Newsletter 13 2023
Principal's Report
Hello to Families and all in the St Joseph's School Community,
This week the students have been busily preparing their Mother’s Day surprises for this special day which is on Sunday. ‘Mother’ figures come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and relationships and Mother’s Day provides an opportunity to celebrate all these amazing women! Each mother is unique and special in their own way, however, many mothers share common qualities, such as; unconditional love, patience, compassion, selflessness, strength, sacrifice and guidance. As I reflect on my own mother I realise she continues to be my inspiration and guide and that I countinue to be amazed at her resilience and boundless love! I reflect too, on the special gift children and grandchildren are, as I prepare to celebrate my first Mother's Day as a grandmother! Wishing 'mothers' everywhere the opportunity to enjoy even the smallest moments on Sunday and the chance to reflect on their mothering journey. I continue to be grateful for the support and involvement all mothers and grandmothers show to the St Joseph's community and wish each of you a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
We thank you for the precious gift of motherhood and for the unconditional love that every mother has for her children.
We ask that you bless all mothers with strength, wisdom, and patience as they navigate the challenges of motherhood and continue their important work.
We pray for mothers who may be struggling, who may be facing difficult circumstances, or who may be feeling overwhelmed. May they find comfort in your presence and may they be lifted up by the support and encouragement of those around them.
We pray for all mothers who have passed away, that they may rest in peace and continue to watch over their children with love and pride.
We also pray for those who long to be mothers but have not yet been blessed with children. May they find comfort in your love and may they know that they are valued and cherished.
Finally, we ask that you bless all mothers with a deep sense of joy and fulfillment in their role as mothers; that you guide us to honor and respect our mothers, to love them as you love us, and to show them the gratitude they deserve not just on this day but every day of the year.
We ask this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Mother’s Day
A reminder that there will be a Mother’s Day Liturgy and Morning Tea in the school multi-purpose room at 10:30am tomorrow, FRIDAY 12th MAY. Mothers, grandmothers and mother figures of St Joseph’s students are warmly invited to attend to celebrate this occasion.
Grade 5 & 6 Camp
This year the Grade 5 & 6 students will join with the senior students from St Mary’s Donald and St Patrick’s St Arnaud, to attend the PGL Adventure Camp in Kyneton. Below you will find a suggested packing guide, which will give you some notice about what type of clothing students will require. Obviously, the weather will probably be chilly so be prepared to pack for that! Please note, old clothes are suitable as we will be active outdoors and probably getting dirty! Also attached, is a list of activity descriptions which the camp has provided.
Bus Travel & Dismissal
Many thanks to parents for communicating changes to daily bus travel arrangements as requested. Staff are supervising students picked up in the car park and asking them to walk in front of the parked cars, where possible, to minimise risks. We continue to make safety our priority during dismissal time each afternoon.
Library
Many overdue library books have been returned to the school Library, which is fantastic. A huge thank-you for your response - and keep searching if you haven’t returned your overdue books just yet!
National walk to School Day
National Walk to School Day is on 19th May 2023. As we have so many bus travellers, students will go for a walk during the day as part of our participation on this day.
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.
Standard 4: Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing
In complying with Child Safe Standard 4 an organisation must, at a minimum, ensure:
4.1 Families participate in decisions affecting their child.
4.2 The organisation engages and openly communicates with families and the community about its child safe approach and relevant information is accessible.
4.3 Families and communities have a say in the development and review of the organisation’s policies and practices.
4.4 Families, carers and the community are informed about the organisation’s operations and governance.
Important Dates
Friday 12th May – Mother’s Day liturgy and morning tea at 10:30am
May 19th – National Walk to School Day
Sunday 21st May – Catholic Education week commences
Wednesday 24th May – Catholic Education Cluster Day at St Mary’s Donald
Friday 26th May – Arts Performance “Making Friends” in the multi-purpose room
Wednesday 31st May – Friday 2nd June Gr 5&6 Camp
Monday 12th June – Public Holiday – King’s Birthday
Please keep on the dates as they continue to populate in each weekly newsletter and aim to avoid appointments on these days so all students can participate.
Mary Hogan
Principal
Foundation/1/2 Class Report
Junior Class
Week Three has been busy preparing for Mother's Day and we have enjoyed sharing our thoughts about Mum.
Religion
The Class have continued to reflect on the wonders of Creation. This week we are looking at one of the Creation stories in Genesis. Looking more fully at the parts of the story will continue in the coming week.
Language
Each morning we are writing with an ongoing focus on sentence and letter formation. Our topic has been Mother's Day, using a theme students are experts on.
We continue to focus on mastering the recognition and spelling of the High Frequency words. The specific words for the week are stapled in our Magic Word Booklet and are practised each morning.
Mathematics
The Maths lessons commence with number facts and counting. This week we are focusing on Subtraction. The Grade One and Two Class are identifying the relationship between addition and subtraction. Foundation students are subtracting numbers to ten.
Wishing each mother a very special Mother's Day and may you enjoy a fun day with your children. I have enjoyed listening and reading about your child's special love for each of you.
I am looking forward to Sunday and having a meal with my sons and their families, especially getting hugs from my grandchildren.
Anne Anderson
Grade 3/4 Class Report
Students have been busy preparing for our Mother’s Day Liturgy this Friday and are looking forward to giving their gifts.
In our Literacy lessons this week we have been focusing on reading about the bush poet Banjo Paterson’s life within a picture storybook format. Students have enjoyed listening to some of Banjo’s poems that he wrote in life and learning about the different aspects of poetry reading, creation, language and structure. Students have been practising OLSEL strategies to support their reading and spelling abilities. This week we have been looking at poetry and rhyme. We have created a few poems using rhyme to describe day and night. Students have also looked at famous Australian poets and created an information report about them.
In Mathematics we have finished our unit on fractions and are looking at the concept of length. We have discussed length concerning distance, height, width and length. We have explored common units of measurement such as mm, cm, m, and km and how to measure these using a ruler and converting between these units of measurement.
In Religion we have been discussing and exploring our unit on respect. We have looked at some examples of scripture that explore the idea of respect and related this back to our understanding of respecting others, ourselves and nature. Students have reflected and created a class display of these reflections.
Homework Contract 11 and spelling homework are due this Friday. Thank you.
Grade 5/6 Class Report
Grade 5 & 6
On Friday we enjoyed a trip to the Charlton College Fete and the students were commended for their behaviour while experiencing all the fete had to offer. It was also great to see the senior students spending some time to help their junior buddy for the day, find their lunch and get themselves organised – well done. Today students are enjoying a trip to Boort to participate in Minkey Hockey, AFL 9s and Newcomb.
School Camp
Grade 5 & 6 students will join with students from St Mary’s Donald & St Patrick’s St Arnaud, from 31/05/2023 to 02/06/2023 for a two-night camp at PGL Adventure Camps in Kyneton. See some details filtering through elsewhere in this edition of the newsletter.
ENGLISH
This week, during the literacy block, we have wrapped up our unit of work which explored figurative language. Hopefully, students are able to tell you a lot more about alliteration, similes, metaphors, personification, hyperboles, idioms and onomatopoeia! To conclude the unit and assess understanding, students have written a poem which they will share in their Seesaw journal. All students did an excellent job and I was amazed by some of their descriptive writing. We have also focused on synonyms during grammar time which has helped when working with similes and metaphors. The reading focus for the remainder of this term will be on building reading stamina and reading to locate information as we progress to reading and creating information reports.
MATHEMATICS
In Mathematics, we will conclude our work with multiplication this week and move to its counterpart – division. I can’t stress the importance and value of students growing their knowledge and understanding of numeracy language and vocabulary. You can help at home by using this vocabulary as opportunities present themselves. For example, divide means to split up, share out, share into groups, distribute, segregate, etc. Students are working each day on a two minute times table challenge and it is great to see steady progress being made.
A reminder that students should have their satchel, reader, diary and Homework Pocket at school each day. Reader diaries are to be filled in each day with the page number read to and a parent/carer signature, please. Don’t forget to get in touch or to add your signature to homework which is incomplete!
Student Awards
This week Lila Lanyon, Vinny Roberts, Sally Armstrong and Ivy Giles received Principal Awards for their work in Literacy. Lila wrote a fantastic poem and Vinny has been helping Sally and Ivy to learn their high frequency words. Well done!
Assembly Award winners were Patrick Winslade, Liam Monaghan, Macey Revell, Rosie Fitzpatrick and Finn Schofield. Congratulations to each of you.
Community News
Acknowledgement to 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.