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Friday 14th September 2018 Dear Parents and Friends Last week was Child Protection Week. Keeping children safe and teaching them strategies for safe and protective behaviour is extremely important. As part of our Personal and Social Development Education Program, our school started lessons this week from the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum with students from Prep to Year 6. The Child Safety Curriculum is based on principles of best practice in child safety education and centres around three key messages: Recognise, React and Report. Through these lessons, students learn how to recognise, react and report when they are unsafe or find themselves in situations that can have a significant detrimental effect on their physical, psychological or emotional wellbeing. RECOGNISE The first key safety message of the curriculum is recognise. Recognise is about being aware of your environment. Children, young people and adults can all learn to take notice of what is happening around them to help keep themselves safe. Everyone can use clues, such as the things we see, hear, smell or feel to help protect us from harm and keep ourselves safe. Clues can be simple things that warn us about a danger, e.g. hearing a fire alarm or seeing smoke, that prompt us to react. We can also use clues to prepare for potentially unsafe situations, e.g. if we are walking alone at night, then we try to use a well-lit route and avoid secluded lanes or parks. When we recognise that there might be a safety problem we can take steps to move away or reduce the risk or develop strategies that can help keep us safe. For instance, if you are in a busy environment such as Canelands or a local event where there are big crowds, you might consider what you and your child could do if you became separated. Strategies could include: going to a highly visible pre-determined meeting spot; writing your phone number on a card and placing it in your child’s pocket; identifying who your child could approach if they become lost, e.g. police, staff at a booth. REACT When children recognise that they are in an unsafe situation, we encourage them to think about what they could do to be safe again. They will have opportunities to think about ways to react using real-life scenarios. Our students will also learn that breaking the rules (e.g. saying no to an adult who is behaving inappropriately) is sometimes necessary so that they can become safe again. REPORT We encourage children to REPORT when they have been in a situation that is unsafe or recognised the signs of feeling unsafe. In this phase, they are taught to report what has happened to an adult. Even if a child has been able to make themselves safe, it is vital that they still report what has happened. Adults need to know about unsafe situations so that some action can be taken to help the child be safe again or ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Students are encouraged to make a list of adult safety helpers. These are adults the children nominate whom they can talk to when they are feeling unsafe or have experienced an unsafe situation or feel they are at risk of something that may cause them harm. This list will include a selection of adults who live in and outside the home. Report also includes telling an adult about unsafe or inappropriate incidents which may occur when children or young people are online. This might occur when surfing the net or using social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, and can include cyberbullying, viewing or receiving inappropriate images or messages or communicating with unknown contacts. It is important that the key safety messages of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum: Recognise, React and Report are reinforced, both at school and home. I encourage you, wherever possible, to talk with your child about safety to help them stay safe now and in the future. MERCY DAY – Friday 21 September Each year we celebrate the charism of our school through support of Mercy Works. This year we will be holding a free dress day with a sporting theme next Friday 21 September. Students may come dressed as their favourite sporting team, player or sport. On Friday we will start our day with a special Mercy Liturgy, led by Year 4B. Our Year 5 students will be selling cupcakes and cordial at lunchtime ($2 cupcake, 50c cordial). We will then have our disco in the afternoon from 1.30 – 3pm in our hall, led by our Year 6 students. Students are invited to bring along a gold coin donation for the disco and there will also be snacks on sale from the tuckshop throughout the disco (Drinks $1-2, Chips $1, Lollies $1). All funds raised will go to Mercy Works. Thank you for your support. ENROLMENTS 2019 Early next term we will be working on arranging classes for 2019. Parents with requests regarding class placements for 2019 are invited to submit these in writing to the office by Monday 22 October. For privacy reasons, we do not hold requests on file from year to year, so if you have previously submitted a request and this is still relevant, a written request will need to be submitted again this year to ensure it is considered. Requests for particular teachers will not be considered, however we do consider the needs of your child and will try to accommodate requests in consultation with teachers to create balanced classes for 2019. If you know that your children will not be attending St Joseph’s in 2019, please inform the Office as soon as possible. Bianca Hodges Principal

APRE NEWS

LITURGY NEWS

21/9: Mercy Liturgy 4B (leading) 8.40am Please join us for the special Liturgy as we celebrate the charism of our founders - The Mercy Sisters.

Pope Francis @Pontifex:

“True peace is a gift of God that springs from healed and reconciled hearts and reaches out to embrace the entire world.” GOSPEL REFLECTION: -

The teachings of Jesus encourage us to focus on our relationship with our fellow travellers. It is interesting to note how the Scriptures actually pay no attention to ‘holy Joe’ attitudes. Every lesson, every exhortation, every word of advice in the sacred writings urges us to be practical in our relationship with God and our neighbour. The teachings of Jesus, in particular, encourage us to focus on our relationship with our fellow travellers as a way to God. Jesus teaches us to love, forgive, show respect and mercy, avoid passing judgment, seek what is right, be fair and just, all of which lead us to a healthy relationship with God and neighbour.

He also urges us to nourish our relationship with God by prayer and reflection. Put all this together and we have an excellent recipe for growth toward human and spiritual maturity.

Sacramental Program This weekend Children’s ‘Liturgy will be held at all masses.

Preparation for the Sacrament of Penance (First Confession) RECONCILIATION Family Workshop (Penance)

Sunday 16th September 10am St Joseph’s Church or

Wednesday 19th September 7:00pm St Joseph’s Church Celebration of First Reconciliation

Tuesday 30th October and Wednesday 31st October 4pm – 5pm Candidates are required to attend one of these workshops St Joseph’s Church, 21 – 23 Grendon Street, North Mackay. For further information, please contact Parish Office Phone: 4957 4855 or Email: stjomky@bigpond.com Monday to Friday 9:00am – 12:00pm

TUCKSHOP NEWS

Thank you so much for all the volunteers that helped during the term. I am very grateful for your help. Next term I will put a notice in

the newsletter for anyone who would like to help, either in the tuckshop or with a batch of homebake.

Tuckshop opening hours for next week will change:

Mon- Pizza and subway

Tues- OPEN

Wed- OPEN

Thurs- CLOSED

Fri- CLOSED

Thanks

Jessica Jackson-Gee

0401508029

VACATION CARE

Bookings are now being taken for the September/October school holiday program. Booking forms can be collected from OSHC or downloaded from our website.

Monday 17th September Anna Deguara & Stephanie Ferris

Tuesday 18th September N/A

Wednesday 19th September Stephanie Ferris

HOMEBAKE ROSTER

Chocolate Slice HELP NEEDED – PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE

Pikelets HELP NEEDED – PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE

Prep R Harmony Kent

For consistently being a bucket filler and helping your friends and classmates. You are a wonderful friend, Harmony.

Prep W Connor Flanagan

For the persistence and commitment you have shown in Literacy Groups this year. Keep up the good work Connor! 1M Alfie Ayrton

For passing all 300 of your sight words! You’ve worked so hard to reach this goal, congratulations Alfie.

1B Audrey Gould

For always taking care of your peers and showing a great deal of respect and compassion to all. Your kind nature is

admired in 1B. Well done Audrey!

2R Blake Kister

For the energetic way you have approached our Mathematics investigations for measurement this week. I can’t wait to

see how far your planes fly. Keep up the great work Blake!

2J Sonny Morse

Sonny you always demonstrate great kindness skills and acknowledge the feelings of those around you. Your consistent

kind and caring nature never goes unnoticed in our classroom. Well done and thank you.

3N Lauren Fetters

For always displaying the values of excellence, respect and service. You are always organised and ready for each lesson and your kindness towards others is appreciated.

3PF Dexter Arthy

For working so hard to complete your information report. Your writing was informative and your time management was excellent.

4B Mitchell Ruhl

For the enthusiasm you show in all activities inside and outside the classroom. Thank you for your wonderful participation

in our Prayer Assembly.

4P Caitlin McGuire

For the enthusiasm and perseverance you have shown during Literacy tasks this week. It has been great to watch your

smiling participation during our Text Connective and Homophone activities. Well done Caitlin, keep up that positive

learning!

5D William Neubecker

For showing your commitment to editing and checking your final assessment pieces before submitting. Your results are reflecting your hard work and dedication. Keep up the fabulous work!

5H Molly Pace

For aiming for excellence during all classroom activities. You have been putting in extra effort and asking questions to

ensure that you understand what is being taught, especially when creating number patterns using fractions and decimals.

Keep it up Molly.

6GG Nyah Anderson For always standing up for what you believe is right. You set a great example as school captain.

6HE Tahlia Grima For the persistence you’ve demonstrated during Mathematics this term. Your willingness to enhance your problem solving skills is admirable. Well done Tahlia!