Matthew O'Brien, Principal

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

God of Love and Understanding, 

Grant us patience as we get on with the challenge of remote learning and work.

Grant us compassion as we assist friends and family.

Grant us time to STOP, collect our thoughts, breathe, meditate and pray.

Grant us wisdom to identify what we can control.

Amen

GoogleMeets and Feedback

Congratulations to our Foundation students and teachers who have completed their first week of Google Meets.  They join our Year 1s who started their meets in the last lockdown.  From all reports the experience was positive for everyone. Well done to all involved.

 

I’d also like to thank and acknowledge the parents who have taken the time to send a note of thanks or positive feedback to the teachers.  A kind word goes a long way and as you can imagine teaching from home without the face to face feedback from the students must be a difficult and somewhat unrewarding task.

DOBCEL Home Learning Responsibilities

The following document has been published by Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL) to support schools and families in establishing safe routines for home learning.  It replaces the St Joseph’s “Getting Ready At Home for Remote Learning” document on the 2021 Term 3 Support tile on the SZApp.

DOBCEL Student and Parent Utilising Remote Learning System Guidelines

School Fees

As Term Three accounts are being processed we are aware that many businesses and individuals have been adversely affected by the ongoing Covid situation. Should you require support with school fees please contact Cathy to make suitable arrangements.

Onsite Cancellations

Please inform us of any cancellations for onsite learning as soon as possible as we organise our onsite staff according to registered students.

Father’s Day

In closing this week, our whole school community wishes the fathers, grandfathers and men who provide love and support for the children of St Joseph’s a happy Father’s Day. 

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Sophie Hardiman, Emmy Marris, Audrey Wolff, Mark Materia, Zara Harrington, Grace McCormack, Felix Wright, Meg Coleman, Harvey McDowall, Macy Vagg, Eddie O’Donnell and Dhanvant Sivasankar.

Children whose parents are essential workers only can attend onsite.

The Victorian Government is seeking to minimise movement around the communities as much as possible to help stop the current spread of the virus as soon as possible. To this end, only the children who qualify under Category A and B will be allowed to attend school onsite.

At this stage we have extended the days that families who qualify can apply for up until Friday 3rd September. This is purely for administration and planning purposes as we DO NOT know any definite information in relation to the lockdown being extended.

The Application: 2021 Term 3 Onsite Attendance (Lockdown 7) can be found in the 2021 Term 3 Support tile on the SZApp.

Last Wednesday, the year threes were lucky enough to have an awesome experience at Cudgee Wildlife Park. For inquiry we are learning about animals and what groups they are classified in, so this excursion was to help us with our studies.

Cudgee was very interactive with many animals to hold and touch, such as snakes, lizards and even a hybrid animal which was a combination of a rat, possum & wallaby which is the second fluffiest animal in the world.

If you are not very confident in holding the animals, Josh and Zara are there to help and assist. Outdoors there are even more animals to explore. Each student was given a bucket of food to go around and feed the animals.

You can see the wombat be fed, pat a dingo, feed kangaroos and wallabies, see the peacocks put on a show, pat a koala and see huge sea eagles. Zara and Josh the zookeepers gave us facts about each animal, some of them are really surprising and will really help us in our inquiry lessons.

When we were on our way to Cudgee Wildlife Park, I imagined we would just sit in a room and hold a few animals but as you can see it was so much more and even better than I expected.

Many thanks to Cudgee Wildlife Park for having all of us Year 3’s for the morning, we loved it!

By Ava Gleeson, Room D2

Our theme for Arts week is ‘Colour our World’.

Arts week, held in Week 9, is going to look a bit different this year and we are fortunate that we will be able to still run our fun student activities.

Our night walk has now been creatively turned into a ‘Drive by night display’ that can be viewed as you drive by Monday 6th to Thursday 9th September. Our students will be able to view our signature Office foyer display. We will post photos for our families to enjoy via our newsletter.

Our Arts activities will occur each day in the different unit areas with students rotating with different teachers and activities.

Our usual, ‘St. Joes got talent’ will be happening during the week via video link in classes. Students will have had the opportunity to try out in their classroom and then the winners go into the final during Arts week.

There will be opportunities for students to busk their special talent during lunch times as well as Foundation painting. Sign up notices will be put up around the school in week 8. There will also be daily quizzes.

Dress Up Day – Thursday 9th September - Students and staff can dress up as a colour, an artist, flag or a costume from another country. Students will parade in their unit areas.

We will post photos and videos in the newsletter.

Kath McMeel and the Arts Team

Book Week Photos

Book Face Competition

A huge thank you to everyone who supported Book Week last week.  We've had a great response to the 'Book Face' Contest with our special judges selecting their top 3 entries for Junior, Middle and Senior.  We have displayed these winners on the actual display in the Library for those onsite to observe. 

We have decided to keep the 'People's Choice Award' voting open until this Friday 3rd September.  Then we'll announce all the winners together the following Monday in Week 9!  Fingers crossed we can award the prizes at a whole School Assembly before the end of term!

Parents and students can view the Book Face entries video and then your child can contribute to the ‘People’s Choice Award by completing the linked form.

Mrs Lyn Hyland (LRC Coordinator)

Mrs Emily Lloyd

As COVID and lockdown restrictions have changed the way we can run many of our traditional fundraising events, our PSA and School Advisory Council are looking for new ideas.

We believe this could be the opportunity to change it up a bit, and bring on board new events and fundraising ideas.  We have been very lucky in the past where our Fair was able to generate a significant amount of funds for the school each year, and we hope to be able to do that again in the future. 

However, we know already that we cannot hold our Fair, in its traditional format, in 2022, so we have it pencilled in for 2023 (hopefully bigger and better than ever).

We have changed both meeting dates to week 10, Wednesday 15th September where we will hold a joint meeting of the PSA and SAC members, with the focus being on fundraising. Our preference is to hold this meeting in person. We invite any other parents who may like to come along to this meeting.

We want your ideas, please fill in this survey below and let us know what ideas you may have. What have you seen work well at other schools you have been involved with?  Is there an idea you have been toying with but have never put forward? These are the ideas we would like to hear.

A reminder that during Remote Learning parents are still required to notify the school if their child/ren is unwell or not participating in home learning due to other reasons, such as an appointment.

Parents can notify the school of an absence via phone or via the SZApp using the "absence" tile.

Note: You will need your PAM username and login to access PAM.

Please contact the school office if you require any assistance.

Our Father's Day Raffle will be drawn this Friday 3rd September, 2021 and we would appreciate if tickets and money could be sold and returned to the school.

Here are a few ways you can return your tickets and money:

• driving through the school loop between 8:30am-9:00am or 3:30pm-3:45pm and handing them to a staff member
• placing them in the box just inside the school foyer (no need to QR scan if you drop and go)
• with your child if they are attending onsite
• at school this Friday if the lockdown lifts as scheduled.

Prizes

1. 1st Prize is two nights accommodation at Beacon Point Ocean View Villas donated by Jeremy Alexander and Holiday Village.
2. 2nd Prize is a Beefeater BUGG BBQ donated by Leo and Gerard Duynhoven of South West Roofing and AK Garage Doors.
3. 3rd Prize is a $100 voucher to the Flying Horse Bar.

2021 Art Fundraiser

The PSA will be running their annual fundraiser to raise additional funds for the Art Department.

This year your child's artwork will be available as a 2022 Calendar and/or Greeting Cards.

2022 Calendars

Distinctive calendars which display your child’s artwork created at school, printed on quality paper with 12 tear off wire bound months.

• One picture per 12 tear off months.
• School term, public holidays and activity stickers with plenty of room for noting special occasions.
• Printed artwork or photo A4 (300 x 210 mm) with A4 calendar attached below.
• The same artwork can be used on all our products.
• Name and age is printed on the artwork.
• All original Artwork is returned.

Greeting Cards

Orders are now open via CDFPay at a cost of $14 and close at 2pm on Friday 17th September, 2021.

Orders will be delivered in plenty of time to use these items as Christmas presents.

Note: Our Art teachers will endevour to ensure your child has completed the necessary artwork. However, if your child has been absent for an extended period of time for holidays or sickness they may not have completed their artwork.

From Wednesday 1 September, 2021, children are required to wear their hats at school whilst outside at recess, lunch and sport.

No Hat = No Play

Children without hats will have to stay in the undercover area during lunch and recess. We do NOT have grace period, hats must be worn from the 1st September.

As per our Sun Protection policy:

Please ensure your child has adequate sun protection during the months of September to May. You child will require the following:

a) their own sunscreen SPF 30+ or higher,

b) St Joseph's Primary School sun hat,

c) rash vest (if they are going swimming).

The above items are all to be labelled with their name and room number please.

Classrooms all have a supply of sunscreen available.