Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the 2021 school year, one where we hope your children will experience lots of learning, lots of fun and lots of caring. We look forward to a year where we can, hopefully, engage in face-to-face teaching the whole year round. We welcome all our new families in Kindergarten and across various classes throughout the school as well as Mrs Olivia Moss, our Creative Arts teacher, and Mr Jeremy Watt, our Year 6 Gold  teacher. We are all excited about what this year will bring and we hope that it is a rewarding one for us all.

Thank you for the way that you have prepared your children for their return to school. Each morning they are  walking through the school gates with pride in wearing their uniform. Many are especially proud of their shiny new shoes and their colourful backpacks and lunchboxes. Your children are well  prepared with the equipment they need for learning and the drop-offs of a morning have been seamless. Thank you all very much.

We have been so amazed at how smoothly our Kinder children and their parents have transitioned to school. Considering how Covid regulations last year reduced the opportunities for familiarisation with the school and the forming of relationships with one another, both parents and children have handled this big step with ease and positivity.  We are so very proud of you all! The Kinder children walk in with a spring in their step each morning, having fun engaging in not only the play aspects of learning but some of the more formal ones that are being introduced and they are showing great independence skills. We are also very proud of our Year 6 buddies.  The glowing comments I have received about them are numerous and the Kinder parents are so very grateful for their supportive presence. A big thank you goes to them for their help with this transition. These Year 6 students  are definitely showing that they are really stepping up and being the leaders of our school this year.

Parent Teacher Information Night

As Covid regulations are gradually easing we are able to return to doing some things that we have not been able to do for some time. This means that we are able to hold our annual parent teacher information night. This will take place on Wednesday 17th February. As in the past, each teacher will have two sessions and we invite you to come along to the session that is most suitable for you. The first session will begin at 5:30pm, followed by a whole school meeting in the hall at 6:00pm and a final teacher session at 6:30pm. All teachers’ presentations will be held in your children’s classrooms.

School Improvement Plan (SIP)

As a whole school our SIP will focus, this year, on the following areas:

Catholic Formation and Mission

With the staff we will be continuing our focus on more deeply understanding the Josephite charism in order for us to deepen, and live out, our own faith through understanding Mary MacKillop’s teachings and actions as well as then helping to share these with our students and parents.

We would also like to establish a series of student retreats and parent workshops/retreats to enable both students and parents to further deepen their Catholic formation and commitment to mission.

Leadership

The leadership team will engage in jointly constructing our 2021- 2023 Strategic Plan. Our leadership team also aims to encourage the development of our staff’s leadership skills through connecting with other educators around the diocese, involving them in our school based Learning Walks and Talks alongside the leadership team, establishing teams to work on school initiatives and focusing on colleague to colleague feedback.

Learning

Whilst we will continue with our work in writing, a major focus in the Learning domain will be in Mathematics with a particular focus on the Number and Working Mathematically strands.   We aim to review our Maths Scope and Sequence, which outlines what we teach, in what order and when; we also aim to develop and implement a consistent Numeracy Block practice across the school as well as use data to evaluate and inform our Maths teaching and  planning. 

In the Learning domain we also will be focusing on Vocabulary development, Learning Dispositions and Teacher, Self and Peer feedback. 

Wellbeing and Partnerships

We feel that this domain is a particularly important one to address this year, following 2020, a year where we had limited contact with our parents and the wider community. We aim to review our current practice of parent/teacher conferences and introduce 3-way conferences with students being included, we hope to offer parent workshops in key areas, connect with you on our school wide Positive Behaviour for Learning approach and seek your input in restructuring our award system, as well as consult with you in regards to home/school communication and implement new practices or modify existing ones.

As you read this outline of our SIP I hope you will feel assured that as a staff we have set our goals high and we will do our best for you and your children  to achieve them. Just as we have high expectations of our learners so to do we have them of ourselves.

Parents and Friends Association

As we were not able to hold our P&F annual general meeting at the end of last year this will be our first meeting this year. We are now able to have on-site P&F meetings after school hours so our plan is to hold this in the week beginning Monday 22nd March. We will confirm the date next week. Due to an oversight at the end of last year, Tony Peterson‘s 2020 wrap up as president of the P&F was not included in the last newsletter. I apologise for this oversight and have included it here in this week‘s newsletter..

2020 P&F Wrap Up

The recent Covid-19 summer holiday cases in NSW demonstrate the need for continued vigilance as new or localised clusters may emerge. We have received updated Covid-19 advice from Catholic Schools NSW that all our Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle must comply with until further notice. It is important to note that the local context of each school must be considered. The number of students, parents, staff and the physical school site differ between schools and this impacts the implementation of these protocols.

All students should be in attendance unless they are unwell or have a medical certificate to support their absence.

To ensure the health and safety of our community it is essential that we:

• Continue to exclude students and staff with even mild symptoms of Covid-19 and encourage them to seek testing immediately. Parents of symptomatic children should provide evidence of a negative result prior to returning to school.
• Have COVID-19 Safety Plans and record keeping procedures in place.
• Implement physical distancing for staff and adults within the school, at school events and at drop off/ pick up. Parents need to drop their children at the gates. Pick up for us will remain as it was for last year – in the school grounds but each family socially distanced and exiting through the church car park.
• Continue to schedule regular handwashing and cleaning of educational resources and sporting equipment.
• Restrict activities to Year or Stage groups where possible.
• Review plans to support the ongoing delivery of education for students in the event there is a period of time students and staff are unable to attend school.

Visitors to St Joseph’s

Only visitors essential to the delivery of the curriculum are permitted onto the school site. 

Parents, carers and other visitors can enter the school for the following reasons only:

• Picking up uniforms from the office.
• Meeting with school staff for an essential appointment (must be arranged prior)
• Fulfilling canteen duties.
• Fulfilling uniform shop duties.
• Attending P&F meetings.
• Attending ‘Meet the Teacher’ evenings or school community events provided they follow the current social distancing regulations at the time.

Bubblers are able to be turned back on now. Please continue to send a full water bottle to school with your child each day. These can be refilled at our water bottle refill stations in the quad.

Singing, in primary schools, is now permitted outdoors and indoors provided it is a large, well ventilated space.

There is no requirement to wear face masks at schools, but staff and students may do so if they wish.

Physical distancing of children in schools is not required.

It is anticipated that we will continue to receive updates from Catholic Schools NSW as the need arises and we look forward to the time when restrictions can be further relaxed.

If you have any questions or concerns about any of these restrictions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your ongoing support in keeping the St Joseph’s community safe and healthy. I look forward to working with you and our staff this year to provide the best possible environment for the learning and wellbeing of your children and of us all.

OOSH

Last week we welcomed a new OOSH supervisor, Lisa McCarthy.  Lisa has met with myself and the teachers and we are all very excited to be working together.  Lisa and her team will become familiar with, and support, our PBL approach here at St Joseph’s (see the Assistant Principal’s section).  If you have any questions about the OOSH please do not hesitate to contact Lisa on 0429 261 660.  We know she has great things planned for our school based OOSH.

If you currently use OOSH could you please make sure that when you drop off and pick up each day that the gate is locked behind you each time.  This is imperative for the safety of both the children and staff.

International Year of Peace & Trust

The United Nations has declared his year the International Year of Peace and Trust.  Let this year be a year of shared dialogue, mutual understanding and cooperation, where together we create a Catholic community of peace, solidarity and harmony.

Karen