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- Principal's Message
- Mother's Day Liturgy
- ANZAC day
- Easter
- Sound of Japanese Drums at St Joseph's Trafalgar
- Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) program
- Pokemon Cards
- NAPLAN tests
- COVID Update
- Parents & Friends (P & F)
- ParentZone Gippsland Parenting Programs Term 2 2022
- Settlement Road Early Learning Daycare Centre
- Dates
Welcome to Term 2. This term we especially welcome a new Foundation student, Shreyan Thummala and his parents Sunil and Parnitha who run the new BP petrol station in Trafalgar. We hope you feel especially welcome at our school.
We also have a new electronic sign in station in the foyer. The first time you come into the school you will need to sign in fully but then consequent visits will be much quicker. It also prints off a name tag sticker for you to wear. This new initiative is all about Child Safety in knowing exactly who is in our school at all times and also helps with the practice of Emergency Management Plans.
Student Leadership: Thank you to Lillian Gramlick, Ethan Paul and Rubi Myrteza for being our Gr 6 School Leaders for the last 5 weeks of Term 1. We appreciate your work and effort.
We welcome our new student leaders for the next 5 weeks of Term 2. Congratulations Ella O'Connor-Roche, Jacob and Ava McCutcheon. We look forward to watching you grow as leaders in our school.
A number of our students and families represented us on Monday at our local RSL ANZAC day march and service in Trafalgar. I think it is really important to be apart of local community events especially events as important as ANZAC day. Thank you to Rubi Myrteza and Anton Istraty for laying our school's wreath at the cenotaph. I was especially proud of our participation in this day. Thank you!
On Tuesday morning at school we held our own ANZAC day service outside in front of our flagpoles. Scarlett, Lily and Tia were the most respectful flagpole bearers I think I have ever seen. They stood so still and attentive during the whole service that it made all of us think, what an important occasion this is. I have included a photo of them dutifully standing at guard.
We also organised for an ex-serviceman Sgt Timmers R.J. 353695 RAAC Army (ret) to visit our school. He talked about working in the services (army, navy and airforce) and he talked about ANZAC day. He came dressed in his uniform and showed us how to stand to attention, salute and march. Please scroll through our photos.
ANZAC day
Our bishop, Bishop Greg Bennet, Catholic Diocese of Sale reassures us at this Easter time, that we do not walk alone, for Jesus is our gift , our life and our resurrection. Please see below Bishop Greg's 3 minute Easter Message video clip. Bishop Greg is always inspiring and I think his message will help to refocus us in this Easter season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIDK4-7Mhj8
Sound of Japanese Drums at St Joseph's Trafalgar
There is something about the beat of a big Japanese drum that fills your heart and stomach with awe. Yesterday all students beat the rhythms of the taiko. Sometimes soft like rain, quick like jogging or big resounding booms like thunder. Working together and copying the sounds of Kiyomi Sensei from Tyke Oh, the deep reverberations were dramatic.
This is the style of drumming used at festivals in Japan. We learnt how to hold the ‘bachi’ drum sticks gently so they bounce on the skin of the drum.
“It was fun”, said Foundation student, Payton Bowles. “We made boom boom boom and made gentle boom boom boom.”
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) program
During Term 2, we will begin to implement the Department of Education and
Training (DET) initiative called Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships
(RRRR). This program helps schools to build a culture of respect and equality.
We will be explicitly teaching Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) which is
essential when developing healthy, positive relationships.
All students have participated in initial RRRR lessons this week and will
continue through the term and into the next. Our focus over the next few
weeks is to explicitly teach and build knowledge around SEL in different social
situations. SEL is the process through which children and young people build
and effectively apply knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to:
Understand and manage emotions
Set and achieve positive goals
Feel and express empathy
Establish and maintain positive relationships
Make responsible decisions
Develop resilience to deal with change
Create positive gender norms
Contribute to social cohesion
Pokemon cards are fun to trade and can cause lots of issues in schools. Rather than banning the cards completely from school, we have decided to demonstrate to the students that we are working together respectfully so instead we have decided to introduce 'The Pokemon Club'. This club will only operate on Fridays in Term 2, as a trial. The idea is that if you are especially interested in Pokemon Cards that you could bring them to school on a Friday and go to the Gr 2/3 classroom at lunchtime, where you can play with them and trade them with an adult supervising. The hope is that with an adult supervising there is far less chance of an unfair trade happening. Of course, the trade will still be the student's responsibility but the adult can certainly ask questions about the fairness of the trade. We want to teach the students to be responsible for their actions and decisions and support them in the process.
National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests are administered to Gr 3 & Gr 5 students each year. This year we are doing the tests online for the first time. We have already had a practice to make sure that we have the right technology to make this happen and to make sure that the system didn't crash with all of us (meaning many schools) on at the same time. So all being well, as we fully expect that it will be, we will administer the Writing test on May 10th, the Reading test on May 11th, the Language Conventions test on May 12th and the Numeracy test on May 16th. Parents of students in Gr 3 and Gr 5 will receive an information letter about NAPLAN next week. It is an opportunity to show our learning and although it is a one off test, it does give a snapshot picture of your child's learning on that day. Of course, these results should be considered in light of the classroom teacher's data and judgement, for a more complete picture.
The Victorian Government has announced some important changes to COVIDSafe measures for schools that will apply from the start of Term 2, 2022.
Face masks
Face masks, while recommended, are no longer required in any school setting.
Rapid Antigen Testing Screening Program
Free Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits will continue to be available for all staff and students in Victorian schools for the first four weeks of Term 2, 2022.
Household or Household-Like Contacts
Household and household-like contacts are no longer required to quarantine but are required to undertake the following additional safety measures in the seven days that would have been their quarantine period:
- notify the school if returning during their seven-day period;
- undertake daily rapid antigen testing five times within the seven days;
- wear a face mask indoors (if aged eight (8) and above) unless a lawful exemption applies;
- are not permitted to visit hospitals or care facilities unless an exemption applies.
Household and household-like contacts are recommended to avoid interaction with people at higher risk of severe disease from COVID-19.
If symptomatic, staff and students must stay/return home, take a rapid antigen test, or get a PCR test if a rapid antigen testing kit unavailable.
If a staff member, student, parent, guardian or carer cannot comply with the additional safety measures outlined above at any time, they must:
- quarantine immediately for the remainder of their seven-day household contact period
- get tested on Day one (1) (or as soon as possible) and on Day six (6) of their household contact period
- not attend school until a negative Day six (6) test result is received.
Vaccination requirements for visitors to schools
Parents, guardians, carers and other adult visitors are no longer required to show evidence of two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine if not performing work or volunteering at the school.
I encourage all parents, guardians and carers to review the attached information in relation to the COVIDSafe measures that will be implemented across all schools in the Diocese of Sale from the commencement of Term 2, 2022 to ensure that we protect our school communities and minimise disruption to face-to-face student learning.
As we approach winter and flu season, the vaccination of children aged five (5) to 11 and booster shots for students 16+ remains the best way to ensure protection for students and staff.
If you have any concerns about getting your child vaccinated, please contact your GP or another health professional who can answer your questions.
Thank you for your ongoing support in keeping our school safe.
Our Parents & Friends group is very active in our school. Last year Narelle and Andrew Jamieson organised the best Christmas Raffle that we have ever seen. Thank you so much Narelle and Andrew for all the work and time that went into organising this. Narelle has organised a flyer advertising the many businesses who supported our raffle. Please see the attached flyer and support these businesses if you can. I think community operates at its best when we all support each other.
Easter Raffle
Our Easter raffle was a huge success! Thank you to all the families who donated chocolates and gifts. Also, a huge thank you to everyone who helped buy and sell tickets. We are thrilled to announce we raised a total amount of $884, which is just fantastic!!
The winners of the raffle were:
Payton Bowles (1st prize), Mary Steendam (2nd prize), Chaise Hicks, Katie Balfour, Jett Atkinson, Leah Castello, Michelle Guthrie, Harry Westbury, Zane Coyle, Liz Picking, Thomas Kennedy, Lorelei Withers, Stephanie O’Neil, John Gramlick, Anton Istraty, Lola Carpinteri and Mrs MG.
Mother’s Day Gifts
Our Mother’s Day gifts are still available to purchase. Kathy Grass has been working very hard with all the students to make some incredible gifts for all the special women in their lives. The gift is $10 and is available to purchase online through CDFpay until midday Thursday 5th May and cash to the office by 4pm Thursday 5th May. Please get your orders in, we know you will absolutely love them!!
ParentZone Gippsland Parenting Programs Term 2 2022
Please see attached ParentZone's newsletter outlining programs on offer in Term 2.
Settlement Road Early Learning Daycare Centre
Last year we sent out a short survey to see if parents were interested in an after school care program and a number of parents expressed interest. We have been looking into this for our school. As our numbers are not especially big and also due to COVID shortages in staff, at this time it simply is not viable for us to run an afterschool care program here. We do however have a particularly good Daycare Centre just around the corner from us, Settlement Road DayCare, that run a great program. I have spoken with Jessica the director, and she is happy to welcome our interest. After school care is available at Settlement Road Daycare from 6.30am to 6.30pm. There is a bus available to transport children from the centre to our school and vice versa. They welcome permanent and casual bookings. A 50% government subsidy is available for all families. Please contact Jessica if you are interested.
April
Fri 29th Storytime 9.15
May
Fri 6th Storytime 9.15
Mother’s Day Liturgy 2.30 church Followed by afternoon tea at school
Tues 10th on NAPLAN online this year for Gr 3 & Gr 5 students
Thurs 12th Interest Based Learning Session 1
Fri 13th Storytime 9.15
Whole School Assembly F/1 Learning Presentation 3pm
Tues 17th School Advisory Committee Meeting 5.30pm
Thurs 19th Interest Based Learning Session 2
Fri 20th Storytime 9.15
Wed 25th National Simultaneous Storytime 11am
Thurs 26th Interest Based Learning Session 3
Fri 27th Storytime 9.15
Mon 30th to Fri 3rd Catholic Education Week
June
Wed 1st OPEN DAY 2pm to 6pm
Thurs 2nd Interest Based Learning Session 4
Fri 3rd Storytime 9.15
Whole School Assembly for Catholic Education Week 3pm
Thurs 9th Interest Based Learning Session 5
Fri 10th Storytime 9.15