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- PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
- COVID SAFE
- WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH TO POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT (WSAPBS)
- THE FRONT DOOR PROJECT
- ACCELERATED ART PROGRAM
- CLASS STRUCTURE
- GRADUATION
- WORLD TEACHERS' DAY
- VIRTUAL LITERACY PARENT INFORMATION SESSION
- SOKTOBER AND DAY FOR DANIEL
- ICY POLES
- DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
- CLUB HOUSE BOOT CAMP SUMMER PROGRAM
Dear Parents
We are still very excited to be back at school doing onsite learning. On Tuesday we had a fun day at school for Book Week dress up day. Thank you everyone for making a big effort. We made a video clip of our parade. We watched it yesterday at assembly. You can watch it by accessing our website www.trafalgar.catholic.edu.au. While you are there you could watch our Resilience Video Clip.
COVIDsafe 2020 has certainly been a very different year. Our camping program has not been able to operate as we would have liked. We had planned a Grade 4 one night camp to Mill Valley for late Term 3, but we were on remote learning and the camp was not able to go ahead. We are still not able to go to Mill Valley as it is in Cardinia Shire and the camp is not operating. The results of a recent parent opinion survey showed conclusively that parents agree with the Education Minister’s comments in “a returned focus to the basics of literacy and numeracy”. With this is mind and as a replacement, we are planning in consultation with the Grade 4 students, a Special Outdoor Learning Activity Day to be conducted at school. We are planning this for the last Tuesday in the term, December 15th.
Unfortunately, the Grade 3 Sleepover has also been cancelled for this year. DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd) has decided that schools are not able to successfully conduct a school sleepover in Term 4 2020. A replacement activity will be planned for Grade 3.
The Good News is that school photos can go ahead in a COVID safe way. School Photo envelopes will go home soon. You need to include the correct money in the envelope and get your child to bring it to school on the School Photos day. If you would like a family photo you will need to get a Siblings Photo envelope from Reception.
WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH TO POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT (WSAPBS)
This is an evidence-based framework that outlines our school wide system of social and behavioural expectations as well as providing explicit teaching to support the development of key relationship skills.
We have been working through our School Wide Expectations (SWE).
1. Respect 2. Resilience
3. Inclusiveness and 4. Teamwork. We have released a video clip about Resilience which includes a number of our parents and students talking about the importance of resilience in our school and living. The video clip is available on our facebook page. I’d like to encourage you to share the video. You can also view it on our website www.trafalgar.catholic.edu.au The staff felt that it was really important to include our parents in this whole school approach. To quote a well used recent line: “We’re all in this together”. Thank you so much to the parents who helped to make this clip possible. Arigato (Thank you).
Thank you to all the families who sent in their family photo for this project. It is presently at the printers and we hope to share this work with you very soon.
Arigato (Thank you).
Students who display artistic strengths are invited to participate in 5 one hour art sessions over 5 weeks. Students are given an opportunity to explore different artistic ideas whilst using a variety of materials. They are able to choose what they would like to investigate and research in each session. Students can choose to create in 2D or 3D with the use of technology incorporated into each session and they can choose to work collaboratively or individually. The teacher acts as a facilitator and mentor to the students and at the end of the 5 weeks students reflect on their learning.
Because we were successful in obtaining the One Good Community Grant through GPHN (Gippsland Primary Health Network) we are now able to offer more opportunities to students for this program. We are very grateful to the Federal Government for this money and will put it to especially good use.
After very careful consideration, the staff have set the class structure for 2021. The structure is: F/1, Gr 1/2, Gr 2/3, Gr 4/5 & Gr 5/6.
We are beginning the process of planning our class lists for the 2021 school year. Whilst this is an onerous and time-consuming task, we are blessed to have such a knowledgeable staff who are aware of each student’s individual needs and work collaboratively to make professional judgements in relation to class planning and student placement. When deciding our individual class structures, a number of factors are taken into account, which include: • Student’s social, emotional, academic and physical development • Student’s cognitive development • Student relationships • Family dynamics, eg. sibling placement • Teacher knowledge, skill and expertise • Enrolment numbers at the various levels • Practical resources, such as space. If your child has a particular need or there is important information that we should be aware of when considering class placement for the 2021 school year, we ask that parents put this information in writing and submit it via email to; principal@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au All requests are specifically about your child’s needs. It is not an opportunity to ask for your child to be placed within friendship or social groups. Obviously, we cannot accommodate requests for particular teachers; we can only look at the needs of each individual child. All email requests need to be submitted by close of business on Thursday 12th November and we ask parents to understand that all requests will be considered on merit but there are no guarantees. Any requests received after the above date will not be taken into consideration and once grades have been set there will be no changes.
If your family’s enrolment situation at St Joseph’s is changing in the future, we would also appreciate you letting us know. An accurate indication of student numbers assists us enormously in our planning for 2021.
Our Graduation and End of Year Liturgy will be celebrated virtually this year on Thursday December 10th at 2.30pm. This is where our school community will send off our Gr 6 students. Parents are very welcome to join us virtually. Monday December 14th will be the last day for the Gr 6s so we have a fun day planned for all Gr 5/6 students. More information will come out about this, but hopefully it will include a walk to the Traf Footy Ground, a visit to Traf Outdoor Pool, a special lunch and a film. That night we plan to gather at the Bowls Club with our Parents only for a Graduation celebration. This will include a finger food dinner. This plan is assuming we are allowed to gather up to 70 people in a big space. We will of course be keeping up to date with restrictions and will keep you informed.
Let's celebrate our wonderful teachers on World Teachers' Day, 30 October 2020.
World Teachers' Day is a time to recognise the hard work and dedication of all our school staff.
This has not been an ordinary school year. Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved in Catholic Education in our Diocese we have been able to continue providing students with the support and resources they need to reach their full potential.
VIRTUAL LITERACY PARENT INFORMATION SESSION
Recently our F/1 teachers ran a 'Virtual Literacy Information Session'. The session aimed to educate parents on how we teach literacy at school and to give parents ideas on how they can help. There is no doubt that when teachers and parents work together, great things happen. If you missed this session, you can find a recording of it on our school’s website www.trafalgar.catholic.edu.au and go to the heading ‘Teaching and Learning’.
May God continue to bless and guide us in our learning.
Trish Mulqueen
Principal
Friday the 30th of October is to be a fun day at school. On this day, all children are invited to wear fun/crazy socks or they can dress up all in red. Please note that it is okay to participate in both, for example, wear red for the day and wear fun socks.
The socks are to symbolise that we are about to begin our Social Justice unit. During the unit, all children will participate in learning about different countries around the world and how the effects of poverty and lack of social justice affects the lives of many.
The Day for Daniel focuses on raising an awareness of Child Protection. Child Protection takes priority in our school and all students from Foundation through to Grade 6 have been learning and talking about it to raise awareness for our children. The main teaching points for this year are to Recognise, React and Report. Child Safety is everyone’s responsibility and we all have the right to feel safe all of the time.
Katie Balfour
Religious Education Leader
St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Trafalgar
Remember in Term 4 icy poles are sold for $1 on Fridays on the back veranda. Students can only buy one icy pole each unless they are buying for their sibling too.
OCTOBER
23rd Grand final Eve - Public Holiday
26th School Advisory Committee Virtual Meeting 4.30pm
30th Sock-tober Event and Day for Daniel (wear red)
NOVEMBER
2nd Pupil Free Day (Assessment Day for teachers)
3rd Melbourne Cup Holiday
6th School Photos
24th Prep Orientation Parent Information Virtual Session 9.30 to 10.30
DECEMBER
1st Prep Orientation Group 1(9 to 10.55) and then Group 2(11.30 to 1.25)
8th State-wide Orientation Day
Prep Orientation Group 1(9 to 10.55) and then Group 2(11.30 to 1.25)
10th End of Year/Graduation Virtual Liturgy 2.30pm
11th Japanese Day (rescheduled)
14th Gr 6 Last Day (activities day for Gr 5 & 6s)
15th Gr 4 Special Outdoors Activity Day
16th Last day for all students (1pm dismissal)
17th First Aid Training for staff
18th Planning day for staff
CLUB HOUSE BOOT CAMP SUMMER PROGRAM
All families are welcome to participate in this program.
Their website is: www.clubhousebootcamp.com.au
A poster with more details will be up in the Mary MacKillop room.