Principal News
Week 9, Term 2
Dear families,
We trust that that everyone welcomed the extra time over the weekend, and the children managed to find some valuable and much needed rest in readiness for the run home to the half-year break. We certainly believe that the timing of the slightly longer weekend was perfect, especially for our Junior students, as the signs of fatigue have started to set in.
Year 2L Assembly
Congratulations to our stunning Year 2s for their special assembly today! It was very special to hear them speak about their character strengths with such confidence (350+ people in attendance!). We say a very big thank you to Miss Lougheed and Miss Jen for their wonderful work with these students.
Teaching and Learning
It has been a very busy fortnight at St Joseph's, with a strong focus on teaching and learning. Our goal is to foster academic success for all students through rigorous, evidence based practices - emphasising educational and teaching excellence. We are dedicated to developing expert teachers who nurture and engage all students, encouraging them to become curious, lifelong learners, and we are delighted to share the following updates with our school community.
School Closure Day Success
Over the past few weeks our staff have been working incredibly hard to teach, assess, evaluate and report on all of the learning that has taken place across Term One and Two. Last Friday's school closure day was critical in allowing our teachers to spend time evaluating and moderating work samples and assessment data. As a school, we triangulate our assessment data, student work samples, and teacher observations to plot our students against the Victorian Curriculum standards. We are proud to say that our staff go beyond simply the test and assessment scores, to evaluate all learning our students complete across a reporting period. We look forward to celebrating the growth and success of our students in the Semester One school reports that are published on Monday 24th June.
Melbourne Archdiocese Learning Consultants visit St Joseph's
Last Tuesday we had two representatives from MACS visit St Joseph's to see our explicit teaching practices in action. They spent time in Year 2L, Prep M, 6C, 6S, 5D and 5C and saw Numeracy, Reading and Spelling lessons. This visit affirmed just how far 'down the track' St Joseph's is on the explicit teaching journey and this visit will support MACS in leading other schools on their own journeys.
We pride ourselves on high quality teaching with low variance, so what happens in one classroom is also occurring in the classroom next door. This is sustained by high quality coaching for our teachers, investment in professional education and comprehensive curriculum materials.
Our success in teaching and learning at St Joseph's is a testament, not only to expert leadership, but also to the dedication of our staff who quietly and consistently do their best work with our students. Their unwavering commitment has made a significant impact on our students' development. We celebrate and thank our dedicated staff for their hard work and passion for education, which play a critical role in fostering a supportive and effective learning environment.
Please make sure you read the Deputy Principal News for further information on this visit.
Teaching and Learning Presentation at the Principal Network
Alannah Harrison and Tom Hartney presented at the most recent Principal and Deputy Network Meeting. Tom spoke about our journey with explicit teaching, in addition to our instructional coaching model that we use with our classroom teachers, and Alannah spoke more specifically about our practices in teaching English. The 42 school leaders who were present (Principals, Deputies and Literacy Leaders) from 17 schools across our zone were so impressed with the way they both spoke so passionately about their roles and the fantastic work they do with our staff. I was incredibly proud of them both and, as a school community, we are so blessed to have such dynamic and capable leaders on staff. Congratulations, Tom and Alannah!
Teaching English at St Joseph's
The recent article in The Age, "The Way Children Are Taught to Read in Victoria Is About to Change", highlights a transformative shift in literacy education across the state. As our community are well aware, St Joseph's has been at the forefront of this approach for several years. By implementing evidence based reading strategies, we have consistently provided our students with a strong foundation in literacy. Our commitment to these methods underscores our dedication to academic excellence, and to the wellbeing of our students.
Parent Teacher Interviews
This year, we have moved the parent-teacher interviews from the beginning of Term 3 to the final week of Term 2, 26th and 27th June. This adjustment aligns with the release of your child's school report, providing an ideal opportunity to unpack your child's achievement across the year and to discuss their goals for Semester Two. Click this link to book a time to meet with your child's teacher.
Year 3 Reconciliation
We wish to congratulate our beautiful Year 3 students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation this afternoon. Supported by Father Leenus, Father Pat, Father Alvares, our families and staff, the students were outstanding and clearly recognised the significance of this occasion.
A special thank you again to Miss Dillon, Miss Matthews and Mrs Pepper for preparing the students so wonderfully for this Sacrament. We also asknowledge the leadership of Miss Dillon for continuing to support our staff and school community in her capacity as the Religious Education Leader.
Netball and Football Lightning Premierships
We could not be more proud of our Year 6 students for representing our school so well at the Netball and Football Lightning Premiership competitions that were held yesterday and today. The students were outstanding and displayed excellent teamwork and game skills.
The Netball team, proudly supported by Mrs Quitt, worked so well. Miss Coldebella and I were able to pop down to watch their first game and we were so impressed by the synergy each team had. Despite the program being hampered by the rain, the students had a wonderful day. We are thrilled that they tried their best and, importantly, had fun while supporting one another.
Our footballers had a fantastic day, winning all their games and bringing home the silverware for the second year in a row! Congratulations, Year 6s. We are so proud of you.
We thank Miss Coldebella for coaching the football team during the season, Tim MacKay for umpiring and Chris Georgiou for coaching the team during the lightning premiership.
Year 4 'Connecting to Country' Excursion
It was the Year 4's turn to head off to the Botanical Gardens this week, as they participated in the Connecting to Country excursion. Despite the teachers nervously watching the BOM Forecast, the rain cleared and it ended up being a stunning day for our students, staff and parent helpers. Thank you to Miss Wilkinson, Miss Crawley, Miss Melissa and our parent helpers Kathy Swan, Jade Ockleshaw, Lydia Lew and Carmen Yeung for volunteering to go along with the students.
School Prospectus - Parent Helpers Wanted
We are looking for parental support in creating a School Prospectus. If anyone in our community is able to help out with copywriting or design, or knows someone who is skilled in these areas, can they please contact Alannah on
aharrison@sjelst.catholic.edu.au.
Closure Day - Monday 15 July
With Spaces Australia set to finish their work in the Term 2 holidays, we have been granted an additional school closure day on Monday 15th July to support us in organising the school post-building project. The students will return to school for Term 3 on Tuesday 16th July. We sincerly thank our parent community for their understanding with this additional day.
Little Gems
All students in Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 were so focused in their Spelling lessons. Low variance curriculum in action - it was a joy to see!
We snapped these photos of the beautiful rainbow that appeared over our school on Wednesday.
Thank you to Jack, Lottie and Jacob (Year 4) for coming in to show me their beautiful collage work from Art class with Mrs Doran.
The wet weather this week didn't dampen anyone's spirits in PE. Mr Gately moved his classes inside for lessons on Spikeball, much to everyone's delight.
Thank you to our wonderful parent community for their continued support. Wishing everyone a restful weekend -
2 weeks to go!
Claire Tobin
Principal