Newsletter 4, 13th March 2025.
- Principal's Report
- A Journey Through Lent
- Students of the Week
- Headlice
- NAPLAN Assessments
- Important Dates
- Smile...it's School Photo Time
- School Feast Day & Harmony Week
- DOBCEL Strategy 2035
- School Nurse Visit
- Universal Speech Screening
- Students of the Week
- Foundation/1 Class Report
- Grade 2/3 Class Report
- Grade 4/5/6 Class Report
- Buloke Shire Pool Survey
- St Joseph's School TV
- Child Safety
- Child Safety - digital images
- Community News
- Acknowledgement of Country
Principal's Report
Hello to Families and all in the St Joseph's School Community,
I extend gratitude to families for accommodating professional learning for staff on our recent school closure days. Although the content of the two days was very different, both days were engaging and generated excitement for what is to come!
Many staff indicated our Auslan – Teachers as Co-learners was the best professional learning day they had ever attended! We were privileged to meet our teacher assistant, Renee, who will work alongside us to deliver the teaching and learning of Auslan. Renee shared her inspirational story of becoming profoundly deaf at the age of 19 from contracting meningococcal disease. She now hears with a cochlear implant – amazing story!
Last Friday staff worked with three education consultants to unpack the meaning of the Diocesan vision of ‘Fullness of life for all’. Using the feedback we received from parents, students & staff indicating what they saw as the ‘essence’ of St Joseph’s School, we are well into reviewing our current school vision and mission statements. Further to this we began exploring the way our vision and mission links to our School Wide Positive Behaviour Supports and our expectations of Respect, Responsibility and Safety.
A massive thank you to families who have completed the ECSI survey online. This survey gathers feedback about our current Catholic Identity and about how you might view this in the future. The survey does take around an hour, but doesn’t need to be completed in one sitting – and only comes around once every five years! There are still bags of cookies waiting for those who complete the survey – if you have lost your information there are spares at the Office.
Enjoy the week ahead,
Warm regards in faith & learning,
Mary
A Journey Through Lent
In the Catholic tradition, the journey through Lent continues for around six weeks. As part of our calling as a Catholic School Community, during Lent, our focus moves to those in our world who are marginalised; the poor, the sad, the lonely, the sick. During Lent Catholics are called to pray more, fast (give up or have less of) and to give (time, donations). Project Compassion boxes are one way of contributing during Lent time and the senior students will plan a simple fundraiser or two as well. Below is this week’s reflection from Project Compassion.
Students of the Week
Headlice
We have had a reported case of headlice in the school. Please check your child/rens hair and treat if necessary. I have attached a fact sheet below. Please read carefully.
NAPLAN Assessments
Yesterday students in Grades 3 & 5 completed their NAPLAN Writing assessment – a narrative about going on a ride! Today they completed the Reading assessment. It is important students are at school on time as the assessments are scheduled for 9:30am.
NAPLAN Writing | Wednesday 12th March @ 9:30am |
NAPLAN Reading | Thursday 13h March @ 9:30am |
NAPLAN Language Conventions (Grammar, Spelling…) | Monday 17th March @ 9:30am |
NAPLAN Numeracy | Tuesday 18th March @ 9:30am |
Important Dates
Thursday 13th March - NAPLAN Reading
Friday 14th March - School Nurse visit
Monday 17th - NAPLAN Language Conventions
Tuesday 18th March - NAPLAN Numeracy
Professional School Photos
Wednesday 19th March - School Feast Day & Harmony Day
Thursday 20th March - Universal Speech Screening
Thursday 27th March - HOT SHOTS Tennis in Boort (Gr 4-6)
Friday 4th April - END TERM ONE
Smile...it's School Photo Time
Information has been sent home regarding our professional school photographs this year. This year we have engaged Creations School Photography from Horsham. Ordering of photos is to be completed online - if you have any difficulties contact the School office and we will help you out.
School Photographs are on TUESDAY 18th March. All students are to wear full summer uniform. Please pay attention to shoes, socks, hair decorations and jewellery; making sure school uniform policy is upheld.
School Feast Day & Harmony Week
March the 19th celebrates the feast of St Joseph the Worker, the patron saint of our school, a day to be reminded of Joseph as a carpenter and worker, as a role model and father (see a modern day interpretation of St Joseph in the image at right). This day also falls in the Harmony Week, a week to recognise and celebrate the diversity that brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone! The theme for 2025 is "We All Have a Role to Play".
ON THIS DAY – WEDNESDAY 19th MARCH, students are invited to wear to school dress from their culture OR something orange - the colour of Harmony Week. School uniform is not required.
We will have a Mass of Celebration in the Church at 10:00am. Everyone is warmly invited to join in this celebration.
At lunch time students will join together for a shared lunch of foods from around our world. Thank you to families who have agreed to cook some traditional dishes for us to try out. If you would like to contribute anything please contact the School Office. THERE WILL BE NO LUNCH ORDERS ON THIS DAY.
Throughout the day, students from F-6 will mix to complete various activities with staff - one of which is badge making!
DOBCEL Strategy 2035
Underpinned by our Catholic Identity, DOBCEL 2035 defines a high performing system of Catholic schools as one where:
- Everyone is engaged in learning and teaching and has a positive sense of belonging in their school and community.
- Everyone feels safe, valued, respected, and their wellbeing and health enhanced as foundations of productive learning and teaching.
- Educational research informs contemporary practice.
- The quality of student learning outcomes across the curriculum exceeds expectations.
- Student outcomes across different equity groups have similar distributions and averages and where all students have equal access to excellent learning and wellbeing opportunities.
- All human resources, financial resources, time and natural resources invested in education benefit students, schools, community and society in optimal ways.
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.
Universal Speech Screening
DOBCEL speech therapists are offering speech screening to all Foundation students. This initiative supports our DOBCEL's commitment to inclusion and the overall wellbeing of students across the diocese. The diocesan speech team has coordinated screening dates for over 46 schools, and they will visit St Joseph's on March 20th, 2025. Early intervention gives the best long-term results!
Students of the Week
Foundation/1 Class Report
We are already in Week 7!!
The Preps have settled into daily routines well and structured literacy sessions are off and running.
Foundation students are learning the letter sounds ‘i’ and ‘p.’
Grade 1s are learning the ‘ll’ and ‘zz’ sounds.
In numeracy, the Foundation students are learning about Place Value and Counting and the Grade 1s are focused on Addition and Subtraction.
We participated in Clean Up Australia Day and the students helped clean up our school and school ground. It was great to see all the students get involved and help look after our school.
We have parent teacher interviews this week so if you haven’t made an appointment yet and want to, there is still time.
Have a great week!
Ms Brown
Grade 2/3 Class Report
Hello families, I hope everyone has had a restful break over the long weekend.
Literacy
This week, we’ve jumped back into narrative writing. The students are having fun using a creative prompt to craft their own stories. It’s exciting to see how their imaginations are taking off! Students are also working hard during handwriting and doing a great job with their letter formation!
Numeracy
In math, we’re diving into the times tables, starting with the 2s, 5s, 10s, and 11s. We’ve also started a new unit on addition and subtraction, where they’re learning to use “friendly pairs” (like 3 + 7 = 10) to make adding easier and faster.
Religion
In Grade 3-6 Religion, we’ve been talking about how we can show love and care for others, using stories and examples from the Catholic tradition. The kids are really enjoying these conversations and thinking about how they can make a positive difference in our world.
Thank you for your ongoing support — feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Lara Thompson
Grade 4/5/6 Class Report
Literacy: Students have been working on reading and spelling strategies during our Spelling Mastery small group work. Students are working on understanding spelling rules and formations (such as prefixes and suffixes) along with supporting their knowledge of letters and sounds (phonemes). Students have been working on narrative writing with a topic of 'emergency' as a feature of our writing this fortnight. Students have been revising sentence types, sentence structure, punctuation, tense and vocabulary to help with their writing.
Maths: In the past fortnight students have been working on their understanding of telling time to the nearest minute and working on understanding elapsed time between two given events. Students have been revising polygons this week and understanding 2D and 3D shapes and their properties.
A gentle reminder that if you are not on the Seesaw app as of yet, could you please attend to this as soon as possible. If you require support with this please contact me on the school number.
If students could read 4 or more times a week, it would be beneficial to their learning.
Buloke Shire Pool Survey
Buloke Shire Council is updating the shires Aquatic Strategy and are seeking you feedback on existing pool facilities and services. We are seeking your input by completing the community survey Buloke Shire Council Aquatic Strategy - Community Survey
This strategy will provide a framework for future strategic direction, infrastructure development, and operational enhancement of pool facilities across Buloke Shire.
St Joseph's School TV
This week's article is all about resilience!
Resilience is important for a child’s mental health. It is their ability to bounce back from failure, challenges, adversity and stress. It’s not something that kids have or don’t have but a skill that kids develop over time as they grow. Building resilience not only helps a child deal with current difficulties, but it also helps develop a resilient mindset that will help them deal with challenges later in life. All children are capable of working through challenges and coping with stress, but they require guidance and support from a charismatic adult role model.
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.
Community News
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.