Dear Parents,

We invite all of our community to our whole school Mass this Friday at 2pm in the hall. Our wonderful year 2 students will lead the Mass.

I have been most impressed with the learning that has been occurring in every learning community. At St Joseph’s teachers engage in an ongoing cycle of learning and teaching. This cycle is driven by the evidence and data that teachers collect about each student. To ensure teachers are engaging all students at their appropriate level, they collect evidence and data from a number of sources. Sue Jackson our Deputy of Learning has highlighted this in her section of the newsletter. She has also highlighted the upcoming Naplan tests which is a one point in time test. Naplan will commence on March 15th. Please read further information in the learning section of the newsletter- link to learning page

I was fortunate to attend a wonderful Indigenous conference with other staff in the grounds of the beautiful Balnarring Community Common. The speakers, the presentations and the wonderful people attending really highlighted how important our work is in this area.

We are proud to be connected to Balnarring Pre- school and the Bunjil nest project. What a wow factor! The work that Karen and Jan from Balnarring Pre- School have done in this space is simply inspiring. We have been involved now since 2015 with many staff from our school attending meetings and forming strong partnerships as we strive to ensure we continue to be lifelong learners- learning to learn, partnering to learn and collaborating to learn.

N’arweet Carolyn Briggs AM a Yaluk-ut Weelam and Boon Wurrung elder, and the Boon Wurrung representative in the City of Port Phillip spoke at the conference. Carolyn spoke on Saturday about connection to our local land, about relationships with our Indigenous people and about the importance of the sacred story of our land.

She spoke about the need for us to know ourselves and understand how we belong. She highlighted the importance of community and respect for all. Our big question over the last four years of “Who am I? How do I belong, connect and grow” is just so important for each and everyone of us. In particular we highlight the journey of our first people over the past 200 years and work with them to know they are highly valued and respected.

Our Bunjil nest project, our Sea is our Best Friend project and our Cafe initiative are all ways we connect with community, we respect our land and we strive to ensure our students are passionate advocates for our environment, our first people and most importantly themselves.

We wish all of our senior students participating in the District swimming carnival this Thursday all the very best.

We have our School Advisory Council meeting this Wednesday night. I look forward to the privilege of working with our advisory council members to co create the conditions for all members of our community to flourish and shine throughout 2023.

Finally, we will be having a snake drill Tuesday. There was a suspected snake seen on our grounds. This was not confirmed however we will take every precaution and take our students through an emergency drill to ensure they are all equipped with the required steps if they did happen to see a snake.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

Year Two Mass...