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- Principal's Report
- Emergency Management Procedures
- Reports
- Interest Based Learning
- Baby News
- First Holy Communion
- School Improvement and Strategic Planning
- Promotion
- Parents and Friends (P & F)
- Whole School Approach to Positive Behavior Support (WSAPBS)
- School Wide Expectations (SWE) Family Activity
- Code of Conduct
- Drink Bottles
- Netball Clinic in the holidays
- School Calendar
Dear Families.
Today is the last day of term 2 for the students. The teachers will participate in professional learning on Thursday and Friday on Inclusive Curriculum and Wellbeing. What a great term we have had at school. St Joseph’s Got Talent……..well we definitely showed how much talent we have. Thank you so much to the Mini Vinnies team for organising this amazing event.
Thank you to Kaitlyn, Rubi M., Ava & Ella and a very big special thank you to Sabrina Shaw for supporting and helping the team. It was a fantastic event and we are so proud of all the students who entered. Congratulations!
Emergency Management Procedures
On Thursday last week June 17th we practised our emergency evacuation procedure at school. When we heard the emergency siren, we quietly and safely walked out of the school and assembled on the oval. We talked about the importance of listening to what the teachers say, as in an emergency the teachers will be giving instructions on what to do. We practise these procedures each term as part of normal school operations. We practise this so that in the case of a real emergency we will all know what to do.
Twice a year the teachers prepare written reports on the students’ progress. Semester One reports are available on PAM. Your child’s report looks a little different this year as we have moved to using the SIMON platform. Some subjects and capabilities appear on this report and some will appear on the end of year report.
You will see that the report shows your child’s achievements assessed against state-wide standards expected at this time of the year. ‘Well above’, ‘Above’, ‘At’, ‘Below’ and ‘Well Below the standard expected at this time of year’, are terms used.
The report is prepared by your child’s teachers and represents their professional judgement, informed by data from testing and observation. This report is intended to promote discussion about how we can work together to benefit your child. This is also supported by the parent/student/teacher interview that happens next term.
Remember that a majority of the students in any group will achieve “At standard”. This is normal and correct. It indicates that the child, in the opinion of his or her teacher, is performing somewhere in the level expected for his or her age group as compared with the standard set for children of that age in Victoria. Generally, a student may be six months ahead or six months behind and still receive “At standard”.
Remember that every child must be respected as an individual, regardless of his or her level of ability. If children strive to be the very best they can be; that is all we can ask. Importantly, they should feel supported by their parents and their teachers, who are so influential in their development as people.
Today we presented our learning in the Interest Based Learning Presentation at 2.45pm. We love this program! The activities we offered this term were Art, Concert Writing, Science, Lego, Dinosaurs, Eco Warriors, Cooking, Survivor, Content Creation, Sport and Dancing. Thank you to the parents and helpers who made this program possible. Thank you especially to Cathleen Ryan for coordinating this work.
Learning is fun!
Congratulations to the Carpinteri family (Rachel and Jason) on the safe arrival of Mila. Mila is a baby sister to Lola in Foundation.
On Saturday Miranda Upston, Aidan Cathomen and Liza Marino celebrated the Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time in our church at 6pm. Many of us gathered to help them celebrate and we enjoyed cake and a cuppa after the Mass. We pray that you always feel as special in our church.
School Improvement and Strategic Planning
As you are aware, 2021 is our school’s year for Review. This is part of our ongoing 4-year cycle of school improvement. We have just participated in a 2-day review, where reviewers visited our school and investigated our processes to see where we have had an impact and where we haven’t had an impact. This information drives our Improvement Agenda. I have explained and promoted our 2021 Annual Implementation Plan in a short 2-minute video clip, which has been posted on our website www.trafalgar.catholic.edu.au I hope you can find time to view this brief summary.
Yesterday Taryn, Cat and I visited Traf Kinder to greet the parents as they arrived with a homemade cookie (by Cat with ‘St Joe’s’ written on it) and an information flyer. I stayed and did a reading, and singing & dancing session with the kinder kids. The kinder kids will visit our school next term as part of their ‘learning about schools’ unit. If you know anyone with a 4-year-old kinder child, please invite them to ring the school for a school tour and chat.
Pie Drive – P & F are running a Yummy Pie Drive. All pies are from Yarragon Bakery. Order forms are available and due back 2nd week of Term 3. Payments to be made on CDF.
Delivery will be the end of July!
Whole School Approach to Positive Behavior Support (WSAPBS)
St Joseph’s School promotes and values positive relationships. Our Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support (WSAPBS) focuses on this. WSAPBS is inclusive of all members of our school community including teachers, students and families. We have established four School-Wide Expectations (SWE) and these are Respect, Resilience, Inclusiveness and Teamwork. We understand that these SWE are expected from all members of our community 100% of the time.
Last year, during Lockdown, we created an amazing banner demonstrating our SWE in The Front Door Project and it stands proudly in the Mary MacKillop room reminding us of the positive community that we have here at St Joseph’s.
As an extension of this project, we would like to invite you to participate in another project that involves being creative and working together. The idea is to create a poster that displays how your family shows each of the SWE. We suggest that your poster could include your family name and all 4 of the SWE. Liza Marino has put together a poster showing examples of how the teachers live out the SWE. Her poster includes a combination of photos and writing. You can present your poster however you like.
School Wide Expectations (SWE) Family Activity
We invite all families to participate in this activity. We have plain A3 paper and/or a template available at the front office if you would like to use this. We also thought it would be appropriate to include our Japanese focus, so we have included the 4 SWE in Japanese as well.
We are hoping that some of the final results can be used to promote our SWE around our school and would like to have some of the posters printed professionally. Your family might like to do this project during the school holidays.
Safety is paramount at our school. Each year we ask all parents to read and sign our Code of Conduct. I have attached the Conduct to this newsletter for you to print, sign and send into school, so we can add your name to the register. Alternatively, you could read the copy that is at reception/office and sign the register at the office. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe.
St Joseph's Trafalgar - Code of Conduct
May God continue to bless and guide us in our learning.
Trish Mulqueen
PRINCIPAL