St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Wandal Newsletter

A Spirited Tomorrow

Last week, I received a letter from my eleven-year-old niece in Perth.  In the midst of family news, she wrote, ‘The quarantine is really stressing me out.  I am nervous.’ She went on to express her fears, especially about not seeing family.  I can’t say that won’t happen as I can’t get over to visit.  This is the family I cared for last year.  And I too am nervous for their future, as I imagine many of you are for your children’s future. The pandemic has some way to go and we do not know what the future will bring.  But we do know what we need to do now: encourage our children to go into tomorrow with hope and resilience. 

So, what am I going to say to my niece?  Firstly, that I too am concerned.  This is a difficult time and many people are working together to make things as safe as possible for her.  In fact, many are doing amazing things helping other people and finding ways of being connected.  I will tell her how much I appreciate her letter since I haven’t been able to visit.  In other words, I’ll invite her to be one of those people who make an effort to connect in new and different ways.  Then over the coming months, I will try to tell her of the people in our family’s history, who did good and positive things in difficult situations. I will tell her of her great grandfather, who had a brutal alcoholic father and became committed to peace and non-violence.  I will tell her that challenges are often hard and frightening but they are also opportunities for new life and growth.  After his Death and Resurrection, Jesus gave us his Spirit, not to give us warm, fuzzy feelings, but to inspire and lead us in the hard and difficult places of life making them places of new growth.

As people in the past grew and were transformed in testing times, so our children will do so in the fallout of this pandemic.  And it is for us to model the hope and resilience they will need.  When we do not know what to say to them or do for them, let us pray to the Holy Spirit for the wisdom and guidance we needed.  And may this Spirit lead them into their tomorrow.

Holy Spirit, you know how deeply I desire the fullness of life for my child/ren.  Send me your love and wisdom that I may guide them and lave so they have the courage for face whatever challenges come their way.  I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me. 

Sr Kym Harris osb

A sincere thank you to the staff here at St Joseph's Wandal, who have kindly nominated me for a Spirit of Catholic Education Week Award. It was a delightful surprise to be nominated and I feel greatly humbled, thank you. Congratulations to my fellow nominee, Mrs Selina Pitt (Teacher Assistant) who is very deserving of this honour.

We send our condolences to the family of Mrs Robyn McRae (Japanese teacher) this week, on the passing of Robyn’s dad over the weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.

 We also remember our great friend, Father Chris Schick, on the third anniversary of his death. Father Chris had such a beautiful way with our students and was a friend and mentor to all. His advice, sense of humour and great enthusiasm is missed by many in our community.

This week, as you know, is Catholic Education Week. Today, Miss McLennan, Kitty (Year 6), Bayden (Year 6) and I attended the official Catholic Education Week mass at St Joseph’s Cathedral. It was a lovely community celebration and a great way to show our support of and thanks to Catholic Education.

 We are having a busy week celebrating Catholic Education Week here at school. Still to come are our shoe polishing service, bookmark making, Catholic Education Week Assembly and Picnic on the Grass. Please see Mrs Starr’s newsletter section for further details.

Our Parent Information Night was held last Thursday night and I thank the many parents who attended. Enrolment interviews are now underway, and it is lovely to see so many people interested in attending our school. Many people enrol here purely because of ‘word of mouth’ and I thank our current families for the positive way in which you speak about the work we do here and for being great ambassadors for St Joseph’s Wandal. 

Homework Club will operate every Tuesday afternoon in the Be-Hive (3.20-4.20pm.) Homework Club is available for children in Years 3-6 and is supervised by senior students from The Cathedral College. Parents (and students) who wish to take advantage of this service will need to book in by contacting the school office by 10am each Tuesday. Students are welcome to bring a small snack and will need to be collected from the Be-Hive promptly at 4.20 pm.

Our Next P and F meeting is scheduled for next Thursday afternoon at 5.15pm. We will meet in the staffroom, but a Zoom option will also be provided if there is interest. Please email the school office if you would like to link in with us via Zoom.

 A reminder that all parents of enrolled children are automatically members of the school’s P and F. All are welcome to attend, and we would love for you to join us. 

 The school board will meet directly after the P and F, at 6.15pm, also in the staffroom. A Zoom option will also be available for our School Board members if they are unable to attend in person.

Payment Term Three School Fees are due 18 August 2020.

Please do not hesitate to give me a call, or make an appointment to see me, if you are unable to meet your payment commitment.

School Banking Day will be Thursday, recommencing on Thursday 30 July 2020.  Student deposit wallets will then be made available for collection from the office on Friday.

School Banking is a fun, interactive and engaging way to help young Australians learn about money and practice good savings habits. For each weekly deposit made at school, students will receive a Dollarmites token. Once they collect 10 tokens, they can redeem them for a School Banking reward.

If your child has previously participated in School Banking, or has an existing Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account, they can start banking straight away by bringing their Dollarmites deposit wallet to school on School Banking day. 

If your child has lost their deposit wallet, please contact your School Banking Co-ordinator or visit any Commonwealth Bank branch for a replacement.  

6 August       P & F and Board Meetings

7 August       Indigenous Students - Hearing Test

                          Prayer Assembly Year 2

                          Michael Mangan Concert

                          Free Dress Day - gold coin

8 August        St Mary of the Cross Feast Day

14 August     Show Holiday

21 August      House Day - Tenison

28 August       Prayer Assembly Year 3

The Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop is 8th August, which this year falls on a Saturday. We will celebrate our foundress' Feast Day on 7th August with prayer and a concert by guest musician, Michael Mangan.  Students are invited to wear free dress on 7th August and donate a gold coin. Funds raised will be go to The MacKillop Foundation.

Michael Mangan Concert – Next Friday, we are lucky enough to have Michael Mangan visiting our school. Michael is a composer, teacher and music liturgist who is based in Brisbane, Australia. A former specialist music teacher, he has composed over 250 pieces which are widely used in Liturgy and Religious Education programmes in schools and parishes throughout Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Michael's music is published in North America by World Library Publications, Chicago.

Michael tours extensively each year presenting concerts and workshops for students, teachers and parish musicians and speaks at conferences throughout Australasia and North America. His vibrant liturgical leadership sees him regularly engaged as a Musical Director and Liturgy Consultant for major national and international Church and Catholic Education conferences and events.

Michael will performing in the school hall from 11.45am - 12.45pm.

Prep celebrated 100 days of learning last week.  We laughed at photos of what we could look like when we are 100 and then wrote about what we would do when we are 100 years old.  We had lots of activities all about the number 100 such as using 100 cups to build a tower, doing 100 piece jigsaw puzzles, digging up 100 gold coins in the sandpit, filling in missing numbers on a 100 chart, and finding 100 post it notes with numbers written on them around the rooms and putting them into order. We even decorated patty cakes with lollies that formed the number '100' - they were delicious!  We had a fantastic day and are looking forward to seeing how many days of learning are left at Prep.

Yesterday nine students from years five and six competed in round one of the QAMT Maths Teams Quiz.  Lots of fun was had, and our brains were given a serious workout!  Congratulations to our three teams:

• The Three Mathketeers - Bella (team captain), Alannah and Lily
• The Big Brainers - Matthew (team captain), Luca and Jesse
• The Minus Calculators - Kitty (team captain), Anya and Jordy

After some tough competition throughout the five rounds our winning team was 'The Minus Calculators'.  Well done to everyone!

Intraschool sport (Friday 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.) will begin for our year four to six students this week.  Students in years four and five will need to wear their sports shirt.  Year six students will need to wear their senior shirt.  Students are reminded they will need to have a water bottle and hat.

National History Challenge

Wombat Books Illustration Challenge

Andy Griffith's Kids Writing Competition

Congratulations to our award weekly award winners.  Click on the  link for further details

Calling all touch football players, coaches and managers.  Please complete the expression of interest e-form on the Skoolbag app. The season commences 8th August If sufficient players and coaches are available, teams will be nominated.