6 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

Thought:

Human beings were not born to be perfect. We were born to learn, to grow, to expand, to love, to create, to enjoy, and to see the beauty and Jesus in all things-including ourselves. Our striving for perfection is a futile endeavour, a waste of time. Even the most enlightened of us regularly trip and fall. Noone is perfect…. (S. Jeffers)

Dear Parents and friends,

It is a great honour and a privilege to be back here at St. Kieran’s as acting principal for the time that Mrs Claudine Dank is on long service leave. I was principal here from 1999 to 2002, four wonderful years, yes and some in the last century!!! I treasure many memorable memories from my time here, the years were happy ones, and I was blessed to have been part of a very special school. There are some changes physically, the library and big shed were not here 16 years ago but the one thing that has not changed is the community feel and the warm welcoming environment. Oh and Brother Lou Walker is still here - it is wonderful to sit and have a cuppa with this exceptional man and relive the ‘old days’. I look forward to seeing some ‘old’ faces and meeting many new families during the next 5 weeks. Please make yourself known to me as you see me around the school.

DROP OFF & PICK UP ZONE CHANGES:

The school has started the process of replacing a new fence out the front of the school. It will start at the corner of the Mary Mackillop Center and run all of the way down to the other corner. At the end of this newsletter you will find plans of what is going to be happening at the entrance of our school.

As from next week we need to go back and start using the old drop off and go zone at the front of the school (Short Street) for all of the students. The reason for this is Townsville Catholic Education Office would like us to trial it to see if it will work as it is in the current state. If we find after 11 weeks (Term 4) it does not work then we have to see the council to get the zone extended.

If you are a person who likes to park the car and walk in to collect your child, that is not going to change. Please continue to use the school car park.

If your child goes to After School Care (St Joseph’s) and PCYC then they will wait outside of the office for the bus. They will be supervised.

If you are going to be picking up your child from the stop-drop-and-go then you will need to pick up from the original site (Short Street).

A gentle reminder that children need to be picked up by 3 pm as they are only supervised until this time.

Thanking you in anticipation of you being understanding in this matter. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. At the end of this newsletter you will find plans for the new fence and entrance.

May God hold you all in the palm of His hand

Karen

APRE Report

The Word

A man was grough to Jesus who was deaf and mute. They brought Jesus to place his hands on him. Taking him away from the crowd,Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears and touched the man's tongue with spit. Looking up to heaven, Jesus gave a deep groan and said, “Be opened!” At once the man was able to hear and speak. (Mark 7:31-37)

The prophet Isaiah foretold of healings and amazing natural events. Miracles were believed to be signs of the presence of the messiah. Jesus’ miraculous healings are more than just a loving response to the suffering of others, they are signs of his divine mission.

This week on assembly we celebrate as a community Child Protection Day. We celebrate the life we have been given by God and the love that God showers on us. We pray that we all receive the respect that each person needs, the care that we all need, and the opportunity to grow and develop as children of God.

Gracious and loving God, you have created each one of us in a unique and wonderful way and want us to grow into the special person you have called us to be. May we receive the love and care that we need, may we feel safe and protected, and may we build warm and loving relationships based on love and respect. We ask this prayer through Jesus Christ, your Son.

Amen.

Multicultural Festival Combined Choir

Students involved in singing in the Combined Catholic School Choir are to meet Mrs Laffin and Mrs Hartley beside the stage at 6.30pm for the 7pm performance. Students are to be dressed in their full school uniform.

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

NAPLAN Online

Last week Mrs Dank and I attended NAPLAN online training in Townsville. In 2019 our Years Three and Five students will be completing the Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy NAPLAN test online, Writing will remain as a pencil and paper test.

To ensure our technology and internet capability will support this transition our current Year Three and Five students will complete a School Readiness Test early next term.

Writing

Writing remains a focus in all of our classrooms this semester. Our Years Three to Six Writing Groups will continue in term four. All of our teachers have been impressed with the quality of work our authors have produced and look forward to seeing our students continue to grow.

Next term we are excited to host a Writing Competition open to all students, keep your eye out for more information in the coming weeks. We will also be hosting a visiting author, Allison Marlow Paterson, in October. She will be running writing workshops with our Years 4 to 6 classes.

Drama

This semester we are extremely lucky to have the wonderful Drama teachers from

Good Shepherd come across for weekly Drama lessons with all of our classes. All of our children have been having a wonderful time taking part in fun and engaging lessons with Miss Keating and Miss Scott.

Year 6 Drama Class

Year 6 Drama Class

The Wonders Of Science

Thanks to the sponsorship of Glencore our Year 5 and 6 classes have been able to take part on the Wonders Of Science Program. Science specialists have come in to the classes to work on practical skills and knowledge on chosen topics. The children have enjoyed this program, especially the practical activities.

Library with Mary Mackillop

Wahoo

The Year 5-6 Wahoo Students have been working very hard this term working on their Opti-MINDS projects in Science-engineering and Language Literacy sections. On Saturday 26 August they competed against other teams in the region. I am very proud of all of the efforts the students put in, they worked well in their teams and produced a great performance on the day.

Our Language Literacy group with Rilee Webber, Kaitlin Laffin, Preston Lehmann, Bernadette Feliciano and Eliza Hartfiel came in first place in their category and have been invited to the Opti-MINDS finals in Brisbane in October!! Well Done, what a wonderful achievement!

The Year 3-4 Wahoo students have been working on their ‘How To’ presentations that they will be presenting to their parents and friends in week 9. Some students are working on how to make playdough, how to make ice cream, to to build a mini garden. They are very excited to present their creations to their family and friends!

The Year 1-2 Wahoo students have been learning about Natural Disasters. So far we have looked at cyclones, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes. We are now looking into making a disaster pack and how to best plan for a disaster.

The Prep Wahoo students decided to learn about dinosaurs. So far we have learnt about the different types of dinosaurs, carnivores and herbivores, dug for dinosaur fossils, measured the length and height of dinosaurs and drawn out the foot of a T-Rex.

Writing Profile – Hannah Cama

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My name is Hannah

The title of my piece is Edward Hargraves

When I am not writing I enjoy activities like playing with the water gun outside, playing soccer and hand ball.

When I grow up I might like to be a. hairdresser.

I like to write silly stories.

Cross Country

Congratulations to all of our competitors who participated in our Cross Country Carnival yesterday. It was great to see the dedication and persistence of our students pushing all the way to our finish line. A huge congratulations to all our Age Champions and place finishers, each of you should be very proud of your efforts!

Corella Captains Preston and Sam

Fortnite

Dear Families,

We have been noticing an increase in the number of students talking and writing about Fortnite- a free online game that children from Prep to Year 6 have been engaging with outside school. In particular, we are seeing and hearing many references to guns and fighting that students attribute to their time playing this online game.

I encourage you to access the following advice from the Office of the eSafety Commissioner regarding Fortnite, its content and player age recommendations.

Importantly, Fortnite is NOT recommended for children under 12 years of age.

We recognise that games, apps and social networking sites are popular among students and adults alike. As parents, it is important that we learn about what our children are playing or wanting to play. Information provided by the eSafety Commissioner is factual and ultimately the decision rests with you as parents in determining what is appropriate for your family. Please carefully consider the impacts of games that feature violence, weapons and opportunities for your children to engage in online chat forums.

For more information, here is the link to all the games, apps and social networking sites that the eSafety Commissioner provides. It certainly makes for interesting reading!

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.

At St Kieran’s all year levels are now learning Japanese as part of the LOTE (Languages other than English) component of the Australian Curriculum. The students are thoroughly enjoying this experience. We are able to engage in simple greetings, follow simple classroom instructions and introduce ourselves to others in Japanese. Students can also sing the Japanese Hiragana alphabet and now know how to sing even sing a few songs in Japanese.

In the next few weeks (and into Term 4) students will learn how to introduce and describe their favourite mascots (cuddly toys) to each other. By week 10 Prep, Year 1, and Year 2 are asked to bring along a photo (or the real thing) of their own mascot and they will introduce and describe these to the older grades. Years 3-6 will create their own mascots in class and introduce their creations to the younger year levels.

Get to know our staff – Mrs Mel Siemer

1. This is my third year here at Saint Kieran's. Over the past three years I have been the Year 3 teacher, Curriculum Teacher, Beginning Teacher Mentor and this year I have been working as the Inclusive Education Teacher.
2. I love that every day is different and the fact that we have an opportunity to make an impact in a child's life. The kids we work with are so much fun to be around, they make me laugh every day.
3. My biggest inspiration is my Mum, she is the hardest working person I know and always has the most positive outlook on life.
4. If I could be any animal I would be our dog, Shovel, I seriously have no idea what he does all day besides laying around chilling.
5. My husband, Sonny, is a stock agent for Elders and we have 4 children, Will 17, Jackson 16, Lara 11 and Ayden who is.
6. We have lived all around Qld and NSW, managing cattle stations and working and living on the coast. I am originally from Bathurst (go the Blues!!) and met Sonny 20 years ago in Broken Hill where I had my first teaching job.

New Front School Fence

Below is the new design for the main entrance and stop-drop-and-go for the school. If you are interested in placing a tender for this job please let the office know and we will send you through information.

YeaR 4 Camp End of Term Fundraiser

For first break on Thursday 20/09/18 year 4 will have sausages on bread $2.50 bacon on bread $2.50 and spiders for $2.50 to raise funds for year 4 camp.

Tuckshop will be closed this day.

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;

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.

Tuckshop Meal Deal – Term 3

13th September

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

20th September

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