Principal's Page
Dear Families,
Lent
Today is Ash Wednesday. We celebrated mass this morning as a whole school and were encouraged to be the best people we can be over the next six weeks leading up to Easter.
Thank you to the parents who cooked pancakes yesterday for Shrove Tuesday. They were delicious!
Leadership
There are a number of ways students develop leadership skills here at St Joseph's. Students develop leadership skills in all year levels as theytake on roles of leaders in collaborative group work, responsibilities/jobs/tasks in learning spaces, Student Action Council representatives and through playing games outside. In Years Five and Six students lead by example for the younger students.
At last week's assembly, the Year Sixes were presented with their Year Six Leadership badges in their house colour. Their responsibilities this year include activities such as running assemblies, leading houses at sport carnivals and leading House Spirit and St Joseph’s Day activities.
Congratulations to Charlotte and Raine, our 2024 School Captains. We look forward to working with you this year to continue to build an engaged learning community.
Congratulations to our Sustainability Leaders: Matilda, Kye and Lochlan and also our Dolphin Research Ambassadors: Tahlia, Billie, Sebastian and Ella. The class representatives for the Student Action Council were also announced and presented with their badges at the whole school assembly.
Student voice, agency and leadership have a central role in improving student learning outcomes and supporting student safety and wellbeing.
Student Action Council
The 2024 Student Action Council met on Monday and discussed their role is in the school community, Student Safety and ways to improve our school. Congratulations to the following students: Aniela, Riley D, Indigo, Arlo, Alaaky, Alex, Sadie, Zara B, Shataya, Charlie, Indi, Evie, Chelsea, Marc, Lucy and Curtis.
Year 3 - 6 Swimming Carnival
We had a fantastic afternoon at Yawa today. Students displayed terrific sportsmanship, persisting when events were challenging, encouraging one another and congratulating competitors. Thank you to Jenny Todd for organising the carnival and to the large number of parents who assisted. We couldn't run these events without your support.
Parent Portal
For child safety reasons, we will no longer place Calendar Dates and the school newsletter on our website for the public to view but rather they will be on a Parent Portal that only our community members can access. You will find the Parent Portal button on the top right hand side of the home page of the school website. The password to access the portal is sjs3943. We have begun working on developing some resources for parents to use and hope to share these with you shortly.
Prep and New Family Welcome Dinner
It was lovely to catch up with so many families who attended the welcome dinner last night. We have fifteen new families joining our wonderful community this year.
The Wall Repair Project
The project to repair the retaining wall adjacent to Riley Lane as well as the retaining wall running along the garden bed will commence tomorrow. I look forward to the space on the western side of the school being able to be used by our community shortly.
Parents & Friends Association
Thank you to all who offered to lead and organise activities and events this year. We had a wonderful response to the call for help. We will collate all the responses later this week and notify people.
Family Fun Night
Everyone is invited to a Family Fun Night at Webster's Corner Beach on Friday 1 March at 4:00pm. Come along and connect with your old friends and meet some new ones. We would love to see you there.
Free Dress & Gold Coin Donation for the Hooded Plovers
Students are invited to wear free dress this coming Friday, 16 February, and bring along a gold coin donation for the Hooded Plovers. Chris Willocks will be visiting our Prep students to share her knowledge of the endangered Hooded Plovers.
Have an enjoyable week,
Monica