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Dear Families,
This weekend we start the church season of Advent. Advent is a time of preparing for Jesus’ birth, we prepare our homes, our classrooms, our towns and most importantly, we prepare our hearts.
It is important that we teach our children that Christmas is so much more than the decorations and gift giving. The first Christmas story is the real meaning of Christmas, that baby Jesus was born to unsuspecting, average parents and he grew up to teach and share God’s message of love with everyone. Jesus’ message in that time was new and refreshing. He spoke of love and forgiveness and living your life to the full.
A great way of helping your family recognise the real meaning of Christmas is to participate in our Christmas Eve Mass in our church at 6pm. The F/1 students will act out the nativity story and students in Gr 2,3,4,5 & 6 will perform two special songs. All children are welcome to come dressed as someone from the nativity. (Mary, Joseph, angel, king, shepherd, etc) You don’t have to come dressed up, but you are very welcome to if you want. This is a great way of helping children to think of others at Christmas and to pray for other people in our world.
WARRAGUL HOSPITAL TOILETRY BAG DRIVE
Christmas is a time of giving, and this year, we are asking families to please donate an item for a toiletry bag (toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, brush, soap, sanitary pads, deodorant, etc). We aim to make a whole lot of 'Emergency Toiletry Bags' for the hospital so that the nurses can give these bags to the patients who have found themselves unexpectantly in hospital without these necessities. The people who have previously supplied these bags can no longer do this. We thought this would be a great way of helping out our local community. In this way, we are showing love for one another, just as Jesus told us to do. There will be a big box at the office clearly labelled, for your donations. Last day for donations is Friday December 10th. Thank you for your help.
May God’s peace and love fill us with hope in this Advent Season. God bless,
Trish Mulqueen
Our concert is next week on Wednesday December 1st 6pm at school. Family tickets are $10. This will be a COVID safe event and people will need to use the QR code to enter and show their vaccination certificate as per State Government regulations. These regulations which DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd) supports, clearly state that only people who are fully vaccinated can come onsite. Please know that we are filming the concert and live streaming it as well, so that no one will miss out on seeing it.
It is difficult to know what the weather will be like. If we need to cancel because of weather we will do so by 3.30 on the day and in this case we will do the concert the next day during the school day and we will have it professionally filmed so you can watch it at home together as a family. I have not put the event on CDFpay yet as I am waiting to see what the weather forecast looks like. If we need to cancel because of weather it is a big job to reimburse families so as I said, I will wait until Monday to put the event up. Please BYO picnic rugs and chairs to sit on the asphelt.
School Fees have been emailed out this week, if you haven’t received your copy could you please contact the office. The Gr 4 camp did not go ahead as planned so this cost has been rebated to those families. We did not use all the F/1/2/3 Excursion Levy so we have reimbursed $23 of this to all these families.
Mrs Janet Poelsma: At the end of this school year, Janet will retire after a rich and rewarding career spanning over 40+ years as a Primary Teacher in Gippsland. Janet has taught at various local schools in Newborough, Moe and Morwell. She started teaching at St Joseph’s in 1989 so that makes this year her 32nd year at our school. Janet thinks that St Joseph’s is the best school because of the dedicated teachers and the welcoming community. Janet has taught every grade level and prepared students for each of the Sacraments during her career.
We will certainly miss Janet’s presence on our teaching staff next year and we hope that she will visit us often. “We are incredibly grateful Janet for all that you have done for our community. We wish you all the very best”.
Mrs Carmen Rowlings has worked as an administration officer at our school for 19 years. She hasn’t worked much of this year as she has been sick and coping with cancer treatment. Actually she has been fighting cancer for over 8 years now and she has decided to ‘hang up her boots’ at the end of this year. We wish Carmen all the very best in her recovery and thank her for all her work at our school.
Mrs Sonia Lombardo: Sonia has been working at our school for nearly 7 years as an admin officer and more recently as a Learning Support Officer. Sonia loves helping our students so much that she has decided to become a teacher herself. She has been studying while she has been working for the last few years and next year she wants to dedicate more time to her study so she will also be finishing up at the end of the year. We thank Sonia for all her work with us and wish her all the best with her studies.
In week 10 we will run our 5 day swimming program from Monday December 6th through to Friday December 10th. The students will travel by bus to Warragul Leisure Centre each day to participate in a 45 minute swimming lesson by trained swimming teachers. This is an important part of the curriculum and it is expected that all students will participate. Please access the information note and the permission forms on PAM. We look forward to this program.
Hot Dog Day has been rescheduled to tomorrow, Friday 26th November. Remember we planned to have a Hot Dog lunch a few weeks back and we couldn’t do it because there was no power at the school. So, if you ordered a hot dog for that day, then you will be able to have your order tomorrow. Thanks P&F members for organising this for us.
Students in Grades 3 to 6 are still required to wear masks indoors at school, unless a lawful exception applies. There are a number of lawful reasons for not wearing a face mask, including for staff and students who are unable to wear a face mask due to the nature of their disability, medical or mental health. Students do not need to wear masks outdoors.
Whilst not required, it is strongly recommended by the Victorian Chief Health Officer that students in Foundation to Grade 2 wear a face mask indoors at school.
Parents, guardians and carers are required to supply their child(ren) with an appropriate face mask that covers the nose and mouth. Thank you for your cooperation in this area.
We will celebrate our End of Year/Graduation Mass on Friday December 10th at 9am in our church. This is where the school community gives thanks for the school year and sends off our Gr 6 students. Then on Monday December 13th at 6pm we will celebrate the Gr 6 Graduation Ceremony at the Bowls Club next to the school. This is generally for the Gr 6 families. Monday 13th is the last day of school for the Gr 6 students.
Written School Reports will be available on PAM on Monday December 13th. If you have any questions about the reports you are welcome to make an appointment with your child’s class teacher in the last week of term.
Foundation Orientation is Tuesday November 30th and Tuesday December 7th 9.15 to 10.45am. Orientation for the rest of the school is also Tuesday December 7th from 9 to 10am. When the students come home from school on Tuesday they will be able to tell you which class they are in and who their teacher is.
We have a wonderful (Subarashii) day planned for our Japanese Day on Tuesday December 14th. Activities include origami, manga drawing, sumo socks, Japanese reading and music. Japanese has been a continual focus of ours this year and we have noticed the impact this learning has had on the student’s learning. Thank you (arigatou) Taylor Sensei for all your work and direction in this area. We so appreciate your help.
2022 Booklists are available on-line from Trafalgar Newsagency. www.booklists.com.au/trafalgarnews/ We request that you get your child’s booklist requirements at the Trafalgar Newsagency as it makes life in the classroom easier if each student has what the teacher has asked for. Sometimes the cheaper books are cheaper quality and we find that they don’t last very long. The last day for ordering is on 15th December 2021 and collection days are 27th and 28th January 2022 at Trafalgar Newsagency.
November
Sat 27th | Yarragon Christmas Market Mini Vinnies stall |
Tues 30th | Foundation Orientation Program 9.15am to 10.45 |
December | |
Wed 1st | School Concert 6pm |
Thurs 2nd | Gr 2 Camp Activity at school |
Mon 6th to Fri 10th | SWIMMING for all grades |
Tues 7th | Foundation Orientation Program 9.15am to 10.45 |
Orientation Program Gr 1 to Gr 6 9am to 10am | |
Fri 10th | End of Year/Graduation Mass 9am |
Mon 13th | Last day for Gr 6 |
Gr 6 Graduation | |
Tues 14th | Japanese Day |
Wed 15th | Last day for students 1pm finish |
Thurs 16th & Fri 17th | Planning days for staff |
2022 | |
January | |
Fri 28th | First day for the teachers |
February | |
Tues 1st | First day for all students |
Wed 2nd | Rest day for Foundation students |
March | |
Mon 7th to Wed 9th | Gr 5/6 camp to Soverign Hill |
April | |
Fri 8th | Last day of term 1 |
Mon 25th | First day of term 2 |