Kinder Orientation

On Wednesday morning our second Kinder 2022 orientation morning took place. Much of the morning was spent discovering the various locations around the school and what happens in them by way of a very exciting scavenger hunt. Each Kinder child along with a Year 5 buddy, took their individually designed and decorated library bags and their St Joseph’s  school passport to help them discover spaces such as the canteen, music room, office and handball courts. At each passport location they received an item that would help them make a connection with each of these locations. The children settled in really well for the morning and certainly appeared very keen to start school. For many, the new year is too far away, as you can see in the email from a new parent.

We just wanted to thank everyone involved in our daughter’s orientation to St Joseph’s. She was so warmly welcomed and had a wonderful time getting to know her ‘big school’. She had a great time showing us all her treasures from today’s treasure hunt! We wanted to especially thank her buddy, who’s beautiful calm nature was so reassuring for our daughter and helped her transition right from the start.

Her only disappointment was that she has to wait until next year to visit again!

Thank you for the most wonderful kindergarten orientation program. I am so grateful that you worked to hard to not only make it happen, but arrange something so incredibly fun and engaging for the kids to do today. 

The scavenger hunt was a HUGE hit and Arlo can’t wait to start her big school journey next year. 

A huge thanks go to all the many people who have worked behind the scenes for such wonderful experiences to happen. A particular thanks go to our Year 5 students and their teachers for their time, preparation and support ensuring that our orientation mornings run smoothly and positively for all our new children and their parents.

Staffing

We are currently finalising our staffing for next year. We will be farewelling at the end of this year: Jenny Bowen, our EALD teacher, who will be retiring; Jane Scott, who we hope to see back as a casual teacher; and Jeremy Watt, who will take up a position at Stockton. Carolyn Delore will also be reducing her teaching days and will work for two days a week, in a job share arrangement. We will shortly be able to let you know who our new staff members will be.

Swimming Carnival

We are very fortunate to be able to go ahead with our scheduled swimming carnival, this comning Tuesday. Unfortunately, once again it can only be competitors this year. All children attending the carnival are asked to wear a mask on the bus, while being transported to and from the swimming pool. If your child is attending the carnival, please ensure they bring at least one mask along and know how to accurately wear it. We look forward to hearing which house colour are our swimming champions for 2021 and hopefully next year will be able to have a swimmers and spectators carnival.

Student Leadership

We are in the middle of our student leadership process at the moment. The Year 5 students,  following their leadership preparation program, have completed their reflection forms outlining why they would like to hold a leadership position at St Joseph’s next year, including how they have already contributed to their community over the last few years and what they would like to do if they were successful in obtaining a role. We will listen to speeches next week and vote for the leaders. We thank the teachers for helping the students with their leadership preparation so far and the children for the mature way they are undertaking this process.

Virtual Academy (VA) Presentations

On Thursday, our Years 5 and 6 Virtual Academy students presented their research projects via Teams to other VA students across the diocese as well as to a range of Catholic Schools Office staff members and various staff from across the schools. We were incredibly proud of not only the depth of our students’ presentations but their confidence levels as well. Our own leadership team viewed some of these presentations and were amazed at the level of complexity of these projects. To think these students are only 11 and 12 years old is quite astounding! Congratulations to all of the students and to Miss Slattery, our Gifted Education mentor, who have worked so hard on these projects.  You did yourselves and our school proud!

Playground Games

We are still operating under Covid restrictions in our school playgrounds and are keeping the children in their stage cohorts for playtimes. The dynamics in the playground have become quite different with these changes. These arrangements require the children to think of alternative games and activities to play compared to what they normally would when they have free range across all the playgrounds. You might like to go down memory lane with your children and recall and teach them some of the playground games that you played as a child at school. This could assist your children, big and little, in their playground decision-making over these last few weeks of the school year.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Stay safe and dry,

Karen