23 August 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

Just when you thought the achievements for our school could not get any better, along comes Week 5 and breaks all the records! What an amazing week for our school and our students. Many of our students went away last weekend to Longreach and there were many medals and some were even chosen for State. Well done to them all.

This week our students have been fraught with sickness of one kind or another with a number having to go home to recuperate. It is school policy to contact parents if their child is feeling sick throughout the day and is unable to return to the classroom after thirty minutes or so. As we are not able to look after children in this condition, it is expected that parents or carers collect their child as soon as possible. In some cases, we haven’t been able to contact parents or carers as the information we have in our system is out of date or incorrect. If this is the case for your family, please contact the school this week to assist us in updating our records. If your child is sick they need to have 24 hour exclusion of the school.

Just to let you all know that on the 8th of September I will be going on long service leave with my family and travelling around NSW. I will be returning to school on the 22nd October. Mrs Karen Pierce will be here to look after the school. She was a principal here 16 years ago and may have even taught some of our families. Please make her feel very welcome to our school.

Our new online newsletter format is now known as Schoolzine. The platform offers a number of features to enhance the communication between home and school. At this stage we will be focusing on the newsletter format. Once live, I would be very interested in your feedback about the new platform. I am confident it will be a useful and engaging tool for our school community. With hopefully the bulk of additional events for the term behind us, I am looking forward to next week being a little quieter. It has been a wonderful start to the term.

God Bless
Claudine Dank

APRE Report

The Word

Many of Jesus’ followers complained, “This teaching is too hard”. So he said to them, “Do you want to give up? The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life giving spirit.” But many did not believe and they turned back. He asked the twelve disciples, “Do you want to leave also?” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, where would we go? You have the words that five eternal life.” (John 6:60-69)

The Gospel challenges us: when we don’t like God’s teaching, we need to ask, “Which is the way of eternal life?” Jesus never said that following him would be easy. Life will surely give us setbacks and heartache. The difference is on whether we suffer alone or with Jesus as our constant companion.

The Assumption

On the 15th of August the Catholic Church celebrated The Assumption of Mary into heaven. The Feast of the Assumption of Mary is an annual Christian observance in Australia held on August 15. It is considered a Holy Day of Obligation - a day when some Christian denominations are obliged to attend mass. Christians celebrate the belief that the Virgin Mary ascended into heaven after her death. Mary was the perfect disciple open to God’s grace. The feast day celebrates her special place in the life of the Church and our faith. This place is first and foremost being chosen to be the mother of Jesus. This alone gives her a uniqueness which is shared with no other. By her assumption into heaven we come to understand that Mary, because of her dignity in motherhood and the grace of her obedience to God’s will, takes primacy over others through this special celebration. Thank you to Year 5 who lead us in a prayer on assembly.

Almighty God,
You gave a humble girl the privilege of being mother of your Son and crowned her with the glory of heaven.
May the prayers of the Virgin Mary bring us to the salvation of Christ and raise us up to eternal life.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Parish Information

Multicultural Festival

Gold Bullion Tickets - are on SALE now. $100 per ticket for $10,000 Gold Bullion and Multi Draw Prizes. Consider forming a syndicate with your friends or family to be in it! Only 200 tickets are being sold. See Debbie after mass, or Corena in the Parish office.

Wheelbarrow Raffle - $2 each or 3 for $5, available at the Parish.

Asian Food - Your donations of ingredients such as noodles, rice, soy sauce, frozen vegetables, seasoning are greatly appreciated. Or donate sugar, soft drinks or various needs we have to prepare for the Festival?

Multicultural Mass - at 9am 2nd September. Inviting children to participate in the entrance by playing noisy musical drum, shaker or sticks from a different culture, to help celebrate out theme of “Joy that we bring”. If you have an instrument that you can contribute for use, please call the Parish office. We are also inviting adults to come in their traditional national dress and participate in the Offertory procession.

Volunteer - If you can please help on the night can you please see Corena at the Parish office.

All night Prayer Vigil - will be observed on this Friday the 24th August, commencing at 7pm, until Sunday 25th August at 7am. The theme of the Prayer Vigil will be “Justice for the World”. Thank about making some time for prayer that night and sign up at the church door for a time.

Curriculum

BETTER Training

Last week Miss Merli, Miss Pether and I joined teachers from across the Diocese part of ongoing BETTER Training. This Professional Development focuses on effective teaching in the classroom. As always we learnt a lot in our time away and look forward to sharing with all of our staff as we continue to improve on how we teach at our school. Many of our students have been a part of our project as we have filmed lessons in our classes to share with other teachers and continue to implement strategies in all of our classrooms.

ICAS Testing

The final ICAS tests were administered this week. We will present all certificates and results together once they have all been sent back to school. Well done to all of our students who took part.

Money, Money, Money

Many of our classrooms this term are looking at Money in Maths. Money is one area that life experience and interaction with Money concepts in a real setting can really help your child to succeed in this area. With that in mind I thought I would share with you what the Australian Curriculum requires of our children in each year level:

Year One: Recognise, describe and order Australian coins according to their value.

Year Two: Count and order small collections of Australian coins and notes according to their value.

Year Three: Represent money values in multiple ways and count the change required for simple transactions to the nearest five cents.

Year Four: Solve problems involving purchases and the calculation of change to the nearest five cents with and without digital technologies.

Year Five: Create simple financial plans.

Year Six: Investigate and calculate percentage discounts of 10%, 25% and 50% on sale items, with and without digital technologies.

Every opportunity you can give your children to handle money, count your change or coins in a money box, help with the shopping and with simple budgets will give them practical experience beyond the classroom.

Have a great week,
Mel Siemer

Longreach Athletics Carnival

Last week students from St Kieran’s travelled to Longreach to compete in the Longreach Regional Athletics Carnival. We are so proud of all the kids and their amazing achievements.

Scarlett Venz – 1st in high jump & 2nd in shotput
Ali Thompson – 1st in the 1500m, 1st in the 800m, 1st in the 400m, 4th in discuss, 4th in shotput, 4th in high jump and 3rd in long jump.
Hayley Winks – 2nd in the 1500m
Sam Winks – 5th in discuss
Rillee Webber – 1st in shotput
Linkyn Macmillan – 2nd in high jump, 2nd in long jump, 1st in 800m.

Prep Enrolment

Families seeking enrolment of their child into Prep for 2019 or 2020 are invited to complete an Application for Enrolment from the school office. As we are anticipating that there will continue to be strong demand for placements within our Prep group for 2019, it is important that applications are received by the school as soon as possible.

Please note that if you have a sibling of a current St Kieran’s student you will also need to complete an enrolment application for your child for Prep 2019.

St Kieran's Catholic School works in partnership with St Joseph’s Catholic School and Good Shepherd Parish to coordinate the Prep enrolment process so that the best opportunity is afforded to all.

Get to know our staff – Miss Lucy Pether

How long have you been at St Kieran’s Catholic School and what year do you teach?

I have been at St Kieran’s Catholic School teaching Year 3 since the beginning of 2018.

What do you love the most about teaching?

I love so many things about teaching but one of my favourites would be how different everyday is. I've never had a boring day and I don't believe I'll ever have one in this job.

Who inspires you?

The person who has inspired me most in life would be my Year 10 English teacher. It was her that gave me the love I now have for reading. Without her guidance and belief in me I don't know if I would have chosen this career path.

If you could be any animal what would you be?

I would be a bird. I would love the ability to see the world from a different perspective and travel to different beautiful locations. Also it would be magical to experience flying.

Tell us a little about your family

My family is such an important part of who I am. My parents, bother (Jake) and sister (Sally) all still live in Townsville and we are all super close. My siblings and I all grew up in Townsville and attended Catholic schools. My parents have given all three of us the travel bug and between the three of us we have been to many countries. My grandparents on both sides also still live in Townsville and were also a major part of my upbringing. I miss them all but the encouragement and support they have provided this year has made my journey an easy one.

Isa Street Festival

Thank you to all of the students and staff who helped out with the float for the Mount Isa Street Festival. The students had a fantastic time and we were lucky enough to win the Best School Float. The school is very proud of them.

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to attend the city council meeting where we were presented with a certificate and cheque for winning the best school float.

Staffing Announcement

It is with great sadness that we will be saying goodbye to 2 wonderful teachers at the end of the year. First is Miss Meghan Richardson who has been at St Kieran’s for three years and we have seen her flourish into an amazing teacher. Meghan has helped out our school in so many ways and is always dedicating her time to the students in and outside of school hours. Her talent with helping the students perform at events will be greatly missed. She is now leaving us for home (Townsville) where she will be teaching at St Clare’s Catholic School, Burdell.

Tyler Hardy is also leaving us after three years. We have had the pleasure with Mr Hardy teaching many PE skills not to mention all of the dance moves the students can now do. I am also very appreciative of the work he does behind the scenes with the Mount Isa sporting committees that our school is part of. If it was not for Mr Hardy we would not be involved as a school. Next year he will be teaching at St Benedict, Shaw, Townsville.

At the end of the term Mrs Jacinta Ducrocq will be returning back to the Gold Coast. She has been with us since term 4 in 2017. Thank you for all of the work that you have provided and the many students that you have helped.

Lastly Mrs Danni Germaine will be having some long service leave in Term 4 and I am sure we will see her again in 2019. She will still be around the school with a grandma hat on.

As a St Kieran’s community we wish them all the best. They will be greatly missed and I am sure they will all enjoy the next chapter of their lives.

RADII – St Kieran’s School Survey

Last week, parents should have received an email from Dr Jean Thompson inviting you to answer a series of questions about our school via electronic survey (RADII). These surveys are a very important part of the school’s feedback and planning information. Your responses enable us to plan more effectively for the future to ensure we continue to provide an excellent educational setting for your child/ren. This survey is also anonymous so any positive or negative feedback is greatly appreciated, as this is a way for us to move forward. The more people who fill it out the better of a result we achieve and are aware of the areas we need to work on. We would appreciate you taking the time to complete this short survey.

The survey is open until this Friday (24th August). If you have not received the survey email, please check your spam or junk folder as they sometimes can be filtered out and the email will be from Dr Jean Thompson. If you have already filled out this survey, thank you very much.

School Officer Position Available

Next term there will ba a position available for a school officer. It will be for 9 weeks between Monday to Thursday (20 hours). If you are interested please fill out an application and return it to the office by the 14th September.

School Board Position

On the 13th August is the School Board AGM. It is with great sadness that Leonie Winks has completed a full term on the School Board and has decided to step down. I would like to acknowledge all of the great work that she has committed to the School Board for the last 3 years.

On that note, the School Board is seeking letters of interest from parents who wish to be considered for a seat on the Board. All of the letters of interest will be shown to the rest of the Board members and a decision will be made. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you require further information.

The School Board is a wonderful opportunity for all attendees to tap into other aspects of the school. They are a great source of a sounding board for the principal and always guide her in the decisions that need to made. Along with that there is formation, sometime school policy writing and professional development. This is foundational to their role as members of a school board.

P&F Dates

We would love for all new and old families to attend the school P&F meetings. Times starts at 5:30pm in the school staffroom.

Below are the dates;

September - 3rd
October - 8th
November - 5th

Buy, Swap, Sell St Kieran’s

Gas Lift Chairs - $10each excellent condition
Kitchen Sink - $40
Scale Playground equipment - $300 and comes with instructions

If you have something that you would like to Buy, Swap or Sell please let us know and we are happy to place it in the newsletter.

Coles Shopping Bag Design Competition

Tuckshop Meal Deal – Term 3

23rd August

First Break – Hot dog + Popper
Second Break – Popcorn + Zooper Dooper

30th August

First Break – Butter Chicken + Rice + Zooper Dooper
Second Break – Muffin + Zooper Dooper

6th September

First Break – Asian Noodles + Popper
Second Break – Brownie & Zooper Dooper

13th September

First Break – Tacos + Popper
Second Break – Popcorn + Zooper Dooper

20th September

First Break – Fish & Chips + Popper
Second Break – Muffin + Zooper Dooper