Dear Parents,

Congratulations to all the students who competed in the District Swimming sports last Thursday. Thank you to Emily Reed for her excellent organisation and to staff who supported our students on the day. What a team of champions!

All students who competed on the day did so with such great positivity and resilience. What a great community we have with so many parents attending, cheering the students on and making sure our students know they are part of a wonderful village.

It was a brilliant day full of stories of celebration and the outstanding attitude and positive relationships of our students in action. A special mention to the 14 students who have made it to the next level of the swimming program and will swim this week at the Zone event.

Thanks to the year 2 students and their brilliant teachers for a beautiful school Mass The students were so well prepared and led with style.

Congratulations to our Cafe team last Friday for a wonderful Cafe. It was such a special afternoon and we are so proud of our year 6 students and staff.

I will be attending a Languages professional learning day with some staff tomorrow in Geelong. We continue to implement our whole school language approach through learning functional words and code switching. Please take the time to watch the video on our home learning site and in our newsletter and practise the words as a family. Link to language learning page

Learning a language is a place where we can put our learning dispositions into action. The adults in our community learning Indonesian alongside our students is a significant message that we can all use our learning powers to be effective learners together. Each week, there will be a few words to learn and throughout the week we all need to find opportunities to use these functional words in our daily lives.

Students have a daily focus on learning the words of the week.

Monday- students watch the video found on our home learning portal

Tuesday- they revise the video using gestures

Wednesday- students use the words in a sentence

Thursday- students use the words in a game or chant

Friday - we revise our learning from the week

Our whole school theme for weeks 6 and 7 is focussed on forgiveness and kindness and focusing on our character strengths. Please take the time to look at the slideshows in our newsletter providing parents and staff with an understanding of the key concepts in the weekly theme. This will ensure we can support our students to have a deeper understanding of the theme, enabling students to engage in a deeper exploration and inquiry and assisting them to make the necessary links between learning and life.

Click above to view slideshow

We have a restorative model of reconciliation and forgiveness. The season of lent provides us with a wonderful opportunity to self reflect and grow and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. The three areas we focus on in lent are prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

I look forward to attending our Year 3 Reconciliation service at St Peters in Shoreham this Wednesday morning and congratulate the students who are making the Sacrament.

Additionally, we use our REACT model of restorative justice. This has been updated to reflect our tool kit.

Daily Reading

Read to your child every day! It makes a world of difference to their success in life and you will make moments matter as you sit, snuggle, explore, talk and learn together.

One cannot underestimate the value of reading. Reading is important as it helps everyone grow mentally, emotionally, cognitively and psychologically. Every book gives you an opportunity to learn new things and explore new ideas. By reading every day, you expand your understanding of the world around you: broadening perspective, building vocabulary, increasing brain capacity and making important connections.

At St. Joseph’s, it is an expectation that every child reads every night and gets their diary signed. Please make this a high priority in 2023 as we strive to make moments matter together. If you cannot do this, please let us know so we can support you and assist in making sure your child reads every day.

Finally, I invite all of our community and local community to an open afternoon of celebration on Friday 31st March. This will be held from 2pm- 4pm and will full of fun activities, food to purchase and is a great opportunity to gather and celebrate as a community. More information will be sent home this week.

Key dates for the remainder of the term are outlined below

Monday 13th March - Labour Day Public Holiday (No School)

Tuesday 14th March - Prep Family Dinner 5:30pm

Friday 17th March- Cafe

Friday 31st March- St Joseph’s House Spirit afternoon and Open day 2pm- 4pm

Wednesday 5th April - School advisory meeting 7pm

Thursday 6th April - End of Term 1 Students finish at 1pm. Holy Week Service and end of term assembly 12.00pm

Monday 24th April- Curriculum Day ( pupil free day)

Tuesday 25th April - Anzac Day public holiday (No school)

Wednesday 26th April- students commence for Term 2

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

Cerberus Open Day