Dear Parents and Guardians,

A very big thank you to our Parents and Friends for organising another very successful Mother’s Day stall. It ran very smoothly and the students were so excited to shop for presents and the variety on offer was amazing. Well done P & F group.

Our Mother’s Day celebrations began with a beautiful mass organised by Pauline. I thank Fr Manny, Pauline and our students for making this mass so special for our mums. Then we had a special morning tea for our Mum’s.

Congratulations also to our P & F group for organising a wonderful morning tea for our Mum’s. When l walked into the hall, l was greeted by a sea of smiling faces. Our mothers, grandmothers and friends enjoyed a delicious morning tea and presentations from all classes and our choir group. It was wonderful to have so many of our community join this special event and l thank our hard-working P&F group for organising it, staff and students for their assembly items. We have a wonderful school community and it was great to finally be able to welcome parents back into the school.

Staff Update

I am sad to inform our community that Angie Todaro, Learning Support Officer, has made the difficult decision to resign her position at our school. On behalf of our community l thank Angie for her work at our school and the care, support and assistance she provided to students in her role. We wish Angie all the best for the future.

We have welcomed Paige Galvin King to our school in her new role as Learning Support Officer. Paige joins our team and is already settling into her new role here at St Joseph the Worker.

Naplan 2022

Congratulations to our students in MLA and SLA who participated in our Naplan testing last week and this week. Thank you to Maria Raso and the teachers for being so well organised for the testing. Student NAPLAN reports will be distributed to parents later this year. As a school we use this date to measure student performance however NAPLAN is only a small part of our assessment procedures and is a ‘one off’ or snapshot of student achievement at a given time. We do not teach to the test and we work together to support our students to do their best. I was very impressed by how confidently most students approached these tests and congratulate our students on their efforts.

Cross Country

Congratulations to the students who recently represented St Joseph the Worker at the Zone Cross-Country. Thank you to Cara, Rosa and the parents who attended on the day, with a special thanks to Cara for preparing our students so well. Our students all participated very well with a number of qualifying to compete in the Division Cross Country Championships which will be held on Wednesday, 1st June at Bundoora Park.

Emergency Management Plan (EMP)

St Joseph the Worker has a comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (EMP) that addresses site specific hazards and threats which have the potential to result in emergencies and critical incidents which may occur. An important part of our plan is to test emergency response procedures by conducting drills regularly. We will be conducting our next evacuation drill on Wednesday, 8th June. We will remind students about our procedures for these drills and that this is just a practice!

COVID-19 and Influenza

We have had many students away from school in the past few weeks. This week we have had an average of 48 students absent from school each day. We have many COVID-19 cases in our community and we have also had cases of Influenza reported and some students have also been absent due to gastrointestinal issues. I ask all parents to remain vigilant. Please maintain good hygiene habits, closely monitor your children for any symptoms and take any appropriate action and seek medical attention if required.

With the arrival of colder weather, cases of influenza (the flu) are increasing throughout Victoria. Our community is at risk of higher rates of students and staff affected by the flu or COVID-19 this season.

What to do if your child gets sick

To help keep your child and our school community safe, please take the following steps if your child has any cold or flu-like symptoms:

Take a COVID-19 test and follow the current Department of Health isolation requirements if a positive result is shown
Keep your child at home until their symptoms pass
Common flu-like symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, loss of appetite, body aches and feeling extremely weak and tired
Diagnosis of the flu can only be confirmed by a doctor after a nose or throat swab
Encourage your child to wash their hands regularly and ask them to cover their nose and mouth when sneezing and coughing.
It is important that children and young people have the best possible protection against the flu and COVID-19 by getting vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccines are available free of charge to everyone aged 5 years and over in Australia.
Flu vaccination is recommended for everyone aged 6 months and over. Flu vaccinations can be booked through GPs and pharmacies, many of which can also provide COVID-19 vaccinations.

Ensuring your children are protected against serious illness helps to protect everyone in our community, including older family members who may be at higher risk, along with younger children who can’t receive vaccinations yet.

School Uniform

Thank you for ensuring that your child is wearing the correct winter uniform. Just a reminder

that students' hair (both girls and boys) must be tied back if it is shoulder length or longer. Only navy or white hair ties, bows or ribbons are to be worn with the uniform. Plain navy and white headbands may also be worn with the school uniform. If students are cold, the SJW winter rain jacket can be worn as an addition to the pullover and students can wear the school beanie and scarf if needed. Please note students are expected to always wear full school uniform and variations to the uniform are not acceptable.

I also remind families would remind families to please ensure all clothing is clearly labelled.

Dogs and other animals on school grounds

To ensure the safety of all members of the school community, dogs and other animals are not allowed on school grounds unless approval is given by the Principal or Deputy Principal. This is to ensure the health, safety and hygiene of everyone in our community.

School Absentee

Just a reminder that if your child is going to be absent from school, you must submit the Absentee eForm via Skoolbag. If your child is absent from school and you have not submitted an eForm, your child will be marked as unexplained, and you will receive an SMS notification about this. We also ask that you avoid picking up your child early from school as this disrupts their learning. Early pickups should only be for an emergency or for an appointment that cannot be scheduled out of school hours. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Prep 2023

Prep enrolments close at the end of June. If you have a child to be enrolled for Prep 2023, l ask families to complete the enrolment form and hand it into the office as soon as possible. Families will receive a letter at the end of term confirming their child’s place in Prep for next year and we will be interviewing Prep families early in Term 3. If you have any questions regarding enrolment, please contact Anna.

Please keep our Year 4 students in your prayers as they continue their important preparation for receiving the Sacrament of Eucharist on Saturday, 28th May.

We ask St Joseph the Worker to continue to bless our School Community.

Maria Barnes

Principal

PREP News