Newsletter 11. 27th June 2024
Principal's Report
Hello to Families and all in the St Joseph's School Community,
Only tomorrow to go and we have officially made it to the mid-point of the 2024 school year. How time flies! Tomorrow will be a busy day as we head to Charlton College to participate in their House Athletic Sports. We are very fortunate to have this opportunity to provide the students a bit of a trial run before we compete in the Interschool Calder Athletics next term, so thank you to Mr Daff and the PE team at the College. See further information below.
End of Semester Reporting
Progress reports will be posted on the PAM app tomorrow. These reports play a crucial role in your child’s education. They help you understand how your child is doing in different subjects, allowing you to celebrate their achievements and identify areas that may need additional support. Progress reports serve as a communication tool between teachers and parents. They help you stay informed about your child’s academic, personal and social journey. Education is a collaborative effort between the school and home. Progress reports strengthen this partnership by keeping you informed and engaged in your child’s progress. As always, please reach out to teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
Athletics – Tomorrow
Tomorrow, 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. Students are to arrive at St Joseph’s as usual and we will walk up together in time to commence the carnival. The day will conclude by 2:20pm and students will be dismissed from Charlton College. End of Term Two concludes at 2:30pm. We have been advised the College canteen will be open for snacks if parents want to utilize this service. Students are to bring their usual snacks, lunch, water bottle and wear their sports clothes. Students are welcome to wear a coat on the day. Spectators are very welcome.
International Yoga Day
A huge thanks you to Averyll Loft who ran yoga sessions for the students on Friday 21st June – International Yoga Day. St Joseph’s staff are very aware of the importance of student well-being and the impact this has on learning outcomes and mental health. Averyll does a beautiful job of providing fun and engaging sessions which encourage the students to ‘just be’ and leave their worries behind for a little while. Students actively participated in whole group, paired and individual tasks. I agree with what I heard one student exclaiming, "I wish Averyll could come every week!”
Sandpit Mania
The recent rain has seen the children keenly playing in our spacious sandpit. The conditions are just right for digging and building! A combined effort has seen massive trenches, nests and castles appear, filling the entire sandpit. To add to the fun, we have installed a new mud kitchen, which has been heavily utilized by students of all ages.
School Closure Day
Have you added October 25th to your calendars as a school closure day?
Staff will be working on an implementation plan for the new Mathematics Curriculum on this day.
Learning Walks
As we wrap up another term I thank you for your on-going commitment and support of of St Joseph’s School. We were fortunate to have specialist education consultant, Tony Dalton, visit our school last week. Tony, with the help of a group of parents, modelled for me how to conduct Learning Walks at St Joseph’s School. Learning Walks allow visitors to the school to find out the answers to what they are wondering; to interact with the students and then reflect on their discoveries. We will definitely be offering some Learning Walks in the near future. The parents who were present were challenged to complete the following prompt in less that three words:
Learning at St Joseph’s is…….
The responses were: fun and welcoming; calming; inclusive and engaging; effortless!
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
Best wishes for a restful and enjoyable holiday period. After reading all the students' reports, I can certainly see that they have worked hard and are ready for a well deserved break. Thank you also to the dedicated staff we have at St Joe's who tirelessly work each day to ensure each student receives the best! Happy holidays, everyone.
With commitment to our shared journey,
Mary Hogan
Foundation/1/2 Class Report
The F-2 students enjoyed a trip to Bendigo on Tuesday. After a bouncing good time at Jumpz Trampoline Park the students, where many were doing fantastic flips into the foam pit, students ate their lunch and stretched their legs at the Queen Elizabeth Oval. After lunch students went to the Capital Theatre to see a live performance of “Grug”. Thank you to Mrs Wright for driving the bus and Mrs Olive and Mrs Lanyon for helping out on the day.
Grade 3/4 Class Report
What an end to a busy term!
Students have worked so well over the last Semester in school. They should be very proud of themselves.
In the last fortnight, students have been consolidating their reading and writing skills through activities based on imaginative writing and reading of imaginative and informative texts. We have been working on understanding and using prefixes, suffixes and root words correctly through revision, focusing on in, dis, un, im, il and ir. Students have learnt about the importance of water conservation through our preparation work and completion of a water poster (students had a choice to complete one digitally or as a poster) from GWM Water. We continue our work on No Nonsense Phonics and it is pleasing to see how much students have improved.
Students also participated in World Yoga Day last week and had a fun session with Avril Loft. Lots of determination and a few giggles that day!
In Maths, we have been finishing off our work on Fractions and are now into revision. We have worked on subtraction revision and are currently working on understanding and reading analogue time. Students continue to consolidate their mental maths skills through their Maths Mentals booklet that they complete daily. We have been heavily revising our multiplication tables, looking at x4 and x8 in particular.
There is no homework or spelling words set for this week. Please enjoy your holidays.
Students will finish the term off at an Athletics Sports day on Friday. Best of luck to all.
Grade 5/6 Class Report
On Tuesday this week, the Gr 5&6 class joined with the Grade 3&4 students for an end of term treat! The students were given an alternative day of learning, rewarding them for an excellent semester’s work. It was fantastic to see the students interacting in a less structured environment, enjoying the activities and each other’s company. Activities included a NAIDOC Week colouring competition; team work on a general knowledge quiz, Pictionary, Scattegories and a scavenger hunt; balloon fun and a movie – popcorn included! Congratulations to team AIRPLANE (Finn, Isaac and Flynn) for winning the team activities. Students also enjoyed a lunch of hot chips and potato cakes.
In class the Grade 5 & 6 students were challenged to write a member’s statement to Parliament petitioning for a cause they believe strongly about. The statement had a 90 second limit so students had to get their arguments in thick and fast. I feel there may be some future politicians in our ranks! Topics were varied and included the cost of farming for the next generation, the trouble with bindi eye, vaping woes, littering, animal poaching, cyberbullying, the need for bike trails, smoking and plastic waste endangering animals. Students wrote, rehearsed and then were recorded presenting their statements. A super effort by all.
Our numeracy topic has been decimals to thousandths. We have worked to revise tenths, hundredths and thousandths, even measuring and cutting up lollies to make the fractional amounts. Students have worked through a number of learning activities to make, say, read and write decimal numbers. We have compared decimal amounts and ordered them accordingly. We are beginning to use decimal numbers to problem solve using all four operations.
Congratulations and thank you to Henry and Willow who have been excellent Term Leaders for our school this term. It is fantastic to see students taking this role seriously and doing their best to help out and be excellent role models. Next term, we welcome Isaac and Darcy as the Term three leaders.
Obviously there is no homework set as we commence the Winter holidays tomorrow. Well done to everyone on a fantastic term’s work and I hope all students enjoy the holiday break!
Mary Hogan
St Joseph's School TV
Special Report - NAIDOC WEEK
NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced back to the Aboriginal rights movement, and on Australia Day 1938, protestors marched through the streets of Sydney to highlight the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
This protest was one of the first major civil rights gatherings in the world and was known as the 'Day of Mourning'. This later became 'Aborigines Day', and in 1955, it was decided that it should become a positive celebration of Aboriginal culture, heritage and achievement, rather than a protest.
Today, celebrations consist of range of traditional and contemporary activities. There are many gatherings of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people coming together to celebrate and share with non-Aboriginal people the strengths of its First Nations People. This important event helps build positive relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, enabling a deeper understanding of our differences and similarities. NAIDOC week is an opportunity for all Australians to eliminate bias and discrimination by reflecting and reconciling the wrongs of the past to facilitate hope and build a fairer future.
It is important for children and teens to have an understanding that we do not need to assimilate into one culture in preference over others. Difference is a great thing and our society can only benefit from a range of world views and experiences. This Special Report offers caregivers suggestions on how to celebrate ‘NAIDOC Week’.
Start exploring School TV 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.