St Joseph's Catholic School - Mundingburra eNewsletter

Acknowledgement of Country

We respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of this land on which we stand, the Wulgurukaba and neighbouring Bindal people who are the custodians. We pray that we can walk together to a better future.

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers, Staff and Students

Last week, we joined schools across Queensland in celebrating Catholic Education Week. This special time is about recognising and appreciating the unique role Catholic schools play in our communities and in the lives of the young people we teach.

This year’s Catholic Education Week Theme is ‘Communities of Faith, Hope, and Love,’ which reflects the core Christian values at the heart of Catholic education. This year there is a special focus on Hope, tying in with the 2025 Jubilee Year theme ‘Pilgrims of Hope.’ This Jubilee encourages everyone, churches, communities, and individuals, to be hopeful and to walk forward with faith and confidence in God's promises for the future. As Catholic teachers and staff, we see this as an invitation to walk alongside our students and their families, supporting them on their journey with hope, kindness, and purpose, especially in a world that truly needs it.

Our schools are more than just places to learn. They are lively communities where faith is practiced, hope is encouraged, and love is the cornerstone of all that we do. Catholic Education Week is a time to remember our shared mission, to form students who are not only knowledgeable, but also compassionate, fair-minded, and guided by a deep sense of faith.

Celebrating Catholic Education Week each year in Term 3 provides an opportunity to thank our staff for their hard work, to appreciate the partnership with families, and to celebrate what makes our Catholic schools special. It is also a moment to reflect on the values from the Gospel that guide the way we learn, connect, and serve others.

It is hoped that we can continue our year with a renewed commitment to building communities rooted in faith, hope, and love.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

God bless

Tracy

Media Consent Updates

Media Consent Updates
At the time of enrolment, parents are asked to consent to the use of their child’s name and image in various forms of media to promote the school and Catholic Education. If you DO NOT wish to consent to your child's photograph/video appearing as stated in the below, and you wish to withdraw this authorisation and consent, you must notify the school by email (enquiries@sjmbtsv.catholic.edu.au). If we do not hear from you to make any changes, your original consent provided will remain in effect.

PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEO/MEDIA CONSENT
Photos, video footage and work samples of students are used regularly by the school for the purpose of acknowledging the efforts of the student/school, or for promotion, marketing or advertising the School or Catholic Education.

I consent to the student being photographed or filmed for school, Catholic Education or Townsville Catholic Diocese related communication or for education purposes. I understand this may include media (e.g. television, radio, publications), school publications (e.g. newsletters), online media (e.g. websites) and social media (e.g. Facebook).

I understand it is my responsibility to notify the school if I do not wish to consent to the student’s photograph/video appearing in any or all of the above, or if I wish to withdraw this authorisation and consent. Please note the student’s name and voice may be included with the photograph/video.

I understand the copyright of such images will be retained by the school, Townsville Catholic Education, the Diocese of Townsville or their contractors, and there will be no remuneration or compensation for the images.

EXTRA PUPIL FREE DAYS

Townsville Catholic Education has approved two extra Pupil Free Days, one in 2025 and one in 2026. The extra Pupil Free Days are to assist and support schools in undertaking the implementation of the new NSSAB (Non-State Schools Accreditation Board) Educational Guidelines and V9 Curriculum The approved days are:

Tuesday 7th October 2025 (T4 2025)
Tuesday 27th January 2026 (T1 2026)

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ARPE News

Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

School Celebration: Our school community will celebrate the Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop this Friday 8th August. We will begin our day with a Mass 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.

Sacramental Program

Last night a number of our students participated in the Sacrament of Reconciliation at Holy Spirit Church. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a special time when we come to God with open hearts, say sorry for our mistakes, and receive His loving forgiveness. It helps us grow closer to God and reminds us of His endless mercy and love. Through Reconciliation, we reflect, say sorry, and make a fresh start. We thank God for the peace and healing this beautiful sacrament brings to our lives. I was very pleased to receive positive feedback from the priests who accompanied our students. They remarked that the students were well-prepared and actively participated in the sacrament.

Our lessons will continue next Monday afternoon, where we will start learning about Confirmation.

Christian Meditation will take place each 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!

Assemblies

Our next assembly will be in:

Week 5: No Assembly

Week 6: No Assembly due to Book Week parade on Tuesday morning

May God’s blessing be with you, Peta.

The Joey's Way

Star Students

From the Office

Premier's Reading Challenge!

Well done to all the students who have been busy reading books for the Premier's Reading Challenge!

A reminder that the challenge ends this month — so make sure to finish reading your 20 books by the 22nd of August and return your completed sheet to the office.

Keep up the great reading!

Opti-MINDS

A reminder students participating in Opti-MINDS have a practice session at school this Saturday, 9th August, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in preparation for the competition on Sunday, 31st August at James Cook University.

Late Pick Up After School Procedure

A new procedure related to the late pick up of students after school has been implemented. The expectation is that all students are picked up from school by 3:15pm in the afternoons, as this is when staff supervision of students is scheduled to end. We do understand that emergencies or unexpected delays can occur and request that you contact the school to let us know if your child will be collected later than 3:15 pm.

New Process:

At 3:15 pm students who have not been collected from school will be escorted to the school office where they will wait in the foyer (currently happens).
The adult collecting the student/s after 3:15 pm will be asked to park and come into the school office where they will sign their child/ren out (new).

Thank you for your assistance in complying with this update to our after school pick up procedure.

Crazy Sock Day!

Library News

Art by Jess MacGeachin

Amazingly, it is almost time to celebrate Book Week coming in Week 6, and this year we are also celebrating the 80^th year of the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s great work in encouraging children to read, read, read!

This year’s theme ‘Book an Adventure’ ties in the adventurous aspirations of this year’s artist, Jess McGeachin. Jess is an author, illustrator and designer based in Melbourne. He loves telling stories about hidden worlds. Jess’s shortlisted book (Eve Pownall category), ‘South with the Seabirds’, follows four scientists to the end of the world, Macquarie Island. The CBCA invites us all to come on an adventure in 2025, as we travel across different lands, varied times and multiple memories. The adventure starts on the 16^th August, 2025 when nominated shortlisted books are judged and awarded to the best illustrators and authors. The Book Week adventure continues to the 23 August. Come on an adventure with us in 2025.

BOOK WEEK PARADE/COSTUMES

Our much-anticipated Book Week Parade will be held Tuesday, 19 August, 2025 at 9.00am.

Students find a character to dress up as, from a book in our library. Students have fun and enjoy the costume excitement, dressing up as their favourite character, in their favourite book. Book Parades are a literary extension, connecting students with great literature and focus on reading books and thinking about the characters in them!

Our theme is ‘Book an Adventure’, so every genre or travelling adventure story, could be a simple way of stress-free costumes for children for the Parade!

If you need any costume inspiration, the CBCA have some great ideas for characters from this years shortlisted books and previous years literature. These are simple ideas for Children’s Book Week costumes to make with your children. Click HERE for some inspiration.

BOOK WEEK ACTIVITIES IN THE LIBRARY

This year's theme Book an Adventure ties the exploratory aspirations of this year's artist Jess McGeachin and Children's Book Week.

The library celebrated Catholic Education Week, and this week St Mary MacKillop Feast Day (8 August). There are a variety of activities also occurring in the library:

Specialist library teaching during Book Week – Mrs Plant has been busy focusing on reading and discussing various shortlisted books in depth, with upper and lower primary students. They have been enjoying the activities of investigating weaving skills and researching woven objects from indigenous cultures in Australia and around the world. (Picture Book Category ‘Afloat’ by Kirli Saunders - a beautiful journey through waterways of Country & Design and Building on Country by Alison Page). Lower primary students, are enjoying Early Childhood category books such as ‘The Wobbly Bike’ by Darren McCullum, a beautiful simple story of a child who learns to ride a bike. Young children can all relate to this story and many others.

Queensland Museum Collections – Each fortnight and for the rest of the term, the library will host a new museum collection for students to view and investigate. Last week, the library displayed an amazing ‘Pirate’ exhibit. This was especially enjoyed by those pirates from Grade 2! For the next 2 weeks a new exhibit will be displayed ‘Animal Homes’ collection, which shows amazing specimens for students to view i.e. gliders in a nest box and varied shell specimens. The display will be on show for another two weeks in the library, before the next museum collection change.

CBCA Book an Adventure – ‘Design a New Front Cover Poster for your favourite book’ Competition - Students interested in entering the ‘Design a new front cover poster for your favourite book’ Competition, sheets can be collected/returned, to Mrs H’s Desk in the library. There are lots of tips on how to create a new design for your favourite book. Students can be their own book illustrator! Competition closes 22 August 2025.

Year 4 and 5 International Adventure Reading Passport – Book an Adventure – students read books during the 10-week library adventure. Children are encouraged to try one different book genre every week! Enjoy your adventure!

Scientific Reading Tent on Macquarie Island (refer to Jess McGeachin’s shortlisted book ‘South with the Seabirds’) reading/investigation adventure area. Children imagine they are scientists on the island.

Fairy Garden Display – ‘Everything you ever wanted to know about the tooth fairy (and some things you didn’t) by Briony Stewart, Shortlisted Early Childhood category. A thank you to our resident fairy specialist, Ms Mia White for her input!

Well done everyone!

Students are close to the reading challenge finishing line! Completed reader record forms should be returned to Mrs Cornish by 22 August, 2025. Let’s celebrate reading!

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

Issue 5 is now closed. Orders will be dispatched to students on arrival.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Week 5 – Science Week (Decoding the Universe)

18 August – Author Visit – Nikki Rogers (Grades 1 & 2)

19 August – Book Parade (9.00am)

18-22 August – Library Book Week Lunchtime activities

“And now Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, Adventure.”

K. Rowling

First Nations News

Today we were lucky to have Emerging Leaders from St Margaret Mary's College join us for First Nations activities at lunch. Students enjoyed a picnic lunch while listening to stories written by First Nations authors.

The St Margaret Mary's students will visit again in Week 6 and 8 for First Nations lunch activities as part of their Emerging Leaders Community Engagement goals and St Joseph's RAP goal, which strives to have First Nations family and guests as valued and active contributors to our school community.

Next Friday, Ryan Catholic College Emerging Leaders will be back, this time leading art lessons with 5B and 2A on the use of symbols in Aboriginal Art. How lucky are we to have such deadly leaders in our Townsville Catholic schools!

Keep an eye out for an invitation about our combined Term 3 Meet & Greet and First Nations Advisory Committee Meeting, to celebrate the first anniversary of our RAP and dedicated committee members.

Digital Technologies News

Year 4 - “Building, Programming and Racing on the Fast Track”

In Year 4 Digital Technologies lessons, our students have been combining creativity, engineering, and programing skills by designing and building LEGO WeDo model race cars. They’ve been learning how to create and test algorithms to make their cars travel faster. As part of this project, students have also been programming their cars to calculate and display the time it takes to complete a race. This hands-on project has sparked lots of teamwork, problem-solving and experimenting — and there’s been plenty of friendly racing fun along the way too!

The free Townsville STEM Faire is back in 2025 at Riverway Amphitheatre and Library on Saturday 30 August 2025

Hosted by Townsville Citylibraries and the Townsville STEM Hub, the Townsville STEM Faire celebrates science, technology, engineering and maths, highlighting the capability and skills of Townsville STEM organisations and inspiring young people to study STEM.

Attendees will experience live science shows, fun challenges, make and take activities, science playtime for kids and talks by leading practitioners and researchers.

Townsville STEM Faire 2025

Saturday 30 Aug
8:00am - 3:00pm (AEST)
Townsville City Libraries Riverway
20 Village Boulevard, Thuringowa Central QLD 4817, Australia

Guidance Counsellor

Building confidence and motivation
School TV has a special edition based on the importance of building confidence and wellbeing in young people. Supporting these traits means encouraging your child to set realistic goals, celebrate their achievements and learn from their setbacks. Please visit this School TV site https://sjmbtsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/confidence-motivation-au for more practical tips on how you can assist your children in these areas which are essential for their development and overall wellbeing.

Inclusive Education

SVP Winter Appeal 2025

Thank you to all our wonderful parents, carers, staff and students who have so generously donated to St. Joseph’s Mundingburra SVP Winter Appeal.

With the help of the Yr 6 Mini Vinnies students a huge donation of warm bedding has been delivered to SVP. We were overwhelmed by your generosity and I know many people in Townsville will appreciate your kindness and be sleeping a little warmer this winter.

Thank you

Clare Plant

Chaplain

Homeless Sleepout at St. Joseph’s North Ward

A group of Mini Vinnies students from St. Joseph’s Mundingburra braved the cold on Friday evening to attend a Homeless Sleepout.

With a little trepidation we arrived at St. Joseph’s North Ward on Friday evening to gain some experience of what being homeless might be. We were fortunate to have three representatives from SVP who gave an interesting talk on their experiences of helping homeless people and we had an insight into why people become homeless. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us and giving up your Friday evening. We really appreciated your involvement.

One of the evening’s activities was packaging toiletries for homeless people. Thank you to all those who so generously donated boxes and boxes of toiletries. We know there will be many families who will appreciate your kindness.

After the evening’s activities, that related to Homelessness, we shared a supper of soup and bread and then came the challenge of a night’s sleep on the floor with just a piece of cardboard to lie on. The next morning , with a few aches and pains , we realised how privileged we are to have a safe home, family and warm bed to sleep in.

Thank you to Mrs. Nielsen, from St. Joseph’s North Ward for organising the evening and the teachers from Marian and St. Joseph’s Mundingburra who slept the night with us.

It was a great experience and hopefully we will be more understanding and caring towards homeless people.

Patrick, Easton, Pia, Sarah, Adelaide & Luciena

The Mini Vinnies Students St. Joseph’s

Christian Meditation

Friendology

P&F News

Have you ever thought about helping out, even for an hour at one of our P&F school events (Mother's or Father's Day stalls, Disco's, end of Year Christmas Party etc.) OR Would you like to meet and connect with other parents?

Well NOW is the time!!!

We have our upcoming Father's Day Stall, which is a fun morning helping the children shop, chatting to other parents, and delicious snacks! The Father's Day stall is Wednesday 3rd September and Thursday 4th September this year.

If your keen (even if it's for an hour) please reach out to the P&F committee via enquiries@sjmbtsv.catholic.edu.au

We look forward to hearing from you.

Father's Day Social Event - 3 weeks to go!

Mums, we know you’re the real MVPs when it comes to organising the family schedule. So, here’s a friendly reminder:

The St. Joey’s Father’s Day social event is happening on Saturday 23rd August from 3pm at the Seaview Hotel - Sports Bar.

Event Details:

📆When: Saturday, 23rd August from 3pm

📍 Where: Seaview Hotel - Sports Bar

🎯 Book a ticket: https://www.trybooking.com/DDQMN

We all know Dads enjoy easy afternoons like this one, but sometimes they need some encouragement…

Book your ticket today!

Community News

Book your tickets HERE!

Mass Times

Parish Mass Times

Wednesday 7.00am

Friday 7.00am

Saturday 5.00pm

Sunday 7.30am

Term 3 Week 4 Newsletter 2025