Ballarat Sovereign Hill Camp

Last week I had the pleasure of joining the Year 5 children on their two night camp to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill.  It was a great camp, packed with a variety of activities from Xtreme Bounce trampoline centre to the history and wonder of Eureka Centre Ballarat, the gold rush, panning for gold and of course the lolly shop.

It was a pleasure to be with the children especially to see them sharing their Australian history knowledge during the activities.  A big thanks to all of the teachers, LSOs and parents who came along to make the camp safe and successful.

$10,000 Playground Raffle

$10,000 Playground Raffle This week every family will receive 4 x $25 raffle tickets. Every dollar from every ticket is profit for our Parents School Association. And this year all of the profit will go towards our new middle and senior school playground.

The raffle works like this: Our sponsoring businesses have donated $15,100.

Our winner receives $10,000 as credit to be spent on one or more of our sponsors.

Also, the winning ticket seller gets their 2025 Family Fee credited for 2025 (or that amount credited to a secondary school for Year 6 families)

So let's imagine for a moment that you win. You could do this:

• Family Fee taken care of for 2025
• Your house painted ($4,000)
• New set of tyres for the car ($1,000) And Captain Sensible takes over with a $4,500 credit at Woolworths for fruit, veggies and staples
• and even $500 to feed the pets as well.

Not bad for $25! This is our major fundraiser for the year and we are grateful for your support.

Insight SCR Surveys

Each year we undertake surveys of staff, students (Years 3-6) and parents to gauge organisational health of our school. Our leadership team (along with DOBCEL staff) analyse this data along with our teaching and learning data and wellbeing data to ascertain the effectiveness of our programs and to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. These areas then form the basis of our Annual Action Plan.

Last week 50 families were randomly selected to participate in the survey. These families were given an envelope which contained log in details.  The survey takes about 20 minutes to complete.  If you were selected I urge you to complete the survey as a large sample of families provides more meaningful data.  It might just be worth checking school bags as children have lost the habit of handing over notes in this digital age.

100 Days of School

Our Foundation children have been counting their school days since Day 1 and yesterday was Day 100!

They celebrated by dressing as 100 year olds, parading around the school, performing for family members and doing fun activities in their classrooms. A lot of effort went into the costumes (and the teachers’ costumes) which helped make the day so exciting. 

Thanks to all of the families who could attend, our fantastic Foundation teachers and of course the children for entering into the spirit of the day.

School Disco

The disco is on this Friday which is a highlight of the St Joseph’s calendar.  Thanks in advance to all of our volunteers who make this event so much fun.  There are details further in the newsletter. 

Please be patient with the drop off and pick ups. 

Please be patient and listen to volunteers, and allow for any waiting times for drop off and pickup, as we facilitate the movement of hundreds of excited students around the school. If you are picking up a junior student at the same time as dropping off a senior student, please make sure to sign in the senior students first, and then locate and sign out your junior student. Children will be able to enjoy a bag of chips or popcorn, and water will be available. If you prefer to bring your own water bottle there will be marked classroom tubs on the night to put them in. Children are welcome to bring glow sticks, and some will be available on the night, however please no mouth guard style or battery operated glow sticks. Tickets are on sale until 9am on Friday 9th August, with a PSA funded option available so no one misses out!

Father's Day Breakfast

After the fun of the disco we have the Major Raffle and Father's Day Breakfast to look forward to. Families will shortly receive a number of tickets to sell as part of our major fundraiser for the year, with a major prize of $10,000 to be used at one of our participating local businesses. The raffle draw will take place at our Father's Day breakfast on Friday 30th August, so keep an eye out in coming weeks for ordering options and a chance to volunteer to assist with the event.

Playground Project

Finally, an update on our middle/senior school Playground Project, which is where all of our fundraising activities are being directed. At our last PSA meeting we were all very impressed with the designs that had been presented by one particular company that had a focus on incorporating accessible elements into a 'Ninja Warrior' style activity course. The Playground group is still working with other potential suppliers to gather designs and prices, and soon hope to be able to present these for discussion with the student body.