Dear Families,

It is hard to believe that in just a couple of days the 2025 school year will be over. We have so much to celebrate and be thankful for. This was expressed in our whole school End of Year Mass last Friday.

Congratulations to our Year Six students who are graduating tomorrow. We wish you all every success with your secondary schooling. Thank you for all your contributions Alfred, Bella, Charlie, Clarke, Edith, Evelyn, Evie, Flynn, Hamish, Harriet, Indie, Jack, Jeremy, Mabel, Maisy, Olivia, Summer and Zara.

Thank you for your contributions to our school community Jumawid, Monaghan-Tosch, Wills, Kofoed. Gargante, Tindale, Farfalla and Inness families. We will miss seeing you regularly.

NAPLAN

School's NAPLAN results were published last week and schools were placed in rankings. We were proud to learn that our Year Five results placed us in the top five schools on the Mornington Peninsula and overall we ranked far higher than other local schools. NAPLAN is only one measure of a school's learning and teaching programs. High quality education is also reflected in student engagement, wellbeing, critical thinking, creativity and progress over time across a broad curriculum.

Students have experienced a wide range of rich learning experiences throughout 2025 here at St Joseph's. We are proud of the learning experiences, curriculum we have provided and growth and progress made by students.

2025 Semester Two Student Reports

Student reports were published last Wednesday. Please check you nForma App for your child's report. Please let Megan and/or Lucy know if you have experienced difficulty accessing your child's report.

St Joseph's Award

Congratulations to Jeremy Bradler for being the last recipient of the St Joseph's award at last week'e assembly for consistently being respectful, being safe and being an effective learner.

Fun Food Fridays

Thank you to our Student Wellbeing Team for facilitating Fun Food Fridays. Over $1200 was raised which supported the Gymstars Program.

Bunnings Sausage Sizzle & Oaks Day

Thank you for the funds raised at the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle ($2653) and Oaks Day event ($4659). The money raised will be purchasing equipment for outside and playground repairs. Since we have opened up the grassed area we have noticed a lot more imaginative play taking place by students from all levels. We will be providing more equipment to safely build and play with.

Beach and Boat Days

A huge thank you to Jenny Todd for organising the amazing Beach and Boat Days. Students shared in many water activities which challenged and delighted them. Thank you to the many parents who volunteered to assist and the generous support from the Sorrento Sailing and Couta Boat Club. Below is an invitation from the sailing Academy manager David White.

With thanks to TLC Healthcare, SSCBC is delighted to extend our award winning After School Learn to Sail Program into Term 1 2026. This term, sessions will take place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (1600hrs-1800hrs). These classes will be aimed at primary school students in years 3,4 and 5, tailoring the sessions according to ability and interest.

The Tuesday program will run for 8 weeks from the 3rd of February until March 24th.

The Thursday Program will run for 8 weeks from the 5th of February until the 26th of March.

After this program, there are exciting opportunities for focussed sailors to apply for a scholarship at SSCBC, which includes Junior membership to the Club, access to a boat for the upcoming season and access to our Team Sorrento Sailing Program which continues until April 2026.

Expression of Interest Form

If you have any queries, please contact Sailing Academy Manager, David White at training@sscbc.com.au or 5984 8200.

Once again, we thank TLC Healthcare for their ongoing support, enabling us to extend this program into Term 1 and offer more students the opportunity to begin their sailing journey!

St Joseph's Choir

Our school choir represented us well at the recent Sorrento Christmas Carols. Unfortunately their trip to Calvary Rye Sands Aged Care was cancelled last week due to a health issue at the facility. I have also included a photo from their performance at The Rotary Club of Sorrento's Not the Grand Final lunch. Thank you Emma, Sarah and Jasmine for leading our choir this year.

nForma App

It wasn't an easy transition but I feel most families are connected now. Thank you for your patience as we transitioned over to nForma. Hopefully the teething problems have been sorted which will mean a smooth start to the 2026 school year.

Before and After School Care

Forms for 2026 Before and After school Care are available from our office. Please collect one and enrol if you know you will be using the service

Children's Christmas Eve Mass

Thank you to Jenny Todd and Jane Byrne who will be attending and assisting at the Christmas Eve Children's Mass at 6:00pm. All families are invited to come along and celebrate Christ's birth.

2026

Staff have been busily evaluating 2025 school year and preparing for 2026. Students met their teaching teams for next year this morning. We look forward to next year with excitement with some new initiatives and lots to celebrate such as the building project beginning and the centenary of The Oblates serving in Sorrento.

Staffing 2026

Prep

Lisa Inglese

1/2 Team: Jess Lumsden, Julie Finn & Jasmine Gregory

3/4 Team: Vicki Stirling/Ellen Mazerek and Prue Birch /Megan Barber

5/6 Team: Phillip Whelan/Jacqui Hayes, Sarah Connolly/Jess Cameron

Physical Education: Jenny Todd

Italian: Maria Scandizzo

Visual Arts: Jane Byrne

Performing Arts: Jasmine Gregory

Science & Sustainability: Laura Dimogerondas

Intervention: Jasmine Gregory

Learning Support Officers: Emma, Kim, Gypsy, Ebony, Nicole, Mel, Donna, Sarah and Jenni.

Positions of Leadership:

Deputy Principal (inc' Learning & Teaching, Mathematics and Literacy) -

Megan Barber

Inclusion and Learning Diversity -

Jacqui Hayes

Digital Learning and Systems -

Vicki Stirling

Student Engagement and Wellbeing -

Jenny Todd

Faith and Community -

Jacqui Hayes

Best Wishes and Thank You Nick.

Nick Krstic will be finishing at St Joseph's at the end of this year to embark on his career as a psychologist. We thank him for the past seven years of service to the St Joseph's School Community, the care he showed the students and dedication he approached his role with. We wish you every success in your new career.

Optional Snow Camp

We received enough expressions of interest so a Snow Camp will take place in 2026. It has been booked through Snow Play Tours and will take place at Mount Buller between Tuesday 25 - Friday 28 August. More details and applications will take place in February 2026.

Thank you

Thank you to the many parents who have volunteered to organise specific school events or assist with them on the day. Thank you to each and everyone of you this year for your partnership and support. It has been another huge year of learning for us all.

Thank you to the St Joseph's Staff who work tirelessly to provide a rigorous, differentiated and engaging learning program for all students. I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of this dynamic team.

If you have any concerns or questions during the extended summer break, please email office@sjsorrento.catholic.edu.au as this will be checked regularly

I wish you all a Christmas filled with peace, love and joy and a wonderful holiday. Stay safe and I look forward to seeing most of you on 29th January.

Many thanks,

Monica

moshannassy@sjsorrento.catholic.edu.au

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