Term 3 Week 2 Newsletter, 2022

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
 
Welcome to Mulkadee Week and our first Newsletter for Term 3. I hope those in our school community who were lucky enough to have time off over the recent holiday break were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and spend some quality time with family, whether at home or on a family trip away. 
 
Due to a couple of family events, I took Long Service Leave and enjoyed an extra week of holidays, only returning to school on Monday. I have certainly hit the ground running with our NAIDOC celebrations and Mulkadee commencing this week and Catholic Education Week next week. I also missed the departure and return of our Year 5 campers.
 
This week sees a number of our students travelling by bus each day to the Townsville Entertainment Centre so as to experience the joys of Mulkadee. Mulkadee provides a unique experience for students to learn from industry experts and culminates in a performance to a sell-out crowd of family and friends at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre on Friday 22 July. Mulkadee students were sporting sunglasses this morning, so this may provide a clue as to what the audience will witness at the concert, the theme of which is Into the Unknown. Miss Di Bella and Mrs Hutchison are our teachers in charge of supervision at this event.
 
This year Mulkadee will be a variety show format and will also have an added element of audio-visual allowing Townsville Catholic Education to showcase the incredible talent in our diocese. This filmed component of the show not only allows for an exciting new dimension to the Mulkadee format, it also allows students from regional areas or senior students the opportunity to participate in the show, if they are unable to attend the full week of Mulkadee.  
 
NAIDOC celebrations commenced at St Joseph’s this week with our NAIDOC Liturgy on Monday morning. NAIDOC Week celebrates and recognises the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year's theme is Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! whereby a genuine commitment by all of us is required to support and secure institutional, structural, collaborative, and cooperative reforms. During our Liturgy, each year level stood up and made a pledge to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! 
 
Due to the hard work and dedication of our Indigenous Education Worker, Cindy Collinson, students have had the opportunity to participate in NAIDOC activities every day at lunch time this week. Next Tuesday 26.7.22 Dion Drummond will be at the school to entertain our students. Dion is one of Australia’s most experienced Indigenous performers, covering both Mainland and Islander culture as a dancer, singer and storyteller. In his school visits, Dion shares tales and artefacts from his cultures, teaching students about the different traditions of both Torres Strait Island and Aboriginal storytelling, song and dance. Students participate in learning a little of the language, including some songs, as well as a look at the skills of Indigenous dances. We look forward to welcoming Dion to our school next week.
 
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

Dear God
As the new School Term begins, please watch over our children. 
Keep them safe and surround them with people who will encourage them to do their best. 
Thank you for all of our teachers, parents and families. 
Bless them, give them strength and keep them safe.
Amen

NAIDOC  Week
This week we are celebrating NAIDOC week. The theme this year is Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! We are encouraged to all work together to ensure that the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is based on justice, equality and the proper recognition of Indigenous people’s rights. NAIDOC week is also a time to celebrate the many who have driven and led change in our Indigenous communities over generations, the heroes and champions of change, equal rights and human rights. We pray today that we get up, stand up and show up to support justice, equality and freedom for all people.

We started our week with our NAIDOC week liturgy. Thank you to Miss Cindy, Miss Julie and our Bimbi Wadja students for hosting our liturgy. 

Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Parish Celebration - Our Parish Feast Day is technically 8th August when the Church celebrates the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. St Mary MacKillop is our parish’s patron and namesake. All parishioners are invited to a High Tea Morning Tea on Sunday 7 August commencing immediately following the 7:30 am Sunday Parish Mass.

School Celebration: Our school community will celebrate the Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop on Monday 8th August. We will begin our day with a Liturgy in the Shelter Shed. All are welcome to join us. Students will then join together to participate in a range of hands-on activities to explore some of the characteristics and values of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop; trusting, contemplative, traveller, teacher, team player, communicator, resilient and compassionate. Mary MacKillop was a woman whose faith led her to blaze untravelled paths and live a life in the service of others. A woman we can be truly inspired by to live the Gospel of Jesus.

Assembly
Assemblies take place in the Shelter Shed on Monday mornings at 8:40am.Next week's assembly will be our Catholic Education Week assembly hosted by 1A.  1B will host assembly on Monday 1st August. All are welcome to attend.  

Christian Meditation 
Christian Meditation will take place again next 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

Parish Feast Day 2022 - Invitation to Families

Our Parish Feast Day is 8 August when the Church celebrates the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. St Mary MacKillop is our parish’s patron and namesake. Our Parish boundaries include many works of the church including St Joseph’s Catholic School, St Margaret Mary’s College and St Mary MacKillop Childcare. 

All members of the school and daycare communities are welcome to join the Parish and parishioners at a High Tea Morning Tea on Sunday 7 August commencing immediately following the 7:30 am Sunday Parish Mass. The venue for our 'High Tea' is the St Joseph’s School Covered Area. We look forward to as many parishioners and school and daycare families as possible joining us for morning tea commencing at around 8:30 am.

The Joey's Way

Diary Dates

Term Dates

Monday 11 July - Friday 16 September

(10 week term)

Friday 2nd September is a pupil free day

School Board - Expression of Interest

Expression of Interest - Join the Board
The School Board is an advisory group where, in the reflective, respectful atmosphere of the monthly meeting, the Principal can seek the Board's advice on matters of school policy and on 'big picture' matters affecting the school's present life and its future. The Board upholds the Catholic belief that the Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of everyone and that all members have wisdom to contribute. The Board helps create a sense of continuity in a school's life despite changes of principal and staff and the normal comings and goings of families in the school community. We are seeking one or two additional parent members to join. For further information please contact Tracy via the school office, or send an email to her email address tnuttall2@sjmbtsv.catholic.edu.au

School Photos

Advanced Life have been booked for our school photos on Wednesday 10 August.  Envelopes were sent home last week.

There is a flyer below with details for how to order.  Sibling envelopes are also available from the office.  Please return all envelopes to the office.

Prep Students

Prep polo shirt with green school shorts.  

Shoes must be black leather shoes or joggers  - no coloured trimmings.  

Socks for both boys and girls - Short, plain white, ankle-length socks - not anklets

All long hair should be tied back off the face. All hair attire such as ribbons and scrunchies must be bottle green, black or white in colour or blend in with the child's hair.

Year 1 - 6

Students are required to be in full academic uniform - adademic shorts and academic shirt for boys.  Girls can wear either the academic dress or academic skorts and academic blouse.

Shoes must be black leather shoes or joggers  - no coloured trimmings

Socks for both boys and girls - Short, plain white, ankle-length socks - not anklets

All long hair should be tied back off the face. All hair attire such as ribbons and scrunchies must be bottle green, black or white in colour or blend in with the child's hair.

Tech Club with Mrs Cantoni

From the Office

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 and staff leave at 3.30pm.

If your child is showing cold and flu symptoms, the best place for them is at home where they can rest and recover and prevent spreading their illness.

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

Parents are reminded of our school uniform policy with the cooler days upon us.  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.

Term 2 school fees were due for payment on 3 June.  It would be appreciated if accounts could please be settled promptly.

Library News

Welcome back to Term 3.  Book Week is 6 weeks away, commencing 20 August. The theme for CBCA Book Week 2022 is, "Dreaming with eyes open"... To link with books and reading you can say that reading is dreaming with your eyes open. Well-written stories stimulate the imagination and allow the reader to dream themselves into the book. They can travel to other places and times and into imaginary worlds. A dream can act as a catalyst, a tool for change or be an inspiration. Reading about inspiring characters can encourage young people to take on challenges in their lives. They can dare to dream.  

We have started focusing on the Book Week theme ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’. What does the theme mean? When you are reading with eyes wide open you  are thinking about the story and using your imagination (dreaming) when you are reading them! Jasmine Seymour, indigenous author & illustrator is the official artwork illustrator for this year 2022.

Later on, in the term we will have our Book Week Parade, activities and displays for all the amazing winners of the shortlisted books chosen by the CBCA, learning more about Australian authors and illustrators of these extraordinary books!

SAVE THE DATE:  Our book week parade is Tuesday 23 August at 9am.  We look forward to seeing the wonderful costumes our students come up with and thank parents for all the effort that goes into our book week parade.

NAIDOC Week - This week the library celebrated NAIDOC Week with activities and displays.  NAIDOC Week is celebrated by all Australians and is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

BOOK CLUB Issue 5 will be closed on the 27 July 2022.
Check out the Scholastic great deals for Issue 5 with a free books offer when you spend $30 or more. (see image above)
Get your orders in as soon as possible to take advantage of the free books offer!!! 

Townsville School Sports Trials

Bimbi Wadja

NAIDOC Week Activities

Miss Cindy has co-ordinated daily activities for students during lunch for NAIDOC Week.

Monday's activity was " Nature Art"where students used items from nature to paint and print on paper.

Tuesday's activity was " Rain sticks" where students used sticks and wound beautiful coloured cotton yarn around them.

Other activities scheduled for the week are Foot prints to symbolise standing together, bracelet making with wooden beads and colouring sheets, Indigenous puzzles, sand trays and dreamtime stories.  There will also be a large Aboriginal flag made with hand prints.  Next week we welcome Indigenous performer Dion Drummond who will be performing for the school.

A big thank you to Miss Cindy and helpers.  

Guidance Counsellor - Barbara Salisbury

Raising a Resilient Child
School TV article: Six Ways to Raise a Resilient Child 
Want to help your children deal with stress and adversity? It’s easier than you think. These effective techniques don’t require you to overhaul your parenting style, but simply to make a few tweaks that will help your children thrive. Our brains respond to the information around us, so resilience can be taught, modelled and nurtured at any age. 
•    Have a one-on-one with each child, without distractions.
•    Give sleep a chance
•    Get out and exercise
•    Teach delayed gratification
•    Eat the alphabet
•    Model gratitude 
Helping our children navigate the stresses and strains of daily life is more important than ever… “The pressures young people face range from school stress, bullying and worries about job and housing prospects, to concerns around body image,” says Emma Saddleton, helpline manager at the charity YoungMinds. While we may not be able to remove all these challenges, we can pass on skills to help young people cope with stress and adversity. “It’s what’s known as resilience,” Saddleton says. “The ability to overcome difficult experiences and be shaped positively by them.” Read the full article …

P & F Save the Date

Community Information

Mass Times

Parish Mass Times

Tuesday 7.00am

Friday 7.00am

Saturday 5.00pm

Sunday 7.30am