Matthew O'Brien, Principal

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

Feast of St Mary MacKillop: Sunday 8th August

“A little patience will in the end be rewarded" St. Mary Mackillop

St Mary MacKillop dedicated her life to the care and education of children in Australia, particularly rural Australia. Her impact down in this corner of the world was remarkable. The above quote attributed to Mary MacKillop provides me with a little direction as we move in and out of lockdowns. Patience is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious”. May we all support each other through this uncertainty with patience.

Return to school

It is with great joy that I can announce that school resumes for all children tomorrow (Tuesday).

In doing so I would like to again acknowledge the work of the staff in migrating to and from flexible learning.  I would also like to recognise our parent community who are “rolling with the punches” in and out of lockdowns.

Should you be aware that this uncertainty is causing undue stress on your child please contact Michelle McIntyre-Hand or your classroom teacher.

Our staff is acutely aware of the wellbeing needs of our students and will be preparing them for the possibility of future lockdowns.

Moving forward in uncertain times

Our staff are prepared to move into remote learning again. In the last two lockdowns we have had official notification after school had closed. We are prepared for this to happen several times again.

I am writing this note whilst waiting for the School Operations Guide which will provide detailed clarity around sacramental celebrations, sports, camps, excursions etc. We will update you as the information becomes available. As always, the safety of your children and our community is our primary concern.

Congratulations (St Joseph’s own) Nathan Sobey

Congratulations to Nathan Sobey on behalf of the St Joseph’s School Community on an outstanding achievement in being a part of the medal winning Australian Boomers basketball team. Nathan’s success can be an inspiration to all the St Joseph's children.

Matthew O'Brien, Principal.

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Charlie Milroy, Lachlan Gome, Pippa Jones, Rhyleigh Thornton, Sarah McInerney, Zac Beaton, Rhea Sony, Vidhi Jagad, Cooper McCosh, Sienna Johnson and Kamarni Williams.

Parents are invited to complete a Remote Learning Parent Survey to provide some feedback to the school.

It should take 5-10 minutes of your time. Thank you.

We have already made changes as a result of feedback received by our parents.

This survey closes on Friday 13th August, 2021.

Throughout Term 2 and the start of Term 3 a group of 11 dedicated students have given up a lunch time each week to work on a range of projects. These students have helped create and make frames to be used in our arts week display and have helped design and paint the vertical garden mural created outside D3.

It has taken great patience and skill and the students should be really proud of this work.  This garden is outside the front of the school beside D3. You are welcome to come and have a look at their work.

On Friday D3 planted some plants outside our classroom. We did this to make the school a better place. Thank you Andrew and Sharon for helping us. It makes us feel happy and comfortable. By Roisin Hansford

 On Friday we planted plants with Sharon and Andrew. I think it was fun because it made us feel happy. By Ned Van Rooy

At this stage Inter-School Sport remains in question. The Division Hockey was cancelled last Friday and the planned Winter Sports and Year 3/4 Hoop-Time competitions are also postponed until further notice!

All of our sporting events will depend on the new Guidelines that will be passed onto us this Monday or Tuesday.  We will need to reassess our trial and training schedule that was originally set, so that it remains in line with these guidelines.  Students in Years 3- 6 are encouraged to check the Sports Noticeboard. Perhaps students could bring their sneakers separately each day, just in case.

For any further information, please email us at sport@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

We thank you for your patience and support throughout this challenging time.

Regards, 

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

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.

Thursday 19th August, 2021, Orders close 3pm Tuesday 17th August, 2021

Note: If your child is part of the Girls Football team then you are advised to cancel their pizza order as they will not be back for lunchtime.

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.

Previously at this time of year, we have celebrated Grandparents Day at St. Joseph’s, which falls around the feast day of Jesus’ Grandparents, Joachim and Anne.

As we cannot meet together at school for such occasions this year, families might like to enter a photo of their grandparents, perhaps with their grandchildren as well, which will make up a movie that can be viewed at home and school.

If you would like to participate, send your photo/s to the listed email address by Friday 20th August.  Please ensure you have permission from the people in the photos, to share, as they will be viewed by our school community. Emails will only be accepted from parents' email addresses, not students’ email addresses.

Email: grandparents@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

As we are preparing for offsite activities such as school camps, excursions and other school actvities, we require all families to login to PAM and update their child's Medical Information. Please take the time to check that all information is correct and reference numbers are submitted for ambulance subscription. 

This information assists with our electronic permission forms that is a feature in PAM, we require you to update the Medical Profile for your child/ren. If your child has an Asthma, Anaphylactic or Allergy Plan it is important that you check that it is up to date and upload the most current copy to PAM.   

Please follow the instructions below to update a medical profile for each of your children by:

1. Click on link to PAM (found on our webpage or SZapp)
2. Click on student (if more than 1 child, this will need to be done individually)
3. Click on Medical Profile (blue writing to the left of screen)
4. Check all questions and select Edit Details for updates to be made.
5. Once you get to the end of the questions please confirm by clicking on the Green “Update Details” Box found at the bottom right of screen.

As a parent/guardian you are able to access your child/rens medical profile on PAM at any time to update as needed.  Administration will send out reminders each term  requesting you update any necessary information.

If you have any queries, please contact with the office.  

To all families that park and collect children from Queens Road, a reminder that the vacant land adjacant to the creek IS PRIVATE PROPERTY and we ask school families to please NOT park there while waiting for your children to be collected.

Please remember the Aquazone car park is available as well as along Queens Road.

We are hoping you can help us locate some missing jewellery. Last week a student in the middle school brought some of their mums lovely jewellery to school. Unfortunately it has been misplaced or loaned to another student. 

If anyone notices, or finds, any jewellery in their child’s bag could they please drop it into the school office.

Just Kidding National Drawing Competition

It couldn't be easier. Just pick up a pencil and a sheet of paper and draw a picture or sketch using any theme you want. It could be your favourite pet, a self portrait, a family member, an interest or sport that you love, something completely abstract ... absolutely anything!