Michael Gray, Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and our Wider School Community.

Strategic Planning 2020-2024 Workshop, Developing Catholic Education across our Diocese.

 The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Education Office will be holding Strategic Planning 2020-2024 Workshops in Colac and Warrnambool. These workshops are open to staff, parents, parish and community members and will be held in Colac on Monday 29 July and Warrnambool on Tuesday 30 July. We look forward to your participation in the planning for 2020-2024. Come and Join Us!

Parish News

Fr. John Fitzgerald heads off on his sabbatical to the Holy Land, including Jordan and Egypt today and will be away for a couple of months. We wish John all the best for what will be a time of renewal, learning and challenge. John's major focus will be an ecumenical experience (religions learning from and about each other). He will study at Tantur (Notre Dame Campus in Jerusalem).

A warm welcome to Fr. Peter Murnane OP who is with us while John is away. We trust his time here at St. Joseph’s will be a fulfilling one. We also welcome Fr. John Corrigan who has recently been appointed as an Assistant Priest to this area and will support our parish sacramental program and the parish of Koroit and Port Fairy.

Fortunately, we also have to stay with us Fr. Edward who is a training Jesuit priest completing his pastoral experience. Fr. Edward is from Zimbabwe. Edward has an amazing story to tell; he lives and works in a parish on the edge of Lake Victoria in Africa.

Election Update

A reminder that St. Joseph’s Hall is a polling venue for the Federal election this weekend. As the Commonwealth is the predominant funder of non-government schools, including St. Joseph’s, the National Catholic Commission (NCEC) has endorsed the following document to share with our communities. The Commission (NCEC) is the body that presents catholic schools funding issues to governments for consideration.

This linked document presents the three main parties answers to the key questions about funding our sector. The document includes the response of the Coalition, Labour and Greens in the interest of sharing this information. Of note also Dan Tehan, our local member, is the current education minister.

Congratulations to Gold Box winner Levi Wood for going above and beyond to place a school jumper in lost property.

Winners of our Gold Box get to go for a swim at the pool.

As parents of Grade 3 and 5 children are aware, NAPLAN (National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy), is taking place this week.

Tuesday has Grammar and Punctuation and the Writing assessment, Wednesday is Reading and finally Thursday is Numeracy. All children in Grade 3 and 5 will sit the tests unless they are exempt because they have an intellectual disability or learning English for less than 12 months OR they have been withdrawn by their parents for any reason. However, to have your child withdrawn, parents have to sign a form and return to school before the tests occur. If you or your child have any concerns, please contact either your child's teacher or Jim Guinan through the school office.

Andrew McCombe, Physical Education and Sport Co-ordinator

Cross Country 2019

A big thank you to the students who participated in the School House Cross Country. Also special thanks to staff, parents and grandparents and the broader school community who turned out in the cool blustery weather to support the event.  A special thanks to those parents who offered their support as marshalls and helped out on the day.

Below is a list of all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Placegetters on the day.  We wish all the students who have qualified for the District Competition this Friday the best of luck. Notes will go out when the team has been finalised. A reminder that parents are asked to phone the school office if they take their child home directly from Cross Country rather than the child returning to school on the bus.

Finally, congratulations to Gold House who just pipped Blue house by six points in the House Trophy in a very tight finish.  

District Golf Finals

A team of 18 students represented our school in the District Golf Day last Friday.

A big thank you to Mrs Saywell for training the kids and being a great coach on the day.  Also thank you to Chris Crabbe for his expert tips and Jo Millard and the Warrnambool Golf Club for organising the event.  

The team played really well and we have three students; Joseph Brown, Sam Marris and Olivia Porter who have qualified for the next round later in the Year.  A great achievement. Well Done.

Aussie Footy (Grades 5 and 6)

Our first game of the Aussie Footy Program was played on Wednesday night.  

We played Warrnambool Primary School in a great contest.  Well done to all the boys and girls that participated and displayed great sportsmanship on the night.  

This Wednesday all players can participate in an Intra-school match between each other on the Junior Oval to practice for the upcoming Winter Sports.  We will commence at 3:45pm and finish at 4:45pm. Parents are welcome to watch and support our teams throughout the program.

Return Forms by: Wednesday 29 May 2019 if possible

Photo Day: Thursday 30 May 2019

Photo Order Forms: School photo order forms with child’s name and room number have been sent home with your child. We encourage you to return the envelopes to school as soon as possible. Please return by Wednesday 29 May. A surcharge of $25 may be applied by MSP Photography to late orders.

Family Photos: Families will have also received a personalised family photo envelope. Spare family photo order envelopes can be collected from the office.

Uniform: Children are required to wear full Winter Uniform. The school uniform policy allows for boys to wear grey shorts and girls to wear culottes all year. All children are required to wear their school jumper (not jacket) for their photos. It may be timely to check lost property if your child has lost their jumper

Class Sports Day: If it is your child has sport on Thursday, please put runners in their bag so that school shoes are on for photos.

All students will have their individual photo taken and be in a class photo on the day regardless of whether an order has been placed.

MSP photography can be contacted on (03) 5222 6747

We hope that all our school mums and special friends had an enjoyable Mother's Day on Sunday.

Thanks to Penny Walsh and her team of helpers for putting together a wonderful stall with lots of special gifts for our mums.

Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in Week 9 of this term on the School Closure day, Monday 17 June, at various times from 11:30am - 4:00pm and on Tuesday 18 June between 3:40pm and 6pm.

Bookings are not yet open and will once again be made through PAM using your parent login and password.

More information will follow in future newsletters.

This year we are having our Biannual Arts week to incorporate both the Visual and Performing Arts using many different and varied mediums and materials. The date set for this is 2-6 September, 2019 in Term 3.

Our week comprises daily activities where children in their class groupings will be experiencing Arts activities from Monday to Thursday. In the past we have involved the participation of many community groups, businesses and parent volunteers in our program. In past years we had over 20 different Arts Activities throughout the week. These activities ranged from painting, tap dancing, kite making, felt making, Martial Arts, to Theatrical Make-up to name just a few. Our Theme this year is, “Under an African sky- A tribal theme’.

Our aim is to promote the Arts within our school and provide our students with a wonderful, positive and creative experience in varying areas of the arts. We are looking for parents or grandparents who would be willing to take an activity or participate as a helper in our program. All volunteers would need a current Working with Children Check.

Click to complete a form to volunteer for Arts Week.

Many Thanks, Kath McMeel
Arts Week Coordinator

Thank you to all our canteen volunteers.

Religious Sacramental Gifts

Fair Sponsors, Annies Gifts in Koroit Street, Warrnambool have a large range of Confirmation gifts available.

They also stock gifts suitable for all religious sacraments.