A Celtic Blessing

May The Road Rise Up To Meet You

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As the school year comes to a close, we have much to celebrate and many happy memories. Together we’ve learned much and shared experiences that will long remain with us in the years to come. The strength of our community and wholehearted passion to make our school a wonderful place of learning for our children is what makes St Joseph’s a truly special place.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you, the parents of St Joseph’s for the wonderful support you give to this community, the staff and myself. We are blessed to have so many parents who are involved in so many aspects of our school. Never underestimate the vital role each one of you play whether through word or action in contributing towards the benefit of all the children in our care and in building our community. 

I would like to thank our hard working and caring staff members who have made a huge difference to our students. Their commitment is outstanding, and our kids are the beneficiaries. For these, and a million other things, we are truly grateful.

There are many other staff members who contribute to the excellent tuition provided at St Joseph’s. Our community acknowledges and thanks our Specialist Teachers (Teacher Librarian, Curriculum, The Arts, HPE), Inclusion Teachers (Learning Support, Guidance Counsellor), School Officers (Teacher Assistants, Secretaries), Relief Teachers, Tuckshop Convenor, Uniform Shop Convener and Cleaning Staff who all contribute significantly to the education provided at St Joseph’s! Thank you!

To families and staff who are leaving us for new places we wish you all the best and you will continue to be in our prayers.

Starry Starry Night Christmas Concert

Oh What a Wonderful Night! Nothing made me prouder of our students than the way they stood up and sang their hearts out. A sincere thank-you to all the students and staff who worked so hard to make sure Friday night’s Christmas Starry Starry Night concert was such a success. A huge thank you to our actors Peta, Lucas and Samuel Hancock who told the Nativity story so well. Thank you to the P and F for providing us with a delicious sausage sizzle. Thank you also to all the parents and family members who made Friday night’s celebration of the birth of Jesus so beautiful. I am sure we can all agree that Amanda Scikluna did an excellent job in organising this event, we thank her for her time and support to make it such a special night for our children and families!

Christmas Hampers Cent Auction

Thank you all for your generous donations for tonight’s cent auction. We raised $1350 from the sale of tickets. This means that we will be donating $250 to each of the following charities:

• Royal Flying Doctors
• Community Care
• CAPS
• The Women’s Shelter
• Weipa Wildlife Care
• Catholic Mission

Congratulations to:

Hamper 1 – Christmas Drinks Pack: Robinson Family

Hamper 2 – Beer and Nibbles Pack: Scikluna Family

Hamper 3 – Toy Gift Pack: Lyons Family

Hamper 4 – Christmas Party Pack: Huni Family

Hamper 5 -- Camping/ Outdoors Pack: Hayman Family

Hamper 6 – BBQ Pack: Turner Family

Hamper 7 – Homewares Pack: Barba Family (Reon and Liam)

Hamper 8 – Garden Pack: Huni Family

Hamper 9 – Pamper Pack: Bond Family (Sarah and Conrad)

Hamper 10 – Confectionary Pack: Johnson Family

Christmas Treats

In these last weeks of school, children like to carry out the Christmas spirit by sending and receiving Christmas cards with lovely messages of joy and thanks. This is a lovely gesture. As there are a number of children at St Joseph’s who have severe allergies we kindly ask that you do not send in any edible treats for the children to give to each other. This includes gingerbread, chocolates, candy canes, marshmallows or any other lollies, biscuits or cakes. We ask this so that we can ensure that our school community remains safe for all of our children. Thank you for your co-operation in this important matter.

Attendance                                                                                        

As you would already know every day of attendance is an important foundation for learning. Regular attendance and academic success go hand in hand. I am pleased to say that attendance this year, although significantly below that of other schools in the Diocese has improved since last year. We want the same opportunities for our children in Weipa as they have in Cairns, so we will continue to keep this in our focus for 2020.

Congratulations to the following students who, at our last assembly, received an Attendance Medallion for attending 96% or more (less than 6 days absence) for the year:

• Stella Gunning
• Wylie Clarke
• Ella Mitton
• Jack Kelleher
• Liam Mattissey
• Levi Jenkins
• Lily Jenkins
• Brendan Ward
• Madison Johnson
• Dominic Johnson
• TJ Raleigh
• Sienna Williams
• Evan Ah Shay
• Kooper Baylis
• Femke Hagenmaier
• Ianneasha Raleigh
• Ben Winaulin
• Georgia Winaulin
• Natasha Winaulin
• Darcy Mason
• Archie Armstrong
• Faith Chandler
• Adeline Gray
• Jack Potter
• Roxanne Raleigh
• Sophie Steele
• Dylan Spencer

A special congratulations to Walter Raleigh who successfully attend 100% of the time.

Our last week for 2019 has many activities and events:

Transition Day

This Monday is transition Day. This means our students will have the opportunity to meet their 2020 teacher in the classroom they will occupy in 2020. This is a lovely way to begin the relationship that will play such an important role in each child’s education next year. On this day, we will welcome our new teaching staff via video.

Principal’s Morning Tea

This Tuesday will be the Principal’s Morning Tea Reward for all those students who have earned 3 attendance tags and, or 3 wristbands. Invitations will be sent home Monday.

Year 6 Graduation

Year 6 Graduation dinner will be held on Wednesday 27^th November. On the last day of school it is our tradition to make a Guard of Honour for our Year 6 students to pass through as they leave the school. We will gather together at 2.45pm should you like to be part of this tradition.

End of Year Mass

Our end of Year Mas at St Joseph’s Church Thursday 28^th November at 9am.  This Mass is always a wonderful way to farewell our staff and families who are leaving us and celebrate the successes of all our children. We hope to see everyone there.

Tuckshop

The last day of Tuckshop this year will be Wednesday 27^th November 2019. I am please to announce that Sophie Stevenson will be our Tuckshop Convenor for 2020.

Class Pizza Parties

Each class will celebrate the end of the year with a Pizza Party on the fun day. One piece of pizza per child will be provided. Classes will take preferences and food intolerances will be catered for. As this is only a treat, please send along other food for the day.

Fun Day

Fun Day will be held on Thursday 28^th November. Letters will be sent home to Silver and Gold Level certificate holders detailing the day. Gold Certificate students will be allowed to wear free dress for the day. Both Silver and Gold level standing will be participating in wet play activities in the middle session followed by a movie in the afternoon. 

Moving Day

On Friday the 29^th we will be moving classrooms ready for next year. As our Prep and Year 1 are the biggest classes in the school they will be relocating to the biggest classrooms. Pre and One will be located in the general Learning area 5 and 6 with the opportunity to share the large wet space in between the classrooms.

Doors will be renamed for 2020 so they can be easily identified but so that you can have an understand of where classes are moving to other classes locations are as follows:

Year 2 = PREP room

Year 3 = GLA2 room

Year 4 =GLA4 room

Year 5 =GLA3 room

Year 6 =GLA1 room

Staffing 2020

We will farewell/thank five staff at our End of Year Mass on Wednesday 27^th November. 

Congratulations to both Amanda Sckiluna and Holly Jarden who are expecting babies in 2020! Neither Amanda or Holly will be on staff in 2020. Other staff departing include Amanda Saunders who is returning to Atherton to be close to family; Emma Dixon is moving to Tannum Sands with her family and Nigel Mitchell is heading back home to Bali.

Class teachers were announced last week, and we are still awaiting interviews and pending applications for APRE, LST and classroom teacher for 2020. We will keep our school community informed as soon as these positions are filled.

Report Cards

We aim to have your child’s report uploaded to the Parent Portal by the end of day Friday 29^th November. You will receive a summative report of your child’s academic progress and effort for the Semester 2 timeframe. Please take the time to celebrate the learning and growth that your child has achieved this year. A big thank you goes to the teachers for the time, effort and thought that goes into assessing and writing these important documents.

2019 Budget

With the end of our school financial year fast approaching it is very important that all families settle accounts before the last day of Term 4. This will enable the school to stay on track with the 2019 budget and assist the planning and finalisation of the 2020 budget.

2020 Fees and Levies

St Joseph’s like other schools, charges fees and levies to support quality teaching and learning of students. Each year we are faced with increased costs making it necessary for the school to increase fees. For 2020, there will be a slight increase in Tuition as set across the Diocese of Cairns.

Book Pack

Just a reminder that St Joseph’s now provides all learning resources, books, pens etc in the form of a Book Pack $120 for each Year Level. These can be purchased through flexischools from Thursday the 4^th December 2019 and must be paid for before the 28^th January when school resumes for 2020. All resources are then distributed to and stored in classes to be used as organised by the classroom teacher.

Lost Property

Our lost property shed, located at the entrance of the Library, is still holding a vast array of items. Please check the lost property over the next few days, as any unclaimed items will be donated to a local charity.

Until next school year, here’s wishing you love, laughter and happiness.

God Bless!

Megan 

This article will be my final message to you all as APRE at St Joseph’s and it is with a very sad but also joyful heart that I write to you this week. My journey here started as a fly in fly out role for a couple of months to help Rosie with interviews for staffing, choosing furniture and many other miscellaneous jobs needed to open a new school. I took up residence early December 2015 and then the hard work began with unpacking and constructing furniture, covering books, setting up teacher accommodation and meeting a lot of new faces within the community.

The past four years have been an amazing chapter for Terry and I and I know this week is going to be a hard one having to say goodbye to a lot of good friends, students, colleagues and families. I also have been blessed that I actually had some of my family here in Weipa which made the move just that little bit easier.

Where do I start? First with this little passage I found - I really like the German word for goodbye. Auf Wiedersehen. It means you’ll see the person again. It’s not the end. Why is there even the word “good” in “goodbye” anyway? There is nothing very good about leaving people you love, leaving a place you love. Four years have gone so quickly and during this time I have discovered a few new passions as well as just how to live remotely. Some of you may laugh but I still never perfected my skills of online shopping and still prefer to have my mail delivered.

Thus, begins my process of trying to adequately say goodbye to you all. I’ll be honest this is going to be exhausting and please excuse my tears for the next few days. Although it is going to be emotional, I would still prefer to say to you ‘see ya later.’ The positive part of all this though is that I can come back and I can stay in touch. With all of the good friends and relationships Terry and I have made here in Weipa we know that when we see you or speak to you again, we will just pick up from where we left off. The reverse also applies that if any of you are down our way and would like to catch up please let us know.

As I finish my article, I would like to mention that there are always more positives about leaving and that is the memories you make. I look and think back on photos, camping trips, day trips, waterfalls, quading, fishing (which you all know is definitely not for me) and the ridiculous amount of hilarious, crazy, funny and fun times we have had both at school and outside in the community and a smile instantly comes to my face.

So without waffling on too much – Thank you all for the part you have played in the Weipa chapter of our story and we wish you all the very best ahead and know that we will see each other again soon.

“See ya later” and God bless,

Amanda and Terry Saunders