Matthew O'Brien, Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,

Prayer to Joseph,

Who is Known by Many Titles

Faithful Joseph:

Teach us to listen and not be afraid to trust

as you did in God's promise.

Loving Joseph:

Teach us to love courageously with a heart

that is free and just.

Protector Joseph:

Teach us to protect one another and all

that belongs to God.

 Dreamer Joseph:

Teach us to dream a world where all are neighbors;

a vision illuminated by God's light.

Teacher Joseph:

Teach us to keep the Word of God close to our hearts, and to proclaim it in word and action.

Gentle Joseph:

Teach us to be gentle with our power and

strong in our tenderness.

Parent Joseph:

Teach us to be for all persons a living lesson

of goodness and truth - a blessing for all

generations to come.

May we be inspired by St Joseph to be caring, honest and brave.

Amen

 

Japanese Student Visit

This week we are hosting 28 students from Doshisha School, Kyoto Japan. Thanks to all of our families who have opened their homes and hearts to our visitors. And a special mention to Mrs Lee who coordinates the trip from our end.

It was wonderful to see the Japanese children mingling with the St Joseph’s students at school yesterday each stretching themselves with language to communicate.

I can report though that Dodge Ball is a universal language that builds fun and relationships. Maybe it could be an Olympic sport.

St Joseph’s Feast Day Mass

We celebrated a beautiful mass at St Joseph’s church on Wednesday 19th March. The choir led the singing beautifully from the choir loft accompanied by Mrs Hyland on the organ.  A big thank you to Fr John who is always so inclusive and attentive to the children and to our parents and grandparents who joined us.  It was a very special experience sharing such a reverent occasion with 600 children.  Many parishioners have commented on the respectful nature of all of the children. They are to be congratulated.

Pupil-Free Week to Start Term 2

Investing in Staff Development

The first week of Term 2 includes two public holidays: Easter Monday and ANZAC Day (Friday). With the support of our governing body, DOBCEL, and our School Advisory Council (SAC), Tuesday 22nd April 22nd, Wednesday 23rd April and Thursday 24th April will be student free days. On these days, St Joseph’s staff will undertake the reflection and data examination stages of our school review.

On these two days we will be reviewing our progress in the five components of Highly Effective Catholic Schools; Catholic School Culture, Community Engagement, Teaching and Learning, Leadership and Stewardship and Wellbeing. We will work with Lee Schlooz, our DOBCEL Education Consultant, to identify our strengths, areas of challenge and identify priorities for our School Improvement Plan to guide our direction over the next four years.

Thursday 24th April: All of the staff members from the Catholic Primary schools between Colac and Portland and as far north as Mortlake (about 420 people) will be at St Josephs for a presentation of the DOBCEL Strategy 2035, titled "Pursuing Fullness of Life for All." This comprehensive plan aims to enhance the performance of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Ballarat over the next decade. The strategy will be presented to all staff members of DOBCEL schools by Executive Director, Tom Sexton, throughout Term 2. The purpose of this day is to ensure that every staff member in the Southern Zone of the diocese has a clear understanding of this strategy and its vision. This day will be a School Closure Day for all schools in the Southern Zone. The full Executive Summary of the DOBCEL 2035 Strategy is available on the DOBCEL website or hard copies can be obtained from the school office.

2026 Enrolments are Now Open

Enrolments for 2026 Foundation students are now open.  Please direct family and friends to the Enrolment tab on our website to book tours and complete enrolment forms.

Matthew O'Brien, Principal

I'd like to provide you with an update from our last PSA meeting held two weeks ago. It is a very busy time for the PSA with lots of events and initiatives happening across the next few months, and I would like to thank each parent who has volunteered their time to get involved in attending meetings, helping out with events, and contributing to the St Joseph's community for the benefit of our children.

St Joseph's children will no doubt be pleased to know that significant behind the scenes work has been happening on the new senior/middle school playground. Sarah Porter and Brett Gladki have done an enormous amount of dealing and negotiating with various playground suppliers from across the nation, and we have settled on a preferred supplier who has provided concept designs and pricing.

We also have identified a 'stretch goal' whereby we can commit to a very large and fun climbing spider as a centrepiece, to replace the much loved spider that had to be decommissioned. The more funds we raise in the coming months, the bigger the climbing spider we can deliver for our St Joseph's children to be utilised for many fun years to come. In exciting news, and all things going well, we are anticipating that the new playground will be installed over the September holidays ready for our happy children to build many more fond schoolyard memories.

To assist in achieving the best possible playground, we need the support of our school community more than ever across the next few months. I encourage you all to attend this Friday's Trivia night which will no doubt prove to be a fantastic event. Bring a friend or family member with you! Fill those tables! Lots of work has gone into ensuring that the night will be a success and lots of fun. Every dollar raised from the night goes straight back into that playground.

We also have our Hot Cross Bun drive currently active, with a portion of sales coming back directly to the school. Please order up big and enjoy your buns.

Other events to look out for in the next few months include an election day BBQ. When the election is eventually called, we will ask you to volunteer a few hours and be a part of providing democracy sausages for the hungry masses, as well as provide some baked goods for a cake stall. This is a great fundraising opportunity for the school, and again funds raised go straight to the playground.

Preparations are also underway to deliver another fantastic Mother’s Day breakfast on Friday 9th May. We received wonderful feedback about last year's event and look forward to delivering another great day in celebration of our St Joseph's mums.

Leon Senchenko, PSA Chair

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Fiona Adhikary, Lyla Smith, Theodore Smith, Chase Jones, Henry Mokrzecki, Ruben Grayson, Alejandro Lopez, Emerson Sewell, Koa Fary, Lottie Houston, Charles Johnstone, Ana Mashozhera, Austyn McInerney, Mya Amos, Rebecca Coghlan, Audrey Hoy and Lola Uzkuraitis.

Enrolments for Foundation students for 2026 are now OPEN.

All applications are to be submitted by 4:00pm on Wednesday 11th June, 2025. 

Enrolments

All of our enrolments are completed online, via the Enrolment/Online Enrolment Form page on the schools website.

You will need to make sure you have your child's documentation loaded onto your device, either by taking a photo or scanning and uploading.  

• Birth certificate
• Immunisation Statement
• baptism certificates
• any specialist reports

Discovery Tours and Information Sessions

Our Discovery Tours and Information session dates have also been set and can be booked via the Enrolment/Tour Registration page on the school website.

• 11:30pm, Tuesday 13th May
• 7:00pm, Tuesday 13th May
• 11:30am, Friday 23rd May
• 11:30am, Wednesday 28th May

Thank you to all those students who rode or walked to school last Friday.

It's great to see  many children enjoying their journey to and from school by meeting others to walk /ride with.

We were lucky to receive prizes from the Warrnambool City Council.

The winners of the Toyworld gift vouchers were Oliver M (F7) , Will S (F7), Amali Greene (D8), Theo Smith (E3), Billie N (D1), Molly McCann (B5). 

As a school we are continuing to fundraise for a new playground. This fundraiser kicked off in Term 3 last year with the Business Raffle.

We continue this year with various fundraising including the CDS Victoria 10c deposit scheme. This is now done via the CDS app where you are able to select St Joseph's Primary School when depositing your 10c containers.

This week we welcome visitors from our friendship school, Doshisha Elementary School in Kyoto.

We welcome Arisa and Yoshi (staff from Doshisha) and Rina and Mariko ( travel guides from Kyoto), along with 28 students. These students are staying amongst fifteen of our families at St. Joseph's. Without these families  (and past hosting families) volunteering to host students, we wouldn't be able to run this program, which is so beneficial to us. We can see how much our St. Joseph's students gain from having these visitors in our school.

We have also enjoyed seeing Deguchi Sensei back at St. Joseph's to make our visitors feel welcome. 

School photos were distributed via the classrooms on Tuesday 18th March.

All children receive either their order OR a personlised bookmark with a "second chance code".

If your child was absent on Tuesday 18th March their photo order or "second chance code" will be available for collection at the school office.

Contact Glen Watson Photography directly with any queries regarding your order.

Our PSA is once again holding a Hot Cross Bun Drive. Baker's Delight Norfolk Plaza Bakery will be supporting this event and donating $2.50 from every pack sold back to the school. Orders are now open through CDFPay.

Please place your order against the eldest child in your family with orders now open.

Buns available to order are:

• Traditional Hot Cross Bun - 6 Pack,
• Choc Chip Hot Cross Bun - 6 Pack,
• Apple and Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns - 6 Pack,
• Fruitless Hot Cross Buns - 6 Pack. 

Orders close: 3:00pm, Monday 31st March, 2025.

Delivery date: Thursday 3rd April, 2025.

We require some volunteers to assist on the day of delivery from 1:30 pm to pack the packs of buns and deliver to the classrooms. If you can assist please email Alecia on abidmade@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

Get the babysitters booked - ready for an epic trivia night

How it Works

Gather a group (8-12 people) OR sign up solo/couple

Register + pay for your ticket through CDF pay ($20 per person) 

If you’re entering as a group you will be able to nominate your “table leader” OR you can suggest your child’s classroom to join the class table 

• BYO - bring drinks and nibbles - (think eskys and platters)
• DJ after the trivia night - from 10pm - hang around for a dance and catch up
• Spot prizes and raffles will be drawn on the night

It’s about building community, having fun + fundraising for our new playground!

Tables are limited, so don’t wait too long - we don’t want you to miss out.

Term 1 Roster

School Canteen Support