Dear Families,

It has been another jam-packed week of learning, fun, friendship and many exciting events at St Joseph's.

It is an absolute pleasure to be part of such a warm community, and as each week passes and I chat with you and your children at the gate each morning and afternoon, I feel so blessed to be here at St Joseph's. I thank each of you for the gift of your family and your children, and am grateful for the warmth and positivity that you bring to our beautiful school community.

I would especially like to thank the P and F for their enthusiasm and hard work, in not only raising funds for our school, but for also planning events that bring our community together. There was such a buzz once again at the P and F meeting last night as more planning took place and it is very exciting to be around such motivated and super keen parents who want to make a difference in our school community. There are many things that are happening behind the scenes and everyone is very welcome to be involved. If you would like to be part of any upcoming initiatives please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or Laura and Talia (P&F Presidents).

Weekly Prayer

Lenten Reflection

During this special time of Lent, strengthen us in times of trial, and help us to trust in you with all our hearts, so that we may continually rejoice in your blessings.

Let us pray for our own needs and the needs of others.

We pray for the strength to value people, not possessions.

Lord hear us.

We pray for the awareness of your love and presence in our lives each day.

Lord hear us.

We pray for the humility we need to be grateful for the blessings you bestow on us.

Lord hear us.

We pray that we are filled with the Spirit so that your word is always on our lips and in our hearts.

Lord hear us.

Loving God, help us to remember your promise to be with us always, to guide us in our lives and bring us closer to you. We ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son, who is your promise of new life for us.

May God’s peace be with us.

May God’s love cover us.

May God’s mercy fill us.

May God’s generosity bless us with good things .

May God keep us safe in his care.

Pope Francis tells us that “with the Jubilee, we start a new life, a new phase, we begin again.” Let us go forth from here sharing the light of hope and message of God’s love in all that we say and do. God, guide us on our journey as ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

Feast of St Joseph

Next week we will be celebrating the Feast of St Joseph. We warmly invite all families to join us on Wednesday, 19th March at 9:15am as Fr Gallacher will celebrate Mass with the Parish for the Feast Day of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Catholic Education Week

This weekend begins Catholic Education Week which will run from Sunday 16th March to Sunday 23rd March. Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to celebrate their Catholic identity.

The theme for Catholic Education Week in 2025 is ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you (Is 60: 1)' which draws from the motto of the Holy Year, the Year of Jubilee, and the Australian Catholic Youth Festival’s theme – ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

The Mass of St Patrick for Schools will take place on Friday 21st March 2025, followed by a concert in the park for the hundreds of students, teachers and school leaders who attend the Mass. This Mass will be attended by Ms Donnella DeVisser, myself, and some of our Year 6 School Leaders. We look forward to being part of this very special day.

Harmony Day

Next Friday , we have our whole school Harmony Day! Students are encouraged to wear free dress with a touch of orange or something that represents their culture or background as we come together to celebrate diversity and inclusivity. This year's theme is Everyone Belongs!

Open Days at St Joseph's

Please encourage any families you know who are looking at a school for 2026 and beyond to book a tour with us at any time or to attend one of our upcoming Open Days....

Open Days for 2025

Thursday 24th April - 9am - 11am

Tuesday 6th May - 9am - 11am

Enrolments for 2026

It is always very exciting when we begin to look forward to our enrolments for the next year. With our Open Days running across the next few months, we are beginning to plan for 2026. We request that if you have a younger child who will commence Prep in 2026, that you please make contact with the office to ensure we have your child enrolled for next year. It is very important that we have this information as soon as possible.

New School Website Coming Soon!

There are many exciting things happening at St Joseph's! Another professional photo shoot took place today with an amazing company called 'School Presence' for our new website which will be coming soon. Both Tserlin and Mark were an absolute pleasure to work with and they beautifully captured the spirit of St Joseph's in their photography. Here is a sneak peak of a few 'behind the scenes' shots from today...

Media Consent

As part of our commitment to celebrating and sharing the learning journey and culture at St Joseph’s, we are enhancing our online and public presence. To ensure clear permissions for sharing student images and work across social media, printed materials, our website, newsletter, and school platforms like ClassDojo, we have updated our Media Consent Form. We understand if you choose not to have your child's image promoted on public platforms. Thank you to all of the parents and carers who have signed the Updated Media Consent Form through Operoo. If you have not done so as yet could you please do this at your earliest convenience.

Production Announcement

This morning at assembly, our Senior Arts Leaders Stella and Sienna made a very exciting announcement about our school production for this year. We will be presenting 'Beauty and the Beast Jnr' as our school production later this year to our school community. They will be working very closely with Ms Wendy D'Arco on this across the year. Auditions for our senior students will take place on Tuesday 25th of March. More information about this can be found in this week's newsletter on Performing Arts Teacher- Ms Wendy D’Arco's page.

NAPLAN this week at St Joseph's

This week the children in Years 3 and 5 have taken part in the 2025 National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). We are so proud of the way the children have engaged in this testing, feeling comfortable and confident. Thank you to our teachers Donnella DeVisser and Lauren O'Grady and school leaders Amanda Jackson and Dean Butler for the work they have done in preparing the children for this testing and of course the many years of high quality teaching and learning that occurs prior to NAPLAN.

The NAPLAN Tests will be held on the following days:

Wednesday 12th March: NAPLAN Writing
Thursday 13th March: NAPLAN Reading
Monday 17th March: NAPLAN Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation)
Tuesday 18th March: NAPLAN Numeracy

Prep Parent 'Decodable Reader' Information Night

This week our Prep teachers Luisa La Rosa and Niki Liolios, with the support of our Literacy Leader Amanda Jackson, ran a fantastic information night for our Prep parents on 'Decodable Readers'. Learning to read is such a wonderful and exciting gift we can give our children. It fosters cognitive development, expands vocabulary, enhances comprehension and sparks their imagination. Both of our Prep teachers are such wonderful educators and I can't tell you how often parents come to me saying how grateful they are that their child have Ms La Rosa and Ms Liolios as their Prep teachers.

Our SJM Swimmers at Beachside Division

Congratulations to all the swimmers from our SJM Swim Team who represented St Joseph's as part of the Dendy District Beachside Division Competition last Friday.

We congratulate the following students for their enthusiasm, giving their best effort and supporting each other in true SJM spirit: Max, Nicholas, Callum, Spencer, Evelyn, Victor, Lucy, Milana and Matilda.

It is very exciting to announce that Callum has now progressed to Regionals for the 50m Freestyle event. I believe it was a very close race and that Callum was the only one in the whole of the Dendy District to progress through to regionals! We will be cheering for you Callum!

Year 6 Jerseys

Our school leaders were very happy to receive and wear their senior school jumpers this week. What a lovely way to show off our school leaders at St Joseph's!

Parents & Friends Update

EASTER RAFFLE

The P&F have secured a fundraising spot outside of Coles Glenferrie Road on Saturday April 12 and Sunday April 13th. The generous Easter donations will be made in to hampers and raffle tickets will be sold to raise funds for the school. Three hampers will be raffled externally and one lucky family will receive an Easter Hamper at St Joseph’s. We encourage all families to assist in selling the raffle tickets and as this is in school holidays, you may do this with your children. A volunteer sign up will be sent out in the coming weeks. Thank you to two of our very enthusiastic and organised mums, Kate Tehan and Tennille Bare for assisting with the Easter Hamper Raffle.

P&F MEETING

The P&F met last night to work out a calendar of events across the year. These will soon be populated into the school calendar on the St Joseph’s website. We also identified the needs for spending this year and they are as follows; upgrade to front fence and security entrance, update to senior learning space and website upgrade.

THANK YOU

We would like to thank all those who attended last nights meeting.

Laura and Talia

Presidents of the P&F

P and F Tennis Update

The 2025 inaugural tennis day has been postponed. Those who have registered their interest will be emailed in the coming days. The P&F aim to have this event later in 2025. We apologise for any inconvenience. The good news, you have more time to practice!

Congratulations to Darci and Harvey!

It is always great to share the achievements of our children outside of school. Well done to Darci and Harvey who competed in the 'All Stars Karate Tournament' and represented their Dojo this week. I have heard that they worked very hard, showing determination sportsmanship. Congratulations Darci and Harvey. You should both be proud of your achievement!

World's Greatest Shave- Max and Callum

Thank you to our community for the very generous donations that you have made in support of and CallumMax .

We are so proud of Max and Callum, who are taking part in The World’s Greatest Shave to raise vital funds for the Leukaemia Foundation! By shaving their head, they are standing in solidarity with those facing blood cancer. This is a fantastic opportunity for our St. Joseph’s community to rally behind them and show our support! If you’d like to donate, every contribution—big or small—makes a difference. Let’s get behind Max and Callum and help them make a real impact!

International Women's Day

Wishing all of the wonderful women on our staff, and in the families that make up our school community, a very special International Women's Day for last Saturday. We respect, honour and are grateful for you all. And a very special thank you to Dean Butler for sharing this post on our School Dojo.

On this International Women's Day, we honour the incredible contributions of women in education. From dedicated teachers shaping young minds to visionary leaders guiding schools, women play an invaluable role in nurturing knowledge, wisdom, and growth. At St. Joseph’s, we give thanks for the women who inspire, educate, and lead with compassion and strength.

Proverbs 31:26: "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."

Evacuation Drill

As part of our safety management plan, it is important that schools participate in evacuation drills to familiarise students and staff with emergency procedures, ensuring we all know how to safely and efficiently evacuate our classrooms and buildings in case of a real emergency. This minimises any confusion and optimises safety in case of an actual event. All class teachers spend time with students going over the procedures and reassuring children who might be a little worried. Our first evacuation drill this week went very well. Let's hope we don't ever have to do this in an emergency, but if we do, we are well prepared!

First Aid for Staff

This week our staff engaged in first aid, with a focus on learning how to deliver CPR in case of an emergency. It is never pleasant to think that we might need to use these skills but it's great to know that our staff are up to date with their first aid qualifications and ready to act in an emergency.

This week's Assembly

For assembly this week we had the pleasure of having Year 1MD present their learning to the school. They were absolutely incredible in the way they each read and shared their learning and what they love about being at St Joseph's and in Year 1MD.

Congratulations also to Alice in Prep who also very proudly and reverently led our whole school community in our school prayer with our school leaders Callum and Bridget this morning. We are only in Week 7 and Alice has managed to not only learn the prayer by heart, but felt confident to stand up in front of everyone at assembly. This is what leadership looks like at St Joseph's!

Congratulations to our STAR Awards recipients this week and wishing all of the children who celebrated birthdays over the last two weeks a very happy birthday from everyone at St Joseph's. As the children sing..."Tanti Auguri a te"

Well done to our two Year 6 leaders Maximillian and Charlotte who shared their experience of the GRIP Leadership Conference that they attended last week. It was so great to hear about your experience and the ideas you have brought back to our school community.

And as I've already mentioned the Arts Leaders Stella and Sienna shared the exciting announcement about this year's production 'Beauty and the Beast Jnr'.

Child Safety

In the interest of child safety, beginning on Monday next week, the front gate will be locked from 9:15am till 3:15pm in the afternoon. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you are wanting to enter the school between these hours please call the office and we will come and let you in. This is a temporary measure until we can finalise the installation of a new security entrance. This will happen very soon. Once again, we thank the P&F for their support with this. If you have any questions or concerns about this please do not hesitate to make contact with me or with the office.

Baby News

It is always very exciting to share baby news in our school community. We are excited to share the very special news that Finlay’s little sister arrived on Wednesday. Finlay (in PrepN) is a proud big brother to baby Isabelle Rose Loftus. Wish wish their family all the love and happiness and this special time!

And here are the latest pictures of the new little baby in the McGrath Lorenzo family...

Family School Calendar

Here is the link to our family school calendar so that you can keep up to date with school events across the year.

https://www.sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au/mevents

Parking Reminders

In the interest of your child's safety please be mindful of these two reminders....

Road Safety

Unfortunately we have had a few passers-by alerting us to some unsafe behaviours at school drop off and pick up. Just a reminder, for the safety of our children, that there should be no double parking and no U -Turns on Stanhope St. This is very important for the safety of our whole school community as well as other local people using Stanhope St. Unfortunately a few members of our school community also received parking fines this week. Please observe the parking signs to avoid getting a ticket.

Parish Car Park

A friendly reminder that the carpark between the Parish House and School is for Parish and School Staff only. You may have noticed the new Parish signage. Please do not use this for drop off and pick up on school days as there is not enough parking for school staff or Parish staff. Additionally, children, parents, and families should not be entering or exiting through the side gate. This is also for staff only. Use of the carpark and gate is a safety concern as this area is not supervised by staff and is not safe for children to be moving in and out of this space. Thanks everyone for your understanding. The safety of our children is our highest priority.

Staying connected...

If, at any time, you have any concerns or worries about your child's wellbeing, learning, or friendships, please do not hesitate to have a chat with your child's teacher as your first point of contact. If you have other concerns, please feel free to touch base with our wonderful admin team, a member of school leadership, or myself. For more serious concerns, I encourage you to please reach out by either making an appointment through the office to see me, or contacting me directly via email.

With warmest regards and blessings to you all,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

Worlds Greatest Shave