Dear Parents and Carers,

A warm St Joseph’s welcome to Term Two. I hope that you had an opportunity for some downtime with your family over the holidays, following a busy Term Two. I couldn't help but include something North Melbourne related here. It has been a long time since we have won this many games so early in the season.

As a number of you are aware, I had an unexpected trip to Japan on the last Thursday of the holidays. Following an incident at Nara Deer Park near Kyoto, my 84 year old mother was admitted to hospital for five days. I jumped on a plane, collected her from hospital and repatriated her to Australia.

She is resting now at home and is under the care of the doctors at the Epworth hospital. It is anticipated that she will make a full recovery. Thanks to the parents who have been checking in with me on her progress and to the staff who stepped up in my absence at the beginning of the term.

Professional Learning Day - Team Teach

On Friday St Joseph’s School hosted a Professional Learning Day facilitated by Wellbeing Staff from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools with participants from St Joseph’s and other colleagues from the Melbourne Archdiocese. The focus of the day was Team Teach, a program designed tohelp staff to assist children with emotional regulation and de-escalation. The staff in attendance participated enthusiastically and engaged in hands on activities, role plays and in depth discussions.

Instagram Account

Over the school holidays, I set up a new publicly accessible Instagram account to enhance communication with our families and to market our school to the wider community. This is linked to our Facebook page and you may notice some posts duplicated on both platforms.

We are aware that many of our parents are regular Instagram users and we are hopeful that the use of this platform will increase our reach. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts showcasing the learning at St Joseph’s and advertising upcoming events.

To access the page, search for st_josephs_yarra_junction in your Instagram App.

Advisory Council

St Joseph's School Advisory Council provides a crucial point of connection between the wider school community and school leaders. While the School Advisory Council does not have governance responsibility or decision-making authority, it supports the principal and school leadership and provides an important connection to the parish.

The School Advisory Council’s role is to supports the overall governance of St Joseph’s schools as it gives consideration to, and advice on, important school matters in order to support me, as principal and the strategic interest of the school.

Our School Advisory Council meets two afternoons per term between 2:00pm and 3:00pm. It is currently made up of myself as Principal, Fr Michel as Parish Priest, Katie Vranken as Deputy Principal, Kyla Price as a parent and Alan Preston as a grandparent. Our current task is the updating of the School Advisory Council Terms of Reference. Following this, around the end of Term Two, we will be seeking expressions of interest from members of our school community who may wish to join the council.

Parents and Friends Committee

As mentioned in previous communication, in 2025 our two Parents and Friends committee members tended their resignation, one due to increased work commitments and the other moved interstate. As yet, we have not had any parents step up to join the committee. We are hopeful that we will be able to get at least one parent from each of our four classes to join the committee and for one of them to take on the role of Chair for 2026-7. This group will meet monthly to organise social and fundraising events and to assist with school events. Anyone interested in joining is invited to chat with or email Katie or myself. We will arrange our meetings at a time that is most suitable for the committee members.

Mother’s Day Celebrations

The long standing tradition for St Joseph’s staff to host a Mother’s Day Celebration the Friday before Mother’s Day will continue this year. This will be held on Friday 8 May.

We would like to hear back from parents about the format that would best suit them. Options we are considering include:

8:00am -9:30am Breakfast followed by classroom Activities

3:00pm - 4:00pm Parent-Child Activities followed be Afternoon Tea

Please click the link below to indicate your preference:

Our Mother's Day Stall is being held on Thursday 7th May. In order for this to run, we will require parent volunteers. If you are willing to help out, please reach out to Katie or myself to let us know. Gifts will be available ranging from 50 cents to $10.

Out of School Hours Care (OSHC)

Following strong expressions of interest from our families,

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Early Years Education (MACS eye) has established an OSCH Service at St Joseph’s School. While the initial uptake has been slow, it is anticipated that this will grow as the program becomes established and families become aware of its availability and what it has to offer.

The service runs from 7:00am to 8:45am and 3:00pm to 6:00pm five days per week. The program is staffed by the coordinator, Janette and Tahlia, the carer. They offer consistent, high quality care and the children who have been attending have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

If dropping your children to school when supervision commences at 8:30am is a challenge for you, please consider enrolling your children in Before School Care. Likewise, if pick ups at 3:00pm are a challenge, the afternoon service is there to help.

Click the MACS eye tab on the Newsletter for more details.

Best wishes for the week ahead,

Nick.

Nicholas Boyhan

Principal

MACS eye OSHC