Dear Parents and Carers,

As I continue to reflect on this year that seems to be escaping us rapidly, I am constantly reminded of how incredibly dedicated, committed and proud our members of the school community are. At the Monday morning assembly this week, I was humbled by the amount of students who stood up to indicate they had represented St Joey’s at ‘Christmas on Broadway’ last Saturday. Our students and teachers represent our school with such pride and frequency at events outside school. I thank the parents and carers of our school community who continually ferry the students around to events so our school can be so well represented. I also sincerely thank our staff who take time out of their busy schedules to supervise and attend events.

School ‘Christmas’ Disco

The students were very excited today knowing they have the school ‘Christmas’ Disco to look forward to this evening. A lot of time, effort and organisation has gone into the disco from our Year 2 parent community. A huge thank you in advance for what will be a fun way for our children to celebrate our school year and for parents to socialise. A special thank you to DJ Lolli who has put together the play list and has been working on ensuring the night is full of fun for all.

Parent Survey

A huge thank you to all the parents who have provided feedback to our school through the Parent Survey. Your feedback is very valuable to us so we can continue to improve the quality education and resources St Joey’s offers. If you haven’t yet completed the survey, please do so by the COB Friday 1st December.

Thank you Mrs Sweeney

I’m sure all our families will join me in saying how grateful we are that Mrs Annette Sweeney has so generously donated her time to resume the school canteen at St Joey’s this year. The canteen has been a huge success because of Mrs Sweeney and the parent helpers who assist every Friday. Next Friday 1st December will be the last canteen day. No lunches will be available, just special ‘treats' to mark the end of the year and Christmas.

Mrs Sweeney has kindly indicated that she will continue to volunteer her services next year to operate the canteen each Friday. We are so lucky she is doing this again. Thanks a million Mrs Sweeney!

SJJU Social and Fundraising Committee

This year we moved from having a P & F committee to forming a branch of the School Advisory Council known as the SJJU Social and Fundraising Committee. The beauty of this committee is that there are no obligations to assume positions such as president, treasurer etc. Parents can come along to the meetings usually once a term at the pub and assist in planning and sharing ideas for social and/or fundraising events for the school. The reason we have it at the pub is so parents can bring their children along and share in a meal if they would like. This year the meetings have been so well represented and I look forward to this continuing in 2024.

This year we trialled having each class responsible for a social or fundraising event with 2 very generous parents offering to be the class contacts on messenger. They assisted in organising, communicating and actioning events with the assistance of other parents in the class. The collaboration and teamwork has been amazing to witness as everyone has the same goal in mind and that is to provide fun for the community and financial assistance to ensure continued quality education is provided at St Joey’s.

Next year we have decided to change the day we meet to provide an opportunity for parents to attend who may not be able to come on Wednesday’s. The first meeting for 2024 will be held at the Junee Hotel on Thursday 8th February starting at 6pm. All are welcome to attend and bring their very valued ideas and feedback so we can plan the social and fundraising calendar for 2024.

School Advisory Council

The final School Advisory Meeting for this year will be next Tuesday 28th November starting 6pm at school. A compass notification will come out after the meeting with nomination forms for parents to join our School Advisory Council. Please take the time to read this information and consider whether you would like to be part of the Council or know of another parent who would.

Contacting Teachers

Just a reminder that if you want to contact your child’s teacher please email them or phone the school to speak to them. They will call you back if they are not available. It is not appropriate that class teachers be contacted on Facebook Messenger or any other social media platform. When sending emails to teachers please consider that the time you are sending the email is appropriate and teachers will respond in a timely manner. I appreciate your assistance with this matter.

Reports

Reports will go live on Friday 8th December, 2023. Although there won’t be a scheduled Parent/Teacher Interview Day, parents are encouraged to make an appointment with their child’s teacher if they wish to in the final week of school from 11th -15th of December to discuss their child’s report if they would like to.

I take this opportunity to thank our dedicated teachers who spend countless hours writing these reports to ensure they are indicative of your child’s progress for the semester.

Staffing 2024/Transition Day

We are still in the throes of recruiting and appointing staff so that we can assign teachers to specific classes or areas of responsibilities for 2024. As soon as this is finalised it will be communicated to parents. Students from Kinder - Year 5 will have a transition day with their new teacher/s on 12th December for the full day. Our current Year 6 students will spend the day working in the library.

Year 6 Graduation Mass and Dinner

On Monday 4th December we will celebrate our Year 6 Graduation Mass at 6pm in the church followed by dinner at Merv’s cafe with the students, their families and teachers. I look forward to this very special occasion which marks the completion of the students primary school years and for some of our families it will be the end of an era with St Joey’s.

All are welcome to attend.

As I conclude this second last newsletter for the year, I just want to remind parents that lots of events and happenings will take place from now until the end of term. Please continue to check Facebook, emails and Compass for any notifications.

Take care and God bless.

Angela Scott

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