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Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,
Behaviour Matrix
At St Joseph’s, we believe that positive behaviour is the key to creating safe, happy and productive learning and play environments. The children and staff work hard to create a positive culture that encourages respect, responsibility and kindness, both in and out of the classroom. We believe that by promoting positive behaviour, we can help our students to become happy, confident, and successful members of our community.
To promote positive behaviour, we have established a set of clear and consistent expectations that all students are expected to follow. These Learning Behaviours are displayed in all of our classrooms and shared areas. These expectations include things like being respectful to others, moving safely, and taking responsibility for our actions. By adhering to these expectations, students are able to create a positive and safe environment for themselves and others.
We also believe in the power of positive reinforcement. That's why we regularly recognize and reward positive behaviour at our school. Whether it's a simple "good job" from a teacher or a classroom award, we believe that positive reinforcement is a great way to encourage students to continue making good choices.
We all acknowledge that at times things don’t always go to plan and that children may deliberately or accidentally infringe on other children’s right to be safe, to be happy and to learn. To this end the staff and students have worked together to identify behaviours that fall below our expectations. These behaviours have been categorised as Minor and Major. Minor behaviours would be dealt with in class and/or the yard. Major behaviours would involve school leadership and parents being informed. Basically, the difference between the two categories is that Majors have some intention to hurt someone physically or emotionally or deliberately cause interruption to lessons or games.
We had 20 parents at the PSA meeting last Tuesday provide feedback on this document and gain clarifications. I am sharing it with you now for your consideration and invite your feedback on the form below.
Finally, we know that promoting positive behaviour is a team effort. That's why we encourage parents and caregivers to support our efforts by reinforcing positive behaviour at home. By working together, we can help our students to become the best they can be.
School Arrival and Before School Care
Many children are arriving at school well before 8:30 am when our school gates open. Some of these children are being dropped off in the loop and others are making their way into the school grounds via the Russells Creek path. Please ensure that your child does not arrive before 8:30 am so that we can be confident that everyone is safe and supervised.
We are making enquiries with our After School Care provider about the provision of Before School Care to support families for whom an 8:30 am drop off is difficult. We will survey families to garner interest in Before School Care in a subsequent newsletter when we have some details.
Staff Professional Development Day
Yesterday our staff worked with Danielle Buzaglo (Educational Psychologist), Rebecca Free (Speech Pathologist) and Kate Sadler Learning Diversity Officer to further our shared understanding of the strengths and needs of children with specific learning disorders and/or developmental language disorders. We examined strategies to support these children in the classroom and explored interventions beyond the classroom. One of the take away messages from the day is that the strategies that support children with particular needs actually support all students.
Invitation to Friday Liturgy
This Friday 24th February we will be officially launching our new school prayer. Everyone is invited to this liturgy which takes place at our usual assembly time of 2:45 pm.
Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Hadley Boyle, Logan Hunter, Olivia McCarthy, Luca McSween, Lucinda Bishop, Sean Du, Hannah Smith and Jackson Snell.
Parent Teachers Interview are held in person at the school.
Enter via the front door of the school and proceed to your child's classroom and wait at the classroom inside door.
Bookings and changes for Tuesday 21st February can now only be made by calling the office prior to 4pm today.
Bookings for Wednesday 22 February close at 11 am on Wednesday.
Children may wait in the library during the Parent Teacher Interview.
Strictly no playground use after school as there is no supervision.
This year we are tweaking our athletics carnival to make it more parent friendly and to create a community event. Our date is Thursday 9th March from 1pm - 6pm followed by a picnic tea.
As this will be a long and exhausting day, children are asked to rest at home until 12:30pm.
Events will start at 1:00pm.
We will be able to provide supervision for children should this late start cause undue complications for some families. No lunch orders this day.
More information to follow.
Wellbeing of all, is at the heart of Catholic Education. Enabling a learning environment which provides for the spiritual, physical, emotional, cognitive and social wellbeing of its participants. It is especially important to ensure that children and young people’s wellbeing is looked after in times of uncertainty and stress. Supporting wellbeing not only helps children and young people to feel happier and less anxious, it will also help them to have positive interactions with the rest of the family and to learn more effectively.
Some parents or carers may choose to do wellbeing activities with their child or even with the whole family. Activities that support wellbeing are beneficial for people of all ages and can provide a great opportunity for family members to bond and experience positive emotions together. One activity is practising gratitude. It may be something you have done before but it may be something that has dropped off in the business of life. You may like to give this a go with your family.
Gratitude
It is always important, especially in difficult times, to appreciate the things that we may take for granted – like having a place to live, food, clean water, friends, family, even access to technology. Gratitude is pausing to notice and appreciate these things. It’s taking a moment to reflect on how fortunate we are when something good happens — whether it’s a small thing or a big thing. Did you know that practising gratitude for 21 days in a row can re–train the brain to look for positives in the world instead of negatives? By simply being grateful, children and young people can experience a greater sense of optimism, happiness and calm.
Gratitude Questions to use with your children:
- What was the best thing that happened to me today?
- Who am I most grateful for today and why?
- What am I looking forward to most about tomorrow?
New LRC leaders for 2023!
Book Report
“Ranger's Apprentice" is a thrilling book series by Australian author John Flanagan, consisting of twelve books. The first book, "The Ruins of Gorlan," follows the story of Will, a young orphan boy who aspires to become a knight but is instead chosen to be a Ranger's apprentice. The Rangers are a mysterious group of skilled archers and trackers who serve the Kingdom of Araluen, protecting it from external and internal threats.
Throughout the series, Will and his fellow Rangers encounter various challenges, from infiltrating enemy castles to defending their kingdom from invading armies. Along the way, Will learns valuable lessons about leadership, loyalty, and perseverance as he becomes a respected member of the Ranger corps.
Sam Collins, Student, Year 6
Living With Primary Aged Children
7:30 pm, Tuesday 28th February and 1:30pm, Wednesday 1st March
Location: Len Hogan Room
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter Helen Diamond from Catholic Care is running a session for parents on Living With Primary Aged Children. Helen is drawing information from evidence based parenting programs; “Circle of Security Parenting”, “Bringing up Great Kids” by the Australian Childhood Foundation and “Tuning into Kids” as well as the observations and experiences of parents she has met along the way.
There is an evening and a daytime session (both identical) and we believe that these sessions are so important that we will supply babysitting services should you require.
Senior Reconciliation is a Sacramental Program for Year 6 students who have completed their Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist Sacraments.
Complete the registration form if your child would like to participate in this program. Please make $20 payment through CDFpay.
The Student and Parent Information meeting is held at St Joseph's church.
This is a Parish run program supported by the school. Please contact Leanne at the Parish on 5562 2231 with any queries.
Key Dates
3pm, Wednesday 15th February, 2023 - Registration and payment closes
7:00pm, Tuesday 21st February, 2023 - Student and Parent Information meeting
*New confirmed time* 5pm, Tuesday 28th March, 2023 - Sacrament of Reconciliation
The Camps, Sports Excursion Fund is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities. If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. An allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child.
The annual CSEF amount per primary aged student is $125 per year.
If you qualify for CSEF support, you are also eligible to apply for the Family Fee Assistance Program funded by DOBCEL. The FFA is to help families with the Annual Family Fee by reducing this amount to $520 for the year; this means in 2023 the FFA support is $860 per family.
Both funds are to be applied for through the school (with both forms included here). These need to be submitted at the school office along with a copy of your current Health Care Card, or Veterans Affairs Card.
If you have applied for this before you do not need to submit this form each year, however if you have become eligible over the past 6 months or are a new family, please lodge your application. To be eligible your card must be valid on Friday 27th January 2023.
In accordance with the DOBCEL Digital Technology Policy and the St Joseph's Acceptable Use and Cyber Safety Agreement, it is it is a requirement that mobile phones and personal electronic device must be signed into the school office.
We understand that from time to time students may bring a device for use before or after school. If your child brings a phone or device they are required to sign them into the school office prior to school and collected at the end of the day. These items are stored securley in the office area.
For any students wearing a smartwatch it is a requirement that they must see the Assistant Principal to clarify its operation during school hours.
Please remind your child of this process.