Term 2 concludes at 2:30pm, Friday 28th June 2024

Note the early finish time of school for all students on the last day of term.

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,

Refugee Week - 16 - 22 June

Dear Lord, we lift up to You all refugees and their families.

Grant them strength and courage as they seek new beginnings.

Shelter them with Your love and peace in times of uncertainty and

guide them to places of safety and hope,

where they can rebuild their lives and find freedom.

Bless their journey with compassion and support from others and may they always feel Your presence beside them.

Amen.”

Taking Action

You might be aware that our parish has a CRISP group (Community Refugee Integration Settlement Pilot). This group has sponsored a family and supported them in moving to Australia and Warrnambool. The family have three children and are currently living in the old presbytery at OLHC.  This has been a remarkably successful transition. 

The CRISP group is planning on sponsoring further families in the future. 

To support their efforts the CRISP group is running a fundraising event on Thursday 20th June at 6:30pm at the Capitol Cinema in Warrnambool.

Tickets $20

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1218554?

Tickets can be purchased at the link above, or if you’d rather pay by

cash, text Katherine, 0459 615 564 (CRISP Coordinator)

Student Reports and Work Sample Folders

Student reports will be available for parents to read this Friday at 4pm. The student reports can be accessed via the Parent Access Module (PAM) on the school website or via SZApp.

I encourage you to read the reports on a device larger than a phone (computer screen or tablet) as they are quite dense and contain a great deal of information from many sources about the progress of your child. 

The Work Sample Folder contains a variety of examples of learning across a range of subjects. To best understand these pieces I encourage you to sit with your child and discuss the samples so that you can understand the context and purpose of each sample.

It is best to have read the report and viewed the Work Sample Folder prior to the Parent Teacher conversations (Monday 25th June and Tuesday 26th June).

Should you need any help in accessing the reports please contact the office.

Matthew O'Brien, Principal

Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.

Zara Anderson, Mary Fitzgerald, Sophie Mugavin, Harriet Murphy, Winnie Murphy, Jack Templeton, Ruby Williams, Jayden D'Arma, Jim Finnigan, Matthew Killen, Elijah Bishop, Lucas Kerr, Oliver Ault, Ayuni De Silva, Jacky Deverall, Billy Nicolson, Abel Wall, Esmae Coleman and Remy Roberts.

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.

On Thursday 13th June we went to Russell Creek to plant some native shrubs so that more animals would want to live there. First we met the Warrnambool City Council workers who look after the environment and they showed us how to plant the native grasses and groundcover plants. Before we dug the hole, we had to clear the mulch, then we used pogo stick hole diggers to make narrow deep holes. Then we put the plant in the hole, covered it with a milk carton protector and hammered the bamboo in to keep it safe. Lastly, we moved the mulch back around the milk carton.

At times it was quite challenging to dig the hole, but we had a lot of fun. Next time you are walking along the Russell Creek walking track, have a look at our amazing work.

Frankie and Diesel, Year 3 students

On Thursday the Year 6 girls football team went off and competed in five games including the Semi Final and Grand Final. The games were played at the Dennington football oval and the games went for two halves for ten minutes. The day included teams from Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Koroit, Woolsthorpe and Grassmere. 

We had some great goals and highlights throughout the day and are very grateful that we had the chance to play in the Grand Final against Our Ladies. That day wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for Mr O’Brien who coached us through the day and all of the other people who made this day possible. Thank you to School Sports Victoria who made this possible.

Sibella Evans and Vivienne Smedts, Year 6 students

Over Term 3 we are running a raffle aimed at supporting local and school connected businesses.

We have sent letters to many businesses to see if they will be involved, however if you are involved, manage, or own a business that has not received a proposal letter and you are interested, please

• email Cathy Duynhoven on cduyn@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au or
• reply via this link https://form.jotform.com/241687372631057

We have attached a copy of the business proposal to this newsletter article.

For parents we will ask each family to sell 4 x $25 tickets, with there being one prize of $10,000 worth of vouchers selected from the participating businesses only (the winner can choose to have 1 voucher of a maximum of 10 vouchers from different businesses). 

The seller of the winning ticket will also have their 2025 Family fee (at least $1,445 based on the 2024 fees) credited off their school fee account.

Thursday 27th June

Students are welcome to wear their pyjamas, Oodie or onesie (no sleeveless tops please).

Slippers are suitable in the classroom but suitable shoes/runners are required in the playground.

It is suggested that children bring a warm jumper or coat for recess and lunch play.

Normal eating times and canteen orders on this day. No sharing of food or lollies.

With the strengthening of The Child Safety Standards, we need to be mindful of students travelling in private cars with staff members.  With this in mind, if you are friends, or family, of any staff members at St Josephs Primary School, and you require them to drive your child/ren home from school we will need to get written permission from you. 

This can be done by completing this online form at any time  https://form.jotform.com/241680647401050

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

Under the lead of Father Bill, we are trialing a combined Parish Parent Information session and a combined Parish schools Eucharist preparation Day.

Please complete this form and make a $20 payment for the booklet and iron on transfer through CDFpay.

A kit containing the materials and information to prepare your child for the Celebration of First Eucharist will be provided to your child. Parents work through this booklet at home with their child (rather that the previous Family Groups after school).

Key Dates

Parent Teachers Conversations (Interviews) and Reports

At 4pm on Friday 21st 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 24th June and Tuesday 25th June.

Parent Teacher Conversations can be booked via PAM are are now open.

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 second half of the term this meeting will take the place of the Parent Teacher Conversation. 

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and we are excited to be participating again in 2024. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

• access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
• a modern user-friendly interface
• rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
• the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review.

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 6 September 2024.

• Children from Foundation to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers.
• Children from Year 3 to Year 6 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers. To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit:

Please fill in the attached link to an online form to register your child’s interest in joining the Reading Challenge this year.

Registrations close: Friday 21st June

Any other queries please feel free to email me at elloyd@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au  

Mrs Emily Lloyd, LRC Coordinator

A letter from the Australian Smile Group is being sent home with all children this week containing information regarding onsite dental services being provided at our school by their qualified Dental Health Team.

The dental van will be onsite at the school starting on Monday 5th August. 

If you wish your child to participate in this program please complete and return the form to the school office by Tuesday 16th July.

Note: This is a service provided by the Australian Smile Group and is NOT compulsory.

The Year 6 leaders have been working on an important project to help the environment and raise money for our St. Joseph’s community. This all started when our Year 6 leaders went to Deakin University and came up with the brilliant idea to start recycling the 10c bottles used at our school, instead of throwing them out. Doing this will not only help the environment, but will also help to raise money for a new playground at St. Joseph’s.

Just a quick reminder, outside every classroom area is one community bin for all the children who have bottles from lunch orders to throw them in that bin in order to start building the new middle/senior school playground.

You can donate your bottles to our cause via this code at any recycling centre.

The easiest way to get the barcode is via the school SZApp.

School Canteen Support