Dear Parents,

With our Preps celebrating 100 days of Prep last Wednesday it truly was another wonderful week of learning in our school.

Thank you to all parents who came to the 100 days of Prep on Wednesday. Our Preps were just shining and were so excited to showcase their wonderful learning to all of the community.

Click above to view photos

Senior students participated in many transition activities. Year 5 students completed their STEM challenge at Westernport College and many senior students visited Padua College Tyabb to gather with students from other Parish schools and Year 9 students to learn and collaborate together.

Our Mini Vinnies students participated in a social justice planning session and other students participated in Music sessions and our LITSTEM project which will develop throughout the remainder of 2022.

Click above to view slideshow.

I also attended the opening of the St Claire Performing Arts Centre at Padua Mornington Campus and it was such a special occasion. We have a wonderful relationship with our main feeder school and I am most impressed with the facilities and opportunities our students have and look forward to being able to take our St Joseph’s students to the Performing Arts Centre in the near future.

Our Catholic schools are wonderful places to grow and learn with a focus on the human person - especially on each child’s individual narrative ensuring the full flourishing of every student.

We strive to provide a range of ways our students can excel. Whether it is in sport, arts, science, literacy, math or music- we have a broad range of activities to cater for every child.

Whilst we offer a wonderful range of opportunities at St Joseph's we always remain focussed on Literacy and Numeracy and ensuring every child makes growth. We also strive to connect learning to real life experiences and to ensure every student can shine in their strength.

This week we are soaring for excellence in our school in a number of ways including academic, sporting and performing areas with choir commencing this week.

I congratulate the following students who will represent our school at the Lions Quiz Academic Excellence competition on Tuesday night- Murphy, Hayley, Abi, Maddie and Lily.

We also wish our Mad STEM showcase teams all the best on Thursday. We are a leading school in STEM and have four senior teams showcasing their learning at the Catholic Leadership centre. Most schools have only one team participating and we are so proud that four teams of students have been given the opportunity to present.

We also have our Parish sports on Thursday and all students in the middle and senior school will participate at Westernport Athletics track with students from St Brendan’s and St Mary’s. Padua College students will assist on the day. What a wonderful opportunity for our students to collaborate with our other Parish schools.

We have such a wonderful school at St Joseph’s and I am privileged to lead our team to ensure every student grows and shines. Please always email me or make an appointment if you would like to discuss any aspect of your child’s learning.

Save the dates for the following events

The Fathering project launch Friday September 2nd from 1.30pm onwards
Community Master class cooking classes for Prep families this Wednesday ( see Operoo for details)
Community Maths evening - Maths Mania- 24th August
Trivia night for parents on October 21st - save the date

We are soaring for excellence in our school. Please promote all that we do in our community. Our Joey’s transition program will commence in August. Please invite any prospective parents to come and take a tour.

We are currently focussing on our social media so please like our St Joseph’s facebook and Instagram pages and enjoy all of the wonderful things we are celebrating at our school.

Finally, Catholic Education have approved an additional curriculum day for Term 3 in light of all of the shortages for staff, lack of replacement teachers resulting in extra workload and layers for school staff. We have designated Monday 22nd August as a pupil free day at St Joseph’s school. School staff will focus on individual student data collection on this day and additional support for individual students. We will negotiate with our before and after school care to provide long day care on this day. An Operoo letter will be sent shortly.

Yours in partnership,

Gab Espenschied

Little Joey's Playgroup...