Simply Incredible!

Dear Families,

A short reflection following our Grandparents’ Day, and a more detailed recount next week...but what a day! I’m still on a high and I couldn’t have been more proud of our special community, with the children leading the way so beautifully in making our special visitors feel very welcome.

What a wonderful day of celebration! We had quite the full house, with over 220 grandparents, parents, and special people in the lives of our children at our school today. How astounding that we had Grandparents travelling from near and far; whilst many came from Malvern and nearby suburbs, we did have a couple of grandparents travel from New Zealand to join in the day. Incredible!

Our students did a wonderful job articulating in words, in song, in pictures, and in actions the importance of their grandparents in their lives each and every day. The hallways and classrooms were buzzing with excitement as our students shared their wonderful parish school, their home away from home, with these special adults and I thank each and every one of you who were able to join with us in celebration.

A very special word of thanks to Cathy Fonti and the supporting team of parents for the outstanding morning tea...simply amazing! Thank you Cathy for all you have done to make this a wonderful ‘first’ in our community. To Mr Frost, Miss O’Dwyer, Grade 4F and Grade 2O for the beautiful liturgy which started our day. Thank you to all those who donated food, and/ or time, to make this an extra special celebration. Thank you to Adrian B for his ‘dash’ to De La Salle yesterday to borrow 100 chairs, which he returned this afternoon. Thank you to Jill Heathershaw for speaking on behalf of the grandparents- not a dry eye in church! Thank you to our two choirs and Miss Sinker for their beautiful singing, helping to serenade Grandparents during morning tea. And a final thank you to all staff and students for your warmth in welcoming the very special people in the lives of our children. What a day!

From one of our Grandmothers, Jill:

Dear Michelle

Words cannot express my gratitude for such a wonderful experience as today was.

I was so anxious but honoured that I was asked to speak on behalf of all us lucky grandparents.

Thank you for the beautiful flowers, roses my very favourite and your kind words.

St Joseph’s has eclipsed all the other schools in my experience. The depth of compassion, respect and learning that our twins have received has set them up for a wonderful, meaningful life.

Closing with a heart full of joy,

Love Jill

We will devote next week’s Principal News to celebrating Grandparents’ Day in more detail.

CSIRO STEM Scientist in School Partnership

We are so blessed to have Dr Maithili work with our students in an ongoing capacity as our STEM Partner. She has visited all classrooms, with initial sessions sharing her work in scientific research and our students are loving the opportunity to have a real life scientist work with them. It seems that many of our children are inspired by Dr Maithili, and the thought of pursuing a career in the sciences.

Earlier in the week, I received this email from one of our parents:

Hi Michelle,

I just wanted to let you know that Gemma has recently been talking a lot and very enthusiastically about STEM and particularly science at home. She asked if we can create an area in her room where she can do ‘science experiments’. I assume this has been a focus in class recently which is great- it has clearly resonated with her. She is also talking about wanting to be a vet or something else to do with STEM when she grows up.

Congratulations on delivering this content so effectively to the kids, it is so important, as we all know, to get the girls interested in this.

Below is a short bio of Dr Maithili and details of her work in the field of scientific research:

Dr Maithili Sashindranath is a Research Fellow and oversees the basic science research in the Vascular Biology Group within the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases (ACBD). The Vascular Biology Research program is headed by Professor Harshal Nandurkar, Director of the ACBD.

Dr Sashindranath has over 12 years of experience in Neuroscience research and is an expert in the fields of brain injury and stroke. She currently works as a Senior Research Fellow with the Vascular Biology group in the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University, where she leads a team of research assistants and PhD students. Her current research interests are focussed on improving outcomes in small vessel thrombosis and ischemic stroke. She previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Molecular Neurotrauma and Haemostasis laboratory in the same department. She has had 16 publications in the last 7 years.

Dr Sashindranath graduated with a PhD from the University of Melbourne in December 2009 during which she studied seizure induced oxidative stress and kinase signalling processes in epilepsy. She was the recipient of the Melbourne Research Scholarship (2004-2008) as well as the Leslie Eric Paddle scholarship (2006 and 2007) and the RJ Gleghorn scholarship (2007) for PhD studies. Dr Sashindranath completed a BSc Hons degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 2003.

How impressive! We are so fortunate to have Maithili work with our children!

Reminders:

To all those parents who contributed cakes/ slices etc for morning tea, your containers are safely stored in the hall kitchen, where they can be picked up next week. Thanks again for the delicious treats!

Registration for First Reconciliation and First Communion

Registration for both First Reconciliation and First Communion close this coming Tuesday 2nd April at 5pm. Anyone wishing to register their child for these sacraments would you please register online through St Joseph’s Parish Malvern website. Please contact Fr. Alan Gibson on agibson@stjosephsmalvern.org.au prior to the deadline should you have any difficulties registering.

And finally…

It’s hard to believe we are only five school days away from Term 1 holidays. I couldn’t be happier with how our beautiful school is travelling and I thank all of you for your commitment, time, energy and support.

Ending Week 9 on a high!

Have a great weekend,

Michelle

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