Term 4 - Week 8 Principal's Weekly Update

Principal's Weekly Update

Dear Families

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast  of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Catholic Church’s liturgical year.  The following Sunday we will celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, our Catholic “New Year” as we lead into Christmas.

At assembly this morning, as we draw to a close our school year, I spoke to the students about reflecting on their year to identify the achievement that they are most proud of, something that they have worked hard at to be successful.  I also asked them to reflect on a challenge that they have not yet mastered and to consider over the holidays how they intend to achieve success with that challenge in 2025.

Achieving goals requires consistency,  persistence and a planned out approach. Essentially the holiday homework that I set was for them to consider a goal and develop a plan to achieve it.

With Christ We Live, Love and Learn

James Roberts

Principal

Highlights of the Week

Week 8 Award Winners

Congratulations to the recipients of the St. Joseph's Way Awards, keep up your amazing work!

Book Club Writing Competition Winners

Thank you to all the entrants to the Books Club Writing Competition. Because of the depth of talent, it was tough to choose...
All the winners received a prize from St Joseph's consisting of an "Ideas Journal" to nurture their writing and a Scholastic Book Fair book to encourage reading for pleasure.

Winners – Picture Book Award

The Super Dogs and the Secret Agents by Iris and Ava Thompson

• High energy and entertaining with great character development and fun extras.

Winner – Junior Fiction Award

Gems by Eddie Vant

• Hero Jake and villain Fred are very relatable characters, we all have a Jake and Fred in our lives…

Winner – Graphic Novel Award

Journal of a Goldfish by Tom Carless

• A wonderful blend of humour and animal adventures.

Winner – Senior Fiction Award

Memorable Moment by Tommy Deldot

• Memorable moments indeed - you can almost taste the Caramel Bliss Ice cream!

Winner - Illustrator Award

Flood by Layla Johnson

• Beautifully illustrated and professionally presented.

Library Christmas Display

Our new Acoustic Learning Tree has had a Christmas themed make-over from the St. Joseph's Book Club.

Upcoming Events

Paint the School Pink in Honour of April Vecchio

You are invited to participate in a special fundraiser in memory of April Vecchio, a cherished member of our community, most dearly loved wife of Guiseppe, and loved mother of Sebastiano & Azania.

From her diagnosis in early 2019, April courageously battled a rare cancer (Pseudomyxoma peritonei) until her passing earlier this month. She was 36. During this time, she didn't want people to worry about her, in return, she would look after and worry about others, so great was her heart.

To honour her memory and spirit, we invite students to:

WHAT: Dress in hot pink (April loved hot pink; the hotter, the better!)

WHEN: Monday, 25 November

WHY: To bring a donation to support Rare Cancers Australia https://www.rarecancers.org.au/donations

All donations collected will be made in April's name and contributed to crucial research for rare cancers.

Let's Paint the School Pink in April's Memory!

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Families are invited to donate Christmas hamper items that will be presented to St Vinnie’s representatives on 29 November to hand out to Cairns families. 

Possible hamper donations include, but are not limited to:

• Money donations are very important, if possible. Allows Companions to buy fresh fruit/meat and allows their own choice. Vinnies will buy Gift Cards with it and combine them with other hamper donations
• Canned ham (any size)
• UHT Custard | Pudding | Christmas Cake| Fruit Mince Pies (any size)
• Cans of fruit (e.g. pineapple, peaches, berries)
• Sweet/Savory biscuits | Shortbread | Tins of Biscuits
• Cans of vegetables (e.g. peas, corn, tomatoes etc )
• Cans of tuna or salmon
• UHT juice or milk  ( small or medium size)
• Snack Foods (e.g. muesli bars, dried fruit, nuts, chips, popcorn)
• Candy canes, or lollies, chocolates
• Christmas decorations | Bon-bons | lights | cribs
• Pasta, rice, sauces for either
• Instant noodles
• Vegemite or other spreads

Some hopefully helpful hints:

• You may think of many other appropriate donations different to those above
• We ask that you don’t include toys, as these are covered by some of the other organisations
• Please check the ‘Use By’ dates of food, as we cannot include out of date food in hampers
• Some decisions need to be made regarding the amounts of types of donations (e.g. too many candy canes or decorations don’t make for a healthy/sustaining hamper, but some can add to the celebration of Christmas)

Whole School Disco

2025 Sacramental Program

Parents of children in Grades 4,5,6 (in 2025) who have been baptised in the Catholic Church and who have not yet received the Sacraments of Penance (Reconciliation), Confirmation and Eucharist (First Holy Communion) are invited to enrol their child/children in the Parish Sacramental Program 2025.

If you wish your child to receive these sacraments for the first time, please send an expression of interest by email to: sacraments.ppparish@cairns.catholic.org.au requesting an Enrolment Form and providing a copy of your child’s Baptism Certificate (scan/email).

Enrolments need to be completed by 6 th December, 2024.

Sacrament preparation sessions will commence at the start of Term 1, 2025.

School Holiday Programs and Events