23 April 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message

Principal Welcome, Michael Gray

Today’s Newsletter is our Term 2, First Edition, published for Tuesday 24th April, 2018.

The Easter break was timely, appreciated and a chance for our students and staff to enjoy the benefits of rest, a changed daily timetable, a period of a little more freedom and I’m sure some Easter eggs!

At this time of the year our Catholic faith tradition brings to the fore the Easter story. Pope Francis teaches us Easter is like the parable Jesus told of the grain of wheat; the grain of wheat has to die before bearing fruit. Pope Francis reminds us "It is the power of the grain of wheat, the power of that love which humbles itself and gives itself to the very end, and thus truly renews the world." Life is hope and our faith reminds us of this important message.

The symbolism of an egg at Easter is also one of life. From life springs energy, this positive energy can bring love, care and respect. While Christ was poorly treated by many, which eventually lead to his death, God’s love resurrected and renewed life. It is this message of hope that we enjoy sharing with our students. We have to make choices, we make mistakes, sometimes we need to make sacrifices to help bring forward this sense of hope. If we all contribute, use our freedoms wisely and be responsible, this helps us as people. Good people can help build a better world. A better world for our classrooms, families and communities.

Signs of hope in our school community

A big thanks to everyone for your support to the Fair, nominating as interested in our School Advisory Council, attending School Sports Days, experiencing the Junior School Grade 1 and 2 Easter re-enactment and shared tea, hosting families from Japan and helping in our school canteen. Family commitment to our students and our school is stunning. We all value and appreciate what community can do for us all.

A further sign of hope

Nurdles: Report from Mr El-Hage, Senior School Staff

You may have heard about the collection of microplastics, called nurdles, from our beaches. This spill originated at the water treatment plant and has spread rapidly along the South West Coast. The nurdle spill was declared as a State Emergency. Several weeks ago classes of Grade 5/6 students from St Joseph's headed to Worm Bay to remove the plastic pellets from the beach. They had learnt in class about their impact on beaches from Port Fairy to Childers Cove and the harm nurdles can cause to birds and marine life. So it was rewarding to finally assist in repairing this environmental problem. Walking along the high tide line students scraped sand and shook seaweed to expose these plastic pests. It was surprising to find 1200 of the nurdles (240 g) at such an accessible location. The nurdles were bagged, labelled and deposited into the nurdle collection bin at the Life Saving Club. A very special thanks to all involved and your interest in helping keep our local environment clean for all.

St Joseph’s Primary School Nurdle Hunters

Important Reminders:

• School Closure Days this Term. Anzac Day Public Holiday (Wednesday 25th April), May Race Day (Thursday 3rd May) will be a public holiday, no school. The next day, Friday 4th May will be a School Closure Day (No school for students). Our staff will be working on the implementation of the new Ballarat Diocesan Religious Education Program “Awakenings”. These arrangements are as per the school calendar published at the start of this year.
• Secondary Colleges Enrolment: Year 7 enrolments are now underway, see Colleges for their information. In this newsletter, the Emmanuel College information is available.
• 2019 Enrolments for Foundation (Prep) at St. Joseph’s will open on Monday 4th June and close Friday 22nd June (the end of this Term).
• Winter Uniform: The first two weeks of the Term are the transition time to the school winter uniform. A reminder that the school hat is still required until the end of April (Cancer Australia Guideline). The school winter coat is compulsory from Foundation to Grade 5 if a coat is needed by your child heading to and from school. This Grade 6 group are not required to have a school coat; they are last year of the transition to this element of the school uniform. From 2019 onwards the school coat will be compulsory for all Grades; no casual/coloured coats will be allowed.
• Mother’s Day Stall: This annual and wonderful school tradition is again well underway; a special thanks to our PSA Parent Team. See details in this publication.

Regards,
Michael Gray, Principal.

Gold Box Winner

Congratulations to this week’s gold box winners Kain Parson and Blake Hughson for helping out in the classroom without being asked and to Scarlett Warburton who was nominated for being helpful on the playground. The gold box winners get to go to the pool for a swim.

Easter Egg Raffle

Congratulations to Blair Lyons for winning the Fill-a-basket Easter Egg Raffle.

Emmanuel Expo 2018

Classroom Helpers Program

7:00pm – 8:30pm, Thursday 24th May

The Classroom Helpers Program will take place this year on Thursday 24th May 7.00 – 8.30. The program aims to inform parents of Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students, about the teaching and learning of Reading and writing and how you can help in the learning process at home. It is an expectation that you participate in this program if you wish to help in the classroom now or in the future. We also invite you to ask others e.g. grandparents, who may like to help in the classroom. Remember everyone who does help out in the classroom needs a working with children’s check.

The dates for the Classroom Helpers’ Program this year will be Thursday 24th May and the session will run from 7:00pm to about 8.30pm.

Parenting*Ideas

Our school has an annual subscription to parenting*ideas. This site houses many sheets of information supportive of parents raising children of all ages.

To access the site go to

username: jguinan@sjwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au
password: support

Sacramental Program – Confirmation

A message from Fr John Fitzgerald

Grade 3 children who have been Baptised will have the opportunity to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation this term.

If you desire and are ready to support your child in his/her faith please complete the Registration Form. Parents should not feel pressured to enrol their child just because they are in Grade 3. The celebration of Confirmation is a celebration of faith and needs to be seen in the context of Church and not as part of the school curriculum, even though the faith of the child is very much supported by the school.

Registrations and nominations for preferred family group meeting times are available online this year. Payment for the program will be completed via CDFpay (online ordering system).

Key Dates

Sports News

Mark Gercovich, Sports Coordinator

School Sports

School Sports Results were:

Some action from last term’s School Sports Days

SSV Regional Swimming

George El-Hage, Sports Coordinator

Congratulations to the students who represented St Joseph's at the Regional Swimming championships held in Ballarat, last term. At this level, the competition is significantly tougher, with only the winners qualifying for the State Championships at MSAC. All participants represented our school amazingly and encouraged teammates with great spirit.

Massimo Da Ros finished 4th in the 50m backstroke and Fionn Ginley finishing 5th in Freestyle. The 11 year old girls relay squad with Shaylea Ralston, Tori Hintum, Hannah van de Camp, Kendra Wellens and Amarlie Conheady gained a silver medal. Every St Joseph’s student should be proud of their achievements.

11 Year Old Girls Relay Team

SSV District Interschool Athletics

On Monday 26th March, 48 students from St Joseph's went to Brauerander Park to compete in the SSV District Athletics competition. Despite cold, windy conditions the team performed and behaved magnificently.

They were successful in winning the boys aggregate trophy, the girls aggregate trophy and the overall aggregate trophy. Athletes who finished 1st or 2nd in Track events or 1st in relay or field events progress to the next stage (Division) which is held back at Brauerander on Friday 20th April.

St Joseph’s Primary School Interschool Athletics Team

Senior Visual Arts Pop Art

Monday 23 April – Friday 27 April

The senior school are exhibiting their Pop Art Food creations this week from Monday 23rd April to Friday 27th April in the Hall Foyer.

Parents and grandparents are invited to come up and view the students work.

The students have studied many different Pop Art artists and have especially looked at the work of Claes Oldenburg.

Mother’s Day Stall

Wednesday 9 May 2018

To celebrate Mother’s Day our PSA provides a Mother’s Day Stall. Families can pay for a gift via our online ordering system. Gifts are $5.00 per student. Orders are now open via CDFpay (online ordering system). The stall will be held at school on Wednesday 9 May. Remember this is a secret for Mum.

The gifts will be wrapped on Friday 27 April from 10:00am onwards in the portable Drama Room. Please contact Penny Walsh if you would like to give a hand in wrapping these gifts. Penny’s contact number is 0417 681 444.

2nd Hand Uniform Sale

Friday 27 April 2018 – Location: Hall Drama Room

The PSA are conducting a Second Hand Uniform Sale for all school uniforms. If you have any good quality uniform that reflects current St. Joseph’s uniform policy and standards this day could be for you. You can either donate items to be sold to the school for sale OR price them accordingly and have a % of your sale go to the school’s PSA.

If you would like to participate you can do so by one of the following two options:

OPTION 1 - If you are donating any school uniform items for sale please bring these along to the school office. Volunteers will price all items accordingly and all sales will be donated to our schools PSA.

OPTION 2 - If you have any good quality uniform that you are wanting to sell please name clearly with your family name, grade of the eldest child, size and price. All tags are to be pinned on the garment and removed when sold. It has been determined that 70% of the sale will go to the family and 30% to the PSA.

Second hand school bags are also able to be sold on the day providing that they are in appropriate working condition.

Bring donations and sale items into the office.

The sale will occur this Friday 27 April 2018 from 2:00pm till 3:30pm (before and during School Assembly) in the Hall Drama Room. This is a fantastic opportunity to purchase good quality second hand uniforms.

Lost Property

Lost Property is located in three places at school. Labelled items have a much higher success rate of being returned to their owner.

Please contact the office if any of these items belong to you, some which were left after the Fair.

Canteen News

We always need more volunteers so please consider if you have time, even if it’s only one shift per term. Training is provided and you can pick the day that suits you and even elect to be with a friend. A current Working with Children Check is required.

Coles Sports for Schools

Thank you to families who have been bringing in the vouchers for the Coles Sports for Schools promotion. It is not too late to drop vouchers into the school’s office.

Community Notice Board

Kip McGrath

Centracare South West

Parenting after separation In the past we have offered this education program on a 1-1 basis. The counselling and education team have developed an approach which we feel will better service the needs of our clients. As you can see from the information, we are offering the program as a group experience and we are giving the participants the opportunity to attend two individual counselling sessions with Centacare's experienced Relationship counsellors. We are currently taking Expressions of interest for this program which we are happy to facilitate in Warrnambool, Portland and Hamilton.

Our Community Notices are flyers that are sent in by various community and sporting groups for inclusion in our newsletter.