Newsletter 3, 27th February 2025.
- Principal's Report
- Important Dates
- Survey - Cookies for your Opinion!
- School Feast Day & Harmony Week
- DOBCEL Strategy 2035
- NAPLAN 2025
- School Nurse Visit
- Reminders
- Homework at St Joe's
- Parent - Teacher Meetings
- Students of the Week
- Foundation/1 Class Report
- Grade 2/3 Class Report
- Grade 4/5/6 Class Report
- Mrs Wright's News
- St Joseph's School TV
- Child Safety
- Child Safety - digital images
- Acknowledgement of Country
Principal's Report
Hello to Families and all in the St Joseph's School Community,
Tomorrow officially marks the end of Summer and with the conclusion of the Swimming Program, students have now settled into the daily routine of their classrooms. Staff have been busy completing beginning of year assessments, logging data and discussing ways of how to best cater for each individual student. In the coming weeks, teachers will be available for Parent-Teacher Meetings, which are an important part of the shared journey we take in the education and overall development of the students at St Joseph’s School (see below).
We extend a warm St Joseph's welcome to Amelie Hellard as she joins the Grade 3 students in Miss Thompson's Classroom. We hope Amelie and her family find their time at St Joseph's School very rewarding. Welcome!
There are many items on the March calendar; Dental Van visit, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, NAPLAN Assessments; School Nurse visit, School photos, Harmony Week, School Feast Day & Hot Shots Tennis (Grade 4/5/6)! Please tune in to all newsletters, Facebook posts and PAM messages to keep up with all that is happening at St Joe’s.
Next week marks a change in the seasons of the Catholic Liturgical Calendar, with the beginning of the Lenten Season. Ash Wednesday, on March 5th, marks the beginning of Lent, a time when Christians reflect, pray and prepare for Easter. We will attend Mass at 2:15pm on Ash Wednesday and during Mass, we receive ashes on our foreheads as a reminder to turn our hearts toward God during the Season of Lent. We warmly invite all family members to join us for this special Ash Wednesday Mass as we begin our Lenten journey together.
Shrove Tuesday, often called Pancake Tuesday, marks the final day before Lent begins! The eating pancakes on this day comes from the practice of using up rich ingredients like eggs, milk, and sugar before the traditional fasting period began. On Shrove Tuesday (March 4th), pancakes will be available at recess time for all students.
A reminder that the school is closed tomorrow as staff take professional learning in our new Languages commitment to Auslan (Teachers as C0-Learners) AND next Friday as all staff gather for a professional learning day on our Catholic Identity, including the review of our Vision & Mission statement.
Enjoy the weekend,
Warm regards in faith & learning,
Mary
Important Dates
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE FOR OUR PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS.
THEY ARE NOW TUESDAY 18TH MARCH.
Tuesday 4th March - Dental Van visiting this week
Friday 28th February - SCHOOL CLOSED - staff professional learning AUSLAN
Wednesday March 5th - Ash Wednesday -Lent begins - Mass at 2:15pm
Friday 7th March - SCHOOL CLOSED - staff professional learning RELIGION
Monday 10th March - Labour Day Public Holiday
Wednesday 12th March - NAPLAN begins
Friday 14th March - School Nurse visit
Tuesday 18th March - Professional School Photos
Wednesday 19th March - School Feast Day
Friday 21st March - Harmony Day
Thursday 27th March - HOT SHOTS Tennis in Boort (Gr 4-6)
Friday 4th April - END TERM ONE
DOBCEL Student-Free Guidelines and Procedures
Student-free days are days where students do not attend school within the gazetted attendance period but are designated for staff professional development, school professional development activities, planning and/or report-writing. Each year, the first day of term one and the last day of term four will be a student-free day in all schools. PLEASE NOTE THE STUDENT-FREE DATES FOR 2025.
TERM ONE
Friday 28 February -Staff professional learning - Auslan Language
Friday 7 March - Staff professional learning - Catholic Identity
Survey - Cookies for your Opinion!
We need your opinions, please!
We will be asking you to complete a survey to gain an understanding of our current Catholic identity and where the school community might like to see itself in the future!
Our staff, parents and Grade 5&6 students are all asked to contribute their opinions.
You are asked to complete the survey online; it may take up to an hour to do so. Try not to get caught up in the questions, simply respond intuitively.
Keeping a record of your individual user code and password will allow you to
complete the survey over two or more sessions.
The survey is only available through the project website; please refer to the
Instructions for Survey Completion for Parents information which will be sent home with students on MONDAY.
Your responses to this survey are guaranteed to be kept anonymous.
On completion of the survey, please send child/ren to the School Office for a bag of delicious cookies (thank you Mrs Fitzpatrick)!
PLEASE CALL AT THE SCHOOL OFFICE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY ON A DEVICE AT THE SCHOOL - WE ARE HAPPY TO SET YOU UP AND GET YOU STARTED!
Thank you in advance. Your opinions will have to drive the future direction of our Catholic Identity at St Joes.
School Feast Day & Harmony Week
Our St Joseph's School Feast Day celebrates Joseph, the worker, on Wednesday 19th March.
Our Feast Day falls in Harmony week, which is an event we love to celebrate as it promotes the role we all have to play in making everyone feel welcome in our world. Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
Staff have an idea to combine these celebrations this year and would like to invite families to share their cultures with us through food! Any families who would be interested in cooking a traditional dish with a small group of students and staff members is asked to contact the School Office. Ingredients would be purchased by the school.
Questions can be directed to Mary or the School Office.
WEDNESDAY 19th MARCH
- Students invited to wear their culture's traditional dress to school OR students invited to wear ORANGE to school (the colour of Harmony Week)
- Feast Day Mass at 10am
- Small group cooking Grades 3-6/P-2 cooking
- Shared lunch together
- Mixed-age group activities focused on Harmony Week
DOBCEL Strategy 2035
Pursuing fullness of life for all
From the Murray to the Sea, DOBCEL aims to realise a vision of the ‘fullness of life for all’ for more than 18,600 students across a community of 63 Catholic primary and secondary schools.
While data shows our Diocesan system of schools is performing quite well, standing still as an education system is not an option in our ever-changing world. In addition, research shows there continues to be inherent and unacceptable educational disadvantage for students outside metropolitan areas.
The DOBCEL Board and community have now co-designed a new strategy - Pursuing fullness of life for all - presenting a bold and brave, but not reckless approach to driving high performance across our system of schools over the next decade and beyond.
NAPLAN 2025
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It is one snapshot of assessment which can be helpful for teachers and parents to see how students are progressing in literacy and numeracy over time – individually, as part of their school community, and against national standards. We aim to treat the assessments as a normal teaching and learning task . This year the NAPLAN assessment period opens on Wednesday 12th March.
NAPLAN is made up of tests in the 4 areas (or ‘domains’) of:
reading
writing
conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
numeracy.
School Nurse Visit
Kerrie McCosh, primary school nurse, will be visiting our school on March 14th, 2025.
Foundation parents, please be on the look out for an envelope that will come home which will include information about how to register.
Foundation Grade Health Assessments: All parents/guardians of Foundation grade
children will be asked to complete a Health Questionnaire online, before February 28th.
If you do not wish your child to be seen by the school nurse, please go online, register, and
indicate the non-consent.
Referrals (Grades 1-6): Parents and/or teachers may refer children from any grade for
assessments of vision, hearing, basic speech, physical abilities, medical conditions,
behavioural and parenting issues. Please collect a referral form from the school office.
Completed forms are to be handed into the school office prior to February 28th . Should
parents wish to have an interview with the School Nurse, please indicate your request on the
form.
Please note: You can talk to the primary school nurse at any time throughout the year.
Reminders
Parents and Carers have been asked to sign a couple of important documents as the year commences. One of these, is a Code of Conduct (which has been updated) and the other is an ICT User Agreement. At St Joseph’s we are committed to providing a safe environment, in both our physical and digital environments. The Code of Conduct is now signed once for your child’s enrolment period and the ICT User Agreement is signed annually. Thank you in anticipation of you reading, signing and returning these documents if they have not already been returned.
Homework at St Joe's
Homework was discussed at our most recent SAC Meeting, with many considerations from varied perspectives spoken about. Following up with staff, students will have reader sent home each day for home reading. Junior students may also work with the high frequency words in their folders.
Staff are more than happy to prepare homework for Literacy and Numeracy at a family's request. Please contact your class room teacher if you would like Literacy and/or Numeracy homework sent home with your child/ren.
Parent - Teacher Meetings
Book your spot!
We invite you to come along to our Term One Parent-Teacher Meetings! It’s a great chance to connect with teachers, gain insights into your child’s progress, and work together to support their success. Your involvement makes a huge difference—we hope to see you there! Term One individual learning plans will be a part of this process.
Bookings can be made via PAM from Monday morning!
Students of the Week
Foundation/1 Class Report
This week in the P/1 room, our Foundation students are learning some new sounds in phonics and are doing an amazing job in our group sessions.
Grade 1s are learning the sounds ‘le’ and ‘zz’.
In reading, we are focusing more on high frequency words and I encourage you to keep practising these with your child as much as you can. Keep up the great work!
Students are learning about place value and counting in Numeracy.
We will continue this into next week also.
Our Foundation students have all settled into their classroom and new routines are doing an amazing job with their learning each day.
One more rest day to go before they begin full weeks.
Have a great weekend.
Ms Brown
Grade 2/3 Class Report
Hello everyone!
Students have begun their Inquiry, PE, and Art classes and are doing some awesome learning! Students have been exploring places and geography in Inquiry, and have had their first couple of PE and Art lessons so just getting into the swing of things.
Literacy
The students have been working hard in our phonics sessions and have adapted beautifully to our routines. We have continued to focus on writing persuasive texts, and begun to explore the structure of persuasive writing. In handwriting, we have been practicing forming all our anticlockwise letters.
Numeracy
In numeracy, students are strengthening their understanding of times tables, focusing on the 2, 5, 10, and 11 times tables. We’re also continuing to develop our understanding of place value.
Thank you for your continued support as we work together to help the students grow and thrive!
Grade 4/5/6 Class Report
In Literacy, students have been learning a new spelling and phonics program called Spelling Mastery, aimed at older students. These sessions have been focusing on revising known sounds, associated spelling rules and daily practice of spelling words and patterns. Students are working well during these sessions. Students have been focusing on persuasive writing and are working on a piece focused on the topic of whether zoos are ethical in 2025 or not. We have been unpacking the structure of persuasive writing and persuasive techniques that we can use in these texts.
In Maths, students have been working on revising their multiplication tables for speed and accuracy. We have been applying our knowledge of our multiplication tables into more complex sums (such as 24x7= and 45x80=) and working on mental strategies to use when solving these sums. Students have been revising their mental maths daily and have been revising counting and patterns work.
Mrs Wright's News
Reminders
* Breakfast Program is on Tuesday and Thursday from 8.30am - everyone is welcome
* Container Deposit Scheme - St Joseph's has an account at the newsagent's. If you would like to donate any 10 cent containers, please drop them off at the newsagents, all money raised goes towards our Breakfast Program.
Clean Up Australia Day for schools is occurring this week (Thursday 27th February). Students will be walking around the school yard and the surrounding area of the school picking up any unwanted rubbish. Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate footwear. I have gloves that the students will be given.
Internet Safety - it's always a good reminder to be very safe when using the internet.
* Never share passwords with anyone
* Check your settings
* If a child is using the internet and something isn't right - report it or tell an adult
Mrs Wright
St Joseph's School TV
This week we have a special report about navigating AI.
In today's world, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has infiltrated almost every aspect of our lives, including relationships. The rise of AI-powered romantic and companion bots is particularly popular among young people, offering a new frontier in human interaction. Initially emerging in the gaming world, AI companionship has evolved into mainstream culture, with apps providing personalised experiences that range from platonic friendships to romantic encounters. These apps allow users to create and interact with virtual partners, raising significant privacy and ethical concerns, particularly for younger generations.
Research highlights potential risks associated with AI companions, including the normalisation of inappropriate conversations and the possibility of grooming. Criminologists warn that children as young as 12 are accessing dating apps, often bypassing age restrictions, exposing them to sexual content and predatory behaviour. These interactions can blur the boundaries between real and virtual relationships, creating confusion and potential psychological harm.
Adolescents, in particular, may turn to virtual partners for validation, risking unhealthy emotional attachments that can affect their real-life relationships. These relationships often lack the mutual respect and effort required in real-world connections, which are crucial for personal growth.
As AI technology continues to shape social dynamics, it's important for us all to stay informed and involved. AI has the potential to enrich educational experiences and foster creativity, but it also poses challenges related to privacy, mental health, and misinformation. By maintaining an open dialogue and promoting a balanced approach, we can help young people navigate this new digital landscape, allowing them to benefit from AI's advancements while protecting them from its potential risks.
Start exploring SchoolTV today! https://sjcharlton.catholic.schooltv.me/
Child Safety
The care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people is a central and fundamental responsibility of Catholic Education. St Joseph’s School is committed to strengthened practice for the protection of children in line with the Victorian Government child safety reforms.
Child Safety - digital images
Taking Photos/Video Footage
As we begin a new year a reminder to parents and family members to please ensure, when at school events, to take photos or video footage of your child/ren only. Please do NOT post photos of children, other than your own, at school events or wearing school uniform, on personal social media pages other than your own. Thank you for your cooperation in using social media respectfully helping to keep everyone in our school community safe online.
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We thank them for sharing their cultures, spiritualities and ways of living with the land, in this place we all now call home.