St Finbarr’s Student Protection Contacts

Genny McNair & Prue Bodkin

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

Newsletter Checklist

Tuckshop envelope

Student Protection

Pamphlet

Important dates

27th July High Jump

Quilpie College Time

1 pm.

27th July P-2 Geogra-

phy Excursion

28th July Q&D Ath-

letics John Waugh

Park

30th July Mass St

Finbarr’s Church

6.00pm

1st August ICAS Eng-

lish Testing

8th August Prayer

Assembly 11.30am St

Mary Mackillop Feast

Day

8th August Qld Music

Fest (Art Council)

Digeribone show

11th August District

Athletics Charleville

14th August Science

week Activities—Year

3-6 Quilpie College

15th August ICAS

Maths testing

20th August Confirma-

tion

25th & 26th August

Charleville Perform-

ing Arts Festival

27th August First

Communion

9th September Quilpie

and district Show

11th-15th September

Thargomindah Sports

Camp

Volume: 7

Issue: 12

Date: 26th July 17

Dear Parents

Earlier this week all of the staff attended the Bishops Inservice Day in Cunnamulla to mark the beginning of Catholic

Education Week. The key note speaker was Mr David Hutton OAM. David actually began his teaching career at the

Charleville State High and after working in numerous positions in both State and Catholic systems became the Execu-

tive Director of Brisbane Catholic Education. David is now the Chair of the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Council. The

topic of his presentation was ‘Living Creatively with Tensions’. His knowledge and experience in Catholic schools was

evident as he spoke eloquently of the many facets of Catholic Education, including the history of Catholic Schooling and

topics such as Faith, Ethos, Identity, Charism, Pastoral Care, Relationships and Academic Performance. He also exam-

ined the many challenges that are currently being faced by Catholic Schools and students in a modern world context.

Sr Marg was presented with awards for 45 years of Service in Catholic Schools (25 years at St Finbarr’s) as well as the

Sr Jo Carmichael Award. More information on this award and Sr Marg’s accolades are included in this newsletter.

Caroline Crick, administrator of Sacred Heart, Cunnamulla was also nominated for this award for her dedicated work

over many years. Fr Ray Crowley received the Spirit of Catholic Education Award for his work in Toowoomba Diocesan

Schools and Parishes.

Can I please remind all parents and staff to complete the School Review and Improvement Survey managed by Re-

search Australia Development and Innovation Institute (RADII). These are to be completed by 12th August and pro-

vides valuable feedback for the future directions of our school. If you have not received your survey by email please

contact the school.

Mrs Moran and Miss Jaeger have stayed on in Cunnamulla for Reading Strategy training and will return to St Finbarr’s

on Thursday.

A note for next year - Monday 16th April 2018 will be a pupil free day. This extra holiday has recently been announced

by Education and Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones. The reason behind this decision is that buses will be

utilised for the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony on Sunday, 15 April and will be unable to return to regional

centres in sufficient time for the start of school on the Monday. With this in mind, the TCSO has also approved this

Pupil Free Day for all schools in the Diocese. Term 2, 2018 will begin on Tuesday, 17 April.

Can I please remind parents of the importance of regular attendance and being prepared for school. We do so much

more for our students in a Catholic School than just teaching but teaching and learning is the core of what we do. We

want our children to value learning, to be active learners and strive for excellence and to do this they must see that

their parents also value their learning and school activities. Students are more likely to succeed in academics when

they attend school consistently. We appreciate that families have other commitments, and many arrange for work

for their children, but it is difficult for the teacher and the class to build their skills and progress if a number of

students are frequently absent. If children must be taken out of school for family reasons outside of school holidays

this is best done at the end of term rather than the beginning.

The Quilpie and District Athletics will be held this week. High Jump will be held on Thursday for 8-12 year olds from 1

pm at the Quilpie College. Please complete the attached permission form for your child to compete in this activity.

The other events will be held on Friday at John Waugh Park. Please ensure your children arrive by 8.45 am. All parents

are welcome to attend both days.

Next Week I will be attending Principals’ meetings in Charleville but look forward to seeing many of you this week at

the athletics carnival.

Warm regards

Genny

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a habit.’ Aristotle

Project Compassion Boxes

For those who still have Project Compassion boxes at

home, we would appreciate if you could return them to

the school as soon as possible so we can pass these do-

nations on. Thank you to everyone who has donated

and collected donations.

Quilpie and District Carnival Dates

Athletics – Friday, 28th July

Swimming – Friday, 17th November

Q&D Athletics Carnival –

Friday 28th July

This years athletics carnival will be held on Friday 28th

July at John Waugh Park. All students should be at the

park ready to assemble into their houses by 8.45am.

Please wear house colours, broad brimmed hat and

sunscreen.

Please bring water, snacks and small amount of money

and/or lunch in a backpack.

High Jump will be held at Quilpie

State College on Thursday, 27th July

from 1pm. This is for 8-12 year olds

in primary school.

Athletics Training

Running training will be held for all students each

morning at 8.40 am. Students will be practising their

sprints and distance running.

Training for field events will be

held during morning tea and

lunch breaks for those students

who would like to practise.

Music with Mr Sloan

A reminder to students in years 4, 5 and 6 to remember

to bring your instrument and your music book and

practise to prepare for the up-

coming Music Festival in Charle-

ville.

St Finbarr’s Fete

Friday 13th October 2017

Thargomindah Sports Camp 2017

Just a reminder that Thargomindah Sports Camp Infor-

mation has gone home along with permission forms.

We would appreciate it if you could return the permis-

sion forms as soon as possible so we can arrange

transport and supervision according to numbers

attending.

Also the fee is $80 which you can pay by cheque, cash

or direct deposit to our school fee account using your

surname and Thargomindah as reference. Our bank

details are:

National Australia Bank

BSB: 084 829

Acct Number: 508 867 529

Survey Reminder

School Review and Improvement Survey has been

emailed to all parents. We would appreciate if you

could complete and return by 12th August. These sur-

veys provide valuable feedback for the future direc-

tions of our school. If you have not received your sur-

vey by email please contact the school.

REMINDERS

Please remember to return the following ASAP:

High Jump Permission Forms (8yrs +)

The Lake Excursion Forms (P-2 Class)

Thargomindah Sports Camp Permission

Forms (All Students)

Students of the Week

Congratulations to our Students of the Week for

week 1 and 2 of Term 3. In week 1, these students

were Ardie for a fantastic first week back at school

and Jonah for completing his work to a high stand-

ard. In week 2, these students were

Riley from the 3-6 class and from the

P-2 class they were Delany and Lach-

lan for finding interesting facts about

animals for a class project.

Upholstery Viewing

Students from 3-6 visited the Cultural Society and

met with Tim Symons who showed them the items

that had been reupholstered and brought back to

their former glory. He explained some of the tech-

niques and tools used in this craft.

Bach to the Bush

On Monday 17th July, the students at St Finbarr’s joined

the students from the Quilpie State College to attend a QLD

Music Festival Performance of Back to the Bush. The per-

formance showcased the Cello and Percussion instruments.

The two performers used their instruments and different

styles of music to create a story which the children enjoyed.

In our previous Newsletter we

printed that Finn would be

attending Toowoomba Prep

when in fact he is attending

year 6 at Downlands. Apolo-

gies to the Hall family for this

error. We look forward to see-

ing Finn in the coming holidays

to hear all about it.

Bishop’s Inservice Day

On Monday 8 staff members from St Finbarr’s attended the

Bishop’s Inservice Day at Sacred Heart School, Cunnamulla.

We were welcomed to country by students from Sacred

Hearts presenting traditional dances of welcome and story

telling.

Parish News

Catholic Education Week Mass Sunday 30 July 6pm

All families are invited to come along to celebrate the theme

of Catholic Education Week, Sharing the Journey, with Mass

on Sunday 30 July at 6.00pm.

The theme was central to the activities of the Bishop’s In-

service Day in Cunnamulla where school staffs gathered to

celebrate Catholic Education Week.

Today (Wednesday) Roma will be the host school for sur-

rounding school sand on Friday school staffs in and around

Toowoomba will gather to explore Sharing the Journey.

Our Mass on Sunday will celebrate the theme too.

Students have been involved in art work depicting the theme.

Confirmation

Joachim, Lexie, Zoe, Mia, Bella and Paige will be confirmed by

BISHOP BILL MORRIS on Sunday 20 August at 6.00pm at St.

Finbarr’s Church. All are invited to attend.

On Sunday 27 August, these same children will make their

First Communion at Mass at 6.00pm.

Please remember these children and their families in your

prayers.

Sr. Margaret

All Mixed Up!

As Mrs Moran wrote in her section, the P-2 class are

looking at different mixtures in Science. Yesterday

they mixed cornflour with water and could see the

mixture change from solid to liquid and back to solid

again. The students were amazed at this and had

lots of fun creating the mixture with Mrs Haylock

and even managed to keep some of it in the cups.

P-2 News

Hello and welcome to week three!

In English this term we are working on Information reports and pro-

cedures. The students will examine both text types to identify the

features, structures and language devices that are used. The Preps

have been working extremely hard with learning to identify and use

the red sight word ‘you’ and write and sound the letter ‘z’.

This week in Math-

ematics for year 1

and 2 we are revis-

ing place value and

exploring problem

solving through

solving addition

and subtraction

problems using a

range of efficient

mental and written

strategies. The Preps this week are participating in learning activities

to read hour time on an analogue clock using the term o’clock, fol-

lowing positions on a map to describe their pathways and record

subtraction informally using pictures, words and symbols.

We have now finished our History units for the year and are now

learning Geography for Term 3 and 4. This term in Geography we

are exploring natural, managed and constructed places in

Quilpie. We will identify important activities and features that are

located in Quilpie and explore why they are located in particular

places. On Thursday, we will be going to the Lake to observe and

explore the natural, managed and constructed features, which I am

sure the students will thoroughly enjoy! This term our Science unit is

‘All mixed up’. This unit involves a lot of hands on investigations that

will explore different types of mixtures and what happens when ma-

terials are mixed or separated.

Due to having the athletics carnival on Friday, homework this week

will be due on Thursday not Friday.

Have a great week!

Mrs Moran