Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been quite a term. Together we have experienced many joys and highlights and together we have also mourned a great loss. I thank you all for your continued care and support for each other, our families, our staff and our precious children. As we look back on all the achievements from Term 2, we also look forward to a rest for all members of our community. We continue to pray for Michelle Moore's family, and we keep in our thoughts everyone who continues to mourn her loss.

Prayer for the End of Term

Loving and gracious God,

As we come to the end of this school term, we pause to give you thanks.

Thank you for the many blessings of this past term.

For the knowledge we’ve gained, the friendships we’ve deepened, and the challenges we’ve faced and overcome.

Thank you for our teachers, staff, and families — for their guidance, support, and care.

We are especially mindful of those in our community who have faced difficult times.

May your comfort be with all who are struggling or grieving.

Grant them peace and strength.

We pray for rest and joy during the upcoming break.

May this be a time of renewal — a time to recharge, to reflect, and to be refreshed in body, mind, and spirit.

Keep us safe in our travels and daily activities.

Watch over our school community until we gather again.

We also remember with love and gratitude our former principal, Michelle Moore.

We thank you for her life, her leadership, and the lasting impact she made at St Joseph’s.

May she rest in your eternal peace, and may her legacy continue to inspire us.

Loving God, bring us back next term ready to grow, to learn, and to serve one another with our school values of kindness and courage.

We ask all of this in your holy name.

Amen.

Celebrating the Successes and Highlights of Term 2

Today marks the end of our second term, and it's a perfect moment to reflect on our school values of strength and kindliness that have shaped this term and the many achievements of our students, parent community and staff. It has been filled with an abundance of rich learning experiences, joyful moments, and meaningful growth. From classroom achievements to whole-school events, every success has been made possible through the unwavering dedication of our wonderful staff, the enthusiasm and resilience of our students, and the ongoing support of our families.

St Joseph’s continues to be a place of excellence in learning, strong community connection and friendships, and at the heart of everything the care and wellbeing for each and every one of our students – where strength is matched by kindness, and growth is nurtured by care. This term has been a shining example of these values in action.

Thank you to each and every member of our community for the significant role you play in making our school such a special place.

We thank our amazing staff, who have invested so much in the care, wellbeing and academic progress of our students this term. The inspiring work of our teachers continues to drive the many successes in our school, and from the feedback we constantly receive, we are proud to say we excel in a competitive educational landscape.

I sincerely thank our families for everything you do to make St Joseph's a place of warmth and joy for our children, our families, and our staff. It is because of you all, that we love coming to school, to nurture the children you have entrusted in our care. I thank you for the support of our staff and the kindness that you show them each and every day. It means the world to them, that they know you appreciate all they do for the children. And on a personal note, I thank so many of you for your continued support of myself and our leadership team. Your emails, cards, words of appreciation, and kind gestures, really do mean so much, and together we will continue to ensure that St Joseph's is a positive and flourishing school community for our children.

Highlights and achievements from across this term...

Below are just some of the highlights and achievements from Term 2. This is a celebration of the significant investment by so many in our community.

We began Term 2 with our usual warm welcome at the gate and this has continued each and every morning since then. It is where we begin and end the day building strong connections and relationships with each of our students and families.

Early in the term we had our very successful election day event. This was great opportunity to showcase our wonderful community spirit. We had some fun as we danced with Bluey and the jazz band, we had our faces painted and we enjoyed the democracy sausage, as well as raising some significant funds for our school. We thank our P&F for supporting so incredibly in this day!

Our students have engaged in many sporting activities, from the Dendy Winter Sports, Dendy Lightning Premierships, District Cross Country and Inter-school Sports, where students have shown kindness, teamwork and determination, to the range of sporting clinics organised by our fabulous PE Teacher Christie Birch.

Our parents have had the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas through P&F meetings and School Advisory Council sessions, contributing to the strategic direction of our school as well attending many parent forums as an opportunity to seek clarification and ask questions. We welcome and value the open and respectful communication between school and families.

As a school we celebrated Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week led by our Religious Education Leader Ms Donnella DeVisser and I was able to share my experiences with the children from my conference in Broome where, as a principal network, we visited some remote indigenous communities and schools. As principals we made a commitment to bring the messages of reconciliation and respect back into our schools.

We came together to celebrate faith moments - Our Year 4 students shared in a Retreat Day in preparation for their First Eucharist celebration. Once again we thank Ms DeVisser and our Year 4 teachers for preparing the students for this important moment in their faith journey.

As a community we have grieved the loss of our very loved former principal Michelle Moore. She will forever remain in our hearts and her legacy will continue to live on in our school.

Our amazing P&F have continued to organise community and fundraising events as well as the working bees which help to make our school sparkle!

We had our school closure day where our staff began to work on our School Review, where we review our practices, policies and learning programs. This review will take place in Term 4 this year.

Our commitment to professional excellence has continued to flourish as staff have attended significant professional learning for Literacy and Maths led by our very experienced and amazing learning leaders Amanda Jackson and Dean Butler.

Our students continue to receive excellence in the delivery of explicit instruction in literacy and numeracy, as well as support through MSL intervention with our literacy leader Amanda Jackson, and extension and challenge daily in the classrooms from our highly skilled teachers and learning support officers.

Our learning programs are further enriched with the incursions and excursions organised by our junior leader Marta Cummings and senior leader Clare Smith, and our students have continued to enjoy a broad range of learning in their specialist subjects- Visual Arts, Italian, Performing Arts, STEM, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and PE. For some of our children this is the highlight of their week!

MACS launched their Vision for Engagement this term, which focusses on students learning in a safe, calm and structured learning environment, however we know that at St Joseph's we are already leading the way in this space.

Our new school website went live and we thank Dean Butler for all of his work to bring this to life! How exciting it is to showcase our school on such a great platform!

Ms Stacey has re-established the very popular St Joey's Playgroup. This takes place every Monday in the MPR, where we often see a full house buzzing with excitement, where play and connection are the focus.

As we look to 2026, future planning is underway with Open Days led by our incredible Year 6 Leaders and school leadership team, and we have commenced our Prep 2026 enrolment interviews, welcoming new families to our community.

We have established some strong relationship with our local kinders, attending their Open Days and Information Nights.

Our senior students have continued to lead the way with some great initiatives. They are working towards giving our House Colour names some meaning, as well as taking the lead with sustainability initiatives.

The mid year assessments provided a snapshot of student progress in every class across the school while Parent Support Group (PSG) meetings ensured tailored support for individual learners.

Our P&F also held the very successful enjoyable Mother's Day event for our very special Mums, and our school community celebrated our Mums at our very precious Mother's Day assembly.

The Arts have taken centre stage as Beauty and the Beast Jnr auditions sparked excitement and roles were announced. The rehearsals for our school production are well underway and the excitement is certainly building!

Our children have enjoyed accessing Malvern Library where they had the chance to borrow from a wide variety of books as well as enjoy story time in our local community.

We have been successful in securing a large grant which will go towards some major structural works later this year.

We finished the term with a celebration of student learning with the Semester 1 reports going home and our wonderful Friendship Fair Day organised by our wellbeing leader Ms Georgie Carman.

Next term we look forward to...

Our Parent Teacher Interviews to acknowledge the achievements and progress of our students and strengthening our home-school partnerships.

We are also very excited about our upcoming school production Beauty and the Beast Jnr. Ms Wendy D'Arco is doing a fabulous job and our children are the shining stars! The countdown begins towards August 20 and 21!

Our Pre Prep Program will commence in Term 3 for our new Prep students for 2026.

We look forward to sharing our NAPLAN results for 2025 where we are confident that we will continue to excel in Literacy and Numeracy!

Year 4 Sacrament of the First Eucharist

Congratulations to our Year 4 students who were blessed to receive the gift of the Sacrament of the First Eucharist on Saturday evening at St. Joseph’s Parish. This was a very special milestone in the faith journey of our students and a truly meaningful and sacred experience for all the families who attended.

We thank Father Gallacher for celebrating this special sacrament with our children. We also thank our Religious Education Leader Ms Donnella DeVisser for preparing the Year 4 students to receive this sacrament and the Year 4 teachers Ms Grace Harrick and Mr David Prowse for their support.

We also thank each of the families who have given the children a strong foundation in their faith through your love, guidance, and example. Your involvement in their spiritual growth has played an essential role in preparing them for this important step in their Catholic journey.

We ask that you continue to hold these children in your hearts and prayers.

Semester 1 Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews

Yesterday you would have received your child's Semester 1 School Report. We are so pleased to celebrate the growth and success of our students in the Semester One school reports.

It has been my privilege to read through these reports and note the achievements and growth, both academically and socially, made by each child at St Joseph’s. I would like to thank our teachers for their outstanding work in teaching and assessing student learning, and for the thought and care they have put into writing each report. Their efforts ensure that families receive a clear and comprehensive understanding of their child’s progress and achievements. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the children for all of their efforts and achievements across Semester One.

I invite you to read Dean Butler's 'Semester 1: Student Reports' page in this week's newsletter which contains information regarding your child's report.

Our Parent Teacher Interviews will take place after the holidays on Thursday 31st July in Week 2 of Term 3.

Friendship Fair Day

Please read the information on Ms Georgie Carman's Wellbeing Page about our Friendship Fair Day which was held at school today. It was a wonderful day promoting fun and friendship with a focus on the very special Ellie in Tanzania who, thanks to one of our amazing teachers Ms Marta Cummings, we sponsor as a school. We thank Ms Georgie Carman for all of her organisation to make today such a wonderful day for the children.

Instrumental Music Program Concert

Last night, and again this morning at assembly, we had the pleasure of listening to and watching some of our young performers in our school. We enjoyed the performances of our very talented students as they showcased their learning from the Instrumental Music Program. We thank the amazing teacher Fabien for teaching our children the love for music and giving them this opportunity to show what they have been learning. Congratulations to the following students who performed amazingly well! We are so proud of you!

Upcoming Open Days and Information Sessions

Our final official Open Day for 2025 is being held on Tuesday 29th July.

If you have family or friends who are exploring school options for 2026 and beyond, our Open Days are a great opportunity for prospective families to see our beautiful school in action, meet our staff, and learn more about what makes our community at St Joseph's so special.

Our Final Open Day:

Tuesday 29th July 9am-10:30am

Information Session:

Tuesday 29th July 10:30am -11am

We will be running both School Tours and Information sessions for families who are interested in finding out more about our school.

Please spread the word to any prospective families you may know. Your word of mouth is the best advertising for our school.

Every Day is Open Day at St Joseph's!

We encourage prospective families to book a tour with us at any time. Please encourage any families you know who are looking for a school for 2026, and beyond, to be in touch with us. We would love to show them around our beautiful school. Every Day is Open Day!

Prep Meet and Greet Interviews for 2026

It is with great joy that we have commenced our Prep Meet and Greet Interviews for 2026. It s\is such a pleasure to take the time to meet our new families and the children who will join our Prep classes for 2026. These interviews will continue into Term 3.

Prep Prep Program

Next term we commence our Pre Prep program for all children enrolled in Prep for 2026. Please see details below. We look forward to welcoming new families to our school community.

P&F Upcoming Meetings

Our SJM School Assembly

Today we had some very talented students sharing what they have learnt across the semester through their private music lessons with our school community. They performed with joy and a love for their instrument and music. We congratulate all of these superstars!

STAR Awards at Assembly

It is always so nice to see so many of our students being the recipients of our STAR Awards! Congratulations to you all for displaying the values of S- Stay Safe, T- Try Your Best, A- Act Responsibly and R- Respect Yourself and Others.

Principal Awards for Term 2

It is always a pleasure to recognise students who display our school values of Strength and Kindliness. Today at our final assembly for Term 2, I had the pleasure of announcing the Principal Awards for students who have displayed our school values as well as awards for Excellence for Term 2. Congratulations to the following students who received awards for this semester!

Principal Award for Excellence

Fabien, Daniel, Finn, Grace, Matilda, Mathias, Luca, Luke, Abigail, Navy!

Principal Award for Kindness

Stella, Byron, Christopher, Andre, Jaxsen, Violet, Harry, Jack, Navy, Yasmin, Wolf, Philippa, Nicky, Mary, Xavier, James, Rafaela, Alfred, Ada, Olimpia!

Birthday Awards

We also wish our birthday children a very happy birthday!

And finally....

Congratulations students, staff and parents/carers for your commitment and dedication this term. We look forward to seeing everyone again on Monday 21st July for the first day of Term 3. We have so much to look forward to in Term 3!

I wish you all a restful break, and to our families who are travelling, pltravel safely.

With warmest regards,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au