Dear Families,

It has been a fairly quiet week at St Joseph’s, aside from our parent/ teacher chats and a couple of early morning training sessions, and the classrooms feel very calm and settled. Our students are only 15 school days into the school year and they continue to build their stamina in the classroom with each passing day. I hope that your conversation with your child’s teacher was productive and you gleaned some insight into how your child is settling into the school year.

Our students are also well and truly into the swing of things with their homework and we ask that you let your child’s teacher know if the Maths and English are at the right level of challenge for your child. There may be certain questions that your child struggles with as the content hasn’t been covered as yet in the classroom so please don’t worry if this is the case- the weekly practice of mathematical and linguistic concepts will help with your child’s understanding of content. This year, we have introduced our Year 2 students to English and Maths homework, in addition to their readers. Again, please let us know if the work is too easy/ too hard.

Just to reiterate: we do not set any online homework for our students; as parents, the amount of screentime in the evenings is your choice and we certainly would not compel our students to be online to complete work.

It is great to see the classrooms come to life with student work displayed proudly on the walls. Below is a small selection of our Year 2 letters to Miss Bascombe (our students are simply amazing!):

Some snaps from the classrooms:

SRC Semester 1 2022

Congratulations to the newly appointed members of the Student Representative Council, who will be working with Mrs O’Dwyer and Mrs Carman on a number of projects during semester 1. Well done to Elise, Ari, Valentina, Matilda, Xavier, Anastasia, Christian, Ethan, Nicholas, James, Alfred, Sienna and Alexis and we look forward to you leading various initiatives across our school in the coming months.

Come and get your juicy apples!!

We were thrilled to have the apples return to St Joseph's earlier in the week and the students were very excited for the fruity pre-class treat! Thank you so much to Czes and Christine (Gabriella Y6) from Fruit Nest on Glenferrie Road for supplying the apples free of charge. This was a regular pre covid tradition and it's great to have them back.

Parents and Friends Survey

We look forward to our first P+F meeting of the year, next Tuesday 22nd February. Check out the P+F page for details of the time and venue.

We would be very grateful if each family could complete the following survey prior to Tuesday:

https://forms.gle/s9SQdbaLr1M7Z2Ek6

Enrolment Updates

Thanks to the families who began the online enrolment form for prep 2023. If you're having difficulty accessing the form, please pick up a hard copy from the office.

We'd also be very grateful if you could share the Open Day/ Tour flyer amongst friends/ kinders etc.

The first round of offers will be sent out to families who meet the enrolment criteria by Friday 18th March.

SAC and P+F Dates for the Year:

SAC and P+F meeting Dates 2022
SAC- 7.30 pm start		P+F- 7.30 pm start
Monday 21st February		Tuesday 22nd February
Tuesday 29th March		Tuesday 22nd March
Tuesday 17th May		Tuesday 3rd May
Tuesday 21st June		Tuesday 14th June
Tuesday 16th August		Tuesday 23rd August
Tuesday 11th October		Tuesday 4th October
Tuesday 29th November- joint SAC and P+F drinks

Please see the P+F page for the details of Tuesday's meeting.

Dendy District Swimming Competition

Good luck to our senior swimming team, who will be competing in the Dendy competition on Monday. Thanks to Mr Cleary for organising our team and to the teachers for the additional training before school. Go St Joseph's!

Dates for the Term

Lots of things to look forward to this term, including the belated 'welcome' picnic, athletics day and open book mornings. Also, look out for additional P+F dates as they organise family socials during the term.

Term 1 Dates	Event	Who
Mon 31st January	All students return
Tues 8th February	3-6 Swimming Trials	Mr Cleary, Ms Huebner
Fri 11th February	Dendy Tennis Tournament (4 selected students)
Tues/ Thur 15th/17th Feb	Parent/ Teacher information sharing	Prep-6
Mon 21st Feb	Dendy District Swimming Carnival	Selected students
Mon 21st Feb 7.30 pm	School Advisory Council	SAC members in staffroom
Tue 22nd Feb 7.30 pm	Parents and Friends (P+F) at Essie Bar in Malvern. 35 Station St.	ALL parents/ guardians are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Wednesday 2nd March	Ash Wednesday
Wednesday 2nd March	Yr 5 and Yr 6 excursion to Parliament House	5+6 students and staff
Monday 7th March	Yr 5 and Yr 6 graffiti prevention program	5+6 students and staff
Friday 11th March	Open Day #1 9 am-11 am	Prospective families
Monday 14th March	School closure- Labour Day	All students and staff
Tuesday 15th March	Open Day #2 9 am-11 am	Prospective families
Tuesday 15th March	Year 6 Parents Confirmation information night 7 pm-8 pm	Year 6 parents
Friday 18th March	Michelle on long service leave until Easter holidays. Martin Earl acting principal
Friday 18th March	Bullying No Way Day. Assembly and school incursion. Parents welcome at 9 am assembly.	SRC to lead assembly. P-6 incursion
Sunday 20th March	Confirmation Commitment Mass	Y6 and parents
Monday 21st March	Y3 and Y4 democracy and community incursion	Y3+Y4 students and staff
Tuesday 22nd March	P+F meeting 7.30pm	All welcome

Tuesday 29th March	SAC meeting 7.30pm	SAC members
Thursday 31st March	Whole school athletic’s carnival at Duncan McKinnon	Organiser: Mahla Davies Parent volunteers needed
Friday 1st April	‘Great Mates’ wellbeing incursion	Prep to Yr 6
Monday 4th April	Holy Week Liturgy Prep and Year 1 9am in hall	Prep and Y1 parents welcome to attend
Monday 4th April	Open classroom/ open book sessions Prep/ Year 1 9.30 am-10.30 am	Prep and Y1 parents
Tuesday 5th April	Holy Week Liturgy Year 2 9 am in hall	Year 2 parents welcome to attend
Tuesday 5th April	Open classroom/ open book sessions Year 2 9.30 am-10.30 am	Year 2 parents
Wednesday 6th April	Holy Week Liturgy Year 3 and Year 4 9am in hall	Year 3 and Y4 parents welcome to attend
Wednesday 6th April	Open classroom/ open book sessions Year 3 and Year 4 9.30 am-10.30 am	Year 3 and Year 4 parents
Thursday 7th April	Holy Week Liturgy Year 5 and Year 6 9am in hall	Year 5 and Year 6 parents welcome to attend
Thursday 7th April	Open classroom/ open book sessions Year 5 and Year 6 9.30 am-10.30 am	Year 5 and Year 6 parents
Thursday 7th April	Belated family ‘Welcome’ picnic with Kaboom Sports after school. 3.30 pm until 6.30 pm	All families welcome and encouraged to attend.
Friday 8th April	Grade 2-6 cross country event at Spring street park	9 am-11 am Parent volunteers
Friday 8th April	End of Term 1 at 3.30pm

the are

Net Set Go!

LEARN TO PLAY NETBALL WITH NET SET GO

Net Set GO is Australia’s official starter program for girls and boys aged 5 – 10. It’s a chance to learn the netball basics, get outside and make some friends. For a lot of kids, this is the first time they’ll pick up a netball or chuck on a bib. It’s a learning experience and a lot of fun!

VENUE: St Joseph’s Primary School, Malvern

SESSION DATES & TIMES: Thursday’s (during school term) from 3.45pm – 4.30pm

START DATE: Sunday, 13 February till 18 June 2022 for 15 weeks (excludes school & public holidays)

COST: $250 (includes registration fee, participant pack and insurance)

REGISTRATION through Sarah Gerrand: saintsnetty@gmail.com

Wishing you all a relaxing weekend ahead,

Michelle

School Crossing Supervisors Wanted