Principal News

End of Term One

Dear families,

Tomorrow, our first term for 2024 comes to a close and it is important that we acknowledge the many achievements of our staff, students and parent community. This term has been a wonderful success, thanks to the collective efforts of all at St Joseph's.

The positive and calm tone across all classes remains the highlight of this successful term. In particular, our Preps have settled into school life so well, and our new students and families have made a wonderful transition into our warm and inclusive school community. Our Year 6s have been focused and determined, embracing the many leadership opportunities presented at this stage of the year. They have truly excelled this term and have set the bar for the rest of the year levels.

We thank our many parent helpers and the active P&F who continue to generously offer up their time for our community. We’ve simply had an amazing start to the school year and can look forward with much excitement and anticipation to the coming terms, including planning for the Parent Cocktail Party in April and much anticipated School Fete in November.

Below is a list of our Term One Achievements. We hope it will serve as a gentle reminder of the significant investment by so many, and why we are so well regarded within the wider community (and, perhaps, why the staff and students are ready for a well-earned break!)

Welcome Mass and Picnic
Parent Information Sessions P-6
Parent/Teacher Interviews
P-2 First Aid incursion
P&F meetings
Fete planning underway
School Advisory Council meetings
HOLT Swimming competition
Staff First Aid training
Shrove Tuesday pancakes
Ash Wednesday Mass
School Photos
Josh Burns MP visiting Year 6
Year 6 Canberra Camp (4 nights, 5 days)
Literacy and Math professional learning (external)
High impact teaching strategies professional learning for all staff
Coaching professional learning for Senior Leadership Staff
3 x Open Days facilitated by Year 6 Leaders
NAPLAN for Years 3 and 5
School Athletics Day
Smoking Ceremony
St Joseph's Feast Day
Year 4 local kinder visits
PSGs
Holy Week liturgies
Harmony Day
Easter Raffle
Building works ongoing

Building Project Update

Shortly we will conclude Stage 2 of our building project, with Stage 3 commencing over the holidays. Year 6 will be ready to start Term 2 back in their newly renovated classrooms, while Year 4C will move into the Library next term while their room is under construction.

We encourage all families to read the most recent Operoo notice, which details updates for Stage 3.

Last week the SRC met to finalise the furniture package for the new library space. After meeting as a group, they spoke to their classes and provided feedback on what the students want in their new Library, before sending this off to the architect as part of our 'wish list'. As previously detailed, the students requested various seating options, such as couches, tables, chairs and stools, lots of book shelves, 'Book Nooks' to snuggle up and read with their friends, and lots and lots of colour.

We are thrilled with the final result, and dearly thank our P&F for their fundraising efforts to provide us with a beautiful new library.

Mathematics at St Joseph's

In our previous newsletters we have written extensively about our success in the curriculum area of English, so it is time to celebrate our success in the learning area of Mathematics.

At St Joseph's we are committed to providing excellent education in Mathematics, ensuring that every student not only understands mathematical concepts, but also develops a love for the subject. Our Mathematics teaching is informed by the Science of Learning, focusing on how students best acquire knowledge. We believe in implementing high-impact teaching strategies that foster deep learning and critial thinking skills.

We view number facts as the foundation of Mathematics, akin to phonics in literacy. In our Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 classes, we employ a systematic and explicit approach to teaching counting, addition and subtraction. Each math lesson starts with a multiple exposure session, focusing on counting, number recognition, and reinforcing previous concepts. Following this, the teacher engages in explicit instruction, using concrete materials and precise mathematical language to model new skills. Students then engage in extensive practice to solidify their understanding. Our commitment to impactful teaching strategies is evident in our participation in the ‘Teaching for Impact in Mathematics’ professional learning series this year, as we continuously strive to enhance mathematics education at St Joseph’s.

In Years 3-6, we adopt a ‘Big Ideas’ approach, emphasising fundamental Mathematical concepts aligned with each student cohort's developmental stage - such as multiplication and division in Years 3 and 4 and fractions and decimals in Years 5 and 6. Our lessons commence with revisiting prior content, followed by explicit teaching, where teachers model new skills using clear mathematical language and concrete materials. Students then engage in extensive practice to reinforce their understanding, utilising instructional strategies with the greatest impact on learning.

From Prep right through to Year 6, our staff consistently provide extension opportunities within mathematics lessons to cater for the needs of students who require additional challenges. We also offer additional extension classes with the Numeracy Leader, including the successful Maths Olympiad program, to provide advanced mathematical exploration opportunities for select students in Years Four to Six.

Should any of our families like to know more about our exceptional practices in Mathematics, please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Nugent (P-2) or Tom Hartney (3-6).

School Closure Day - Monday 15th April

All families are encouraged to read Mrs Harrison's Deputy News, where she discusses the professional learning day St Joseph's is hosting for 5 local schools. In addition to teaching staff, the Executive Director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools and the General Manager for Improved Learning Outcomes will be attending, further highlighting St Joseph's as a place for educational and teaching excellence.

Harmony Day

Congratulations go to our students on the most spectacular Harmony Day last Friday. We are just so very proud of our students, as this annual community celebration is 'all' student voice and action. Our students raised an impressive $2,908. All proceeds generously raised on the day will go towards our social justice project in East Timor, Klibur Domin. We received the following email from Peter Newton AO, who works for the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation:

Naturally we are delighted as this will help enormously in restoring the damage caused to the John Garton Cottage and its surrounds by the recently fallen tree. Can I say a very warm thanks to everyone involved. Firstly to the children and their parents who got behind this fundraiser and gave so generously on the day. Also to the teachers and staff who supported and supervised the activities so effectively.

We thank the staff for working with the students on the day with their initiatives, and in particular Miss Dillon, for working with the SRC and Social Justice Leaders to ensure the day ran smoothly.

Holy Week Liturgies

Across classrooms this week we celebrated the most significant occasion in our Catholic faith - Holy Week. Each day students gathered in prayer to recognise Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday, before we gathered as a school to mark the Stations of the Cross on Wednesday. We also acknowledge the wonderful efforts of Miss Dillon as she has once again so ably supported our teachers and students with our liturgical program.

Learning Diversity

This week, Mrs Bek Skehan facilitated the termly PSGs for our families and teachers. We are indebted to Bek for the wonderful work she does in this important role - supporting families, students and staff. We also sincerely thank our dedicated classroom teachers, support staff and LSOs for the significant work they do in writing and actioning various learning plans and goals for their students. As identified by many families, our staff go above and beyond for the students. Well done, team!

Gardening Club

Facilitated by our passionate Sustainability Leader, Mrs Doran, our ‘budding’ student gardeners continue to work hard to maintain the garden beds around the grounds. Various vegetables are now planted and we look forward to watching these flourish over the coming weeks. We are so fortunate that our students can have experiences such as these, and we dearly thank Mrs Doran for sharing her love of gardening with our students.

Staff News

Mrs Gleeson and Miss Opasinis will finish up their time at St Joseph's tomorrow, as they prepare to start their maternity leave. We dearly thank Cassie and Annie for their work at St Joseph's over their tenure, as both staff members have made an indelible impact upon the children they have worked with. Cassie and Annie - we wish you well, enjoy this next chapter of your lives and we look forward to welcoming you both back in due course.

Little Gems

Max (Year 4) donated a significant amount of his savings/pocket money towards the Project Compassion fundraiser. He was saving for 2 years, while looking for a worthwhile cause to give to. Thank you, Max, for your generosity!

Social Justice in action! We thank Genevieve (Year 3) for using her own time to create bracelets to be sold, in addition to her class stalls, for Harmony Day. Well done, Gen!

Congratulations to the Year 1 'Sparkles' Basketball team, who won their first game 12-2, against the Year 1 'Chargers'.

Last week, Year 2 had Paige (Lidia's mum) come and read the story 'Silly Billy', a book about worries as part of their SEL unit of work. Thank you, Paige!

Our students loved watching the RAAF Roulettes fly over on Friday as part of the Grand Prix aerial display!

We have had a steady stream of Year 7 visitors in this week; a welcome surprise. We love it when our ex-students pop in to say hello! Our Year 6s have loved chatting to students from De La Salle, St Kevin's College, Star of the Sea and Caulfield Grammar about how they found the transition to Year 7, and the students have enjoyed passing on any helpful tips and tricks they may have.

Congratulations to our Dance Club who performed at assembly last week. A student-run initiative, they dazzled us with their performance! Congratulations to the Year 6 leaders - Aliya, Aleisha, Jasmine, Jade and Georgie.

These delightful students helped to clean up the leaves in the playground last week and proved themselves to be quite handy with the rake.

It was a privilege to listen to the Year 6 Parliamentary Committee Hearing on Tuesday morning. Please make sure you read the Senior School News for all the details.

Congratulations to Kerry's beautiful daughter Allana and her new husband Ben, who were married last Friday in a lovely ceremony at Sherbrooke.

And finally...

Congratulations students, staff and parents for your commitment and dedication this term. We have so much to look forward to in Term 2, so please check the key dates for the following: Mother’s Day Breakfast, Cross Country, Reconciliation,

Parent/Teacher Interviews, Year 6 Netball and Football Lightning Premiership.

We hope everyone has enjoyed this final week of Term 1 -

it certainly has been a big one.

Claire Tobin

Principal