Dear Parents and Guardians,

I cannot believe how quickly this term is going. The students have been working hard and I continue to be impressed with the high standard of learning and teaching at St Joseph the Worker. I would also like to commend our students on their excellent efforts when playing with friends outside on the yard. I am pleased with how students are working together to resolve challenges and support each other when playing games.

Please keep our Year 3 students in your prayers as they are currently preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday, 29th March.

Staff Update

We welcome two new staff members to our community; Imogen Rees will be teaching Music and supporting our choir/instrumental groups on Monday and Thursday. We will also be welcoming a new school counsellor to our school later this month, Sahithi Chintakunta will begin working with our students in Term 2, working onsite every Friday.

Two students from Parade College are also working at school every Tuesday. Xavier and James are working with Cara as part of their VCAL Sports Development Program at Parade College. This is a wonderful opportunity for Xavier and James to work alongside Cara and learn the skills required to be successful at PE. It is also a wonderful opportunity for our school to support Parade College and its students.

COVID-19 Update

We continue to have small numbers of students and staff isolating as close contacts. These low numbers have been achieved because all of you are working together and following our COVID-Safe rules. I am so grateful to everyone as this means we can continue to focus on teaching and learning again here at school. Thank you everyone.

COVID safe reminders:

We recommend that all parents test their children on Sunday evenings and Tuesday evenings or a time that is convenient to you
If your child tests positive, please notify the school as soon as possible (this can be done on the SkoolBag app - Absentee eForm)
Students who report a positive result must isolate for seven days and not attend school during that period
Where a student is a household contact of a positive case (that is, they have spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID-19 inside a house or accommodation) they must inform the school and isolate for seven days and not attend school during that period
Parents are reminded that when they come into the school office for any reason that they are required to wear masks and provide proof of vaccination.

Please note: At school, we still have to limit all indoor activities to the smallest possible cohort size and practise physical distancing. Currently, we cannot have parents or members of the public attend these indoor events.

Liturgies and sacramental celebrations that are held by Parishes in Parish churches, have different attendance and COVID-19 rules to schools.

Working together

Moving forward we hope to plan events that involve our parent community. We would like to welcome all families to any future planned events however, as per our current rules, parents onsite must adhere to covid safe requirements including vaccination, physical distancing, face mask requirements, cough etiquette and good hand hygiene. Please note that l would not ever want to exclude people from any school event, however l am required to follow the guidelines.

To ensure compliance with our covid safe requirements, we have updated our Vpass sign in system in the front office to include vaccination status. Parents attending onsite to visit or volunteer will be required to sign in and show their status except in the following limited exemptions:

• when attending to administer medical treatment to their own child when the treatment cannot be administered by the school

• when attending to collect their child who is unwell and cannot leave the school building unaccompanied by their parent/carer

• when attending for a momentary period that does not involve any sustained contact with staff or students, for example, to collect a completed art project, collecting a packet of rapid antigen test or similar.

Proof of vaccination can be checked by scanning your a COVID-19 digital certificate (Service Victoria app or smartphone wallet) via the Vpass system.

Community safety

Thank you to all the families who have followed my request not to leave cars when dropping off students in the morning. This simple request ensures a quick stop and drop procedure. It also ensures that students requiring parent support to leave their car, are assisted safely without disturbing other families.

A friendly reminder to families picking up children at the end of the day to not walk up the driveway. Please use the pedestrian path near the church as this is safe from moving cars. Thank you for your support with this as working together will ensure the safety of all.

Parent Helpers Course

With the easing of restrictions, we are cautiously inviting parents to assist at school. We will be holding a parent induction session for any parent who would like to assist as a volunteer in classrooms this year. Attendance is compulsory if you wish to help as you will learn about the roles and responsibilities and expected behaviours of volunteers who work with children in our school. To attend these sessions, you must be vaccinated and show proof of vaccination on entry. We also ask all parents to wear a mask whilst on site. Further information regarding date and time of this session will be forwarded to families next week.

3 way conversations

Our 3 way conversations are scheduled for Tuesday, 5th April. These conversations will take place online via MS teams. Students will be dismissed at 1.15pm and meetings will commence at 2.00pm and conclude at 7.20pm. Please note that Theircare will be running from 1.15pm. Further information regarding this will be shared closer to this event.

Parent Education Session

A friendly reminder to all parents that you are invited to attend an information session online on Wednesday 23rd March. This information session has a focus on cyberbullying and cyber safety. Further information can be found further on in the newsletter

2023 Prep Enrolments

We have already had a considerable number of enrolment applications for Prep in 2023. I encourage families who have a child they wish to enrol for next year to submit an enrolment application ASAP. Existing families are guaranteed a place, but you must submit an enrolment form. Please download the enrolment documents from our website or collect a pack from the office. We have school tours commencing next Wednesday for new families only. It is not necessary for existing families to attend the school tours.

We ask St Joseph the Worker to continue to bless our community

Maria Barnes

A Lenten Prayer

Loving God, you are with us always.

Bless us as we travel on this Lenten journey.

Bless our minds so that we may think of you. Show us how to think of others.

Bless our eyes so that we may see the good things in our lives.

Bless our ears so that we may hear your word and truly live it.

Bless our hands so that we may be willing to help and support others.

Bless our feet so that we may be willing to walk in another’s shoes.

Bless our hearts so that we may know your love and show it to others.

Amen