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Dear Families
On Monday we went to the church to celebrate the Mass of The Assumption, where we honoured Mary, Jesus' mother. Thank you Mrs MG for organising this Mass and thank you Mrs Balfour for helping the students on the day. It was a lovely celebration. I especially enjoyed our singing of the Aboriginal Our Father song, with the rhythm sticks. This is an inclusive and respectful prayer.
We know a special prayer to Mary:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Our Interest Based Learning Program has started once again. This program operates each term for 5 consecutive Thursdays from 2pm to 3pm. This is where the students get to choose an area they are interested in and further develop that strength/area. The students respond especially well. Here are some photos from the cooking group.
Positive Relationships
As a way of enjoying positive and respectful relationships, the Gr 6 students will enjoy lunch with The Principal and their teachers. Today Mrs Balfour and Mrs MG shared lunch with some of our Gr 6 students. We set up a special restaurant and enjoyed having lunch together.
Garden Club
Recently on the weekend, Kara Pedemont and her girls, spent time in our veggie garden, weeding and cleaning up. Yesterday a number of students were helping to plant it out. They were impressed with the quality of the soil and the work that has previously gone into our garden (thanks Scott!). We look forward to watching our vegetables grow. Pictured here are the students attending to the garden yesterday at lunchtime.
May God continue to bless and guide us in our prayers
Trish Mulqueen
Principal
Each year we complete School Improvement Surveys, thank you to the parents who completed these for us earlier this year. This year's School Improvement Survey data was once again, very positive. The Staff Organisational Climate and Teaching Climate have both improved. The parents indicated a big increase in the Community Engagement Aggregate score however the students showed a small decline in the Student Wellbeing Aggregate Indicator.
In the School Climate data the Adaptive Behaviours, Innovation and Teamwork continue to be in the top 25% of Victorian Primary Schools. Generally, the staff recorded a positive trend in all areas of organisational and teaching climate, with significant improvement in Professional Growth and Curriculum Processes.
Students in Years 3 & 4 indicated a decline in Emotional Wellbeing and Student Behaviour while students in Years 5 & 6 showed an increase in these areas. Although the senior students indicated an increase in Eagerness to Learn they also showed a decrease in Teaching & Learning. There are some anomalies in the student data, so the leadership group have decided to look more closely at what the students are saying. We are actively seeking student voice in our improvement. We will engage in a Student Wellbeing Protocol and Student Behaviour Surveys to further explore this area. Student Safety and Wellbeing continue to be of paramount importance in our school.
Suki 好き
We are learning how to talk about things we like.
In the foundation class, they looked through books and pointed to pictures they liked. They said “Pig がすきです。(Pig ga suki desu. I like Pig.)” This is Sonny and MacKenzie saying that they like the chair. “Chair がすきです。”
JAPANESE DAY が好きですか?
JAPANESE DAY ga suki desu ka?
Do you like Japanese Day?
Japanese day will be Wednesday 7th September.
Please wear red and white (the colours of the flag) or something Japanese.
We will be doing a range of Japanese activities including calligraphy, art, dancing and origami.
Parents are welcome to come and join our dancing at 3pm (weather permitting).
Susan Taylor
(Japanese teacher).
Breakfast Club operates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at school. IGA Trafalgar has generously agreed to sponsor this initiative. The manager Mr Dom Griffin is happy to support this important program. Students can come to school at 8.15 for the Breakfast Club. If there are any parents who are able to help out with staffing the Club, we would be grateful for your help. We say thank you to IGA Trafalgar.
Next week is the Children's Book Council of Australia's (CBCA) Book Week. The theme is Dreaming With Eyes Open. We have been listening to some of the books that have been nominated for these awards. We celebrate this week with a Dress Up day on Friday 26th August, where children are invited to come to school dressed as their favourite book character. There will be a parade at 9am, hopefully outside (weather permitting). Parents are welcome to attend.
Victorian Child Safe Standards Continued
Child Safe Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered
about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are
taken seriously.
In complying with Child Safe Standard 3, St Joseph’s School informs the
students about:
- their right to participate and to be heard
- their right to be safe and not harmed by anyone
- their right to live and grow up healthy
- their right to express their views and have a say about decisions that
affect them
- their right to information, such as information about the policies that
affect them.
Much of Child Safe Standard 3 takes place in our explicit teaching of Child
Safety Units and in our Respectful Relationships units. At our school, we value
the need to build healthy relationships. Healthy relationships encourage
students to express their ideas, thoughts and concerns regularly during class
meetings, incidental conversations and in the day to day running of the classroom. Teachers are expected to model and promote child safe practices in
a safe and respectful manner.
We acknowledge the importance of friendships and encourage students to
seek support from friends to develop a sense of feeling safe and connected
within our school community.
The staff are all expected to maintain their mandatory reporting qualifications.
This enables staff members to identify and act appropriately to deal with
potential child safety issues that may arise.
Our P&F committee met on Tuesday 9th August and have been busy planning upcoming events and fundraising activities for the remainder of this year. We also discussed options of where we would like our funds to go in conjunction with the school. We discussed some of the key priorities we can work towards. We also think it is important that families know what our funds are working towards. We want to provide all children with the best learning and health opportunities in their young years of Primary education. As you will see below, these are big ticket items. Our fundraising activities and family involvement will help us successfully achieve some of these great ideas.
P&F upcoming activities Bendigo Community Bank Investment Program We will be attending an information session on Wednesday 24th August at 7.30pm at Yarragon Junior Football Club Rooms to apply for a community grant. Our focus for this grant is to build the new play equipment area. If you are interested in supporting us in our application, please contact Narelle Jamieson or Rebecca Harvey. Energy Australia Yallourn Community Grant This is another community grant available in which we will submit an application for. Applications open next month and our application will be for the new drinking fountains. Father's Day Stall We are hosting a Father's Day stall on Friday 2nd September at 2pm. Gifts will be available for purchase with two options of a $5 or $10 present. Gifts can be purchased on CDFpay or via the school's Eftpos machine. $5 & $10 vouchers (whichever one you purchased) will be issued to the students on the day of the stall so that they can go shopping. Father's Day P&F are providing a Father's Day brekky on Monday 5th September at 8am. The kids will be super excited to be able to share a special breakfast with their Dad's or care givers, so please come along if you can. We need some volunteers to help on the morning from 7am to prepare and serve the food at school. If you can assist, we would really appreciate it, please contact one of our friendly P&F committee members. Special Lunches Our monthly Special Lunches have been going really well, we hope everyone enjoyed our latest BK's order. We have wonderful volunteers helping us pull these together and would like to thank you for your ongoing support. As we continue these, we will mix up the food options and aim to add some more 'healthy' options where we can. If your child has any allergies or special dietary requirements, please let us know so we can cater where possible on these lunch days. If you can assist in the coordination of any of our upcoming lunch days, we would really appreciate it, as we rely on the help from parents and friends to make these lunches go ahead. Our next lunch order day will be a footy themed hot dog lunch on Friday 9th September. Orders to be placed through CDFpay closer to the time. Movie Night We are hosting a movie night on Thursday 15th September at 5.30pm at school. Cost is $10 per family to view the movie. We will have a cap on numbers for this event due to space. Food will be available to purchase, there will be a BBQ dinner and our Mini Vinnies team will be selling popcorn and lollies. More information to come regarding the movie and purchase of tickets and food. Trivia Night & Auction Night This night is going to be one you will not want to miss, so get the babysitters booked! An adult friendly evening at Trafalgar Bowls Club on Friday 4th November at 7.30pm. Andrew Deak from 3GG will be hosting the trivia event and we will also be having an auction. Tickets will be $25 per head which includes entertainment and nibbles. Invitations are extended to family and friends. You can buy tickets individually or a table of 8. Tickets will be available to purchase through CDFpay, the winning table on the evening will win a grand prize! We are sourcing donations from families or community businesses to auction on the night. If you would like to make a donation of any sort, please contact one of our P&F members. Colour Fun Run Mia Scanlon from You & Mia Fitness and our committee are organising a fantastic colour fun run at school on Friday 11th November after lunch on the oval. Mia’s talent in fitness and health is valuable and very much appreciated to get our children out in the sun, exercising and having fun! Children will be sponsored to raise money, the class who raises the most money will get to slime their teacher and our Principal!! Please come along to join the colourful fun. |
Our Mini Vinnies team are organising this year's TALENT SHOW. It will be on Tuesday August 23rd at 2pm in the Mary MacKillop room. All students are encouraged to prepare and enter the Talent Show. Sabrina has put the item list together and we look forward to the show. This is a fundraising event and it costs $2 for each student to enter the Talent Show. Sabrina is collecting this money, if your child is entered in the Talent Show could you give your child the $2 entry fee and ask them to give it to Sabrina please. If families come to watch the Talent Show the entry fee is $5 per family. If students would like to watch the Talent Show they will need to bring $2 to pay for entry.
This year we are running our swimming program in the last week of Term 3 at the Warragul Leisure Centre. It starts on Monday September 12th and finishes on Friday September 16th. We will go swimming in the afternoons on Monday through to Thursday and on Friday (the last day of term) we will go swimming in the morning (as school finishes at 1pm on the last day). Permission forms have been set up on PAM. Your child is encouraged to either wear their bathers to school under their uniform or bring their bathers (this is a good option if your child has a one piece suit) in a smaller bag to take swimming. We are looking for parent helpers, especially in the junior classes. All helpers must have a current Working with Children's Check.
Please see attached timetable. If you are able to help please let your classroom teacher know.
Conveyance allowance private car travel, or Conveyance allowance multimode travel
What is a conveyance allowance?
The conveyance allowance is a form of financial assistance for parents/carers to transport children to and from school in rural and regional Victoria. In some locations, students are unable to access free school buses. In these instances, students may receive a conveyance allowance to assist with travel costs. Allowances are available for public transport, private car and private bus.
If you live more than 4.8km from your closest school you can apply for the conveyance allowance. This is a payment towards the cost of transporting your child to school by public transport, car or school bus
Eligibility
An application on behalf of a student may be submitted if the student is:
• a Victorian resident;
• school aged and enrolled (3) three or more days per week at a school; and
• attending a school/campus located outside the Melbourne metropolitan conveyance boundary
A student who meets the above requirements may be eligible if they:
• attend their nearest or designated neighbourhood government school/campus appropriate to their year level, at which admission is permissible, or
• attend their nearest appropriate non-government school/campus appropriate to their year level, at which admission is permissible, and
• reside 4.8km or more by the shortest practicable route from the campus attended
Note: Eligibility is assessed when the School completes your child’s application on the Student Conveyance Allowance System (SCAS). If approved, the allowance payable is based on the one-way distance to make the journey to and from school. No private car allowance is payable if the journey to and from school could be made using a public transport service or contract school bus. For further information regarding the Conveyance Allowance Program see:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/conveyance-allowance/policy
*Multi-mode conveyance allowances
Multi-mode conveyance allowance applies when a student uses more than one mode of transport (e.g. private car and public transport) for a journey between home and school.
If you fall into this criteria, please call the office on 5633 2169 or 5633 1151 to request your application form.
Parents should submit their completed application form to their child's school for processing.
August
Thurs 18th 2. Interest Based Learning
Fri 19th Storytime 9.15am
Mon 22 to 26th BOOK WEEK
Tues 23rd TALENT SHOW 2pm
School Advisory Committee 5.30pm
Fri 26th Dress up day Theme: Dreaming with Eyes Open
Thurs 25th 3. Interest Based Learning
Fri 26th Skateboarding activity Gr 4/5 & Gr 5/6
Sept
Thurs 1st 4. Interest Based Learning
Mon 5th Free Father's Day Breakfast at school 8am
Father's Day Liturgy in church 9am
Wed 7th JAPANESE DAY
Thurs 8th 5. Interest Based Learning
Fri 9th Sports Dress-up day
Hot Dog Lunch
Whole School Assembly 3pm Gr 2/3 presenting
Mon 12 to Fri 16 SWIMMING program at Warragul Leisure Centre
October
Mon 3rd First day of term for teachers (RE professional learning day for teachers. Pupil Free day.)
Tues 4th First day of term for students.
Fri 7th P & F Trivia Night Bowls Club 7.30pm
Fri 14th Grandparents Liturgy 2.30 in church
Thurs 20th LEARNING EXPO from 2pm
November
Fri 11th Color and Slime Run