14 August 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message

Jim Guinan, Acting Principal

Excitement is a word that comes to mind when I think of the atmosphere surrounding St Joseph’s at the present time.

First we are excited because we can unveil our new, revamped and updated website. You can access it at the link below. It is a fully, integrated platform with loads of information about the policies of St Joseph’s and the daily functioning of what is on each day. It links with the Schoolzine App (SZApp) on your phone and many useful links are available.

There is a group of Year 4 students who are nervously excited about taking the next step in their personal faith journey, Eucharist. The candidates are invited to attend any Sunday Mass each Sunday for the next three weeks. Father John and members of staff will greet them and make their families feel welcome. Candidates will participate in different parts of the mass until they make their First Eucharist on Sunday 9th September.

The girls and boys football team are also excited as they complete final trainings to participate in the State Primary Finals on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 August. We wish them all the very best and hope they know we are very proud of them.

We are also excited because Michael is back to continue his role as Principal of St Joseph’s this week. He has many experiences to share from his trip to Jerusalem.

We are also excited to present to the Community of Warrnambool the Resilience Project. This renowned event is taking place during Week 6, 23rd August and is free to parents and guardians of St Joseph’s. Costs are being absorbed ty the PSA of St Joseph’s.

Finally, the school was abuzz with excitement over the school disco on Friday 3rd August. Over 500 students attended this event and by all accounts everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Many thanks to Leah Johnston and her team of parent helpers for such a very successful event.

Regards,
Jim Guinan, Acting Principal.

Teacher Awards

Week 3

Gold Box Winner

Congratulations to Gold Box winner Niamh Ginley for supporting a student with a broken arm on sports day, put in by Mr Gray.

Congratulations to Gold Box winner William Porter for excellent listening and attendance at assembly.

Congratulations to Gold Box winner Archie Everall for following school rules and walking his bike into school.

Winners of our Gold Box get to go for a swim at the pool.

Community

We welcome into our school community, four students from Doshisha Elementary School. These students are Ko, Seishiro, Ema and Reiko and they are all in Year Six.

Doshisha Elementary School students

These students are staying with host families and attending St. Joseph's for two weeks. They are here to experience Australian culture and to improve their English through reading, writing, speaking and listening. Prior to attending St. Joseph's, they have been at St. Patrick's in Port Fairy for one week.

Their English teacher Arisa Furimoto has been here with the students and has returned to Japan and Reverend Yoshiyuki Nakagawa has arrived.

We thank the generous host families who have accommodated the Doshisha students and welcomed them into their homes. Our next visit from Doshisha students and teachers will most likely be in March/April 2019 for approximately five nights. Please keep an eye out for information early next year, if you would like to host a student.

Student Leaders Project

Maryanne Evans, Wellbeing Coordinator

Over the past few weeks the Student Leaders and I have been working to develop a Child Safe Policy that is a student friendly version of the policy that we have aimed at adults.

We developed our understanding of safety and behaviours that can make children feel safe and unsafe through the use of circle time and discussion.

We discussed why the safety of children was important to our school and our community. The Code of Conduct and the Working with Children’s Check help us to know what is expected at St. Joseph’s school.

We explored the rights of all children to feel safe and how the student Leaders can help others understand their rights as well.

We looked at differences of beliefs, cultural backgrounds and religions and how this policy applies to all students at St. Joseph’s school which values difference in others.

We looked at ways children could seek help if they need to and that there are adults in the school that will believe children and help them. The students wanted others to understand that if the school finds problems that may affect the safety of children then they will fix the problem.

The Policy will be presented to the School Advisory Council this week.

The Student Leaders are a fantastic group of young people in our school and it was a pleasure to work with them. I thank them sincerely for their work.

We celebrated the project completion with a swim at the pool.

Maryanne Evans, Wellbeing Coordinator

Next week is Book Week!!

The theme for this year’s Book Week is - Find Your Treasure

There will be lots of activities going on over that week – 20th – 24th August.

Activities in the Library each Lunch time – including colouring in, Lego and origami.

Competitions are running hot! The Foundations have a colouring competition, Years 1 and 2 are doing an animal illustrators competition, Years 3 and 4 have a digital book cover or ABC book competition and the Seniors are completing a Treasure Hunt project and have a ‘Talk Like a Pirate Competition.

There is also an open competition for the whole school - Best 3D Treasure Box or Pirate Ship.

Book Week Assembly will be on Friday 24th August. All the Library Monitors are working hard to make it go well.

As usual there will be dress up day on Friday 24th August – all are invited to dress up as a favourite book character.

Below are some of the nominated books for this year.

The Resilience Project

New Venue: The Emmanuel Centre, Emmanuel College

7:00pm, Thursday 23rd August, 2018

This program is being fully funded via funds raised by our Parent Association. Feel free to invite aunties, uncles, grandparents and other family members who may be interested.

Due to the popularity of this event we will now hold it in The Emmanuel Centre at Emmanuel College.

This evening session is focused for support adults in their understanding to build capacity for resilience in their family. The students will attend a session focussed at their age group on Friday 24th August during school hours. Please do not bring children to the evening session.

It is important that you register your interest so we can ensure your comfort for the evening.

Please register your interest in attending this FREE parent Information

Learn more about The Resilience Project at their website:

https://theresilienceproject.com.au /

Young Vinnies – Food Share Fundraiser

Friday 7 September, 2018

The Young Vinnie’s team are working to promote and support the work of Warrnambool and District Food Share. Food share has a Fruit for school initiative which allows all schools in Warrnambool and district to collect a box of fruit for students to access during the school day. At St. Joseph’s many students enjoy and appreciate this when they don’t have fruit to eat at school which can be for a variety of reasons.

Food Share also provides hampers of food for families who may find themselves in crisis. Families at our school have appreciated this support as well.

We understand that many families in the area need support not just our families here at school.

We would like to invite all students at St. Joseph’s to bring along a Gold coin on Friday 7th September, to raise funds to support the work of Food Share. This is in week 8 of term. The Young Vinnies will be promoting this Fundraiser in classrooms as well.

Note: This day is not a dressup/casual clothes day.

Sacramental Program – First Eucharist

Children participating in the program have been attending family group meetings in preparation for receiving the Sacrament of First Eucharist.

This Sunday is the 3rd Sunday of the Eucharist Program. Children participating in the Eucharist program will be invited up to the Sanctuary to pray the “Our Father” during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

This will be part of all 3 masses at St. Joseph’s Parish; 8:30am, 10:30am and 6pm. All welcome.

Key Dates

Father’s Day Breakfast

Friday 31st August 2018

Helper’s Request

Thank you to those who have filled in a volunteer form. More helpers are required so please consider assisting.

Please complete this Helpers Request Form

Coles Sports for Schools

The sporting gear that we ordered with the Coles Sports for School’s vouchers the were collected by our students has now arrived.

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions

Shorts Needed For Girls Footy Team

The girls footy team are off to the state finals in Melbourne on Thursday 23rd August (Week 6). This is the first time they have made it this far, which is very exciting!!

However, we have a problem! The boys team are also in the state finals in Melbourne, and they play the day before us. We are in need of some footy shorts for the girls to play in, as there is no time to get the boys shorts washed and handed out to the girls.

A number of the girls in the team had South Warrnambool shorts as they play there or someone in the family does. So we are looking for more South shorts.

If you have a husband, brother, son, nephew, next door neighbour or friend who plays for, or used to play for South and you think they might have a pair of old shorts hanging out in the cupboard somewhere, we would really appreciate having a loan of them.

It doesn't matter what size.

Please send shorts to Room E5. Please make sure they are labelled so we can return them.

School Disco

The 2018 school disco was another fun night for everyone, with over 500 tickets sold – that’s 80% of our school students in attendance! There was a lot of dancing, screaming and I believe everyone had a wonderful time and a fantastic social opportunity for the students to spend with their friends.

A big thank you to the disco committee and staff at the school who put it together and to all the parents who volunteer to help on the night – without these people, things like this can’t happen. A special mention to Michelle Hynes, who has organised the decorations for the disco for many years, as this is her last year with the school.

Can’t wait till Disco 2019!

Here are some photos from this year’s Disco

Congratulations to our Disco Poster Competition winners

Operation Christmas Child

Belinda Wrigley

St. Joseph’s Primary School has been invited to once again take part in Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse. Families are invited to fill a box with items which is then sent to a child in need. Boxes can be collected and returned to Room B7.

There is a $10 postage charge. Boxes are due back to school by the last week of Term 3.

Thanks.

No Smoking Policy

A reminder to all parents, visitors and staff that St Joseph’s Primary School has a “No Smoking” Policy. Smoking is not permitted within 4 metres of an entry. Entry to the school starts from the school boundary entries i.e. from Queens Road, school loop, staff car park, Allan Oval and the Bromfield Street Tennis Courts.

No Parking Zone

Laneway adjacent to Queens Road School Crossing

A reminder that the laneway adjacent to the Queens Road School Crossing is not a pick up and drop off zone. This area is private property and should only be used by residents to access their houses. We have been asked by a resident to remind our parents via our newsletter.

There was a No Standing Zone sign that was accidently knocked down and ended up in the creek which the council have been notified of and should be re-erected.