annual Awards Night. It was a special night.

At St Joseph’s School our aim is to ensure that all students have the high quality teaching, as well as the environment, culture and resources, to get to know Jesus and also, to achieve excellence, that is, to be the very best they can (be it academically, spiritually, physically, culturally, emotionally and socially). That excellence was on display through the many academic, service, leadership, sporting and cultural awards, as well as, the talented performances by the students.

Thanks to those who attended and to my Leadership Team and Mrs Angelina Sims for their efforts to put the night together. Importantly, I thank all staff at St Joseph’s School for their wonderful work with our students.

Senior Schooling (Year 11 & 12) 2019 and Beyond

St Joseph’s has a strong and very successful Senior School. In 2019 we see the introduction of the new Queensland Certificate of Education System and the new ATAR (Tertiary Ranking System) into Year 11. The Secondary staff have put significant time and effort into the preparation for the changes and I am confident that St Joseph’s School will move from strength to strength in Year 11 & 12 for many years to come.

God bless,

Andrew Kendall
PRINCIPAL

LEADERSHIP NEWS

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ADMINISTRATION-SECONDARY

The Year 12’s have started their final two weeks of their schooling.

They will complete their final exams this week. From Monday to Wednesday next week they will be involved in the Year 12 Retreat. This will be followed by their Graduation Mass and Dinner on Thursday, 15 November and the final farewell assembly on Friday, 16 November.

We wish them all the best and thank them for their leadership and contributions to the school throughout the year.

God’s blessings,

Linda Perrett
Assistant Principal Administration-Secondary

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL ADMINISTRATION-PRIMARY

In recent weeks students from Year 6 have been visiting the Secondary Campus for a day and joining in Year 7 classes. On their return, they have been very enthusiastic about what the future holds for them at St Joseph's. Moving to a new phase of their education can cause concern for some students and this is why we ensure that we have a transition program in place for our Year 6 students that assists them in feeling comfortable with the move.

Similarly, in the next few weeks students in the lower years of the Primary Campus will also experience what it is like to be in the next year level as they spend some time in new classrooms. This is not about finding out who their teacher is for next year; it's more about experiencing what being in that year level involves. As has been the case in previous years, parents will be informed of their child's teacher for 2019 towards the end of the term once decisions have been made in the best interests of the students.

During this part of the term, teachers are collecting data in preparation for finalising the Semester Two reports. Data can be used in a variety of ways including measuring growth across a period of time. In recent weeks some of the children have undertaken PAT R tests which are a measure of reading comprehension. This test is undertaken online and by comparing the results with those from this time last year (or February 2018 in the case of Year 2), we are able to calculate an effect size of growth. With 0.4 being the point at which students experience one year's growth for one year of teaching, the PAT data for the year levels who have completed the tests so far is showing effect sizes of greater than 0.8 for the cohort, ie, two year's growth for one year's teaching. We can also calculate an effect size per student and it has been pleasing to see the growth of individual students in their reading comprehension. This is testament to the work of the Primary staff in implementing the Reading Improvement Strategy this year and also to the hard work of the students. Towards the end of this term I will provide further details of the data across the campus in the Primary Newsletter.

Congratulations to all the Primary students who were presented with awards last week at our school Awards Night in recognition of their effort and achievement.

Sarah Yates
Assistant Principal Administration-Primary

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (APRE)

The Advent Wreath

In the Catholic church the Advent wreath is used to prepare for the coming of Christ’s birth. The wreath is symbolic in itself with the greenery representing the hope of newness, renewal and eternal life, while the circle reminds us of God’s eternal love and mercy, without beginning or end.

The wreath holds four candles, three purple and one pink, each with a special meaning for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

The First Candle: A time of expectation and hope.
The Second Candle: The peace that is to come.
The Pink (or Rose) Candle: Joy for the promise is almost fulfilled.
The Fourth Candle: The love of God for mankind.

Some Advent wreaths have a fifth white candle which sits in the centre of the wreath and is lit on Christmas Eve or Day to show that the light of Christ has come into the world.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord”.

Megan Mahoney
Assistant Principal Religious Education

SCHOOL NEWS

SOCKTOBER – CRAZY SOCK DAY

Year 12 student Anika Spiller decided to promote her mercy value of ‘dignity’ through creating a crazy sock day for “Socktober”.

Socktober is an initiative of Catholic Mission where throughout the month of October fun activities relating to socks are held for fundraising purposes. The idea of using socks comes from the Australian term to ‘sock it’ to something, meaning to strike out at. Catholic Mission invites people to help them to ‘sock it’ to social issues such as child labour, child trafficking, poverty and homelessness. This year the focus was on raising money for education of children in impoverished countries such as Myanmar. The focus was also on training teachers to educate students.

St Joseph’s students participated by wearing crazy socks and providing a gold coin donation on the day.

The funds raised were provided to Catholic Mission and Anika hopes that our contribution will make a difference in the lives of those in need.

Thank you, Anika for your efforts in making this day a success.

STUDENTS LEADERS FOR 2019

Congratulations to the following students who have been appointed to Student Leadership positions for 2019.

School Captains: Hannah Debnam & Jared Hitchener
School Vice-Captains: Lara-Jane Biggin & Ben Manahan
Prefects: Skyie McCosker & Sonya Perrett

Davidi House Captains: Ben Manahan & Indiah Loy
McAuley House Captains: Skyie McCosker & Sonya Perrett

Music Leader: Nicholas Paget
Creative Arts Leader: Jessica Carpenter

We are very keen to encourage broader student leadership, hence the new positions.

Another initiative to encourage student leadership will be the opportunity in 2019 for Year 12s who have not been appointed to a Prefect position at the start of the year to be appointed a Prefect at the end of Term 1 or Term 2. This would occur if the student displays outstanding leadership throughout the term/semester and is an exemplary role model (academic, behaviour, participation).

We look forward to a successful year for our Student Leaders in 2019.

Back row: Sonya Perrett, Lara-Jane Biggin, Jared Hitchener, Hannah Debnam, Ben Manahan and Skyie McCosker,
Front row: Indiah Loy, Nicholas Paget and Jessica Carpenter

ST JOSEPH’S BOOK FAIR!

To the BOOK FAIR and BEYOND!!!!

Here we are again – it’s November already—celebrating our love of books and reading with the Scholastic Book Fair.

The Fair commences on Monday 12th November and runs until Friday 16th November. It is an opportunity for families and community members to purchase titles for toddlers right through to young adults.

Selling takes place before and after school and we have the facilities for credit card purchases. The resources are very reasonably priced with much loved authors and titles from which to choose.

All are welcome to come in, browse and soak up the exciting atmosphere that our Book Fairs always generate. For further information, please contact St Joseph’s school library.

Lesley Grant
Teacher-Librarian

DEBATING IS BACK AT ST JOSEPHS!

This term teams from Year 7 and Year 8 have participated in an inter-school debating competition with Stanthorpe State High School. It’s the first time in some years that we’ve had debating teams and the competition was fierce. The Year 7s debated on the affirmative, on the topic that school uniforms should be compulsory for all school students. They spoke well and provided firm rebuttal to the opposition’s arguments, coming away with a win. The Year 8 team also debated on the affirmative, on the topic that social media should be illegal for people under the age of 18. Their speeches were well prepared and delivered capably, not winning the debate, but coming away with great experience and learning.

We continue the competition on Thursday 22 November on home turf, starting at 3.30pm in the Frayne Building, so please come to support our teams. We also look forward to further developing this valuable competition in 2019, providing our students with opportunity to build critical reasoning skills and confidence in public speaking.

YEAR 7 GEOGRAPHY EXCURSION

Last Friday the Year 7 Geography class attended their first field trip, looking at the “liveability” of Lock and Talc Streets. This forms part of their assessment for the term and has involved collecting primary and secondary data to compare these two streets based on pre-determined criteria. Students will now decide which they consider to be the most liveable street, reflect upon their individual perceptions of what makes a place liveable and propose ways to increase the liveability of the other street.

MOUNTAIN BIKE SKILLS COACHING

We are very pleased to announce that St Joseph’s is now an approved Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) Affiliated School and is offering mountain bike skills coaching on Friday afternoons. This term is focussed on basic skills such as braking, balance, the attack position, riding up and down hills, and riding small drops, as well as basic bike maintenance and set up. These skills will be further developed in an intermediate course next year, and there will also be opportunities to represent the school in various mountain bike races and events. If you are interested in finding out more, please email Mrs Rhymer on Emma.Rhymer@twb.catholic.edu.au.

PREP CUBBY OFFICIAL OPENING

The 23rd October was the official opening and blessing of the new Prep Cubby House located in the Primary School. The Cubby was built by Year 11 and 12 Manual Arts students and installed by the students and their teachers, Mr Stone and Mr Brown. Once installed it was painted by Julianne Williamson and her painting crew (P&F) and finally, it was blessed by Father Brian.

An awesome cake depicting the cubby was supplied by Foxy’s Bakery and later devoured by the Prep’s and Year 1 students. Thank you to everyone involved for creating such an exciting and fun space for the Primary students.

ORANGE DAY

On Friday 2nd November the school held an ‘Orange’ Day where students were invited to dress in orange and to provide a gold coin donation in support of the charity ‘Orange Sky Laundry’. School Captain Liam Hitchener was responsible for organising the day and chose to support ‘Orange Sky Laundry’ in recognition of his Mercy value of ‘Respect’.

Orange Sky Laundry is a Brisbane based charity service which provides regular laundry and shower services for the homeless. They provide a safe area for homeless people to meet, shower and to wash their clothes. Their volunteers are not trained social workers, they are ordinary Australians who enjoy having a conversation and listening without judgement.

The organisation was founded by two friends Nichola Marchesi and Lucas Patchett in 2014. Since that time, it has grown to 27 services across Australia providing much needed services to those feeling isolated and disconnected from society. To date, Brisbane alone has provided 21,506 hours of conversation, 19,755 washes and 2,106 showers. Thank you to Liam for organising this day and raising awareness about this charity to the school community.

SBA THANK YOU LUNCH

Last week the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office, SBA Program hosted an employer thank you lunch. The lunch, held at the QCWT, celebrated the completion of training for the sixteen Year 12 school-based trainees and apprentices. Employers were thanked for their continued support of our students in their on-the-job training. The SBA program continues to grow and St Joseph’s School thanks Linda Perrett who co-ordinates the program, along with the many support networks, including DETSBT and RTO’s.

ST JOSEPH’S STUDENT QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS

Congratulations to Natasha Brierley who recently came 3rd in one of two Queensland State Competitions of ‘JBP Physical Culture Dancing’. As a result, Natasha has qualified for the Nationals and will be competing at Sydney Olympic Park in November. Well done Natasha.

LIGHT THE NIGHT

St Joseph’s School Choir Success

On Friday 19th October, the fourth annual Light the Night Leukaemia fundraiser was held in the Bathersby Centre. Despite the unpredictable weather and the change of venue that afternoon, the event was a huge success.

Talented local artists including Morwenna Harslett, Belinda Lister, Esther Plath, and David and Sarah Hume provided a variety of entertainment creating a wonderful atmosphere. This year, St Joseph’s Choir made their Light the Night debut and were an instant hit. Adeptly led by Mrs Jo Barker, the students entertained the crowd with their angelic voices. The students sang a number of beautiful songs that they had been enthusiastically practicing during their lunch breaks.

To ‘kick off’ the official ceremony, the lights were turned off in the Bathersby Centre and Jo delighted onlookers with her song “Flashlight” surrounded by the choir swaying their lit torches in the dark to add an extra special touch.

Light the Night co-ordinators, Stuart and Angie Sims, would like to extend a huge thank you to the parents of these students who enabled them to be part of this very special community event. The involvement of the St Joseph’s Choir adds another special element to the evening.

Thank you also to Cooper Wren for capturing the magical moments on his drone when the lanterns were lit in honour of those we remember, and for those we support during their leukaemia and blood cancer journey.

INTRODUCING STAFF

In the first newsletter of the School year, the new teachers were introduced as well as a reintroduction of the Leadership. Every fortnight, a staff member from both campuses will provide a profile of themselves to allow the school and wider community to familiarise themselves with the staff at St Joseph’s School. The school operates with approximately 50 staff members who all have a special role to play in the effective functioning of the school.

My name is Mary McLucas. My teaching experience at St Joseph’s Primary began in 1980. At the time the Staff was made up of four Sisters of Mercy and four lay-teachers. Today nothing of the original buildings is still standing, which shows that I have taught here for a very long time.

I have lived in Stanthorpe for 46 years and have been associated with St Joseph’s School for most of that time. My late husband, Trevor attended St Joseph’s during his High School years and proudly and tirelessly supported the fundraising activities during the years that our four children (David, Kate, Michael & Jane) were students from 1981 until 2005.

I retired from full-time teaching in 2016 and since then have enjoyed a part-time role teaching the Arts subjects. I deem my duties to be very special as I have the privilege of teaching every child in the Primary School. Highlights are our large enrolment in the Speech and Performance sections of the Border District Eisteddfod and every student entering a piece of artwork in the Crisp’s Art Expo.

The most enjoyable part of my role is observing the students making the effort and then experiencing success. Enthusiasm for learning is also wonderful to see.

Achievements in 2018 would be that I have posed challenging tasks for the students, observed their successful outcomes and celebrated with them the joy and satisfaction of learning.

2018 YEARBOOKS

Thank you to those families who have ordered and paid for a Yearbook.

Only a limited number of Yearbooks will be printed. Should you wish to order a copy, please pay at the Front Office by this Friday. Yearbooks cost $27 and will be available on the last day of school.

PARKING

Please be considerate when parking near and around the school grounds.

• When parking near the Tennis Courts please don’t park on the grass.
• Please be considerate when dropping off students - driveways are not drop off areas.
• The Presbytery car park is private property. Please do not park there.

SVDP CHRISTMAS APPEAL

St Joseph’s School has always been strong supporters of the annual St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal.

This year each class will be given an item to donate to the appeal. Students are encouraged to be involved in purchasing their item, understanding that their contribution, together with others from our school, will make a real difference to someone's Christmas this year.

Items can be left at the office on the Primary campus, and in the student printing room on the Secondary campus. Teen Vinnies will be promoting the cause and assisting with the collection of items.

A Hamper will be presented to SVDP representatives at our end of year mass. Below is a list of items each class is asked to donate.

• Prep - sweet biscuits
• Year 1 - savoury biscuits
• Year 2 - pasta or rice
• Year 3/4 - long life milk or long-life custard
• Year 5/6 - sauce - tomato, bbq etc OR tinned fruit
• Year 7 - spreads eg jam, vegemite, peanut butter
• Year 8 - beverages eg. tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc
• Year 9 - sauces for rice or pasta dishes eg. pasta sauce, Chicken Tonight
• Year 10 - juice, poppers OR sugar
• Year 11 and 12 - monetary donation for the purchase of meat vouchers.

Many thanks in anticipation of your support of this very worthy appeal.

SCHOOL FEES AND END OF YEAR MATTERS

Accounts and School Fees

Term 4 School Fees have now been issued. If you haven’t received them, please contact the Bursar, Megan Hines (4681 5900).

Could families please finalise their account prior to the end of school if they no longer have any children continuing schooling at St Joseph’s.

Retreat and Excursion Payments

Year 6 Dreamworld trip and Year 12 Retreat payments must be paid prior to attending.

Returns

Please ensure your children return all textbooks, library books, computers and computer chargers prior to completing the school year. Invoices will be sent out for any items not returned.

Lockers

Students must clean out their lockers by the last day of school. Once school is completed, any locks will be removed and anything remaining in lockers will be disposed of.

Lost Property

A number of Primary school jumpers as well as a hat have been found and brought to the front office. If your child is missing a jumper or a hat, please collect it from the lost property at the front office.

NEW YOUTH WORKER AT CDS

Michelle Serisier is the new youth worker at CDS. She will be working with 12 - 18 year olds who may be experiencing challenges in life. She can advocate for young people and work towards resolving issues including homelessness, family conflicts, schooling, drugs, working and educational struggles.

Michelle is passionate about helping young people to find their best selves in a respectful and collaborative way that highlights their strengths. If you think that she might be able to help you or someone you may know, please call the office on 07 4681 3777 or text her on 0487 877 554 to make an appointment.

UPCOMING EVENTS