PRINCIPAL'S NEWS

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE...

This week Mary is attending the Northern Region Principal's Conference. Finally, after nearly 3 years our Catholic Primary School leaders can join together to share ideas and learning experiences in a professional setting...I am sure that Mary will have a lot more to share from the conference in future newsletters, this week If you need a go-to person, please do not hesitate to see Fiona.

What a Term this one has been! We have shivered through a typical Melbourne winter but without doubt spring is in the air with the promise of warmer days to come. As the Term comes to an end we thank members of our Saint Joseph's school community. The Staff, our families and especially our children who have worked tirelessly this term. You certainly deserve a hard earned holiday.  This is a reminder that school finishes for the term at 1.30pm on Friday 16th of September. Students will be dismissed from the undercroft area after participating in the traditional 'count down' to holidays led by our Senior Students. The other reminder I have is about our upcoming CyberSafety Event... 

UPCOMING EVENT AT SAINT JOSEPHS...

Tuesday October 4 (Week 1 of next term) we are hosting an event that you are not going to want to miss. We have secured the services of Susan McLean, one of Australia's leading experts in cybersafety and keeping young people safe online. This event is being held in the MPR at 7pm, and we are asking for an optional gold coin donation. Please do not miss this! Feel free to invite a friend or relative as the more our community is informed and educated the safer our children will be. Please register your interest by emailing Fiona at fehmer@sjnorthcote.catholic.edu.au

Now onto all of the amazing things that have been happening at Saint Joseph's:

We have certainly been busy lately! Here is a short summary of some of the amazing experiences that were on offer through the eyes of our students.

Chess Club Competition 

On Tuesday Oliver, JT and Jordan participated in a chess competition. When we walked into the building, there were 66 tables, each table could fit two people, and every table was full with one extra person. That means there were 133 people! We all played 7 games of chess against different children from different schools and we learnt lots of new tactics. At the chess tournament, JT, Oliver and Jordan played different people from other schools with the same experience so that the games were fair. At the end of it all, Saint Joseph's came fourth out of all the schools which was quite amazing for a small school like us. This was a really fun event and we thank Alphington Grammar for including us in this fabulous event. 

• Jordan, JT and Oliver

Sports

The 2022 Northcote School District Basketball Championship

Twenty One of our students represented our school at the Northcote Schools District Basketball Championship at the LaTrobe University Basketball Centre on September 1. 

This was an all day event that involved many schools and hundreds of participants constantly playing games of eight minute halves on six different courts.

Our school had two ‘mixed teams’ and an all girls team. The girls team won most of the matches and because of this they got the opportunity to play in the finals. They finished fourth after being beaten by the eventual winners Thornbury Primary School, whose team showed wonderful skills and teamwork. The girls played so well that they kept the Thornbury girls to just 6 points in the second half!! 

The children competed hard and showed wonderful teamwork, allowing their teammates to substitute on and off the court as well as passing the ball around in an effort to involve others in the game.

Well done everyone, you were a credit to your school and families.

Police Liaison Officer

On Wednesday the 7th two police officers, Libby and Peta, came to St Joseph’s to talk and educate us about safety, especially online. We learnt many new things to keep us safe and what to do if those things happen. We learnt about keeping our personal information safe and the preps and juniors even got to see the police car and the lights flashing. The reason they came in is to prepare us for those things if they ever happen and to make sure we don’t slip out any personal details. We learned how dangerous it is if you use your name, date or any location in your username or photos. They taught us about how the average age group for fortnite is around 35 years old and many of them fake their age. They made us feel safe about blocking or reporting people if they do things such as cyberbullying, swearing, asking for personal information or just making you feel uncomfortable. We all heard many stories about terrible things that have happened to people and how you can use the kids helpline if there is anything happening that you don’t feel comfortable telling your parents. Overall I think we all learned many new things that will help us keep ourselves safe.   - Imogen

2022 St Joseph’s Footy Day

This year we celebrated our annual St Joseph’s footy day on September the 8th. The children came out in droves dressed in their favourite footy teams’ colours and enjoyed scrumptious hot dogs. Here are some of the children dressed in their finest football gear. Including Jacob dressed as Carlton’s bearded Adam Saad and Audrey as the Dees’ ( and bandaged up) Christian Petracca.

Premier's Reading Challenge 2022

The Premier's Reading Challenge for 2022 is over!

The Challenge encourages children and students to read a set number of books over the year and record their efforts online. Since the Challenge first began in 2005, more than 3.5 million students have read over 54 million books.

At Saint Joseph's this year we had 41 students register their interest in the challenge and a dedicated 14 students who completed all of the set tasks and requirements

Congratulations to:

Lola Barker (Prep), Chloe Webb (Year 1) Ethan Patterson, Hamish Smith,  Joshua Wright, Liam Keogh (Year 2 ) Sansa Barker, (Year 3 ) Freya Hamilton,  Gabriel Caputo, Julian Zammit, Samantha Keogh, (Year 4 ) Marisa Caputo (Year 5) Imogen Van Diggelen, Willow Alessio (Year 6 )

Your dedication is a credit to you!

Fiona will distribute certificates at the end of Term.

Maths Olympiad

Maths Olympiad and Maths Games are optional maths challenges designed for primary school students. Overall, there are 5 tests spread out across the school year, with each test containing 5 challenging questions. 

The difference between Games and Olympiad is that Games is intended for main stream 5s and 6s and the Olympiad is intended for high achieving 5’s and 6’s. Miss Lauren allows us to decide which test we would like to sit, and which one we are more comfortable with. 

On Thursday, the 8th of September, we had our final test for the year. It was full of challenging problems that were difficult, yet fun! 

THE RESULTS ARE IN! 

For Maths Games:

1st - It was a draw of 21 points to Zia and Phuong 

3rd - Marisa with 20 points 

For Maths Oympiad:

1st - 21 points to Elliot 

2nd - 19 points to Kaelan 

3rd - 17 points to Jasper 

Overall, there were 1,435 schools and 33,409 students that participated in Maths Olympiad and 693 schools and 15,663 students that participated in Maths Games in Australia, New Zealand and the entirety of Asia!

Well done to everyone who signed up for this challenging program and I hope you are all interested in competing next year. A big thank you to Miss Lauren for running the program too. Miss Lauren will be handing out certificates and trophies next term. 

By Kavin and Arjun

DISTRICT ATHLETICS DAY

On Tuesday September 6th, some of the Middle and Senior students went to Coburg Harriers Athletic Track to compete against 9 different schools in 10 events. The events which we competed in were: discus, shot put, 80m hurdles, 1500m sprint, 800m sprint, 200m sprint, 100m sprint, relay, long jump, and triple jump. We boarded the bus at 9:00am and the first event commenced at 10am. It was tough as the schools did a lot more training, were more populated, and had more experience, but we had a lot of fun and the weather was very kind to us. In the end Elliot from Senior L got third in the 800m sprint, Maria from Senior L came in second in the 200m sprint, and the 12/13 year olds girls relay team came third. Although, the 200m sprint and relay were timed and were out of two heats; sadly our times weren’t as fast as the others and we didn't make it to finals. We would like to congratulate every person that competed in any of the events. We would also like to thank Mr. Zammit, Miss Lauren and Miss Bridget for all their efforts and support. Without them this would not have been possible.

By Massimo and Maria.

Pre-loved Uniform Sale & Sausage Sizzle

With the move back to Summer Uniform in term 4 we thought it timely to hava a pre-loved uniform sale.  On Friday, October 7 (Week 1 Term 4), we will be selling pre-loved uniforms after school in the under-croft.  There will also be a Sausage Sizzle (gold coin donation) available to anyone interested in an after school snack!

UPCOMING EVENT AT SAINT JOSEPHS...

Tuesday October 4 (Week 1 of next term) we are hosting an event that you are not going to want to miss. We have secured the services of Susan McLean, one of Australia's leading experts in cybersafety and keeping young people safe online. This event is being held in the MPR at 7pm, and we are asking for an optional gold coin donation. Please do not miss this! Feel free to invite a friend or relative as the more our community is informed and educated the safer our children will be. Please register your interest by emailing Fiona at fehmer@sjnorthcote.catholic.edu.au

Foster Care Week - a message from a student and his family...

This week is Foster Care Week, which is a special week to say thank you to all the foster carers in our community, who look after kids who are unable to live with their mum and dad because they might be having a tough time. 

I think foster carers are kind of like superheroes, not because they have superpowers or anything, but because they go out of their way to look after kids who need a bit of help. Sick!! (Speaking of superheroes, did you know that Superman grew up with foster carers?!)

Anyway, my dad works with a lot of foster carers, and he is going to heaps of events this week to say thanks to them. He told me things are a bit hard because right now there aren’t enough foster carers and that means there are some kids who could miss out on having somewhere safe to live. Imagine that? It makes me feel a bit sad ☹

I wanted to tell you about this, because we have a great school community who are really good at looking after people, and I thought some of you might be interested in learning about foster care, or might even know someone who would like to be a carer. Here’s what dad says about it:

“Foster carers come from all walks of life. They can be working, not working or retired; married or single; in same-sex relationships; and can own or rent their home. The most important thing is that they are willing to care for children, can provide a safe and nurturing home, and have room in their home to support a vulnerable child or sibling group.”

If you or a friend are interested in learning more, you can call MacKillop Family Services on 1300 791 677 or visit mackillop.org.au/fostercare.

Happy Foster Care Week!

Ethan Patterson (Junior S)

Child Safe Standards

On 1 July 2022, 11 new Victorian Child Safe Standards came into effect for schools.  To meet the new Child Safe Standards, we have built on our existing child safety strategies, policies and practices to strengthen our school’s culture of child safety and protect children and young people from abuse.

The 11 Child Safe Standards are listed on the 'Child Safe Standards' section of this newsletter.  This week I would like to take the opportunity to highlight how we at St Joseph's have promoted Child Safe Standard 5.

Standard 5 - Diversity and equity – Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.

St Joseph’s Primary school endeavours to provide opportunities that enable all students to develop physically, intellectually, morally, socially, emotionally and spiritually in a safe and secure environment. All students with additional needs (SWANs) have a right to access a full and engaging education on the same basis as their peers. Catholic schools seek to empower learners by celebrating difference and providing educational opportunities aimed at eliminating discrimination and focused on growth and progress for all. 

There are many examples of ways we communicate our commitment to child safety and wellbeing.   There remains an ongoing section of the newsletter dedicated to the 11 Standards and each week one standard is individually unpacked in this Principal's Section of the newsletter.  In addition to this our commitment to Child Safety is also displayed on our school website. As a staff, we value the safety and wellbeing of all our children and ensure this through our weekly staff meetings where we address the Child Safety Standards on our agendas. Strategies, ideas and protocols are communicated to staff during these meetings.