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Michael Gray, Principal
Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and our wider School Community
Father’s Day
A great week for our students, staff and families last week. We celebrated Father's Day with breakfast on Friday; a chance for dads and siblings to spend time together at school enjoying breakfast, company and our school environment.
A very special thanks to our PSA Father’s Day event co-ordinator, Cindy Joseph and a brilliant team of many helpers sharing their time to support our students. This gift of time is very valuable, it provides the event at a low cost, ensures all can attend if possible and brings people together.
A very special thanks to the many fathers, grandfathers, older siblings or special friends who supported this day. Your enthusiasm, patience and care make the day special for everyone. I also appreciate the many who visited classrooms; a tour into the Arts Week jungle was an expedition in itself. Thanks All.
Class Groups for 2020
One of the key administration tasks of Term 3 for our teaching staff is the setting of our class groups for the next year. After much work and professional discussion; including reviewing student learning data, enrolment numbers and the best way to deliver on our whole school learning strategy (Professional Learning Community) we have decided; over the next two years, to transition to a single stream school.
This decision effectively means in 2020 we will have:
- four Foundation classes
- four straight Grade 1 classes
- three straight Grade 2 classes
- seven mixed 3/4 classes
- four straight Grade 5 classes
- four straight Grade 6 classes.
In 2021 the Grade Three and Four groups will also become Straight Grade 3’s and Straight Grade 4’s.
The key reason for this decision is to move all classes to be made up of 25 or fewer students. The straight grade approach will align our essential learning focus to a grade level, based on the Victorian Curriculum. We kept the Grade 3 and 4 classes Multi Aged next year to ensure all class sizes are 25 or under. If we had straight grades at the 3 and 4 level next year these classes would have been too large.
All classes will again be of mixed ability and a spread of boys and girls. The normal “Green Form” class grouping information gathering system will apply and be available early Term 4. The “Green Forms” will have the details regarding how the students will be grouped and options for moves. Staff have indicated a strong willingness to work with this system to continue to support the delivery of our quality learning strategy. This strategy has a focus on essential learning for all, collaborative teamwork for teacher planning and data-driven decisions to drive student focus. This focus puts a challenge of quality learning outcomes of growth for all.
Arts Week, “Under an African Sky”
This week brings together the excitement and wonder of Africa and the Arts. The Arts present ideas that are dynamic and rich in tradition. Through engaging in The Arts students are entertained, challenged and provoked to respond to questions and assumptions about individual and community identity, taking into account different histories and cultures. The Arts contributes to the development of confident and creative individuals and enriches Australian society. Students express, represent and communicate ideas in contemporary, traditional and emerging arts forms. In Dance, Drama and Music students explore the performing arts whilst in Media Arts, Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design students explore the world of visual representation and expression.
Every second year we have a creative week for the arts involving a theme to sharpen our focus and give the event a definition for creativity. The focus week will include lessons, special workshops, student presentations, a drumming experience for all and our final assembly.
An undoubted highlight is the jungle presentation display in our foyer; it is worth checking out and will really help the students enter the fun and learning of the week. This display work will also include a very special night walk on Wednesday to view our silhouette windows of African themes. Families are invited to walk the expedition in the evening outside and complete the quiz as you tour the night time window display.
A final reminder with arts Week is the dress-up day on Friday. We invite all to show creativity and adventure with a focus on the wildlife of this part of the world. When representing a country, we always focus on respect, dignity and care. Face painting and makeup are welcome but please keep it to a respectful minimum.
Before and After School Student Supervision
PSA Meeting
A reminder the PSA meeting is on this Tuesday 3rd September at 7:30pm in our school staffroom. At this meeting, we will change the focus due to a few away. We will have a chance to contribute to our diocesan strategic plan, chat about the grouping program for next year and share any thoughts/ideas for our developing school master plan.
Regards
Michael Gray, Principal
We wish to remind parents that in Term 4 there will be 2 school closure days, the first being on Monday 11th November as previosly notified to families.
The second day is Friday 22th November which is an additional day resulting from an opportunity for staff to participate in a PD day with Dan Petro.
5/6 Hoop Time Basketball
On Friday 30th August, St Joseph’s boys and girls All Star teams, along with our Future Stars team attended the senior Hoop Time competition at the Arc Stadium. Each team played 4 preliminary games in the round robin competition, with both All Star teams not losing a game, and our Future Stars team only dropping the one game to Warrnambool Primary. Because of each team’s successful round robin campaign, this meant all three teams went through to their respective grand finals.
Our All Star boys had a fantastic win against Warrnambool Primary winning 16-7. Our All Star girls also were victorious, beating St. Pius 13-8. And last but not least our Future Stars were able to come out on top against Warrnambool Primary to claim victory 14-7. Congratulations to all the students that participated and represented the school well.
We are extremely grateful to Katie O’Keefe and Mr McMillan for their expert coaching on the day.
Regional Athletics Training at Brauerander
A big thankyou to the children who came out to Brauerander Park on Saturday morning for practice for the upcoming Regional Athletics Finals. Despite the windy conditions the children trained well. Thanks to the parents who attended and to Michelle and Jeremy for their expert training tips for our athletes. Training will continue for the next two Saturdays prior to the holidays.
Please also be aware that the electronic permission forms regarding Regional Athletics have been sent out through PAM. Please complete these so we can finalise arrangements for travel. Thank you to those who have completed and returned forms already.
Sports Uniform Returns
We still have a number of sports uniforms that need to be returned. This includes all basketball uniforms from last Friday and Football Jumpers used for Aussie Footy Program and State Footy Finals.
Sports Practice this week
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Monday |
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No Team Training |
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Tuesday |
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Girls Tee Ball at Lunchtime |
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Wednesday |
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No Sports Practice with Arts Week Activities in the Hall |
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Thursday |
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No Sports Practice with Arts Week Activities in the Hall |
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Friday |
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Table Tennis at 9:00am Boys and 10:00am Girls |
Andrew McCombe, Physical Education and Sport Co-ordinator
We hope that all our school Dads had a lovely day on Father's Day.
Congratulations to our Father's Day Raffle Winners.
Chocolates and Ashmore Palm Holiday Village Voucher: Colin Wakely, Dean Fleming, Anthony Wright, Glenn Myronuick, Lee Perry, Ciaron Keegan, Andrew Jones and Russell Carlin
Supergrasse Tennis Complex Membership: Simon Mugavin
Pinky's Pizza Voucher: Peter Kao
ACE Airport Parking Voucher: Ben Van de Camp
Cap and Ashmore Palms Holiday Village Voucher: Joshua Lang and Travis Madigan
Photo Frame and Stubby Voucher: Mark Burleigh and Dereck Bean
Cup and chocolates: Paul Hickey, Matthew Stewart, Travis Greening and Joshua Walters
$50 Bunnings Voucher and Wallet/Cardholder: Matthew Shields
From next Monday 2 September children are required to wear their hats at school whilst outside at recess, lunch and sport.
2019 Art Fundraiser
The PSA will be running their annual fundraiser to raise additional funds for the Art Department.
This year your child's artwork will be available as a Diary (2020), Notebook (lined) or Sketchpad (blank).
These high quality hard cover diaries display your child's unique artwork created at school.
- Dairies - View the week at a glance - each double page displays the full week Monday – Sunday and includes public holidays and school term dates along with a year planner.
- Wire bound book designed to lie flat and stay open.
- Convenient A5 size (150 x 210mm).
- The same artwork can be used for all our products.
- Samples available at the school office for viewing.
Orders are now open via CDFPay at a cost of $15 per diary and close at 3pm on Friday 11 October.
Orders will be delivered in plenty of time to use these items as Christmas presents.
Note: Our Art teachers will endevour to ensure your child has completed the necessary artwork. However, if your child has been absent for an extended period of time for holidays or sickness they may not have completed their artwork.
Saturday 19th October and Sunday 20th October
Once again the PSA are offering parents the opportunity for family photos through Vision Portraits. Bookings are now open.
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.
To assist with venue planning please follow the link below to indicate how many from your family will attend.
Thank you to all our canteen volunteers. We are in need of a few more volunteers for Term 3 and 4. Training is provided and one shift a term is all you need to commit to.
A note that our roster can cater for parents who work on a rostered basis with the ability to swap canteen shifts if necessary.