St Joseph's Primary School Trafalgar eNewsletter

Dear Families

A Prayer to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Feast Day – August 8

Loving God,
Thank You for the life of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop,
Australia’s first saint.
She showed us how to love You by helping others,
especially those who were poor, sick or in need.

Help us to be like Mary MacKillop—
kind, brave, and full of faith.
Teach us to see You in everyone we meet,
and to always try our best at school and in life.

St Mary of the Cross,
pray for us and guide us
to make a difference in our world.

Amen.

Grandparents Day Celebration
Last week we were delighted to welcome so many grandparents and special friends to our school for Grandparents Day. We began with a beautiful prayer service in the church to honour and thank our grandparents for the important role they play in our lives. After the service, our visitors were warmly welcomed into classrooms where students proudly shared their learning. The afternoon finished with a lovely afternoon tea in the Mary MacKillop Room, filled with smiles, stories, and special moments. It was a wonderful celebration of love across generations.

Marist Sports Day

On Wed Aug 27 our Gr 5 & 6 students will travel to Marist Sion College in Warragul to participate in a sports day with senior students from St Angela's Warragul, St Joseph's Warragul, St Ita's Drouin and Columba Catholic Primary School in Bunyip. We are presently working out our teams and will be practising in the coming weeks.

Families are welcome to come and support us on the day.

Parent / Teacher / Student Interviews

On Fri Aug 29th we will be conducting Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews during the day. This is an opportunity for you to talk about your child's learning at school with their teacher. We are presently organising the admin side of these interviews. We will let you know when this part has been organised and then you will be able to go onto PAM and select your interview time. For now, you could mark this important event on your calendar.

New Student Leaders

Beau Treyvaud and Aleyah Horton-Maynard have been appointed as our new Gr 6 leaders. We look forward to their leadership at school. Congratulations.

Staff

Recently Ms Liza Marino has resigned her teaching position at our school. We thank Liza for her work with us and wish her well in her future. We welcome Ms Anne Pulbrook to our staff as an Emergency teacher. Anne has been visiting the classrooms in recent weeks and has really enjoyed getting to know our children. Fun Fact: Anne has a dog called Charleya, and this is Aboriginal for good energy. She enjoys swimming and tennis. Welcome to our school Anne.

Mini Vinnies Fundraiser

In week 3 on Friday August 8th, our Mini Vinnies Team are organising a BIG fundraiser. Everyone is welcome to come in casual clothes for a gold coin donation. They are also organising a Sausage Sizzle Lunch that you can order on CDFpay ($3 for a sausage in bread and a Prima. Additional sausages are $2). The team will cook and deliver the sausages to the classrooms. They will put all the money together, and then give half of it to the Mary MacKillop Foundation (it is St Mary of the Cross' Feast Day) and the other half goes to the Opening the Doors Foundation (which supports First Nation Australians in Catholic Education). On this same day, we will all gather in our church at 3pm to celebrate Mary MacKillop's feast day, Mary is Australia's first Saint. Everyone is welcome.

Assemblies

We meet every Monday afternoon at 3.15pm to sing our National Anthem and give out our awards and Birthday certificates. Additionally, twice a term on a Friday afternoon our classes present their learning at Special Assemblies. This term Gr 1/2 are presenting their Assembly on Friday August 15th at 3pm and then F/1 class are presenting their Assembly on Friday September 12th at 3pm in the Mary MacKillop Room. Everyone is welcome!

Mini Vinnies Talent Show

This year's Talent Show will be in week 5 on Thursday August 21st at 2pm. It is $2 per student, per entry and it is $2 for each student to watch the Talent Show. It is $5 for adults to attend the Show and toddlers are free. We encourage students to enter the Show either individually or with others. Perhaps you could talk to your child about the possibility of entering the Talent Show and support them in preparing an item to perform. It usually is a wonderful event. The judges will decide a 1st, 2nd & 3rd prize in 2 age groups: F/1/2 and then Grs 3/4/5/6.

May God continue to bless and guide us in our learning.

Trish Mulqueen

Dear Parents and Carers at St. Joseph's Primary School Trafalgar.

Friday 1st August is National Census Day.

Conducted annually, the census provides the Australian Government with information about our school and the number and characteristics of your school’s staff and students during a specific reference period.
Information about students with disability is also collected annually as part of the census. The collection about students with disability is called the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).
The names of student and staff are not collected, apart from the name, position and contact details of the staff member nominated as the primary contact for the census.
Census informs the My School website, helping parents and the community learn more about Australian schools and the needs of each school’s students. The Australian Government uses the census to calculate for schools and create informed and tailored policies for Australian schools.

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you, Janelle Harte.

Administration / Finance Officer

St. Joseph's Primary School Trafalgar.

Recently, our Foundation/One class marked a very special milestone — 100 Days of School! The students and teachers joined in the fun by dressing up as 100-year-olds and participating in a range of exciting learning activities all themed around the number 100. It was a joyful celebration of all the growth, learning, and friendships formed over the past 100 days.

Father's Day Stall:

This year, our Father's Day Stall will be held on Thursday the 4^th of September. Students will have the option to purchase gifts for Dads, grandpas or other important people in their lives. Gifts can be ordered and paid for via CDF pay soon.

Father's Day Breakfast:

On Monday the 8^th of September we will be holding a bacon and egg Father's Day Breakfast from 8.30am. We will need volunteers to help cook the bacon and eggs on the day. We will put a call out for volunteers closer to the date. We hope all Dads or other special people can attend!

Disco:

We are excited to announce our disco will go ahead this term on Thursday the 11^th of September. This year, the theme will be florescent colours! We will have music, dancing, face painting, food and prizes for the best dressed. The disco is always a great evening for the students. To ensure it runs smoothly, we will need extra volunteers. If you are able to help out and have a WWCC, please let us know closer to the date. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Footy Colours Day Special Lunch:

On Thursday the 18^th of September we will run a footy colours day with a special lunch. Students will be able to come to school dressed in their favourite sports colours and have the option to have a hotdog or party pies. Lunch can be ordered and paid for via CDF pay soon.

Our next meeting:

If you would like to get involved with Parents and Friends, you are very welcome to come along to our next meeting on Friday the 29^th of August at 9am at school. We hope to see you there!

St_Joseph_s_Primary_School_Their_Care_contacts _pdf 205.34 KB

Over the last decade, mindfulness has been slowly rising in popularity with many individuals practising it on a regular basis. Evidence based research has found that there are many benefits to mindfulness which has prompted schools across the nation to implement this practice into their daily routines.

Mindfulness can be described as attention training for your brain, enabling you to focus on something without judgement and to stimulate curiosity. Mindfulness can be practised in a number of ways and is something that can be done by everyone - no matter what your age! It has been practised by many cultures around the world, but it is not exclusively affiliated to any particular philosophy or religion.

Mindfulness helps improve memory, engagement and performance. Its positive effect on the brain can improve immunity, mental wellbeing, learning ability, emotional health and even, time management. It is especially important in this era of information overload as our attention is constantly being pulled in many directions making us more distracted.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn the best way to introduce this mindfulness to their children, implementing into their daily lives to have an overall positive impact on family relationships.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Mindfulness edition of SchoolTV
https://trafalgar.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/mindfulness

Book Week 2025 – Book an Adventure!

Get ready to celebrate the joy of reading during Book Week 2025 with this year’s exciting theme: Book an Adventure!

On Friday, August 22, students are invited to come dressed as their favourite book character for our annual Dress Up Day. We’ll begin the day with a Book Parade at 9am in the Mary MacKillop Room, and we warmly welcome all families to come along and enjoy the fun.

It’s a wonderful way to bring books to life and share in the adventure of storytelling. We can’t wait to see everyone’s creative costumes and celebrate our love of reading together!

This year the public speaking competition is on Wed Aug 13 at 11.30 at school.

Year 3 & 4 topic: Creative Invention. If you could invent something new, what would it be? Tell us about it. What is it made of? What is it for? How could it be used? Who would use it? (duration 3 mins)

Year 5 & 6 topic: Technology. The impact of fast moving technology on our lives and the environment is often overlooked yet it can be very significant. Is technology moving too fast for humans to keep up with? Choose any technology you are aware of, eg smart phones, social media, artificial intelligence, etc (duration 4 mins)

All senior students are encouraged to enter the competition. We have asked the students who would like to enter. If your child wants to enter, we encourage you to help and support your child to write the speech. We will check in with your child and support them further by giving feedback and some time to practise at school. This really is a fantastic learning opportunity for your child and we really encourage participation.

August

Fri 8 Mini Vinnies Fundraiser Casual clothes (gold coin donation)

Sausage Sizzle ($3 sausage in bread and Prima. Additionally sausages $2)

3pm Mary MacKillop Prayer Service in church

Wed 13 Lions Club Public Speaking Competition 11.30am

Storytime 3pm

Fri 15 3pm Gr 1/2 Assembly

Wed 20 Storytime 3pm

Thurs 21 Mini Vinnies Talent Show

Fri 22 Book Week Dress Up Day 9am parade

Wed 27 Marist Sports Day Gr 5/6 students

Fri 29 Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews all day

September

Wed 3 School Advisory Committee Meeting 5.30pm

October

Mon 13 Gr 3/4 Allambee Day Excursion

November

Wed 12 Gr 3/4 Mill Valley Day Excursion (new date)

December

Mon 1 to Fri 5 Swimming Program all week

Thurs 11 2.15pm End of Year & Graduation Mass

5.30pm Graduation for Gr 6 families

Fri 12 Fun Day Gr 5/6

Tues 16 Last day of the year 1pm dismissal