Dear Parents,

Welcome back to 2024 and all that is has in store for us as a community.  At our Diocesan ‘Called to Serve’, staff Mass on Tuesday evening, the Bishop commissioned the staff for the year ahead and gave a blessing that it would be a good one for all our communities.  As a St Joseph’s staff we are very excited about what this year brings forward and all in our community have started off well, with lots of smiles, enthusiasm and engagement, be they students or staff. 

The Bishop also mentioned that this year has been Pope Francis has inaugurated a Year of Prayer ahead of next year’s 2025 Jubilee. The Pope is calling on the faithful “to intensify prayer to prepare us to live well this event of grace and to experience the power of God’s hope.” Pope Francis has said that this Year of Prayer is dedicated “to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer, prayer in personal life, in the life of the Church, prayer in the world.”  We are asked to intensify our prayer life to help us experience the power of God’s hope.  This could be as simple as praying the Our Father as  family together on a regular basis or introducing Grace  before Meals or just saying an internal prayer on your way to school drop off or pick up.

Figure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_IJHBnXWjo 

Kinder’s First Day 

Kindergarten has been buzzing with excitement as our newest students embark on their educational journey! It's been a smooth transition for all, with our little ones settling seamlessly into the Kinder space. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all parents for their unwavering support and diligent preparations leading up to this significant milestone. Together, we're providing a nurturing environment where every child can thrive and grow.

School Holiday Upgrades

Once again, over the school holidays we continued with our school revitalisation project. The upstairs area of the administration block, the external areas of the old boys’ toilets, the low wall on Union St and the entrance area of the school area were all painted

I also received a phone call on our first day back that we had been assigned a project manager for the successful diocesan grant we have been given for improving the Quad and Library spaces.  I have already met with him, and St joseph’s is the first school on his list, so stay tuned for regular updates as to what is to come over the next 18 months or so in these areas. 

Student Absences 

Don’t forget that it is a legal requirement to inform the school, in writing, of your children’s absences.  This can be done via Compass or a written note; either way, please outline what the reason is.  Please explain whether your child is sick, in isolation, attending an appointment, on holiday, refusing to come to school, a family emergency etc. Even on Compass it doesn’t suffice to just indicate they are absent – a detailed reason is required.  

Families are encouraged to travel during school holidays. If travel in excess of 10 school days is necessary, an Application for Extended Leave needs to be completed. Absences relating to travel will be marked as leave on the roll and therefore contribute to your child’s total absences for the year. Please contact the office for details about these leave requests.  These requests need to be made in advance of the requests leave in order for us to fulfill our mandated requirements around this. On a number of occasions last year we only received the requests a couple of days before departure.  If this occurs we will not be able to issue you with a leave approval certificate and this will be reflected on your children’s attendance records. This is also significant as legally you are meant to carry with you the school issued certificate and can be asked for it at airports, ports etc. 

Canteen

Canteen will be open from this coming Monday 12th February.  Mrs Anna Aird, is our canteen manger and she has been busily getting the canteen ready for the children this week.  Anna has met with both Gina Pringle and Donna Mansour to get familiar with  our canteen operations, to ensure that there is consistency of practice but we are also looking forward to Anna gradually putting her own stamp on things as well.  As usual, we need volunteers to assist, both for lunch time preparations and for sales at recess. If you have been cleared as a volunteer and have some time on your hands on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, please sign up to assist either for lunch time or recess.

Volunteers

We love to have our families involved in the various services and activities we provide here at St Jospeh’s, so if you would like to assist with activities such as excursions, carnivals, canteen, uniform shop, classroom activities and any other activities that may come up, please ensure you have completed all the necessary Volunteers documentation so that you can go on the approved list.

What you need to do: 

• Go to Volunteer Registration Form 

There is no longer any need to print off and complete any forms that are in the Volunteer Policy or the Code of Conduct resource that are included on this page. 

• Answer the questions, then you will receive an email explaining about the police check with Verify Now. Complete this process.
• Once we have been informed that your police check has come back, we are able to enlist your services.  We have been told this process can take up to 3 weeks and our past experiences have been even longer (3 months at times). So, if you think you might like to volunteer for something this year, even if is just one activity, we strongly encourage you to start the registration process as soon as possible.

Uniforms

Wearing the school uniform is part of our Positive Behaviour for Learning framework, where the children show care and pride in both themselves and their school.  The adherence to a uniform policy is very often mentioned in enrolment interviews by prospective families as something that they are looking for in a school.  We believe that over the years the St Joseph’s community has worked hard at establishing a comfortable, practical and smart looking uniform for all our students and that it helps in connecting all the students to our community

Key Points regarding Uniforms:

• Black school shoes (not sports types shoes, without embellishments and of a ‘smooth’ surface)
• White, or predominantly white, trainers with white laces

• Shoulder length, or longer, hair is to be tied back and hair needs to be cut in such a way that it does not hang in children’s eyes or is fastened back with appropriate hair accessories. This applies to both boys and girls.
• Jewellery may include plain ‘sleepers’ or studs, without gem stones. Necklaces, friendship bands and anklets are not part of the school uniform.
• Hair accessories that are only in school colours of blue and/or gold are acceptable.
• Temporary tattoos, nail polish and make-up are also not part of our uniform.

In the case of your child not being able to wear the full school uniform at any stage, please follow our policy requirements of providing your child’s class teacher with a brief explanation through a note or email to school admin. Thank you for your support in helping us to encourage and maintain your children’s pride in our school.

P&F 

Our first Parents and Friends meeting for 2024 will include our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and will take place on Wednesday 28 February with ‘wine and cheese’ in the Staff Cafe.  We would love to see as many of you as possible at this.  This first meeting will be in person only, rather than a hybrid one with the option of Zoom.

Pick Up Arrangements

In order to avoid costly fines please ensure that you follow the traffic rules for Kiss and Ride Zones. The rule is that you cannot park and get out of your car to walk your child in or to collect them. You are also not allowed to wait in a line of traffic to pick up, if you are blocking a parked car.  You are required to drive around the block and keep the flow of traffic happening.  We understand how frustrating this is, but we cannot do anything about this.  Our suggestions are:  

1. Do not all come right on bell time. If you delay your arrival the cars will flow smoothly through Kiss and Ride and you will not be held up, timewise, any more than you would be, sitting in the queue.  Teachers will not leave students on the footpath on their own, they will be cared for.  
2. Use the services of our school crossing supervisor and let your children walk across the crossing and then down one of the side streets where you will be parked.  They don’t need to cross any major roads on their own and you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam.  This is a particularly helpful practice if your children are in Primary.

Remember to use your laminated name cards – place them on the visor of your car, which is to be pulled down as you approach Kiss and Ride. If you need any more of these cards throughout the year or for extra family members, contact the office.

Pedestrian pickup is in the school playground or at the parish car park gates.  We are continuing to use the one-way system: Enter via the Union St main gate and exit by the parish car park gates.  This system ensures a safer afternoon departure practice for both students and families. We ask that you do not take offence if a staff member asks you to exit via the appropriate gates if they notice this practice is not occurring.

2024 Staff

Our staff for this year is:  

Thank you for the preparations you have made to send your children back to school happy and organised. I hope the year has got off to a good start for you all.

Shine your light,

Karen