Principal's Page

Dear Parents and Carers,

Tomorrow, families will receive the Grade Curriculum Notes for Term 2. These are designed to be a support to you in engaging with your child's learning and to provide a brief outline of the content for the term. Teachers are always happy to talk with you if you have any questions about the Grade Curriculum Note,  especially our new Kindergarten parents.

Better teaching practices for student writing

This term, teachers are working together to improve their practice in the teaching of writing. Before undertaking new learning in writing this term, students have been involved in a writing immersion before writing a text of their own. This writing sample is an assessment teachers use to determine their next steps in learning.

Using the writing of students, teachers are working with their grade partner/s over a whole day to undertake a deep analysis of each child's writing in the areas of:

writing ideas

text structure

sentence structure

grammar

vocabulary

spelling

punctuation

handwriting

While teachers are constantly assessing students' work in writing, the opportunity to engage in our new Writing Analysis Tool, and in professional collaboration with other St Joseph's teachers, has allowed them to better identify not only each child's point of learning but also the next steps in learning for the whole class. 

Using this process in Term 1, one area teachers identified was that despite all their effort over the years to teach the use of capital letters and end of sentence punctuation - full stops, exclamation marks, question marks - many students fail to use them. Teachers then explored ways to overcome this problem of instruction, tested new teaching practices, and shared successful practices with each other. As part of their work, teachers will continue with this collaborative approach to the teaching of writing.

St Joseph's is a learning community not only for students but also for their teachers. They are always keen to get better at what they do for the benefit of their students. I am really proud of our teachers, their passion for learning more about their teaching practices, the growth mindset they have, and their enthusiasm to share their learning with each other. 

Mother's Day

St Joseph's warmly wishes all our mothers and those women who are significant in the life of our students a very happy Mother's Day on Sunday. Thank you to the P&F and all the volunteers who provided another wonderful Mother's Day stall for students today. A huge thank you to Nicole Staniforth who this year handed over the Mother's Day staff after many years of coordinating it. Thank you Nicole very much appreciated.

Tips for Dad on Mother's Day from Dr. Justin Coulson.

1 Help mum develop a sense of time affluence.

We feel at peace when we don’t feel stressed and rushed. Build a sense of time affluence (or abundance, if you prefer) by:

• Walking, rather than driving (and not for exercise! Just to help slow the pace of life.)
• Having a YOYO night (You’re On Your Own) where the kids sort themselves out with leftovers or cheese toasties.
• Creating a system where mum doesn’t have to feel obliged to do everything for everyone, every time.

2 Be open to mum's influence.

Seriously. Stop being a bossy boot and let mum have a clearer, louder voice. Seek her counsel and invite her opinions.

3 Ask how you can help. 

This is big. But do you know what’s bigger? Just muck in and help without asking. It shouldn’t be up to mum to have to tell everyone how to help and when to help and hassle them for not helping already. Get stuff done without needing to be asked. This means remembering to do stuff like empty the garbage or run the bins to the street, cleaning the kitchen, putting a load of washing on... you know! All that stuff that the cleaning fairy usually does.

4 Drop your agenda and help her with hers.

And elevate her by treating her so well that your daughters will know how a man ought to treat them when they’re bigger (or even now), and so that your sons have no doubt how they ought to treat their partner when they are old enough. The greatest compliment any dad could ever hear is

"You always treated mum like she was the most wonderful woman in the world."

Bring that first-date mentality to every interaction.

For all things at St Joseph's, give thanks!

Jen Charadia - Principal

Principal Awards and Merit Awards

The following students received their Principal Awards on Friday 7 May (Term 2 Week 2).

How does my child receive a Principal's Award?

Class teachers nominate students for Blue Merit Awards and are presented at the weekly assembly.  When five Blue Merit Awards have been received, students are eligible for a Principal’s Award. When students attain their 4th Principal Award, they are awarded a Principal’s Medallion at an assembly.  End of Term awards can be included as part of the 5 awards.

Acknowledgement to Country

St Joseph's Bulli acknowledges and pays respect to the Dharawal people past and present, the traditional custodians of the land on which our school is built.