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Michael Gray, Principal
Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,
There is a saying in leadership circles that reminds people of both the importance of culture, talent and effort in achieving outcomes. It says “culture amplifies talent!” If I extend this thinking to St. Joseph’s I can say with confidence “... every child at St. Joseph’s has talent, the home environment can bring this talent and capacity forward and so too does our school.
In this COVID-19 time the particular challenge to bring the best forward needs each of us to be partners in our student’s learning. To be successful supporting young learners we need to be patient, respectful, persistent, clear, trust each other and all be focused on the best for each person.
Parents/guardian and families need to know the great work each is doing. So do teachers and our support staff. The COVID-19 situation has placed many challenges before us all but be confident of each partner's success. As I mentioned two weeks ago our students are also the heroes in my view. They have settled into their work in this unusual time with commitment, energy and balance. A credit to all.
I do share some further tips that may enlighten this time for us all. I was listening to Eddie Woo (Australian of The Year, and mathematics teacher) being interviewed by Kurt Fearnley (world class disability sportsman) on Sunday evening. Eddie, who has children of his own, was talking about the difficulty of being both a parent and teacher in a home situation.
Eddie’s advice as a parent helping at home was that it is very difficult to be your own child’s teacher; you are the parent and these two roles are fundamentally different. His advice was timely; he says that it is important to realise that you are not replacing school. You are your child’s parent, not their teacher. They are very different relationships. You can be flexible but firm. By establishing some rules and routines, you are reframing what can be achieved together at home when you set parameters and explain very clearly how things are going to play out.
The real gem of Eddie’s conversation with the interviewer was that in a home learning environment we don’t “need to be the expert imparting all the knowledge; be with your child, learn together. Take up the challenge of being a partner in the journey and learn from your child.” Good advice for the many of us working from home and helping to nurture our children’s talent, endeavour and commitment.
A great feature of our school is also bringing focus to learning by celebrating life and living each day to the fullest. Last Wednesday saw a great changeup to the day with the fun hats. Both the on-site and off site photos were great; seeing children live life with humour and fun keeps us all hopeful. This week we are going for a Wonderful Wednesday of crazy hair. A reminder that it is to be simple and feel free to share your photographs with our office team.
Regards,
Michael Gray. Principal.
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Zoe Benson, Nellie Boyle, Sienna Addinsall, Hamish James, Jordan Hosking, Lewis Chard, Nikyla Hinkley, Charlie Zanos, Oscar Dart, Hannah Wilson and Lila Evans.
Please mark the following Term 3 School Closure Day on your calendar.
Monday 7th September, 2020
It was wonderful this week to have photos coming in from our Remote Learners. Keep them coming in over the next 3 weeks and we will include them in the newsletter.
Celebrating being Christian
We gather at Mass to Celebrate
Remembering and celebrating stories of our faith has always been a strong tradition in the Catholic Church. These stories not only recall events and people from the Bible and history, but also give us our sense of belonging, meaning and identity as Christians.
In celebrating Sunday Eucharist, commonly called the Mass, Catholics gather as a faith community to celebrate God’s life giving presence in our world and especially the presence of Jesus Christ. Christ is present within the community assembled, in the Word of God, under the signs of the consecrated bread and wine and in the priest who presides.
We wish our 47 First Eucharist candidates the best of luck as they prepare for the Sacrament of the First Eucharist.
A reminder to please collect your child's First Eucharist program booklets from the foyer at School.
Within the pack you will find the First Eucharist iron on transfer. Refer to the photo below for correct placement on your child's Baptism stole. Note: One transfer was left behind, contact the office if it was your childs.
Parents need to ensure that they have watched the Eurcharist Program video to assist them with supporting their child.
Please contact the Parish Office on (03) 5562 2231 if you have any queries.
This year we welcomed a new School Photograher, Glen Watson Photography. Now that families have received their photos we invite parents to provide some feedback via this survey form.
We are aware that due to problems with the print company some orders were delayed as was the distribution of photos due to students remote learning as a result of COVID-19.
We remind parents that we went to the composite class photo format this year for safety reasons and to ensure that all students were included in the photo.
As it has been some time since the photo ordering process we have attached a sample of the photo packages and prices to help refresh your memory.
"This is a great idea! Nice to have something fun & interesting for the kids ... and easy for the parents!!" ... Just one of the many comments we received from our families.
Wonderful Wednesday was also heard being called Crazy Wednesday, Hat Day, Crazy Hat Day and Weird Wednesday. Whatever you called it, it does sound like lots of students and staff had a bit of fun choosing their hat and wearing it to their Google Meet or at school.
We thank everyone for their participation and for embracing the idea of making one day a week a bit special. Some children made their hats and some families made the day extra special with a "lunch order".
This week's Wonderful Wednesday theme is the very popular crazy hair day! We look forward to seeing some crazy hairstyles. We encourage families to use ribbons, accessories and hair products they have in their homes rather than make a special trip to the shop.
Here are a few galleries of photos from Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks to families who sent in photos, we loved seeing them.
Wonderful Remote Learners
Wonderful Hats
Wonderful Staff
Parents are invited to join us for our scheduled PSA Meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday 1st September via Zoom.
This meeting is going to be held via the ZOOM platform. The link for this meeting will be published in next week's newsletter.