PRINCIPAL'S NEWS

Miss Jaclyn is always busy keeping abreast of our socials and sharing the terrific things that are happening at our school.

Friday Market

This Friday at 3:15pm our Juniors are hosting this terms Friday Market.  If you have a child in juniors please contact Abbey or Georgie if you are able lend a hand or donate some baked goods.

We will once again have a cake stall, sausage sizzle and pre-loved uniform sale.

Grandparent's/Special Person's Day 

This year we be hosting Grandparent's/Special Person's Day on Friday July 26.  The morning will begin at 9:30am when Grandparents/Special People will be invited to visit the classrooms, and then join us for a morning tea in the Parish Centre - at the tennis courts.  

We will also be inviting Grandparents and Special Friends to attend a Mass on Sunday July 28 at 11am.  Our senior students will be hosting this Mass and will be preparing a special gift to give to all our 'special guests'

Vinnies Reading Club

It's with a very heavy heart that I announce that the St Vincent de Paul Reading Club will be finishing up this week.   This programme has been running at St Joseph's since 2021, and has been hugely popular with our families and children.  The St. Vincent de Paul Society is equally disappointed about the discontinuation of the program and has offered this explanation, "Like many community service providers, the current economic climate is driving a significant increase in demand for our support services across Victoria. Given our limited funds, we have had to make the difficult decision to ensure we can continue to provide services for the growing number of people critically in need in our community."

I would like to express my gratitude to Tayla Clark for her exceptional coordination of the program over the past few years and her unwavering commitment to further cultivating a love for reading in our students.  I would also like to thank all the St Vincent de Paul Volunteers and the girls from Santa Maria for dedicating their time to our students and making this program possible over the last three and a half years.

Phonics in Schools

This past week has seen much in the news about the mandatory introduction of Phonics into Government Schools.  It's very reaffirming for myself and our team at St Joey's who, as a result of studying our data and achievement levels in reading, introduced a Phonics programme (Little Learners Love Literacy) in 2017.  

It's comforting to know that "back then" we were ahead of our time, and continue to lead in this area. Last week, we once again hosted teachers from another local school. They observed our teachers implementing this program and discussed the best way forward in this area with us.

I would once again like to 'sing the praises' of the wonderful teaching team we have and applaud them for their superior practice and expertise.

FYI - The article below addresses the move to phonics in Government schools, and the value added that a phonics programme provides (thanks Jane Murray - SAC member - for forwarding the article).

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-13/victoria-state-school-education-phonics-reading/103971780

School Concert 

Preparations are well underway for our school concert that we have tentatively booked for Thursday October 24.  We are currently negotiating with Thornbury Theatre and hope to confirm our booking this week.

Ms Jaclyn has been conducting auditions this week and has had many budding thespians trying out for a special role.  More information about the concert will be shared at a later date.

World Environment Day

On Wednesday, 5th June, the sustainability representatives from each class participated in a cleanup of our school yard and James St as part of a Clean Up Australia project for World Environment Day. Our school entered a competition to win a Coles gift voucher worth $1000.

We found lots of rubbish, especially in the gutters, and we are very proud of our efforts; we stopped so much rubbish from ending up in our waterways and oceans.

Samantha Keogh - Sustainability Leader

Dance Club at St Joey's

Next term we will be offering the Kelly Sports Dance Programme 'All That Jazz', at lunchtime each Monday for children in grades prep-four. 

Given that 3rd term tends to be rather cold and wet, this provides a great opportunity for children to stay warm, stay active and learn a few dance moves!

The programme will only be offered if we meet the base number of enrolments - please register on the website below.

www.kellysports.com.au/inner-northern

Winter Blanket Appeal

The Winter Blanket Appeal is going really well. So far 25 beautiful, warm, fluffy blankets have been donated.

We are guided by St Vinnies that the Winter months can be a very hard time for families in poverty. If you are cold it is very hard to keep well and healthy and stay safe from colds and flu.

The St Joseph’s Winter Blanket Appeal will continue until June 28. Brendon from St Vinnies is coming to school on Monday 24 June, to collect the new warm blankets and take them to people who are struggling to keep warm. Please bring your new warm blanket donations to school.

Thank you for your kind donations.

Freya, Charlie, Havana, Bridget, James, Nolawi, Hamish, Lennon, Aria, Sadie, Orlando, Greta and Oscar.

Members of St Joseph’s SRC

Cross Country

Congratulations to Saskia Thomas, who will be competing in the Regional Cross Country competition tomorrow.  This is a significant achievement as it is one level before the State Championships.  She is competing at a very high level and is among the best in the State.

Good luck Saskia!! 

Physical Education Lessons

I regret to inform you that Joshua Howarth has resigned from his position as P.E. teacher due to an ongoing arm injury. Joshua was employed at St Joey's until the end of Term 2, so for the next two weeks, Rob Black will be covering the P.E. classes.

I am pleased to announce that Kirsti O'Brien will return from parental leave at the beginning of Term 3 to assume the role of P.E. teacher.

We wish Joshua a speedy recovery and all the best in his future endeavours.

Dental Van

The Dental Van is onsite this week.  The Victorian Government's school dental van program provides free dental care to all students at Victorian primary schools.  If you have any questions please contact Kathryn.

Parish News

The combined parishes of St Joseph's, St Mary's, St Anthony's and Holy Spirit invite to an evening with Colin Carter - see flyer below.