St Joseph's Primary School Warrnambool eNewsletter

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Michael Gray, Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and our wider School Community

Father’s Day

A great week for our students, staff and families last week. We celebrated Father's Day with breakfast on Friday; a chance for dads and siblings to spend time together at school enjoying breakfast, company and our school environment.

A very special thanks to our PSA Father’s Day event co-ordinator, Cindy Joseph and a brilliant team of many helpers sharing their time to support our students. This gift of time is very valuable, it provides the event at a low cost, ensures all can attend if possible and brings people together.

A very special thanks to the many fathers, grandfathers, older siblings or special friends who supported this day. Your enthusiasm, patience and care make the day special for everyone. I also appreciate the many who visited classrooms; a tour into the Arts Week jungle was an expedition in itself. Thanks All.

Class Groups for 2020

One of the key administration tasks of Term 3 for our teaching staff is the setting of our class groups for the next year. After much work and professional discussion; including reviewing student learning data, enrolment numbers and the best way to deliver on our whole school learning strategy (Professional Learning Community) we have decided; over the next two years, to transition to a single stream school.

This decision effectively means in 2020 we will have:

four Foundation classes
four straight Grade 1 classes
three straight Grade 2 classes
seven mixed 3/4 classes
four straight Grade 5 classes
four straight Grade 6 classes.

In 2021 the Grade Three and Four groups will also become Straight Grade 3’s and Straight Grade 4’s.

The key reason for this decision is to move all classes to be made up of 25 or fewer students. The straight grade approach will align our essential learning focus to a grade level, based on the Victorian Curriculum. We kept the Grade 3 and 4 classes Multi Aged next year to ensure all class sizes are 25 or under. If we had straight grades at the 3 and 4 level next year these classes would have been too large.

All classes will again be of mixed ability and a spread of boys and girls. The normal “Green Form” class grouping information gathering system will apply and be available early Term 4. The “Green Forms” will have the details regarding how the students will be grouped and options for moves. Staff have indicated a strong willingness to work with this system to continue to support the delivery of our quality learning strategy. This strategy has a focus on essential learning for all, collaborative teamwork for teacher planning and data-driven decisions to drive student focus. This focus puts a challenge of quality learning outcomes of growth for all.

Arts Week, “Under an African Sky”

This week brings together the excitement and wonder of Africa and the Arts. The Arts present ideas that are dynamic and rich in tradition. Through engaging in The Arts students are entertained, challenged and provoked to respond to questions and assumptions about individual and community identity, taking into account different histories and cultures. The Arts contributes to the development of confident and creative individuals and enriches Australian society. Students express, represent and communicate ideas in contemporary, traditional and emerging arts forms. In Dance, Drama and Music students explore the performing arts whilst in Media Arts, Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design students explore the world of visual representation and expression.

Every second year we have a creative week for the arts involving a theme to sharpen our focus and give the event a definition for creativity. The focus week will include lessons, special workshops, student presentations, a drumming experience for all and our final assembly.

An undoubted highlight is the jungle presentation display in our foyer; it is worth checking out and will really help the students enter the fun and learning of the week. This display work will also include a very special night walk on Wednesday to view our silhouette windows of African themes. Families are invited to walk the expedition in the evening outside and complete the quiz as you tour the night time window display.

A final reminder with arts Week is the dress-up day on Friday. We invite all to show creativity and adventure with a focus on the wildlife of this part of the world. When representing a country, we always focus on respect, dignity and care. Face painting and makeup are welcome but please keep it to a respectful minimum.

Before and After School Student Supervision

We would like to remind families that supervision of students does not commence until 8:40am each school day. If you are dopping your children off before this time, please be aware they are unsupervised. Staff duties commence from 8:40am.

Likewise, staff supervision of students finishes at 3.45pm each day.

Any children uncollected at this time are brought back to the office by the duty teachers. If families are at school out of hours for different hours, e.g. Parent Teacher Interviews, Sacrament family groups etc, your children are your responsibility and we request that they be kept with you at all times.

PSA Meeting

A reminder the PSA meeting is on this Tuesday 3rd September at 7:30pm in our school staffroom. At this meeting, we will change the focus due to a few away. We will have a chance to contribute to our diocesan strategic plan, chat about the grouping program for next year and share any thoughts/ideas for our developing school master plan.