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Dear Families and Friends of St Joseph’s,
We are now at the halfway mark of the term; time is certainly flying quickly by! This last fortnight it was great to see more events beginning to take place at St Joseph’s including the last of the AFL clinics, Catholic Education Week activities and our Mary MacKillop whole school liturgy. These events cannot take place without the hard work, preparation and dedication of the wonderful staff we have here at St Joseph’s. A very special thank you to the staff of St Joseph’s who go above and beyond to make these events the successes they are. I would also like to welcome to St Joseph’s, Mr Joseph Simmons. Mr Simmons will be joining our staff for the rest of the year to provide internal relief and noncontact time to staff. I’m sure our school community will make Joe very welcome.
We have had a strong demand for Prep places again this year. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting more than 35 prospective 2021 Prep students and their families, I was surprised to find that we have 24 siblings who will be attending next year. I would strongly encourage anyone anticipating enrolling in Prep for 2022 and beyond to enrol online as soon as possible. Should we ever move towards growing to a two-stream school, high numbers of students on our enrolment list would support this growth.
This coming Friday I will be attending the Cairns Catholic Schools Leadership Forum. Each term all principals from the Cairns diocese gather together to learn of new system initiatives, share school practice and explore current educational research that we can then bring back to our schools to add to the wonderful learning already taking place.
We can’t predict or resist what changes may come, though we can ensure that we are doing all that is possible to reduce the community transmission and ensure continuity of learning for our students. We remain vigilant with our hygiene and social distancing of adults. We continue to clean regularly and focus on touch points where multiple hands touch every day. In addition, we continue to implement additional controls as best practice for reduced spread of the virus.
If your children show any symptoms of illness particularly cold and flu, please keep them at home. Children who develop symptoms during the day, will be isolated at school and parents will need to collect them immediately. Please remind your children about handwashing, sneezing into elbows and not touching faces. Please also ensure your child has their own water bottle for school use as bubblers are only to be used to refill bottles.
It’s important to acknowledge that if the virus spreads, we may face staged lockdowns as we have experienced in the past. Whilst this is not the desired outcome, government will make the decisions to safeguard our community and we will follow these directions for the wellbeing of our community. We have done it before, and we will do it again. Next time, we will do it better.
We have a whole staff that have demonstrated their selfless, wholehearted commitment to our students and community and I back them all the way knowing they will step up when required.
God Bless,
Megan
Last week we celebrated the Feast of Mary MacKillop. She was indeed a woman who endured many crosses throughout her life so she is one who would readily identify with those who are finding this time challenging. Her words of 1907 speak very much to us in 2020: “We must let no obstacle deter us from proceeding with courage in the path marked out for us. It may sometimes be dark and full of windings, but a beautiful bright light shines at the end of this path and a few more windings will bring us to it.”
Today we who embrace and are inspired by the Josephite charism continue to be called to make a difference wherever we are. For some at this time, that may be taking the time to make a phone call to someone we know who is in lockdown or providing support to a family who are struggling to make ends meet. Wherever you are I wish you and your families many blessings as we acknowledge and celebrate the life of a woman who inspires us to continue being people of hope.
This Week Let us include in our prayers…..
- Those brave women, who like Mary MacKillop, partner with unlikely friends to make a difference in our world. May we look outward in our relationships and see who we too can learn from and lean into when we see and need and try to do something about it.
- Those living in uncertainty as a result of Covid-19: those in lock down; the vulnerable in aged-care; those on the streets; those who are unemployed and suffering financial hardship. May we, where we are able, be a pillar of support for those who are wavering.
Sunday’s Gospel- 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Please find shared in this week’s newsletter: the Sunday prayer at home which has some wonderful resources to unpack this week’s readings in a family friendly way.
The gospel story contains a succession of episodes: Jesus’ prayer, his appearance on the lake, his challenge to Peter, and the disciples’ confession of faith. The text follows directly on from last Sunday’s story of the feeding of the crowd. Matthew reminds us of Jesus’ practice of prayer, often alone and through the night. He implies a connection between Jesus’ solitary communing with God and the divine power with which he masters the storm-tossed sea.
There is no limit to the ways in which human beings encounter the divine. Our experience of God’s presence and power is infinitely varied. It can happen in a dramatically impressive event; it can happen in a moment of utter quiet, it can even happen enjoying a spectacular Weipa sunset. In the end it is not something under our control. The initiative is always God’s. Often enough it occurs precisely when we have lost control of our lives, when our defences are down and we are aware of our human frailty. Our vulnerability allows God to reach into our lives and touch us. Reading Reflections
Week 5 Whole School Liturgy
On Friday, the school hosted a liturgy of the word in the church. It was absolutely wonderful to see all classes gathered together for prayer. Unfortunately, due to car troubles Father Dariusz was unable to join us, however we soldiered on in his absence. The liturgy was filmed and will be uploaded to the parent portal this week for viewing. Each class was responsible for making a pledge poster. The pledges were based on the motto of Mary Mackillop, never see a need without doing something about it. Please see below the photos of the student’s pledges.
May St Joseph smile on you,
Meg Newell
APRE/CST
The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart had a particular call to care for the needs of the poor. They did this through providing schools to educate the children of the many poor people in the Australia and New Zealand of the nineteenth century. This work has continued until our own day. Apart from education the Sisters of St Joseph responded to other welfare needs of poor people including support for refugees and families in distress.
Here at Joey’s, we often refer to Mary’s now famous quote “Never see a need without doing something about it.” We aspire to be as generous with our time and talents as St Mary and her Sisters were with theirs. What great role models of humility and charity they were and still are today. The Josephite charism inspires both our school mission statement.
I have had considerable experience teaching Grade 6 but have also worked across the spread of the other grades of Primary School as well.
My hobbies include riding motorcycles, a bit of bushwalking (some might call it getting lost) and at times having a fossick for agates and other stones. I hear there's never been a better time to get right into fishing in Weipa!
I am beyond excited to learn as much as possible about this beautiful part of the world, and if you see me out around town or at school, please don't hesitate to say hello.
Thanks for your time,
Joe Simmons
Just in case, if you didn’t know, school counsellors work in partnerships with families and school staff to support students in overcoming any social or emotional barriers to their learning, so that they can achieve educational success.
Some common social or emotional barriers to learning include: -
- Friendship issues
- Bullying
- Bereavement
- Parental separation
- Stress/worry
- Feeling down
- Self-harm
- Anger
School counsellors are committed to ensuring that all students have the skills needed for social, academic, and personal growth.
I look forward to working with families, students and school staff to support and provide counselling interventions to increase and promote positive relationships and optimal emotion and mental wellbeing.
Warmest regards,
Tosca Grainger-Dee
This week was our last week with AFL Cape York. The students played Pick the Colour, Spiders and Flies, practised handball and kicking skills and participated in a modified game of AFL for P.E. A big thank you to Matt and Jake from AFL Cape York we look forward to your return next year.
The Year 5 and Year 6 class were introduced to the Move With Deadly Foods Project (OTMWDF). The Program aims to educate and promote healthy food and drink choices and encourage regular physical activity. The classroom session involves students working through a resource booklet, which aligns to the HPE Curriculum in a fun, interactive and educational session.
AFTERSCHOOL AUSKICK PROGRAM 2020
On Thursday afternoon from 3.10pm - 4.10pm AFL ran the last session of Auskick. The students had a great afternoon and at the end of the session we thanked and farewelled Matt and Jake as they return to Cairns over the weekend. We look forward to their return in 2021.
Last week our Term Three School Fee accounts were distributed. I want to assure any families who are facing very tough circumstances at present, that we are committed to the ongoing education of your children. Please contact Leanne Gibson or myself to discuss finance support. Cairns Catholic Education’s commitment that no child will be denied access to a Catholic School Education because of genuine family financial stress is the mantra to which we are firmly committed.
Catholic Education Week always reminds me of how blessed we are to have such a strong and supportive Catholic school community. When Assumption and St Mary’s work closely together to help each other, great things are always achieved.
Book Week Dress Up Day - Friday 28th August 2020
Unfortunately, due to covid-19 restrictions on social gathering, parents will not be able to be present. However, we are hoping that there will be plenty of pictures on our St Joseph’s media pages.
The theme this year is Curious Creatures, Wild Minds. So, if your child would like to dress up in this theme, it could be quite fun. Otherwise, a favourite book character is another possibility.
Some possible dress up suggestions are:
Wild Minds -wild hair, big brain hat, a hat with all your crazy ideas dangling off
Curious creatures dress as a bunyip, unicorn, Lockness Monster
Website with lots of ideas
https://www.bountyparents.com.au/expert-advise/20-easy-book-week-costumes/
