Filter Content
- SCHOOL RAFFLE DRAWN THIS FRIDAY
- PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
- TEACHER AWARDS
- SCHOOL REPORTS
- NUMERACY AND LITERACY INTERVIEWS
- THANK YOU TO OUR CANTEEN HELPERS
- HEALTHY MOVES
- JAPANESE NEWS
- OUTSTANDING 2020 SCHOOL FEES
- 2020 SCHOOL UNIFORM
- SCHOOL RAFFLE
- CLASSROOM AND CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS
- CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BALLARAT NEWS
A reminder that our school raffle will be drawn at 12pm this Friday 11th December.
Michael Gray, Principal
Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community, welcome to another school week. Now that December is almost upon us I again share several updates about important school events leading to the celebration end of this very different year.
General Updates
Grade 6 Graduation: Mid year, as well as earlier this term our School Leadership, our Grade 6 Team and Fr. John Fitzgerald began planning for a restriction compliant graduation. As all are aware, rules around safety, the virus itself and government directives have dictated much of what we can do. With this all in mind we have developed a Virtual Graduation Program. This will include Mass for families to share on Thursday evening at home a family blessing and a presentation. Our school photographer has also kindly developed a photograph graduation pack that is free for all graduating students. Families will also have a home mass and celebration booklet available for Thursday evening. As in the correspondence to families we encourage all to gather in homes to celebrate this outstanding achievement.
Final School Assembly: Again, as we have shared, the final assembly will be held in our St. Joseph’s School Hall from 10 AM on Monday 14th December. At this stage we can confirm that our Year 6 students will be attending. We still will not be allowed to have families due to current restrictions on numbers. A final decision on all classes actually attending the final assembly is still to be confirmed. The format of the program will be similar to other years but will be recorded to share with students and families.
Orientation Day is ready for tomorrow Tuesday 8th December. As per previous correspondence students start in their current classroom; have a two hour session in their new classroom and share a BBQ lunch and a Zooper Dooper. After the orientation session students will bring home a placement letter and staffing allocations for 2021. Much work and time has been taken to place students as our guidelines indicate. All students will have time to talk about their new classroom upon returning to their current classroom. We also talk about change, friendships, new teachers and how that change is a part of life that we all have to work together to manage in productive ways. A new classroom is a change but each student at St. Joseph’s will have much support with this process. Interview appointments for numeracy can be made after 9:30 AM on Wednesday 9th December. If a significant issue arises with placement a review form is available from the School Office. These can be requested from the office from Wednesday 9th December after 9:30 AM.
Employment Updates
Welcome and congratulations to Kristian Thompson who has been appointed to the teaching staff of St. Joseph’s Primary School from 2021. Kristian joins us as an experienced teacher from St. Joseph’s in Warragul, the Gippsland Region of Victoria. Kristian has taught a variety of Primary age students. Kristian’s curriculum experiences cover literacy, numeracy and Religious Education.
Congratulations to Angela Kavanagh who joins St. Joseph’s working in the Year 3 area of the school. Angela has recently completed some emergency teaching work at St. Joseph’s and taught for many years at Bethany Primary School in Werribee North.
Regards,
Michael Gray, Principal.
School report folders will be sent home with your child on Friday 11th December with the report being accessible via PAM on the same day.
School report folders now only contain samples of the students work and tasks. The actual report needs to be downloaded from PAM. You will need your family PAM login and password to access the report.
Contact the office if you require any assistance.
Numeracy Interviews
Tuesday 15th - Thursday 17th December, 2020
Literacy Interviews
Wednesday 27th - Friday 29th January, 2021
From 9:30am, Wednesday 9th December, the Parent Access Module (PAM) will be opened for booking of numeracy and literacy interviews.
Please contact the school immediately, if your child is unable to attend.
Last Day of Canteen
Friday 11th December, 2020
A special thank you to our volunteers who are retiring from canteen duty as their youngest child is heading off to Secondary School.
Belinda Crichton and Cindy Joseph are both retiring after several years of volunteering in the canteen.
Thank you also to all our parents who have assisted in the canteen at special events earlier in the year including Middle/Senior Sports Day.
Our school community is very fortunate to have a fully furbished canteen facility that operates 5 days a week and is also available for special events. We rely on canteen volunteers and appreciate the time and effort that they contribute to our school.
Remember there is only 5 more school days to get to school actively. If you walk and ride, you can go out any exit you want!
From Harper Coverdale, Micheli Sypott, Bridget Graham, Bridget Cameron and Mr El-Hage
Maya Furphy (D6) won the 2nd prize in the Victoria Statewide Pencil Calligraphy contest which is organised by Japanese Teachers' Association of Victoria (JLTAV).
She is one of the 118 participants in Primary Grade 3/4 category.
20 of St. Joseph's students also received their participant certificates from JLTAV.
I would like to congratulate 60 students who participated in this contest.
Well done!
By Deguchi Sensei (Teacher of Japanese)
School fees should now have been finalised for the year
If you have not yet paid your fees for 2020 can this please be done so by Friday 11th December, 2020.
As previously advised through our newsletter a new house coloured sports top is being introduced in 2021. This top is compulsory for all students from Foundation - Year 6 and can only be worn on classrooms nominated sports day/s. These tops will be available only from Lowes, Gateway Plaza (or online) from late January. Seniors students will wear these tops twice per week and for school sport representation so we anticipate they will get lots of wear. They can be sold through the 2nd hand uniform shop once no longer required.
All students competing in representative sports teams throughout the year can only wear the school logoed sports shorts (unless the sport has a different uniform) and the new house coloured sports top.
All students from Years 1 - 6 are required to wear the normal summer and winter uniform as per our Uniform Policy, this has not changed. Students can only wear their Sports Uniform on their classrooms allotted sports day. Sports shorts can only be the school logoed shorts available from LOWES, no other shorts are accepted. For incorrect uniform being worn, parents have been called to bring the correct uniform to school and/or out of uniform letters sent home to parents via PAM; both of these options will continue next year for students not wearing the correct uniform.
For the past few years Foundation students wear their sports uniform every day due to the number of PMP sessions and PE they have. For 2021 we will continue this for Foundation students only again. On their sports days they will wear the new sports top with shorts/trackpants and on other days their sports uniform (shorts/trackpants and blue school polo).
If you have any questions regarding school uniform please contact Cathy Duynhoven.
Raffle tickets for our school raffle have been sent home with a copy of our 2020 Fair Sponsor booklet which highlights all valuable contributions 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 at 12 noon 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
Sharing of food items in the classroom
As our school community grows we have more students enrolled who have been diagnosed as having food allergies or intolerances. To support all needs we have procedures for the sharing of food items in the classroom. At times some classrooms will have a shared morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea. This is a supervised event and all families are advised of this via a letter sent from the classroom teacher.
This ensures all children's individual needs are met and catered for.
To ensure the inclusion of all students please adhere to the routine for the sharing of food items within the classroom.
Celebration of Birthdays
At St Joseph's we celebrate children's birthdays as a school by presenting the child with a Birthday Certificate at our whole school assembly. Each classroom celebrates birthdays in different ways. Some classes have a special chair for the day or a badge to wear, most classrooms have birthdays displayed in the room.
For the purpose of an individual child’s celebration or birthday we are now advising an icy pole or Zooper Dooper be a recommended option for these occasions. It is not compulsory to celebrate all birthdays through the classroom.
Icy poles can be dropped into the school office. Please label with child's name and room number and let the classroom teacher know. Average classroom numbers are Foundation (22), Year 1 (19), Years 2 (24) Years 3/4 (25) and Year 5 (23) and Year 6 (23).
Christmas Cheer
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 this sharing of food guidelines.
Thank God for Mass!
Just as lockdown begins to ease and Churches open for prayer and the celebration of Mass, Sue Ellis has produced an interactive book that will help every family, school and church to inspire children to enjoy the many aspects of this key event in the life of every Catholic.