HAPPY ARTS’ WEEK-

Thanks Kath, Cara, Caitlyn and Michelle for your vision, energy and time in preparing what appears to be an extraordinary experience for our kids and our community. Bring it on. 

BEST REPORT EVER!

That was the quote from Pauline, our external reviewer. Congratulations everyone for your input into the review process over the last 9 months. Particularly the leaders who headed up the individual components; Cara, Marlie, Gabe, Pat, Cathy and Catherine. We now have sound priorities to move the school towards our vision over the next 5 or so years.

POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP 2026 AND BEYOND

With our priorities in mind I am turning my attention to our leadership structures, our POLs and other “non teaching” roles. 

The Consultative Committee along with the Leadership Team will work together to develop the most strategic structures to enable our school to continue developing. As a first step I invite everyone to closely attend to the following document and complete the form attached at the bottom of the document. All POL contracts expire at the end of this year so we are able to make adjustments to structures and role descriptions.  Also note that as a part of the award all POLs must be advertised. 

2026 Leadership and Non Teaching Structures

We sincerely appreciate your ongoing support of the school — especially your valuable assistance with the review panel last week and your flexibility in the lead up to and during Arts Week. Your willingness to step in and adapt wherever needed doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s this kind of dedication and team spirit that makes our school community strong and successful.

Reminders: 

• Teachers rostered on ‘Hall’ duty, could you please ensure that the activities trolley is packed up and stored away in the F2 - storage room at the end of lunchtime. 
• No Hall Week 7 - ‘Hall duty’ will be held in the Library this week.
• LSO Feedback books: Please remember the classroom teacher is responsible for checking books and recording incidents on SIMON. 
• From Monday 1st September, children are required to wear their hats at school whilst outside at recess, lunch and sport. Children without hats will have to stay in the undercover area during lunch and recess. We do NOT have a grace period. Please note that ALL staff are strongly encouraged to wear their hats whilst outside also.
• Fathers day breakfast on Friday 7am-9am.

On another note, I’m pleased to welcome Pat back after his two week break. Any daily organisation and student behavioural matters should now be redirected back to him. 

A HUGE shoutout to Elise for stepping into Pat’s role while he was away. The amount of work you achieved in such a short amount of time is just phenomenal. How lucky are we to have you here at St Joseph’s! Thank you for everything.

*IMPORTANT* Please take time to read through this ARTS WEEK Document 

ALSO

We are in need of volunteers to assist us with our Arts week set up, caretake in the  glow in the dark room and pack up. If you are available and would be happy to help us out, can you please add your name HERE. This is optional and not a paid activity. 

Thank you for your support, we really appreciate it. 

Many Thanks 

Kath and the Arts Team

School Improvement Teams

Week 7:  Whole School Assembly - Room D4

Week 8:  Whole School Assembly - Room B8

Week 9:  No School Assembly

Please read in conjunction with the Upcoming events list.

Week 7:

Arts Week

Year 4 Swimming - each day 1 - 3pm

Tuesday 2nd September:  Regional Bowls (Ballarat); Year 5 Planning Day

Wednesday 3rd September:  Year 6 students going to Emmanuel for Arts week activity

Wednesday 3rd September:  Arts Week Night Walk 6pm - 8pm

Friday 5th September:  Fathers Day Breakfast

Week 8:

Year 5 & 6 Camps

Monday 8th September:  District Volleyball

Tuesday 9th September:  Year 3 Planning Day; Year 4 students are watching a movie in the year 6 building

Wednesday 10th September:  Foundation Planning Day

Thursday 11th September:  Year 5 & 6 Camp rest day; Division Table Tennis

Friday 12th September:  Year 4 Planning day; Arts Team Planning Day; Matt at Southern Zone Principals meeting

Wellbeing Interventions: There will be no Wellbeing interventions this week. No cooking, Junior Joey's, Sport or Art sessions as we are mindful that we don't want students to miss the special art activities.

Hands on Learning WILL go ahead on Wednesday (Yr 6 HoL students at Emmanuel for sessions 3 & 4). Two of the HoL pillars are "Real things to do" and "A chance to give back"; therefore, students will be helping set up for the Illuminate Night Walk.

School TV Webinar: Digital Media Literacy & Safety (Part III) Wednesday 3rd September, 7.30 pm Two of Australia’s leading experts, Susan McLean and Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, will share invaluable insights on how to empower young people to navigate the online world safely and responsibly. Topics in this webinar include: New Social Media Regulations, Digital Footprint and Reputation, Screen Time and Brain Development and Parental Controls. Webinar Flyer with link to register. You must register prior to the commencement of the webinar.

SWPBS: Thank you to all teachers who took their classroom through the Positive Behaviour Matrix and gave valuable feedback. Last Thursday, Anne Ruddell (CEB) and Liz ran a session with student representatives from F-6. It was an engaging session and interesting to see what the students value as their top priorities. Student reps all worked well together and we definitely had buy-in from them. We now have valuable student voice in this document.

First Eucharist Mass on Sunday - St Joseph’s students will be celebrating their first Eucharist this Sunday at both the 10:30 and 6:00 mass.  Thank you to our grade 4 teachers for coming along to support our students.  It is always lovely to have other familiar faces so please feel free to come along and support them. 

TAP - A reminder for staff to take the time to fill in your TAP hours. If you are unsure what to do I am really happy to sit with you and get it done. 

Part time teachers or teachers who have had extended leave if your fit into one of these categories

• Approved continuous extended leave for 2 consecutive terms or more; or
• Working at an FTE of 0.7 or below, for 12-month period; or
• Returning from periods of extended leave (e.g. parental leave).

extensions of the accreditation period will be given.  We will just have to fill in an application for this when it is finalised . 

Additional TAP hours -  CEOB are offering these online free inservices that you can access. Awakenings Professional Learning

Choir: Wednesday afternoon - I will take the choir students for about 20 mins on Wednesday to practice for the night walk performance.  Sorry about any inconvenience.

This Friday 5th September is the Father’s Day Breakfast. We will require helpers who will accrue TIL for their time. Could you please fill in the document if you are able to help.

Fathers Day Breakfast Roster 2025

Building Program Preparation: This is approaching an exciting stage, where things will start to happen onsite very soon.  This contract is currently at Tender stage, which means we will be (hopefully) signing contracts early next term, with the builders setting up their work site at some stage during term 4.

For this to happen, over the final two weeks of this term and the upcoming holidays we will start preparing our school site. 

In week 8 & 9, this will involve:

• Removing the Allen Oval goal posts (at the Hall end of the oval).  These will be replaced once the build is finished.
• Removing the light pole
• Moving the furniture and supplies out of the portables and into the hall to allow for the rooms to be moved.  This step will mean the hall will be unavailable for use on the last two days of term.
• Disconnecting all services (power, water, data) and the decking from the portables in readiness to be moved.

Over the holidays, this will involve:

• Moving the Year 5 Portables to the Allen Oval 
• Moving the new Rotunda (this will move to over the sandpit, replacing the old shade sail structure)
• Moving the furniture and supplies back into the year 5 Portables ready for term 4.

All of this will mean there will be an increased presence of tradesmen onsite.

Over the school holidays we will also be completing the next stage of re-painting and carpeting program.  The photocopy room, staffroom and toilets will be re-painted; those rooms plus Matt & Pat's offices will be re-carpeted.

On 10th November installation of the new playground will also start.

With all of these projects going on, it will be busy, and it will mean a lot of different people will be onsite.  They should all still be signing in, and should all be wearing the yellow sign in sticker.

School hats: All students and staff will need to start wearing their sun hats from Monday, 1st September.

Anaphylaxis Online Module:  Anaphylaxis link you WILL need to create a new account for this site, and then you need to select the module for Victorian Schools, not the refresher module.  Once staff have completed this component, Learning Leaders can make a time for Alecia to attend your PLT session to do the verification part.  All other staff can let Alecia know and she will work out a time to do your verification when you are out of class, or before school.

For all Staff Reimbursements, please use this link:  Staff Reimbursement Form

Refer to the newsletter or PAM for further details on all these events.

Week 6

Fathers Day Breakfast orders remain open

Community Groups: 1:45pm, Friday 29th August

No Whole School Assembly (Community Groups): Friday 29th August

First Eucharist Mass: 10:30am and 6:00pm Sunday 31st August

Week 7

Arts Week Commences: Monday 1st September

Father’s Day Breakfast Orders Close: 3pm, Tuesday 2nd September

PSA Meeting: 7:00pm, Tuesday 2nd September

Arts Week Night Walk: 6:00pm - 8:00pm, Wednesday 3rd September

Father’s Day Breakfast: 7:00am - 9:00am, Friday 5th September

Whole School Assembly, Room D4: Arts Week, 2:00pm, Friday 5th September

Converge International is a free and confidential support service for staff and their families.   Ph 1300 687 327

• Joel Saywell - 31st August