Dear Parents,

Last week we commemorated Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day in Australia is dedicated to Australians who died as a result of war and all people who have served our country or continue to serve our country. This year we highlighted the animals who have served and continue to serve in wars and are of service to others.

Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of the remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty.

The Flanders poppy was one of the first plants to grow on the battlefields of France and Belgium. After WWI, silk poppies were sold on Armistice Day with proceeds going to a charity for French children and to the Returned Soldiers League (RSL).

Remembrance Day is particularly relevant to our school community with its long history with HMAS Cerberus. We take the time today to reflect and thank all members of our defence force who have given their lives for our country. I thank Mrs Kerry Colliver our Defence Force Mentor for all of her great leadership with our Defence Force students.

Last week our students participated in a wonderful concert telling the story about how the seasons are important in our lives and teach us so much about life in general and many important scientific concepts.

Seasons are indicative of our lives. In a world that is constantly changing full of many complexities that children face on a daily basis we strive to explicitly teach students the skills and learning powers to understand the world around them.

As the knowledge component of our vision states : We aim to be a school community with the skills and attitudes to recognise, create and participate effectively in a changing world.

Our 2024 school concert was designed and led by students. Student voice and agency provides the opportunity to flourish and shine, enriching their lives to know they can achieve anything they set out to do. Students have chosen the theme and helped write the script. Our lead actors took us on a journey learning all about the seasons and growth and I was so impressed with the way the students remembered their lines and acted with such expression.

I take this opportunity to thank our amazing Vice Principal Sue Jackson who led the writing of the script and capably led the concert team throughout the process. A huge thankyou also to the wonderful Tasmyn Hose one of our past students who taught the students their dances. Thank you so much for your great leadership along with the concert team Ebony Jenkin, Trish Scarlett, Lisa Renfrey, Jess Scudamore and Kaycee Jackson and Justine Beck.

A special shout out to Jane Allsop and Jane Evans for their wonderful assistance with the costumes and Belinda Austin for donating hair products. We thank our staff who produced most of the costumes which is above and beyond their teaching role.

Performing arts are such an important part of our curriculum and I am extremely proud of our students and staff on their wonderful effort.

Save the date for our Christmas activities.

End of year Christmas Mass 6th December

Christmas Carols 6th December

Colour run 13th December

Come along to the Children's Christmas Mass Christmas Eve 24th December at 5pm at Hastings. It will be a shortened children’s Mass (30 minutes) where children can dress in Christmas clothes, sing children’s carols and Santa will come at the end of Mass. What a wonderful way to start the Christmas celebrations.

Finally, we have some very sad news. Our wonderful chef Matt Demarte is going to be finishing up at the end of the year. What a loss to our community!

Matt has been a valued member of our St Joseph’s community throughout the past 12 years. He has offered exceptional service including setting up and leading our Joey’s Cafe which is simply an amazing experience for all year 6 students and for our parents and wider community. He has also led community dinners, online cooking zooms in COVID keeping us all connected, many, many community events where Matt has fed so many people not to mention how he has looked after our staff, cooked meals for sick and people who need a helping hand.

Matt is the most incredible human in so many ways. The way he has calmly and capably led so many people along with his respectful, positive and friendly demeanor is simply amazing. We will miss Matt so much and fully appreciate and are grateful for his wonderful service and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Matt has set such a high standard in food science in our school and due to this model and the routines he has put in place we will most definitelbe able to continue our Cafe into the future. It will never be the same without the Matt flair but we will strive to continue this amazing program for our Year 6 students and also continue to strive to have a high priority on our community events into the future.

Thanks Matt, you are just simply the best!

Matt’s last Cafe will be held on November 27th. He will also be cooking at our Christmas Carol night so come along and celebrate this magnificent person on the night.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

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