PRINCIPAL'S NEWS

School Closure Day

The Tragedy of 2024 Sports Day...

It was so very disappointing that we had to once again cancel our School Sports Day. Together with the teachers, our hearts go out to our 2024 House Captains, Elliot and Daniel (Mannix), Tommy and Havana (Carr), Parker and Lucia (Simonds) and Mason and Sienna (Goold), and to Peter Zammit who puts in many hours organising the day.  We have been unable to secure another day before the end of the year with George Knott Reserve, but we WILL be hosting an onsite event on Thursday December 07.  Peter is organising a Tabloid Sports Event that we will hold at the Tennis Courts.  We will have our 'Chants' and will make the day as similar to a 'Sports Day' as possible.

School Advisory Council (SAC)

All parents and carers are welcome to attend the Annual Review Meeting of the SAC on Wednesday November 29, at 7:00pm in the staff room. This is a great opportunity to share in the review of 2023 and the successes we have achieved. 

In our last newsletter, I advertised two vacancies on the SAC, commencing in 2024.  We have quite a few responses and I would like to welcome Joseph Sturrock and Christina Rodighiero to our team.  Both Joseph and Christina will be joining the St Joey's community next year.  Joseph has Lucy who will be in prep next year and Sophie who is transitioning from St John's and will be in year two in 2024.  Christina has Zac who will also be joining us in prep next year.  We look forward to welcoming our new members, and any parents who wish to attend our meeting tomorrow evening.

Friday Market

Thank you to everyone who attended our last Friday Market - hosted by our Prep and Junior students.  The afternoon was a huge success with the children raising $1476.15. This, together with the $477.81 raised at the Bush Dance the Juniors have raised a whopping $1953.96 that will be donated to the Edmund Rice Foundation Australia - this will support a school in Nairobi to buy materials and learning and teaching equipment. This links directly to their current Inquiry Unit 'How Can We Help' in which they explored global poverty and how we can make a difference when we work together.

This also proved to be yet another tremendous community event and was a wonderful opportunity to welcome families from St John's and Bell Primary who will be joining us next year.  Our 'Friday Market' has been an SRC (Student Representative Council) initiative this year, and has been hugely successful.  The support from the school community has been overwhelming and we thank everyone who has helped out, from making cakes, to cooking sausages, to helping sell items... THANK YOU!   

Prep Orientation

Last week we welcomed our new preps!  Next year we have 33 preps, so we will have two classes, one of 16 and one of 17.  The children settled in beautifully and had a fabulous three days.  On Friday they met their new 'Buddies' - an event which our grade four students have been looking forward to from day 1 this year!!  Each and every grade four student made us proud - they were so caring and attentive to their 'Little Buddy' and are so very excited about welcoming them again next year. 

Family Night - Bush Dance!!

Thank you to all of our families who attended our 'Family Bush Dance'.  The children really enjoyed learning their 'performance' during the day, and the feedback from families has been super positive.  By all accounts, everyone had a great evening!!

Special Lunch Day - SRC News

The SRC is in the process of organising a special lunch day.  The date for this day has flip-flopped a bit on our Calendar, but has been booked now for Tuesday December 05. A note from the SRC was sent home on Monday asking for your child's preference between a hotdog or a sausage roll.  

We have since had some feedback from families asking for a vegetarian option, so we will also provide a vegetarian sausage instead of a hotdog - if this is your preference for your child/children please indicate on the form or let your child's classroom teacher know.

On this day children may wear their favourite sports top.

Christmas Concert

This year we will host an evening of 'Christmas Carolling' on Thursday December 07.

Weather permitting - this will be in the school-yard commencing at 6:30pm.  In Performing Arts classes, Sarah has begun to work with each class on their performance.

Again - please 'diarise' the date!

End of Year Mass & Christmas Eve Mass

Everyone is welcome to join us for our end-of-year Mass which will be held on Wednesday December 13 at 9:15am.  At this Mass we will be farewelling any families who are leaving our community, apart from the grade six graduating class families who will be acknowledged at the Graduation Mass on Thursday Dec 14.

Each year the Parish hosts a special Christmas Day Mass on Christmas Eve and we are asking for parents (or older teenage siblings) to volunteer to assist on the evening.  This involves helping with the activity in which children dress as characters from the Nativity scene and process into the church during the Gospel.  There is normally one practise session in the week before Christmas, in the Church.  All the costumes etc are provided by the school.  If you are able to assist with this please let me know.  Thank you in advance!

2024 CLASS PREFERENCES 

Please make an appointment with me if you wish to discuss any concerns you may have that may impact your child/children’s class placement for next year. This may include particular social nuances with other students or any other extenuating circumstances. 

Please be aware that this is not an opportunity for ‘teacher shopping’, but rather to share genuine concerns about your child’s learning environment for 2024.  Also, if you are not intending to return to St Joseph’s in 2024 please contact the office as soon as possible