Principal's News

Week 3 Reflection

We congratulate our students for their resilience during a challenging week: two days of remote learning and three days onsite, not to mention participation in a swimming program for our 3-6 students. For students, staff and families, lockdown 5.0 was an unwelcome disruption in what should have been an uninterrupted Term 3! 

I’m sure we all entered 2021 with greater hopes of it being better than 2020 - only to be disappointed by the same outcome. Whilst we have little control over snap lockdowns, what we can do is ensure there is continuity and routines in place when children return to school and by minimal changes to remote learning programs. I think we have found a ‘sweet spot’ in how we deliver online programs, with timetables that seem to suit families and teachers alike; we need to reassure our children that, should we enter lockdown 6.0 (where will it end?) we are ready to support them remotely. Well done everyone...again.

Joyful News during ‘5.0’

Congratulations to the Dominic family (Aaron Year 6) on the safe arrival of baby Amy, born last Friday 23rd July. What a blessing for Lavena, Andrew, Aaron and Leon! Amy is beautiful! In the midst of lockdown, this was such joyful news to recieve and we send our love and best wishes to the family. (Yes, I’m feeling very clucky!)

We also send belated congratulations to the Healy family (Bart, Prep B) on the birth of their little boy Patrick. What a ringer for Bart! Sending our love and best wishes to Olivia, Gerard and the boys- thankfully I managed a cuddle before lockdown!

Looking Forward:

• Our Year 3- 6 continue with their swimming program next week
• The Prep- 2 swimming program begins on Monday 9th August and runs over two weeks: Monday to Thursday both weeks. Note this is indoors and the trained instructors cater for all ability levels from absolute beginners onwards.
• Book Week begins on 23rd August with a dress-up parade. Ms Jackson would like to create a wall display of students reading in their favourite place. It may include reading in bed, in the cubby house or under a table with the family pet! Please take a photo and email it to: amandaj@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au (It would be great if the photo includes one of their favourite books.)

Planning Ahead:

We have approved the design and signed on the dotted line for the construction of our mini- eco-village, designed and built by ‘Castle and Cubby’. The mini-village will be built on the space behind the friendship tree, and down towards the adventure playground. We will not be removing any of the trees in that space, rather, the design cleverly incorporates the trees into the village. Hopefully, construction will begin soon! Check out a similar design and initial plans for our village:

Master Planning

I thank our new business manager, Priscilla Marukutira, for beginning the process of developing a building Master Plan for St Joseph's. Priscilla has been working with the capital projects team at MACs, sourcing a range of suitable architects. This is such an exciting time as we make plans for growth and I will keep the community updated as we make progress. These early stages of master planning can be relatively slow but down the track, we will be looking for input from students, staff and parents.

Watch this space!

Finally, we send our best wished to those families who remain in quarantine. We look forward to welcoming you back in the coming days.

Also, apologies for not being on the gate to welcome the children back to school this week. Not such a great time to catch a cold, (tested- not COVID), and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Take care everyone,

Michelle