St Joseph's Catholic School - Mundingburra eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, the Wulgurukaba people. We also acknowledge their neighbouring brothers and sisters on the land, the Bindal people. We pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging. May we walk gently and peacefully on this land together.

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, Staff and Students

I hope this communication finds everyone healthy and well. We have been experiencing an increase in staff and students who have either tested positive for COVID or have come down with the flu. With the weather likely to become cooler, it is a good time to remind everyone to continue undertaking good hygiene measures so as to optimise our health at this time.

On Saturday I attended the Townsville Parent Engagement Day at St Joseph’s The Strand. It was wonderful to have four of our P & F parents in attendance as well. The day was organised by Catholic School Parents Queensland and supported by Townsville Catholic Education. The guest speakers were engaging to listen to and included Child Psychologist Andrew Fuller and Chris Borrell from The Fathering Project. Andrew spoke about some of the tricky behaviours children can present us with, and how these can be best addressed.

Andrew explained that while tricky behaviour can often be challenging and confronting for parents, these children are the ones that are often incredibly gifted academically or creatively and frequently grow up to be the movers and shakers of the world. Passive resistance, competitive, manipulative, aggressive, moody or argumentative traits can often disguise anxieties and stresses that children cannot articulate. The secret to transforming tricky behaviour is to discover the root causes of undesirable behaviour and show children how to use their abilities for good, rather than turn the home or school room into chaos. Andrew presented and examined a variety of the different types of tricky behaviour displayed by children of all ages; and it introduced the audience to his trusty RESOLVE acronym to help parents focus on their child’s needs:
R – respond with respect
E – engage and build belonging
S – seek understanding
O – observe feelings
L – lower the tempo
V – value add
E - empower
The Fathering Project piqued our interest as well, and will be an agenda item for our next P & F Meeting where we will discuss the possible benefits it would bring to our school community and the many possible ways it could be implemented into our context.
As you will be aware, St Joseph’s Mundingburra has embraced the RIPPLE Program in our school. RIPPLE is a collaborative, diagnostic whole of school approach that improves the resilience and self-confidence of students. It is supported by best practice providers to diagnose and deliver education and community support in this important area. PROJECT ROCKIT is one of these providers and will be delivering workshops to our Years 3 - 6 students next Friday.
The goal of the workshops is for our students to have access to respect, acceptance and creative expression. Highly trained presenters will run the workshops which empower students to lead positive change at school, online and beyond. The workshops assist school students to make a stand against bullying by equipping them with the empathy and skills to take real action.
Enjoy the rest of your week.

God bless
Tracy

APRE News

Open Your Heart

Be a Gift of Love and Compassion for One Another Mary MacKillop

Pentecost

Pentecost was celebrated last Sunday. Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the Church. The Gospel for Pentecost reminds us that the Church begins with the command to forgive. Within the family, the domestic church, we learn how to forgive and how to accept forgiveness. The gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to do both. Pentecost presents us with the opportunity to consider how we are living each day. Are the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness and self-control - growing in our lives?

“Come Holy Spirit
Make our ears to hear
Make our eyes to see
Make our mouths to speak
Make our hearts to seek
Make our hands to reach out
And touch the world with your love. AMEN.”
(Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman)

Holy Trinity Sunday
This Sunday we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost. On this day, we celebrate the Trinity: God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Although we cannot understand the depths of God, and how God can be three persons in one, we share in God’s life and are called to reflect something of who God is.

Sacramental Program

Last Wednesday night we had a number of our students participate in the sacrament of reconciliation.

Father Joshy was very impressed with the way the children were prepared for the sacrament and how they conducted themselves on the night. Well done to all of the students involved. Just a reminder to families involved that we will commence Confirmation Lessons on Sunday 31st July. I will send out reminders for this closer to the date.

Year Level Masses
Today Year 4 participated in a Year Level Mass. Thank you to parents and family who were able to join us.

Assembly
Assemblies take place in the Shelter Shed on Monday mornings at 8:40am. All are welcome to attend. Our next Assembly will be hosted by 2B next Monday.

Christian Meditation
Christian Meditation will take place again from this Thursday morning at 8:00am in the Library. Meditation is a form of sacred and silent prayer, known as prayer of the heart. It is a lovely way to start the day! Parents are welcome to attend.

May God’s blessing be with you all, Peta

The Joey's Way

eSafety Webinars and Information

Parents are welcome to register for the upcoming e-Safety webinars via the link below. There is also information about parental controls, tips, fact sheets and app checklists relating to online safety.

eSafety Webinar Registration

Parent Resources

Project Rockit

As part of our involvement with the RIPPLE Program, PROJECT ROCKIT will be presenting workshops for our students in Years 3 - 6 on Friday 17th June. Highly trained presenters will run the workshops which empower students to lead positive change at school, online and beyond. The workshops assist school students to make a stand against bullying by equipping them with the empathy and skills to take real action.

PROJECT ROCKIT is a trusted safety provider certified by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. Their workshops are youth-driven and evidence-based, with all learning outcomes aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

Diary Dates

Term Dates

From the Office

Term 2 school fees were due for payment on 3rd June. These are now overdue and your prompt payment is most appreciated.

Year 6 Interschool Sport payments were also due on 2nd June.

Year 5 Camp fees are due for payment on 17th June.

Our office hours are 8am to 3.30pm. We have a staff member on duty from 8am in the mornings and until 3.15pm at the end of the school day. Students who are late to school are required to report to the office to collect a 'late pass' and have their names marked present on the roll.

If you are running late for collection in the afternoon, please call ahead to advise the office staff. Students who are not collected by 3.15pm are taken to the office and parents contacted. Please remember that our office closes at 3.30pm.

As the weather gets cooler and the students grow, their appetites also tend to increase. We have had students asking for more food at lunch breaks as they are still hungry. Could parents please consider packing an extra item or two of food just in case it is a hungry day for your child.

School Uniform

As the winter months are approaching, parents are reminded of our school uniform policy. Students can wear PLAIN bottle green jumpers - either zip up or pullover. Zip up jumpers are available with the school logo from The School Locker.

Star Students

Congratulations to our Star Students for Week 7 and 8

Reader's Cup

Interschool Sport

The first week of interschool sports was a hit! All students played with pride, demonstrated great sportsmanship and team spirit. We won 3 out of the 4 games we played. Boys Touch won 11 to 2, Girls Touch Lost by 1 point 5 to 6, Boys Soccer won 8 to 1 and Girls Soccer won 5 to 1. Bring on round 2 this week!

Interschool Sport - Soccer Week 1

Sporting Achievements

Congratulations to Orlanda who placed first in her archery competition. She has been doing archery for 4years. The medal reads:

North QLD Alliance Field Championship
1st place
Cub Female
B.B. Recurve 2022.

Congratulations to Ava for her wonderful achievements in Basketball. Representing St Joseph's Mundingburra, Ava attended the Townsville schools' basketball trials and was selected in the Townsville team. She then trialed for the NQ team and was one of the 10 girls to be selected in this team. Last week Ava competed in the Queensland Representative School Sport 10-12 Years Basketball State Championships in Mackay. Out of the 10 teams who competed, our Northern girls brought home the Bronze medal. A fantastic effort Ava!

Jack, Oscar, Harper and Chelsea were among a group of students who participated in the NQ Trials for Cross Country. Jack came in 10th place while Oscar placed in the top 20. Harper placed 4th and Chelsea placed 12th. Congratulations to all students who proudly represented our school.

Congratulations to Brooke who placed 11th in the Northern Region Cross Country last Tuesday. Well done Brooke!

Congratulations also to Mr Feaver and our Rugby League team who pulled off the amazing feat of winning the Tier 3 Grand Final of the Bill Nettle Rugby League Interschool Gala Day at Brothers Rugby League Club. This competition involved a large number of schools, so winning is a significant achievement as far as team sports go. Well done Mr Feaver and all the students who participated and tried their best. We are proud of you!

Sports Achievements

Bimbi Wadja

We started Reconciliation week in week 7 with an assembly led by 3B. We continued with our art activities by painting rocks, bark and leaves, some amazing creations were made. We also spoke about Eddie Mabo on Mabo day June 3rd and learnt what he did for landrights in Australia.

Reconciliation Week Activities

Library News

The library has had a wonderful few weeks immersed in quality reading, literacy and books, with the National Simultaneous Storytime a success with visits that day from St Mary MacKillop Kindy kids and the Miniversity Kindy as well. We also reflected and contemplated on Reconciliation Week in which we focused on amazing Indigenous authors & illustrators, similar to our Sally Morgan as well as celebrating World Oceans Week! Mrs Luton, our Library Teacher continued her excellent teaching with literacy topics from Roald Dahl to academic literacy in the lower primary areas. Mrs Luton has also been busy organizing our Teams for the upcoming Readers Cup.
‘Let’s Talk about books’ continued with discussions on new books and the love of reading, and this week with interviews with some of our Readers Cup competitors!

Next week Tuesday, 14 June 2022 at 5.30pm at the Southern Cross Catholic College, our school will be represented by a fantastic, enthusiastic, Readers Cup Team, who will enter the reading championships at the annual Children’s Book Council of Australia (QLD), for Readers Cup in the North Queensland Region.

As usual the two teams of four to five students will be quizzed, with questions about a special set of books, and the winners of the competition will then compete in the state final in Brisbane. Those exceptional books selected were: ‘We are Wolves, Treasure in the Lake, Devils in Danger, Wednesday Weeks and the Tower of Shadows and Worse Things’. The students have really enjoyed reading them!

Our Teams are ready for the challenge and the opportunity to join other students in the region to show their passion for reading and books!

Good Luck St Joseph’s Readers Cup Teams for next Tuesday. Enjoy the ambience of friends together, engaged in the love of books! Well done!

Happy Reading everyone!

Don’t forget…Book Club Issue 4 will be closed by 10 June, 2022. Please make sure you have made your final selection through the Scholastic LOOP Ordering online.

Library Gallery

Our pre-loved uniform shop will be open on Tuesday 14 June from 8.15am to 8.45am for your uniform requirements.

Please note that the uniform shop accepts cash only for purchases.

For any further information please contact Kim Hogan on 0413 220 868

Guidance Councellor

Your Child’s Wellbeing: time for action
“The wellbeing of today’s youth has never been more challenging” Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
As school staff and parents our role to support the wellbeing of children in our care can seem overwhelming. Information is at our fingertips, but where to start and what seems relevant now can change quickly. On School TV you know the information has been checked by medical experts in the field. Take a look today at topics that are relevant for you and your family from any of the following series:

Take at look at the ‘Special Reports’ such as this one on Friendship and Belonging

You can listen to experts talk about this topic, you can answer questionnaires and you can read key articles relevant for your child.

This link will take you to a Wellbeing Checklist for Primary

Wellbeing Checklist for Primary

Please reach out to us if you are concerned about the wellbeing of your child at school.
Take care
Barb Salisbury
Guidance Counsellor
St Joseph’s Catholic School, Mundingburra