School concludes at 2:30pm, Friday 23rd September, 2023

Note the early finish time of school this Friday for all students.

Country buses run to an earlier timetable.

Students who use the town bus system should check the timetable for the route that they use.

Matthew O'Brien, Principal

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

 

FEAST of the SACRED HEART

A New Heart for a New World

Create a new heart, loving Creator.

Beckon our lives through your Word.

Open our eyes to your call

United as one for your world.

Heighten our minds to your thoughts.

Heal us of pride and of hurt.

May we go forth in your Name.

We pray our hearts change.

Amen

Mass for the Community and St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal

This week the catholic community celebrates the Feast of the Sacred Heart when there is an invitation to reflect on loving as Jesus loved.

• What would it mean to love as Jesus did?
• How can my heart become more "sacred?"
• How does the call to respect the dignity and sacredness of all God's creation influence my actions?

Our school community will reflect on this feast by celebrating mass together on Friday. In the past this mass has been known as Poor Man’s Mass or Mass for the Poor. It is important that we reframe and rename this mass as Mass for our Community. This renaming is necessary because all of us could be in need of a little help at any stage. It is important that we and our children do not regard those in need as “others” or different or in need of our leftovers or our pity. But understand that we all could be in need of “a hand up” with a stroke of bad luck.

We will also be taking part in the Catholic tradition of supporting the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal. Our Mini Vinnies group is promoting the appeal in the classrooms by organising the Pyjama and Movie Day on Thursday. The need from St Vincent de Paul is for money. This money is converted into vouchers for families for groceries, clothes, bills etc. You are invited to donate using the CDF Pay.

One of the issues with CDF Pay is that the children may not see your donation nor understand where it is going. If you are making a donation I invite you to take a moment and gather your kids with you and let them know what it is and who it is for. Also, point out the St Vincent store as you drive by and help them understand the connection between our school, the church and the work of St Vincent de Paul. 

As members of St Joseph’s Primary School we are all also members of the Star of the Sea Parish (regardless of our faith identity) and can take pride in the great works that our St Vincent de Paul Society do in our name. Last Sunday at each of the parish masses a St Vincent de Paul volunteer gave a speech inviting us to support the appeal. I have attached it here for you.

Address to the parish by members of St Vincent De Paul Society

Address to the parish by members of St Vincent De Paul Society 91.82 KB

Donations to the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal can be made via the CDFPay link in the SZApp or on our website.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Noah and Dominic Anderson who celebrated their Confirmation at mass on Sunday.

Enjoyable holiday break

Finally, thanks to all of the children and teachers for their efforts, laughter, successes and mistakes over the term. I hope that everyone has an enjoyable holiday wherever you may be. 

Staffing Update

Kerri Struth retires from St Joseph’s on Wednesday.  Kerri has been a long serving Learning Support Officer who has always brought joy and positivity to our students and staff. Kerri’s infectious enthusiasm will be missed by all at St Josephs. Good luck Kerri in your next chapter.

Clare Stacey will stay on leave for the remainder of 2022 and Louis O’Connor will continue to teach in B8.

I am delighted to announce that Jen Hawkins will join St Josephs as a speech therapist one day per week beginning next term. Jen is well known to our school as she has previously worked for the Catholic Education Office as a speech therapist in our area. Jen brings extraordinary expertise in developmental language acquisition and I am looking forward to her contribution to our community.

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Jayden D’Arma, Matthew Killen, Elijah Bishop, Oliver Ault, Jacky Deverall, Billy Nicolson, Abel Wall, Esmae Coleman, Remy Roberts, Milla Delaney and Rylan Hunter.

Hockey Tryouts

Hockey tryouts for Year 6 boys and girls will be held at lunchtime on Wednesday 21st June, 2023.

We are celebrating a school mass on the last day of term, Friday 23rd June. We will be celebrating the Mass for the Community. The mass is an opportunity to remember the more vulnerable members of our community, and gives us the opportunity to reflect on how we respond to the Gospel message of being “Good News to the Poor and vulnerable”.

As part of Mass for the Community, the Mini Vinnies will be helping to run a pyjama  and movie day on Thursday 22nd  June. The children will be encouraged to wear their pyjamas and make a small donation via CDF Pay. Monies raised will go to St Vincent de Paul.

Please ensure your children bring a warm jumper or coat and wear sensible shoes. Slippers and dressing gowns can be worn in the classroom.

Congratulations to these Grade 3 - 6 children, who challenged themselves and gave this maths competition a go.  Here is an example of the types of questions that the children were challenged by.  

Francesca wrote down three consecutive two-digit numbers in their natural order but, instead of digits, she used these symbols: 

□♢, ♡△, ♡□      

Which number is next? 

□♡           □□          ♡♡         ♢□           ♡♢

Explanation Answer: 

♡ ♡

From the change of the first digit we conclude that ◊ = 9, △ = 0, □ = 1. So the first number is 19 and we have ♡ =2, So, the next number to write is , which would be 22 ♡ ♡

Well done to the following children:

Year 3

Harry Leach, Patrick Dufty, Nash Anderson, Eddie O’Donnell, Joel King, Akarsan Paramanantham, Will McCarthy, Hugh Wright, Mary Fitzgerald, Jacky Deverall, Daisy Brown, Rebecca Coghlan, Isaac Rae, Noah Daffy, Sophie Dubyna, Eddie Wearne, Sienna Keramaris

Year 4

Harrison Farrelly, Leo Rees, Lewis Austin, Dia Jagad, Chelsea Kao, Elise Perry, Alfie Woonton, Cooper McDonald, Abbie Wrightson, Jaxson Byron, Ella Down, Nina O’Kane, Sophie Parker, Archie Stewart, Reeve Shields, Harrison Williams, Will Farley, Max Cashmore, Harlem Field, Elijah Bishop, Georgie Milroy, Jaxon Green, Vincent Visinoni.

Year 5

Isaac Brown, Oscar Saywell, Ava Gleeson Templeton, Spencer Kenna, Darcy Drummond, Aramis Skevofylakas, Zoe Ierodiaconou, Doris Pham, Stella Monigatti, Cooper McCosh, Blair MacDougall, Cole Burleigh, Billy Main, Rhiana Gibbons,  Mackenzie Marshall, Logan Hunter, Quinn Mc Donald, Joshua Coghlan, Mia Toohey, Remy Roberts

Year 6

Mason Marshall, Aaron Lougheed, Myeisha Morden, Jack Kitto, Patrick Bowman, Ollie Marris, Lachlan Walters, Hayley Astbury, Lucy Bishop, Archie Shiells, Brody Dubyna, Patrick Ralston, Nicholas English, Chloe Vu, Aila Kamath, Amelia Roache, Lexie Gleisner,  Lenny Buckle, Sam Collins, Henry Lloyd

Hiragana Memory Cards

In the topic of Hiragana, Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students of Japanese created their own Hiragana mnemonic cards that help them memorise the Japanese scripts.

They made them by listening how they sound.

Well done, everyone.

If you want to learn more about Hiragana, download the following app of the Japan Foundation.

Registrations close: 3pm Thursday 20th July, 2023

First Eucharist is a Sacramental Program for Year 4 students who have been Baptised and Confirmed.

Please complete this form and make a $25 contribution payment, to meet the cost of materials, through CDFpay (our online ordering system).

A kit containing the materials and information to prepare your child for the Celebration of First Eucharist and details of your Family Group will be available to collect at the Parent and Student Information Meeting in the Gathering Space at St Joseph's Church. If you are unable to attend this meeting please contact the Parish.

After school groups meet at the school at 3:30pm and evening groups meet in the home at a time arranged by the families in the group.

Please contact Leanne the Parish Office on (03) 5562 2231 if you have any queries.

Key Dates

News

Tickets sales now open via CDFPay, 313 tickets have already been sold.

Thanks to those who have volunteered already. We really appreciate the assistance offered by our parents.

Our Junior Disco volunteer roster is now full with 9 on the backup list. The Middle/Senior Disco is in need of a few more volunteers.

One of the important missions of the PSA is to contribute to the sense of the school's community. To encourage as many parents who are able to attend as possible, the PSA is financially contributing to this event to allow for a subsidised package rate.

Get ready to roll with us and contribute to strengthening our school community. Some fun prizes will be on offer on the night also.

Does your child wear a 2nd hand jumper?

These bags contain jumpers that have names from children no longer at the school. If your child wears a 2nd hand jumper and hasn't relabelled it then it may be one of these.

They will be donated at the end of week 1 next term if they haven't been collected.

Art Installation

With Arts Week coming up later this term and our plan to create a special art installation inspired by the Japanese artist,Yayoi Kusama, we are desperately seeking dot stickers of various sizes and colours. We are also after some unwanted household items that are white or could be painted white, such as a tall lamp shade, small coffee table, a few bits of crockery or a random musical instrument. 

Can you run an Art sesssion?

This year in term 3 we will once again be celebrating the arts by having “Arts Week” This year the theme for Arts Week is ‘Once upon a time . . .’ 

Throughout arts week students will be engaged in a range of arts activities. If you can sing, dance, paint, act, design, build, create and feel like you would like to lead a session during arts week for a class or two, we would love to hear from you (you will need to have a current Working With Children Check; if you don’t already there is still plenty of time to apply for one.

Arts week activities will run from Monday 21st - Thursday 24th August.  The times may differ for different year levels depending on other school programs.  This will be confirmed closer to the date.

If you are interested in helping, please fill in your details via the link below:

Many thanks  - The Arts Team

Host Family for a Japanese student 

Emmanuel College is looking for a host family for a Japanese female secondary student.

Name : Kano Nagaki

Age : 17 Years old

Arrival : Melbourne on Monday 31 July

Departure : Warrnambool Saturday 26 August

Kano visited St. Joseph’s Primary school in 2016 and 2017. She came here with her family then. She went to Doshisha Elementary School , Kyoto. 

Please contact Julia Smith of Emmanuel College, if you are interested in being a host family for Kano, (Julia Smith :  jsmith@emmanuel.vic.edu.au)

School Canteen Support 

School Canteen Support 

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.