Loving God,

Open our eyes to see the vision that you have for each of us, and lead us to grow in confidence in who we are, and in the faith that you call each of us by name.

Show us how to live in such a way that we respect and accept others for who they are, and do not judge them as we ourselves do not want to be judged.

Inspire us to be generous in praising others and in showing appreciation for their achievements.

Amen.

(Acting) Principal's Message

Dear Families,

St Joseph's staff hope that everyone had a restful Easter break and even if you didn't manage to get a lot of time off work, you were able to enjoy the long weekends that we were lucky to have.

We've hit the ground running for term 2, with preparation for Reconciliation for our year 3 students, Lightning Premiership soccer for our 3-6 students and Mrs. Bowen getting the blood pumping with her dance lessons on Friday afternoon.

As mentioned in an Operoo prior to the beginning of term, Liam Buckley took some time to visit his family in the UK over Easter, something that has proven difficult to do in the last two years. We will welcome Liam back for the second week of term, next week.

Thank you to the P&F committee who are once again going above and beyond to help add those special touches to our Athletics Carnival next week, Mother's Day and a number of events scheduled for the term.

We're also pushing hard to bring more enrolments into our school, so if you see a space that looks like it needs a St Joseph's poster, then let us know and we'll provide some St Joseph's propaganda for you to post around the community.

👫👬👭 P&F 👭👬 👫

WE NEED YOU!

The last P&F meeting was Tuesday 26th April, and while we had our usual dedicated members in attendance we would love to see some more community members coming along. We encourage as many members of the community to get involved with the P&F as it is the most effective ways to have some agency in school run events. Not only that, but it's a great way to meet other parents in the community.

Please see all events for Term 2 on the P&F page!!

Student reports and parents teacher meetings:

Student reports will be sent home on Friday 17th June with Parent Teacher meetings happening across Wednesday and Thursday of 22nd and 23rd of June. We will be in touch with details near the time.

😊 Creating Toys in Foundation

Last term, we were learning about different push and pull forces. We explored, investigated, designed and finally, created toys that could push or pull. Thank you to our Grade 5/6 buddies for their help in creating our toys!

🏫 Open Days

We will continue to host Open Days in Term 2 - please encourage anyone you know to visit if they are looking for a great school next year.

They will be on Thursday mornings 19th May - 9th June between 9am - 11am, but personalised tours are available through the office any day of the week.

🦘 Junior Joeys

We are back!!

We are inviting parents and pre-schoolers to visit St Joseph's on Wednesday afternoons on the following dates between 2.30pm - 3.30pm:

Please let friends and neighbours know if they are looking for a school for 2023.

It's an informal and fun way to visit St Joseph's and meet some staff and children.

Junior Joeys Term 2
Wednesday 2.30pm - 3.30pm	11th May
Wednesday 2.30pm - 3.30pm	18th May
Wednesday 2.30pm - 3.30pm	25th May
Wednesday 2.30pm - 3.30pm	1st June
Wednesday 2.30pm - 3.30pm	8th June

💻 Coding Club

We're excited to host CodeCamp on Thursdays after school starting 11th May. It's a great opportunity for the children to have some fun with friends while building their capacity in coding and STEM. Also, think of that extra time you can have catching up on emails, work phone calls and housework while they're out of the house after school - it's a no brainer!

📆 Save the date:

Term 2
Athletics Carnival	Wed May 4th
Reconciliation Family Night	Thurs May 5th @ 6:00pm
Mother's Day Mass	Fri May 6th
Mother's Day Breakfast	Fri May 6th
NAPLAN (Years 3 & 5)	10th - 12th May
Sacrament of Reconciliation	Wed 11th May

Other dates:

School Closure dates (non student days) :
June 20th 2022 (Monday last week of Term 2)
October 28th (Friday before Melb Cup weekend)
Nov 1st (Melbourne Cup Day)

Sacraments
Reconciliation	Wednesday May 11th (10am after parish Mass)
First Communion	Wednesday 20th July 6pm
Confirmation	Friday August 19th 5.30pm

🥋 Karate

Check out the website for bookings if you are interested.

linkhttps://www.allstarsdefence.com.au/st-josephs-blackrock

💃 Dance Lessons

Week 1 saw our first Dance sessions with Mrs. Bowen. Even though a lot of our students were at soccer, everyone had a great time moving to the beat and rhythm of the songs and shaking their hips, skipping and grooving with their friends.

As the term goes on, each class will learn a dance routine to perform to parents at the end of term - can't wait!

⚽ Soccer Lightning Premiership

On Friday our Year 5/6 students, backed up by our 3s and 4s ventured to Caulfield Park to take part in the Holt Soccer Lightning Premiership. We fielded a girls and a boys team on the day, led by Ms Sullivan, Mrs Phyland and with the expert help of Brett Bennett.

Our teams were a fair bit younger than their opponents, but what they lacked in size and experience, they made up for in persistence, courage and sportsmanship.

While a shield or trophy eluded us this time, the experience means that our 3 year plan to completely dominate the Holt district in all sports is underway and on track.

🤔 NAPLAN

In week 3 (Tues 10th to Wed 12th May), our year 3 and 5 students will be participating in NAPLAN testing. While at St Joseph's we hope that our student perform well, one of the biggest prerequisites for success is relaxed and calm students.

We have been slowly preparing the year 3s and 5s for the tests by running some online trials (the tests are online this year) and providing strategies for answering questions they are unsure about.

What can you do at home I hear you ask...? Reassure your child(ren) that while it does seem like a big deal because it's in the news and people talk about it a lot, ultimately it is just a snapshot in time. The purpose is to gain a broader, national perspective on the education system as a whole. Our school based assessments tell us much more about how the children are learning and what their next steps need to be.

🤤 ONLINE LUNCH ORDERS ~ EVERY FRIDAY

Please click on this link to place a lunch order https://www.classroomcuisine.com.

RE

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION