St Joseph's Catholic Primary School - St Joseph’s …...St Joseph’s Primary School Gayndah Newsletter Date Wednesday 15 February 2017 Principal’s Letter to Parents 2017 Term

St Joseph’s Primary School

Gayndah

Newsletter Date Wednesday

15 February 2017

Principal’s Letter to Parents

2017 Term One

Week Four

Hi everyone

Often one of the questions that parents ask me at this time of the year is ‘How best can I support my child?’ Whilst

every child is unique in themselves and their learning abilities, there are two key ways that you can make a big

difference in the education of your child, a strong relationship with their teacher and an active role in our community.

A relationship with your child’s teacher

A positive relationship with your child’s teacher begins with you. Often our focus in the first term is to

ensure children have settled into their new year level and feel at home in their new classroom. Granted

this is important, however of even greater importance is to take the opportunity to ask early in the

piece, what is one thing that I can do at home to support my child and how would you suggest I do

that? I know first hand from speaking with parents that often the blocker to asking this question can be, he thought that

‘perhaps I’m not doing it right’ or ‘if I help, I might be more of a hindrance’. None of these statements are true, and the

classroom teachers will reinforce this no end. There is no such thing as the ‘old way’ because every method has value

and it is through variety that your child will have the best possible opportunity for success. If you learnt it a particular

way in school, then share it, because chances are your child just might learn best that way also.

However, if you don’t feel confident to support your child’s learning then rest assured that our

classroom teachers have an abundance of resources available to them that will make working

through particular tasks far easier than it seemed initially. Our staff cater to the needs of every

student as best they can on a daily basis but nothing can sit in place of the support a parent or

guardian may offer in a one on one situation.

Active in our community

I am often in awe of members of our community who manage to juggle so many balls relating to school, local sport,

work and family commitments. Without the support of our volunteers our school community would be lacking greatly.

My suggestion for each term would be to nominate to help in just one way or attend one of our community gatherings.

Potentially with close to 60 families in our community the spread of contribution becomes more balanced and

equitable. Attached to this week’s newsletter is a small nomination sheet, the purpose is to allow parents (including

mum and/or dad), grandparents and carers to pop their hand up to help with one of the upcoming events in our school

community without necessarily feeling the obligation of committing to every event. I’m not demanding that every

student returns this slip, rather I request the support so that all that has been created for the betterment of your child,

can continue long into the future. I know I have said previously that many hands make light work, however this

request is better suited to the methodology of ‘a little bit here and there, makes a big difference’.

Thank you in advance for your support

Cheers

Ben

The weeks are already beginning to fly by, as we are now well into the swing of Term 1. If you are

wanting to get ahead and see the key dates for the year ahead, make sure you check the Parent Portal

or the school website, both of which have calendars that are regularly updated with the major events

happening around school. Hard copies of our school calendar will also be coming home shortly.

On Thursday morning at 9am, Year 3 will have the first class mass of the year. Parents and family

members are most welcome to join us for this occasion, to be held in the Church. Year 4 will lead us

in prayer at assembly on Friday, where they will be singing one of their new favourite religious songs

for us. Hope to see you there!

This week, we celebrated Valentine’s Day. While there is always a lot of

commercial hype around this event, it actually originates as a celebration of St

Valentine, an Italian man who is the patron saint of love and happy marriages.

Little is known about Valentine, but stories say that he converted people to

Christianity and was imprisoned and later martyred for this, and also secretly

married couples so that husbands would not have to go to war.

I am very excited that our laptops for Years 3-6 are nearly ready to be rolled out.

Some classes have begun using theirs already and others are just having the

finishing touches put on. Each class will be involved in some work around safe

and acceptable use of the laptop, and practising basic IT skills that will help

them in their daily use of this wonderful tool. We look forward to seeing what

the students are able to create and engage with on these machines.

Curriculum News—Religious Education Each class has begun the year by investigating our 12 school values that guide all that we do. These can be

found outside our gate, and were gifted to us by the Good Samaritan Sisters. The twelve values are:

Prayer

Word of God

Peace

Partnership

Humility

Healing

Balance

Hospitality

Compassion

Stewardship

Community

Listening

Our students have spent time using these values in prayer, creating posters about them and examining how they

would look, feel and sound in action around our school. It has been great to revisit these values to start off our

year, as they remind us of what we hold important here at St Joseph’s

School Photo Day is Tuesday 28th February. Please return

envelopes before this date.

Bus - To ensure a timely and smooth running of the bus line,

please let the office or teacher on duty know if you are picking up

your child so their name can be removed from the bus roll.

Tuckshop - Tuckshop rosters will be sent home today. If you

can help, please contact the office. Thank you to last week’s helpers Laura Parr, Sarah Webster,

Rebecca Holden and Sam Rowles.

2017 Catholic School Guide is now available. Please contact the office if you would like a copy.

SPORTS NEWS: The new updated project consent form for participating students needs to be returned

even if the first one was completed. *Please note the date change for Softball and AFL North Burnett

Trials is now 20th February.

UNIFORMS: New sports uniforms have been sent home with students. Please contact the office if

sizes need to be exchanged. New stock will be ordered to enable extra sets to be purchased.

Included with today’s newsletter:

Tuckshop order forms

Tuckshop volunteer roster

Community support nomination list

Week 3

Year 5/6 Tristen Bayntun & Josh Ung, Year 4 Jeadin

O’Rourke, Year 3 Daelen Maddern, Year 1/2 Jimmy

Baker, Prep Sahara Hitchcock

Week 2

Year 3 Sienna Slattery, Year 1/2 Oliver Sturgess, Year 4

Indianna Hitchcock, Prep Elyjah Terry, Year 5/6 Jayda Maddern and

Trader Ahern

St Joseph’s Primary School

38 Meson Street

PO Box 119 Gayndah

Queensland

Phone: 07 4161 1889

Fax: 07 4161 2655 Email:

[email protected]

Website: www.stjosephsgayndah.qld.edu.au

“In All Things

Glorify God”

ST JOSEPH’S SCHOOL

TERM

DATES 2017

Term One

Tues 24 Jan—

Fri 31 March

Term Two

Wed 19 April—

Fri 23 June

Term Three

Tues 11 July—

Fri 15 Sept

Term Four

Tues 3 Oct—

Fri 1 Dec

Public Holiday—ANZAC Day

25 April

Public Holiday—Labour Day

1st May

ORANGE FESTIVAL QUEEN ENTRANT Anna Ulcoq (sponsored by St. Joseph’s Primary

School) is running a Golden Draw raffle. 1st Prize—$500, 2nd prize $200 & 3rd prize - $100.

There are also weekly draws to win your money back. Limit of 100 tickets at $20 each.

Contact the school office or Anna Ulcoq 0428 611 560 for details.

JUNIOR NRL SIGN ON: SIGN ON DAY is Tuesday 7th March at 4.30pm at the Gayndah

Sports Ground.

Mitchell Sargent - NRL Development Officer for this region is coming and will be running

"Come n Try" sessions for everyone to have fun and learn some new games.

Registrations are online through the website "playnrl.com.au"

All players, coaches, FAO and Leaguesafe persons need to register prior to Sign On Day due

to insurance.

TENNIS: Gayndah Tennis Club together with Bundaberg Tennis Academy's Coach, Kevin

Banner, are aiming to commence the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Learning sessions on Friday 24th

February 2017 at Gayndah Tennis Club, Barrow Street. Please register with Kevin: 0409 520

753 by 23rd February to secure your place.

YENDA BUS MEETING: Tuesday 21st February 6pm, Contact Stacey Smith 0417079904

WOODMILLAR BUS MEETING: Monday 27th February 4:30pm at St. Joseph’s Primary

School. Contact Ros O’Brien 0428260146

EQUESTRIAN INTERSCHOOL QLD

Interschool aims to promote equitation, education and equestrian sport in school programs

within Queensland and to encourage the development of discipline, character, sportsmanship,

teamwork and a sense of achievement in Interschool riders in Queensland. http://www.qld.equestrian.org.au/interschool Any families interested in starting a school equestrian team for Interschool please contact

Megan MacDonald 0428 146 740.

LIFELINE FAMILY FRIENDLY PARENTING WORKSHOP

A FREE workshop helping to recognise the key elements of understanding and

communicating with your children, giving practical tips & skills on engaging, responding and

offering support.

Date: Thursday 16th February

Times: 9.00am-1:00pm

Venue: To be confirmed (light refreshments provided)

RSVP: To register, email [email protected] or call 07 3624 2428