St Finbarr’s Student Protection

Contacts: Genny McNair

Melissa Moran

St Finbarr’s Parish School

Jabiru Street, P.O. Box 34 Quilpie, QLD, 4480

Phone: (07) 46561412—Fax: (07) 4656 1306

Email: Quilpie@twb.catholic.edu.au

Principal: Mrs Genny McNair

Attachments

Extra newsletter

page

Hearing form

Attendance Infor-

mation and fact

sheet

Under 8’s Day info

Important dates

MAY

7th Labor Day

Public holiday

10th May Moth-

er’s Day High Tea

1.30pm

11th Cross Coun-

try Tambo

15th – 16th Hear-

ing Screeners

15th - 17th

NAPLAN Yrs 3 & 5

18th May Pente-

cost Assembly

23rd Brave-

hearts—P-2

29th May Gover-

nor’s Visit

JUNE

12th Arts Council

Junk Yard Beats

11.30am

27th Mike Thom-

ason - School

Counsellor

JULY

20th Quilpie &

District Athletics

Dear Parents and Friends

I think those of us who live in Quilpie realise how fortunate we are surrounded by such a close knit community.

At times we may take this for granted and possibly look wistfully at the conveniences that other communities

offer. The community spirit that has been displayed over the last 2 weeks, makes us realise how fortunate we

are to be living here.

Sr Marg’s Farewell Dinner demonstrated the deep respect and appreciation felt by the community for Sr

Marg and the work of the Sisters of St Joseph since 1950. There were many stories of love, appreciation, hu-

mour and some sadness. As Sr Marg said it is the sad times that really draw the community together and the

support for each other in those hard times that is never forgotten.

Approximately 130 locals came to bid Sr Marg farewell. Josephite Sisters, Sr Annette Arnold, Sr Mary Sheridan

and Sr Kathleen Mooney travelled from Brisbane in acknowledgement of the dedication of the Sisters of St Jo-

seph over the last 67 years. Dr Pat Coughlin and Gerard Hore also attended on behalf of the Toowoomba Cath-

olic School’s Office. Our humble Sr Marg is not one to stand on ceremony but totally enjoyed the evening and

appreciated everyone’s, kind words, gifts and gestures.

The ANZAC Twilight service was well supported by the community again this year and it was good to see quite a

number of our school students and families in attendance. This service is unique to Quilpie and provides an

opportunity to ensure that those from our community will be remembered for their service in all wars. I am

very proud of our school community again this year as all students attended the ANZAC Day march and service.

It is very important for our students to be involved in this day each year and for them to see that these services

commemorate important parts of our history. Younger students see the older students perform roles in each of

these services and wait for the day they too can carry one of the wreathes or the school banner, say one of the

prayers or carry the candles. Sr Marg has always been instrumental in the organisation of the ANZAC services

and placed emphasis on the students being actively involved in these activities. The words of appreciation that

Mayor Stuart Mackenzie said at the conclusion of the Day Service were felt by all, when the whole hall burst

into a resounding round of applause and standing ovation. Sr Marg would never have expected this to happen

but it certainly was a fitting tribute to a wonderful lady who has given so much to the Quilpie Community. She

will certainly be missed by us all.

The Quilpie and District Cross Country was held last Monday. All students performed very well, with many per-

sonal achievements and demonstrations of sportsmanship. Congratulations to Joachim, Kaino and Bella who

have been selected to compete at Tambo on Friday 11th May. Special mention should be given to the following

students for their very fast times for the 1 km race - Paige – 4.32 minutes; Diesel 4.50 minutes and Joachim

completing the 2 km race in 8.52 minutes. A full list of age champions is included in this newsletter. Congratu-

lations to everyone who competed on the day.

Before concluding this week’s newsletter I would like to acknowledge all of the parents, staff and members of

the wider community who have helped in so many ways with the numerous school and community functions

held over the last two weeks. These activities do take extra organisation with setting up, food preparation, and

the tidy up afterward. It is this support that makes us all appreciate being part of the Quilpie community.

Thank you

Genny McNair

‘In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes

us happy.’ Albert Clark.

Volume: 7

Issue: 7

Date: 2nd May 2018

Regional Soccer

Congratulations to Bella for being selected as a

second shadow for the South West Soccer team ,

and to Mia, Kaino and Marcus who all performed

well against tough competition.

TERM DATES

TERM 2: 17th April - 29th June

TERM 3: 16th July - 21st September

TERM 4: 8th October - 6th December

Snack Attack & Tuckshop

As snack attack is no longer provided on Mon-day’s, parents are asked to provide a platter of fruit for each class at 10am as part of their tuckshop duties. These can be prepared before school and left in the tuckshop fridge .

Tuckshop is now $9 be-cause of the extra cost of fruit.

St Saviours College

St Saviour’s College is an all-girls Catholic second-

ary boarding school that has been educating young

women from this region for decades. The College

will be hosting an information stall at our up-and-

coming Charleville/St George Show. The current

Head of Boarding, Mrs Suzanne Coulter, and her

husband Gary, will be manning the stall and are

keen to share the exciting new changes taking

place at the College, as well as speak to prospec-

tive families about scholarship opportunities.

It is anticipated that the College host a local, infor-

mal gathering/drinks for any former SSC students

during Suzanne and Gary’s stay. If you are a for-

mer student, or know of any former SSC students,

please con-

tact Suzanne.coulter@twb.catholic.edu.au, or cur-

rent Principal, Ms Sharon Col-

lins Sharon.collins@twb.catholic.edu.au to register

your interest. It would be wonderful to catch up

with many of our past students at this event.

St George 6th May Taroom 7-8th May

Charleville 17-19th May

The Mothers day stall is now open for

business ! Come and get something spe-

cial for mum in the Mary McKillop room

before and during school each day until

the end of next week (11th May)

Mother’s Day

High Tea & Prayer Assembly

Thursday 10th May 2018

!.30pm @ St Finbarr’s School

For those of you attending could you please RSVP

4 - 6 News

The 4-6 class has had a great start to Term 2. They have been working very hard on new topics during English, Maths, Science and History. It has been wonderful to see the students begin the term with positive atti-tudes towards their work.

This term in English we are focusing on the Jackie French book, ‘The Shaggy Gully Times’. The book is set out to read like a newspaper which gives the children the opportunity to see how feature articles are writ-ten. Learning about the layout, structure and content of different arti-cles before they themselves have a go at writing one.

In science we are looking at ‘changes of state’. The students have been exploring liquids, solids and gases, and investigating how different items such as these can change ‘states’ with different variables. While in Maths groups over the past two weeks, students have been working hard looking at addition and subtraction, as well as whole numbers and money.

Finally, continuing on from last term in History, students are still enjoying learning about convict life and the first fleet. As a follow on from learn-ing about this and the voyages and explorations of Captain Cook, we are now looking into the history of Australia's Indigenous People and the im-pact on them after European settlement began.

The students are looking forward to a term full of fun, learning and hard work. We look forward to keeping you updated with more exciting 4-6 news! - thank you

Sam Jaeger

ANZAC DAY

We were proud to see that all of St Finbarr’s students were in attend-ance at the ANZAC Day March. They, along with the Quilpie Com-munity shared in a time of remembrance and reflection for the lives

and efforts of the fallen soldiers who served our Country.

‘We will remember them’

To Sr Marg,

Cross Country On Monday 23rd April, the Quilpie and District Cross Country Carnival was held at the Golf Course. Despite the

plague of flies that had most staff and parents donning fly veils like they were this seasons no. 1 fashion accessory,

the day was a great success. The 8-15 year old students gave it their all while running over their respective 1, 2, 3

and 4km courses. While the 5-7 year olds completed 1 or 2 laps of the short course. It was great to see the stu-

dents enthusiasm, determination, house spirit and good sportsmanship. WELL DONE to you all, and congratula-

tion's to those students (Bella, Kaino & Joachim) who have been selected to compete at the next level event at

Tambo in a few weeks. Also a big THANK YOU to every one who helped on the day. All your efforts to make the day

run smoothly are appreciated.

Finally the results:-

8 years: Boys- Darcy Edwards Girls- Ariana Broughton

9 years: Boys - Cooper Edwards Girls- Paige Hunter

10 years: Boys- Joachim Horgan Girls - Bella Challenor

11 years: Boys - Tana Gorringe Girls - Hallie Thompson

12 Years: Boys - Lewis Edwards/ Jake Horsten Girls - Ellie Hoch

13 years: Boys - Ethan Vallins Girls - Brodie Lee Lander

14 years: Boys- Hayden Porter Girls- Katelyn Weigh

15 years: Boys - Mackenzie Haylock Girls - Savannah Heinemann

House Champions: Ave House results:

1st Peglar – 55pts 1st Combined – 1.88

2nd McManus – 46pts 2nd Sommerfield - 1.75

3rd Sommerfield – 35pts 3rd McManus - 1.64

4th Combined – 17pts 4th Peglar - 1.39

APRE Most of our readers by now would know of the support our Finnie’s

Friends in Action group have given Hummingbird House in Brisbane.

Hummingbird House is a respite centre for children and their families

providing end of life care to children and to relieve some of the burden to

their families. Interest in the organisation was sparked last year during one

of the guided reading groups activities. The quilting ladies from the Cul-

tural Society kindly created and donated 6 quilts which Marcus (leaders of the Finnie’s Friends in

Action Group) and his family presented to Hummingbird House last week. Following is a de-

scription of the visit presented by Chris Paulsen.

‘Fiona gave us at tour of the House, including the sensory room, pool, garden, music room, craft

room, dining room and the Hummingbird Suite where they support children at the end of their life.

Their motto is ‘a warm embrace’ and our quilts will be used in this suite to wrap the children and

families in a warm embrace. Sometimes the families take the quilts home with them after the child

has died as a special memory. It is truly amazing place, very sad but very fulfilling as well. It

was a very sobering place to visit, but we feel honoured to be able to offer this wonderful facility

some help.’

Thank you Bruce, Chris and Marcus for delivering these beautiful quilts personally and thankyou

to the Quilpie Cultural Society Quilters for supporting the students in their charity and social jus-

tice work.

Photo – Chris, Dr Fiona Hawthorne, Marcus and Bruce at Hummingbird House.

Welcome - Student Teacher

We would like to welcome Tayla Corrie to our school. Tayla comes to us from ACU in Bris-

bane and will be completing her final practicum under the direction of Mrs Moran in the P

-3 class as of Tuesday. Please make Miss Corrie feel welcome and show her the hospitality

of the west.

Student Attendance Information and Facts

Lateness

The teaching staff has raised some concern that many students are arriving late for school on a fairly reg-

ular basis. Unfortunately this is a situation that can have a negative effect on the education of not only

those students who are late, but also the other students in the class.

What impact does being late have on the student?

Students who are late may miss vital instructions and information about what is happening, not to men-

tion important learning situations. This means that they have to catch up somehow. It’s like being late

for a movie and not being able to understand what’s happening because you’ve missed the beginning of

the storyline.

Students can feel unsettled, disorganised and unhappy for the rest of the day and it can take them some

time to complete and understand the work that they have missed. Understanding that there are im-

portant expectations about arriving on time is vital preparation for readiness to deal with the real world

in later life.

How does it affect the other students in the class?

Students who are late have an unsettling effect on the rest of the class. Often teachers will need to re-

peat instructions, go over information or stop teaching a concept in order to settle a student who has ar-

rived late. These interruptions are disruptive to the whole class. Student who arrive late often have

things that need to be done prior to them joining the class which caused even further disruption. Some-

times students have to wait to get the teacher’s attention and important issues can be forgotten.

How does student lateness cause difficulties for the teacher?

The teacher has a certain amount of material and activities o cover each lesson. Also organisational is-

sues are usually dealt with at the beginning of the day. Teachers can become increasingly frustrated

when late students continually and repeatedly interrupt their planned routines, as they have to stop

teaching to deal with the issues involved.

We are all human. Car can break down and unexpected situation can occur. We know the family morn-

ing routines are not always straightforward. If you are experiencing problems, please speak to us, as we

may be able to offer suggestions to help.

We are happy to accept that students will be late on the odd occasion because of unforeseen circum-

stances. However, arriving late on a regular basis is not acceptable.

Remember

Being half an hour late to school each day from prep to Year 10 adds up to missing the equivalent of one

year and one and half terms of school.

Ref: Brisbane Catholic Education

Student Attendance information & Facts

Student Attendance

It is important for all students to be at school every day. When deciding whether to keep your child home from

school, please consider the following:

A child should be at school unless:

The child is too sick to leave the house.

The child has an infectious disease like measles, chicken pox

The child has an injury preventing movement around the school

The child is going on a family holiday that cannot be arranged during school holidays. This must be arranged

with the principal in advance.

The principal is provided with any genuine and acceptable reason preventing the child’s attendance.

A medical or dental appointment could not be made out of school hours (wherever possible, appointments

should be made out of school hours).

If your child is absent a note must be supplied to explain the days missed on their return to school. If your child

has seen a medical practitioner a certificate will help explain the absence.

You should also contact the school in advance if you know your child will be away.

Remember

If students miss the basic skills in the early years of schooling they often experience learning difficulties later on.

There is a direct link between attendance and achievement.

It has been shown that poor patterns of attendance in the early years can lead to poor patterns of attendance

throughout the school years.

Poor attendance makes it difficult for students to form positive

friendships with their peers.

Years 1 – 10 = 10 years of school Average school year = 4 terms per year = 40 weeks = 200 days per year Calculations of the overall rate of days of school missed over ten years:

Year 10 Years

4 Terms 40 Terms

40 Weeks 400 Weeks

200 Days 2000 Days

Days absent Total Days Misse

d

Num-ber of

Terms

Missed

Number of

Years

Missed

1 day per week 400 8 2

1.5 days per week 600 12 3

2 days per week 800 16 4

3 days per week 1200 24 6

5 weeks per term 1000 20 5

Average 5 days per term 200 4 1

Average 10 days per term 400 8 2 Ref: Brisbane Catholic Education