Newsletter – Term 1 Week 4

February 16, 2022

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the Parish that celebrated it’s 80th birthday being active in the Park Avenue area since the 21st of January 1942. I also have it on good authority that the original structure of Our Lady Help of Christians will be celebrating a 70th birthday very soon as well. A huge thank-you and well done to all who have been a part of the Park Avenue parish’s story over the past 80 years. St Joseph’s would not be the great little community nor an integral corner stone of the Park Avenue area without our relationship with the Parish during this time. We look forward to building on this relationship with many more years in the future.

Regarding our notification of a COVID positive student case last week, please be aware that we are unable to provide any further identifying details or specific information regarding the identity of positive cases due to privacy reasons.

Please be assured that we are continuing to ensure COVID-safe practices at our school.

As we are currently unable to host mass gatherings at the moment, we have decided to hand out our weekly ‘Excellence Awards’ (formally Worker of the Week awards) as well as our ‘Virtues Awards’ in class each Monday. For the time being, members of our Student Council will be presenting these each Monday morning in class. If your child is to receive an award that week, your child’s teacher will email you to let you know and to keep an eye out for the award that will go home in their school bag. Student’s names and their award will be listed in each week’s newsletter with ‘Virtues Awards’ under Mrs Carter’s RE section and ‘Excellence Awards’ under Mrs Senini’s Curriculum section.

Each week, collective photos from each Year Level will be posted on the Skoolbag app (without specific student names) under the title, ‘Weekly Award Winners.’

These awards will commence in Week 5 and this will be our ongoing process until we are able to meet again as a whole school community for our usual Monday Morning assemblies.

As we have been unable to have a whole school assembly or opening mass in 2022, I have included a list of our Year 6 Leaders as well as a couple of snap shots.

I will prepare a small PowerPoint presentation with photos to be shown in each classroom. The presentation will show the student body who their student leaders are as well as the school’s Student Protection Contacts.

Student Protection Contacts for 2022:

Bernard Fitzgerald – Principal
Deanne Senini – Assistant Principal, Curriculum
Elizabeth Carter – Assistant Principal, Religious Education
Michelle Hoffman – School Counsellor
Brooke Black – Inclusive Curriculum Teacher
Jessie Ivers – Indigenous Liaison Officer
Chelsea Holden – OSHC Coordinator

While on the topic of student safety, our staggered afternoon pick-up seems to be working well but we still need the use of the laminated surnames the school has provided to be displayed on car visors to help with ease of pick-up. With different teachers doing duty, the visors help with identifying cars and calling out names for the students. Please utilise the visors provided or make some homemade ones if needed.

As a staff, we have been discussing what we can do as an alternative to our usual Parent Information Nights.

An email containing a yearly summary of important information for parents will be sent home from each Year Level by Thursday 17th of February. This email will also include your Year Level teacher email address. When using this email address, it will automatically send your email to both classroom teachers. This has been done to encourage parents to communicate with both teachers, especially during COVID times when certain teachers may be absent.

As I do each year, if your child has specific learning or medical needs that teachers should be aware of, or certain individual specifics around your family circumstances, I encourage you to please contact your classroom teachers in order to discuss these specific needs.

I endeavour to do as much as I can, but as the number of these complexities increases across the school community, talking with your classroom teachers directly will ensure a smooth transition into 2022 with addressing your child’s or families’ specific needs.

I thank the staff for creating the videos to introduce themselves to parents, I think it was a nice touch and encouraging Family Partnerships and positive relationships during these uncertain times.

Finally, congratulations to Tom Compagnoni in Year 5 who was selected in the Under 11’s Club Rockhampton Rep Team for cricket. Tom is off to Biloela to represent Rocky in a regional carnival. All the best Tom.

Don’t Forget….

• Children’s Mass. 6:30pm, Sat 19th Jan @ OLHC Church
• Ash Wednesday, 2nd March (Students will celebrate in Year Levels)

Kindest Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald
Principal – St. Joseph’s Catholic School Park Avenue