A Message from the Deputy Principal
A SWELL START TO SCHOOL
One of the most important roles of staff at our school is to help children to flourish. We believe it is important to make these first days the most productive they can be in building relationships and a positive learning environment to set the scene for a successful year. A sense of community in the classroom and school motivates students to participate and engage, while helping them feel safe to learn and grow. Therefore, to start off our new school year we have initiated a SWell (Student Wellbeing) Start to School! We are dedicating the first two weeks of school to getting to know each other and our school routines and expectations. As part of our SWell Start to School there are lots of fun getting to know you activities and experiences, and a chance to get to know the staff and teachers. Each class has also been designated an area or space within the school to develop the expectations for promoting student voice and agency. We look forward to sharing with you some images and reflections on our SWell Start to School in future newsletters.
DAILY SCHEDULE CHANGE
To support the Victorian Catholic Education agreement in relation to teacher workloads we have had to slightly adjust our scheduled class times this year. Students can continue to enter the school from 8:30am and need to be ready for learning by 8:45am. Recess begins at 11:00am and concludes at 11:30am. Lunch eating time begins at 1:20pm and lunch play begins at 1:30pm and concludes at 2:15pm. Gates open at 3:00pm for parents at the end of the day and students are dismissed at 3:15pm.
FAITH IN LIFE AND LEARNING
This year we begin a new School Improvement Plan in response to the school’s progress, outcomes and feedback received from our school review last year. We have three goals to work towards and achieve by 2027. These are:
Making explicit the catholicity of all that we do, so that the whole school community lives out the Catholic Traditions.
Elevating student voice, agency and participation so that students are engaged and empowered in their learning.
Building leader and teacher capabilities as reflective practitioners, with feedback driving learning and growth.
A simple, yet effective way for us to begin making our catholicity more explicit in our teaching and learning was to rethink and rename our inquiry approach placing our faith at the forefront. What was formerly named LLF (Learning, Life and Faith) has now been renamed to Faith in Learning and Life (FiLL).
At St Joseph the Worker, we believe that our faith is formed through our life experiences, our understanding and knowledge of scripture, Church teachings and Traditions, and our discoveries about ourselves, others and the world. As people of faith, all we know and come to learn about should elicit an affective faith response. Therefore, Faith in Life and Learning is an inquiry-based approach to Religious Education in which other curriculum areas are incorporated to strengthen our knowledge and understanding of the world, both past and present, and our role in it as people of faith. Our Faith in Life and Learning concept this term is Identity and Community. Stay tuned to hear more about our first term’s inquiry.
Geraldine Crowe
geraldine.crowe@sjwreservoirnth.catholic.edu.au