Dear Parents and Carers,

Work Placement

This week we have had the pleasure of welcoming ex-St Joseph’s student Hamish Baker back to the school for work placement. Hamish has been very helpful and is learning all the workings of a school. The students have especially enjoyed his company on the playground!

New programs for students in 2023

For the past two years, St Joseph’s has embarked on a professional development journey led by Catholic Education, known as Catalyst.

Catalyst has two bold goals:

1.  Every student is a competent reader
2. High Impact Teaching Practices visible in every classroom

I have communicated with you a number of times this year outlining how staff are engaged with these goals. You may have noticed your child talking about ‘Daily Review’ and ‘Explicit Direct Instruction’ in Mathematics.

To build upon this, we have embedded further programs in our 2023 Annual Improvement Plan to meet the needs of our students. This decision is based upon student data from standardised assessments (eg NAPLAN and PAT assessments) as well as consultation with C.E staff. These programs are known as Spelling Mastery and Connecting Maths Concepts. Further information explaining each of these programs was shared with parents on Compass earlier this week.

Christmas Family Fun Day  

We look forward to the Christmas Family Fun Day tomorrow. Students are invited to come to school dressed in a Christmas outfit/ colours/hat etc.

Families are invited to join us for the Talent Quest at 11:45am, followed by a sausage sizzle lunch. We need volunteers to assist cooking the BBQ, so please let the office know if you can help.

Students will do Secret Santa sharing this day in their classes also. This is an opportunity for students to participate in the festive season by thinking of others. Students are invited to bring a gift to the value of $5-$10 (no more please) for someone of the same gender in their class. Students will draw a name from a hat to give their gift to. 

Chicken Call Out 

Are there any families that might be able to care for the school chickens in the upcoming holidays? If possible, can someone care for them at home? If not are you able to go on a roster to come to school and feed them etc? Please complete this short survey here to let us know. Thank you.

Playgroup 

Next year we will be running a community playgroup at St Joseph’s for children aged 0-4 years and their parents. We are looking for donations of good quality, second hand toys to suit children aged 0-4 years (e.g blocks/duplo, cars/trucks, train sets, dolls, imaginative play etc). Please drop into the office anything you might be able to donate.

Library Books  

Please remember to return any Library books for home this week.

Upcoming events:

Friday 9 th December - Christmas Family Fun Day & Talent Quest

Tuesday 13th December - Breakfast Club Pancake Breakfast

Thanks to the generous donation of pancake mix from the Grenfell Food Hall, we will be holding a pancake breakfast. Donations of fresh berries and syrup would be appreciated please. We need volunteers to assist cooking the pancakes, so please let the office know if you can help.

Wednesday 14th December - Graduation Mass 6pm

Year 6 students and their families are required to attend. All other students are invited to support and celebrate the Year 6 students. Captains and House Captains will be announced at the Mass for 2023.

Thursday 15th December - Pool Fun Day

Whole school reward day. Please provide consent on Compass.

Friday 16th December - Last day of 2022 for students and staff

The first day of school for students in 2023 will be Wednesday 1st February.

Please contact the office if you have any questions about upcoming events.

Kind thoughts,

Melissa Hotham 

Principal