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Michael Gray, Principal
Dear Parents, Carers, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community.
Wet Weather
What a wet time it was last week but great to see and feel the sun over the weekend and at school this morning. As I mentioned in the various text messages last week everyone’s help and cooperation with the school end of the day arrangements was appreciated. Students were calm, parents patient and supportive and staff were very helpful.
Thanks also to the local police and SES for their help. Russells Creek, can and does frequently, rise with rain fall, river flow, local run-off and the Warrnambool tide actions. The river is monitored via our school facility team and our emergency planning as well as various other authorities. A depth measure is located at the Bromfield Street crossing. The school building site is built above the 1 in 100 year flood line. There is always a possibility the school might need to close if an extreme situation arose but since the school has been on this site the flood plain has managed to cope with increased flow. Obviously, this situation requires close attention to ensure safety of all; this will continue via our emergency management plans.
I do however really appreciate everyone's cooperation; actions speak, and to see the help and calmness in place does ultimately ensure student safety as it does continue to be our focus every day.
COVID-19, Road To Recovery
With our metro friends returning to school this week, as well as Year 7’s and VCE classes locally the steps to COVID recovery continue. For our students we all hope that we can get onto the ovals this week as they dry out.
Today’s newsletter contains important updates and reminders as well as a video of a student Project of Hope in this COVID-19 time.
1000 Paper Crane Project
Millie Austin and Amelia Roache from D2, as described by school parent, Fiona Fitzgerald.
Very early on during the first lockdown Millie Austin and her mum discussed taking on a project that would keep students connected to friends and something that would keep them busy while being in lockdown at home. The family came up with a couple of ideas and watched a video on Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Millie decided this was a project she would like to take on as it was a subject they had spoken about in their Japanese classes at school.
Sadako had been diagnosed with leukemia from radiation caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Sadako's friend told her to fold origami paper cranes in hope of making a thousand of them. Millie was inspired to do so by the Japanese legend that one who created a thousand origami cranes would be granted a wish.
Millie reached out to her classmates in D2 via google classroom, her friend Amelia Roache and her family were very keen to get involved. Over the next 6 months, both girls made 1,000 paper cranes, with their friends and family joining in. Jointly Millie and Amelia decided that they would make the 1,000 cranes and wish for a cure for COVID-19 and for peace in the world.
The project ended up taking over 60 hours and then the friends and family strung the cranes up ready to be sent over to Hiroshima to be displayed at the Hiroshima Peace Park. The cranes will be displayed at the school before being shipped across. Since we obviously can't be there when the cranes are being added to the many thousands of cranes already there (made by people all over the world) the organisers will send an email of the date it will be added and take photos on the day and send them through to us. A big thank you to Liz Noonan, (Classroom Teacher D2) and classmates for being supportive of the project.
Regards, Fiona Fitzgerald (School Parent)
Remembering an important School Annual Fair volunteer
Last week we saw the sad passing of Rosemary Roache. Many of you may have spoken to Rosemary on the side of a sports oval supporting her grandchildren Patrick, Ian, Ben and Amelia. Rosemary’s, ‘Green Thumb’, has for many years been a drawcard to our school fair. With the support of husband Pat and son Daniel she would load trailers full of old and rare plants from her garden and spend the weekend sharing gardening advice, knowledge and her passion for plants.
Year after year visitors would come to the fair to fossick through her amazing collection of flowers and shrubs, all tagged and care needs explained to the new adoptive parents in great detail. Rosemary will always be remembered for her warmth and welcoming smile and I’m sure many of you will have a lasting memory of her beautiful spirit in your gardens. I invite families to share these thoughts in memory of Rosemary and the many other elderly in our community who have passed on this year.
“St. Joseph: Pray for our friends and family. May the spirit of Catherine McAuley guide us in all we do this week. Amen.”
Regards,
Michael Gray. Principal.
Happy Birthday to children celebrating their birthday this week.
Gracie O'Grady, Van Myroniuk, Jenson Riordan, Bodhi Rudolph, Flynn Burleigh, Samuel Joseph, Georgie Milroy, Cara Carlin, Meredith Jones and Ivy McDonald.
Update: A full update on the School Team Photos will be in Monday's newsletter. Essentially new government guidelines restrict any school photography for the remainder of the year.
Thursday 22nd October, 2020
School Team Photos will be taken on Thursday 22nd October, 2020 for all sports and academic teams.
All students who took part in a team will be included within the photo and must be wearing the full team uniform.
All sports team students will need to wear their sports uniform on this day and the relevant team top will be supplied to them (if you still have them you will need to bring them along).
Parents will have the opportunity to order a photos through Glen Watson Photography website.
Photos being taken will include:
- Lawn Bowls
- Tennis
- Swimming
- Athletics
- Cross Country (if applicable)
- Mathematics
- Young Vinnies
- Choir
- Healthy Moves
Parents are invited to join us for our scheduled PSA Meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday 20th October, 2020 via Zoom.
This meeting is once again going to be held via the ZOOM platform. We have had lots of positive feedback regarding the new format.
Please enter your name when you enter the meeting, when prompted, to identify yourself to other meeting participants.
Meeting ID: 935 8889 5444
Passcode: JS61JC
Congratulations to the students below who received an award for their excellent participation in the Physical Education Google Classroom during remote learning.
These students all either entered their own “Secret Spot” location for others to guess where they were, or they were the first to guess a “Secret Spot” location.
Well done to these students and to everyone for participating.
Thank you to our Arts Team and Andrea Welsh, parent volunteer, for the amazing work they have done with the Ribbon and Clay Art Fundraiser.
The ornaments have arrived and distribution has commenced, all students should receive their order by the end of this week. Contact the office with any queries.
For those families who have ordered and wish to re-order additional items this can be done using the link below. This is ONLY for families who placed an order last term as the company only have access to these artworks.
Due to Remote Learning we postponed the Term 3 pizza day to Week 2 of Term 4.
Closing Date for Orders
3pm, Monday 12th October, 2020
Pizza Day
Wednesday 14th October, 2020
All orders were automatically transferred to the new date. If you wish to edit or cancel your child/rens order you can do so through CDF Pay under "see / manage paid orders".
The second pizza day will be held on Wednesday 11th November with a closing date for orders on Monday 9th November.
Parents can notify the school of an absence via phone or via the SZApp using the "absence" tile.
Absences reported via PAM are directly linked to the classroom roll making this a very efficient system.
Note: You will need your PAM username and login to access PAM.
Please contact the school office if you require any assistance.
As the weather warms up it is a timely reminder to ensure your child/ren brings a drink bottle to school each day.
Bubble taps are still unavailable due to COVID-19 restrictions. Students are still able to refill their bottles throughout the day. Cups are provided to students who forget their drink bottle.
Often times when people hear that children shouldn’t be given consequences or put in time out, but rather understood empathically and championed developmentally, they get worried!
Usually the worry is that this means it is going to be Disneyland-party time parenting with kids who rule the roost. Here Dr Vanessa shares how this is definitely not the case, that compassionate parenting is full of rules and boundaries, and just how to go about it all so you can strike the balance of being both firm and kind.
Warrnambool and District Cricket Association is once again running Junior Cricket this Summer. Training is usually one night a week with games played on a Saturday.
Some clubs are short on numbers, contact the school office for more details if you are interested.