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Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,
Advent Reflection
This Sunday marks the second Sunday of Advent. A time when Christians around the world focus on a deepening relationship with the Creator. It is often marked by a calendar or wreath and each new week begins a new focus; hope, peace, joy and faith.
Week 2 Peace
Over the last few weeks I’ve been binging on “Derry Girls”. A comedy set in Derry following the highs and lows of a group of school girls and their families living in Derry during “The Troubles” of the early 1990s. It explores the themes of friendships, growing up, family and peace. The show cleverly shows situations where the characters have some moments of inner peace even though the world around them is a mess of violence and war. The second series ends with the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement yet this outer peace does nothing to impact on the inner peace of the girls. And that is the thing with peace, it is an absence of war etc. but it is also more than just an absence of war.
Depending on which religion or philosophy that people follow, their definitions of peace may be highly different. In some Eastern religions, finding serenity or inner peace means believing that everything dies; all is nothing. This is beautifully expressed by some of the great thinkers of our time:
“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
A Christian perspective defines peace as being in right relations, with God, with others and with creation itself (the environment).
As we move into December my hope for you, our community and world is in the words of the risen Christ, the same words shared at mass as the congregation shake hands …
“Peace be with you”.
PS For anyone who has seen the Derry Girls. How good is the Principal?
PPS Derry Girls is not a family show. Explicit language warning!
School Advisory Council
I am grateful to Samantha Kenna (Louis Year 3, Harry Year 2 and Lola who begins at St Joseph’s next year) and Anna Densley (Grace Year and Isabelle Year 1) who have both volunteered to contribute to the ongoing development of our school through participation on the School Advisory Council for 2025 and beyond. Thanks Anna and Samantha, we are looking forward to working with you.
Supporting Our Children Through Transitions
Next Tuesday 10th December the children will move into their 2024 classes and meet their new teacher and classmates. This is an exciting time which can be met with mixed responses by children. Our staff have been working on grouping the children since the end of last term. We have sought parent input via the green form, students have identified “learning buddies” and teachers have taken all of this into account along with academic and social/emotional development of each child to create diverse groups.
If you are finding that your child is nervous about this change it might be good to discuss the difference between “safe nervous” and “dangerous nervous”. Both of these situations give us the same bodily responses e.g. butterflies in stomach etc. You can then talk to them about strategies to deal with their nerves.
Some children worry about friendships; if this is the case, remind your child that they are very likeable and that many new classmates will want to be their friend, also remind them of their strategies to make new friends. e.g. inviting others to play, sharing, playing new games in new spaces. Also remind them that their friends are always there at playtime and lunchtime and that making new friends is just as important as learning new maths or science knowledge.
Managing transitions is an important part of all our lives and helping our children navigate these small transitions helps them build their confidence and resilience.
Matthew O'Brien, Principal
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
George Dabernig, Alice Goodfield, Max Niklaus, Vivienne Smedts, Lucy Kavanagh, Patrick Dufty, Mia Kavanagh, Lionel Hughson, Millie Main, Riley Nunn, Naish Beechey, Sophia Hose, Jack Schrama, Hank Gladman, Louis Kenna, Havana Myroniuk and Hugh Robinson.
On Wednesday 20th November the Year 2 classes enjoyed an excursion to Tower Hill. The bus ride was fun with friends from other classes and went very quickly. Many of the students had never been to Tower Hill before and were amazed that they were inside a volcano! It was interesting finding out that Tower Hill has been dormant for 36 000 years.
e went on the Lava Tongue walk and found out that when it erupted the hot lava rose to the surface and hit the water and exploded into the area up to 150 miles away. The eruption created steam and ash and we could see the layers on the cliffs formed as a result. Students loved seeing animals up close, including a mother and baby koala in the tree, emus and an echidna.
While there we learnt a lot from Jess about how the local Marr peoples lived in the crater area and how they lived off the land. We got to hold some tools that they would have used for hunting and other artefacts.
End of Year Mass for Year 2s and Year 4s - Friday 29th November 2024
On Friday 29th November the Year 4 classes visited their buddy classes from Year 2 to prepare for Mass. They travelled together on the buses and enjoyed spending time together on the way to St Joseph’s Church.
Before Mass began students spoke about their Religious Education topics for the term and then shared some of the gifts and talents of:
Forgiveness, Creativity, Perseverance, Resilience, Teamwork, Positivity.
to build a nativity scene.
While at Mass students joined in with the songs, responses, prayers and offertory procession. It was special to celebrate and give thanks for our year of learning. After walking back to school the students enjoyed an icy pole before a play time together with their buddies.
The incidence of Whooping cough cases is continuing to increase across Victoria, particularly among school-aged children.
Whooping cough is a very contagious infection, mostly spread through coughing or sneezing.
Symptoms include:
blocked or runny nose
- tiredness
- mild fever
- severe bouts of coughing, often followed by a ‘whooping’ sound on breathing.
- Whooping cough can lead to life-threatening infections in babies.
If your child is unwell, they should not attend school. Please see a doctor if you or your child develops whooping cough symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment will help reduce the spread of the infection.
Students diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend school
If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, they must not attend school for 21 days after the onset of the cough, or until they have received 5 days of antibiotic treatment.
You must notify the school if your child is diagnosed with whooping cough.
To further reduce the spread of infection to your child and the school community, the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 require that some students who were in the same classroom as a student diagnosed with whooping cough should not attend school.
Your child should not attend school for 14 days after they were last exposed to a person diagnosed with whooping cough, or until they have taken 5 days of a course of antibiotic treatment if they are:
- aged less than 7 years; and
- not fully vaccinated with 3 doses of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine.
This exclusion is required by law – refer to the School exclusion table for primary schools and children’s services.
If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, please contact the school to let us know.
Your support in keeping our students safe and well is greatly appreciated.
For more information about whooping cough, refer to Whooping cough on the Better Health Channel.
Vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of whooping cough. The Department of Health recommends staying up to date with immunisations, including booster doses. A free booster dose of the pertussis vaccine is covered under the national immunisation program for students aged 12 to 13. If you are unsure about your child’s vaccination status for whooping cough, please discuss with an immunisation provider, such as your doctor.
Today was the last Zooper Dooper Tuesday. Thanks to our parent volunteers, student helpers and everyone for their support. It has been very popular activity for the students.
This activity raised $1,100 in profit over the 4 weeks.
Money raised from this fundraiser will go toward the new playground at school.
As the school year comes to an end, we would like you to start thinking about returning ALL library books to the LRC. Students will finish borrowing books this week, so that it gives us time to STOCKTAKE the Library and run reports on any outstanding books on loan.
Be sure to look under the bed, in old bags and on book shelves for any book with a St Joseph's School stamp inside the cover! We are particularly focused on any books that our current Year 6 children have on loan that need to be returned promptly before they leave the school to attend Secondary School.
Thank you in advance.
Emily Lloyd, Teacher-Librarian
Art Fundaiser orders have arrived and will be distributed via Art Classes over the course of the next week.
It is lovely that children at times choose to give Christmas cards to their friends at Christmas time.
We encourage students to NOT include chocolates or candy canes with their cards in line with the sharing of food guidelines.
The PSA are providing a BBQ lunch for the students of a sausage in bread and Zooper Dooper on Orientation Day, Tuesday 10th December.
If you are able to assist on the day your help would be greatly appreciated.
Exciting News! Music Lessons at St Joseph’s Primary School in 2025 with the School of Jammin.
We’re thrilled to announce that the School of Jammin will be offering music lessons at St Joseph’s Primary School in 2025! Students will have the opportunity to learn guitar and keyboard in a fun, interactive band setting, during school hours, all instruments provided in class and online support for practice at home.
In addition to learning instruments, we encourage students to explore their creativity by writing songs, singing, creating music videos, and performing together. School of Jammin's creator and tutor, Mick McCall (a qualified primary school teacher), has been operating the School of Jammin since 2005, and we're excited to bring this program to St Joseph's—Mick’s old primary school!
Enrol now or learn more at www.schoolofjammin.com as spots are expected to fill up fast!