6 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday 12th February – Bookclub Issue 1 Due
Thursday 5th March – St Kieran’s Feast Day
Thursday 5th March - Beginning Year Mass
Thursday 12th March – School Photos
Week 8 & Week 9 – Swimming Lessons
Week 10 – Swimming Carnival

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Dear Parents and Carers

Happy New Year and welcome to the 2020 school year. It has been a great few days (wet ones, but great) with many very happy faces around our school. I would like to take this chance to welcome all our new families to St. Kieran’s. Walking around classes on Tuesday I don't think there are any classes that do not have a new face or two in them. Welcome also to our new staff members, many of whom you have already met. We have an amazing staff again this year and I know that they are looking forward to another great year at St. Kieran’s. Of course, we can't possibly forget our largest group of new faces in our school, our wonderful Preps who have already made themselves at home in our school community. To all who have joined our school in 2020, on behalf of our school community, welcome.

I had an amazing holiday with my family and it was great that I did not do any work for a whole month. My computer did make the trip, but never opened. I think it is just my security blanket. We enjoyed exploring New Zealand for a few weeks and then I spent Christamas with my family. Mercedes and Lennox enjoyed playing with their cousins and spending time at the beach. Lastly was Brisbane to welcome in the New Year. I can now say that I have officially waited for hours to watch the fireworks on South Bank an experience that was fun. One of the best parts of Brisbane was seeing a painting of one of my favourite artists, Claude Monet. I loved it!

With another busy term ahead, it is important for all our families to stay connected to what is happening in our school community. The teachers send out an email every week, there is the school Website, Facebook, Instagram and on the wall in the Parent Engagement Room. It is hoped that this will assist families in planning for upcoming events. The newsletter is also another important link between home and school and I would encourage all families to use these resources, so to not miss out on what is happening throughout the term.

I am looking forward to another wonderful year and to working with our school community to provide our students with every opportunity to succeed.

Take Care, Good Bless

Claudine Dank

LOVE GOD

APRE

Welcome to 2020! It is wonderful to see students and teachers settling into their classrooms. Classes have created wonderful morning prayer and Meditation spaces to engage with. Relationships thrive on good communication. To grow in love and friendship we need to communicate, not just openly but often! When we pray, we express our desire to grow closer to God. Through prayer we can praise, thank, ask, cry, argue and express many emotions. We can speak, listen, sing, chant and dance, smile embrace or just sit with our God. To begin our prayer we make the Sign of the Cross. This gesture is a powerful symbol that connects us with the Trinity and with our baptism. By making this sign you are declaring: I am under the power of God! We end our prayer with AMEN - a word often spoken by Jesus and means ‘so be it’. By saying Amen is as if we say: I agree, this is true! Please take the time to ask your children how they pray at St Kieran's. We will come together for the first time this year as a school community on Friday at 8.20am for assembly.

All classes will have the opportunity to lead us in prayer on assembly throughout the year. There are a number of special feast days on the Catholic Church calendar which are of particular significance to our community. This year these will be celebrated on their special day. The prayer life of our school community enhances our Catholic Identity. Please see the table below for a list of upcoming celebrations in Term 1.

Term 1 Celebrations

PARISH INFOMATION

Youth Group

This term we are going to try something different with 4 groups on one Sunday per month with each session aimed at a particular age group. Sunday starts at 4:00pm (doors open 3:45). This does not however preclude others coming and when they do so they can help lead activities.

The content and subjects will be addressing the issues that age group faces though.

For the first term the dates are (all Sundays):

9 Feb Year 12 up
16 Feb Year 6 Up
23 Feb Year 10 up
1 Mar Year 7 up
8 Mar Year 12 up
15 Mar Year 6 Up
22 Mar Year 10 up

After Youth Group we will go to Mass at 6:00pm and do readings and offertory if the CIA is rostered on.

After Mass we will have a bite to eat and reflection with parents and partners invited to share this time.

If you would like more information please call James Coghlan at Mount Isa Parish.

DIOCESAN INFOMATION

STOPline Service

The Diocese of Townsville has recently enhanced its Whistle-blower Program, which enables all workers, volunteers, parents of students and parishioners to play an active role in eliminating improper conduct in the Diocese. The Diocese has contracted an independent external whistleblower service STOPline to allow for confidential reporting.

The Diocese has defined Reportable Conduct in the Policy which can be found on the Diocesan website.

Reportable conduct includes suspected abuse, misconduct, mismanagement and policy breaches,

The Whistleblower Policy applies to the Diocese (including parishes), Townsville Catholic Education, Centacare North Queensland, Saints Catholic College and NWQICSS.

Information can be shared anonymously.

P: 1300 30 45 50
E: tsvcatholic@stopline.com.au
W: http://tsvcatholic.stoplinereport.com

Safeguarding Update

The Diocesan Safeguarding Coordinator continues to meet regularly with Parish Priests and Administrators, Safeguarding Representatives and Pastoral Councils to ensure the Catholic National Safeguarding Standards are being applied across all ministries. Parishioners are encouraged to provide feedback on our safeguarding processes and to visit the safeguarding webpage below. Your feedback, via the webpage, is directly submitted to the Diocesan Safeguarding Coordinator. You can also speak directly with your Parish Priest or Safeguarding Representative if you prefer.

Your involvement and support to our parishes is critical to ensure we put into action, our commitment to protect our most vulnerable and to create a safer environment for everyone. This includes how we apply our safeguarding policy in ministry and how we manage risks.

For more information regarding the Safeguarding policy and our processes, please contact Mr Craig Brereton on 4726 3264 or cbrereton@tsv.catholic.org.au

Saints Catholic College (accommodation at James Cook University) - 'More Than Just a Place to Live'

Saints Catholic College is situated at James Cook University in Townsville and provides accommodation to tertiary students. As part of the accommodation, residents are provided with private rooms, all meals included, Wi-Fi, free parking, overnight security, staff on site and after-hours support.

For more information please contact the office on – 4727 7200 or catholiccolleges@jcu.edu.au or the Principal, Nicole Stott-Whiting, at -

nicole.stottwhiting1@jcu.edu.au

CURRICULUM

Welcome back to an exciting 2020! We have some big changes this year at St Kieran’s in regards to curriculum. This year will be the first year that the InitiaLit program will be implemented across Prep to Year 2. InitiaLit is an evidence-based whole-class literacy program providing all children with the essential core knowledge and strong foundations to become successful readers and writers. InitiaLit is a three-year program, covering the first three years of school. Following from InitiaLit our Years 3-6 students will be taking part in the Words Their Way Program (replacing DIPL). Words Their Way is a spelling and vocabulary focussed program that teaches children skills through a word study context. At the beginning of each term the children are given a spelling test which allows us to individualise lists to suit their skill level.

STEM Club

STEM Club is back in 2020. STEM Club will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the second break. We look forward to lots of fun and exciting activities to engage our kids in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Sustainable Practices at St Kieran’s

This year all of our classes will be composting and monitoring their own energy usage. Our Eco Warriors will be taking part in whole school projects which include a revamp of our kitchen garden, weekly recycling and reporting to our school at assembly. We will be running a design our Eco Warriors logo competition in the next few weeks that will be open to all students in the school.

ESMART (CYBER SAFETY)

This year eSafety will become part of our school newsletter. It is a section that will give parents ideas and strategies for help with the internet and teaching your children how to become a cyber safety citizen.

One web page that I highly recommend for you to bookmark on your computer is below. This website gives up to date information in regards for advice to parents to help children have safe experiences online.

Best website for this fortnight is below based on “How to choose good online content”

LIBRARY

Library Guidelines

Borrowing: Children are welcome to borrow weekly during their Library time. Start with borrowing 1 book in prep and increase up to 3 books by grade 3.

Overdue books: Once a term you will receive an email to see what books your child has out. If they have books out this is good news. The email subject automatically says ’current and overdue books’. Do not panic as children are allowed to have books for two weeks if they need and are welcome to renew them.

Book Club: 2-3 times a year, children will have the opportunity to buy books for their home library. This can be done online or you can use pocket money and pay with cash. The first time you order books online you will have to set up your child’s details. Please ensure you put your child into the correct class.

Junior Librarians: Each year I give an opportunity for students in years 4- 6 to apply to be a junior librarian. Their role is to assist teachers with looking after books in the classroom, to assist their peers with borrowing and shelving and to run lunch time activities. Each class will have 2 students employed in this position. Applications are open until next week.

Search our library: A link can be found on the school home page under students. When they log into the student intranet they will find a library link.

HPE

Welcome back to school everyone! I hope the students are well rested and ready to get back into the swing of things! We are hitting the ground running with the annual IsaRATS All Schools Triathlon on Sat 8th Feb! If you haven’t done so already, get the kids together in teams of 2 or 3 to run/swim/ride for fun (and possibly win $500 for our school!).

In curriculum this term:

Prep students are completing fundamental movement skills (FMS) activities to develop running, galloping, hopping and jumping. They are also learning general principles of participating in physical activities like moving to space, following whistle cues, playing within boundaries.

Year 1 and 2 students are doing a skipping unit focusing on long-rope (group) skipping. They are also investigating the heart’s response to different levels of physical activities.

Year 3 and 4 students are also doing a skipping unit but are completing individual, partner and group skipping tricks and skills. They are investigating how skipping can keep people fit and healthy.

Year 5 and 6 students are participating in a basketball unit. In this unit, they are working on their basic basketball skills as well as offensive and defensive play. They are looking at the components of fitness and how they relate to the game of basketball.

Other PE related information:

The dates for our sports carnivals and gala days will be set in the next fortnight after all schools meet to confirm District carnival dates.

Will Seimer from NRL will be here in weeks 2 and 3 to run through some activities with the Prep-Year 2 students which will be so much fun!

MISSA (Mount Isa School Sport Association): Students who turn (or have turned) 10, 11 or 12 this year are eligible to participate in MISSA sports. I will send home information via email to all parents on dates for particular sports as they arise. Please note - these events are for students who have played these sports on a regular basis outside of school and are capable and competitive. We hold gala days every term for students who would like to play other sports for fun!

All Schools Triathlon - Please note that the annual all schools triathlon is on again on Sat 8th Feb 7am. Everyone is welcome - students should get into teams of 2 or 3. It really is a great day and so much fun. Feedback from students who participated last year was really positive!

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd delivered the Apology at 9.00am on 13 February 2008.

Members of the Stolen Generations were invited to hear the National Apology first-hand in the gallery of The House of Representatives chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd delivered the Apology at 9.00am on 13 February 2008.

The National Apology to the Stolen Generations came about as a recommendation from The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children from their Families. It highlighted the suffering of Indigenous families under the Commonwealth, state and territory Aboriginal protection and welfare laws and policies.

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/sorry-day-stolen-generations

The National Inquiry then led to the Bringing them home report which was tabled in Parliament on 26 May 1997. It contained 54 Recommendations on how to redress the wrongs done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by the race-based laws and policies of successive governments throughout Australia.

WAHOO

This Year The Gifted and Talented Program will be run a little differently to previous years.

All students will have the opportunity to participate within these lessons. This term it will be based on STEM activities within the classroom.

This will focus on improving and developing problem solving skills, higher order thinking and teamwork.

Mrs Peta Mawn will be planning the activities and teaching them with the class teacher in the room for extra support.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

GET TO KNOW OUR STAFF

Miss Shaylene Stark

Hi, my name is Shaylene Stark and I am the new Grade 5 Teacher. I am new to Mt Isa, although I did come here to visit 10 years ago where I fell in love with the country town feeling. I was raised in a small town called Dayboro, that is about hour and half away from Brisbane CBD. At home I like to say I have a fur family with two dogs, cat and 3 rats. In the last year I have completed my Bachelor of Education at Australian Catholic University of Early Childhood and Primary as well as spent the last year being an Early Childhood Teacher. Looking forward to this year and becoming a part of the St Kieran’s community.

PLAYGROUP

Welcome to another year of fun at Little K’s! Playgroup will run every Monday from 8:30am-10am.

Little K’s Playgroup Term 1, 2020

TUCKSHOP

Tuckshop - Meal Deals

Thursday 6th February - Tacos, brownie and popper
Thursday 13th February - Lasagna, popcorn and popper

Did you know the tuckshop can make cupcakes for your child’s birthday? $1.00 each, please enquire at the office. Phone orders can also be made.