Dear Parents and Carers,

This week marked the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. The reason I acknowledge this is because it brings the opportunity to reflect on its symbolism and the impact on life across the past year.

Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year, where we have the least sun and the most night. There is a widespread thought that the winter solstice is the symbolism of the cycle of life.

We look back on this last year, since the last Winter Solstice, with a range of emotions- sadness, grief, regret, disappointment. However the Winter Solstice also invites us to reflect on all that has been and all that we are grateful for. This is timely for our community, as this week, we farewelled our very loved Michelle Moore, for whom we have all been grateful. Winter Solstice seems a suitable moment to reflect on the past, acknowledging the wonderful woman Michelle was, as a mother, wife, friend, colleague, mentor, and of course principal of our St Joseph's Primary School.

In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue to lean on one another, drawing strength from our shared memories, faith, and the deep bonds within our school community. Just as the sun begins to return after the solstice, so too will warmth and light return to our hearts. In this time of sorrow, we are reminded of the power of community healing, of coming together in prayer, conversation, and shared remembrance. Let us honour Michelle’s legacy by walking gently with each other, supporting one another in kindness, and nurturing the hope she so often inspired in us all.

As we move forward, we are comforted in God's love and light, that gives us strength and hope for a new tomorrow. As the sun sets and rises on the Winter Solstice this week, may we carry forward the light of Michelle and all that we are grateful for. As Pilgrims of Hope in this Jubilee Year, we reflect, and renew, and draw strength from the darkness into the light.

Prayer of Remembrance for Michelle Moore

As a Catholic community, we continue to pray for Michelle Moore and we hold her family, and all who loved her, in our prayers.

Loving God,

We thank you for the life of Michelle. We thank you for her leadership and devotion to our school, her wisdom, her sense of fun, her warm heart and her love for the children, staff and families at St Joseph's.

May she now rest in your eternal peace. And may perpetual light shine upon her.

Bring comfort to those who mourn her, and help us carry forward the light she shared with so many.

Amen.

Michelle Moore's Funeral

This week our school community came together to honour Michelle Moore's memory at a very sad, but heartfelt funeral Mass at St Joseph’s Church, celebrated by Fr Michael Gallacher. An overwhelming number of people - staff, students, families, friends and parishioners who loved Michelle, gathered with Michelle's family to reflect on a life devoted to family, friends and education.

Michelle was remembered by Fr Gallacher, her family, her friends and principal colleagues, as an inspiration to so many. She was someone who has remarkably shaped the lives of others in a way that has left a lasting legacy of compassion, leadership, and unwavering dedication to her family, students, staff and colleagues, her influence reaching far beyond the walls of our school, touching hearts and changing lives in ways that will be felt for generations. Those of you who were able to attend the funeral would have been incredibly moved by the words of Fr Gallacher, Michelle's children Eleanor, Jessica and Daniel, her principal colleagues Simon Collis, Claire Tobin and Liam Buckley, as well as the carefully chosen readings and prayers read by Mike, Michelle's husband, and some of our St Joseph's staff - Isabelle Freeman, Amanda Jackson, Tanya Huebner and Christie Birch, and former Deputy Principal Martin Earl. What a moving tribute to a very loved woman.

Michelle's absence is felt deeply as wife, mother, principal, and a friend to so many. As the heart of our Catholic primary school, she guided us with compassion, faith, and a deep commitment to the wellbeing of every child. Michelle's presence will be deeply missed, but her spirit and legacy will continue to live on in the values she instilled in us all.

We thank all members of our community for your support over the last few weeks. We thank our parents for holding our staff and each other in their grief, and we thank our children for sharing their beautiful memories and prayers for Mrs Moore and her family.

We also thank Fleur (Mum of Andre) @ fleur_creative, for the beautiful flowers that she created with love and care for the funeral Mass and the wake. The flowers - lilies, roses and sweet pea in pink and white, were Michelle's favourites and kindly requested by Mike, and Fleur went above and beyond to source these. We also thank the P&F for their support in providing the flowers for the wake, and Talia, Laura and Jane for setting up the hall so beautifully, and for supporting with the catering. We also thank our amazing staff who worked behind the scenes supporting with the Mass and the organisation of the wake.

I would also like to thank the the South Central Principal Network who supported our school on Wednesday by providing teaching staff for our children so that our staff could attend Michelle's funeral. This was an incredibly kind and generous gesture and we are incredibly appreciative. It was reassuring to know that our children were in good hands, affording our staff peace of mind as they attended Michelle's funeral and wake.

The SJM Scarf for Michelle

You will have noticed that the beautiful scarf that has been wrapped around the gum tree, near the front office and playground, has grown in length! It is a stunning display of affection and love for Mrs Moore. Ms Karen and Ms Marta Cummings have continued to work on this with our precious students during knitting club. This was very thoughtfully and kindly made for Mrs Moore. Please take a moment to enjoy this, to remember Michelle, and to acknowledge the teachers and children’s knitting skills, thoughtfulness and kindness.

Year 4 Eucharist Retreat Day

Today our Year 4 children participated in a Retreat Day where they engaged in prayer and reflection in readiness for the Sacrament of the First Eucharist on Saturday evening.

We thank Fr Gallacher for spending time with the children today, talking to them about the sacrament and giving them Reconciliation in preparation for Saturday night.

Thank you to our Religious Education Leader Ms Donnella DeVisser, and our Year 4 teachers Ms Grace Harrick and Mr Prowse for the work they have done with the students, preparing them for this very significant step in their Sacramental journey.

Sacrament of the First Eucharist

On Saturday, 28th June, the children in Year 4 will be making the Sacrament of their First Eucharist at St Joseph's Church. We will continue to pray for these children.

Upcoming Open Days and Information Sessions

Our final official Open Day for 2025 is being held on Tuesday 29th July.

If you have family or friends who are exploring school options for 2026 and beyond, our Open Days are a great opportunity for prospective families to see our beautiful school in action, meet our staff, and learn more about what makes our community at St Joseph's so special.

Our Final Open Day:

Tuesday 29th July 9am-10:30am

Information Session:

Tuesday 29th July 10:30am -11am

We will be running both School Tours and Information sessions for families who are interested in finding out more about our school.

Please spread the word to any prospective families you may know. Your word of mouth is the best advertising for our school.

Every Day is Open Day at St Joseph's!

We encourage prospective families to book a tour with us at any time. Please encourage any families you know who are looking for a school for 2026, and beyond, to be in touch with us. We would love to show them around our beautiful school. Every Day is Open Day!

Semester 1 Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

We are so proud of our students and the wonderful learning across this semester. As I make my way around the school, and hear conversations during teachers planning time, and in PLTs where teachers are moderating students learning, I am proud to say our staff go above and beyond the test and assessment scores, to evaluate all learning across the semester.

We look forward to celebrating the growth and success of our students in the Semester One school reports. The reports will be published next week on Thursday 3rd July. We ask all families to read the Mr Dean Butler's 'Semester 1: Student Reports' page in this week's newsletter which contains information regarding your child's report.

Our Parent Teacher Interviews will take place after the holidays on Thursday 31st July in Week 2 of Term 3.

Some very exciting news!

As some of you know, I often talk about 'a lot going on behind the scenes', and some of our hard work has come to fruition!

Yesterday I received some amazing news from Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools (MACS) that we have been successful in our grant application for 2025. MACS have offered significant financial support for some major works through the 2025 Supplementary Capital Fund to the value of $400,000! This is a great outcome for our school!

I will be meeting with the project manager from the Infrastructure Team (MACS) next week so that we can begin to plan for these works. Most of this money will go towards much needed school improvement and structural works which will ensure our students continue to learn and play in a school where their safety, wellbeing and learning excellence continues to be a priority. I will be able to provide more information next week after I meet with this team. Any decisions about future works will be made with the Infrastructure Team first and in consultation with our leadership team, SAC and wider community.

I thank Dean, and Lexi our Business Manager, for their support with the grant application and I would like to acknowledge the support I have received from MACS to ensure that safety, wellbeing and excellence continues to be a primary focus for us. I sincerely thank Fr Gallacher as he had a significant role to play in supporting us with this.

I am absolutely thrilled! This is amazing for our school!

Annual Action Plan for 2025

Every Catholic School in the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools (MACS) have an Annual Action Plan (AAP). In the AAP, the goals are clearly outlined for the year. These are the four goals that we are focusing on this year at St Joseph's:

To improve student achievement in Spelling in Years 3 and 4 through explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, orthography, morphology and etymology.
To improve student achievement in Writing, particularly sentence structure and single-paragraph construction in Years 3 to 4
To improve student achievement in Mathematics, particularly place value, in Prep and Year 1
To improve our Catholic Identity for non-teaching staff and families.

We look forward to sharing our progress in these areas across the year.

School Production Update- Beauty and the Beast Rehearsals

We certainly have some talented children in our school. We thank Ms. Wendy D'Arco for leading our students during the school rehearsals for Beauty and the Beast. The cast has been working hard, showing great enthusiasm and commitment at every practice. We can't wait for everyone to see the magic they bring to the stage!

Lockdown Practice

Earlier this week our whole school engaged in a routine practice lockdown drill. The purpose of a lockdown drill is to ensure the safety and preparedness of all students, staff, and visitors in the event of an emergency.

These drills are a vital part of the school’s risk management and emergency response procedures, helping everyone understand how to act quickly and calmly in situations such as a nearby threat, intruder, or other unforeseen danger.

Practising lockdowns supports the school’s duty of care and aligns with Catholic values of protecting and nurturing every child in a safe learning environment.

Thank you to Dean Butler for notifying families that this would be happening so that parents and cares had a chance to talk to their child/children about this.

P&F Working Bee

Thank you to our wonderful Year 1 and Year 3 families who came along on Saturday to give our beautiful school a little bit of TLC and and good clean up. I also thank the families from other year levels who generously gave their time as well. Many hands make light work! This is the great community spirit we have at St Joseph's! We appreciate you giving up your time on a weekend to support our school.

It was an afternoon of hard work and a bit of fun too. The sausages and ice creams were a very nice addition to the day! A huge thank you to Jess Purcell and Laura Kay from the P&F for organising this Working Bee. We appreciate the support of our P&F, and each of the family's in our school, for continuing to help out and support when needed.

P&F Upcoming Meetings

Our SJM School Assembly

Today we had the wonderful Year 2H present their learning at assembly. We thank our wonderful Year 2 Teacher Ms Tanya Huebner and Year 2H for sharing their learning about estimating and reading fluency. You are all superstars!

We also congratulate our STAR Awards recipients and wish our birthday children a very happy birthday for last week and this week!

Next week I look forward to handing out my principal's awards for our school values of kindness and strength for Term 2.

Friendship Fair Day

Please read the information on Ms Georgie Carman's Wellbeing Page about our Friendship Fair Day which will be happening next Friday on the last day of term. We look forward to a fun day!

Instrumental Music Program Concert

Next week we will have the chance to enjoy our very talented students as they showcase their learning from the Instrumental Music Program. We look forward to their performance on Thursday night at 7pm.

Kids Helpline 24/7 School Event

We have a very exciting event that will take place at our school in our first week back of Term 3 on Thursday 24th July. This event will be about promoting the wellbeing of students and Kids Helpline in collaboration with Cubbyhouse Canteen. We will share more information about this via Operoo and in the newsletter next week.

Staff Update

Staff on Leave

We have a number staff on leave at the moment. Lynnette in the office, as well as Meg Correy and David Prowse who are enjoying some well deserved long service leave and, I'm sure, much warmer weather in Europe!

Farewell to Mr Marcus Rimondini

Next week we say farewell to Marcus who will finish his time as a Learning Support Officer with us. Marcus is completing his teaching degree this year and will begin to look at working as a teacher. We thank Marcus for all he has done for us while he has been at St Joseph’s, especially the care he has given to individual students. We look forward to giving him a proper farewell next week as he enjoys his last two days on Tuesday and Friday. Marcus will be very missed but we wish him all the best as he begins his teaching career.

Welcome back Ms Kirsten Daws

Next term we welcome back the wonderful Ms Kirsten Daws from parental leave. Kirsten will be joining the senior team working alongside the fabulous Year 5 and 6 dream team Lauren O'Grady, Clare Smith and Siobhan O'Dwyer. Kirsten will be in at St Joseph's this week and next, to meet with the senior team to plan learning for next term. I am sure you will join me in welcoming Kirsten back when you see her next term. There will be a Year 5 and 6 Parent Meeting on Monday morning 30/6 at 9am after drop off to chat about how the team will work together and to provide an opportunity for parents to ask any questions.

New Families Beginning in Term 3

Next term we welcome three new families to our school. William and Thalia will both begin in Year 1C after the holidays and Orlando will begin in Year 2H. I am sure you will join me in welcoming them to our school community.

Last Day of Term 2

Next Friday will be the last day of Term 2. School finishes at 1:20pm.

Let's stay connected...

If 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, I encourage you to please reach out by either making an appointment through the office to see me, or contacting me directly via email.

I would like to thank all of the families who have looked after our staff in so many ways across the last few weeks. You have held us in your hearts and given us so much care. I also thank our staff for their beautiful and ongoing care of our children.

It is hard to believe we only have one week of the term to go. Have a restful weekend everyone. I look forward to seeing you all at the gate on Monday morning. And to our families who have already commenced their holidays, I wish you safe travels and some warm weather!

With warmest regards,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

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