Dear Parents,

Congratulations to Sue Jackson and all of our senior team on a brilliant Wakakirri performance last Wednesday. It was so wonderful to see students in Years 4, 5 and 6 performing at Frankston Cultural Centre. The costumes looked so colourful and impressive, the dance moves were creative and fine tuned and the story of Giraffe’s can’t dance was a great message and narrative for all.

St Joseph’s won a number of awards on the night including Storytelling Award for Story Theme and Concept, Ensemble Award for Group Dance, Stage Managers award for Teamwork (on-stage and off-stage), Production award for Costumes and Creative production award for Lighting Design but above all the highlight of the night was winning the public speaking award.

Congratulations to Blayke, Luella and Louis who spoke so confidently and creatively about our Wakakirri story dance.

Public speaking and performing are such important opportunities for students to develop self-confidence, communication skills, critical thinking abilities, memory, focus, leadership qualities, and the ability to overcome any fear or anxiety. Our students were outstanding and we are so proud of all they achieved and I thank Sue Jackson our Deputy for her significant contribution to the Wakakirri story.

There is so much to celebrate in our wonderful school and together we partner to ensure the highest of standards and conditions for every student. We have so many students who present every day with their best selves in the way they dress in their uniform, speak to each other and generally use a kind heart.

This Tuesday, the Mini Vinnies students and parents along Mini Vinnies from the three Parish schools are gathering at Padua College Tyabb for a community cook up led by our wonderful chef Matt DeMarte. The food will be distributed to the three schools for use in our communities.

We are continuously striving to be the best we can be at St. Joseph’s and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in our daily lives and actions.

This includes the way we wear our uniform, the way we show respect to ourselves, others and our beautiful school environment.

We will not tolerate students showing disrespect, swearing, putting others down or being physical and not wearing the correct uniform. At present we are focussing on the damaging effects of put downs both in person and on line. Put downs have a profound impact on the mental health of others and we have a zero tolerance to put downs in our school.

The faith and wellbeing focus this week is focussed on being resilient and standing up against any actions that are not in line with our school values. We are asking our students to focus on living with a kind heart and to live with our three actions of being respectful, encouraging and inspiring. Please read the slide show and speak to your child about how they can make a positive difference each day.

I also urge parents to be diligent in supervising their children online and to keep standing strong against allowing their children to be on social media platforms that are not recommended until the age of 13. There are so many damaging effects occurring for our students who are on Tik Tok, instagram and snapchat and are being adversely affected by inappropriate comments and actions from others. This is having a profound impact on their relationships with friends at school and their mental health.

I look forward to meeting with our School Advisory Council this Wednesday to discuss our wonderful school in action and all we are setting out to achieve for the remainder of 2023.

We have an action packed week ahead with Joey’s Club on Thursday and Book Day on Friday. Just a reminder there is no assembly this week as we have Family Fun Friday and invite all of our community to come along dressed in their favourite book character and join in the fun at 2.45pm on Friday.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

Student Celebrations