Matthew O'Brien, Principal

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

St Joseph’s commits itself to Reconciliation. National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Our assembly next week (not this Friday) is a celebration of Aboriginal culture in our local community.

Confirmation

This week many of our Year 3 children are celebrating Confirmation. Confirmation, along with Baptism and Eucharist are the three sacraments of Catholic initiation. These children have been preparing with their families and teachers over the past few weeks.

Good luck to all of these children as they celebrate this sacrament.

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Edward Jeffries, Sophie Morris, Grace Densley, Herbie Neagle, Ezra Smith, Harley Advincula, Lexie Gleisner, Summer Smedts, Dia Jagad, Levi Wood, Sam Bushell and Ethan Eder.

Mr O’Brien’s Great Wall of ART

This year  Mr O’Brien is creating  ‘The Great Wall of Art’ in his office. One or two students’ work from each art experience will be selected to hang for a period of time on this wall.  

New works include:

Grade 5

Pete Cromer inspired Art

Artist: Daisy Martin, F4

Grade 5

Pete Cromer inspired Art

Artist: Greta Farley, Room F5

Regional Cross Country

On Monday 30th May our cross country athletes competed at the Regional competition held at Deakin University. There were kids from all over our region competing, including schools from Geelong and Ballarat, so it is mean feat to progress this far.

Congratulations to all, in particular Lottie Wilkinson, Gano Akoch, Ethan Alexander, Molly McNeil and Lucy Howland who finished in the top 12 of their event. They will all now go on to the State finals on Thursday 14th July.

Well done everyone.

District Winter Sports

This Friday sees our Winter Sports teams take to their respective fields for the District Winter sports competition. Congratulations to all who will represent St. Josephs on the day. Football and Netball are played at Walter Oval, T-Ball here at St. Josephs and Soccer at East Warrnambool Primary school.

Goodluck to all.

Girls Football

Girls football is quickly approaching, with our District competition being held at the Mac Oval in Warrnambool on Thursday 9th June. Mr O’Brien has been training the girls at recess and lunch times over the past couple of weeks, with the girls showing some great skills, as well as a keen interest and a great attitude. More on Girls football in next week's newsletter.

GALS - Girls As Leaders in STEM… Project update!

On Monday 23rd May, Ruby, Layla, Meg and myself participated in some Water Testing with a local scientist, Lachlan Farrington. Lachie showed us how to use the testing equipment and it was a lot of fun. Lachie showed us how to find the temperature of the water, the PH, salinity level, and the amount of oxygen that was in the water! The water quality wasn’t great, but it was nice to see a fair bit of water in the creek after a long summer.

We used the school closure day to come to school and have the opportunity to get into the creek, get muddy and wet, and have lots of fun. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any water rats (Rakali) in the creek, but it was a very nice experience.

Soon, we are meeting with Jarred Orbst, who will also help us with our project. A big thank you to Lachie who helped us out a lot, and we learnt so much from him. 

Sarah McInerney, Student, Room E1

Please come along to our community meeting on Tuesday 7th June. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and decide on the future of our school fair. In order to proceed with the Fair for 2023 and beyond we need to reinstate the Fair Committee. The Fair Committee meets monthly in the year leading up to the fair then more frequently as the fair nears. The Fair Committee is largely made up of stall coordinators e.g. cake stall, fill a basket, food, rides, devonshire teas, market garden etc. and an executive who oversees the coordination of the event. In all the committee is about 20 people strong.

We are particularly reaching out to past coordinators to attend the meeting to share their expertise.

The fair requires the commitment of our whole parent community. Every family is asked to donate goods and to volunteer their time across the fair weekend. 

Please indicate your attendance at the community meeting to begin shaping the 2023 Fair.

Please note that should the PSA think that we do not have the personnel to run the fair then it will not proceed in 2023.

Adrian Benson PSA Chair

Online Enrolment

Online enrolments are now available and can be completed and submitted electronically. 

For this process go to our school website and select the Enrolment tab. Complete the Enrolment Enquiry to add your details for reminders and updates.  

Under the Enrolment Tab you will also notice an Online Enrolment Form - select this and away you go. A tip with this one is do not use a phone or ipad to complete the form, any laptop or desktop computer will work fine. 

You will also need to make sure you have your child's documentation (birth, immunisation, baptism certificates and any specialist reports) loaded onto your device, either by taking a photo or scanning and uploading as you will be able to upload all of that as well.  

Our PSA is holding a Pie Drive this term, in conjunction with Alex Luu from Gallo Bakery and Take Away. Alex is one of our many St Joseph’s Primary School business owners.  All orders can be made through CDFPay Online Ordering system.

Orders will close at 3:00 pm on Monday 20th June, 2022.

Orders will be delivered to school

Foundation to Year 3 - Wednesday 22nd June

Years 4, 5 and 6 - Thursday 23rd June

Pies and pasties all come in a pack of 4 and party pies are sold in a pack of 12.

Types of Pies and Pasties available are:

• Party Pies (Pack of 12) $14.50
• Meat and Veggie Pasties (Pack of 4) $14.50
• Plain Pies (Pack of 4) $14.50
• Family Meat Pies (one pie) $14.50
• Cheese and Bacon Pies (Pack of 4) $16.50
• Mushroom Pies (Pack of 4) $16.50
• Onion Pies (Pack of 4) $16.50
• Pepper Pies (Pack of 4) $16.50 
• Curry Pies (Pack of 4) $16.50

Pizza Day: Wednesday 8th June, 2022

Orders Close: 3pm Monday 6th June, 2022

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 are now open 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.

There will be no whole school assembly this Friday 3rd June, 2022.

School Canteen Support 

ReLATE Parent/Student Survey

Monash University have contacted our school in order to gain insight into the Reframing Teaching and Learning (ReLATE) initiative.  Parents are invited to complete the following 15min survey with their Year 4-6 children.  he survey is anonymous and will provide feedback to MacKillop Family Services on the program. 

Men's Rosary Group

Holiday Actors and Warrnambool Theatre Company

Warrnambool Library