Michael Gray, Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and our Wider School Community

Generosity, empathy and a commitment to action by our students, staff and parent body ensured Friday was successful in many ways. We discussed our environment and what droughts are, we talked about supporting each other and how small actions can make a difference in our world.

To this end, our “Adopt A Farmer” ambassadors will now take a cheque of an amazing effort by all of to Dubbo to support the local community. The cash donation of $1,200 was generous and will be heartfelt by the local community. As important as money though is the cheque as a symbol of people caring for each other. I especially thank every family for your support of this message to young people and thank everyone for your support.  

Congratulations to Audrey Wolff, Van Myroniuk, Kayla Wallace and Safiyyah Gainey who all won movie passes for their efforts in the Adopt a Farmer classroom activity on Friday.

I share a graph outlining the issues for NSW. This was the situation at the start of 2019 and the conditions have in fact become more drastic as this year has gone on!

This support to NSW comes on top of our student leaders and Young Vinnies Teams over the last few years supporting local people in this region touched by bush fires, homelessness, various health conditions and practical help to the St. Vincent de Paul local holiday house in Japan Street. This Friday we will all also attend a special mass of support community via the St. Vincent de Paul “Good Works Program".

I love the quote from Oscar Romero; “Aspire not to have more but to BE more”, your children and our students take this message on daily. We should all be very proud of this aspiration; while no one is perfect we can all try.

A practical aspect of our students striving of “being more” was evident in this message I received on Friday after our student’s (Grades 6, 4 and 2) participation in the Deakin University Health. I share as a reflection of the caring respectful culture we all are trying to build at St. Joseph’s.

We are just wanting to share with you the delightful experience we have had within your school this week (Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th June 2019). The team and I from Deakin (Bridget, Beau and Ashlea) have had a fantastic time with your fabulous staff and students.  We typically visit between 60-150 primary schools each year across Victoria and your students are among the most polite, happiest, friendly, well behaved and welcoming students we come across!  Additionally, the staff were all very friendly, welcoming, accommodating, offering many cups of tea and have been very receptive to our presence and subsequent classroom disruption(s).  I often feel you can tell the culture of a school by the students, the staffroom, and in your case, all come across as very happy, collaborative, cohesive and positive – this can be very rare and you should feel very proud. Deakin Team, Program Coordinator, Claudia Strugnell.

Confirmation

Students and families celebrated last week and over the weekend our confirmation. I especially thank everyone for your commitment to the family focused, parish-based and school supported program. Parents having time to talk with young people about faith, life and values is indeed a sacred moment in family relationships.

Student and School Safety

Security Fencing: As mentioned in previous newsletters we are replacing the old fencing around the school, this includes the full property perimeter, appropriate access gates for foot traffic and managed vehicle access. The works are planned for the Term Two break.

Important Student Health “the flu”

I share important health advice from the School Health website. Influenza, or 'the flu', commonly cause symptoms such as high fever, dry cough, muscle ache and fatigue. Less common symptoms include sore throat and a runny nose. Children may also have abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. It spreads from person to person through droplets in the air.  Flu does have an exclusion period; Students should be withheld from school until all symptoms cease.

Further Influenza (flu) is a very contagious viral infection of the respiratory system. Most children are ill with the flu for less than a week. Flu vaccines are currently available as a priority for young people and the elderly, please consult your GP for specific family health advice.

St. Joseph’s have recently had 2 confirmed cases of flu, if you are unsure of the symptoms please consult with your GP and if confirmed the requirement is to keep children home until symptoms cease.

 Yours sincerely, Michael Gray, Principal

Congratulations to Gold Box winners Luke Thompson, Nate Brereton, Lachlan Astbury and Rory Baulch for demonstrating respect and leadership in lunchtime football.

Winners of our Gold Box get to go for a swim at the pool. An alternate activity is being planned for Term 3 when the Aquazone pool with be closed for redevelopment works.

Over the past weeks we have been trialing the use of electronic permission forms.

In Term 3 this will be the format used for all excursions including camps, day trips, Mass and other off site experiences. These have been very well received and completed by families.

The permission forms are completed via PAM and include all relevant details of the excursion/experience.

For your child to attend the Feast of the Sacred Heart Mass this coming Friday a permission form will be sent to you on Monday 24 June, after 3:30 pm. All families will receive an email alert inviting them to respond. Please note: you may need to check your Spam folder if you have not received the invitation.

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm, Monday 16th September, 2019.

This evening is for parents and we also welcome grandparents and extended family members. We currently have over 100 parents registered for this event.

Sacred Heart, also called Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Roman Catholicism, the mystical-physical heart of Jesus as an object of devotion. In addition to a feast, now celebrated on the Friday of the third week after Pentecost, devotion includes acts of consecration and honour given to the image of the Sacred Heart.

The Catholic Archidiocese of Melbourne have an informative article you may like to read for more information about this special day.

Whole School Mass

On Friday 28th June our school will celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart with a whole school Mass at St Joseph's Church at 10:00 am. All are welcome to attend. There will be no assembly this day and Teacher Awards and Birthday Certificates will be presented at the conclusion of the Mass.

Prayer

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Community Donation

Our school supports our community as part of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. As well as praying for the poor, children are invited to take action by bringing to school warm blankets, toiletries e.g. toothbrush, toothpaste, handwash, hairbush, deodorant, socks, hair ties, crayons and colouring books. Children may also bring non-perishable food items. 

The Soup Kitchen provide warm meals to those in need on Monday nights between 5:30pm and 7:00pm in the Parish Hall.

Donations can be sent to the school with your child and/or placed in the collections tubs in the school foyer. Our St. Joseph's Parish soup kitchen will collect these donated items and use them to support people in need in our local area.

Regional Winter Sports Finals - Soccer

Congratulations to both our teams who competed last Friday.  Our Soccer team played well in a great match against Sacred Heart Colac winning 1-0 in their first match of the day. They were defeated in the 2nd game against St Aloysius Ballarat, but were fortunate to advance to the Semi-Finals. In a hard fought contest, our team was outclassed against Pleasant Street - Ballarat and lost 5-0.

A big thankyou to Jeff Vizon for coaching the team and our parents for cheering the team on. We must also congratulate the team, they can be really proud of the manner in which they represented the school showing great spirit and wonderful sportsmanship on the day. Well done everyone.

Regional Winter Sports Finals - Football

Our footballers competed last Friday in Ballarat also.   They competed in two matches in their pool in the Preliminary Rounds. They played St Francis Xavier and St Mary’s. They won both these games 26-7 and 19-7. In their Semi-Final they comfortably defeated Holy Trinity Horsham 40-1 and in the Grand Final, in a tough game, they proved too strong against Ballarat Grammar winning 26-6. 

They now look forward to the State Finals to be held on Wednesday 21st August, in Melbourne. Further details about this event and travel arrangements for this trip will be finalised soon.  Thanks to Mr McMillan and Michelle for the great coaching and help on the day; our parents who were a great cheer squad for the team; and the students for playing so well and showing tremendous gratitude and respect throughout the day.

Girls Footy Training

Training for Girls Footy will resume this Wednesday at lunchtime, please bring long pants and long sleeve tops, socks and boots if you own them for this session.

5/6 Hockey Tryouts

This Tuesday at 2:30pm there will be another hockey training session for those interested in playing early next term. Please bring mouthguards and shin pads if you have them.  Thanks to Karen Benson and Marcia Nelson-Hill for taking training for the boys and girls squad.

5/6 Volleyball Tryouts

Grade 5’s and Grade 6’s will be able to practice Volleyball this Monday and Tuesday at lunchtime. The Grade 5’s boys and girls will train on Monday and the Grade 6’s boys and girls on Tuesday. Sports shoes must be worn to this session. 

Basketball Clinics and Hooptime Years 3/4 and 5/6

A big thank you to Mike McGorm, Xavier Blunt and the Warrnambool Junior Basketball Association for conducting clinics with the Grade 1/2 students this week.  In addition to these clinics, the Grade 5/6 students will have training this Thursday at lunchtime for boys wishing to compete in Hooptime next term. 

The final Saturday training session will be this weekend (Times below). There will be no further Saturday training Sessions over the school holidays.  Further training sessions will be timetabled soon. 

 Andrew McCombe, Physical Education and Sport Co-ordinator

Disco Tickets

Tickets to this years disco will once again be $5 and can only be puchased via CDFPay from Monday 1 July 2019, closes Friday 2 August.

Disco Poster Competition

Please consider volunteering for the Disco. The Junior School Roster usually fills within days, please consider volunteering for the Middle/Senior School Disco if you have children in both areas. Thank you to all our volunteers, we need the support of parents in order to run this fun event for our students.

Middle/Senior Disco

Junior Disco

Thursday 27 June, 2019, Orders close 3pm Tuesday 25 June

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 ordered via CDFPay (Canteen ordering system) and provided by Pinkie’s Pizza who are one of our major school sponsors.

There are no canteen orders on Pizza Days and children not wanting to order pizza should bring their lunch from home.

Please note that there has been an increase of .25c per slice of pizza in line with a price increase from our supplier.

Sorry, no late orders can be accepted.

Canteen Volunteers urgently needed

Thank you to our volunteers who assisted in the canteen during Term 2. It is only with the support of volunteers that we can continue to operate on a 5 day a week basis.

Consider volunteering once or perhaps twice a term!

If you have previously been a volunteer you may like to consider indicating if you are available for an emergency backfill.

New volunteers are always welcome with training provided prior to be placed on the next term's roster. 

The St Joseph's Primary School leadership team are promoting this previously advertised cause as part of their community support.

Bracelets can be purchased via CDFPay. Thank you for your support of this project.

Please drop any stickers you have collected into to one of the collection boxes at Central, East and Dennington or in the yellow wheelie bin in the school foyer by Monday 24th June, 2019.

Thank you for all your support with collecting stickers.

Please encourage extended family members to collect stickers for our school.

St Josephs Primary School has signed up as a collection point for Bakers Delight (Warrnambool CBD) for their promotion "Bread Tags for Wheelchairs".

A collection tub is at the school office.

Basketball Holiday Camp

Basketball Holiday Camp Flyer

Basketball Holiday Camp Flyer 619.61 KB

Brophy Foster Care - Donate a Meal

Warrnambool Wolves Football Club

Warrnambool Wolves F.C. are running Aldi Miniroos in Term 3.  We are looking for as many new soccer players as we can get aged 4-10, but  especially encouraging girls to get out there and give it a go, hopefully inspired by the exploits of the Matilda's at the Women's World cup.

Each registered participant will receive a player pack including :

• soccer ball
• drink bottle
• shin guards
• lunch/snack/boot bag
• A League sticker pack

Miniroos Introductory Program Girls