Dear Parents/Carers

Despite the hot weather we have had a smooth start to the year. It has been great to see students settle back into routines so quickly. In line with the Magnify direction staff and students are embracing this and getting heads around changes and new routines, which compliment those already in place.

On Friday we will celebrate St. Brigid’s Feast Day with our Opening School Mass. We will welcome and bless staff, Year 6 and Foundation students for 2025. We invite you to join us at this special mass.

Weather

It is good to see that all students have been wearing hats consistently. We ask that you write names on hats so they can be returned if needed. Also good to see lots of drink bottles being brought into school, very important with this weather.

Due to the weather, we have switched over our long and short breaks, so that the long one is earlier in the day. If too hot students will stay inside for the afternoon break.

Dates/ PAM

Today you will have a list of key dates for 2025 emailed home. These are the planned dates that we can confirm at this stage. Other events will come up throughout the year. Hopefully, this can help with your planning for our 2025 key events.

Dates for the year can also be found on the calendar on PAM. This will be added to as the year progresses.

School Council 2025

Our first School Council Meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Monday 24th February. This will be an Open Meeting where we will be electing a new Chair and finalising foci for the year. We invite you to come along to find out more about this group. You may wish to attend just the one meeting, or with a view to becoming a part of the School Council.

Fundraising/ Social Group 2025

On Tuesday 18th February, 6:00 pm, there will be a meeting focused on Fundraising/ Social activities for 2025. We are calling out for anyone interested to come along to plan events for the year.

Parent Reps 2025

The annual call is out for Parent Reps for each class. The role of the parent rep is to support the communication of information between the school and families, liaise with teachers and the principal with feedback, and to organise external social catchups.

Please get in touch if you would like to put your hand up this year, it is a role that can be shared.

Staffing Update

I am pleased to share with you that Bridget Woodward will be moving into the role of Literacy Support and Intervention Leader for 2025. Bridget has a passion for this area and spent two days this week as part of a Catholic Education Sandhurst group upskilling in this area.

A process is underway to replace Bridget as our STEAM leader and her work in 5/6.

Communication

Each fortnight a school newsletter will be emailed. This will give you updates on what is happening at the school, reminders and key dates.

Classroom teachers will send home a weekly email with reminders for the week, as well as a Curriculum summary once a term.

Parent reps will also communicate reminders via class chat groups.

Please see the attached St. Joseph’s communication mud map.

Student Birthdays

Again, this year we would like to invite students to wear casual clothes to acknowledge their birthday. Any students who have had or will have a holiday or weekend birthday are invited to choose an appropriate day to wear casual clothes to celebrate birthdays.

School Assemblies

A reminder that our School Assemblies take place on a Friday afternoon, this year at 2:50 pm. Parents and other family members are always welcome to join us.

Onsite Morning Supervision

This year we have had a large number of students on site prior to 8:30 am. It is great to see the enthusiasm from students ready to start the day. However, a reminder that supervision starts officially from 8:30 am. If on the odd occasion, your child/ren needs to be at school earlier than 8:30 am, we ask that they please sit quietly in the office area.

We are finding that the large number of students talking in this space can impact phone calls and other office work.

Parent Engagement