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Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,
Prayer for Artists (and for the artist in all of us)
God of creation,
Bless the artists, who by their gifts make the world more joyful and beautiful.
Through their creativity they teach us to see more clearly the truth around us.
They inspire in us the gift of wonder and awe.
Through their hope and vision, they remind us that life is full of surprise and joy.
Bless all who create in your image.
God of creation.
Let us all be artists so that our hearts may sing and our lives be fulfilling.
Amen
Change to End of Year Arrangements
Please find the attached letter regarding a change to the end of year arrangements for students in Catholic Primary Schools in the Star of the Sea Parish.
End of 2023 School Year Key dates
- Year 6 Graduation Mass remains at 6pm on Thursday 14th December
- Final whole school assembly will now be 11:30am on Friday 15th December
- The last day of school for students in 2023 will be Friday 15th December
- Staff will conclude on Monday 18th December, this is a staff meeting day, and no student supervision is available.
This change has come as a result of changes to the Catholic Education Enterprise Agreement, in particular the provision of Time In Lieu for staff members undertaking school directed tasks outside of school hours. Just for your information and as an example the following events have/will attract/ed Time In Lieu (TIL) for staff over the last few weeks:
- School Disco
- Year 5 Camp
- Art’s Week Night Walk
- First Eucharist Celebrations
- Year 6 Personal Development Parent Session
- Father’s Day Breakfast
- PSA Meeting
Many of our staff have asked to forgo their Time In Lieu entitlements as they consider their out of ours activities as their contribution to the life of our school. Arrangements such as this are in breach of the award and can be considered wage theft and as such cannot be entered into. During Term 4 there will be more activities which will accrue Time In Lieu e.g. camps, graduation etc.
As this change occurred late in the year, schools were unable to budget for this expense. As a result DOBCEL has approved two days at the end of the year to acquit TIL balances.
Moving forward - As a result of this change in conditions our school will need to be prudent with expectations of teachers beyond normal school hours.
There has been much talk in the media of schools cancelling or reducing camps for children. Having just returned from the Year 5 camp I have experienced firsthand the benefits for children in heading away for an extended time with their classmates and teachers. The relationships, resilience, fun and excitement of an extended camp far outweigh the cost to the school in TIL entitlements.
At St Joseph’s we have a well thought out camps program that begins with extended days and culminates in the three day Melbourne experience for Year 6s. We are committed to maintaining this program for the foreseeable future and will seek creative ways to offset added expenses.
Term 4 Business Raffle
2023 $10,000 Business Raffle
The raffle will be drawn this Friday at the Father’s Day Breakfast. Please return your tickets to the office ASAP.
This is our major fundraiser for the year and we are aiming to raise in excess of $30,000.
At this stage there are many tickets outstanding and we ask that you return the tickets sold or unsold.
Eucharist
Congratulations to these children who celebrated their First Eucharist on Sunday. Special thanks to Fr John and the Star of the Sea Parish team for their ongoing support and care.
Art’s Week continued
The fun continues this week with our Night Walk. The choir will perform at 6pm and the gates open at 6:30pm. Make sure that you detour into the hall to see the children’s artwork on display and wander into the school foyer to add your “dot” to the White Room.
A massive thanks to all of our staff particularly the Art Team of Cara Chisolm, Di Brown and Jo Barfus for their creativity, vision, support and leadership of this event.
Nicole Wood at Assembly
Nicole Wood the Warrnambool City Council Travel Smart Project Manager will set up a display at this week’s assembly to gather feedback around the Botanic Road Traffic Management plan.
Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Lachlan Gladki, Charlie Zanos, Sophie Hardiman, Harry Kenna, Millicent Langley, Seb Amos, Emmy Marris, Audrey Wolff, Hudson Coates, Zara Harrington, Lincoln O’Keefe, Blair MacDougall and Felix Wright.
Hints for Creating Resilient Families
Tips from Andrew Fuller, www.andrewfuller.com
Resilience is the happy knack of being able to bungee jump through life. When the inevitable pitfalls and setbacks of life occur, it is as if you have an elasticised rope around your middle that helps you to bounce back from hard times.
Promote Belonging
The sense of belonging we have is the strongest antidote we know of for self-harm, depression and drug abuse and it’s built on our sense of belonging. Children are most resilient when they have three types of belonging: 1. A sense of being part of a family 2. Having different friendships to belong to 3. Having an adult outside their family who connects with them.
Have some mooch time
We live in a world that suffers from attention deficit disorder. We rush children from activity to activity, from lesson to lesson and from one organised event to another. Then we wonder why, when there is a lull that they say” I’m bored”. Be a counter-revolutionary. Find some time each week just to be at home without anything structured happening. Quiet times allow children to develop creativity and ingenuity.
It is clear who is in charge
Families do not work well as democracies. In fact, they seem to work best as benevolent dictatorships in which the parent or parents consult a lot with their children but at the end of the day, the parent has the final say. Some parents fear that if they take charge that they will lose the friendship of their children, but often the reverse is true. In families where parents fail to take their own role seriously, children may feel that to express their independence they need to engage in risk taking behaviour and avoid responsibility. Authoritative parenting allows children to feel safe, have clear boundaries and flourish.
Know how to Argue
Families that work well know how to argue. It seems strange to say this because we all have the sense those families that work well don't have conflicts. The family is really where we learn to resolve disputes fairly. The way that parents teach children to resolve differences of opinion with their brothers and sisters provides the basis for sharing, negotiating and problem solving in the world beyond the family. While differences of opinion should be allowed to be expressed, children also need to learn that they will not be able to win at all costs.
Basketball
A big week of basketball saw our Year 4 teams have a successful day on Monday 14th August. It was then over to the Year 6 teams on Friday 18th August, we were lucky enough to have a boys team, a girls team, and a mixed team. All teams played some excellent team basketball throughout the day, which saw us come out on top in all three competitions, well done everyone! Our girls and boy’s team both progress to the next round in October.
Volleyball
Unfortunately this year we will not be sending any teams to the volleyball competition. Other schools have also decided to withdraw from the competition also. Students will still have the opportunity to learn volleyball skills in P.E sessions later in the year.
Boys football
A huge congratulations to our boys football team, who represented the school so well at the State Championships on Wednesday16th August in Williamstown. The boys were successful in their first two games, having hard fought wins. In the third game we met some very tough competition and went down in a nail biting finish. Well done boys on an excellent campaign stretching over a number of months.
Arts Week was amazing and we have the artworks to prove it!
We would like to thank the PSA for helping us bring the engaging and authentic, Jan Wositzky - Storyteller Musician to our school. Students across the school enjoyed the songs, music and historical knowledge he shared through 4 different shows.
On Wednesday 30th August we have “The Night Walk”. Entrance gate in the Loop will be opened at 6:30pm and closed at 8pm so families can come at their leisure to experience the magical worlds of “Once upon a time…”
The choir will be performing in the Hall beforehand at 6pm. An exhibition of the artworks of 2023 Arts’ Week will also be on display in the Hall.
White Room
Families are invited to bring more dot stickers from home to add to the "White Room" during the Night Walk
From the Arts Team
7:00am - 9:00am
Friday 1st September
We are looking forward to seeing all our school dads (or special persons) this Friday for our Father's Day Breakfast
I didn't place a food order, can I still come?
Absolutely! You are more than welcome to come along and enjoy the tea, coffee, juice and fruit and visit your child's classroom. You may like to bring along some food from home or perhaps stop at the bakery on your way.
What do I do with my child's school bag?
Classrooms will be open, enter via the school foyer, your child can drop their bag in before you head around to the hall.
Can I go to my child's classroom?
Yes, after breakfast feel free to head to your child's classroom with them to take a tour.
Is the Choir still performing?
Yes, our school Choir have some lovely songs to perform between 8:00am - 8:15am. The members of the Choir are to meet Mrs Smock in the Library at 7:45 am.
I have volunteered what do I do?
Come along at your nominated day/time, please bring an apron.
Harvey Norman Photos
Harvey Norman will once again be in attendance and will be set up in the hall and taking photos from 7:15am. These photos will be available for collection from Harvey Norman on Friday afternoon.
Wear Orange on Friday
We will be having an WOOF - Wear Orange On Friday 15th September when students will be able to wear a touch or ALL orange for Story Dogs. We will be raising funds for Story Dogs and you can donate via CDFPAY, now open.
We are very excited to have Story Dogs as part of our school Community. St. Joseph’s has joined Story Dogs as part of a National Story Dogs program that reaches over 390 schools nationally.
Story dogs involves a reading session of 20 minutes each, for 4, year 2 students, each week with our Volunteer Deb, and her dog Sadie. Susie Alexander is the coordinator for our school program.
Please see the Story Dogs website at www.storydogs.org.au for more information and read about the success of the program.
This year we will celebrate Grandparents Day at St Joseph's
on the morning of Thursday 19th October.
9:30am - 10:30am
Classroom Visits
10:30am - 12:00pm
Morning tea in the Hall
11:30am
Choir Performance
Notes:
- Let your visiting Grandparent know which Room Numbers to visit.
- There is no need to RSVP.
- Morning tea provided for Grandparents (children not present at morning tea)
- Parking available in staff carkpark and school oval (enter via staff carpark).
If the classroom isn't in their room they will be at a specialist class. Look for the note on the whiteboard in the classroom, eg F4 students are in an art lesson in E6.
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.
As you may be aware the Victorian Government has a checking system, Working with Children Check. This requires ALL adults who work or volunteer with children (under 18 years of age), to have this check. It is now a legal requirement that you have applied for this card before you can volunteer to work or help out in our school.
The check is required by anyone doing certain types of child-related work including volunteer work and some practical training to pass a Working with Children Check.
The Working with Children Check is free for volunteers.
St. Joseph’s School is required to have Working with Children Checks completed for volunteers working within our school environment (example classroom and canteen helpers) during school hours or after hours’ school activities, for example school camps, swimming lessons, football and basketball.
- If you currently hold a Working with Children Check please bring your card into the School Office so details can be recorded.
- If you are a teacher and not employed at St. Joseph’s School, but doing, or will be doing, volunteer work at school please bring in your VIT card so details can be recorded.
- If you do not have a Working with Children Check card, you will need to apply for one please.
To apply for a Check, you must:
- Fill in the application form and verify your identity online.
- Check your inbox for an email from workingwithchildren@smarteform.com.au with instructions on how to finalise your application at Australia Post.
- You will be required to do a 100-point check.
- Within a few weeks you will receive your Working with Children Check card which you will also need to bring into the School Office for a copy to be taken. Volunteer work will not be able to commence until the application has been approved by the Department of Justice of Victoria.
- The Working with Children Check Unit is part of the Department of Justice in Victoria.
If you have any queries please contact the school office.
From Friday 1 September, 2023, children are required to wear their hats at school whilst outside at recess, lunch and sport.
No Hat = No Play
Children without hats will have to stay in the undercover area during lunch and recess. We do NOT have a grace period, hats must be worn from the 1st September.
Hats are available at Lowes, Gateway Plaza.
As per our Sun Protection policy:
Please ensure your child has adequate sun protection during the months of September to May. You child will require the following:
a) their own sunscreen SPF 30+ or higher,
b) St Joseph's Primary School sun hat,
c) rash vest (if they are going swimming).
The above items are all to be labelled with their name and room number please.
Classrooms all have a supply of sunscreen available.