From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers,
How great is it,having this Spring feeling in the air? Days are getting longer and the air, a little warmer. I hope hay fever is not driving you too crazy. It is lovely seeing our environment springing to life with new growth and plants flowering.
Parent Helpers Course
Thank you to the parents who attended the Parent Helper Courses we have run throughout 2023. At these meetings, we have looked at how parents can assist students, both at school and on excursions. We have also discussed our Child Safety Policy and clarified the procedures in place to keep our children safe. We have emphasised the importance of confidentiality about students, their particular learning needs and behavioural issues.
Prior to being a parent helper, parents also need to sign our Parent Code of Conduct and hold a Working with Children Card. They also need to sign in at the office on arrival and departure.
If there are other parents wishing to help out in classrooms or on excursions, who have not yet had a chance to complete the Parent Helpers Course, please let me know. If the demand is there, we would be very happy to offer another course later this term.
If you have completed the course and would like to help out in class, please contact your child’s teacher to let them know the days and times you are available. You will receive an email from them in the coming days outlining the times when they need help from parents.
School Improvement Review
In preparation for our upcoming Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) Review on Thursday, 25 August, we have submitted our compliance documentation to our reviewer, Mrs Judi Gurvich. Following this compliance check, Judi will return to St Joseph's on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September to meet with Fr Michel, the School Advisory Council, leaders of our Parents and Friends, the school staff and students. Judi will be reviewing our School Improvement Rubric, which we have been working on throughout the year to identify our strengths and opportunities for improvement.
Once Judi has collated her thoughts on the school, she will provide us with a Review Report and meet with us for a Dialogue and Engagement Session. Based on this feedback, we will be developing a School Improvement Plan which will guide our work for the coming four years.
Updates to the School Website
We are engaging with our Webpage designer at Digital Schools to make a number of changes to our website. Recently a number of policy documents have been uploaded to our website and more are being done this week. For details of these changes, please refer to the Deputy Principal's Page of the newsletter where Katie has been introducing new policies we have been developing.
We are also adding a Newsletter Link where parents can access:
This link should be live next week.
We have had some photographs taken and will be using these on our website. We will also be recording some new interviews with Staff and Parents. We will begin work on this in Term Four, once the review is out of the way.
Enrolments 2023
Any parents wishing to enrol their children in Foundation for 2023 are asked to submit their enrolment form at their earliest convenience. If you have any family or friends who are undecided about their choice of school for their 2023 Foundation students, please encourage them to touch base with us.
We are continuing to attract a number of new enrolments to the school in other year levels. We had a school tour this week for another potential new family and are hopeful that they may be joining us in the coming weeks.
Indigenous Education
As a staff, we strongly believe that Aboriginal culture, history and spirituality should be at the forefront of education in our Catholic school. The staff and I are committed to reconciliation through education and are engaging with the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry to guide our work in this area. In 2023 we will be joining a network of schools known as the Fire Carriers. FIRE stands for Friends Igniting Reconciliation through Education.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Fire Carriers, click the link below. This will take you to a YouTube Clip detailing the history of this group and an outline of the work it does to promote Reconciliation.
St Joseph’s School acknowledges the Wurundjeri people as the Traditional Owners on whose Country we are situated. We recognise and respect the cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who also visit St Joseph’s School.
Best wishes for a restful weekend and a great week ahead.
Kind regards,
Nicholas.