Principal's News   

Dear St Joseph's Parents, Carers and Families,

Welcome Back to Term 4!

I wish all our children, families and staff a very warm welcome back to school following the holiday break. I hope you all enjoyed this time to rest, recharge and spend quality time with family and friends. It has been lovely to hear the holiday stories and welcome everyone back to our school for what promises to be a very full and exciting Term 4!

We have had a very eventful first week back, and it has been wonderful to enjoy some warmer weather and see our school alive again with the energy and enthusiasm of our students as they settle back into learning and reconnect with one another.

As we begin the new term and welcome every family back to our St Joseph’s community, we extend a special welcome to our new families. We welcome Hugo D in Prep, Aaron V in Prep, Zara in Year 1, and Sienna in Year 3. I know you will join me in ensuring they feel welcome and very much a part of our school community.

I would like to thank the families who reached out to our new families during the holidays, organising playdates and going out of their way to ensure they had a warm and welcoming start. This truly demonstrates the wonderful St Joseph’s spirit and the care we show one another. Our school community genuinely feels like a family, and it is wonderful to be back together again.

A Prayer for Our School Community at the Beginning of Term 4

Heavenly Father,

As we begin a new term, we come together with hopeful hearts, grateful for the opportunity to learn, grow and share in our wonderful St Joseph's school community. We ask for Your guidance, peace and blessing over everyone who walks through our school gates.

Bless our teachers and staff with wisdom, patience and renewed energy as they guide and inspire our children. May their work be filled with joy, purpose and collaboration.

Bless our children with curious minds, kind hearts and the courage to embrace new challenges. May they grow in confidence, build strong friendships and always show kindness, respect and compassion towards one another.

Bless our families with strength and patience as they navigate the busy term ahead. May our homes be filled with love and laughter, and may the partnership between home and school continue to flourish.

May we walk together in faith, gratitude and kindness, keeping one another safe, supported and valued. 

May Your light shine through all that we do.

St Joseph Pray For Us.

Amen

Exciting Baby News!

We begin the new term with some very exciting news from Ms Meghan Correy! On Wednesday, Meg and her husband, Ben, welcomed their beautiful baby girl into the world. 

We are delighted to share the news of the arrival of their gorgeous little girl - Lucinda Mary Anne Pohl (Lulu). Both Meg and Lulu are doing very well.

I know you will all join me in congratulating Meg and Ben at this very special time in their family’s lives. What a beautiful little addition to their family! 💕 

Congratulations Pip! An Extraordinary Achievement!

We are absolutely delighted to share some very exciting news about Pip in Year 5, who has been cast in the Stuttgart Ballet’s production of Sleeping Beauty, presented by The Australian Ballet at the Regent Theatre from 9–18 October.

This is a tremendous achievement and a wonderful recognition of Pip’s talent, dedication and hard work. Pip has been cast in the roles of Young Aurora and a Dwarf, and will perform in five of the scheduled performances.

If you are interested in attending and supporting Pip, please contact the school office, and we can provide you with her performance dates. Tickets can then be purchased through The Australian Ballet website.

We are incredibly proud of Pip and this exciting milestone in her dancing journey. What an amazing opportunity to perform with such a prestigious ballet company! We wish her every success and look forward to cheering her on from the audience. Congratulations, Pip!

Beachside Division Athletics Competition

We extend our congratulations to the following students who represented St Joseph’s at the Beachside Division Athletics Competition today - Wolf D, Will B, Harry B, Harry W, Cooper O’M, Chelsea R, Harvey C, Ari P, Bennett M and Fabian C.

We are so proud of all the students who demonstrated great sportsmanship and competed enthusiastically throughout the day.

A special congratulations to Harry B, who achieved 1st place in the 200m and has qualified for Regionals!

We also congratulate Wolf D who finished 2nd in his 100m heat - also a significant achievement, while the relay team - Fabian C, Will B, Cooper O’M and Wolf D finished 3rd in their heat. Harry B also finished 4th in the 80m hurdles and Harry W placed 4th in the 80m hurdles. Chelsea was the the only girl representing St Joseph’s and finished 4th in the 80m hurdles.

Well done to all the students on their fantastic efforts and achievements! We are so proud of you!

We would also like to thank the parents who transported the students to the event and cheered them on. Your support is greatly appreciated! A wonderful way to finish the first week of Term 4!

Year 3 & 4 Camp to Mt Evelyn

This week, our Year 3 and 4 students enjoyed an exciting adventure as they headed off to Mt Evelyn for their overnight camp! The children embraced a range of outdoor activities, from the giant swing and flying fox to hut building and low ropes courses. These experiences provided wonderful opportunities to challenge themselves, develop new friendships, enjoy the outdoors and work together as a team, while also taking responsibility throughout camp.

A heartfelt thank you to our senior leader David Prowse, for his extensive organisation, risk assessments and planning, and to our wonderful staff who attended camp: Christie Birch, Donnella DeVisser, Rachael McLeary, Hudson Priamo, Georgie Carman, David Prowse and Dean Butler. We are incredibly grateful for the care, time and commitment they dedicated to ensuring our children had a safe, enjoyable and memorable experience. We also recognise the sacrifice of time away from their own families to make this opportunity possible.

We sincerely thank the parents who took the time to acknowledge our staff and their above-and-beyond care for our students. Your kind words of appreciation mean a great deal to us and are a wonderful reminder of the strength of our school community.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable camp, although we certainly had some very tired children and teachers by the end! I know I certainly appreciated my own bed on Wednesday night!

Finally, we congratulate our Year 3 and 4 students on their wonderful manners, behaviour and care for their friends throughout the two days. They represented St Joseph’s beautifully, and we are very proud of the way they embraced the experience.

What a wonderful adventure and a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn, enjoy new experiences and friendships and create lasting memories together!

Skipping Club is back again -Friday Mornings from 8am!

It was such a wonderful start to the day to see so many of our children enjoying Skipping Club with Ms isabelle Freeman. Ms Freeman who is an exceptional skipping expert and enthusiast, takes great pride in sharing her passion and joy of skipping with the children at St Joseph's. Skipping Club will run every Friday morning from 8am in our school grounds. Skipping ropes are provided. We thank Ms Freeman for giving her time and sharing her love of skipping with our students.

Junior Joeys Playgroup and St Joseph’s Pre-Prep Program

There was certainly a buzz in our Multi-Purpose Room on Monday and Friday this week as we welcomed back the youngest members of our community for Junior Joeys Playgroup and our St Joseph’s Pre-Prep Program!

It is always so lovely to see our little learners exploring, playing and beginning to build connections within our school community.  We are also delighted to welcome back Ms Niki Liolios and thank her for the warmth, kindness and dedication she brings to our early years programs and to our youngest learners at St Joseph’s.

We look forward to another wonderful term of learning, laughter and connection with our youngest St Joeys children and their families!

Prep 2027 Orientation – Wednesday 14 October

Our second Prep Orientation session will be held next Wednesday, 14 October, from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. We look forward to welcoming our 2027 Prep children and sharing another wonderful morning of exploring, connecting and becoming familiar with our school supported by our Prep teachers Ms Niki Liolios and Ms Chloe Nashed.

A Special Thank You!

We extend a very special thank you to two of our incredibly kind and generous parents who helped make our school an even better place over the holidays. A big thank you to John Fitzgerald (Father of Oscar Year 1 and Charlie Prep 2027) and his team, for providing fresh sand for our sandpit, and to Dulan (Father of Nicky Year 3 and Nia Prep 2027) and his team, for retrieving the balls from the roof and helping ensure our students have them back to enjoy! These thoughtful acts of kindness make a real difference to our children’s play and enjoyment at school. We are so grateful for your generosity, time and wonderful community spirit! We have some very happy children!

Aboriginal Murals

During the holidays, local Indigenous artist Bayley Merindah-Gunya completed the beautiful Aboriginal murals that can now be seen across several of our school’s external walls.

Dean Butler and Georgie Carman worked closely with Bayley and the SRC's across our school to help design murals that hold special significance for our students and school community. We are incredibly proud to have these meaningful artworks displayed throughout our school, celebrating Aboriginal culture, stories and connections to Country.

We look forward to welcoming Bayley to speak at our upcoming Art Show, where he will share the significance and meaning behind each mural.

A heartfelt thank you to our generous P&F for supporting this wonderful initiative and helping bring these beautiful artworks to life in our school community!

Future Works – Watch This Space!

There are some exciting improvements on the horizon for our school! We are looking forward to the planned playground resurfacing at the end of the year, which will include a levelled surface, a running track and two soccer pitches with new nets. These improvements will provide wonderful opportunities for our students to stay active, play together and enjoy our outdoor spaces.

A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful P&F, whose fundraising efforts over the past few years have helped make these improvements possible. It is so rewarding to see our children enjoying the benefits of the funds raised through the generosity and support of our school and wider community. Your contributions make a real difference to our students’ experiences, and we are incredibly grateful for your ongoing support!

In addition to these works, which are expected to take place over the end-of-year holiday break, we are looking forward to adding some new outdoor table tennis tables, with our Year 6 School Captains currently working hard to raise funds for this initiative. Mr Buter is also in the process of organising to have a Gaga Pit installed for our students! We know this will be an exciting and wonderful addition to our play spaces and a popular spot for the children to enjoy with their friends.

We also look forward to having the toilets in the hall repaired over the coming months. 

There is plenty to look forward to as we continue to improve our school environment and create engaging spaces for our students to learn, play and connect!

World Teachers’ Day

On Monday this week, we joyfully celebrated and acknowledged our teachers at St Joseph’s in recognition of the global World Teachers’ Day. We will celebrate again on Friday, 30 October, when our generous P&F will provide our staff with a special celebratory lunch for the Australian World Teachers’ Day. We thank our Parents and Friends in advance for this wonderful gesture and for helping us celebrate our staff. It is a lovely opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated teachers who inspire, guide and nurture our students each day. We look forward to celebrating their hard work, passion and commitment to our school community.

Today’s School Assembly

It was so lovely to come together again at the beginning of Term 4 for our whole-school assembly. It was a wonderful opportunity to begin the term in prayer and celebrate being part of our St Joseph’s community.

We celebrated our STAR Award recipients, student birthdays and Line Points winners, recognising the wonderful achievements of our students throughout the week.

Our Year 3/4 students Lucy and Byron shared their experiences of Camp Discovery, while our Year 6 leaders Xavier and Daniel spoke about the upcoming Socktober activities next Friday. Mr Butler also had the pleasure of introducing the newest members of our school community.

We extend our sincere thanks to all the families who joined us for assembly this morning. It was wonderful to see so many of you there as we begin another exciting term together!

What's On This Term...

Please take a look at our Term 4 Calendar of Events on our 'Important Dates' page in this week's newsletter.

School Closure Days

Whilst it might seem like a long time away, I would just like to inform you of our school closure days for this term. These dates have been marked on our family calendar, as well as in our school newsletter's calendar of events. 

Our school will be closed on:

St Joseph's Art Show - Save the Date!

A special thank you to Ms Cummings for her wonderful work, with the support of our teaching staff, in preparing for our upcoming Art Show. 

We are incredibly grateful for the support of our P&F and the generous parents who have been helping Marta with the Art Show workshops, supporting the silent auction and bringing Art in the Dark to life. Your time, enthusiasm and generosity are greatly appreciated and help make this event such a special experience for our students and wider school community.

The funds raised will be shared between purchasing new art supplies and equipment, making improvements to our Art Room, and contributing towards our major P&F fundraising initiative: the resurfacing of our school oval to include two soccer pitches and a running track.

Thank you to everyone who is contributing towards making our Art Show possible. We look forward to celebrating our students’ creativity and seeing our community come together in Week 3.

Sacrament of Confirmation

We are looking forward to celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation with our senior students on Friday evening at St Mary's Church Malvern East.  This is a very special occasion in their faith journey, as they take the next step in confirming their commitment to the Catholic faith. In preparation for this important sacrament, our students will participate in a Retreat Day on Sunday, 18th October, where they will spend time in reflection, prayer, and discussion, about the meaning of Confirmation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We thank our Religious Education Leader, Donnella DeVisser, our senior teachers and parish team for their support and guidance as our students prepare for this significant milestone.

Invitation to Grandparents and Special Friends Day

We warmly invite our grandparents and special friends to join us for our annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Liturgy and Celebration on Friday, 23 October.

This special morning is a beautiful celebration of the love, care and guidance that grandparents and other special people bring to our children’s lives. It is an opportunity to come together as a community, give thanks for these treasured relationships and celebrate the important role they play in nurturing and supporting our children.

This day is always a highlight of our school community, and we look forward to sharing this special occasion with our grandparents and special friends.

Please see the schedule below for the morning’s activities. A heartfelt thank you to Ms Donnella DeVisser for organising such a lovely morning to celebrate these very special members of our families.

We encourage families to share the details of this upcoming event with their loved ones. We look forward to welcoming everyone for a wonderful morning of connection, gratitude and celebration!

Year 6 Captains Term 4 Fundraiser - Crazy Sock Day for Socktober!

We are excited to announce a new fundraiser at St Joseph’s this Term 4! 

On Friday, 16th October (Week 2), students are invited to join in the fun by wearing their craziest and most colourful socks to school.

• When: Friday, 16th October (Term 4, Week 2)
• Dress Code: Full school uniform with your favourite crazy socks! (Note: This is NOT a casual clothes day).

All funds raised will support Socktober (Catholic Mission), helping children in need around the world. This year, the Socktober organisation is focusing on Malawi, helping to provide essential food, clean water, and educational support to children and families for a brighter future. Please find more information about this year's charity here:

Get creative with your socks and help us make a difference!

Thank you, 

Xavier and Cooper

Year 6 Captains

School Advisory Council

Our next School Advisory Council meeting will be held on Thursday, 15 October, from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. At each meeting, the Council engages in valuable conversations focused on school improvement and the ongoing growth of our school community.

Items on the agenda for our upcoming meeting include the impact of the EBA on our school’s class structures for 2027, school fees and a range of other school improvement initiatives.

I truly value the advice, support and counsel of our School Advisory Council members and sincerely thank each of them for their time, commitment and dedication to our school community. Their contributions and insights play an important role in supporting the continued growth and success of St Joseph’s.

School Advisory Council 2027 –  Expressions of Interest

The School Advisory Council (SAC) plays an important role in supporting the Principal and strengthening our school community. Acting as a consultative voice, the SAC provides advice on school improvement, finance, communication, community engagement, and the well-being and learning of our students.

For the 2027–2029 period, we are seeking new members to join the SAC as some of our current SAC members' tenures will come to an end. This is a voluntary three-year commitment, with the group meeting around 6–8 times per year. Serving on the SAC is a wonderful way to contribute skills, share your perspective, and help shape the future of St Joseph’s.

How to Nominate

If you would like to put yourself forward, please email Annabelle Marinelli (annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au) with your nomination by Friday 23rd October. Include a short outline of your background and how you feel you can contribute. All expressions of interest will be considered by the principal, the SAC Chair - Kate Tehan, Secretary Michael Tuohey and our Parish Priest Fr Gallacher.

We warmly encourage parents and carers to consider this opportunity to be actively involved, to contribute to St Joseph’s, share your perspective, and make a difference for our students and community. If you have any questions, please contact Kate Tehan (SAC Chair) or Annabelle Marinelli (Principal)

For more information about the SAC and the process of applying, please refer to the Terms of Reference:

Successful candidates will be announced at the final SAC meeting later this year.

School Advisory Council – Important Dates for the Remainder of 2026

Please note the following important dates for our School Advisory Council (SAC):

• Thursday, 15 October: Next SAC Meeting
• Friday, 23 October: Expressions of Interest close for 2027 SAC membership
• Monday, 23 November: SAC Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Dinner

Term 4 Transition to Summer Uniform

As we begin Term 4 and head into the warmer months, we ask that students transition to their summer uniform. A two-week transition period will be provided, during which students may wear either their winter or summer uniform depending on the weather. From Week 3, all students are expected to be wearing their summer uniform.

School hats and sunscreen must be used from Day 1 of Term 4, Please refer to Mr Butler's Dojo Post from this week regarding hats. We encourage all students to have sunscreen applied before school, with students responsible for reapplying it throughout the day.

At St Joseph’s, we encourage our students to wear their uniform with pride, and we ask all parents and carers to support us in maintaining our school uniform expectations. Please remember that variations to the school uniform are not permitted, including non-school hats and alternative sock colours.

We also ask that students do not wear nail polish or jewellery beyond what is permitted under our school uniform guidelines. Smartwatches and mobile phones must be handed in at the school office at the beginning of the day and collected at the end of the day.

What's On Next Week...

Staying Connected...

Together we work in partnership to support and nurture the children at St Joseph's. If you have any concerns or worries about your child's wellbeing, learning, or friendships, please do not hesitate to have a chat with your child's teacher as your first point of contact, or a member of our school leadership team. For more serious concerns, I encourage you to reach out to me directly, either by making an appointment through the office or contacting me via my email. 

We are looking forward to a wonderful term ahead! I hope you all enjoy a restful and relaxing weekend, with some lovely sunshine and special time with your beautiful families.

With warmest regards,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal 

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au