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Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,
Feast of St Mary MacKillop
Tuesday 8th August
God of the Prophets
You gifted Mary MacKillop with vision and courage.
In her, we see one who was not afraid to speak fearlessly, Your gospel of love.
We pray for the sensitivity and imagination to read the signs of our times, and to articulate new possibilities for our own day.
Like Mary, may we learn to confront all that is oppressive and unjust, and empower others towards true freedom and integrity.
Spirit of Wisdom, be with us as we face new horizons.
Amen
Staff Professional Development Day
This coming Monday 14th August our staff will be working with Jo-anne Van der Voort (DOBCEL) and Gillian Hogben (Caritas Australia) focussing on Catholic Social Teaching. Catholic Social Teaching underpins much of our Religion curriculum particularly in the call to action. Catholic Social Teaching also underpins our school policies and procedures. You can find more information on Catholic Social Teaching
School Disco
Thanks to everyone involved in the disco on Friday. We had an extraordinary attendance and it was a great night. A special thanks to Fiona Fitzgerald and the PSA for all of their coordination and to all of the parents who volunteered on the night. I would also like to thank the staff who supported this great event.
Of all the songs that were played e.g. Gangnam Style, Who Let the Dogs Out etc. The one that got the whole group up and singing was Sweet Caroline. Who would have thought?
100 Days of School
What a fun day we all had last Wednesday. Thanks to the teachers for their organisation and enthusiasm and for the children and parents for entering into the spirit of the festivities.
Enterprise Bargaining Agreement
The new industrial agreement for school staff came into effect on Monday. This agreement has made some significant changes to teacher workload. In particular there is a new provision for teachers to be paid Time In Lieu for principal directed work outside of school hours e.g. disco, camps, parent teacher meetings etc. We are currently working with DOBCEL and our school Consultative Committee to work through how these changes will be implemented whilst maintaining our extra curricular activities within our current budget.
Insight SRC Surveys
Thanks to all of the families who have completed this important (short) survey. Your Input is valued and appreciated. The surveys remain open until this Friday for those who are still to log in and complete the questions. Thanks to everyone in advance.
Congratulations Amy
Congratulations to St Joseph’s own Amy Wormald who led the Mermaids into the Big V Basketball Grand Final which will take place in Warrnambool on Saturday 19th August.
Good Luck Amy.
Picture by Eddie Guerrero (courtesy of the Warrnambool Standard)
CDFPay ordering issues on Friday 28th July
On Friday 28th July, some of you may have experienced difficulty placing a lunch order between the time of 7:45am and 8:15am. During this time NAB Transact which underpins payments for the CDFpay platform experienced a temporary outage.
What Happened?
During this time, parents attempting to place an order or add value to their child account using their stored credit card token held in the CDFpay system experienced an error.
In most instances, no order or top up was recorded in CDFpay while the stored credit card was still debited. On some occasions, parents were debited more than once.
Correction
On Wednesday of this week Cathy and a member of the CDFpay support team worked through each transaction and processed refunds for all accounts that were charged more than once. If you believe you were charged more than once and have not noticed a refund back on your card, please contact Cathy Duynhoven on 5561 1343 and we can look at this for you.
While this situation was completely out of our control, both CDFpay and St Josephs Primary School apologise for this error and thank you for your understanding.
Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Will McMahon, Logan McGennan, Hudson Moloney, Charlie Milroy, Pippa Jones and Zac Beaton.
Since the beginning of the school year, the Foundation children have been counting each day of school. Last Wednesday we celebrated our 100th day of School by dressing as if we were 100 years old. We had the cutest mini grannies and grandpas for the day.
We paraded around the outside of the school to huge applause from the rest of the school community before making our way to the hall for a fashion parade and performance of a song we have been practising all term.
Parents and grandparents were then invited back to our classrooms as we made special crowns.
The Foundation teachers are so proud of our students - they are now 100 days smarter, 100 days kinder, 100 days braver and 100 days stronger. A huge thank you to all families for supporting the day - we hope your children loved it too!
It’s only 2 more weeks to prepare the character you intend to be in this upcoming Book Week Parade on Friday 25th August! This year’s theme lends itself to just about anything and anyone.
We have been talking to the students about what it means to be inspired by someone, and that this year is the opportunity to come dressed as that person - even if they haven’t appeared in a book! I read this great article about the lead-up to Book Week for parents, and naturally as a parent of 3 children, I was curious.
2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge
Quick! The Challenge closes on Friday 8th September!
Please login using your details at https://vprc.eduweb.vic.gov.au/home
And contact us ASAP if you or your child needs some extra assistance to access the Dashboard and start adding books to your list.
Contact with Mr George El Hage at gelhage@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au or Mrs Emily Lloyd at elloyd@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au
All participants will receive a completion certificate for completing the challenge, hopefully by the final Assembly this term. Congratulations to the following students who have recently completed the Challenge:
- Max Cashmore
2023 $10,000 Business Raffle
A big thanks to Cathy Duynhoven who has attracted 41 sponsors who have all contributed towards our raffle for this year. Each family will have received their 4 x 25 tickets.Spare books are available at the office.
This is our major fundraiser for the year and we are aiming to raise in excess of $30,000.
As the sponsors' donations have contributed to the raffle costs the price of every ticket sold creates 100% profit for our school. We are planning on using the funds raised in upgrading the senior playground in the space where the spider frame once stood.
The other positive in this raffle is that the $10,000 is spent back with our sponsors thus giving back to those who are supporting us.
But Wait! There’s More! The seller of the winning ticket gets their family fee paid for next year. Wow! Good luck and thanks for your support.
7:00am - 9:00am
Friday 1st September
Our PSA is once again holding a Father's Day Breakfast for our school Dads (or special person).
Children arrive at school early with their dad and enjoy a breakfast of egg sandwiches, egg and bacon sandwiches or sausages in bread. The PSA will provide some fruit, juice and hot drinks, gluten free bread available. After the breakfast dads can walk their child/ren to the classroom for a visit.
Orders made via CDFPay
Orders will open on Monday 7th August and close on 28th August at 2:00 pm. Sorry no late orders.
Volunteers
We rely on the assistance for volunteers on this day and the afternoon prior.
Please complete the volunteer form if you are able to assist with setup on Thursday after school or on the Friday morning for cooking, serving or cleanup.
Pizza Day: Tuesday 22nd August, 2023
Orders Close: 3pm Friday 18th August, 2023
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 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.
Senior/Middle
- Amelia Roache, E4 ($5 Voucher)
- Archie Gardner, D7 ($5 Voucher)
- Aster McDonald, D2 ($5 Voucher)
- Billy Main, F5 ($10 Voucher)
- Cole Burleigh, F5 ($5 Voucher)
- Darcy Drummond, F7 (Major Prize Winner, Equal First)
- Emmy Marris, D6 ($5 Voucher)
- Harrison Williams, D6 (Major Prize Winner, Equal First)
- Jayden Darma, D2 ($5 Voucher)
- Lily Stewart, D4 ($10 Voucher)
- Meredith Jones, D7 ($5 Voucher)
- Miranda McDowell F5 (Major Prize Winner)
- Oliver Moloney, D4 ($5 Voucher)
- Sophia Furphy, D5 ($5 Voucher)
- Zoe Ierodiaconou, F4 ($10 Voucher)
Junior
- Cooper Shields, C4 (Major Prize Winner)
- Dylan Thomas, B4 ($5 Voucher)
- Ezra Smith, B7 ($5 Voucher)
- Hudson Moloney, B2 ($10 Voucher)
- Hugo Wilson, B4 ($5 Voucher)
- Lucy Porter, B6 ($5 Voucher)
- Margot Murphy, B7 ($5 Voucher)
- Mia Kavanagh, C3 ($10 Voucher)
- Millie Hughson, B5 ($5 Voucher)
- Millie Main, C5 (Major Prize Winner)
- Nancy Pham, B7 ($10 Voucher)
- River McKinnon, B4 ($5 Voucher)
- Ruby Williams, B4 ($5 Voucher)
- Will Rogers, B5 ($10 Voucher)