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Michael Gray, Principal
Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community, welcome to the new school week.
Life at school
This week brings into focus three important areas of our school life; nurturing faith formation, studying a language and celebrating reading, learning and books.
Fr. John Fitzgerald, Fr Bill van de Camp and Fr. John Corrigan will visit Tuesday in support of our students completing the optional Senior Reconciliation Program. The liturgy has been filmed for our Year 6 students to engage with in classrooms after completing their home program over the COVID-19 lockdown time. Our supporting parish priests will visit on Tuesday to hear the individual student confession. The reception of reconciliation will be held in the open shared area of the Senior School building. This open area is safe, very visible, as well as reflective to contemplate.
This week we will also involve staff and students in some fun Japanese lessons. Next week is Book Week which will also be supported by library activity and a dress up class experience. The key focus of these support programs is to continue to enthuse students with a love of reading, learning and language learning.
Three Senior School students (Rorie, William and Chloe) started our Japanese Week this morning sharing the following Japanese messages with classrooms:
Mina-san, ohayo gozaimas (Good Morning, everyone!)
Ogenki deska? (How are you?)
Kyou wa, getsuyoh-bi des. (Today is Monday)
Nihongo no activity o tanoshimi mashoh (Let’s enjoy our Japaneses activities)
School Governance
Diocese Of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL)
Last Friday Fr. John Fitzgerald signed the official ‘School Transfer Agreement’ for our Parish Schools of St Joseph’s and St Patrick’s (Port Fairy and Koroit). The agreement is the transfer of governance from the Parish Priest to DOBCEL, effective 1st January 2021. The transfer is at a governance level (policy, employment, system transparency and accountability) and doesn’t impact the day to day running of the school; this work will continue to be delegated to the School Principal. All Catholic Primary Schools in the Ballarat Diocese have, and or will continue transitioning to this new arrangement over the coming months; including our other local Network Warrnambool Catholic schools. Fr. John Fitzgerald (Parish Priest, St. Joseph’s Parish).
School Closure Day
This Friday St. Joseph’s will have a ‘Student Free Day’ to focus on 2020/2021 planning, student assessment and individual report writing. There is no school for students while staff complete these tasks either on-site or off-site. I once again thank everyone for your support with this arrangement.
School Raffle
Supporting those who support our community
Our PSA Association and School Advisory Council have continued to meet regularly this year despite the COVID situation; this has been achieved via very productive virtual ‘zoom’ meetings. Attendance, conversation and decision making has been exceptional. I thank our parent members for this continued support. Our next meeting is a planning session and will be held virtually on Tuesday 17th November starting at 7:30 pm. All welcome, access is via zoom (see details in this newsletter).
With the above in mind our parent association have worked on two additional programs; the introduction of a sports/physical education uniform addition which will be in place for 2021. As well the group has continued our pizza days and are keen to support school fundraising. Given the loss of this year’s Annual Fair our PSA have established a new idea leading into Christmas. Funds raised will support our canteen, school grounds and student programs. The idea behind the raffle has been to support local businesses that have supported our school and the broader community. It is a small way our school can direct financial support to the many local businesses, authorities and associations finding it tough during the pandemic shutdown.
Details are in this newsletter, first prize will be a TM6 Thermomix supplied locally including in-house demonstrations. Second prize ($300) and third prize ($200) are with a school sponsor. The winner of these prizes can choose which sponsor their voucher will be based with. Tickets arrive home soon, along with the sponsor booklet with the choices for 2nd and 3rd prizes. The raffle books only contain 3 tickets of a value of $10 each; this is matched to what the average spend for families is at our Fair. First prize is designed to attract interest from beyond our school. Extra books will be available as needed. Have a great week everyone!
Regards,
Michael Gray, Principal.
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Harvey Bean, Isabelle Farrer, Cooper Davies, Tess Ryan, Zoe Watts, Max Cashmore, William Newton, Oliver Rae, Jake Conheady, Eva Pinny, Robert Ambrose, Mason Marshall, Sonny Mehmi, Joel King, Alice Moloney and Laura Van Zelst.
A reminder that this Friday 13th November is a school closure day for staff to prepare school reports.
St Joseph’s School Book Fair is fast approaching!
The Scholastic Book Fair starts in Week 7 from Monday 16th November, 2020.
The students will view the books available for purchasing during their Library and Digital Technology lessons. Traditionally the Scholastic Book Fair is an interactive opportunity to browse and select books to purchase from the shelving units that they provide the school with. We are fortunate that the current COVID-19 restrictions have eased enough for us to still manage this fantastic Fundraising Event for our School’s Learning Resource Centre. St Joseph’s School will be lucky enough to gain a percentage of ALL sales of books from the Fair, in the way of a voucher for us to purchase more amazing books and valuable resources for our school.
Each student will bring home a Fair pamphlet, showing a small section of the books on offer. On the back is a wishlist where your child can write the books he or she is interested in, after viewing the full book selection in their class time next week.
If you wish to purchase some or all of the wishlist you may do so a number of ways:
- Pay online at www.scholastic.com.au/payment (Be sure to click on Book Fairs payment NOT Book Club) with a credit card. You will receive an 8 digit receipt number which needs to be recorded on the Wish List with the amount paid on it. Your child is then required to bring this Wish List/Receipt Number slip back into the Library so they will be given the books paid for at the Book Fair.
- You can come into the school through the front door of the Library to make a Credit Card payment in the Library.
- Cash/Eftpos facilities available in the School Library
Closing Date for Orders
3pm, Monday 9th November, 2020
Pizza Day
Wednesday 11th November, 2020
This is an opportunity for students to have a special lunch and raise some money. There are no lunch orders on this day.
Note: If you wish to edit or cancel your child/rens order you can do so through CDF Pay under "see / manage paid orders".
A huge thank you to Father John for his efforts in making the arrangements to allow the senior children to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Children will receive the sacrament on Tuesday 10th December, 2020.
The Liturgy has been filmed and the children will watch this in their classroom. They will then move one at a time into the senior gathering pace to receive the sacrament.
A significant part of the preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is reflecting on how we can make good choices that will have a positive effect on ourselves, on others and on our environment.
We can pray to the Holy Spirit to help us make good choices
Come Holy Spirit
Strengthen in us the Spirit of Right Judgement,
So that we may choose wisely throughout our lives.
Strengthen in us the Spirit of Courage,
So that we may be able to follow the Way of Jesus,
Even when that may mean having to stand alone.
Fill us with your love, guide us in your ways.
Amen.
Mark Hyland
Parents of all 2020 Year 3 and 2020 Year 4 students are required to indicate their requirements for their child in relation to a Chromebook device for 2021. Please read the attached form and indicate your requirements.
A separate form needs to be completed for each child.
Thank you.
The Walk to School Day on Friday 30th October was an amazing success. Despite the cold morning, we had an awesome 571 students participate on the day. This meant 82.7% of all students walked, rode or caught the bus to school. Out of all the students who travelled, 316 students walked, 149 rode and 7 caught a bus to school. Thanks to the Healthy Moves Ambassadors who promoted the day to all the classes at St Joseph’s.
Many students received drink bottles as prizes. The winner of the bike helmet was Sophie Ierodiaconou.
Now that the weather is improving, we would like to see the numbers stay at this level. Also, if you walk and ride, you can go out any exit you want!
From Harper Coverdale, Micheli Sypott and Mr El-Hage
7:30 pm, Tuesday 17th November, 2020
Moving Forward - Supporting Learning
The PSA are holding a 2021 planning meeting. We are inviting all families to be involved.
Our forum involves small groups, running special activities i.e. Pizza Day, Mothers Day Stall, Raffles, St Joseph's Day, Father's Day Breakfast, etc. These events are activities that are well established with excellent back bone support and resources.
We just need teams of people, happy to support any of these events. All are welcome to join our Planning Meeting via Zoom.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/96743987051?pwd=alAzTm9SRDdFbXZpbzhLS0w1VHJVUT09
Meeting ID: 967 4398 7051
Passcode: Xsr25e
Raffle tickets for our school raffle will be sent home with a copy of our 2020 Fair Sponsor booklet which highlights all valuable contribution made by various businesses to our school.
There will be 3 tickets in each book to be sold for $10 each. The raffle will be drawn on Friday 11th December, 2020. We thank families for their support with this fundraising activity which is supported by the school's PSA.
1st Prize
Thermomix TM6 (latest model) valued at $2,268
2nd Prize
$300 voucher from the Fair Sponsor of your choice (see sponsor booklet)
3rd Price
$200 voucher from the Fair Sponsor of your choice