PRINCIPAL'S NEWS

Dear Families,

SCHOOL CLOSURE DAY

In the last newsletter I provided some information about our School Closure Day on Monday Feb 26.  On this day we will be developing a new Vision Statement and we are seeking input from families and students.  Unfortunately we have, to date, had no parent or student volunteers to work with us on the day.  I understand this is a weekday and is a tricky time for many of you, however if you could squeeze in some time between 11:15am - 2:15am on Monday Feb 26 (we'll provide a lunch!!) we would be most appreciative.  The session involves a conversation around what is working, what needs tweaking and what we might work towards.  

The student session (years 4-6 students) will run from 10am-11am - (we'll provide morning tea!!).  This session will involve a conversation about what their dreams are for our school. 

Please let me know if you can help out!!

The attached PDF provides further details about the day including the two presenters.

SENIOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP 2024

Congratulations to our 2024 Senior Student Leaders. Together with Miss Kate and all of the staff we look forward to working with you all in your Leadership Roles this year. I have every confidence that each and every one of you will model our core pillars of Respect, Resilience and Responsibility and demonstrate exemplary behaviour throughout the year.

House Captains

Goold - Joey Casamento & Sophia Kanellakis

Simonds - Zach Wright & Zahra Lania

Carr - Jacob Rajab & Gabriel Caputo

Mannix - Julian Zammit & Saskia Thomas

SRC Leaders

Havana Hadjistamatis 

Freya Hamilton

Charlie Jamieson 

Bridget White

ASSEMBLY TEAM

Stella McLaughlin

Birch Gale

Neve Morison

Kaelan Webb  

Ned Sharp

TECH TEAM

 Max Hall

 Zach Wright

Gabriel Caputo

LIBRARY/LIT TEAM 

Stella McLaughlin 

Samantha Keogh

Tahlia Trantino

GREEN TEAM

Damian Nakic 

Samantha Keogh

Next newsletter we will share our school leaders (SRC) from grades prep to five.

NORTHCOTE RISE FESTIVAL

On Sunday our school choir (consisting of 35+ students) performed at the Northcote Rise Festival.  Their performance was truly outstanding and exceeded all expectations.  Our solo artists; Lillian, Solyana, Zara G, Elissa and Elise were so very brave to sing on their own in front of such a large crowd, and the performance in general, by all the participants made my heart explode with pride.

Thanks to Ms Georgie, Ms Jaclyn and Jess for preparing the children so brilliantly.  They only had three weeks to put this together and teach the children all the songs...  and they 'smashed it'.  I thank the three of you for giving up your time on a Sunday to provide our children with this most memorable experience.

DISTRICT SWIMMING COMPETITION

Congratulations to the following children who competed in the District Swimming Competition today at Northcote Aquatic Centre:

ILIANA KARAMOUTZAS     MILA BARKER      HAMISH SMITH          LEO KATSOULAKOS

JAMES ELLIOT                       ZELIA BARKER      SOPHIE BRUNTON    ETHAN PATTERSON

ELEKTRA KARAMOUTZAS

You all did a wonderful job at representing our school and competed with determination and confidence.  Special congratulations to Leo Katsoulakos who came 1st in the 50m backstroke and 2nd in the 50m freestyle - Leo will go on to compete in these two events at the Division Competition in the next few weeks.

We also celebrated some other place-getters... 

Zelia Barker - 3rd in the 50m freestyle A

Elektra Karamoutzas - 3rd in the 50m freestyle B

James Elliot - 4th in the 50m backstroke

Mila Barker, Iliana Karamoutzas, Zelia Barker & Elekta Karmoutzas - 4th 50m freestyle relay

The competition is not easy - and all of our competitors did a brilliant job!!

MEET AND GREET MEETINGS

If you didn't manage to book a time in last week for a Meet and Greet Meeting with your child's teacher please call and arrange another time for a chat.  These meetings enable us to establish strong home/school links and are pivotal in building strong relationships.

CURRICULUM EVENING

Don't forget our curriculum information evening tonight commencing at 6:30pm.  We will begin the evening in the Multi-purpose room and then move to the individual children's classes.

HOURS OF SUPERVISION

Please be aware that our school-yard is not supervised in the mornings until 8:30am.  If you need to drop your child off before 8:30am please enrol them with Leapkids before school care programme.  

COLOUR RUN

We’re very excited to announce that we will be holding a St Joseph’s Colour Run on 8th March 2024!  This event will run in the afternoon from 1pm until 3:15pm. The Colour Run will be one of our major fundraising events for the year with all proceeds going towards upgrading the rubber surface in the undercroft and front gate area. 

Click on the link below or scan the QR code to make a donation.

https://www.trybooking.com/au/donate/sjn

COVID 19 Tests

We have an ABUNDANCE of COVID tests that expire this month.  If you are interested in grabbing some please see Kathryn, Kate or myself.