Dear parents and carers and the St Joseph’s community,

Winter in all of Our Lives

There is a winter in all of our lives, a chill and darkness that makes us yearn
for days that have gone or put our hope in days yet to be.
Father God, you created seasons for a purpose.
Spring is full of expectation buds breaking, frosts abating and an awakening
of creation before the first days of summer.
Now the sun gives warmth and comfort to our lives
reviving aching joints bringing colour, new life and crops to fruiting.
Autumn gives nature space to lean back, relax and enjoy the fruits of its labour
mellow colours in sky and landscape as the earth prepares to rest.
Then winter, cold and bare as nature takes stock rests, unwinds, sleeps until the time is right.
An endless cycle and yet a perfect model.
We need a winter in our lives, a time of rest, a time to stand still,
a time to reacquaint ourselves with the faith in which we live.
It is only then that we can draw strength from the one in whom we are rooted,
take time to grow and rise through the darkness into the warm glow of your springtime
to blossom and flourish bring colour and vitality into this world your garden.
Thank you Father for the seasons of our lives.

– Author Unknown

Parent / Teacher Interviews

Bookings for Semester 1 Parent / Teacher Interviews are now open on the Compass Parent Portal. Interviews will take place in Week 9 (20 June – 24 June) via Microsoft Teams. These interviews form part of our formal reporting process. They are a professional, purposeful conversation to provide you with information on how your child learns and the effort they apply to their learning, how your child has improved their learning, as well as, identifying areas for growth. Bookings will close at 3pm on Friday 17 June.

Please note, if booking your interview using the Compass App, on your home screen select the ‘More’ option (3 bars) on the bottom right corner of your screen and then select ‘Conferences’. If using a desktop, the option to book interviews will appear on the top right of your screen.

Semester 1 Reports will be available proceeding the interview process and can be accessed via Compass on Wednesday 29 June (Week 10).

Pupil Free Day

A reminder that next Tuesday, 14 June is a Pupil Free Day. This is the second of two Pupil Free days granted by Catholic Education to all Catholic Systemic schools to cover Covid staffing shortages that resulted in many teachers not having their allocated two-hours of release from face-to-face teaching. Camp Australia will be running a care program on Tuesday for parents who may require supervision for their child/ren (bookings are essential).

Morning Drop Off

The best way for students to start the school day is to be at school in time for Morning Gathering at 8.50am. That way they can see their friends and set themselves for the day.

If you are dropping your child to school after 8.50am, you must come into the school and sign them in, please. Our attendance system relies on accurate recording of arrival time, and by signing your child in at the Compass Kiosk in the Front Office, it automatically marks them present at school that day. 

Your assistance with this is appreciated. 

Medical Details

In recent months, we have become aware of a lack of clear medical information for a number of students due to not being informed of regular medication, medical conditions or changes to existing medical plans.

Even if your child takes medication outside of school hours, or has a medical condition that may not present at school, it is important that this information is also provided. Likewise, when asthma or allergy plans are updated, the school needs to be given a copy.

This week, all parents are asked to provide any necessary medical information or updates to the school to ensure we are in the best position to respond to student needs, or in an emergency.

Social and Emotional Learning 

My current school wide focus is on COMPASSION. Compassion involves feeling emotions such as kindness, empathy, respect and sympathy. With the younger students, my emphasis has been on the connections between words, actions and feelings and the lasting effects that these can have on another person. The students have been reminded that “Before you speak, think and be smart, it’s hard to fix a wrinkled heart”

Compassion is also one of the main tools for achieving happiness especially for the self. Self-compassion is defined as the practice of engaging with an inner voice of support, understanding, and care for oneself and treating yourself like you would a good friend. I have been working with the older students to help them turn around negative self-talk to show themselves more self-compassion.

Respect for School Property

On Monday we had an unfortunate situation where both boys' bathrooms were found with soap smeared on floors and mirrors, paper towel discarded all over the floor as well as numerous items of sports equipment left strewn. As you can appreciate, providing our students with a clean, safe and accessible school environment is of utmost importance. As such, teachers showed all students photos of the mess in the hope that the student/s involved would come forward or be identified. Unfortunately, this was not the case, so all boys spent part of their second break in the hall discussing the need to respect school property. We are very hopeful that this was an isolated incident and moving forward our school environment will be looked after in the respectful manner that we are accustom to.

Have a great end to the week.