Dear Families

Welcome to Term 3!  We have a busy and productive term planned with a number of celebrations including Grandparents Prayer Service, Swimming program, Father's Day Prayer Service, Book Week, Talent Show and Japanese Day, just to name a few. 

NAIDOC WEEK

Last week we celebrated NAIDOC Week and I sent home a link to a short video clip that you could watch with your child/ren on School TV.  I hope you found time to share this with your family.  

Here is the link to the special report if you would like to follow up:
https://trafalgar.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-celebrating-naidoc-week

Prayer for the Voice

God of wondrous possibility

Take my story and my life

Give me courage to stand for justice 

God of dreaming and mystery

Forgive my blind complaining

Give me vision to walk remembering your history

God of truth and love

Take my bruised hands and feet

Give me strength and grace to stand for truth

God of safety and singing

Take my mouth and my voice

Give me words to inspire and encourage

God of knowledge and creativity

Take my whole being

Help me stretch, broaden and deepen

God of goodness and hope

Take my connections and influence

And help me stand for Voice and Justice

Amen

 Safina Stewart (Aboriginal Christian Leader)

Pupil Free Day

Remember this Monday July 17th is a pupil free day to provide a Professional Learning opportunity for the staff. The staff will be engaging in a De-escalation Training day to help better equip us to cope with challenging behaviours. 

Grandparent's Day

Book Week

We celebrate Book Week in week 7, ie Monday August 21st to Friday 25th.  The theme this year is Read, Grow, Inspire.  Our dress up day is Tuesday 22nd August.  Everyone is invited to dress up in either a book character or something to do with the theme.  We will start the day with a parade to show off our costumes, everyone is welcome to join us. 

Book Fair

This year our Book Fair will operate in week 4, ie Tuesday 1st August to Thursday 3rd August.  It will be in room 2 and open to families to purchase on each of these days from 3 to 4pm.  A percentage of each book sale goes to our school, but really the Book Fair is an opportunity to celebrate literacy and promote reading to families. 

Confirmation

Parents and Friends welcome all families back to school for a busy term 3. We hope everyone had a fantastic holiday break.
We are getting closer to our goal of buying new playground equipment for our students to enjoy. We are very grateful to have a wonderful school community that supports our activities and hope families can continue to do so.

Comedy Night:
Our planned Comedy Night will take place in September. The exact date will be confirmed soon. We are running the night in partnership with Comedy for a Cause. The night will include two or three comedians sourced from the Melbourne/Sydney comedy festivals, raffles and games. Tickets will be available soon and cost $40 each.
We are looking forward to the Comedy Night and hope it will be a lot of fun!

T-Shirts:
A reminder to families that T-shirt orders for the National Day of Action Against Bullying are due in on the 4th of August. The shirts cost $15 each. Students are encouraged to wear the shirts on Friday the 18th of August to show their support for stopping bullying. The shirts look great, they are black with bright orange writing and are available in a range of sizes. A sample shirt can be viewed in the office. Thank you to school family business, Blended Kreations, for making the shirts for us all.

Healthy Lunches:
Healthy Salad Roll Lunch Orders from Bella’s Bakehouse continue to be available each Wednesday this term. ($1.20 from each roll goes to the P&F)  Please order rolls on CDF pay before noon each Tuesday and a freshly made salad roll will be delivered to students for lunch on Wednesday.

Uniform Shop:
The uniform shop continues to operate on Fridays. Items purchased on CDF pay will be given to students to take home on Fridays. Thank you to Lauren for running the shop for us.

Next meeting:
Our next meeting is on Tuesday the 22nd of August at 3pm at school. We will be discussing the Comedy Night, Father’s Day Stall and planning a Halloween Disco for term four. Families are always welcome to come along and get involved, hopefully we will see you there.

Next week we will run our 5 day swimming program from Monday December 2nd through to Friday December 6th.  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 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 the attached timetable. If you are able to help please let your classroom teacher know. 

Assemblies

Everyone is welcome to join us for Friday Assemblies.

In week 6 on Wednesday August 16th we are running our Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews. Please note that Gr 3 Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews will be taking place the following Wednesday, that is 23rd August, this is to ensure that both class teachers will be present at the interviews.  This is part of our reporting process. It is an opportunity for teachers and families to discuss the Semester 1 Report and to talk about how teachers can best meet your child/ren’s needs. Conversations are scheduled for 15 minutes. Families will be given the opportunity to chose to have the interviews either at school or via Google Meet. We ask you to book your Interview online through PAM, this function is available now on PAM.   When accessing PAM please click on the link Parent Teacher Interviews and follow the prompts. Families who have regualr SAEP (Student Adjustment Evaluation Plan) or PSGs (Parent Support Group) Meetings will not need to book an interview time as they will have an opportunity to discuss their child/ren's reports in week 5.  

Overdue School Fees - Term 3 are now due

Term 3 fees & levies are now due.

If you are paying your fees by direct debit  or you are on a plan please ignore this reminder.

Payment Methods:

- EFTPOS facilities are now available on site

- direct credit to our bank account quoting your surname and fee account no. as reference

St Joseph's Primary School

BSB:                083-879

Account No.:  69-495-9442

If you are experiencing financial difficulties paying your account, please contact the Principal to arrange a payment plan as soon as possible.

DOSCEL and St Joseph’s Primary School Trafalgar are committed to complying with the Victorian Child Safe Standards.

Prevention and Response

Preventing and responding to child abuse requires a whole community response to bring about cultural change. The Victorian Child Safe Standards apply to a broad range of organisations that provide services for children, including schools, churches, sporting clubs and youth services. Ensuring we have child safe communities goes to the heart of our faith and core purpose. Therefore, we are dedicated to upholding the values and practices that create safe learning environments for students.

Reporting and Contacts

There are a number of supports available when responding to incidents, disclosures or suspicions of child abuse.

24 Hour Services:

• Victoria Police: 000
• DFFH Child Protection: 131 278

Support Services:

• Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800
• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA): (03) 9287 8800
• 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732

Child Safety Champions

St Joseph’s Primary School has appointed Child Safety Champions. Each Child Safety Champion is available to answer any questions that you may have with respect to our Child Protection and Safety Policy and the Child Protection Program.

Child Safety Champions are selected based on a number of considerations, namely:

• their personal attitudes, experiences and beliefs, for example, a person who is non-judgmental, calm, resilient and demonstrates a high degree of integrity and respect for confidentiality;
• their role within the school, for example, a person who has seniority and experience working with complex student and family issues at the school and someone who is readily accessible and available to all members of the school community; and
• their personal profile within the school, for example, a person who is approachable, who students and staff trust and who is willing and able to respond to issues personally and sensitively.

It is every individual’s responsibility to protect children and make reports regarding their concerns to the appropriate authorities.

If a person requires support in reporting to the authorities, the school’s Child Safety Champions are your first point of contact. They receive special training that allows them to deal with child protection concerns both sensitively and effectively.

Child Safety Champions

Taryn Maxwell-Garratt Religious Education Leader tmaxwell-garrat@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au

Cathleen Ryan Learning Adjustment Leader cryan@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au

Respectful Relationships

We work hard at school to promote positive and respectful relationships. Our Christian ethos of love, forgiveness and compassion reinforces this message. We know postiveness breeds postiveness and like wise, negativity breeds negativity. As a respectful, Christian community, we understand that  there isn't any room for gossiping.  Gossiping is a negative, harmful activity.  Please remember parents that parent conversations are exactly that and not meant for children's ears. Please also remember that our children copy our behaviour and repeat our language as they have had that modelled to them.  So if we want our children to be positive, respectful and inclusive citizens then we need to provide this example to them often. 

On Friday 18 August 2023 , St Joseph’s School will once again participate in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). We are all invited to
wear orange to school to show our support for this very important day. This is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, and will be celebrating 13 years of action, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying. The NDA theme for 2023 is 'growing connections'. This theme supports research findings that strong school community connections and social skills are protective factors in the prevention of bullying and help enable positive, help-seeking behaviours in students.

If you would like to purchase a Tshirt to support this day, you are able to through the office.  Tshirts are $15 and $3 from each Tshirt goes to the school. Order forms are available from the office.

The Lions Club Public Speaking competition is going to be held on Wednesday July 19th. The competition aims to give students in Grades 3, 4, 5 & 6 the chance to develop their ability to speak in public and improve their self-confidence. Students are to write their speech themselves with support from families. We have 15 students who have prepared a speech and will present it next week.  Families are welcome to join us at 2pm in the Mary MacKillop Room.

The topics are:
Years 3 - 4 "Oh no - you've turned into a Giant!" - One morning you wake up and something has happened, and you are now a giant. Just like the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) in Ronald Dahl's book or the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk! How did this happen? What's it like being a giant? What do you do while you are a giant? Do you stay that way? Tell us your story of being a giant.

Years 5 - 6 - "Strange World Records set in History? - There are many World records held for many things - some strange and wonderful records over the course of history. Choose one and tell us about it. (A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity.

Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Limited (DOSCEL) articulates a clear Complaints Process as part of our Complaints and Grievances Management Policy. 
DOSCEL recognises that it is in the best interests of students for there to be a trusting and cooperative relationship between parent(s), guardian(s), carers(s) and school. Complaints are an important way for the school community to provide information and feedback to a school. DOSCEL considers that every complaint provides a valuable opportunity for reflection and learning.
DOSCEL recognises a parent(s), guardian(s), and/or carer(s) right to make a complaint and its responsibility to provide a framework within which efforts can be made to resolve complaints.
It is DOSCEL’s belief that parent(s), guardian(s) and/or carer(s) complaints are best handled at the school level in an environment where individuals feel able to speak up about issues concerning the education of their children.
If you would like to make a complaint, then please visit our website www.trafalgar.catholic.edu.au and on the home page go to the 'Our School' tab and you will find the Complaints Form there. Complete the form and hand it in to Janelle Harte in the school office. All complaints will be followed up.

2023 School Advisory Committee Members are: Marja Jamieson, Brett Hicks, Scott McCartin, Lauren Baldassa, Ashley Treyvaud, Taryn Maxwell-Garratt, Fr Bernard Buckley and Trish Mulqueen. The Committee met on Wednesday May 17^th 2023.  Church and Parish connection was discussed. The Committee felt it was important to try to support local charities and community projects were possible. P&F activities were reported to the Committee and the great work of the P&F was acknowledged. Child Safety is a standing agenda item and the new School Bus Stop was discussed. The Committee reflected on our school’s s vision statement and discussed how we live this vision out. Members reinforced our catholic core and values and highlighted the work of the Mini Vinnies team. Members highlighted the importance of ‘having a go’  in learning.

If you have any questions/wonderings that you would like the School Advisory Committee to consider please see one of our members and they will put it on the agenda.