Principal's News   

Dear St Joseph’s Families,

The excitement is building for what will be a very exciting week at St Joseph’s! We look forward to our biennial Art Show, our very treasured Grandparents’ Morning, and the Sacrament of Confirmation to end the week.

Throughout the week, our students will have wonderful opportunities for rich learning, creativity and spiritual growth. In addition, these special community events provide valuable opportunities to bring our staff, students, families and parish community together, strengthening the connections that make St Joseph’s such a special place to learn, grow and belong.

We look forward to sharing this very special week with you all!

Only 5 sleeps to our St Joseph's Art Show!

Pictured above -  creative artist Hugo (Year 1) whose design was chosen to promote our Art Show!

Art Show – Celebration of the Arts

The excitement is building as we get closer to next week’s Celebration of the Arts! We look forward to welcoming our students and families to this very special event, which celebrates the creativity, imagination and artistic talents of our students. Please see our Ms Marta Cummings’ page in this week’s newsletter for further information and all the details about the event.

A very special thank you to our amazing Art Teacher Ms Cummings and our wonderful Art Show team, who have been working so hard behind the scenes, with the support of our teaching staff, to bring this event to life. We are also incredibly grateful to our P&F and the generous parents who have supported the Art Show workshops, assisted with the silent auction and helped bring 'Art in the Dark' to life. We appreciate your time, enthusiasm and generosity so much!

Funds raised will contribute towards purchasing new art supplies and equipment, improving our Art Room, and supporting our major P&F fundraising initiative: resurfacing the school oval to include two soccer pitches and a running track.

We look forward to seeing all our students and families come together next week to celebrate the arts and share in this wonderful community event. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making it possible!

Year 6 Captains Fundraiser - Crazy Sock Day!

This morning, our students (and staff) had lots of fun showing off their craziest and most colourful socks for Crazy Sock Day! A big thank you to our Year 6 Captains, Cooper and Xavier, for organising this wonderful fundraiser in support of Socktober and Catholic Mission. It was a great opportunity for our students to come together, have fun and make a meaningful difference by supporting children and families in Malawi through access to essential food, clean water and education. Please take some time to read Ms DeVisser's page in this week's newsletter where you will find more information about this very special event.

Pip on stage at the Regent Theatre!

We were absolutely delighted to celebrate Pip in Year 5, who performed in the Stuttgart Ballet’s production of Sleeping Beauty, presented by The Australian Ballet at the beautiful Regent Theatre this week.

This was a tremendous achievement and a wonderful recognition of Pip’s talent, dedication and hard work. Pip was cast in the roles of Young Aurora and a Dwarf, performing across the week alongside dancers from the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet and The Australian Ballet.

Ms Isabelle Freeman, Ms Lauren O’Grady, Ms Kirsten Daw and myself had the pleasure of watching Pip perform on stage at the magnificent Regent Theatre. We were incredibly proud to see her shine in such a special production and share in this exciting milestone in her dancing journey.

Congratulations, Pip! What an amazing opportunity and a wonderful achievement. We are so proud of you!

Year 5/6 Class Liturgy and Open Book

This week our senior students hosted their Class Liturgy and Open Book event, providing a wonderful opportunity for families of or Year 5 and 6 stduents to come together in prayer, reflection and celebration.

It was a joy to see our senior students leading their liturgy with their families and classmates. These moments highlight not only their growing confidence and sense of responsibility, but also the importance of faith and community in the life of our school.

Following the liturgies, it was so lovely to see the 5/6 classroom filled with families joining children in celebrating and exploring learning from last term. The children proudly and enthusiastically shared their learning achievements. 

We are grateful to the families who joined the 5/6 class. We thank Ms O'Grady and Ms Daws for their ongoing care and support for our senior students. The Class Liturgies and Open Book events were a beautiful reminder of the strong partnership between home and school, and of the wonderful learning, faith and growth that take place across our school community.

Second-Hand Sustainable Uniform Shop

A huge thank you to our superstar parents - Bryony, Angela, Annie and Simone for generously giving their time to run our Second-Hand Sustainable Uniform Shop on tow morning across this week - today and on Wednesday, particularly in support of our new Prep families. Across the two days, the shop raised an incredible $1,155! We are so grateful for your time, generosity and commitment to supporting our school community and making our sustainable uniform shop such a success.

Volunteer Induction

A big thank you to our Wellbeing Leader, Ms Georgie Carman, for running another of our Volunteer Induction sessions this week for parents and carers wishing to volunteer at St Joseph’s. It is wonderful to be able to offer these sessions regularly, reflecting the strength of our engaged and supportive school community. The sessions provide important information and guidance, particularly around child safety and our shared responsibility to ensure all children feel safe and protected at school. Thank you to all the parents and carers who have enthusiastically attended and participated in these sessions. We are so grateful for your willingness to give your time and contribute so positively to our school community!

Prep 2027 Orientation – Wednesday 14 October

Our second Prep Orientation session will be held next Wednesday, 14 October, from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. We look forward to welcoming our 2027 Prep children and sharing another wonderful morning of exploring, connecting and becoming familiar with our school supported by our Prep teachers Ms Niki Liolios and Ms Chloe Nashed.

School Assembly

It was so lovely to come together this morning for our whole-school assembly, and wonderful to have so many families - parents, carers, grandparents and friends - join us in prayer and to recognise the achievements of our students throughout the week.

This week, our school captains, Xavier and Cooper, shared their school-wide initiative, ‘Crazy Sock Day’, and explained the purpose behind it. They should be very proud of the way they communicated this morning, leading our school with fun and purpose.

We celebrated our STAR Award recipients, recognising the wonderful achievements of our students throughout the week. We also celebrated the birthdays of students from this week and last week, singing in both Italian and English! We recognised Hadriel, who received his Principal’s Award from Term 3, and Harry B who achieved 1st place in the 200m Beachside Competition and has qualified for Regionals!

As a school community we proudly sang our National Anthem- it is just so lovely to hear the children singing so beautifully and with so much pride joined by our parents and carers.

 It was also my absolute pleasure to introduce Jono as this week’s Principal’s ‘Who Am I?’. It was lovely to learn more about Jono - now we all know that he loves Carlton, especially Sam Walsh, his favourite food is watermelon, and he loves watching trains. At school, he loves Trading Fridays, where he enjoys trading his ooshies and footy cards. Congratulations to Otis in Year 3, who was the first to guess Jono from all the clues, although many hands went up! While only in his first year of Prep, Jono has many St Joseph’s friends who already know a lot about him!

What's On This Term...

Please take a look at our Term 4 Calendar of Events on our 'Important Dates' page in this week's newsletter.

School Closure Days

Please make a note of our school closure days for this term. These dates have been marked on our family calendar, as well as in our school newsletter's calendar of events. 

Our school will be closed on:

Sacrament of Confirmation

We are looking forward to celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation with our senior students on Friday 23 October at St Mary's Church Malvern East.  This is a very special occasion in their faith journey, as they take the next step in confirming their commitment to the Catholic faith. In preparation for this important sacrament, our students will participate in a Retreat Day this Sunday, 18th October, where they will spend time in reflection, prayer, and discussion, about the meaning of Confirmation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We thank our Religious Education Leader, Donnella DeVisser, our senior teachers, Fr Gallacher and the parish team for their support and guidance as our students prepare for this significant milestone. We pray for the children who will be making their Confirmation next week.

Invitation to Grandparents and Special Friends Day

We warmly invite our grandparents and special friends to join us for our annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Liturgy and Celebration on Friday, 23 October.

This special morning is a beautiful celebration of the love, care and guidance that grandparents and other special people bring to our children’s lives. It is an opportunity to come together as a community, give thanks for these treasured relationships and celebrate the important role they play in nurturing and supporting our children.

This day is always a highlight of our school community, and we look forward to sharing this special occasion with our grandparents and special friends.

Please see the schedule below for the morning’s activities. A heartfelt thank you to Ms Donnella DeVisser and our wonderful P&F, who together are organising such a lovely morning to celebrate these very special members of our families. We also thank the parents and carers who have kindly and generously volunteered to help on the morning and make it an exceptionally special occasion for our grandparents and special friends.

We encourage families to share the details of this upcoming event with their loved ones. We look forward to welcoming everyone for a wonderful morning of connection, gratitude and celebration!

School Advisory Council Meeting

Last night, we held our School Advisory Council meeting, providing a valuable opportunity for thoughtful discussion and collaboration focused on school improvement and the ongoing growth of our St Joseph’s community. Our conversations included the impact of the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement on our school’s planning or 2027, class structures for 2027, school fees and a range of other important school improvement initiatives.

I sincerely thank our School Advisory Council members for their time, thoughtful contributions and ongoing commitment to St Joseph’s. I truly value their advice, support and counsel, and am grateful for the important role they play in helping us reflect, plan and continue to strengthen our school community for the benefit of our students and families.

What's On Next Week...

Staying Connected...

Together we work in partnership to support and nurture the children at St Joseph's. If 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, or a member of our school leadership team. For more serious concerns, I encourage you to reach out to me directly.

With warmest regards,

Annabelle Marinelli

Principal 

annabelle.marinelli@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au