Last week was such a wonderful week at St . Joseph’s. We had a magnificient day of celebration last Friday! It started with our end of year Mass, Awards and colour run and continued with the wonderful community Christmas including the Foundation class retelling the Nativity story.

What a great community event with the weather shining through, our families and outside community celebrating together, great market stalls, brilliant food and wonderful entertainment from Enya Angel, Lifestyle Choir and the jolly old Santa on the CFA firetruck!

Congratulations and thanks to Sally and Liz our wonderful parents who led the event successfully supported by our Deputy organisation and operations Trish Brennan and community leader Kerry Colliver and well fed by the brilliant school chef Matt DeMarte. Thanks also to all staff who were a brilliant team on the night and Beth and Jacqui for the monster raffle.

Congratulations and thanks to Dom Taylor our sustainability leader and Mindi on a wonderful garden day last Monday. The school looks amazing and we appreciate the work you are doing. Thanks also to Brad and Bev and all parents who came last week to assist to ensure our environment looked beautiful for the Christmas event. Thanks also to Bunnings and Bendigo bank for supporting the event and Matt for cooking pizzas for us all.

Thank you to Emily Reed and staff for providing two amazing beach days where students were able to deepen their knowledge of water safety in a surf beach environment.

We also thank Kerry Colliver and our social justice team for their wonderful service to others singing carols at Shoreham house and then at Red Hill Bakery in Balnarring.

Today is our final newsletter for 2023 and we take the time to celebrate all of the wonderful achievements throughout the 2023 school year. We have remained focussed in 2023 on the high educational standards we are so proud of at St. Joseph’s and the ways we have also connected learning to life to ensure our students all shine and flourish in so many ways.

Our vision of growing together in Knowledge, Faith and Friendship guides all that we do as we strive to ensure our students make meaning of the world around them, know and understand themselves and feel passionate and motivated to take action and put all of their wonderful learning into practice.

Thank you to our dedicated staff for all that you have done over the year. I have every faith in our staff and know how committed they are to ensuring the best learning and teaching occurs for all of our children. I could not be more proud of all that our staff have accomplished this year. It is a privilege to work alongside such a committed and talented team of educators.

A special thanks to my wonderful leadership team - Sue and Trish our Deputies along with Jane and Kate. Your work and dedication is second to none and I appreciate all that you do to assist me in leading our school.

Sadly, we are farewelling some wonderful staff at the end of the 2023 school year. Our learning diversity leader Jane Allsop is heading off to the wonderful adventure of retirement. We thank Jane for her significant contribution to our school over the past 16 years. Jane has led our learning diversity and is a highly professional expert in this area. She has also been on our leadership team and has been a wonderful leader and support to all in our school and will be sadly missed.

We are also farewelling Ellen Rankin who has taken a position at MLC in Kew and will be relocating to the city. Ellen is a wonderful teacher who has been at St Joseph’s since 2016 Ellen will be sadly missed by all and we wish her all the best on her next stage of her journey and know many little students at our school have benefited from having this amazing teacher.

We will also farewell Zoe, Mia and Jess three of our support staff as they journey onwards to amazing things.

Congratulations to both Ellen and Kate Huon for achieving their Masters of Education this year.

Thank you to our wonderful parents for working in partnership and for all of your help and support. It does take a village to raise a child and we have a truly sensational village to do this in. We could not be more appreciative of our parents in 2023 for working in partnership with us.

A special mention to our wonderful School Advisory Council. They are a magnificent team who lead our parent group ensuring there is parent voice and involvement in the school.

Thank you and congratulations to our children – we are blessed with magnificent children who inspire us all on a daily basis.

We farewell the Graduating class of 2023 this Friday at 1.30pm. I congratulate our Year 6 graduates and thank them for the wonderful contribution they have made to our school community. I trust they will take the St. Joseph’s spirit with them and always know they are a valuable part of our school community. We have had a magnificent group of Year 6 students who have continued to shine in their leadership roles whether at school or on remote learning.

We have a number of families with their youngest child graduating from St. Joseph’s after a long association with the school. We thank the following families for all you have done throughout the years and hope you have many wonderful memories to take with you.

The Ryan/Mallows Family

The Rogers Family

The Ralph Family

The Ollier Family

The Hawthorne Family

The Fuchs Family

The Collins Family

The Blake Family

The Barrett Family

The Bampton Family

The Ballas Family

We will be sending home holiday challenge packs this week. We are encouraging all students to continue to be learners over the summer break and keep practising their basic skills while they are away from school. It is important that students continue to read and practise their Reading and Maths skills. Students will be encouraged to bring their booklet to their beginning of the year interview and share their learning with their new teacher.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of our wonderful school in 2023 and look forward to all that we can create together in partnership to ensure every student in our school shines, grows and flourishes.

We congratulate the students from Year 6 2022 many of which have been awarded academic achievement awards at their Secondary schools. We congratulate Lily, Abi, Zac and Dusty at Padua and Elliot, Ruby and Mia at Westernport on their excellent achievements. in Year 7.

Students will finish for the 2023 school year Friday 15th December at 3.15pm.

Have a happy, peaceful and safe Christmas with your family and friends and I look forward to continuing on our journey together in 2024.

We commence our school year in 2024 on Monday 29th January. Students will be required to come to school for an individual conference on either Tuesday 30th or Wednesday 31st January. Students will then commence formal classes on Thursday 1st February, 2024.

Yours In Partnership,

Gab Espenschied

2024 Commencement Dates
Date
29/01/2024	School staff resume – Staff professional learning
29/01/2024	School staff resume – Staff professional learning
30/01/2024	Individual Conferences with Classroom Teacher
31/01/2024	Individual Conferences with Classroom Teacher
01/02/2024	Students commence classes
09/02/2024	Beginning of the Year School Mass and Welcome BBQ 2pm Leaders ceremony and badge presentation

Term	2024 School Closure Days & Public Holidays
1	Pupil Free Days - Wednesday 27th March and Thursday 28th– Staff Conference
	Labour Day Public Holiday – Monday 11th March
2	ANZAC Day Public Holiday – Thursday 25th April Pupil Free Day – Friday 26th April – Pupil Free day King’s Birthday Public Holiday – Monday 10th June
3	Pupil Free Day – Monday 4th November – Pupil Free day Melbourne Cup Public Holiday – Tuesday 5th November
Camps 2024
5/6 Camp - Wed 17th, Thur 18th & Fri 19th July
3/4 Camp - Tues 11th & Wed 12th June

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

Garden Holiday Volunteers...