PRINCIPAL'S NEWS

Principal's Message...

STAFFING NEWS

It is with great delight that I announce to our community that Bella Zacharioudakis and her partner Anthony are expecting their first child. Bella will commence her parental leave at the beginning of term 3. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to them both!! 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to making our Sports Day last Monday such a great success. Thank you to Peter Zammit for organising the day so thoroughly, and thank you to our wonderful band of parent helpers.  It is because of the tremendous amount of support we receive on such days that make these events so successful.  The staff, the children and myself are very grateful to you all.

Thank you to our House Captains who revved-up and supported their Houses throughout the day and to our students who all showed brilliant sportsmanship, determination and good humour.  All houses performed extremely well and the final scores were very close!

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to our winning house, MANNIX, who were presented with the Sports Shield at the conclusion of the day. Congratulations to Oliver and Elisa the House Captains, and Elliot who stood in for Elisa on the day.

Your Opinion Matters! - A message from the School Advisory Council...

We need your help…

‘OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE’ AT SAINT JOSEPH’S'

Our Before and After school program is currently being facilitated by Extend. As with all of our programs we are constantly reviewing and analysing their effectiveness when catering to our unique needs at Saint Joseph’s. With this in mind the School Advisory Council is collecting information on the current status of our Outside School Hours Care provider whilst inviting our community to provide feedback and possible suggestions for improvement.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE CURRENTLY USING THE SERVICE TO PROVIDE AN OPINION!!!

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the survey. Your voice matters!!! Please follow the link below.

Saint Joseph's Outside School Hours Care Survey 

SCHOOL CLOSURE DAYS

We will be holding two school closure days on the first two days of term 2 - Tuesday April 26 and Wednesday April 27.  The children will commence term two on Thursday, April 28.  We determined that a two day extension of the term holidays would be the least disruptive option for families, especially given that the Monday of that week is the ANZAC day public holiday.  On these closure days the staff will continue our work on the Zones of Regulation, and will be working with our consultant Erin McLindon.

CYBER SAFETY ALERT...

As we head into the holidays I feel it appropriate to remind parents of Internet Safety and providing supervision of children whilst engaged in an online world.

I have had a few concerned parents chat to me about the inappropriateness of some of the conversations and chats that their children are participating in online.  These include private chat groups that children are in with their peers.  Please be vigilant in monitoring your child's online activities, check the content of the posts that children are sharing - explain that you can check the 'history' and that nothing is really private!

Exposure to inappropriate content online is serious and can cause distress.  For young children's use and safety, it is vital to put filters in place, set security to 'high' and make sure you set agreements about how much time they can allocate to different activities online.  Many children don't want to talk about online negative experiences because they fear their access to technology will be removed. Reassure them this won't happen.  If you and your children have regular conversations about the online world, they'll be more likely to talk to you if they are harassed or experiencing cyberbullying or if something feels uncomfortable. 

CODE CLUB

Next term we will be commencing a partnership with 'CodeCamp'.  This is another after-school learning opportunity that we are offering to our students. Sessions will be held from 3:15-4:30 each Monday, commencing early in term 2.

The cost to participate is $260 per term - and includes 8 sessions (on consecutive Mondays).  Participants will use the school Chromebooks - so there are no additional fees.

Expression of interest have been sent home - please contact the office if you missed it and would like a form.

CHESS CLUB

Chess Club will return to face-to-face lessons in Term 2.  Please see the flyer in the General News Section of this newsletter

END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS

Thank you to our fabulous staff and students for another terrific term of learning and teaching. This Friday is the last day of term and students may wear casual clothes to school.  Children will be dismissed at 1:30pm. 

The Social Club have organised an end of term picnic at All Nations Park (near the shopping centre car park).  BYO picnic rugs, snacks, etc. We’ll meet from 1.45pm. Everyone is welcome! See you there!

Social Club News...    Please join us this Friday 8th April for an end of term catch up at All Nations Park (near the shopping centre car park). BYO picnic rugs, snacks, etc. We’ll meet from 1.45pm. Everyone is welcome! See you there! 

For a full list of upcoming Social Club events see the Social Club page on this newsletter.

Students will commence Term Two on THURSDAY APRIL 28.  Monday April 25 is the ANZAC day public holiday and Tuesday April 26 & Wednesday April 27 are school closure days.

I hope that all our families enjoy the term break, have a safe and happy holiday; and enjoy Easter celebrations with your families.