Principal's Page
Dear Families,
Book Week
Our annual Book Week Parade was a fantastic way to start this week. The theme this year is "Read, Grow, Inspire." We celebrated the importance of reading, children's literature and contributions books make to a life long love of reading.
Thank you families for supporting this event and for staff for organising the day of activities. The FIRE Carrier student leaders organised a Book Swap yesterday and raised over $111 for Opening the Doors Foundation.
Science Week
Science learning and teaching aims to develop the scientific knowledge, skills and dispositions needed for successful lifelong learners, who can make informed decisions about local, national and global issues. Last week students enjoyed a science incursion on Tuesday from Liquid Nitrogen. Students were amazed, challenged and inspired by the engaging presentation.
Congratulations to Tahlia, Matilda, Joseph and Kye who were panel members at the Go Green Summit and shared all the wonderful sustainability projects happening at St Joseph's this year. Students from all over Australia took part in the summit.
School Athletics Carnival
Our whole school athletics event was a wonderful opportunity for students to display their athletic skills and practice their sportsmanship qualities. Thank you to Jacqui Hayes for organising the day and to the many parents that volunteered their time and energy. It was greatly appreciated.
National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence
Last Friday, students in all year levels participated in activities for the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. The NDA is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative for schools, encouraging whole-school communities to work together to implement evidence-informed positive and proactive solutions to prevent and address bullying.
The day provided us with an opportunity to create a shared understanding of what is bullying, outline our bullying prevention policies and show support to students who may be experiencing bullying.
The NDA theme for 2023 was 'growing connections'. This theme supports research findings that strong school community connections and social skills are protective factors in the prevention of bullying and help enable positive, help-seeking behaviours in students.
School Improvement Surveys
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS) are conducted annually for schools in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. As part of compliance with regulatory guidelines, schools are expected to engage with, and gather feedback from their communities as part of their school improvement cycle. This year’s MACSSIS will be open from Monday 28 August to Friday 15 September 2022.
MACSSIS produces perception data. This data tells us about what different people in a school community think and feel about their learning environment and assists us in increasing our school's effectiveness. All staff, students in Year 4 - 6 and randomly selected families will be asked to complete the surveys. Emails to randomly selected parents will be sent out on Monday.
Student Led Conferences
An Operoo was sent out today regarding Student Led Conferences next Thursday 31 August. These conferences are an opportunity for parents, students and staff to discuss student learning. School will finish at 1:00pm on this day. The school bus will run at 1:00pm.
Father's Day Stall and Breakfast
All dads, grandfathers and father figures are invited to a special breakfast (egg & bacon roll and coffee) on Friday 1 September. There will be a Father's Day Stall on Thursday 31 August. Thank you to Zoe Pattison for organising this.
Ticket sales
Ticket sales for The Great Wall of Courage will go on sale tomorrow morning at 9:30am. Please read the document regarding tickets sales on the Whole School Performance page in the newsletter.
St Mary's Star of the Sea has a new website. You can sign up to receive the weekly newsletter on this site. www.melbcatholic.org/sorrento
Have a great week,
Monica