Loving God, 

Our creator, our saviour, our companion, 

bless this journey of a new school year that we undertake together.

Refresh our souls and renew our spirits

as we embrace the opportunities you have called us to in 2022. 

Bless each of us for the many gifts we have been given and for the privileges that our school community brings.

Lord, make our hearts pure as we return to school at St Joseph’s this week

and may you guide us with open hearts and minds eager to learn and teach. Help us to be strong and courageous; and be with us wherever we go this year.

We ask this in Your name, 

Amen

Welcome

Welcome to the new school year.

Our school is full of anticipation and excitement as the children and teachers have settled into their new classrooms. A special welcome to all of our Foundation students and to the 16 new students who have joined us across this year. 

Staffing Update

Melanie Alexander has taken leave for all of Term 1. Louis O’Connor has generously cut short his leave and will teach the children of B1 for Term 1. I would like to thank Louis for his ongoing support for the children of our school and share the thoughts and prayers of our school community with Melanie and her family.

New Staff

We welcome Amy Wormald C2, Lewis Dodwell B5 and Marcia Miller B8 to our teaching staff. Jenny McInerney (D4), Kate Whichello (F5) and Kate McGrath (E1) continue with us in 2022 after joining us last year.  Kayne Brereton, Layla Monk and Zoe Ritchie are welcomed to our staff as trainees. Zoe, Layla and Kayne all completed VCE at Emmanuel College in 2021 and are working at St Joseph’s this year whilst undertaking a Certificate 3 in Educational Support.  We wish these new staff members well as they join our team for 2022.

Teacher email contacts

Classroom teachers are easily contacted via email or the student diary. Please be aware that teachers may not respond to an email after 5pm.

Parent Teacher Meetings

Monday 21st February and Tuesday 22nd February

These meetings will take place via video conferencing or phone calls. These initial meetings are designed as an information sharing between parents and teachers. It is an opportunity for teachers to learn more about the students in their care. Booking for the meetings will be available through Parent access Module (PAM) on the school app or website.

School Times

Please note: The school gates are opened for students at 8:20am. There is not a provision for children to be supervised in the library before 8:30am. 

COVID Safe Practices

Please ring the office to report a positive COVID test result so that we can be accurate with the information we are sharing with our school community. 

Pick Up Locations

As a part of our COVID safe plan we are minimising large groups of students gathering together. To this end we will continue with the allocated pick up areas:

This system is based on the starting letter of the children’s surname:

Foundation Student After School Pick Up

For the first four weeks, Foundation children will be ready to be picked from their classes at 3:20pm.  Those being collected from the Loop, Tennis Courts, Queens Road, catching the bus or going to After School Care, will be escorted by one of the Foundation teachers. 

Tennis Court Loop

To improve children's safety at the tennis court loop children will be able to enter cars in the bay closest to the clubrooms. The remaining bays have been roped off to remind children not to try to cross between cars. If parents wish to park in the parking bays then they must collect their child from the “Pick Up Zone” and walk them to the car. Children will not be permitted to walk across the loop to the parking bays.

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal