Matthew O'Brien, Principal

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

It is with a great sense of pride, excitement and humility that I undertake this important role as your child’s principal here at St Joseph's. In this my first newsletter I take this opportunity to introduce myself.

As the youngest of three children, I grew up in the north-eastern suburb of Rosanna in Melbourne. My parents, Peter and Janet continue to live in the family home I was raised in.

Being the youngest, my siblings Danny and Cathy, say that I was spoilt. But of course the opposite was true and I had to do all of the worst jobs around the house. I attended St Martin of Tours Primary School in Rosanna then Parade Secondary College in Bundoora. Like most people I can’t remember the particulars of what I learnt at school but I do remember the people, especially my friends and some of the teachers along the way. Three in particular had a major impact on me. Their common characteristic was that they all really seemed to care about me as an individual. I tried to replicate this as I began my teaching journey 34 years ago.

Following school I studied at Mercy Institute of Catholic Education (now Australian Catholic University) where I gained my initial teaching degree.  More importantly it is where I first met Monica, a country girl from Tower Hill. I began teaching in 1987 and continued studying part time and received a Bachelor of Education.  Monica and I married and later travelled before settling in Montmorency, Melbourne and becoming parents to our eldest child Paddy, followed by Bridget 19 months later. We decided to take our two pre-schoolers on a one year “sea change” experience to Warrnambool.  We soon discovered Warrnambool to be a wonderful place to raise our family, and abandoned our plans of a return to city living and later welcomed Matilda, Molly and Scarlett to the O’Brien Family. Our five children have each had a wonderful primary years experience at St Joes.  I taught at St Pius X, West Warrnambool and held the role of Deputy Principal whilst I gained a further qualification of Masters of Educational Leadership through ACU.

After 13 years at St Pius, I moved to the Catholic Education Office where I have spent the past 7 years working across the southern part of our diocese with school leaders and teachers supporting school improvement particularly in the area of Teaching and Learning.

Beyond school and education, our family is engaged in the community through sports and clubs. The Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club has been an important part of our lives as have the various football and netball, tennis, gymnastics, triathlon, athletics and soccer clubs that we have joined along the way.  We have also placed a great importance on travel and been fortunate to have travelled around Australia on a six month road trip in 2007. In 2011, we embarked on a 12 month adventure when we backpacked in 25 countries throughout South East Asia, Europe and India.

So that is me in a nutshell, family, education, sports and travel. These varied life experiences; ups, downs, changes, challenges, successes and disappointments have all helped form the person that I am today as I begin this exciting new chapter in my life. 

I am looking forward to meeting you all and getting to know your children as we work together for all in the St Joseph’s community.

Catholic Education Week May 23rd - 29th

Catholic Education Week https://200years.catholic.edu.au/about/National theme

This week we celebrate Catholic Education Week and in particular 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. A national theme, “Faith in the Future” has been developed for the 200 years celebrations. The theme reflects the core purpose of Catholic education to form students in their faith, and to provide an education that enables our graduates to make a meaningful contribution to the world. The theme reflects our commitment to build on the great work of those who have come before us, and to provide a Catholic education for future generations of students in a world that is rapidly changing and poses new challenges for Catholic school communities. Yet, we have faith that we can face these challenges and continue to build on, and strengthen our mission of Catholic education.

Our Year Six students will join with students from across the Warrnambool Catholic Schools’ Network to celebrate mass this Friday.

About the logo

The Christian cross is the central element of the logo and represents the faith dimension of Catholic schools and our mission of service in Christ. The Southern Cross and outline of Australia represents the Great South Land of Australia. Dots are used as a key design element connecting to the traditional custodians of the land – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The colours – burnt red and yellow – represent the desert in the heart of the Australian outback, contrasting with the deep blue representing the Southern sky and ocean surrounding our continent.

Matthew O'Brien, Principal.

The gold box is designed to reward positive behaviours observed in the playground or school environment. Nominated by teachers as they see them.

Congratulations to our Gold Box winner Luke Robson who was nominated by Mrs Cooper for wonderful presentation and effort with his poem at Assembly last Friday.

Winners of our Gold Box get a movie ticket.

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Cooper McDonald, Ruby Koch, Miranda McDowell, Lily Stewart, Zoe Ierodiaconou, Clara Kenna, Indi McLaurin, Jack Parker, Doris Pham, Edwards Jeffries and Alexei Khaidurov.

A reminder that Lemonade icypoles or Zooper Doopers are the only shared food allowed if choosing to celebrate in the classroom. 

The Year 2s created beautiful purple flowers in preparation for Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week. Their flowers can be viewed at the Lighthouse Theatre on National Sorry Day and throughout Reconciliation Week, 26th May - 3rd June, 2021.

Cross Country 2021

Congratulations to the students who participated in the District Cross Country last Monday. All students ran extremely well, with 19 out of the 36 students progressing through to today’s Division Competition.

Our success on the course contributed towards St Joseph’s taking home the overall Aggregate Trophy! Special thanks to Mr El-Hage for his expert coaching and to Mr Leo Duynhoven and Mrs Karen Benson for volunteering their precious time in assisting as marshals around the course. Without any parent assistance at these events, we simply could not afford to safely bring our students to the numerous events they are invited to participate in. 

Final preparations for Winter Sports – Football, Netball, Tee Ball and Soccer

Our students are preparing for the Winter Sports Finals to be held on Thursday 3^rd June. Students who have made teams must make sure they attend practice sessions during lunchtime this week. Please check the timetable outside the Hall to see when teams will be training. Notes and uniforms will go home prior to the competition.

Please be aware that due to the current Covid restrictions and strict outlines for spectator capacity at schools, the Football and Netball games will now be played at South Rovers Football/Netball club and both Boys and Girls’ Tee-ball will remain at St Joseph’s School. Soccer students will depart from school and travel by bus to the East Warrnambool Primary School - Jones Oval.

Mrs Emily Lloyd (Physical Education and Sport Co-ordinator)
Mr Matthew McMillan. 

Congratulations to the Confirmation Candidates and their parents who attended Mass on Sunday for the Commitment of Parents.

A reminder to please complete the Confirmation Information form that was with the program booklet. This form is used to indicate your child's sponsor name and the Mass which you would like your child to attend to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. This needs to be returned by this Wednesday 26th May, 2021.

An electonic form is linked here if you have misplaced your form or prefer this format.

Congratulations to C4 for being the very first winner of our Wipe out Waste Challenge.  They only had 3 plastic items in their whole class, a superb effort.

Overall the school counted 426 single use plastic items in lunch boxes so we definitely still have room for improvement for next week.  We can all make a difference.

Please remember that we encourage all classes to be “rubbish free” every day of the week.  Wednesday is the day where we will complete a tally to see how much improvement we are making as a school.

Keep up the fantastic work everyone!

Eva Scarborough and Ella Hall
Year 6, Sustainability Leaders

Thursday 27 May, 2021, Orders close 3pm Tuesday 25 May, 2021

Once per term the PSA run a Pizza Day as a "special occasion" lunch option and to raise money for the PSA.

Children can choose from either Garlic or Hawaiian pizza (Gluten Free options available) which are provided by Pinkie’s Pizza who are one of our major school sponsors.

Orders open on Monday 10th May via CDFPay (Canteen ordering system)

There are no canteen orders on Pizza Days and children not wanting to order pizza should bring their lunch from home.

Sorry, no late orders can be accepted.

The latest issue of the Scholastic Bookclub has been sent out last week. The school offers three issues a year in Terms 2, 3 and 4. It is an optional activity that is popular with families who wish to purchase books for their children, particulary in Term 4 for Christmas. 

All orders are placed via the Scholastic Loop which is accessed via their website of the Loop App.

Please do not send orders and cash into school, all orders must be placed electronically.

Search for St Josephs School (no punctuation), pick Warrnambool.

The school receives credits from all orders which is then used to purchase books for the Library and classrooms.

Orders Close: Friday 28th May, 2021

Prizes for the School Fun Run are being distributed this week. Unfortunately, the Galaxy Squishy Balls and Bedroom Disco Speakers are on backorder. These will be distributed when they arrive.

Foundation Families: After School Activity

Foundation families are invited to attend a social get together 

between Monday 24th  - Thursday 27th May

near the

Nature Based Play Space

@ The Warrnambool Botanic Gardens 

3:30pm - 5:00pm

Feel free to bring along afternoon tea and a picnic blanket.

This is a family social event and teaching staff won’t be in attendance. Therefore parents are asked to supervise their children, with particular attention to the dangers of the nearby lake and road.

Volunteers Needed

We rely on our volunteers and are also in need of more parents to assist. Canteen can only run 5 days a week if we have sufficient volunteers. Can you help?

Training is arranged by our Canteen Co-ordinator Tania Hughes. Please consider volunteering, even if only once per term, all help most appreciated.