30 April 2020

Newsletter Articles

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday 4th May – Labour Day Public Holiday
Monday 4th May – Book Club Issue 3 Due
Sunday 10th May – Mother’s Day

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope that this finds all our families well and adjusted to the current situation. I know this situation is a difficult one but hope that our community understands we are here to support students and families as best we can.

We have had a lot of positive feedback regarding home learning. Thank you for your support and acknowledgement of the work that has gone into the platform. Our teachers are missing students and cannot wait to have them back at school hopefully in the near future. While this week has been a successful one for students at home, week one was only a taste of what is to come. Teachers have been incredibly busy preparing for the coming weeks, and if you thought this week was good then prepare yourself for the next level. I am astounded by the work and effort that has gone into preparing work for the coming weeks.

There is some amazing work and 'performances' ready for students to engage with next week. An enormous thank you to our staff for their efforts. I would like to take this chance to particularly thank Mel Siemer, Learning and Teaching advisor for helping all of the teachers and Peta Laffin for the beautiful ANZAC assembly. It was definitely an experience to watch our prayer online.

I would also like to thank you, our parents and carers for engaging with children and the online google classrooms so readily. Peta and I loved talking to all of the parents at home and touching base with them. We understand the stress current circumstances place on families. We are grateful for your feedback and the way students are being so proactive with their work. Thank you.

I do hope that it becomes easier for all in the next 3 weeks. If you ever need any help, please email or call the school. We will help you as much as we can.

Take Care, God Bless
Claudine Dank

APRE

The Word - Fourth Sunday of Easter (May 3)

Jesus said, ‘I am the gate of the sheepfold. Anyone who enters through me will be safe. They will do freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture. I have come so that they may have life to the full.”

John 10:1-10

Jesus often used images of sheep and shepherds to teach his disciples. The sheepfold is an enclosure where the sheep go at night to be protected from wolves. If we follow Jesus, he will lead us to a place where we are safe from evils. The pasture is life everlasting with God and Jesus is the gate because he is the way to our Father in heaven.

Thank you to all who participated in our virtual ANZAC Day prayer. The students loved watching each other on the screen. It was a wonderful thought that we were all praying at the same time. This Friday for our virtual prayer we will celebrate the feast day of St Joseph the Worker. St Joseph is presented as a very modern intercessor for those who are unemployed and seeking work. We see work as a right and a privilege to be enjoyed by all. Through work, we share in the creative action of God. Joseph, being a man of integrity, shows us how to bring balance to our interior and exterior aspects of our working lives. As St Joseph is very frequently looked on as the Husband of Mary and Foster Father of Jesus, we can forget his role as the Worker in the Family. Work, either paid or unpaid, in whatever form, undertaken in a way that enhances our being, gives glory to God.

We ask St Joseph to give to our Youth the desire to seek work that will give them dignity and enable them to see work as a worthwhile objective. It is a much bigger picture than just asking for work – there are multiple areas where we need to make sure that our workplaces are safe, just and fair. It is easy to be employed by unscrupulous bosses who use our young people in a way that does not allow them to grow into a work ethic that will assist them for life.

St Joseph was the man closest to Jesus. He worked side by side with him, he was Jesus’s Dad. So we need to ask him to help us communicate our desires to the One who is forever asking us to: ‘Come to me and I will give you rest’ Matt.11:28, ‘Knock, and the door will be opened’ Matt.7:7, and ‘I am the Way the Truth and the Life’ John 14:6.

As we celebrate the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, let all of us who are gifted with the opportunity to work remember and pray for those who continue to walk the road of unemployment and despair especially in our current circumstances.

Prayer to St Joseph

Joseph, Model of workers, Protector of Jesus and Mary help us to come to an understanding of the power of your Son to intercede for all those who seek your help. Your silence is a strong challenge to values current in our society. Help us to value that interior life which lead you to a total commitment to Jesus and Mary. We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

CURRICULUM

What a crazy start to Term Two. I have been so impressed with our whole school community and the way they have adapted to online learning. Firstly a huge shout out to our teachers who have embraced new technology as well as catering for children at home all whilst supervising children at school. Our school officers have picked up changes to intervention, resource making and changes to their timetables with ease. They have all been a great support to both teachers and students attending school. Our children have been the true superstars, continuing to try their hardest, all whilst adjusting to a new learning style. We understand they must be missing their mates and love hearing how the kids are finding new ways to keep in touch with each other. Mostly, I would like to thank our parents who are working hard to support their children at home. We are all in uncharted waters and the parents who have embraced online learning and who are working with their children through their online learning have done an amazing job so far. Remember that your little people's emotional health and wellbeing is our main priority so if you are finding things too hard please reach out for help.

In regards to curriculum our first two weeks have been based on revision work that was taught in Term One. From now on the children will be building on their prior knowledge with new content and skills. If your child has any difficulty understanding these new concepts please make sure you get in touch with your child’s teacher.

New learning from home packs will be available to pick up this Friday from the office. Please make sure you return the week one and two workbooks Friday so our teachers can mark work and check in that your child is coping with the work provided so far.

PREP ENROLMENTS 2021

Families seeking enrolment of their child into Prep for 2021 are invited to complete an Application for Enrolment, available on our website 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 within our Prep groups for 2021, 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 2021. 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.

ESMART (CYBER SAFETY)

Attached is a parent online safety advice for parents during the COVID 19.

The global impact of COVID-19 means young people will be spending more time at home — and more time online. There are lots of great ways children can use connected devices to learn and play, but there are also risks. As parents and carers, you have the best opportunity to support and guide your children to avoid online risks and have safer experiences.

LIBRARY

In the event that our St Kieran’s School remains student-free next term,

Week 2 (Mon 27th April-Fri 1st May), and Week 3 (4th May-Fri 8th May), we would like to invite students to exchange their borrowed library books and home reading books from our Library.

Please feel welcome to visit our St Kieran’s Library during allocated times to exchange your books. If you have children in various year levels, simply attend one of the allocated times to exchange ALL books.

If you have any questions in regards to the Library, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mell Anderson – manderson8@skm.tsv.catholic.edu.au

HPE

Hi everyone! I hope all the students (and parents/carers) have been coping OK with the massive changes that have taken place this term. In PE news, we are quiet for a change. Students who are coming to school have been working on soccer skills including passing, trapping and dribbling through games. Older classes have also been incorporating fitness-developing activities in their lessons.

For the students who are working at home, there are links to physical activities in their Google Classroom. In the links, there are soccer challenges which are a fun and exciting way to develop students’ soccer-related skill sets as well as dance and fitness-circuit videos. Please note, that none of these challenges or videos are compulsory – I have included them in case the students want to use these resources. We trust that all parents are probably very keen to get kids outside and active during the day at some stage for physical activity and that is more than enough. We don’t want to put any more pressure on families who are learning at home.

School Sport: for the current time, all competitive school sport has been put on hold in Mount Isa. We have a meeting next week and I will be able to provide more information on this topic after then.

The pics included show students doing the “Balloon Keep Up” challenge. They had so much fun doing this one!

Kindest regards,
Carla Lloyd.

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

This term we would like to extend a very warm welcome to Miss Annette who will now be working as our full time IEW (Indigenous Education Worker). This week we have been checking in with our students to see how they are coping with the changes to school routine and adapting to online learning. We are so impressed with how adaptable all of our children are and how keen they are to keep learning.

In the next few weeks we will be planning for Reconciliation Week in Week 6 this term. The theme this year is “In this together” which is so appropriate in our current climate. Last term we worked with our Years 2 to 6 students on where their mob is from. We looked at Indigenous languages map and they identified where their families come from and taught us what they know about their culture. Miss Annette is creating a display in our library that will show all of the cultural groups our families are from.

If any families are in need of support please do not hesitate to contact me at school or via email msiemer1@skmtsv.catholic.edu.au

GARDEN CLUB – ECO WARRIORS

Our Garden Club and Eco Warriors group have continued to work on some small projects over the past weeks. Students put together three raised garden beds on their own, planted new seedlings as well as composting and mulching the existing garden beds ready for planting this term.

Attention: the end of last term students made bug hotels using cardboard and natural resources. They even added some extras like balconies to attract all kinds of bug clientele. We also made bird feeders to attract birds to our school grounds and learnt about bees and their importance to the environment. A huge thank you to Mrs L, Mrs Ormes and Mrs Schlencker who planned and facilitated these activities and who have been working behind the scenes to get our garden club up and running again with a new look this term. We can’t wait for all of our little Eco Warriors to return to school to help out with planting, composting, recycling and energy monitoring.

TUCKSHOP

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.