Matthew O'Brien, Principal

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

God of all seasons,
The winter months are hard for those who cannot escape the cold.
I cannot clothe the world,
but I can offer this prayer to those who are without four walls
to protect them from the season.
May this prayer find those who struggle to fight the cold,
that they may feel the warmth of your love.
Jesus wrapped his arms around those who struggled.
Let me do my best to follow that example.
Amen.

Girls Football

On Thursday 8th June, 22 excited girls left our school to represent St Joseph’s in Girls' Footy, we trained really hard so we could do our best.

We played against three different schools, Woolsthorpe and Koroit, East, and St Pius. We didn’t make it to finals, but that doesn’t matter because we tried our best and had lots of fun. In the end, we represented our school with sportsmanship and respect.

Year 6 Football students

Our Sister School

Doshisha Elementary School in Kyoto, Japan. 

Last week, some Year 5 children had the opportunity to engage with students from our friendship school,  Doshisha Elementary School in Kyoto, Japan.

The students met via Google Meets and used their Japanese introductory skills. They answered and asked questions, to get to know the Doshisha students, using Japanese when they could.

It was a great opportunity to further our connection with Doshisha Elementary School.  Thanks to Mrs Lee and Sensei Deguchi for their organisation. 

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Oscar Lawlor, Bryan Bhullar, Emma Hatfield, Molly McNeil, Mila Place, Ava Gleeson Templeton, Oscar Greenwood, Eddie Wearne, Afomia Assefa, Poppy O’Brien, Zara Anderson, Mary Fitzgerald, Sophie Mugavin, Isaac Dixon, Ruby Williams.

Parent Teachers Interviews and Reports

On Friday 16th June, Semester 1 reports will be released via the Parent Access Module (PAM) accessible from the SZApp and our website. These reports provide families with information about children’s progress socially, academically and behaviorally. The written report will be accompanied by each child’s “Work Sample Folder”. This folder will contain examples of the children’s work across the semester. It may include a range of subjects, assessment pieces, unedited work and published pieces. 

Following the reports we will be conducting the mid-year Parent Teacher Conversations.  These conversations are designed for two way communication between parents and teachers to further discuss children’s progress. These are held from 3:30pm - 6:00pm on Monday 19th June and Tuesday 20th June.

Parent Teacher Conversations can be booked via PAM. Parents are welcome to book a phone call or come into school for a face to face meeting.  Please note that some parents have participated in a PSG in the past few weeks and this meeting will take the place of the Parent Teacher Conversation. 

Henry Morrissey, Year 6 student

On Thursday, the year 6 group went for an excursion to the Church, and we learnt about many interesting things. Each church has a stained window representing a special catholic. Ours is St Mary. Churches also represent on these windows Christ In Majesty and St John The Baptist. These figures were chosen because the Catholic Church only recognizes the birthdays of these three in its liturgical calendar. We learnt so much, Thankyou Father John and Mary for having us. 

Atticus Delaney, Year 6 student

The year 6’s had the privilege to see and play the organ. It was really fantastic and everyone got a turn. The organ has around 2012 individual pipes. There are three rows of keys and two rows of foot pedals. The choir loft was oak panelled and very pretty. Normally it would be only for choirs and organists. It was a fantastic experience and everyone was very respectful and well behaved.

Aila Kamath, Year 6 student

At Church one of the things I found interesting is that behind the altar (The Reredos) Is that each animal/ human represents one of the 4 gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We also found out The Reredos can open and it shows the Flight to Egypt, with Mary on a donkey and Joseph walking next to her. On the other side it shows the Christmas Story with Mary holding Jesus, the 3 wise men and an angel talking to Mary. It was amazing learning about all these things. A big thankyou to Father John and Mary for showing us your amazing church with us!

Sienna Johnson, Year 6 student

Going to the church was fun and we got to look around and see what all of the symbols meant. We got to see parts of the church that many people haven't seen before. When we got there, parts of the churches roof had fallen apart because of the storm the night before. We were all really appreciative of Mrs Chisholm, Father John and Mary allowing us to have the opportunity to see and explore the Church and how we ourselves can be ‘the church in the world.’

Last week on Thursday 8th June we had a visit from School Performance Tours with a show called ‘Let’s Chat Habitat’. All of Year 2 were entertained and informed by Sam and her puppets who gave us some very important messages. 

Through the puppet show and raps Sam helped tell us all about the impact we have on our environment and how that affects the habitats of animals. We found out about how dinosaurs became extinct and that made us very sad. We learnt about our ‘Carbon footprint’ and how it is making the air hotter. We know that there are things we can do which will help look after the animal’s habitats. We can put our rubbish in the bin, turn the lights off and other electricity when we’re not using them and recycle and reuse when we can. Some of our friends Tully and Henly helped Sam show us how to make our own puppets by reusing materials. Thanks to Sam and her puppets we know the difference between ‘Weather’ and ‘Climate’ and what we can do to help. 

This term we have been learning about ‘Living Things’ and their habitats and we know that if habitats are damaged then animals will die and we don’t want that to happen. 

We loved our incursion and learnt a lot about what we can do to save the animal’s habitats.

Last week every Foundation and Year 1 student were fortunate to experience an Author Visit by children’s author, Dave O’Neill. He read his debut book based on The Great Ocean Road. “The Seagull Who Soared” tells the tale of Stevie the seagull who lives at Torquay and takes off on an adventure to find Stingray Bay in Warrnambool. 

Dave sessions thoroughly engaged the students. He talked about chasing your dreams, as relentlessly as seagulls chase hot chips and the secrets to storytelling. 

If your child missed out on the book, it is available at Collins Books and the Visitor Information Centre.

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.  

NCCD is the National Collection of data for Children with Disability. This body collects information from St Joseph's about the levels of disability funding that a child may be eligible to access in a school environment.

School Canteen Support 

We have an overflowing supply of lost property. There are lots of school jumpers and jackets.