Week 6, Term 3

Dear Families,

It has been another wonderful fortnight at St Joseph's! Book Week has taken centre stage, with fantastic activities taking place each day for our students. Our Year 6 Book Week leaders have been reading stories to the classes and running activities to support the learning taking place. We topped off the special week with the wonderful costume parade and reflection this morning. Thank you to Mrs Harrison and Mrs Linke for their support with Book Week. Please see Mrs Harrison's newsletter page for lots of lovely photos and student recounts.

As the week has progressed, I have really enjoyed speaking to many of you at the school gate in the mornings. Interestingly, everyone has commented that Term 3 seems to be flying past, as last week marked the half way point of the term. As we look to the end of term and factor in our upcoming school events, please do not be surprised if your child/ren release and express their emotions in the safety of home, in light of this particularly full term. Over the coming weeks, the key will be to maintain a balanced routine between school and home for all of our students, to ensure a successful and positive closure to Term 3. Removing some of the before or after school activities can sometimes help with this balance. As always, please speak with your child's classroom teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

New Building Blessing and Opening Ceremony

Thank you to those members of our community who were able to attend the Blessing of our new building last Friday afternoon. It really was such a special event for the St Joseph's community.

It was a privilage to host Dr. Edward Simons, the Executive Director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, and Tracey Curro, the General Manager of Strategic Communications and Engagement, in addition to many other MACS staff and local Principals who supported our school along the way. We also send a special thank you to Father Jerome from St Mary's Parish St Kilda East, who stepped in at the last minute to lead us through the paraliturgy and blessing of our new spaces.

We thank our Year 6 Leaders who read beautifully and our School Captains who cut the ceremonial ribbon, to rapturous applause!

In the week leading up to the Blessing, our Student Representative Council spent time curating questions to interview staff and students about the new building. Please enjoy the following videos - and thank you to Mrs Harrison and Miss Nardella for their wizardry in putting this together!

They also interviewed one another about their favourite part of the new buildings.

Finally, below is video that shows the transformation of our school - it really is quite amazing.

Tournament of the Minds

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in Tournament of the Minds over the weekend! It was a wonderful morning to celebrate the work the students had put in over the past 6 weeks.

A special congratulations to Neave, Heidi, Seri, Maggie, Sofia, Jasmine and Flossie "Team 1 Language Literature" for being awarded a Spirit of TOM Award by the judges. The Spirit of TOM refers to the fundamental attitude that underpins the entire program. It encompasses all the activities involved in successful personal and team participation.

We sincerly thank Mr Hartney for running the Tournament of the Minds program for 2024, it has been a wonderful opportunity for our senior students. We received a special email on the weekend from a lovely parent:

Thank you for providing the opportunity of TOM for our kids. A huge commitment from them and from the school. Lots of thinking and lots of team work. He was so proud of what his team achieved and it was such a great learning opportunity. Thanks, Tom, for giving up part of your weekend and all your break times too.

Father's Day Breakfast

We warmly invite all the special men in our lives to celebrate on Friday, August 30th at 7.45am, with our Year 1s presenting an assembly item at 9am. As RSVPs via Operoo are now closed, please contact your class rep directly if you would like to attend.

The celebrations will then continue on Saturday, August 31st at Wattie Watson Oval, Elwood, for our third annual St Joseph's Footy Classic. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Student Teacher Placement

We are currently training three pre-service teachers who are in their final year of university at Australian Catholic University. We warmly welcome Piper Fox in Prep A, Gary Kruger in Prep M and Dan Larussi in Year 5D. We know that our community will make them feel very welcome. Piper, Gary and Dan will work at St Joseph's for the remainder of Term 3.

Annual Report to the School Community 2023

Our 2023 Annual Report is now available for our community, please head to our website to view.

Community Illness

Over the past fortnight, various viruses and respiratory issues have been sweeping through our classrooms, leading to a spike in absences and numerous calls for children to be picked up from school. This is a fitting reminder for everyone to remain vigilant during this challenging period. Please ensure that children stay home if they exhibit high temperatures or cold-like symptoms, to ensure this does not impact the wider class group.

Little Gems

This special double rainbow was captured after the rain on Wednesday. We must be extra lucky at St Joseph's!

Our staff getting into the spirit of Book Week with their dress ups!

Sebastian (Year 1, sister of Charlotte, Year 4) proudly showed off the Olympic gold medal his mum won at the 2008 competition! Just a wee bit proud.

Have a wonderful, well deserved rest this weekend. Looking forward to seeing everyone at our Father's Day/Special Men breakfast and assembly next Friday.

Warmest,

Claire Tobin

Principal

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