17 October 2019

Newsletter Articles

IMPORTANT DATES

Principals Report

Welcome back to what is sure to be a fast paced final term. I am looking forward to another exciting term for our school community.

Term 4 is certainly shaping up to be dynamic and challenging in all aspects of school life. Academically, students are working towards completing a final term’s work and I look forward to reading of their achievements in the Semester 2 Report Cards. We are welcoming our 2020 Prep families with an information night on Monday 4th November and an orientation morning is to be scheduled on the 7th November, with all class levels moving to their 2020 year levels. Swimming lessons start this week. It is our last term with our Year 6 leaders and we are excited to be getting them ready to move into secondary school, with transition and orientation programs throughout the term, culminating with the End of Year Mass and Year 6 Graduation on Monday, 4th December and the Christmas Concert on the 5th.

This Friday night will be Rock Pop. The amount of time that all of the teachers and some of the School Offices have put into preperations is amazing and it is something I am very proud off. The students are all very excited and they have their dance moves down pat and ready to go. The backdrops are also ready with plenty of glitter, which gives us a bit of sparkle. No matter what happens on the night the students are already winners to us and we wish them all the best.

I have attached an article this week regarding resilience, something that we all need a little more of at this very hectic time of year. Please take the time to read it and discuss it with your child if need be during the term.

God Bless
Claudine Dank

APRE

Welcome to Term 4!

October - The Month of the Rosary!

Jesus loved and honored his mother, and so we, too, love and honor her.

The Catholic Church has always celebrated Mary. Everything we believe leads us closer to Jesus. What Catholics believe about Mary can be summarized in 5 key teachings:Mary is the Mother of God, Mary was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, Mary was conceived without original sin. Mary was taken body and soul into heaven (Feast of the Assumption). Mary plays a unique role in redemption. October 7th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Why Do We Pray the Rosary?

• We learn our prayers. One of the coolest things about the rosary is that you knock out six prayers in one (these are learnt by the end of year 6). The prayers in the rosary are, the Apostles Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be, the Fatima prayer, and the Hail Holy Queen (not to mention the Sign of the Cross). Learning these prayers will help us in personal prayer and prayers in Church.
• It is an opportunity to build community. We share intentions before praying. This establishes a purpose to praying the rosary giving us something to think about.
• It teaches us to be quiet. Saying the rosary can be an opportunity to slow down, be quiet and focus on God. Repetitive prayer can be a very effective way to centre oneself.
• It helps us to become comfortable with intercessions to Mary. To put this simply: we ask Mary for prayers just as we ask each other for prayers. The difference is that Mary has a special link to her Son through whom all prayers are offered and also Mary is our mother.
• It teaches us about the Scriptures. Many people do not realise that praying the rosary is meant to be a meditation upon the life of Christ and Mary in the Scriptures. Although not every mystery of the rosary can be found specifically in the Bible, the rosary can be an effective way to explore the stories from the Bible.

Tuesday
29th
October

Socktober is an initiative of Catholic Mission and one way in which St Keiran’s can fundraise and engage advocacy for Catholic Mission during World Mission Month in October. This year, students across Australia are encouraged to learn about how the Church in Ghana is taking a lead in providing life-saving care to children with disability and fostering their personal development for a brighter future.

Mini Vinnies Social Justice Evening 2019

Friday 15th November 5.30pm - 8.30pm

This term, St Kieran's students from years 2 - 6 have the opportunity to participate in a Mini Vinnies Social Justice Evening. The Mini Vinnies Social Justice Evening will help raise awareness about what is means to be homeless and the types of homelessness experienced by both adults, young people and children. Students will be engaged in a range of activities to help give them get a sense of what it is like to be homeless and an understanding of how life circumstances can change. The evening also discusses with the students how we can help in regards to fundraising, volunteering and being an advocate for those in need.

Every year St Vincent De Paul donates baskets of essential items to those in need throughout the Mount Isa and surrounding districts. This year St Kieran’s students are asked to help with this and collect as many items as they can to go into these packages. Putting together the packages will formulate the Social Justice Action part of the evening.

All St Kieran's students can contribute and be involved in preparation for this evening.

Each class is asked to begin to collect the following essentials (non-perishable) items over the next few weeks. These include: soaps/ body wash, face washers/ hand towels, shampoo & conditioner, deodorants, tin foods, disposable wipes and ingredients to make meals.

Students who would like to be involved in this evening will meet with the Service Leaders during this week.

Parish Information

Reconciliation 2019

Another important step in the spiritual development of your child is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As your child may have been part of Confirmation and Eucharist this year or last year, you may wish for your child to make the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Before committing to what is offered please have a read of the following notes:

1. Penance, Reconciliation and Confession are some adult terms used for this Sacrament. Some concepts we look at are forgiveness and sorry - Reconciliation, making up – Penance, admitting we did something wrong – Confession. How this is expressed in our lives and the need we have at times to make it formal or expressed in not only words but also in the action of forgiveness is important.
2. Completing the Sacrament entails: Who – the whole family (even if they have completed this Sacrament in the past as it is an ongoing event). If you start the program and think your child is not ready, you do not have to complete it until you think they are. This Sacrament can happen before or after they have made Confirmation and First Eucharist.
3. There will be two Retreat sessions before the celebration where the child and a family member must attend. Retreat sessions will be held at St Joseph's and St Kieran's after school. Depending on the number of candidates, we may have 2 sessions offered at each school. We would like a parent or guardian to be present with the child at this time. It is always good to have some parent input as well into the session.

Forms have been handed out to all Year 3 students and a PDF copy has been emailed to all families, hard copies are also available at our school office. When the form is complete return it to either our school office or the Good Shepherd Parish(07 47498555).

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact either Peta Laffin (plaffin@skmtsv.catholic.edu.au) , Jo Lynch (jlynch8@sjmtsv.catholic.edu.au) , Jacqueline Warren (jwarren2@goodshepherd.catholic.edu.au) or the Good Shepherd Parish Office (mountisaparish@tsv.catholic.org.au).

A date for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is to be advised.

Diocesan information

Plenary Council 2020

The Plenary Council invites people to continue to participate in the journey towards the Council sessions in 2020 and 2021. The “Listening and Discernment” phase recently opened, and a guide has been developed to encourage groups to take part in communal discernment on the National Themes for Discernment. Learn more about the Christian practice of discernment and download the guide, “Let’s Listen and Discern”, at the link below.

Ordination of Emene Kelemete

Bishop Tim Harris would like to invite you to attend the Ordination to the Priesthood of Deacon Emene Kelemete on Thursday 31st of October from 7pm. The Ordination will take place at the Edmund Rice Hall at Ignatius Park College, Ross River Road. There is ample parking in the Holy Spirit Parish Car Park, Ignatius Park College car park and on Ross River Road and Albert Street. There will be light refreshments afterwards. All are welcome to attend.

Understanding the Rite of Ordination

Anointing of the Hands: After the investiture, the newly ordained priest kneels before the Bishop who anoints his hands with Sacred Chrism. In the baptismal rite, the newly baptised is anointed on the forehead as a sign of being united with Jesus, priest, prophet, and king. In Confirmation, the confirmand is anointed on the forehead as a ‘sealing with the Holy Spirit.’ Sacred Chrism is also used to anoint the walls and altar during the Dedication of a Church and Altar. In the Ordination of a Bishop, he is anointed on the head as a sign of his distinctive sharing in the headship of Christ over the Church. Priests are anointed on their hands as a sign of their distinctive sharing in Christ’s Priesthood by which they offer the sacrifice of the Mass.

Curriculum

Staff Reflective Practice Day - Literacy 2020 Plan

Next Monday, 21 October, is a pupil free day across all of the Townsville Diocese Schools. It is a day set aside each year for our teachers to work collaboratively, reflect on our current practice and plan for the future. This year our teachers will be spending the day working with the staff of Saint Joseph’s Cloncurry to plan for Literacy across our schools in 2020.

What will be some of the significant changes in our schools Literacy Plan:

• InitiaLit has successfully been introduced in Prep and Yr 1 in 2019 and will be rolled out into the Yr 2 classroom in 2020. (InitiaLit is a P-2 Research based Literacy Program)
• DIPL will no longer be taught in 3-6. We will be moving towards a more all inclusive Literacy approach.
• More literature based units in 3-6 classrooms.

This is an exciting time for us at Saint Kieran’s as we work closely with Mrs Nic Betramelli, our curriculum adviser in TCEO, as well as the staff of Saint Joseph’s Cloncurry to ensure we are up to date with best practice and current research into how children best learn.

PAT Testing

This term students from 3-6 will complete PAT (Progressive Achievement Tests) Tests in Reading Comprehension and Maths. These are 45 minute online tests which are completed either using the chromebook or iPad. The purpose of these yearly assessments is for us to monitor yearly progress and identify individual students areas of strength and weakness. This information helps to target intervention and support in the coming year.

HPE

PE will start in week 2 this term. It will kick off with a special guest - Hannah Casswell from Townsville is coming to our school to run through lots of fun tennis development activities so we are really looking forward to having her here.

Our last gala day for the year will be on Friday of week 3 - students have been practicing their softball and volleyball skills and are all excited for a fun day.

Our swimming carnival is in week 4 - Thursday 31st Oct commencing at 4pm. Please note that there will be changes to the program this year involving the individual medley and the 50m butterfly. An email was sent home regarding your input into these events - please email the school if you did not receive the email.

Indigenous Education

RAP Report

This term our Saint Kieran’s RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan) returns to draft as we review our plan to ensure it reflects what is currently happening in our school.

Queensland Catholic Indigenous Conference

This week Mrs Dank is attending the Queensland Catholic Indigenous Conference in Townsville. We are proud to say our own Mrs Tammi Webber was one of the organisers of this important event. We look forward to these ladies sharing the valuable knowledge that comes from such a significant conference with our school community.

Library

Book Fair

In week 6 this term will be our school annual book fair. A very exciting time for the students. Mrs Anderson is currently thinking of lots of ideas and activities to do during the week.

Dinosaurs will be visiting the school during that week. A theme I know the students are going to love.

You Can Do It

Get to know our staff – Mrs Jenna Robinson

Hi, my name is Jenna Robinson and I work part time in the school office. I started working at St Kieran's Catholic School back in 2011 and at the time, I only had my first child Cooper who was only one year old. In my eight and a half years here at the school I have since left twice on maternity leave to have my two other children Kennedie and Brodey. I met my husband Mitchell back in 2008 and we have been married now for seven years. In our spare time, we enjoy travelling. Our favourite place we have visited so far is New Zealand; we cannot wait to go back again! Before my time at St Kieran’s I completed my certificate in dental nursing where I worked for 5 years. My whole time at St Kieran’s has been spent working in the school office. On Monday’s you will find me out the front office and on Tuesday’s I am tucked away in the finance office. I have had the chance to work with some amazing people over my time here and had the chance to watch the students grow. I absolutely love the community of our little school and consider myself very blessed to be apart of it.

P&F Dates

All meetings start at 5.30pm

Thursday 24th October
Thursday 28th November

Tuckshop

17/10 - Cheeseburger +Popper, Cupcake & Zooper Dooper
24/10 - Nachos + Popper, Brownie & Zooper Dooper
31/10 - Hot Dog + Popper, Popcorn & Zooper Dooper
7/11 - Asian Noodles + Popper, Cupcake & Zooper Dooper
14/11 - Burrito + Popper,Brownie & Zooper Dooper
21/11 - Crumbed Chicken Leg + Chips & Popper, Popcorn & Zooper Dooper

St Kieran’s Buy, Swap, Sell

2005 Toyota Camry

$9,000

Excellent condition, only had 1 owner. 130,000klm. 2005 model. Great original car with no issues and drives well. Just had a service.

Community Notices