PRINCIPAL'S NEWS

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE...

the way they were.... Prep, 2016

SCHOOL CONCERT

What an amazing evening we all enjoyed last Wednesday at our School Christmas Concert.  

* THANK YOU to our star performers - our students!

* THANK YOU to our staff for their support on the night and the preparation of the students!

* THANK YOU to our families who filled the Polding Centre at Santa Maria - your attendance and support for our children was overwhelming!

* THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the AMAZING Georgie Finnigan.  As I said on the night, Georgie is a super impressive young teacher who, in her first term of teaching, took on board a whole school performance.  She choreographed, wrote lyrics and rehearsed with the children which resulted in a very polished performance.  We are very lucky to have Georgie on our team and I thank her for providing our community with such an entertaining and enjoyable evening.

STAFFING 2023

Over the past two newsletters I have provided information about our staffing for 2023.  It has been very remiss of me that I failed to mention Bridget Sim.  Bridget joined us to replace Ashlyn in the seniors for the last two terms of this year.  She came to us 'on loan' from St Margaret Mary's in Maribyrnong, and will be returning there next year.

Bridget has been a huge asset to our staff over this semester.  She is a gifted teacher with an undoubtedly very successful career ahead of her.  The care that she has shown to the students in her class has been genuine and heart-felt and we all wish her every success as she moves forward and continues to blossom as a teacher.

We will miss you Bridget!!

MOVING UP DAY

Tomorrow we will be having our 'Moving Up Morning' at which the children will be meeting their 2023 teacher and classmates.  On this day your child will bring home a note detailing their teacher for next year.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL / FINAL ASSEMBLY etc etc

Our last assembly for the year will be held on Friday morning, December 16, at the regular time of 8:50am. At this assembly we will acknowledge the teachers who are leaving us and our departing year six students.  

At 1:25pm on Friday the children will gather in the undercroft and the year sixes, for the last time, will lead us in our end of term countdown.

On this day children may wear casual clothes.

FINAL THANK YOU...

I would like to thank each and every member of the St Joey's staff for their professionalism, their dedication to the craft of teaching and their commitment to the children in their care.  Their patience is unending, their enthusiasm contageous and their desire to provide the best education for our students is to be commended.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank the staff who are retiring and stepping aside from the profession - Jenelle Thornton, Tess Parton and Steph Vlahos.  I thank them for their dedication to the St Joseph’s community, and for the wonderful times they have shared with the children. They will be sorely missed and I wish them all the best for the new beginnings that they will be embracing in 2023. Thank you also to Lauren Taffe, Angela Stamellos and Bridget Sim; I hope that you are all professionally rewarded in your new schools and continue to bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the children with whom you encounter. 

I would especially like to thank Fiona Ehmer for the tremendous support she has provided to me in the role of Deputy Principal over the last three years.  Her ability to wear so many hats and be the ‘go to person’ for so many people never ceases to amaze me!  I thank her for her sage advice, and her camerarderie and look forward to continuing to work with her in her role as Learning Diversity Leader next year.

To the members of our School Advisory Council (SAC) - thank you for your commitment to St Joseph's and for your advice and support throughout the year.  A special thanks to our retiring members; Jody Uren, Sarah Whyte, Louise Amad and Vanessa Lania.  Your input to our Marketing Strategy and Master Plan Committees has been hugely appreciated!  I welcome to the SAC; Fatima Chaudhry, Raffaela Arico and Jane Patterson, we look forward to you joining us in 2023.  Candice Barlow will continue in the role of Chairperson in 2023 - I thank Candice for her support and her constructive and timely advice.

Thank you lastly to you, our most wonderful, most vibrant, most supportive school community, especially those who have volunteered to be Class Reps and members of the Social Club.  On behalf of all the staff I thank you all for your support throughout the year. We are privileged to work in a school where families work together with us to create the brilliant community that is St Joey's.  My heartfelt thanks to you all for another highly successful year.

Child Safe Standards

On 1 July 2022, 11 new Victorian Child Safe Standards came into effect for schools.  To meet the new Child Safe Standards, we have built on our existing child safety strategies, policies and practices to strengthen our school’s culture of child safety and protect children and young people from abuse.

The 11 Child Safe Standards are listed on the 'Child Safe Standards' section of this newsletter.  This week I would like to take the opportunity to highlight how we at St Joseph's have promoted Child Safe Standard 10.

11. Implementation of child safety practices – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

At St Josephs, we are firmly committed to reviewing and improving child safe standards. As part of the annual report to the community this includes a report on how child safe standards have been reviewed and improved where practical at St Joseph's. Staff are given the opportunity at yearly staff meetings to review child safety and wellbeing policies and procedures.