Confirmation

Congratulations to the Year 3 children who celebrated the sacrament of Confirmation last week.  Thanks to the families and the teachers for supporting them in their preparation.

School Uniform

Following the School Advisory Council meeting last week, I am pleased to inform our community of a simple adjustment to our School Uniform Policy.

From Term 3 all children will be able to wear their sport uniform any day of the week.

Among other things, the reason for this change are:

• The new Child Safe Standard #5: Diversity and Equity
  “In particular pay particular attention to the needs of students with disability, students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, students who are unable to live at home, international students, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) students.
• Success of Foundation students in sport uniform this year
• Promoting activity and comfort at school (particularly for girls)
• Affordability for families.

Please note that we have already taken the “Boys” and “Girls” subheadings off our uniform policy and simply have summer and winter options.

Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

The written reports will be published Friday 17th June and available for you through PAM after 4pm. Report folders containing work samples will be sent home with your child/ren on the same day.

Parent teacher interviews will take place on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st June.  The reports and interviews are designed to provide a comprehensive description of your child’s progress in academic achievement, social emotional learning as well as their work habits. The interviews are an opportunity to discuss this progress and to develop your understanding of your child’s next stage of learning.

The interviews are scheduled for 10 minutes. Should you think that more time is required please contact the classroom teacher via email.  Parents who have participated in a PSG this term are not required to book an interview.

We are pleased to be able to welcome parents back on site for these interviews; however, many families acknowledged that phone interviews were convenient for them, so we are offering a choice of phone or in person interviews.

Please allow 10 minutes between interviews.

Bookings are now open via PAM.

Selection of Sport Teams

Last week saw the first round of winter sport (see below for a full report). In the past St Joseph’s selected their “best” teams from Year 5 and 6. This has resulted in some Year 6 students missing out because they were deemed not good enough and replaced by Year 5 students. Selecting the “best” team increased our chances of winning. I believe that primary school sport should be focussed on inclusion (even at the expense of winning) and that as many children as possible should be able to represent their school in their chosen sport.

I have amended our procedures so that Year 6 students will be selected first even if Don Bradman himself is in Year 5. Even with this amendment children missed their chosen sport, some in football and many in netball. We are a large school and we are exploring the possibility of entering more teams. 

Some argue that we should be preparing children for “real life” where they will face rejection and disappointment. I disagree, I see one of the roles of primary school, in partnership with parents, is to fill children with so much confidence and self belief that they will never be deflated no matter how many holes the rest of the world pokes in them.

In these days of diminishing sport participation in our youth we can encourage children to begin or continue a sport by exposing them at primary school level and do all that we can to avoid any child feeling as though they are not good enough.

Although our current Year 5s are on the cusp of this decision and were unable to play this year they will be the beneficiaries next year when more of them are able to represent our school.

This procedure will also apply for basketball (Year 4 and Year 6) and cricket later in the year.

PSA - $10,000 Business Bonanza Raffle

How would you like $10,000 worth of vouchers to spend at businesses in Warrnambool?

Or if you own a business;

How would you like a new customer with up to $10,000 ready to spend?

And just when you thought it couldn’t get better;

How would you like to be the seller of the winning ticket and get you Family Fee paid off for 2023 (at least $1,375 based on the 2022 fees)?

Well, that is the excitement of our major fundraiser for this year.  We are currently inviting local businesses to sponsor ($300) the raffle which places them on the prize purchasing list.  If you own a business and have not yet received a package or know of anyone (even outside the St Joseph’s community) who might like to be involved please contact Cathy at the office.

Early next term each family will be asked to sell 4 x $25 tickets so that means there are only 1600 tickets available.

Meeting Tuesday 7th June at 7:30pm in the Staffroom

Tonight, we are holding an important meeting to decide upon the future of The annual St Joseph’s Fair. Everyone is welcome regardless of your prior experience in the fair. Over the journey many parents have recognised that it is through the fair that they have come to meet many other parents. I see this as a great opportunity for our newer families who have not been able to fully engage over the past few years.  Come along! Adrian Benson, PSA Chair.

Regards
Matthew O'Brien, Principal