Dear Families,

It is always a pleasure to have children visiting me in my office showing off their good manners and how they care for each other. On this occasion, I had the beautiful Henry and Harry who were a great example of the way the children connect with and care for each other at St Joseph's. Henry came in to the office with his great manners using "Excuse me, please and thank you" and Harry was his good friend looking after him. What a great example of children demonstrating one of our school values of 'kindliness' at St Joseph's.

We have had another great week of learning at St Joseph's. I am in complete awe of the teaching and learning as I make my way around classrooms. It is such a pleasure to see children participating fully and engaging in their learning as teachers deliver direct explicit instruction aligned with the latest research and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools' (MACS') vision and direction. Our Open Day next week will give us the opportunity to showcase our amazing teachers, the wonderful learning and our beautiful children here at St Joseph's.

Prayer

This week's prayer challenges us to be forgiving, compassionate and generous, the same way God is with us.

We pray with the words of Jesus:

"I give you a new commandment; love one another as I have loved you."

God, may we choose to be like you in our ability to accept others and not judge them.

We pray to the Lord.

God, may we share the gifts and talents that each of us has received.

We pray to the Lord.

God, may we allow ourselves to be kind to those who are unkind to us.

We pray to the Lord.

God, may we be willing to invest ourselves in those who need us.

We pray to the Lord.

God, may our actions in serving the people of the world help make a difference.

We pray to the Lord.

God, help us to be as forgiving as we can be so that the world is a better place.

We pray to the Lord.

Open Day - Monday 3rd March

Our first Open Day will be held on Monday 3rd March. We are very excited to have new families visiting our school to see the wonderful happenings in our classrooms. Our superstar Year 6 students have prepared brochures and will engage with the families as they tour our school, showcasing learning as well as sharing their experiences of school life at St Joseph's. We encourage all of our current families to extend an invitation to any potential families who are looking at schools for their children and to continue to spread the positive talk about our learning community. School tours will run from 9am to 11am.

Open Days for 2025

Monday 3rd March - 9am -11am

Thursday 24th April - 9am - 11am

Tuesday 6th May - 9am - 11am

School Closure Day- Friday 7th March

Next Friday 7th March is a School Closure Day. This means that there will be no students at school. The staff will be involved in a 'faith formation' day with Fr Gallacher. We will begin our day with Mass at St Joseph's. Father will share his experience of pilgrimage with us and we will take part in a pilgrimage with him through the city visiting various significant Catholic churches including St Patrick's Cathedral, St Francis Church (which is the oldest Catholic Church in Melbourne) and the Mary Mackillop Heritage Centre. We feel very privileged to experience this journey with Fr Gallacher and look forward to sharing our experience with you next week.

School Advisory

This week our School Advisory Council (SAC) met for the first meeting of the year. The School Advisory Council is a key aspect of MACS Schools Governance and a vital parent forum that plays a significant role in shaping our school’s future. This advisory board typically meets once per term to review essential areas such as school improvement initiatives, MACS policies, finances (including school fees), capital grants and projects, and any arising school matters. Being part of this advisory group creates a valuable opportunity to be a positive community voice and provide meaningful input toward the school’s ongoing development.

This year's SAC members are:

Parish Priest: Fr Gallacher
Principal: Annabelle Marinelli
Deputy Principal: Dean Butler
Chair: David Steghuis
Secretary: Courtney Jendra
P&F Reps: Laura Kay and Talia Hasset
Parent Reps: Michael Tuohey, Kate Tehan and Sascha Pausewang

Code of Conduct

It is timely to remind all parents at St Joseph's that we have a Parent and Guardian Code of Conduct. We belong to a wonderfully welcoming and inclusive community and this is the culture and community that we want to encourage and maintain. We have a Code of Conduct for one reason and that is to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all of our students.

Thank you for your support of this and ensuring that St Joseph's continues to be a place where all of our children and parents feel physically and psychologically safe. You will have received an Operoo notification to read and sign the Code of Conduct. This needs to be completed asap. Thank you to all who have done this already.

Everyone Loves Icy Pole Day!

Thank you to our wonderful Year 6 students and to the P&F for organising and running our Icy Pole Fundraiser! Their great work made for a super cool event. Thanks to the amazing support from our St. Joseph’s community. We raised $153!

Shrove Tuesday - Tuesday 4th March

Next week is Shrove Tuesday, and we are excited to be celebrating again with pancakes for the whole school. Our wonderful P&F will be supporting with setting up, cooking and serving pancakes for all of our children. We thank them once again for supporting our community.

Ash Wednesday Mass

Ash Wednesday Mass will be celebrated by Fr Gallacher at 9:15am on Wednesday 5th March in St Joseph's Church as part of the Parish Mass. It would be lovely to see our families joining us for the first day of Lent. More news about Lent and Easter from Ms Donnella DeVisser on our Religious Education Page.

Baby News- Congratulations!

We are delighted to share the wonderful news of the safe and happy arrival of baby McGrath-Lorenzo! Congratulations to Lucy and Diego and the McGrath-Lorenzo family (Spencer, Bennett and Agnes). We wish you all much love and joy on the new addition to your family.

Working Bee- Sunday 2nd March

Our amazing Parents and Friends are off to a flying start, getting organised for our first Working Bee for 2025. This will take place on this Sunday 2nd March. A huge thank you to our families for generously giving up your precious time to improve and maintain the grounds for our students. Your support makes a world of difference! It will look amazing just in time for our Open Day on Monday 3rd March.

From our wonderful P&F - St Joseph’s Cares

The Parents and Friends Association are always looking for ways to support our school community. Whether celebrating the arrival of new baby in a school family, extending sympathy to a family in bereavement, providing uniforms and school supplies to families in need, or dropping a meal at a doorstep during a challenging time.

St Joseph’s Cares is just one way we look out for each other. If you know of a time when St Joseph’s Cares can spring into action, please reach out to Annie Konieczny, mum of Felix in Prep and Rafaela in Year 2 (0409 929 239) or Kate Tehan, mum of Alice in Prep (0468 633519). All matters will be kept in confidence. We look forward to hearing from you!

From Annie and Kate,

Co-ordinators of St Joseph’s Cares

Writing at St Joseph's

In all classes from Prep to Year 6, we use The Writing Revolution (TWR), program in which students progress from sentence construction to complete compositions. They are explicitly taught concepts of grammar and punctuation and then apply this to their writing when constructing of a range of text types. Here the children in Year 1 are engaged and 'full participation' and teacher-led explicit instruction. When I walked into their class during the week, I had to double check whether I had walked into a Year 2 class or a Year 1 class. Our Year 1 students are fabulous learners!

NAPLAN 2025

The 2025 National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests will be administered to students in Years 3, and 5 from Wednesday 12th March to Tuesday 18th March 2025.

NAPLAN is a national assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9, that is undertaken yearly in March. NAPLAN is made up of tests in four domains:

Reading
Writing
Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation)
Numeracy

NAPLAN tests provide point-in-time information regarding student progress in literacy and numeracy and are intended to complement teacher judgement and the wide range of formal and informal assessment programs that are already used in schools.

Enrolments for 2026

It is always very exciting when we begin to look forward to our enrolments for the next year. With our Open Day commencing on Monday we are beginning to plan for 2026. We request that if you have a younger child who will commence Prep in 2026, that you please make contact with the office to ensure we have your child enrolled for next year. It is very important that we have this information as soon as possible.

School Assembly

Today our amazing Year 5's presented their learning at assembly. They did such a great job and one of their messages was 'We might be small, but we sure are mighty!" And congratulations to our STAR Award recipients for this week!

Prep Buddies

This afternoon it was such a joy to watch our senior school children looking after their Prep buddies. They enjoyed some time in this beautiful weather, playing games, having fun and laughing together. It is so heartwarming to see how the older children take so much care of our new Preps and how our little ones look up to their buddies.

Reminders

Public Holiday

Monday March 10th, is a Public Holiday for Labour Day. There will be NO SCHOOL on this day.

Important Road Safety Reminder

Unfortunately we have had a few passers-by alerting us to some unsafe behaviours at school drop off and pick up. Just a reminder, for the safety of our children, that there should be no double parking, no U -Turns on Stanhope St, and please observe the parking signs. This is very important for the safety of our whole school community as well as other local people using Stanhope St.

Being SunSmart

As the very warm weather continues and the UV levels are very high, our school is committed to implementing SunSmart awareness. It is timely to remind everyone that hats must be worn during the warmer months. It is helpful for the children to apply their sunscreen before school and again before going out to play. It is important that we all remember to be SunSmart. For useful ideas and more information about sun protection, see the SunSmart website www.sunsmart.com.au.

Parking

A friendly reminder that the carpark between the Parish House and School is for Parish and School Staff only. You may have noticed the new Parish signage. Please do not use this for drop off and pick up on school days as there is not enough parking for school staff or Parish staff. Additionally, children, parents, and families should not be entering or exiting through the side gate. This is also for staff only. Use of the carpark and gate is a safety concern as this area is not supervised by staff and is not safe for children to be moving in and out of this space. Thanks everyone for your understanding. The safety of our children is our highest priority.

Staying connected...

We are partners in the education of your children and we invite you to be involved by sharing your thoughts and any concerns you may have with us. In this way, we are able to provide the best possible learning environment for your child and we can work together to inspire in each student a sense of confidence, resilienceannd responsibility to be the best they can be.

If, at any time, you have any concerns or worries about your child's wellbeing, learning, or friendships, please do not hesitate to have a chat with your child's teacher as your first point of contact. If you have other concerns, please feel free to touch base with our wonderful admin team, a member of school leadership, or myself. For more serious concerns, please contact the office to make an appointment to see me, alternatively, you can contact me directly via email.

Enjoy the last day of Summer and this beautiful weather!

With warmest regards and blessings to you all,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

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