Dear Parents,

Congratulations to our 2022 STEM winners. We are so proud of Maddie, Ava, Lily, Abi and Luella who have won awards in the STEM MAD (Make a Difference) showcase 2022.

The students applied their inquiry knowledge to explore real-life issues and practise purposeful problem-solving. Each student's project aimed to make a local or global difference. The students had to present their awards to not only a panel of judges but also several leading people from universities and STEM-related industries.

Maddie S and Ava R won the Innovation in Communication Award from MACS for their ecosystem project

Lily M won the Curators Award for her Girls in STEM project

Abi Sanderson was a finalist for her Life on Mars investigation

Luella won the best innovation for conservation award from Zoo’s Victoria.

The STEM Team will now attend the Nationals on Tuesday the 6th of September.

Thanks to Kate, Sue, Kaycee and Justine for supporting the team.

Congratulations to our Lions Quiz team who battled it out in the annual academic competition against other local schools. I was so proud of their courage, grit and brilliance on the night. Thank you to Kerry Colliver for preparing the students and all of the staff and parents who came along on the night to cheer our team on.

Congratulations to our Years 3-6 on a wonderful effort at the Parish Sports last Thursday. It was such a wonderful community day and I thank all of the parents for coming along to support our students. Thanks to Emily Reed for her excellent organisation of the event.

This week's wellbeing focus is on: belonging, using our character strengths and building our skills of positive self talk. We aim to ensure every student in our school uses their character strengths in positive ways. By providing an extensive range of extra curricula activities we ensure every student can shine in their strengths.

Click above to view slideshow

The Directors news this week highlights current mental health and wellbeing status and the need for schools to have a high priority on this most important area coming out of a significant period of difficulty for many.

School leaders and teachers are acutely aware of these issues and are working to address them, both explicitly and implicitly, to support a strong culture of wellbeing in schools where all stakeholders are working together to improve wellbeing.

In all that we do in schools, we are hoping for students to maximise their learning opportunities and feel a sense of connection and belonging, which supports their overall wellbeing.

A sense of belonging also drives academic motivation to support effective learning. When a student feels they belong they feel safe, accepted, respected and included.These are strong foundations from which learning can occur.

Educators, parents, caregivers and children and young people themselves all have a role to play as part of a whole-school approach to the mental health and wellbeing of all students, as we navigate through 2022 and beyond.

At St Joseph’s we will do this by ensuring we have a culture where students feel their voices are genuinely invited, heard and responded to improves well being and a culture of child safety. Increased accountability and ownership help promote confidence, voice and curiosity.

We have a wonderful staff team who are dedicated, committed and go above and beyond to ensure every student in our school is supported to shine and flourish and soar for excellence in all that they do.

We have an extensive Leadership team that lead and support our staff, students and parents. Each member of the leadership team has a specific area of expertise that they lead. We have six leaders out of the classroom leading our school to great heights.

Our model of collaborative leadership has been a wonderful strength for our school over the past two years. Leaders have continued to build their leadership capacity and it has allowed many other young leaders to emerge. I am in the school every day working in collaboration with my wonderful team.

This allows me to focus on the Principal role where I am across every decision, innovation and daily activity that occurs in our school. In the past being a small school I held many roles including leading faith, wellbeing and adjustments in the school. With our expanded leadership model I am now able to focus on the Principal role of leading our school and feel privileged to work with such a amazing community here at St. Joseph’s.

Please come and make an appointment at any time to discuss your child’s learning and any aspect of our wonderful school. I am passionate about our beautiful school and look forward to continuing to work with you in partnership,

Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting our team in the newsletter and on social media so please make sure you read all of the newsletter and like our official facebook and instagram pages to see all that we are achieving in our wonderful school.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

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