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A reminder that school finishes at the earlier time of 2:30pm this Friday 5th April. Due to the early finish time there will be no assembly, teacher awards or birthday certificiates.
School resumes for Term 2 on Tuesday 23rd April. This will be a short week with Thursday 25th April being Anzac Day.
Congratulations to Gold Box winners Ruby O'Brien and Hannah Amor for helping to set up children's table without being asked and offering to help.
Winners of our Gold Box get to go for a swim at the pool.
Louis O'Connor, Curriculum Co-ordinator
Settling In - Classroom Expectations
In 2019, St. Joseph’s have focused on Classroom Expectations across the school. The goal, has been to create engaged self motivated learners.
Curriculum at St. Joseph’s continues to evolve, develop and respond to research, community expectations, feedback and a vision of high levels of learning for all. In 2019 we have had a whole school focus on classroom expectations - including respectful relationships, consistent learning routines, behaviours that support personal learning and general resilience.
In the Foundation area the learning around ‘Classroom Expectations’ will continue to be a key focus throughout the entire year. In the Grade 1/2 area, after first Term, the focus shifts to increasing the amount of time spent on essential maths and literacy curriculum. Inquiry based learning in the Junior areas will include the key competencies including developing respectful relationships, health and PE.
The Middle and Senior classes have also had a sharper focus around classroom expectations in the first term.
They will then continue to learn about the world and how it works, with an Inquiry based approach to learning for Term 2, 3 and 4. The Inquiry approach is foundational to the units of work which derive content, skills and understandings from the Humanities Curriculum (Economics, History and Geography) and the Sciences (including Health). The theory behind using this approach is to increase the engagement of students through hands on activities and experiences.
Another change to the St. Joseph's Curriculum in 2019 is the addition of a one hour ‘Digital Technologies’ class in the Middle and Senior School areas. During which students are taught computer skills, including basic coding and cyber safety, by either Pat Allen, Nick Murrell or George El-Hage.
Andrew McCombe, Physical Education and Sport Co-ordinator
Junior School Sports
The Junior School Sports will be held this Thursday. Please make sure that you park in the designated area behind the marquees near the tennis courts. Children will assemble in the hall before heading out to their events in the morning. The program is scheduled to commence at 9:20am and conclude around 1:30pm. We look forward to a fantastic day to finish off the term.
Swimming
Good luck to our team of swimmers who are competing in the State Swimming Finals in the first week of Term 2. We wish them the best of luck. Also, congratulations to Addison Conheady who came 2nd in her individual breastroke final last week in Horsham at Regionals - a wonderful achievement!
District Athletics
Congratulations to all our students who competed in the District Athletics Finals on Monday. A number of students have qualified for the Division Athletics Finals in Term 2.
Well done Team!
Term 2 Sports
Next term promises to be busy again with the focus of our sports program shifting to Cross Country Running (all grades) and Winter Sports (Football, Netball, Tee Ball and Soccer) for Years 5 and 6.
In addition to this golf, basketball and rugby clinics, volleyball and basketball tryouts will also take place at various stages through the term.
Children will be selected for these teams once they have tried out and they will then represent our school at the events they were chosen.
This year, due to a clash of dates, the District Football, Netball, Soccer and Tee Ball competitions are all on the same day. This means that children will only be able to participate in one of these sports on the day.
Cross Country
The Date of our Whole School Cross Country will be Friday the 10th May. Students will compete on this day to make the district team in their age groups. There will be a lap of the oval for the junior school and a 1km, 2km and 3km course at St Joseph’s for the children to run. More information will go out next term.
However, for those really keen students, some practice in the holidays is going to prepare you well for these races. Happy Running!
Bowls
The St Joseph's Bowls Team will compete in the Regional Bowls finals in Ararat on Friday 26th April, 2019.
Aussie Footy
Aussie Footy is a program aimed at encouraging football to kids in a non-competitive environment where the games are not scored.
This competition is held for five Wednesday nights in Term 2 between 4-5pm and is open to all Year 5/6 students. Parents will be responsible for taking children to games that will be played in local schools around Warrnambool.
This competition is important for children wanting to compete in the District Football Team as it gives the team a chance to work together to improve their skills and help us perform well against other schools in this competition.
Thank you
Thank you to staff, parents and students who have done a fantastic job in helping out in many ways over the course of the term. We look forward to Term 2 and another great term for St Joseph’s.
Andrew McCombe, Physical Education and Sport Coordinator
Pat Allen, ICT Co-ordinator
Dear Parents/Guardians
We are holding a parent and student Chromebook session for families of students in Year 5 or 6 who have a chromebook for the first time. Parents and students in Year 5 or Year 6 are invited to the session in the senior building. Chromebooks required.
During the session we will cover Chromebook basics, Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and their use at St Joseph’s, online safety and suggestions for harmonious use at home.
Date: Tuesday 2nd April, 7:00 - 8:00pm
Please indicate by filling in the form below if you are interested in attending.
If there are more numbers than would be suitable for 1 session, a second date will be organised.
Pat Allen, ICT Co-ordinator
Chromebook Information Session
This form is not activeCongratulations to the following Fair Lego Competition winners.
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Best building/structure |
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Foundation |
Archie McDonald, Room C2 |
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Year 1/2 |
Archie Shiells, Room B1 |
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Year 3/4 |
Archie McGovern, Room D2 |
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Year 5/6 |
Lucy Shiells, Room E5 |
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Most creative vehicle |
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Foundation |
Leo Rees, Room C3 |
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Year 1/2 |
Charlie Milroy, Room B1 |
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Year 3/4 |
Jimmy Beaumont, Room D2 |
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Year 5/6 |
Harry McKane, Room E2 |
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Family entry |
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Nelson family (Zavier B2, Jameson D7, Ruby E1) |
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Most imaginative |
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Foundation |
Harrison Williams, Room C2 |
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Year 1/2 |
Luca Dwyer, Room B4 |
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Year 3/4 |
Sienna Addinsall, Room D7 |
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Year 5/6 |
Samuel Anderson, Room E8 |
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Best overall |
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Foundation |
Ada Minifie, Room C1 |
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Year 1/2 |
Millie Austin, Room B6 |
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Year 3/4 |
Layla Drummond, Room D1 |
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Year 5/6 |
Keira Byron, Room E1 |
Some of the amazing Lego entries
The PSA are conducting a Second Hand Uniform Sale for all school uniforms. If you have any good quality uniform that reflects current St. Joseph’s uniform policy and standards this day could be for you. You can either donate items to be sold to the school for sale OR price them accordingly and have a % of your sale go to the school’s PSA.
If you would like to participate you can do so by one of the following two options.-
OPTION 1- If you are donating any school uniform items for sale please bring these along to the school office. Volunteers will price all items accordingly and all sales will be donated to our schools PSA.
OPTION 2- If you have any good quality uniform that you are wanting to sell please name clearly with your family name, grade of the eldest child, size and price. All tags are to be pinned on the garment and removed when sold. It has been determined that 70% of the sale will go to the family and 30% to the PSA.
Second hand school bags are also able to be sold on the day providing that they are in appropriate working condition.
Bring donations and sale items into the office between Wednesday 24 April to Wednesday 1 May.
The sale will occur on Friday 3 May, 2019 from 2:00pm till 3:30pm (before and during School Assembly) in the School Hall foyer. This is a fantastic opportunity to purchase good quality second hand uniforms.
We are still missing quite a number of our School Representative Tops.
If anyone has any St Joseph's School representative tops, shorts, dresses, swimming caps or socks at home, either from this year or previous years, can they please be returned to school.
If your child is issued with any School Representative clothing, please wash and return to the school as soon as possible after the competition.
Sharing of food items in the classroom
As our school community grows we have more students enrolled who have been diagnosed as having food allergies or intolerances. To support all needs we have reviewed our procedures for the sharing of food items in the classroom. At times some classrooms will have a shared morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea. This is a supervised event and all families are advised of this via a letter sent from the classroom teacher. This ensures all children's individual needs are met and catered for. To ensure the inclusion of all students please adhere to the routine for the sharing of food items within the classroom.
Celebration of Birthdays
At St Joseph's we celebrate children's birthdays as a school by presenting the child with a Birthday Certificate at our whole school assembly. Each classroom celebrates birthdays in different ways, some classes have a special chair for the day or a badge to wear, most classrooms have birthdays displayed in the room.
For the purpose of an individual child’s celebration or birthday we are now advising an icy pole or Zooper Dooper be a recommended option for these occasions. It is not compulsory to celebrate all birthdays through the classroom.
Icy poles can be placed by the parent into the freezer in canteen. Please label with child's name and room number and let the classroom teacher know. Average classroom numbers are Foundation (19), years 1/2 (24), years 3/4 (25) and years 5/6 (26).
Monty and Edward from Room D2 celebrated their Birthdays in March.
Thanks to our PSA for organising this year's Hot Cross Bun drive. Hot Cross Bun orders will be sent home on either Wednesday 3rd April or Thursday 4th April depending on which date was selected when ordering.
Wednesday 8 May 2019
To celebrate Mother’s Day our PSA provides a Mother’s Day Stall. Penny Walsh from the PSA organises a wide variety of gifts ranging from Candles, Mugs, Gardening Tools, Photo Frames and novelty items. Children then attend the stall and select a gift that they know their mothers or special person will love.
On the day after the stall children can come to the school office if they wish to purchase a second gift for a grandma or special person. This is subject to availability.
Gifts are $5.00 per student. Orders open via CDFpay (online ordering system) on Monday 8th April and will remain open to just prior to the stall. The stall will be held at school during the day on Wednesday 8 May 2019.
Thank you to our volunteers who assisted in the canteen during Term 1. It is only with the support of volunteers that we can continue to operate on a 5 day a week basis. New volunteers are always needed. New volunteers are welcome through the Term with training provided prior to be placed on the next term's roster.