26 July 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principals Report

Dear Parents and Carers

It is great to be back as we kick off the second half of our school year. I hope the school holidays were an enjoyable time for all our families. I was fortunate enough to have a stay vacation. It was nice to chill in my PJ’s and on occasion sleep in.

This term promises to be eventful with Mulkadee, Catholic Education, RODEO week (with Mrs Kellie Pigliafiori as our own Rodeo Queen), Book Week and Year 4 going on camp. I would like to congratulate Kellie for all of the hard work that she has done for the past 8 months to raise money for RFDS. We wish her all the best for next weekend. No matter if she wins or loses she will always be a winner in our eyes at St Kieran’s.

Next week is Catholic Education Week and our Catholic schools will be well represented in a North West Star double page advertisement. St Kieran’s is a wonderful community of people (big and small) who appreciate Catholic education and the faith and commitment that enriches it. Our aim is to assist in the development of the total Christian person through providing an environment in which students can grow in all aspects of life and become their best selves. I have no doubt that our students are better and stronger because of the rich and rewarding experience they have here at school. It will also be a time when we celebrate the mission, ethos and charism of our school. All of our students will have the opportunity to enjoy a concert with Michael Mangan. Mass will be held at St Joseph’s for years 3 - 6. It will be nice as we are celebrating it also with GSCC and St Joseph’s Cloncurry. It is not very often that all of the western schools have the opportunity to get together.

God Bless
Claudine Dank

Catholic Education Week will be celebrated across Queensland from 28 July – 3 August 2019.

This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools every day. The theme for this year’s celebrations is: Many Voices. One Spirit. Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society. During the Week 3 students will be involved in activities which focus around this year's theme. The whole school is lucky enough to be able to attend a concert followed by Mass with Michael Mangan on Monday the 29th of July.

Parish Information

Job for Mount Isa St Vincent De Paul

St Vincent de Paul Mount Isa have a vacancy for a part-time Shop Assistant. Would you have any families ( new to town, perhaps) who would be interested in urgently filling this role? Matthew is here from Townsville all week and would be able to be contacted directly. His number could be given to any interested persons .... M.0400 764 618

Diocesan information

Bishop’s Appeal for Diocesan Ministries

The annual Bishop’s Appeal for Diocesan Ministries is now on. This appeal directly assists the diocese operate vital ministries. These include Chaplaincy services to prisons and hospitals, Promotion of Social Justice and Multicultural Ministry, Catholic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ministry, Ecumenical and Interfaith activities, Youth Ministry initiatives, Faith education and formation for Adults and liturgical training and Vocations awareness.

Please support this appeal to allow Bishop Tim to continue this great work in the Diocese.

Curriculum

Premier’s Reading Challenge

We hope you have all been busy reading over the holiday break. Just a reminder that we have until the 23rd of August to send in reading logs for the Premier’s Reading Challenge so there is still plenty of time to start if your child has not done so yet. Reading logs can be collected from your child’s class teacher or the office.

Welcome

We would like to extend a very warm welcome back to Mrs Julie Wheeler who will be working this semester on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday supporting children in Years Two and Three classrooms in achieving their reading and sight word goals. Also welcome to Mrs Vanessa Hobbs who will be working this semester in the Prep classroom.

Positive Partnerships

St Kieran’s is involved in Positive Partnerships. Positive Partnerships is delivered by Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) and works with teachers and parents to create autism friendly schools and inclusive learning environments in which all students succeed and flourish. Autism can be tricky to define. Autism is a developmental condition that affects how a child learns and interacts with the world around them. Because autism has many different characteristics, no two people on the spectrum are alike. However, those on the autism spectrum may need support in two main areas:

Social communication issues

• Understanding non-verbal communication, such as body language
• Understanding when and how to appropriately respond in social interactions
• Developing, understanding and maintaining relationships with others
• Expressing and comprehending information

Repetitive patterns of behaviour

• Repetitive use of movement, speech or objects
• Affected by changes to expected routines and surroundings
• Intense focus on limited, specialised areas of interest
• Increased sensitivity or lack of sensitivity to particular sensory signals, such as sound, touch, taste, etc.

Positive Partnerships purpose is to assist educators to create real change in their school settings and establish learning environments that will reach all learners. After attending the Positive Partnerships workshop in Term 2, teachers in our school will begin to implement strategies and tools to better cater for our students. Further information can be found by visiting the Positive Partnerships site at the link below.

Indigenous Education

In 2019, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day is celebrating the early years, and promoting the importance of early years education and care for our little ones. We recognise the critical role that family, community, country and culture play in their development. And we will continue to fight for better access to culturally appropriate early childhood education for our children through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. We will be celebrating this day on the 23rd August with our Mini Murries “Under 8’s Day”. Please see the flyer attached.

Prep Enrolment

Families seeking enrolment of their child into Prep for 2020 or 2021 are invited to complete an Application for Enrolment, available on our website, in the link below, or alternatively collect an application package from the School Office.

As we are anticipating that there will continue to be strong demand for placements for 2020, 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 2020. Students enrolled at St Joseph’s Kindergarten or St Mary Mackillop Early Learning Centre are also required to complete an application form.

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.

Wahoo

In Wahoo this term we are learning about some very interesting topics!

Year 1-2: In the Year 1-2 Wahoo students have decided to learn about how things work. We will focus on different topics such as how to make candles, how digital cameras work, what radiation is etc.

This week we learnt about digital cameras and the students had a great time using them!

Year 3-4: The Year 3-4 Wahoo group are currently finishing up their unit from last term about Ancient Rome. Students are making models of weapons, coliseums and tools used in Ancient Rome

Year 5-6: This term the year 5-6 Wahoo students are competing in the Opti-MINDS challenge. This is a 6 week challenge where students work together in teams to respond to a challenge and present their project to judges on Saturday 24 August. This year the Opti-MINDS theme is ‘WISDOM’.

Get to know our staff – Mrs Claudine Dank

Where do I start. I have lived in Mount Isa for 18 years so I am now considered local. I started teaching in 2002 in Year 1 at St Joseph’s. Since then I have worked in both of the Catholic Primary Schools and gained many different roles throughout my career which I am so grateful for. After all of these years I now feel old when I see students that I have taught out and about, but I also feel very proud of many of their accomplishments and I always love to chat with them.

Mount Isa is a town that has been very good to me. I found the love of my life, my soulmate Gary Dank and we have the most beautiful family I could ever wish for. Jordan my step son who is enjoying life and working at the Buffs, Mercedes who is currently in her final year at St Joseph’s, which just flew by, in a blink of an eye and Lennox who is in year 4 at St Kieran’s and always keeps me on my toes.

Everyday I feel very blessed. I have the most amazing job and a family that I cherish dearly. Life couldn't get any better. XXOO

Playgroup

This week at Little K’s our outside play turned into a wonderful science experiment, with exploding liquid chalk and fizzing paint! We also went on a little nature walk collecting some special leaves, sticks and dirt to create a garden in a container. We also did some serious searching for the caterpillars that ate the holes in the leaves.

Little K’s Playgroup is free and all are welcome. Mondays 8:30am to 10:00am.

Our New School Shirt

Over the years our school logo has been through a few changes and it needs to be updated on the school shirt. I thought that it is also time for me to investigate better quality fabric for the students to wear. Which we have found.

Below is the original shirt and the new design with two slightly different logos.

Current Shirt

Shirt A

New shirt design and the logo is all black.

Shirt B

New shirt design and the logo is black and gold.

School Event

July

August

P&F Dates

All meetings start at 5.30pm

Tuesday 30th June
Thursday 25th July
Thursday 29th August
Tuesday 17th September
Thursday 24th October
Thursday 28th November

Tuckshop

All meal deals are $9.00

St Kieran’s Buy, Swap, Sell

Dual Kitchen sink for sale

Large light covers