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Matthew O'Brien, Principal
If you carry one thing throughout your entire life, let it be hope.
Let it be hope that the better things are always ahead. Let it be hope that you can get through the toughest of times.
Let it be hope that you are stronger than any challenge that comes your way. Let it be hope that you are exactly where you are meant to be right now, and that you are on the path where you are meant to be....
Because during these times, hope will be the very thing that carries you through.
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,
Together we face another lockdown and again remote learning is a reality for our community. I commend the staff and families for the smooth transition but most of all the children. As we move forward our short-term goals are to ensure the wellbeing of our community, particularly the children in our care.
Work Permits for Parents of Onsite Students
From Tuesday 24th August, parents and carers will only be able to request onsite supervision at school for their children in the categories below.
Category A •
- Children where both parents and or carers are considered authorised workers who cannot work from home, work for an essential provider and where no other supervision arrangements can be made:
- Where there are two parents/carers, both must be essential workers, working outside the home in order for their children to be eligible for on-site provision.
- For single parents/ carers, the essential worker must be working outside the home in order for their children to be eligible for on-site provision.
Category B • Children experiencing vulnerability, including:
- in out-of-home care
- deemed vulnerable by a government agency, funded family or family violence service, and assessed as requiring education and care outside the family home
- identified by a school or early childhood service as vulnerable, (including via referral from a government agency, or funded family or family violence service, homeless or youth justice service or mental health or other health service)
- Authorised worker permits for on-site supervision Parents and carers will only be able to request on-site supervision for their child/ren in Category A if they hold a permit as an authorised worker.
Google Meets/School Contacts
This week our Foundation students will begin Google Meets with their teachers and classmates. This means that our whole school is now accessing this platform to support home learning. Feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive towards this means of remote learning. I congratulate our Year 1 teachers and now our Foundation teachers for their enthusiasm in engaging their students this way.
By way of clarity I will take this opportunity to remind you that children will get Google Meet contact with their teachers at least 3 times this week and 4 times when at home for a full week. On the day without contact the classroom teacher is onsite teaching the learning plan to children at school. The remote plan and the school plan are exactly the same.
Small Face Masks - SOLD OUT
Primary aged children are now strongly recommended to wear face masks at school. We have some reusable cloth masks for sale at the office. All SOLD now, thanks for the great response.
Thank you to Westcoast Wilcleen for the donation of these masks.
Matthew O'Brien, Principal.
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Harry Chatfield, Zoe Benson, Nellie Boyle, Sienna Addinsall, Hamish James, Frankie Chatfield, Jordan Hosking, Archer Mills, Charlie Zanos and Oscar Dart.
Even though we are all in Remote Learning and Lockdown celebrating books and stories can happen.
Book Face Competition
Library lunchtime activities will not be able to happen unfortunately. Please note that our current Book Face competition has now closed and will be judged over the week. We will let you know the winners next week and award a prize to select students in our Junior, Middle and Senior schools, judged on their photo’s accuracy, creativity and degree of difficulty. Thanks to all who have entered and to our judges - Mr O’Brien, Cathy Duynhoven and Kaye Hawkins!
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.
We would like to thank all the students, teachers and parents who took the time to enter our contest. Ultimately Book Week is about promoting and sharing our love for Children's Literature - no matter how old you are! Use this time at home again, to share your favourite stories and books. It’s the perfect opportunity to enable a book to take you to Old Worlds, New Worlds and Other Worlds!
Book of the Year
Mrs Lyn Hyland (LRC Coordinator)
Mrs Emily Lloyd
School Sports Uniform
Could all Year 3–6 students please return any borrowed School Sports Uniform items including football socks on the next day that are back at school. We need to complete a stocktake before any future competitions. Many thanks for your support.
Senior Girls’ Football
Last Thursday our Year 5 and 6 Girls’ Football team represented our school in the District football competition held at Russells Creek Oval. We were blessed with the weather which made for a great day. The girls represented themselves and our school exceptionally well. We had some great games against other schools, but to the girls' credit, they were able to win all games to secure a spot in the Grand Final against St Patrick's School, Koroit. The girls were victorious in this match! Huge thanks to Mr. O’Brien for coaching our team, and well done girls on a fantastic day.
Mr Matthew McMillan, Physical Education Teacher
Hooptime Basketball
Due to the current Covid Restrictions in Regional Victoria, both Hoop-Time Tournaments have been postponed. We will let you know the new dates for both the Year 3/4 and the Year 5/6 competitions as soon as we know them.
AFL 9’s - Year 3/4
Last Friday, we finally gained the opportunity to take some very enthusiastic Year 4 students to the Mack Oval at the Russell’s Creek Football Club. All students were divided into mixed teams, and played 6 games each. We had some of our Year 6 House Captains and School Captains assist with the coaching of the teams, alongside some Emmanuel College students as the Umpires. It was a fantastic event ran by our local AFL coordinator, which gave all the students a chance to socialise with other schools, practice new football skills with different students from their own school and learn to enjoy playing for fun and not the score!
All our students were a credit to the logo they wore and we know they would be feeling grateful for that chance. Thank you to the staff that helped our teams on the day, and especially for the invaluable leadership skills demonstrated by our Year 6 School Leaders.
Volleyball and Table Tennis
District Volleyball and Table Tennis competitions are on hold until further notice.
Regards,
Mrs Emily Lloyd (Physical Education & Sport Co-ordinator)
Mr Matthew McMillan.
Well done everyone once again with the Wipe Out Waste Program.
B5 won 'Rocky the Pup' this week with just one wrapper. Awesome effort by the students in B5!
We have reduced our last collection by a third and had 400 plastic wrappers as a total for the whole school.
The highlight of the data was that 8 classes had a combined total of 48. This shows that individual classes are making huge improvements.
No class has yet had a zero score so this would be an incentive for us all to try.
We would also like to alert everyone to the 'Lids 4 Kids' Program. Soon we will be starting this collection. This program has been rolled out across many schools nationwide already in the same way that the Bread tags for wheelchairs is working currently.
Thank you
Eva and Ella
Year 6 Sustainability Leaders
Due to current government restrictions we are unable to hold the Sacrament of First Eucharist which was to be held at the end of this week.
Once new dates have been set we will be in contact with families asking them to select their new preferred date and time.
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
These fantastic greeting cards feature your childs artwork created at school, printed onto high quality card. Each pack of 8 cards comes with red envelopes and is shrink wrapped into a single high quality package.
- Suitable for all occasions, the cards are left blank inside for that personalised message.
- An excellent idea for Mothers or Fathers Day and Christmas cards.
- Size: 155mm x 110mm - C6
- Name and age is printed on the artwork.
- All original Artwork is returned.
Ordering Details
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.
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 27th August, 2021
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.
Due to ongoing and changing restrictions the decision was made at the last PSA meeting to not hold our annual Fathers Day Breakfast this year.
As a community we still want to highlight the wonderful father figures in our life.
We have organised a raffle for our fathers, with all prizes being donated by our fathers. Tickets will be send home with the eldest child in your family.
Drawn: Friday 3rd September, 2021
1st Prize is two nights accommodation at Beacon Point Ocean View Villas donated by Jeremy Alexander and Holiday Village (http://beaconpoint.com.au/)
2nd Prize is a Beefeater BUGG BBQ donated by Leo & Gerard Duynhoven of South West Roofing and AK Garage Doors (https://www.swragd.com.au/)
3rd Prize is a $100 voucher to the Flying Horse Bar & Brewery donated by Matty Monk (https://www.theflyinghorse.com.au/)
All three of these donors have been great supporters of our school and fair in the past.
Thank you
Thank you to Star Printing for their support of this raffle by providing the printing of the tickets at no charge to the school.
