Dear Parents, Carers and Families,

It is truly wonderful to see our school now in full swing, with our Prep children settling confidently into new routines, forming new friendships, and engaging with their learning.

And across the school, it has been lovely to see students building strong relationships with their teachers and peers, embracing new learning opportunities, and finding their place within their classrooms.

It has also been particularly encouraging to see our senior students stepping forward with confidence, looking after their Prep buddies and taking this responsibility very seriously, sharing new ideas, and leaning into their new leadership roles. Their initiative and willingness to lead are making a positive impact on our community and setting a strong example for our younger students.

Child Safety at St Joseph's

"The care, safety, and wellbeing of all children and young people is a central and fundamental responsibility of Catholic education."

- Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools

All Catholic schools are places of welcome and safety for all students and their families. Children have the right to be safe and protected at school. As parents, carers, and guardians of students in Catholic schools, it is important you feel confident that your child is safe and well in the care of the school.

At St Joseph's we know that students thrive at school when they feel happy, confident, and secure. Your child’s wellbeing is our first priority. All children have the right to feel physically and psychologically safe and at St Joseph's we work hard to ensure this safety for all members of our community.

Our school works with parents, carers, and guardians to strengthen the wellbeing and learning outcomes of all students within a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment. We engage in strategic planning which focuses on the development of school-wide practices and cultures that enable children to reach their potential in all areas – spiritually, cognitively, physically, emotionally, and socially.

Our school leadership team regularly reviews and strengthens our child safe practices, and works with staff, parents, carers, and guardians to build and maintain a culture in which children’s safety is embedded in everyday thinking and practice. This requires respect, understanding, and compassion for all, as an integral part of all that we do.

MACS Care - Child Safe Standards

At St Joseph's, we hold the safety, wellbeing, and protection of all children and young people in our care as a central and fundamental responsibility of our school. This commitment is drawn from and inherent to the teaching and mission of Jesus Christ, with love, justice, and the dignity of each human person at the heart of the Gospel.

All schools need to meet legal requirements for the care, safety, and welfare of students. At St Joseph's we are committed to enacting the Victorian Child Safe Standards:

The Child Safe Standards are a set of 11 requirements that organisations must follow to create a culture and environment that is safe for children. These standards aim to prevent, respond to, and report child abuse by requiring organisations to implement policies, procedures, and practices that put children’s safety and well-being first. They were developed in response to inquiries and recommendations from Royal Commissions and aim to drive cultural change within organisations that provide services or facilities for children.

MACS requires all school to look at the 11 standards across 11 months.

Child Safe Standard 1 focusses on:

"Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued."

To read more about this standard and the work that teachers are required to learn about and focus on please access this link to the MACS Child Safe Stanrds Newletter for Parents and caaees:

Child Safe Standard Prayer

Launch of UR Strong- School Wide Friendship Program

Today, we launched the U R Strong program across the school. U R Strong is a friendship skills program that supports students to develop their social and emotional skills year after year. Through explicit teaching, students learn strategies for emotional regulation and how to manage conflict with kindness and respect. They also learn how to make friends, navigate common friendship challenges, and build healthy, positive, feel-good friendships.

To kick off the program, we began with a celebration of friendship and kindness with a special whole-school morning today. The students were introduced to the Friendship Ninjas and created their own ninja headbands to represent the qualities of a true Friendship Ninja. It was a joy to hear the thoughtful ideas and friendship qualities students shared during our conversations.

Wellbeing at St Joseph's

The wellbeing, safety, and care of all our students is our highest priority. This year, we will place a strong focus on student wellbeing, and across the year you will notice the introduction of several new initiatives and programs designed to support our students’ social, emotional, and personal development. These initiatives will strengthen our commitment to creating a safe, supportive, and nurturing learning environment where every child feels valued, connected, and able to thrive.

Please take some time to read both of the Wellbeing Pages in this week’s newsletter. Our Wellbeing Leader, Georgie Carman, introduces a new wellbeing program called UR Strong and has also provided more information about the onPsych service avalbale at St Jeop'sparent session taking place on Tuesday evening next week.

'Peaceful Parents, Peaceful Kids' Parent Presentation

We were thrilled to offer our parents the opportunity to attend the Peaceful Parents, Peaceful Kids presentation with Georgina Manning this week on Tuesday. The session provided valuable insights and practical strategies for fostering calm, positive relationships with children.

We were pleased to see so many families represented and encourage ongoing reflection on the tips shared by wellbeing expert Georgina Manning during the evening.

Thank you to everyone who attended, and we hope you found the session helpful and inspiring!

Georgina has kindly shared the slides from her presentation on Tuesday evening as well as some other resources which might be helpful:

Friday Fun at St Joseph's

Fridays are always a highlight of the week here at St. Joseph’s, and today was no exception! We kicked off our very first Friday Morning Before-School Skipping Club, and it was a fantastic start to the day. Students of all ages gathered to join in the fun, showing off their skipping skills, getting active, having a dance, and sharing in the excitement before the school day officially began. It’s a wonderful way to feel part of our school community, create new friendships, and set a positive tone for the rest of the day. Skipping Club runs before school every Friday with our wonderful Ms. Freeman.

The Friday fun continues with Dance Club at second break, where Ms. Carman takes song requests from the students and the children then join in the singing and dancing, creating a joyful, high-energy atmosphere that brings smiles, laughter, and a real sense of togetherness to the playground.

Sustainable Uniform Shop

It is wonderful to see our Sustainable Uniform Shop back up and running in 2026, and what a beautiful morning it was to launch it! On behalf of our school community, I would like to sincerely thank Angela, Bryony, and Simone for all their hard work and dedication in providing such a valuable Sustainable Uniform Shop for our school community.

It was lovely to see so many families, especially our new families, coming through and supporting this initiative. We are truly grateful for the time, effort, and behind-the-scenes work that makes this such a meaningful and successful part of our community.

2027 Enrolments

Enrolments for new and current families for 2027 are now open. We encourage all current and new families to submit an application for 2027 to ensure a placement in our Prep intake for 2027. The enrolment application form can be found on our website. Please contact our school office if you have any queries.

Upcoming Open Days at St Joseph's

Our official Open Days for 2026 are being held across the following dates:

Open Day 1	Monday 23rd February 9am-11am
Open Day 2	Tuesday 10th March 9am-11am
Open Day 3	Tuesday 24th March 9am-11am
Open Day 4	Tuesday 28th April 9am-11am
Open Day 5	Wednesday 27th May 9am-11am

If you have family or friends who are exploring school options for 2027, our Open Days are a great opportunity to see our beautiful school in action, meet our staff, and learn more about what makes our community at St Joseph's so special.

We already have many registrations booked in for our Open Days. Interviews will take place on Tuesday 3rd March and First Round Letters of Offers will be made on Tuesday 10th March.

Please spread the word to any prospective families you may know. Our families are our greatest advocates, so please share your thoughts about our amazing school to your friends and family.

Every Day is Open Day at St Joseph's! Tours are always welcome outside of these hours, so please contact the office at your earliest convenience should you be unable to make one of the above times.

Junior Joey's Playgroup Commences Soon!

Our fabulous Transition Leader and Prep teacher, Ms. Liolios, will be restarting the St. Joseph’s Playgroup in Week 4, on Monday 16th February. We can’t wait to welcome our young families back and look forward to many joyful mornings of play, connection, and community. We hope to see you there!

School Assembly

Today, we enjoyed gathering together as a school community for our first assembly of 2026. It was wonderful to come together and share such a positive start to the year, with many special moments to celebrate.

It was so great to see our two new Year 6 School Captains Cooper and Xavier leading our first whole school assembly. They have been impressive in the way they have demonstrated leadership and maturity and they have excelled in their responsibilities.

During the assembly, proudly introduced our new Student Representatives (SRCs) across the school for Semester 1. We are incredibly proud of our elected representatives and know they will wear their badges with pride as they take on these important responsibilities within their classrooms and across our school community.

We also celebrated our STAR Award recipients.

It was also great to officially launch our school-wide U R Strong program and recognise the students from the end of last year who received their Tag On prizes. It was lovely to celebrate our birthdays and to join in singing Tanti Aguri once again as a school community!

It was a joyful and meaningful assembly that reflected the strong sense of connection, leadership, and kindness at St. Joseph’s.

St Joseph's Fee Statements and Concession Fee Policy

St Joseph's Fee Statements have now been sent out from the office today. In line with our Concessional Fee Policy (which is available on the school website), discounted fees are available for families experiencing financial difficulty (including those on an eligible HCC). Any family who is experiencing difficulties in meeting their financial commitments or wishing to discuss alternate fee payment arrangements for 2026, is asked to arrange an appointment with Annabelle Marinelli. Please do not hesitate to make a time to see me if this applies to you.

Important Dates for Term 1

I encourage you to take a moment to review the Term 1 dates page in this week’s newsletter so you are up to date with all the important activities and events happening this term. We encourage you to be involved in the life of our St Joseph’s community.

Parents and Friends Association

Our first Parents and Friends Association meeting will be held next Wednesday 11th of February at 7pm in the school staffroom.

We look forward to sharing ideas and discussing the upcoming P&F events:

Our Whole School Welcome Picnic (Tues 17 Feb)
Easter Raffle
Working Bee (Sat 21 Feb)

We are are welcoming and inclusive community and appreciate as much support as possible. All members of our community are very welcome!

School Advisory Council Meeting

Our first School Advisory Meeting will be held on Tuesday 24th February at 6:30pm. I look forward to working closely with the SAC across this year.

Our

Parent Information Sharing

Next week we will be holding our Parent Information Sharing Session.

Bookings can be made using the following link: https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/code/rgys6T

This week your child will have brought home a Parent Sharing form. We kindly ask that you complete this prior to your meeting and bring it with you on the evening. The information you share will be valuable in supporting your child’s learning and wellbeing. There are spare copies of this form available from the office. Our partnership with you is so important to us. We look forward to meeting with you.

Family Welcome Picnic- organised by our P&F

On Tuesday 17th February we look forward to coming together as a school community for our Welcome Picnic. We thank our P&F for working together to make this an enjoyable afternoon for everyone. You can read more about this on the P&F page in this week's newsletter.

What's On Next Week..

At any time, if you have any questions or concerns about the wellbeing, care or learning of your child, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child's class teacher, one of the school leaders, or Dean Butler, Deputy Principal or myself, Annabelle Marinelli, Principal.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend with your beautiful families.

With the warmest regards,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au