Principal's Report
Carly Avery
Dear Parents and Friends,
Thank you to those parents who were able to attend our Shrove Tuesday Breakfast this week. It is fantastic to see some familiar activities occurring again. We were also able to raise $150 for Caritas Australia.
As the international aid and development agency of the Australian Catholic Church, Caritas is driven by social justice and the dignity of every person. They work with local communities in Australia and overseas, listening to concerns, assessing needs and working with partners on locally-led development programs.
Our students also attended an Ash Wednesday liturgy this morning led by Father Mike. We hope to finalise a date for a beginning of year mass shortly.
Staffing Update
I can now share with you that Eleanor Rodda will be joining our staff in the coming weeks. All going to plan, she will begin on Monday 21st March.
Eleanor is currently employed at Belvoir in Wodonga, where she works as a classroom teacher and curriculum/ unit leader. She comes to us with strong recommendations and as a bonus is Sounds-Write trained. We are excited and lucky to be welcoming Eleanor to St. Joseph's.
In the meantime, Markeeta Green will continue to work in the Foundation/ Year One classrooms, with Bianca Vescio. We are lucky to have Markeeta step into this role, and I thank her and Bianca for their work in the junior classrooms.
I would like to thank Glendah Halliday for stepping into the intervention role for this period of time.
Student Lunch Boxes
I have heard many parents comment on the amount of food children ate whilst at home during lockdowns. This is also a side effect we are noticing at school. We encourage parents to remind children, as classroom teachers are, about portioning food for different eating breaks. Some parents have compartments, others are labelling food etc. Teachers are noticing that students are very hungry at 11.30 am eating break and that by lunch have no food left. Teachers will continue to work with students on portioning of food, we appreciate your support at home. Our eating breaks are as follows:
- 10:00 am- Fruit Snack
- 11:30 am- Eating Break
- 1:30 pm- Eating Break
School Uniforms
Now that we have settled into term one and school routines I will be following up with students not in the correct uniform. Wearing a uniform demonstrates belonging to a group and pride in being part of that group. It also encourages students to develop organisational skills. I ask that parents support students with wearing the correct uniform. (Please see school notices for our uniform list.)
We ask that on occasions where students are out of uniform (Birthdays aside) that a note be written or email sent for classroom teachers.