Term 3 | Week 6 Newsletter

Key Information

• 21st-27th August - Book Week
• Tuesday 24th August - Book Week Dress Up - details to be emailed seperately
• Friday 27th August - St Colman's Parish & St Joseph's Fete
• 30th-31st August - Prep 2022 Interviews
• Thursday 2nd September - Learning Breakfast from 730am
• Friday 3rd September - Pupil Free Day
• Friday 17th September - Last Day Term 3

Tuckshop Menu:

Uniform Shop

We're back operating this week! 

Homework Club

Homework Club is every Thursday from 3-4pm in the MacKillop Room for Years 5-9.

Coffee on Fridays

Coffee, Tea & Hot Chocolate will be available at each Assembly unless otherwise advertised.

Volunteers are always welcome, please contact the office and we'll pass your details on to the P&F.

Principal News

Welcome to Week 6, 

This term is flying by, can you believe we are already in Week 6?

We began the week by coming together at the P&F Meeting on Monday afternoon. It was great to discuss the amazing things that we have accomplished this term. We had mulkadee and the grandparents morning tea in week 2, Mary MacKillop feast day and dance north workshop in week 4, the Didjeribone performance, colour run and the children’s mass last week. We also have so much still to come with Science Week being celebrated this week, book week and the fete next week, prep enrolment interviews, learning breakfast and our teachers reflective practice day in week 8, followed by Queensland Surf Life Saving Beach to Bush presentation and our Bush Dance in week 9. 

Science Week 2021:
National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology. The theme for this is ‘Food: Different by Design’. National Science Week provides an opportunity not only to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world, but to also encourage the interest in science for our younger generation. A range of activities will occur throughout the week for each year level - I loved seeing the slime that our prep students created today! 

Book Week 2021:
The theme for the 2021 Children’s Book Week is Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. Book Week is celebrated from the 21st until the 27th of August. We will spend the week celebrating books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators. One of our favourite days of the week is our dress up day which will be held next Tuesday the 24th of August. 

We would like to invite all of our family and community members to join us at our dress up day celebrations, the parade will begin at 9am in the primary courtyard. Please ensure that you sanitize and sign in at the office before proceeding to the courtyard for the parade. 

Oval Reconstruction:
At the P&F meetings this term we have discussed the need for the school to strip, level and re-turf our school oval. Mr Scott Murray emailed all parents and carers last Friday the 13th of August to ask for parents and community members to assist us in forming a committee to gain ideas and strategise a plan for this project. There are so many experienced and knowledgeable people in our community and we would love to tap into your expertise for this project.  

The first committee meeting will be on Tuesday, 24th August 2021 at 3:30pm. All are welcome to attend, however, if you have experience with Commercial Irrigation, Civil Work and Machinery, we would especially like you to attend.

Kind Regards, 

Mrs Samantha Kelley
Principal 

APRE News

ASSUMPTION OF MARY OUR HOLY MOTHER
Last Sunday (15th August) the Church celebrated the Feast Day of the Assumption of Our Lady when according to our faith, the Holy Mother, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”.

The Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. While the bodies of both Jesus and Mary are now in heaven, there is a difference between the Assumption and the Resurrection. Where Jesus arose from the tomb and ascended into heaven by his own power, Mary’s body was taken up to heaven by the power of her Son.

For this reason we use different words to describe each event. One is the Ascension of Christ and the other, the Assumption of Mary.

To celebrate the Assumption of Mary we had a St Colman’s Parish and St Joseph’s Catholic School Children’s Mass, which was followed by a morning tea with the families who attended. I would like to thank Mrs. Therese Curley for the leading role she had in this joint parish and school children’s mass. 

Our Parish
In last week’s newsletter I wrote about how our school is part of the St Colman’s Parish. I also gave some information about who St Colman is. St Colman’s cultus was approved in 1903 and his feast day is on the 24th of November. 

This week I would like to share with you who our Parish Council is made up of. As a parish we have a few members on the council who bring variant knowledge, skills and experiences. We have the following members:

Fr Mick Lowcock (Priest), Mrs. Chris Chaplain (President), Sr Lynn Freestone, Ms Gillian Gardiner (Secretary), Mr Chris Fudali, Mrs Eita Humphries, Mrs Marcia Sullivan, Mr Harold & Mrs Kath McMillian, Mrs. Chris McDonald, Mrs Samantha Kelley (School Principal), and Mr Shadley Davids (School APRE). The Parish Council aims to meet once a month and all are welcome to attend. Should you have any questions regarding our parish, please feel free to contact any of the council members or President Mrs. Chris Chaplain cchaplain@sjctsv.catholic.edu.au 

Sunday at 08:30 we have mass in the St Colman’s Parish church and all are welcome to attend.

Our School Catholic Identity
Today we will have our second Catholic Identity Advisory Committee Meeting. The committee is made up of staff, parents and parish representation. The purpose of the committee is to support the development of a deeper understanding of how the school's Catholic Identity is expressed and of how faith remains recognisable, credible, and meaningful for today. The Committee also reflects, perceives, imagines, and expresses the distinctiveness of the Catholic Identity so that school-based strategies are adopted and outcomes realised.

Gospel Reading
John 6:60-69
Simon Peter confesses his faith that Jesus alone has the words of the eternal life.

When a child is baptised, the parents speak on behalf of the child in professing the faith in which the child is to be baptised. The parents promise to teach their child this faith so that they may one day accept this faith as his or her own. In the example of Simon Peter, we learn that each person must also make his or her own profession of faith in Jesus as the one sent by God to save us. We pray for our children as they mature in the faith that they may learn that Jesus alone has the words of eternal life and that they may choose to follow the way of Christian discipleship.

As you gather as a family, talk about promise that parents make at their child’s baptism to teach their child about Jesus and the faith of the Church. Talk about the importance of this promise to your family and about some of the things that you are doing to try to honor this commitment. In today’s Gospel we hear Simon Peter speak about what he has come to believe about Jesus. Together read today’s Gospel, John 6:60-69. Pray together that each person in our family will grow in his or her faith that Jesus is the one sent by God who alone has the words of eternal life. Pray together the Nicene Creed.

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Special Prayer for Peace
By now most of us would have seen the sad news about Afghanistan’s government hostile takeover. This is a major event in world history. Let us join together with Pope Francis and the many Christians around the world to pray for peace in Afghanistan.

I’ve included an extract from Vatican News: 

“After leading the recitation of the Angelus on Sunday's Solemnity of the Assumption, Pope Francis expressed his concern over the situation in Afghanistan. He asked everyone to unite in praying to "the God of peace so that the clamour of weapons might cease and solutions can be found at the table of dialogue." He said only this way can the "battered population of that country – men, women, elderly and children" be able to "return to their own homes, and live in peace and security, in total mutual respect". The Pope also recalled the strong earthquake that shook Haiti overnight, causing numerous deaths, wounding many, and causing extensive damage. He expressed his "closeness to the dear people hard hit by the earthquake", offering his prayers to the Lord for the victims. He offered his encouragement to the survivors and hopes that the help of the international community might reach them. "May the solidarity of all alleviate the consequences of the tragedy!", he emphasized, inviting everyone in the Square to pray a Hail Mary for Haiti.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-08/pope-prays-for-peace-in-afghanistan-and-solidarity-with-haiti.html 

May God bless you and your family this week,

Mr Shadley Davids
Assistant Principal Religious Education 

Pastoral Care

Our SJC Ride To School Day
Road safety awareness is a skill that enables our students to ride, walk, scooter and skate safely whilst interacting with other road users. This Friday we will revisit our road safety by encouraging all students and their families to leave the car at home and give riding, walking, scooting or skating to school a go. We will have some light refreshments for those who participate when we arrive at school!

Have a great week and hopefully see you Friday morning!

Kind regards,
Mrs Schneekloth

Prep

Science week is this week as part of this the Preps will be involved in an editable slime activity during the first lunch on Tuesday.

We are exploring addition stories in math, our writing focus this week will be "writing" and illustrating a descriptive text about our school chickens. In science we will be looking at how sunny weather affects our choices, especially how we stay sunsafe. The Preps are busy practicing our “Picking up Paw Paw” dance for the upcoming bush dance. 

Please remember that book week is coming up and students are encouraged to dress up for this. Also the fete is Friday in Week 7. The Prep stall will sell playdoh and utensil sets. For example we will put a big handful of playdoh and small dinosaurs in a ziplock bag, or maybe playdoh and some playdoh cutters in another bag. It would be wonderful if families could make some batches of playdoh to contribute to this. The more we have, the more money we make. If you are unable to make playdoh donating medium sized ziplock bags or utensils would be appreciated. The recipe is on the Creme of Tartare container. It would be great if we could have this by Tuesday next week. This gives us time to package the playdoh and utensils/small toys.  

At this stage I will be away Thursday and Friday. 

Reminders:
Tuesday: Sport 
Wednesday: Library
Friday: Return home readers.

Mrs McLauchlan

Year 1

Wow half way through the term already!

Here is a snapshot of our week ahead;

Mathematics:
This week we are consolidating our knowledge of our Australian coins. We have identified and described the features of these coins and are now moving towards recognising and ordering the Australian coins according to their value.

English:
We have been working really hard this term on understanding how different characters are developed in texts. This week we are again consolidating our learning so far this term with students having the opportunity to choose another character from The Cat in The Hat story and complete a character profile.

Science:
This term we have been learning about Chemical Sciences. In this unit we are learning about different materials, their properties and how they can change. This week students will choose a material and hypothesise what would happen to it if it were to bend, stretch and twist and then complete the experiment. 

Religion:
Our unit this term is focused on Jesus' mission and ministry during his time on Earth. Students can now identify key events, places and characters in the life of Jesus as revealed in Gospel passages and identify similarities and differences between different Gospel accounts of key events, characters and teachings in the life of Jesus.

Reminders: 
The Show and Share:  Our topic this week is; Tell us about the holiday you have been on. Favourite memory. (You are more than welcome to bring photos, drawings, souvenirs  or send a photo to my email.

Sport: Tuesday with Mr Murray
Library: Thursday with Mrs Chaplain

Miss Brock

Year 2

Welcome to Week 6!

We are doing prayer on assembly this week. Parents are welcome to come along. 

Our baby chicks are doing very well and looking very healthy and are a super fun addition to our classroom! They will need a bigger box soon!

We are also learning about:
Tricky words: through, every, only
English: Procedural texts
Maths: Multiplication and Division

Our school fete is coming up on Friday of Week 7. Year 2 will be running a fishing game. For our game, we are asking parents to donate fun size, individually wrapped chocolates or lollies to use as prizes.

Reminder:
Wednesday is PE day
Thursday is Library day

Have a great week,
Miss Ansell

Year 3

Hi everyone!  

The learning highlights for Year 3 this week are:

• In Maths we begin our new topic on fractions. Throughout this unit students will be modelling and representing unit fractions including ½, ¼, ⅓, ⅕ and their multiples. 
• In HASS we begin our unit on the history of Cloncurry. Students will be engaging in the inquiry process to explore how our community has changed and remained the same over time. 

Homework and home readers were sent out on Monday. Please let me know if you haven’t received these. 

Reminders 

• Library: Wednesday 

• PE: Thursday 

Fete News:
Year 3 will be holding a ‘bottle stall’ for the upcoming Fete. It would be a great help if students brought in any clean glass jars (e.g. jam jars, pasta sauce jars.) These jars can be sent into school empty or filled with small ‘knick-knacks’ such as hair-ties, lego pieces, bubbles, chocolates, lollies or any other fun item! Thank you!

Have a great week ahead. 
Miss Coombs

Year 4

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are having a great week and enjoying this perfect weather. Here are some updates of what’s happening in Year 4.

Religion- After learning about Judaism, we are now learning about the rules that Jewish and Christian religions follow as their laws- the 10 Commandments. We will also be learning about the teachings of Paul and how these can be implemented in our lives.

Maths- After a successful Measurement Olympics (see Facebook for photos) we are now looking at 2 dimensional shapes and how combining shapes can result in new shapes. We will also be getting stuck into our times tables and number patterns evident in these.

HaSS/Design- Students are really enjoying our recycling task and some have even finished their first design. We will continue with this until the end of term, so they may be asking for some new materials to recycle.

Health- We have been continuing with our study of the food groups and how to eat healthy foods. This Wednesday we will be making pasta and sauce, using our very impressive broccoli and sugar snap peas from our garden. We will eat this for 1st lunch.

Have a wonderful week!
Mrs Wall

Year 5

Welcome to Week 6!

Here is a snapshot into Year 5 this week!

ENGLISH: This week we are going to work on our TEEL paragraph structure and further analyze A-E exemplars for our poetry assessment.

MATHS: Students have been learning how to place decimals on a number line and convert decimals to fractions. We are aiming to finish our assessment this week.

SCIENCE: During science this week, students will be looking into Aboriginal Astronomy.

JAPANESE: This week we will be looking at numbers up to 20. 

HASS: During HASS this week, students will be looking at the landforms found in Europe and the Americas. 

Reminders:

• Dress up day for book week is next Tuesday, August 24th (Week 7)

Enjoy your week!
Miss Campbell

Year 6

Welcome to Week 6!

This term’s learning focuses are:

Religion: Students will be learning about some Catholic celebrations, starting with Eucharist, and using their newly acquired knowledge of Jewish celebrations to make some comparisons between the themes. 

English: We will be continuing our learning of creating tension filled body paragraphs for our informative writing.

Maths: Students are busy learning about the connection between fractions, decimals and percentages. 

HaSS: This week, we will continue learning about the Australian Constitution and the impact of referendums, particularly for the Indigenous population past and present.  

Science: We have conducted our first observations of our mouldy bread samples. Students are recording these in their scientific reports. 

Health: We began investigating contributions to health, safety and wellbeing through the planning and design of a flood-resilient house. 

Have a great week ahead!
Mr. Delaney and the Year 6 legends

Subject Spotlight - Science

Year 8 has been busy with their energy in the real world experiments. Students were able to choose to see how energy is transferred or transformed by constructing either a CooKit (solar oven) to cook an egg or a Rube Goldberg Machine (a machine designed to make a simple task very complex).  

It has been a lot of fun - here are some photos! 

Note: the crows really like semi-cooked eggs!

Year 8 Science

Library News

Greetings from the Library.

As you all know we have book week next week.  It has crept up very quickly this term. 

Each year we have a dress up morning for the children to dress up as their favorite book characters.  This is a very exciting and fun time for the children. The dress up day is on Tuesday the 24^th August (next week) in the Court yard at 9am.  All are welcome!!

There will be a prize for the best dressed in each class.

This year we will give them a voucher for an icy cup for winning.  But please remember that it is about the kids having fun not competing and winning.

Book Week is where we celebrate the Joy of books and what books give to our children. Also, we celebrate the work authors and illustrators do in writhing and illustrating the books.

As we speak, we are decorating the library to how I have interpreted the theme this year.  I am reading the Far Away Tree by Enid Blyton.  It’s about an Enchanted tree and the magical characters that live in the tree.  There are four children living near the Enchanted Forest and they meet and have a Magical time meeting the characters who live in this Tree. These Children have many exciting adventures with the folk of the far away tree, if they climb the tree and go through the cloud at the top of the tree, they enter other Magical lands.  My interpretation is that Lands are very close to Other Worlds.

The theme this year as mentioned in the newsletters, that have been sent out since last term is:

 Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds.

This covers many books that the children read in our library or the town library or books that they have at home. 

Our aim with this dress up morning is for the children to have fun.  You don’t have to buy costumes online you may like to use recycled materials i.e. cardboard, paint, fabrics, old clothes etc.  The children can help make their own costumes if they like.

If you have any concerns or need help with ideas to get your creative minds working, then don’t hesitate in asking me.

Don’t stress, just enjoy the moment!

Mrs Chaplain 

Rock Pop - Updated times

From this week until the performance date next term, there will be 2 practices a week.

This ensures each group has their routine complete & polished, ready for the big show!

Both groups will run Tuesday & Thursday afternoons from 3-4pm. We will all meet under the Mary MacKillop shed to begin with and then move to our designated space/s.

The students are doing SO well with their practice, it’s been great to see. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact Miss Lovett.

Fete

Plates for the cake stall and expressions of interest for volunteers will be sent home this week.
A reminder about the cake stall - that items are not to be brought in before the 27th August. All items donated need to be brought in the morning of the Fete straight to the Music Room.

You will see some emails come through from your child's teacher/s about donations for their stalls.
- Year 6 are seeking donations of chocolates
- Year 3 are seeking glass jars (filled with prizes or empty) for their bottle stall
- Year 4 are seeking donations of wrapped chocolates or lollies
- Year 2 are seeking donations of wrapped chocolates or lollies

If you are unsure if you've received email from your teacher please remember to check your junk folder or contact them directly. Alternatively read their newsletter article for the week as many teachers have mentioned this. 

A HUGE thank you to the sponsors listed in the attached flyer that have come on on board for the 2021 St Colman's Parish & St Joseph Catholic School Fete.

Casual Employment Opportunties

We are seeking casual School Officers and qualified Teachers to cover sick and leave days.
For more information please contact our office.
Teaching staff will need to apply here > https://tceo-portal.applynow.net.au/jobs/TCE679-supply-teacher-registration-2021

Community Notices

Advertise your Community Event or Notice here!