Principal's News

Happy Holidays!

What a wonderful end to the term for our students and staff as they enjoyed the annual St. Joseph’s ‘Friendship Fair’. The ‘friendship’ element shone through in so many ways: we started the day with a very upbeat concert performed by the students from our instrumental music program; a vast array of ‘stalls’ with many exciting activities for the children to enjoy and a fantastic range of talent on show at our ‘St Joseph’s Got Talent' afternoon. Aside from the fun, laughter and friendship, the day's endeavours will go towards supporting Ellie to complete her education at The School of St. Jude's in Tanzania. Such a worthy cause.

Thank you to our dedicated SRC team, led by Mrs O’Dwyer and Mrs Carman, for ensuring a great day was had by all.

I am certain that after a busy term, there will be some well-deserved, and much-needed sleep-ins for students and staff alike in the coming days.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Our parent teacher interviews will take place on Monday 18th July and this is an opportunity for you to discuss your child’s Semester 1 school report and to chat to the teacher about goals moving forward. You do not need to bring your child to these interviews. Please save the date and the booking link will be shared with you during the holidays.

PLEASE NOTE  A NORMAL 3.30PM FINISH TIME FOR STUDENTS ON THIS DAY

Comedy for a Cause

A fantastic night of laughter and dancing! With a great lineup of comedy, a pizza supper, and a well-stocked bar and disco to round off the evening, it was a wonderful night for our community. A special thank you to the team who made the night possible: Michael Hazell, James Noonan, Tennille Bare, Talia and Jonathan Hassett, Kate Fitzgerald and Laura Piva. Thank you to the Pausewang family for supplying additional furniture to put the finishing touches on the hall. 

School Bricks!

Once again, we will be offering named bricks on the path to the entrance to the school, and the opportunity for to leave your mark on our community does not happen often. Thank you to Tennille Bare who is organising this fundraiser and look out for further information in the coming weeks.

Pre-Prep Playgroup- Wanted!

As we begin to collect/ purchase items for our new playgroup, we thought that it may be a good opportunity for families to donate some pre-loved toys. Examples of donations that would be gratefully received:

• Lego; Train sets; Puzzles (small ones for a table, and larger floor puzzles); Dress-ups; Blocks of all shapes and sizes – mainly wood, rather than plastic; Hospital / vet resources; Good quality books; light table (even a small one); Sand tray for discovery play; Fairies, dinosaurs, trucks, cars, jewellery making items (beads, threading); Doll house with people.

Thank you!

Some highlights for Term 3:

• A Biological Sciences topic across the school, tying in beautifully with preparation for the school Art Show, which has an animal/ sustainability theme. Marta Cummings is busy organising her team for this whole school event, which will take place on Thursday 13th October for our evening event, and Saturday 15th October for the community event. If you are interested in supporting Marta, please drop her an email: marta.cummings@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au
• I look forward to the continuation of Prep Interviews- these have been an absolute highlight of this term and I look forward to welcoming many more families during these interviews in July.
• We begin the Master Planning Process with the Building/ Infrastructure team from MACS.
• Book Week and National Science Week
• Grandparent’s Day on Friday 22nd July. The last time this was held was back in 2019, so we look forward to welcoming our special family members to our community on this day.  More information to follow.
• The re establishment of our CSIRO Stem Professionals in Schools Program
• Our annual swimming program will take place in July and August, a highlight for many of our students.

• The beginning of our ‘Ready, Prep, Go’ playgroup on Friday 12th August
• First Eucharist for our Year 3 students
• The Teddy Bear’s Picnic orientation #1 for our 2023 preps
• And so much more!

MACS Covid Update:

You would have heard that, following advice from the Acting Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government recently announced changes to the pandemic orders.

There will no longer be a mandated vaccination requirement for staff working in mainstream schools. 

There are no changes to the requirements for staff working in specialist schools, given the higher percentage of vulnerable students in our specialist schools. This means that all staff must continue to have three-doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

As part of these changes, from 11.59pm Friday 24 June 2022, parents and carers who have COVID-19 can transport their children via private vehicle to their primary or secondary school when alternative assistance is not available. 

This means that parents and carers will be able to leave COVID self-isolation to take their children to school and school holiday programs via a private vehicle. 

The parent or carer must travel directly to and from the school only. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to walk the child to and from the entrance of the school safely. They must wear a face mask at all times.

Family members are asked to continue reporting positive COVID-19 cases to both the Department of Health and our own testing portal. 

You must also let the school know if your child is a close contact. Students who are close contacts and want to attend must still take 5 RATs over 7 days and wear a face mask whilst indoors if they are aged 8 years or over. 

Students should continue to stay home if they are unwell, even if they test negative on a RAT. 

Thank you again for all your support during this challenging period.

A Final Thank you...

Thank you all for a wonderful term- it’s been an absolute pleasure to work with your children, and we look forward to the fun, laughter and learning that the next term will bring to our community. Thank goodness we have had half a year onsite!

A special mention to our dedicated and hard-working staff, who have given so much to our students this semester. We are truly blessed to have them working with our children at St. Joseph's.

Your child’s report will be issued today via a link to the Nforma system; please take a moment to reflect and celebrate your child’s achievements this semester, they have worked so hard!

I will send a full list of important dates in my 'welcome to the term' letter at the end of the holidays.

Wishing you all a safe, relaxing and (hopefully) peaceful holiday. 

Michelle