23 July 2020

Newsletter Articles

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday 24th July - Book Club Issue 5 Due
Sunday 26th July - Saturday 1st August - Catholic Education Week
Friday 7th August - IPRASS Rodeo Holiday

PRINCIPALS REPORT

Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome back Everyone!

Term 3 has seen a very calm and normal return to school life in comparison with our Term 2 beginning. As a school, we could not be prouder of how our students, families and staff approached the changes enforced by COVID-19. What have we learnt? We have an amazing school with incredibly flexible students, supportive parents and resilient staff.

This term, we welcome some returning and a new family to our school community, with our school enrolment reaching 162 students. There is a wonderful vibe in our school, where all new students are welcomed with open arms. We will be welcoming all families during Assembly in week 3 (31st July). All parents are now encouraged to attend our school Assembly (8:45am weekly on Fridays). Adults will be still required to adhere to social distancing whilst on school site.

This term promises to be a busy one as we play catch-up from the disruption earlier in the year. I am sure it will be another great term for our students. Our Little K’s playgroup has now started back up, which is exciting so if you have a little one at home please come along on Monday mornings. I will also be re-opening up the Parent Engagement Room next Monday morning and it would be lovely to see parents back in having their morning coffee. We are also hoping to have a Mini Athletics Carnival near the end of the term. It is hard but we are slowly trying to get the school back to normal. I just need our school community to have some patience and time.

God Bless
Claudine Dank

APRE

A whole school meditation in week 3 will celebrate the return to school assemblies for this term. Upcoming important dates to note of the Church Calendar are the feast of St Joachim and St Anne (Jesus’ grandparents) on the 24th of July and the feast of St James the Apostle on the 25th of July. On the Monday of Week 5, Year 5 will lead us in a celebration for the Feast of St Mary of the Cross Mackillop. This is the tenth anniversary of her canonisation. Mary MacKillop was canonised on October 17, 2010 at Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Mary’s sainthood during a Canonisation Mass, in the presence of many thousands of people and streamed live around the world.

From her humble beginnings in Melbourne to her life of devoted to educating the poor, she has been a powerful role model to Catholic School teachers in Australia ever since. She was a tough and often stubborn woman who trusted God in her heart to follow her calling. From her first school in a stable in Penola she devoted her order of St Joseph’s nuns, nicknamed “The Brown Joeys”, to educating children from poor and remote areas. As St Kieran’s school has been strongly influenced in the early days by the order of St Joseph’s we continue to live and work under St Mary’s motto of “Never see a need without doing something about it.” Here at St Kieran’s we pride ourselves on our sense of community. In our busy lives we are renowned for thinking and doing things for those who need help. It is something we do extremely well and I am very proud to be part of a school community that works this way.

Mary MacKillop Prayer
Ever generous God,
You inspired Saint Mary MacKillop
To live her life faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and constant in bringing hope and encouragement
to those who were disheartened, lonely or needy.
With confidence in your generous providence
and through the intercession of Saint Mary MacKillop
We ask that you grant our request
To continue to bless our St Kieran’s school community to help those in need

We ask that our faith and hope be fired afresh by the Holy Spirit
so that we too, like Mary MacKillop, may live with courage, trust and openness.
Ever generous God hear our prayer.
We ask this through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Where in the State has St Kieran Been????

Thank you to all the families who took part in our photo competition over the recent break. A display of the photos will be available to view in the office. A very special guest will be on hand in Week 4 to judge the competition!

Life Education 2020

We are extremely lucky to have the Life Education visit us this week. Due to restrictions the van will not be here but our library space will be used for the lessons. This visit will focus on the following:

Prep - My Body Matters
Year 1 - Ready, Steady, Go
Year 2 - Growing Good Friends
Year 3 - Harold’s Diary
Year 4- Bcyberwise
Year 5 - Relate, Respect, Connect
Year 6 - Relate, Respect, Connect

Parent can access information on these modules at home and many other great resources by visiting at the link below.

In Week 5, Years 5 and 6 will receive an additional two sessions focused on Self-Awareness and Puberty. A separate information sheet will be sent home towards the end of this week outlining these in further detail.

All Life Education Programs are approved by Townsville Catholic Diocese and have been developed inline with the Australian Curriculum.

Jangawala

The St Kieran’s community will be helping out at Jangawala for the second half of this year as part of our Social Justice outreach. Of course this will only happen if we all lend a hand in some way. We would love families involved and it will be opened to students from Years 5 and 6 to come along and help serve. It will involve cooking meals (by adults) and serving these cooked meals to members of our community who are less fortunate than us. Helping out may also involve cooking something at home and dropping it off at the Parish. St Kieran’s are down for Cooking and Serving on the following dates:

Sunday August the 30th
Sunday September the 6th
Sunday November the 1st

Please email me on plaffin@skmtsv.catholic.edu.au to nominate a date you can help out. An email will be sent out as well.

A big thank you to families who have already mentioned they would like to be involved.

PARISH INFOMATION

Parish Mass

If you are wanting to attend Mass again over the weekend, can you please make sure that you register online.

Online registration is now only required for the 9am Sunday Mass and you will find the link here

DIOCESAN INFORMATION

National Catholic Men’s Gathering

The ACBC National Catholic Men’s Gathering for 2020 is being offered as a free event for registered participants. This modified program will be delivered in four pre-recorded sessions of approximately 1 hour in length, available from Saturday 15th August 2020.

As an initiative of the Australian Catholic Bishops, the aim of the ACBC National Men’s Gathering is to inspire and encourage men with a vision for personal discipleship, service and mission in the family, parish/diocese and the world. The online program hopes to reinforce that it is important to gather as men in the faith environment of the Church and be challenged to ensure the Gospel is alive in our homes, parishes/dioceses and our communities.

To register visit at the link below.

Mass Livestream

Sunday Mass from the Sacred Heart Cathedral will continue to be Live Streamed for the community. You can find the stream at the link below.

Prayer resources and other important information can be found at the link below.

SCHOOL RENEWAL PLAN AT ST KIERANS

Each fortnight we will profile a section of our Annual School Improvement Plan for 2020. This is the document that guides our plans and priorities for the year. We prepare this document based on initiatives set by the Townsville Catholic Education Office and through consultation with our school stakeholders: parents, staff and students.

CURRICULUM

Reciprocal Teaching in our school

This year we have been focussing on reciprocal teaching strategies in our reading groups across the school.

What is Reciprocal Teaching?

Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. Once students have learned the strategies, they take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading a dialogue about what has been read.

• It encourages students to think about their own thought process during reading.
• It helps students learn to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension as they read.
• It teaches students to ask questions during reading and helps make the text more comprehensible.

Through this process we have seen a huge improvement in the children’s independence during reading as well as improvements in reading engagement and comprehension.

With reading being a strong focus in every classroom we have also purchased additional reading resources to supplement our levelled guided readers. These include sets of quality picture books and novels, National Geographic Kids magazines, school magazines, Our Land, Our Story Reading kits, PM reading card kits and Ozboxes. We hope our kids love reading such a large variety of texts.

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 at 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 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.

ESMART (CYBER SAFETY)

Australia’s Biggest Safety Lesson

During the last week of school in Term 2. Year 3 to Year 6 students watched the Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson live stream through the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. It was the first edition for 2020. This year, they are producing two lessons for the first time! This first lesson is developed specifically for children aged 8 to 12. The focus will be online safety strategies for children aged 8 to 12 years old. On September 10th, as part of National Child Protection Week, another lesson will deliver key messages for children aged 4 to 7 years of age. With children on their devices so often I think these lessons are a terrific way to reiterate what we do teach the students at school.

If you would like to have a look at what #ABCSL is all about, head to the to the promo link below:

HPE

In Term 3, our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students will be doing throwing and catching skills games. Years 3+4 will be participating in cricket-based drills and games as well as athletics activities. Years 5+6 are starting an All-Codes Football unit where they participate in punt-kicking, passing and catching activities as well as team offensive and defensive skills. They are also doing athletics activities on Fridays.

One of our major events for the remainder of the year will be a “House Championship” competition between Moondarra and Corella on Thursdays at second break which is going to be really exciting!

• Students in Years 2+3 can participate in a soccer competition in term 3 and a netball comp in term 4
• Students in Years 4-6 can participate in a soccer and/or touch football competition in term 3 and a netball comp in term 4.
• We will also hold the traditional Staff vs Year 6 touch competition at the end of term 3.

We look forward to getting the students involved in a semi-competitive sports competition so don’t forget to encourage them to wear their house uniforms on Thursdays.

Representative sports – most of the rep sports for 10-12 years students have been cancelled for the remainder of the term. Some of the sports are available for individual nominations only – I have emailed all these forms to parents. I am still waiting to hear whether there will be MISSA netball and cricket trials – I will email information for this ASAP.

QLD Government Fairplay voucher program has now opened. This program provides subsidies to support families and to ensure kids continue to participate in physical activity.

Parents, carers or guardians can apply for a voucher valued up to $150 for their child, which can be used towards sport and active recreation membership, registration or participation fees with registered activity providers.

Use your FairPlay voucher to jump on a tennis court and join in the fun!

Visit FairPlay voucher link to find your local club and play!

INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

NAIDOC Week 2020 at Saint Kieran’s

Each year on the 4th of August, schools, early learning services and communities around Australia are invited to celebrate National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day. Running for more than 30 years, this is the largest national day to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. With this in mind we have decided to celebrate NAIDOC Week for our school in Week 4.

Our NAIDOC will run as follows:

Monday - Morning Prayer Service and discussion around the theme in class
Tuesday - Mini Murri’s and other NAIDOC themed activities throughout the day.
Wednesday - In class activity
Thursday - Sacred Space Opening 2pm followed by afternoon tea for all of our families
Friday - IPRASS Rodeo holiday

Sacred Space Opening

On Thursday the 6th of August, all families are invited for the official opening of our Sacred Space. This has been a project that has been years in the planning.

ECO WARRIORS

TUCKSHOP

Thursday Meal Deals

Term 3

Did you know the tuckshop could make cupcakes for your child’s birthday? $1.00 each, please enquire at the office for an order form.