Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community, welcome to another school week. Now that December is almost upon us I again share several updates about important school events leading to the celebration end of this very different year.

General Updates

Grade 6 Graduation: Mid year, as well as earlier this term our School Leadership, our Grade 6 Team and Fr. John Fitzgerald began planning for a restriction compliant graduation. As all are aware, rules around safety, the virus itself and government directives have dictated much of what we can do. With this all in mind we have developed a Virtual Graduation Program. This will include Mass for families to share on Thursday evening at home a family blessing and a presentation. Our school photographer has also kindly developed a photograph graduation pack that is free for all graduating students. Families will also have a home mass and celebration booklet available for Thursday evening. As in the correspondence to families we encourage all to gather in homes to celebrate this outstanding achievement.

Final School Assembly: Again, as we have shared, the final assembly will be held in our St. Joseph’s School Hall from 10 AM on Monday 14th December. At this stage we can confirm that our Year 6 students will be attending. We still will not be allowed to have families due to current restrictions on numbers. A final decision on all classes actually attending the final assembly is still to be confirmed. The format of the program will be similar to other years but will be recorded to share with students and families. 

Orientation Day is ready for tomorrow Tuesday 8th December. As per previous correspondence students start in their current classroom; have a two hour session in their new classroom and share a BBQ lunch and a Zooper Dooper. After the orientation session students will bring home a placement letter and staffing allocations for 2021. Much work and time has been taken to place students as our guidelines indicate. All students will have time to talk about their new classroom upon returning to their current classroom. We also talk about change, friendships, new teachers and how that change is a part of life that we all have to work together to manage in productive ways. A new classroom is a change but each student at St. Joseph’s will have much support with this process. Interview appointments for numeracy can be made after 9:30 AM on Wednesday 9th December. If a significant issue arises with placement a review form is available from the School Office. These can be requested from the office from Wednesday 9th December after 9:30 AM.

Employment Updates

Welcome and congratulations to Kristian Thompson who has been appointed to the teaching staff of St. Joseph’s Primary School from 2021. Kristian joins us as an experienced teacher from St. Joseph’s in Warragul, the Gippsland Region of Victoria. Kristian has taught a variety of Primary age students. Kristian’s curriculum experiences cover literacy, numeracy and Religious Education.

Congratulations to Angela Kavanagh who joins St. Joseph’s working in the Year 3 area of the school. Angela has recently completed some emergency teaching work at St. Joseph’s and taught for many years at Bethany Primary School in Werribee North.