PRINCIPAL'S NEWS
NEWSLETTER 4 August 2026
Miss Jaclyn is always busy keeping abreast of our socials and sharing the terrific things happening at our school.
💯 Celebrating 100 Days of Prep! 💯
Our Prep students recently celebrated a very special milestone—100 Days of School!
It was a day filled with fun, laughter and plenty of excitement as our youngest learners reflected on just how much they have grown over the past 100 days.
The children enjoyed a range of engaging activities centred around the number 100, while proudly celebrating their achievements in learning, friendships and independence. From developing their reading, writing and numeracy skills to becoming confident members of our school community, our Prep students have accomplished so much in such a short time.
A big thank you to our wonderful Prep teachers, Ms Georgie and Ms Jaime for creating such a memorable day, and congratulations to our amazing Prep students on reaching this fantastic milestone. We can't wait to see all they continue to achieve throughout the rest of the year!
📚 Thank You – Book Fair Success! 📚
A huge thank you to Kate Lynn for her outstanding organisation of our recent Book Fair.
The event was a tremendous success and provided our students with a wonderful opportunity to discover and enjoy new books. Thank you also to our amazing parent volunteers who generously gave their time to help throughout the week. Your support was invaluable and greatly appreciated.
Finally, thank you to all the families who visited the Book Fair and made purchases. Your support not only fosters a love of reading in our children but also helps raise valuable funds to purchase new books and resources for our school library. Together, we are helping to inspire a lifelong love of reading in our students.
📅 Reminder – School Closure Day | Friday, 14 August
A reminder to families that Friday, 14 August is a School Closure Day.
Our staff will be undertaking Team Teach training, which aligns closely with our school's ongoing focus on Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL). This training will further strengthen the consistent, proactive approaches we use to support every child. Team Teach reinforces the importance of building positive relationships, teaching expected behaviours, and using calm, respectful de-escalation strategies to help students regulate their emotions and make positive choices.
The training focuses on:
- De-escalation first – using effective verbal and non-verbal strategies to prevent situations from escalating.
- Safety and dignity – promoting positive relationships, personal safety and respectful, least-restrictive responses that are only used when necessary to protect the safety of students and staff.
Positive Behaviour Support – ensuring our practices align with Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) approaches currently being embedded across our school.
This professional learning will further strengthen our staff's capacity to create safe, supportive and inclusive learning environments where every child can thrive.
🏆 Mannix House Rewards Day 🏆
Congratulations to Mannix House, who accumulated the most House Points last term!
To celebrate their achievement, Mannix students are able to wear casual clothes to school and will enjoy a fun afternoon of pizza and a disco with their House teammates this Friday, August 7. We hope they have a fantastic time celebrating together.
A big congratulations to all our Mannix students, and we encourage everyone to keep earning House Points through demonstrating our school values. We can't wait to see which House comes out on top next term!
🎨💧Get Creative for National Water Week: 2026 Victorian Poster Competition! 🎨💧
A MESSAGE FROM MS. LUCY and the GREEN TEAM...
As our school’s Green Team leader, I love sharing opportunities for our students to connect with environmental issues outside the classroom and school. This term, South East Water is hosting the 2026 Victorian Poster Competition, and it’s a wonderful project for kids to tackle at home!
This year’s theme is ‘Water Heroes: Make Every Drop Count’. It’s a great chance for students to reflect on how precious water is and showcase their artistic talents.
KEY DETAILS
- Who can enter: Early learning/Kindergarten through to Secondary school students.
- Theme: Water Heroes: Make Every Drop Count
- Format: A4 or A3 poster size. You can use any medium—paint, textas, colored pencils, collage, photos, or digital graphics (note: AI-generated artwork is not permitted).
- Deadline: 5:00 PM, Friday 11 September 2026
PRIZES
There are individual gift cards ($100, $50, and $25) up for grabs across each age category!
Plus, for every participating family who enters our school's name we get an entry to win a $500 gift card towards a school sustainability project.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Because this is an optional home activity, families will submit their child's entry directly online:
- Have your child create their poster at home.
- Take a high-resolution, well-lit photo or scan of the artwork (in .JPG, .PNG, or .PDF format, under 20MB).
- Upload the entry directly to the South East Water Poster Competition portal.
- Make sure to select our school’s name and postcode so your entry counts towards our school community! (Parents/guardians entering individually can just put "1" under estimated participants).
Winners will be announced during National Water Week (19–25 October 2026). For more details visit https://www.nationalwaterweek.com.au/south-east-water.
We can't wait to see our young Water Heroes in action! If your child enters, please feel free to bring the posters in to be displayed at school, or send a photo of their artwork my way so we can celebrate their creativity.
Happy creating!
Ms Lucy
📅 Save the Dates – Father's Day Celebration 💙
We warmly invite all fathers, grandfathers, special men and significant father figures in the lives of our students to join us for our Father's Day Celebration.
September 01 -The morning will include:
- 🥓 Father's & Special Friends Day Breakfast from 7:45am
- ⛪ Father's Day and Special Friends Mass 9:15am
September 03
- 🎁Father's Day Stall
This is always a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the important role that fathers and special men play in the lives of our children while enjoying time together as a school community.
Further details, including times and information about the Father's Day Stall, will be shared soon. We look forward to celebrating with you!
🎵 Music Programme & Annual Concert 🎵
Our music programme with Mad On Music is well underway at St Joseph's, and it has been wonderful to see our students enthusiastically developing their musical talents and confidence.
All families are warmly invited to Mad on Music's Annual Music Concert on Tuesday, 1 September. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the hard work and progress of our young musicians, while cheering them on as they perform for family and friends.
If you've ever considered music lessons or singing for your child, the concert is also a great chance to see the Mad On Music programme in action and experience the many benefits it offers. See the flyer below for details.
We look forward to seeing you there as we celebrate the joy of music together!
📅 Saturday 17 October 2026
Mark your calendars and get ready for one of the highlights of the year as we celebrate the St Joseph's School Fete 2026! 🎈🎠🌭🍰
We're excited to be planning a fantastic afternoon and twilight event for our school community, with games, food, entertainment, bar and plenty of fun for all ages.
There will be something for everyone to enjoy, with plenty of fun, laughter and community spirit. From exciting games 🎢🎯 to delicious food and treats 🍔🌭🍦, live entertainment 🎶 and lots of activities for children and families, it promises to be a fantastic afternoon/evening for our whole school community.
With the school holidays approaching, many families may be doing a clean-out at home. If so, we'd love you to keep the fete in mind and consider donating items that could be used for prizes, activities and fundraising.
We are currently seeking donations for:
- Silent Auction prizes
- Treasure Hunt prizes
- Sporting activity prizes
- Chocolate Toss prizes
Items that would be greatly appreciated include:
- Toys (new or near-new)
- Children's books
- Small prizes such as squishies, stickers and novelty toys
- Gift hampers
- Restaurant vouchers
- Holiday accommodation
- Sporting memorabilia
- Professional services
- Local business products or vouchers
- Alcohol