QUEEN OF APOSTLES SCHOOL

108 Tribute Street East, RIVERTON WA 6148

Telephone Number: 9457-4913 Email address: admin@qoa.wa.edu.au Facsimile Number: 9354-3911 Website: www.qoa.wa.edu.au

Dear Parents and Carers,

Lightning Carnival Yesterday our Year 5 & 6 students took to the sporting fields and courts as part of the annual Lightning Carnival that is the culmination of the Eagles Cup Winter Sport Program. Our children were involved in AFL football, soccer and netball (4 teams) at three different venues, competing against teams from seven other schools and involving around 800 students. It is a major planning and logistical exercise, which fortunately for us, Mr. Bridgeman is an expert in organising.

After some of the wet and wild weather over the weekend and Monday, it was pleasing to see some clear skies and sunshine yesterday for the carnival, even if the sun was turned down to low on the thermostat. Our teams enjoyed mixed results across the day, with more defeats than wins. That to me is quite okay - you can’t win all the time, and there is a great deal of beneficial learning and character development that can be taken away from being in losing situations. For me one of the great things about interschool sport and lightning carnivals such as the one yesterday is that they present our children with a condensed, microcosm of real life. They get to meet children from lots of different schools and backgrounds. They get to compete against them and test themselves physically and mentally. They learn to work as a team to strive for success and they learn to support each other through the losses and defeats. This is no different to real life, where as adults we work and cooperate with colleagues to achieve success, goals, targets and KPI’s in our daily work. Hopefully, we succeed more often than not … but when we fail we can also learn much that can help us to improve our performance next time. Resilience, persistence, cooperation, determination and a never-give-up attitude can all be developed and enhanced on the sporting fields and courts, which is why sport can provide so much more than just the important opportunity to get fit and stay healthy.

Darting between the three venues, I did manage to see all six of our teams in action during the day. What impressed me the most was not just the good sportsmanship that our children displayed, but the fact that win, lose or draw … they were always smiling and always encouraging and supportive of each other. They never gave up, they always tried their very best and they never dropped their heads for a second. I could not have been more proud of their attitude and effort!

Of much greater concern to me than our win/loss tally yesterday, is the apparent demise of the Eagles Cup Competition this year. When I first arrived at Queenies six years ago, there was a very healthy and dynamic round-robin competition in place that involved at least five different schools during the course of the term. This year it was down to just two schools - ourselves and All Saints. I’m not sure if you can have a “round-robin”

competition with just two schools? I’m not sure of the reasons for the withdrawal of the other schools, whether it is an issue of time, cost, available staffing, the pressures of an over-crowded curriculum or a combination of all these issues? I do find it to be very discouraging and concerning that interschool sport seems to be falling into the “too hard basket”. In an age when our children are increasingly attached to digital devices at school and home, when the streets are not safe for our children to play and ride their bikes on, when stranger danger keeps them away from parks and ovals, when parents are working longer and longer hours that means it’s too dark to play when they get home from work, I believe it is

DATES TO REMEMBER

Thurs 25 June Year 2 Liturgy 2.15pm

Tues 30 June Andrew Chinn Concert 1.20pm

Wed 1 July 9.00am School Mass 2.1

Fri 3 July P&F Pizza Lunch END OF TERM 2

Mon 20 July PUPIL FREE DAY – SCHOOL CLOSED Remember to book OSH Club

Tues 21 July PUPIL FREE DAY – SCHOOL CLOSED Remember to book OSH Club

Wed 22 July School commences for Term 3 9.00am Whole School Mass 5.2

Thurs 23 July 8.45 Queenies Coffee Hour - Library EduDance

24th June 2015

more important than ever before that we provide our children with the social, physical and mental benefits of competing against other children through healthy means such as interschool sport.

Reports Released Next Week ... And That's Just The Beginning! Last night we held the second of the two Coneqt-P Parent Workshops to help familiarise parents and carers with the new online reporting system and parent portal. There was a more encouraging attendance of 22 parents last night, double the previous Monday evening's turnout. Mr. Trevor Galbraith, Director of Learning Technologies at Corpus Christi College, explained to parents many of the functions and attributes that will enable you to stay better informed about your children's school life in the future.

Of course the first way in which Coneqt-P will enter into your lives will occur next Wednesday 1 July at 3:00pm when the first semester academic reports go live on the portal. From 3:00pm parents will be able to use their logon and password to go online and access their children's reports. You will be able to view them, download them and print them. As the years go by, you will continue to have access to all your children's previous reports at the click of a mouse or tap of a screen.....no more going through cupboards and drawers searching in vain for that report from two years ago!

Parents and carers can access Coneqt-P from any internet connected computer, tablet or smartphone. It is equally accessible on iPhone, android phones, Apple iPads and computers or Windows based systems. You can now access your children's reports from anywhere in the world. No need to request an early copy of your children's reports because you're flying off on holiday before the end of term to take advantage of cheap airfares - not that any of our extremely supportive parents would ever do such a thing - but if it did occur, you can access it from your poolside lounge on your tablet or phone, anywhere in the world!

Eventually, the Coneqt-P Parent Portal will become filled with lots of other very useful information for parents to access. You will be able to find out about your children's attendance records and track any unexplained absences that you have not yet supplied a note for. There will be information about homework, class assignments, notes regarding excursions, incursions, sporting events and other school events.... but only those that are relevant to your children or the year level they are in. Imagine a newsletter that was customised to contain only notices and information relevant to your children. The portal will also be the main conduit for communication between teachers and parents regarding your children. You might receive messages from staff concerning academic issues, attendance, pastoral care, medical or health issues, good behaviour and awards, behaviour management concerns - in fact anything important or relevant to your child's school life and learning engagement.

This will not all happen overnight. Those of you with children at Corpus Christi or other Catholic colleges will no doubt already be familiar with such parent portals. Corpus have been working with this for over 3 years now and so the level of staff engagement and expertise is way ahead of us. We have been working on this for only 6 months and the academic reporting aspect is our first big item on the agenda. As time goes by and our level of expertise increases, we will add more and more information to the portal, so it will eventually become your first port of call to find out anything about your child or school events.

We are excited about the potential this new portal offers us and you in terms of communicating and sharing information about your children. We hope that you engage with us on this new and exciting journey.

Pupil Free Days Next Term I would like to remind parents and carers that next term commences with two Pupil Free Days. On the Tuesday, staff will be engaged in one day of faith development in a joint initiative involving our staff and staff from both Orana and Yidarra. On the Monday our staff will be engaged in a variety of professional learning and school development sessions including work on Quality Catholic Schooling (QCS), National Quality Standard (NQS) and Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and iPads. I would therefore urge parents to get online and book your children in now, if you will require OSH Club for one or both of those days. On pupil free days OSH Club will operate from 7.00am right through till 6.00pm. There is a minimum number required to make the service viable, so we need parents to book now, rather than leaving it to the last minute, in which case the numbers might be too low and it won’t operate. The deadline for booking

online to indicate your support for the service on those two days is Tuesday 30th June. We will then confirm the service operating on those two days in the newsletter on the Wednesday.

Siblings for Kindy 2016 A reminder to parents and carers that any younger siblings due to commence Kindy next year, do require an Enrolment Application and Interview. If you have not already done so, please download an enrolment form from the website and once completed drop it into the office and Mrs. Healey will schedule your enrolment interview.

Peace and best wishes, Shaun O’Neill Principal.

Year 2.1 Whole School Mass We would like to invite all parents to the celebration of the Eucharist on Wednesday 1 July beginning at 9.00am. This Mass will be organised by the 2.1 class with the theme of Obedience We begin Term Three with a Whole School Mass on our first day back with the students, Wednesday 22 July. This Mass will be organised by the 5.1 class. Parents are most welcome to join us in the church at 9.00am.

Andrew Chinn Incursion This coming Tuesday all children from Kindy to Year 6 will have a class session with Andrew Chinn. Andrew writes and sings religious music for children. The children love the lyrics and especially the rhythm of his music. Many of his songs allow the children to use movement. The day will conclude with a concert involving the whole school which you are most welcome to come along and be part of. The concert will begin at 1.20pm in the hall and is the culmination of the focus of each of the class sessions. Come along and be part of an enthusiastic group of Queenies kids at their best. Some of Andrew’s songs are “These Hands”, “Rainbow”, and “An African Blessing” and are used in classrooms and liturgies around Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.

The Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment In Week 2 next Term, the students in Years 3 and 5 will be completing the Bishops’ Religious Literacy Assessment. Each student attending a Catholic school is required to complete the test showing the knowledge and understanding about Jesus, the Bible, the Church, Liturgy and Sacraments and Catholic Life they have learnt over their schooling years. A letter concerning these tests has already been sent home.

Confirmation Photos The photos taken at the Confirmation can be viewed online. Visit www.prophotobooth.com.au and enter the password qa2415 to view the photos. Please support this, as it ensures we will continue to have a photographer come each year to photograph these Sacraments.

Religious Education

School Photos

Following our recent school photography by Kapture, you can now view and order any sports and / or special photos taken on the day. When visiting www.kapture.com.au you will need to enter our school code to access the gallery – Code: HZ2XWN

Queenies Sport For dates of the upcoming Faction Cross Country Carnival and 'Littlies Lapathon', please go to www.qoape.com. Go to www.qoape.com for the latest on:

Lightning Carnival results and pics.

League-tag Lunchtime Tournament.

#happyandhealthy photo competition. Have you subscribed to receive email alerts when qoape.com is updated with the newest information? It's as easy as a couple of clicks on the homepage!

Hello from the School Social Worker

It is important for children’s self- esteem that they feel valued by the people that care about them. It is also important for them to build skills so that they value themselves too. Feeling undervalued and having low self-esteem can lead to frustration and aggressive behaviour. Here are some questions for introducing the topic of feeling good about yourself and reviewing / formulating goals around this.

1. This is me…………….

2. Last time I felt valued was when……………

3. It made me feel……………..

4. People who make me feel good about myself are……………because………..

5. I show them I am happy by…………….

6. Things that make me feel good about myself are 1…..2…..3…..

7. Things that I can do to help achieve this are 1…..2…..3…..

(Rogers, Vanessa - Games and Activities for Exploring Feelings with Children).

Regards, Tracy Small

School News

OSHC Club

Program Update Dear Parents, Children attending OSH Club are having lots of fun every morning and afternoon, and we thought it would be nice to share some of the things that they enjoy most about OSH Club.

Sophie – Year 2 - Likes the art activities and playing with Frisbee at OSH Club. Fabio - PP1 - Likes to play outside with his friends and play with his favourite ‘Battleship’. Isabella - PP1 - Likes to play outside with her friends. Elina – Year 2 - Likes “Being with my best friends, eating cheese and making the art stuff”.

We are very excited to announce that bookings for our Curriculum Days at the beginning of next Term have now been opened! We are hoping to run the Curriculum Day Programs on Monday the 20thof July and Tuesday the 21st of July. On these Curriculum Days OSH Club will operate from 7am – 6pm, and the children will be able to have a full day of fun activities, crafts and games! Bookings can be made online at www.oshclub.com.au by enrolling and selecting the aftercare bookings tab for each day. Please be aware that we need a minimum of 15 children each day to be able to run the program. Please get your bookings in ASAP to ensure that we can make the Curriculum Day a reality.

Any queries or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

This Week’s Main Activities

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Before Care Activities

3DHanging Paper Doily decorations

Alligator Hand Print Angel Wings Animal Finger

Painting Apple Print Craft

After Care Activities

Build your own Robot

Pop stick Flowers Baby Dino in Egg Art Show Animal Hand and

Finger pictures

Parent Information

OSH program phone: 0431 310 180 Coordinator: Sandhya Dinesh Assistants: Callan Marks, Lee Yone Kin OSHClub Head Office: (08) 9261 3200 All families must be enrolled to attend the program, remember this is Free!! Please create an account online at www.oshclub.com.au all bookings and cancellations can also be managed via your online account. For on the day bookings please contact the Coordinator directly.

This Thursday is the last Queenies Coffee Hour for Term 2. Please drop in for a coffee and chat

8.40am to 9.40am in the school library

Bunnings Sausage Sizzle On Saturday 1st August, Queenies will be hosting a Sausage Sizzle at the Bunnings store on High Road, Willetton. A help roster will be distributed next week and we would love for everyone to come and help for at least 1 hour. All the profits from this sausage sizzle will be heading back to our children's school.

Pizza Lunch Next Friday 3rd July, the last day of Term 2, the P&F will be holding a Pizza lunch. If you would like your child to have pizza for lunch please fill out the attached form, place in an envelope with the correct money, and return to school NO LATER than Wednesday 1st July. If you have any queries regarding the pizza lunch please email the P&F @ parents.friends@qoa.wa.edu.au or phone Sarah Kelleher 0412514567.

ON SALE FOR 1 MORE WEEK ONLY! P & F Fundraiser 2015/2016 Entertainment Books

$65.00 To order your book OR digital membership, simply pay with credit card online at: www.entbook.com.au/8325j6 (that’s a “j” between the 5 and 6). OR, for cash only, contact Deanne Strommen on 0407 986 269, or see me outside the library most Wednesday mornings and afternoons this term. $13 from every book sold will benefit the children of Queen of Apostles.

P&F

Chinese Hand Print Dragon created by Esther

Southern Districts Netball Association

School Holiday Clinic Monday 6th July to Thursday 9th July

9.30am to 11.30am The program is for children in Years 2 to 6.

Players are coached by top coaches, learn new skills, participate in a round robin and have lots of fun.

They will receive a T-shirt, giveaways, lunch on the final day and a gift. The cost is $80.00 with registrations due by Tuesday 23 June. If your child is interested please contact SDA on 9451 3377.

QUEEN OF APOSTLES FAMILY MASS PERMISSION SLIP Please complete the reply slip below giving permission for your son / daughter to read at the 9am Family Mass on Sunday 5th July and return to school by Wednesday 1st July. Buddika Perera - 0414 479 768 Kelly Gostt – 0417 910 602 Family Mass Co-ordinators ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUEEN OF APOSTLES PARISH REPLY SLIP I give permission for my child_______________________________of class___________to read at the 9am Mass on Sunday 5th July.

Parent’s signature Date ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Queen of Apostles Parish

Community News

For information about the Queen of Apostles Parish check out the parish newsletter by clicking on the link below: http://www.queenofapostleschurch.org.au/News%20Letter.pdf

The Riverton Dental Therapy Centre will be open during the July school holidays on the following dates: Week 1 – Monday 6th July – Tuesday 7th July

Week 2 – Monday 13th July – Wednesday 15th July

In an emergency only outside these times, please contact the following centres: Week 1 – Wednesday 8th July – Friday 10th July

South Thornlie Dental Therapy Centre Ph: 9459-4270

Week 2 – Thursday 16th July – Friday 17th July Willetton Dental Therapy Centre Ph: 9457-4624