Principal News

Week 1, Term 3

Dear families, 

Welcome back! It’s been wonderful to hear stories of how members of our community spent the break, whether soaking up the sun in warmer places, enjoying a few well-earned sleep-ins or relaxing with a trip to the movies. No matter how the holidays were spent, it’s clear that everyone has returned to Term 3 rested, recharged and ready for another fantastic semester of learning and growth. 

It has been an incredibly settled first week back and our staff could not be happier with how the students have transitioned back to school. We’ve certainly hit the ground running and are straight back into our teaching and learning program. There is so much to look forward to this term, including the P–2 Scienceworks excursion, Beachside Mixed AFL finals, P–3 Karate incursion, Run Club, Year 6 Sacrament of Confirmation, 100 Days of Prep, Beachside Girls Soccer finals, Year 5/6 Hoop Time, Book Week and dress-up parade, HOLT Athletics for Years 3–6, the Father’s Day stall, breakfast and assembly, and of course, the highlight of the term, our Mary Poppins JR production. See below for further details on how the show is coming together. 

St Joseph’s P&F Cocktail Party

Tickets are available for the ‘St Josephitz Apres Ski’ Fundraiser. The event is being held at the Elwood Bowls Club on Saturday 2nd August from 7.00pm (next weekend). 

Purchase your tickets here: https://www.trybooking.com/DBYQO. 

The incredible year level art pieces will be auctioned off on the night, in addition to the ever-popular ‘Principal For The Day’. This special auction item allows your child or children to assume the role of Principal for the day - greeting families at the gate, running school assembly, touring the classrooms and having a very important business lunch with myself and Mr Hartney. All monies raised from this event will go towards upgrading our outdoor play spaces for our wonderful students. We look forward to seeing you there. 

School Uniform

We remind our families that students should be dressed in their full winter school uniform. A list of uniform expectations can be found on our school website (scroll down for Uniform). In particular, we remind families that the long sleeve shirt or polo is the only option for the Winter uniform. Students are able to wear the short-sleeve PE top on their scheduled PE day/s. Wearing the correct school uniform promotes a sense of belonging, equality and pride in our school and we thank our families for their support.

School Production - Mary Poppins JR

Preparations are beginning to 'ramp up' for our highly anticipated school production, Mary Poppins JR. We extend our sincere thanks to Miss Mclean, Miss Dunk and Mr Hayes for their efforts during the term break to conduct rehearsals for the main cast, ensuring that momentum is maintained. 

We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the many parent volunteers who attended the prop working bee during the holidays, coordinated by Miss Mclean. The level of support has been truly overwhelming, and we are incredibly grateful for the time and energy our families have dedicated to bringing our production to life.

We particularly want to thank Paul Bozic who has constructed many of the sets in his spare time. They are simply amazing. 

The School Production is always such a highlight for our students, as it is a wonderful opportunity for celebration and self-expression. For some children, being given the opportunity to perform on stage can be life changing. As the show begins to come together we encourage our families to enjoy the journey, mark the date on your calendars (as tickets are limited and in high demand), and stay tuned for further information. 

NAPLAN Results

This week we received our school’s NAPLAN results, and we are delighted to celebrate the strong performance of our Year 3 and Year 5 students across all key learning areas. These results are a testament to the commitment of our students and staff to high-quality teaching and learning. We remind families that NAPLAN provides a valuable complement to teacher assessments and reports by offering a comparison of student achievement at a state and national level. At St Joseph’s, we use this data to track student progress over time and to inform the ongoing development of our teaching and learning programs. It is important to note that NAPLAN represents a snapshot of student performance at a single point in time and it is one of many assessment tools we use to understand each learner’s progress. Teachers at St Joseph’s assess literacy and numeracy skills regularly and in a variety of ways, and this broader evidence continues to guide our approach to supporting every student. Individual NAPLAN reports were sent home with the Year 3 and 5 students today. If you have any questions regarding your child’s results, please don’t hesitate to contact your child's classroom teacher.

Year 6 Sacrament of Confirmation 

We are very much looking forward to celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation with our Year 6 students on Thursday August 7th at 5pm (Term 3, Week 3). This special occasion marks an important step in their faith journey, and we know it will be a deeply meaningful evening for them, their families and our wider school community. All members of the St Joseph’s community are warmly invited to attend this celebration and join us in supporting our students. Bishop Tony Ireland will be the celebrant on the night, and we are grateful for his continued support, along with Father Leenus. 

On Wednesday evening our Year 6 students and families gathered with Father Elio Capra as part of their faith formation journey. We sincerely thank Miss Shanahan, Mr Jansson and Mr Sandler for their thoughtful preparation of the students in the lead-up to this sacrament.

Division Finals Interschool Football

Our Year 6 Mixed AFL team played in the next round of competition today at Centenary Park. This level of competition requires the students to play AFL9s, a change from the previous level of competition. The competition was incredibly tough but, as always, our staff came back beaming with pride at how well the students represented our school and in the way they conducted themselves. We thank Mr Jansson and Glenn Morrisey for coaching our team for the 2025 season. 

Planning for 2026

As we begin preparations for the 2026 school year, we kindly ask that families notify us if their child/children will not be returning to St Joseph’s next year. We have received a number of enrolment enquiries in recent weeks and currently have waiting lists operating across most year levels. Having an accurate understanding of our student numbers helps us plan effectively and secure appropriate funding for the coming school year. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.

Term 3 Assemblies

Little Gems

St Joseph's goes international. George, Archer and Georgia (Year 6) bumped into each other while watching the sunset in Santorini! 

Spelling and Maths success in Year 1 and 2. Congratulations Luca, Charlotte, Abi and Monique!

Charlotte (Year 2) brough in her special Mary Poppins book to show Miss Mclean. 

Luka (Prep) and Maxim (Year 1) went to see the rugby and Maxim was gifted a signed jersey! How lucky is he! 

Year 3 have been learning about National Reconciliation Week and produced these beautiful posters that they are very proud of. 

A mobile phone with a black cover was handed in to the school office. If someone in your family has lost one, please see Fiona next week. 

Thank you for helping to make our first week back such a success. Wishing our families a wonderful weekend. 

We look forward to seeing everyone at the P&F Cocktail Party next weekend! 

Claire Tobin

Principal