St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Wandal Newsletter

The Cross of Forgiveness and Accountability

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus challenged us to forgive and to continue to forgive beyond limits. It happened that a number of parents shared with me their thoughts on this. One group spoke of how as a parent they have to forgive over and over again. It is a fundamental aspect of helping their children grow. Children fail and parents have to help them get up and try again. Another parent spoke of the need to balance forgiveness with the setting of boundaries and the need to call her children to account for their behaviour. She also spoke of having to consider the needs of others in the family hurt by the bad behaviour.

It seems to me that these two movements, to forgive and to hold to account bad behaviour seem to go in opposite directions. They form a cross on which many parents suffer. How does one balance the two? I have no easy answers and I doubt that there are any. As a cross, the situations in which parents have to make difficult decisions will test their minds, their hearts, their patience and their love. They need to think hard, consider their own motives, judge what is best for all in the situation and then decide what they will do, and if they believe their decision is right, stick to it in the face of what will often be strong opposition. In such situations, parents rarely have a cheer squad telling them how well they are doing.

This week the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Cross. For most people, most of the time the cross we have isn’t something big and dramatic. It often is the daily challenge of forgiving and holding to account the people we live with and love.

Loving Father, I know you forgive me and want me to channel that forgiveness to my family. But you also want me to move out of bad behaviour and to challenge bad behaviour in my family. Send me the wisdom of your Spirit that I might love as Jesus loved, forgiving and challenging. I ask this in his name, confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

On Monday, we welcomed Member for Capricornia Hon. Michelle Landry, together with Director of Catholic Education, Diocese of Rockhampton, Leesa Jeffcoat AM to officially open our recently completed capital works project. We thank all of our invited guests, including Fathers Bryan and Matthias, Barry O’Rourke Member for Rockhampton, Tony Madden (Tony Madden Architects and Design, Boyd Hall (BT Builders), parents and staff, as well as our Year 5 and 1 classes, who joined us for this special occasion. 

You may have heard recently, about some graphic content being circulated nationally on social media.

People who encounter this content should report it immediately to the social media platform they’ve seen it on, or to eSafety at www.esafety.gov.au/report/illegal-harmful-content.

Drawing young people’s attention to the issue may cause unnecessary worry or distress and increase exposure. We encourage anyone who may be at risk or experiencing emotional distress, including worried family and friends, to contact one of the following services:

- Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800. Phone support is there all day, every day. Online support is available 24/7.

- Suicide Callback Service: 1300 659 467. Phone support all day, every day, and follow-up calls.

- eHeadspace: 1800 650 890. Open 9am-1am daily (AEST).

- Lifeline: 13 11 14. Phone support all day, every day. Online support 7:00pm-4:00am daily (AEST).

- Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636. Phone support all day, every day. Online support 3:00pm-midnight every day.

Tips for parents to help limit young people’s exposure to harmful content online:

- Engage in your child’s online activities – ask what apps, sites and games they’re using and make sure they are age-appropriate

- Use parental controls on devices to help limit what your child is exposed to

- Help them report and block upsetting content they see on social media sites or apps

- Let them know they can come to you about anything upsetting they see online

- Head to www.esafety.gov.au to find out the latest advice on apps, social media and online safety issues

Parent Teacher Interviews have been held over the past couple of afternoons/evenings and I thank the many families who made the time to come and have a discussion regarding their child’s progress with the class teachers. I thank the teachers too, for all of their preparation and collation of work samples and evidence which is required for these meetings.

Today, a mixed Year 6 Touch Football team competed in the annual Catholic Primary Schools Touch Football competition. After a year of cancelled events, it was great for our players to be able to compete against other teams. Congratulations to Caprice, Jaya, Georgia, Ahliah, Charli, Gabi, Arlen, Bayden, Jackson, Kirby, Jesse and Harrison for a successful day of competition. Thank you to Mrs Riley who supervised the team.

Traditionally we celebrate our school leavers with a Eucharistic celebration at St Joseph’s Cathedral, with nibblies, drinks and a cutting of the cake afterwards.  It is our hope (and assumption) that the mass will still go ahead, as planned, for our Year 6 students and their families, on Wednesday 25 November at 5:00pm. We will, of course, be required to adhere to the Cathedral's CovidSafe plan and this may limit numbers of people in attendanceand require social distancing. We are currently investigating the option for live streaming the event should this be of interest to families. It is our hope too, that our informal nibblies, drinks and cake-cutting will be able to occur after mass, in the Cathedral Corso area, but we will need to monitor advice closer to the time. This is the part of the celebration which looks to be most unlikely at this time, if restrictions do not continue to ease between now and the end of November. 

We still plan, as per normal, for our Year 6 students to lead us in a Prayer Assembly on the final day of Term 4, and this is when they will be farewelled by the school and presented with their Graduation Certificates.

Please know that we are investigating several avenues and ideas in which to celebrate our Year 6 leavers and their families, in appropriate, meaningful and COVID-19 safe contexts. We will ensure that our Year 6 students have a really special end to their year, but please understand that this may look a little different from what we are used to. We appreciate your support and I would urge you to contact a member of the leadership team directly, if you have any concerns, queries or ‘wonderings.’ We are always happy to explain the ‘behind the scenes’ organisational aspects which drive such decisions, and speaking to us directly often saves a lot of misinformation being spread.

School Photo Day will be Friday 23 October. Order forms have been sent home with your children today and must be returned on the day of the photos, next term. Full day uniform must be worn on photo day please and we will be adhering to the Covid Safe Plan of MSP Photographers.

Next term, we will continue to celebrate prayer in the Hall with alternating year levels attending each Friday.  To assist with the number of adults gathering, and adhering to social distance requirements, we have made the decision that classes will lead prayer separately rather than combining as we have done previously.  Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to ensure the safety of all. 

Year 5M                   Friday 9 October

Year 5J                      Friday 16 October

School Photo Day Friday 23 October

4E                               Friday 30 October

4C                               Friday 1 November

3R                               Friday 13 November

3H                               Friday 20 November

2B                               Friday 27 November

Year 6                        Friday 4 December

All families with children who have reached seven years of age, are invited to join the preparation journey towards the reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist 2021. We are mindful that in planning, it is necessary to adhere to the COVID social distancing advice regarding gatherings and that this may continue into 2021.  This will impact on the design and presentation of the face to face workshops to keep everyone safe.  We are prepared for this and will plan accordingly; however, it is necessary to have accurate numbers regarding children who are considering this preparation in order to move forward with COVID safe planning.  Please call the Parish Office (49276744) with your child’s name and leave your contact details.  Your prompt consideration of this request is truly appreciated.

A reminder to the families who have opted to complete the preparation workshops for the Celebration of Confirmation and Eucharist in 2021.  The workshops will be held at Kevin Castles Centre and are scheduled on the following dates:

·      October 6 and 7 Confirmation Workshop #2

·      October 27 and 28 October Eucharist Workshop #1

·      November 17 and 18 Eucharist Workshop #2  

Please visit https://www.cposj.com/ to view The Cathedral Parish of St Joseph’s new website

Our very professional staff have been engaged in professional learning this year on a variety of topics, but one that has been a significant focus has been the teaching of spelling and word study.  

 Our focus has been on the key spelling strategies: sound, visual, meaning, connecting and checking, and how to present that in an engaging and inquiry focussed way. We hope that by developing students’ thinking about how they attempt to record unknown words or approach learning new words can improve their spelling accuracy and awareness. We want to support each learner's disposition for solving words when writing, teaching them HOW to spell, not just WHAT to spell. 

Next term, teachers will be trialling a variety of approaches in their classrooms.  This may mean that homework might look a little different in each class.  Some word sorts will still be used in some classes, but other classes might use a different approach. 

We are hoping that trialling approaches in Term Four will mean that we are not only able to provide quality learning experiences this term, but are also able to develop a whole school approach for 2021 and beyond.

Thanks to the staff who prepared for a huge round of parent/teacher conferences this week.  Monday and Tuesday evenings were huge, with hundreds of portfolios of work prepared and shared.  

Thanks as well to the parents who made it along to a conference.  We love working in partnership with you.  Those parents who were unable to make a time during those sessions are encouraged to find a time either this week or early next term to discuss each student's progress.  Please email class teachers or call the office to arrange a time.

Our very talented mathematicians, 'The Minus Calculators' made it to the regional competition of the Years 5 and 6 Maths Quiz.  Kitty and Jordy, joined by substitute team member Alannah, (who took the place of Anya who helped get the team to the regional competition), worked hard to solve some very tricky maths problems and earned a score of 20. This score means, that by a very small margin, our students will not be progressing to the state final.  I am sure you will all agree that 'The Minus Calculators' should be very proud of their results.

The results have been tallied and the trophy is ready to be presented.  We look forward to sharing these results with you early next term, and handing out the certificates to all participants as soon as these arrive.

Congratulations to the following students (link).

The weekly draw can be found at https://rockhamptontouch.com/juniors/junior-draw/.