St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Wandal Newsletter

Rest in your Love

For some people, one of the positive spin-offs of Covid has been that they have gotten more sleep. As the same time, even more research news has come out showing that getting enough sleep is good for you, very good, for you. I like that. I rate the ability to fall asleep easily being one the best gifts God has given me. Rest is so important, so sacred that it is one of the first practices God recommends to us. The capacity to rest and to enjoy life go together closely and they are linked with the ability to worship God. To sleep, to snooze, to stop and enjoy watching the kids play, just to watch the world go by, these are all important ways of becoming happy.

Strangely enough part of our ability to rest comes with the ability to appreciate our work. No matter how humble our work is, it is only demeaning if we take the attitude that it is. Even if we don’t like our work, that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to do a good job and then appreciate that. When we have done that then we can truly stop and rest. My grandfather’s last job was ‘just a cleaner’ but he took great pride in his work and was one of the most contented people I knew - and that contentment made him a very attractive person. At his funeral there were so many friends of all ages who said he was so good to them. His goodness consisted in the ability to stop and be, to rest with people and show interest in them.

Heavenly Father, Jesus called us to rest in his love just as he rested in your Love. Send us your Spirit so that we may let go of the cares that distress our hearts and minds. May we share your peace and love with each other. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

While things might seem relatively ‘normal’ here at school, we only have to look at recent development in the South East corner of Queensland to see how quickly concerns can escalate, even in a 24-hour period. While we are trying to maintain as many activities necessary for the normal business of the school, including Parent Teacher interviews, assemblies, orientation days and the like, we are approaching the planned events and activities for the remainder of 2020, and in fact into 2021 with some caution. Queensland Health has recently published further information to assist schools in managing COVID safe events. The Chief Health Officer Restrictions on Businesses, Activities and Undertakings Direction (No 5) restricts some school events to operate in accordance with specific conditions.

Events and activities are being carefully planned by the school to ensure that we are complying with the most up to date health and government directives. It does mean, that events such as our annual Christmas Concert look unlikely to proceed. The positive news is that gives us the opportunity to be creative and to trial new ways of celebrating learning and fostering community spirit.

At St Joseph’s Wandal, we believe that all learners are creative, inquisitive investigators. We believe that everyone should be encouraged engage with a variety of learning experiences that allow them to develop in all aspects - intellectually, spiritually, socially, emotionally, creatively and physically. It is as expectation in this school that the 4C’s of the 21st Century learning, Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration and Communication are emphasized in the teaching and learning experiences in our classrooms and this has certainly been evident in this rather challenging year!

 Some reminders for all attending our school site:

 Hand hygiene: Hand sanitizer is the number one choice for infection control, when hands are not visibly soiled. Hand sanitizer is in every teaching and learning space, and at entrances to the school.

Sneezing and coughing etiquette:

 Tissues should always be used for coughs and sneezes, and when these aren’t available; use your upper sleeve, not your hand. This will reduce the likelihood of the virus getting onto hands, which may then spread to mouths etc.

Our first round of Prep acceptances will be distributed Thursday 3 September.  Confirmations of acceptance are due, in writing, to the school office, the following Thursday, 10 September. This will enable us to work through our substantial waiting list and hopefully offer a second round of offers. Tuesday 10 November has been allocated as the date for our Prep Orientation Sessions for our 2021 ‘preppies’ and their families.

It came to my attention (belatedly) that last week Mrs Helen Kennedy celebrated 10 years of employment at our school. This got me thinking about other long-term members of staff, and I thought I would share with you, the years of service that some other staff have served here at St Joseph’s Wandal (prior schools not included). As the saying goes, times flies when you are having fun!

• Mrs Kathy Fishburn – 17 years
• Mrs Suzanne Fisher – 11 years
• Mrs Hayley Hutchinson – 13 years
• Mrs Kristen Jones – 16 years
• Mrs Anne Lidster – 16 years
• Mrs Helen Kennedy – 10 years
• Miss Janette McLennan – 20 years
• Mrs Madonna Jorgensen – 14 years
• Mrs Roslyn Priestley – 15 years
• Mrs Rheanna Starr – 13 years
• Mrs Karen Westgarth – 13 years
• Mrs Gail Brady – 30 years
• Mrs Ann de Marchi - 10 years
• Mrs Kellie Jenkinson - 10 years

Homework Club operates 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.

 A webinar series for professionals working with dads and families. Join the webinar series and gain knowledge, practical advice and strategies to engage dads and families in positive and effective ways. Over three sessions, you’ll learn in depth about our fatherhood resources and professionals’ toolkit. Each session includes interactive elements, group discussion and Q&A. Running throughout August and October 2020.

 Further details and booking information here.

 DadStuff – monthly webinars for dads

 Join one of the FREE webinars and get options for being a dad, the relationship with your partner and connecting with your kids.

Sharing resources developed for dads on:

• 7 types of dad
• Healthy family relationships
• Bonding with your kids
• Connecting with other dads
• Dads at work
• Plus we’ll talk about what else is going on for dads in Australia

Sessions:

• Wednesday 19 August 2020
• Friday 18 September 2020
• Wednesday 21 October 2020
• Friday 20 November 2020
• Wednesday 16 December 2020

All sessions run from 2pm-3pm via Zoom. A link will be sent shortly before the sessions commences. Further information and bookings here.

Our second round of Parent Teacher interviews for the year will be held in the last week of this term. Parent Teacher Interviews are held twice per year and are formal conversations, supported by evidence, of your child’s progress in Key Learning Areas. Interviews will be 20 minutes in duration and will occur in the school hall. Bookings are made through Parent Lounge and will open on Monday 31 August 9am and will close Wednesday 9th September at 4pm.

 Due to social distancing requirements we ask that you arrive only 5 minutes prior to your interview time and that if possible, children are not brought along. If children are in attendance, they will be asked to sit quietly and read outside the hall. There is no supervision provided and therefore no ‘play’ will be permitted. Our After-School Hours will be in operation, as always between the hours of 3.00pm-6.00pm.

 It is strongly suggested that EVERY family in this school books and attends a Parent Teacher Interview.

WHAT: Semester Two – Parent/Teacher Meetings

WHEN: Monday 14 September and Tuesday 15 September

TIMES: 20-minute time slots from approximately 3.10pm

WHERE: The school Hall

Training is Fridays 3:10pm - 4:00pm.  The weekly draw may be found at https://rockhamptontouch.com/juniors/junior-draw/.