Newsletter 10, 13th June 2024
Principal's Report
Hello to Families and all in the St Joseph's School Community,
The welcome rain this week, and the cooler weather that followed, was a reminder that we are heading into the depths of Winter!
Over the last couple of weeks, staff have been diligently completing assessment, in all areas of the curriculum, to inform their reporting for the first semester of the 2024 academic year. It is pleasing – and rewarding – to note the improvement and growth happening school wide. There are signs that the implementation of Structured Literacy is producing very positive results school wide. The explicit nature of the 'No Nonsense Phonics' program is generating excellent results, especially in the Junior Room, setting these young learners up for smooth sailing ahead! A big shout out also to our LSO staff who are assisting individuals and implementing our evidence based intervention programs. Our dedicated LSOs, Mrs Fitzpatrick, Mrs Lanyon and Miss Lee, work hard each day to ensure each individual student is given the best opportunity to achievie to their fullest potential.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority is constantly revising and updating the curriculum to ensure students receive the most up to date content. The new Mathematics Curriculum is ready and is to be fully implemented in 2025. The new English Curriculum will follow. St Joseph’s has been granted an additional school closure day to host a professional learning day to unpack the new mathematics curriculum content in preparation for implementation in Term One 2025. Please note the additional closure day on your calendars. Many thanks in advance for your understanding and support to ensure our staff are empowered to teach with relevant and comtemporary professional learning of their own
TERM FOUR - SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY – OCTOBER 25th 2024
End Of Term Treats
Miss Brown tells me the Junior Class have worked extremely hard all semester…………so we are sending them off for a little treat! The Junior Class will travel to Bendigo on Tuesday 25th June to see a live performance of “Grug”. They will also attend JUMPZ and have a bouncing good time. Please keep an eye out for a permission form via the PAM app. F-2 to wear school uniform and pack their usual snacks, lunch and water bottle for this excursion.
The Grade 3-6 students have also completed an excellent semester of learning! They will be treated to an out-of-the-ordinary day at school on that same day. Grades 3-6 are to wear old clothes on this day, that they are happy to get dirty……and maybe a splash of paint here or there! Lunch will be provided.
Athletic Sports
On the last day of Term, Friday 28th June, we will combine with Charlton College to compete in their House Athletics Carnival, in a similar way to how we joined in the Cross Country. This is a fantastic opportunity for the students to practice their skills before the Calder Athletics in Week 5 of next term. Students will also do training for each event during Physical Education lessons at school.
Dentist Visit
Smile Australia, visiting school dentist, will visit St Joseph’s from the 19th June. Dental forms will be sent home today and must be filled in and returned to school by Monday at the latest. Please remember, this is not compulsory. If your child does not need to see the dentist, please return the form blank.
Good Luck, Tully!
Best wishes to Tully Bourke, an ex-student of St Joe’s, who is heading to rope at the Australian Professional Rodeo Association Junior National finals in Emerald, Queensland. This is an outstanding achievement and we hope Tully has an amazing time chasing his dreams and competing at the national level. Go get 'em, Tully!
Concert
It’s coming……THE PARIS OLYMPICS 2024 – THE MUSICAL.
Students will perform this year’s concert during Term Three – date to be announced. The concert is based around the Paris Olympic Games and will be filled with dreams, antics, comedy, dancing and singing. Stay tuned for further details.
Dates Term 3
15th July Term three commences
22nd July School Closure – Structured Literacy
29th July Insight SRC Survey period commences
15th August Calder Athletics
19th August Book Week begins “Reading is Magic”
Magic Show
20th September End Term Three
With committment to our shared journey,
Mary Hogan
Foundation/1/2 Class Report
The children in F/1/2 have had a very quiet couple of weeks and have been able to really focus on strengthening their Literacy and Numeracy skills.
Literacy focus has been looking at landscapes and constellations, and Numeracy has been about money.
In PE we have been focusing on Personal Growth and Good Sportsmanship. The 3/6 students have had an opportunity to enhance their teamwork skills and adapt them to their weekend sports which has been great to see.
Show and Tell has been all about the students pets and animals. It has been great to see all the children being in their furry friends for their classmates to meet and pat.
In Inquiry, we have been looking at Weather and the different weather conditions we have on each season. The children have been working on making their own weather forecast posters and constructing a water gauge to determine how much rain fall we have been getting.
Grade 3/4 Class Report
Literacy: This fortnight we have been completing our testing for reports. Students have been revising their understanding of descriptive writing in creative texts. They have used a writing prompt of a cracking earth to create detailed stories that are sequenced, have paragraphs, provide interesting and descriptive details with correct punctuation, spelling and grammar. Students have been consolidating their reading skills through daily independent, shared and whole class practice. Students have been working on revising phonemes daily, with a focus this week on OUGH (OR) in their spelling/classwork.
Maths: We have been continuing to complete our testing for reports. Students have been revising concepts learnt over the Semester through class activities and mental maths questions. Students have been revising their multiplication tables with a focus in the last fortnight on x8 and x6. Students have focused this week on fractions, revising common fractions and understanding what equivalent fractions are.
Art: Students have been working the last fortnight on paper mache sculptures. They were challenged to create realistic looking sculptures of doughnuts and then paint these. They look good enough to take a bite!
Grade 5/6 Class Report
A huge WELL DONE to our Grade 6 leaders who have been venturing down to the Junior Room to hear some reading and high frequency words each morning at 9:00am. The Grade 6 students have taken ownership of this and are doing a super job. I witnessed the reading in progress, one-day last week, and it was beautiful to see the interactions between our biggest and smallest students! I am also seeing positive spin-offs of this in the yard each day. Keep up the good work!
In both English and Mathematics, over the last couple of weeks, tasks have focused on assessment, data collection and revision. Data collected will be used to compile the class reports for the end of the semester. The data also gives a clear direction for areas needing revision and topics for future learning. Congratulations to all students for the progress they have made this semester. Hard work really does pay off!
Homework
Next week we will return to our weekly spelling list and regular homework routine. There are a number of Homework Books missing in action – please check at home and have these ready for school on Monday.
Reading diaries should be filled in by students each day, noting the pages read. On a whole class level there is a lot of room for improvement. Remember – improvements in reading lead to improvements in spelling, writing and vocabulary!
Mary Hogan
Mathematics
We are surrounded by mathematical concepts in our world, each and every day! Some of us notice these and some of us don’t! Mathematical thinking – the ability to break down problems into smaller parts and to ‘think outside the box’ – is a valued skill in everyday learning and in many careers. It is important to remember that we don’t need to instantly be good at maths – it’s a normal part of skill progression to make mistakes and learn from them. My dream is for all students to love mathematics! Over the next few newsletters I will share information about numeracy at each level of the curriculum. This week, check out the Grade Six level information.
St Joseph's School TV
St Joseph's is very excited to introduce a new initiative to help support the wellbeing of your students and better resource key staff. After all, happy and well supported students are better equipped to learn and succeed.
Because parenting doesn’t come with instructions, SchoolTV is an online wellbeing resource that can support you in the challenges of modern-day parenting. This award-winning resource helps build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It can assist you in starting conversations on topics that are sometimes awkward or difficult to tackle.
Parenting is a learning journey and SchoolTV supports families by providing credible information from trusted sources offering practical strategies with a focus to empower confidence when difficulties arise.
We invite you to visit our SchoolTV site and view the content. Discover a host of interesting topics featuring interviews with leading youth wellbeing experts and researchers from around the world offering hours of relevant and practical information. Additionally, each topic includes a compilation of related resources from key organisations providing a comprehensive stream of content. Resources include informative fact sheets, articles, apps, books, podcasts, websites, and other videos - all related to a single topic, in one place for easy access!
Start exploring SchoolTV today! https://sjcharlton.catholic.schooltv.me/
NCCD
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.