Dear Parents, Carers and the St Joseph’s Community,

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it … Dad

- Author Unknown 

We are looking forward to welcoming many of you to our Father’s Day Breakfast this Friday at 8am. Our breakfast is not only a day to honour our dads, but all men who act as a father figure to those in our community. Foundation White will be leading us in a Prayer Celebration at 2:15pm on Friday, you can join the celebration via teams - https://bit.ly/3csFmYR

I wish all the wonderful men in our community a very special day on Sunday!

Pupil Free Day

A reminder that next Friday, 9 September is a Pupil Free Day. Camp Australia will be running a care program for parents who may require supervision for their child/ren (bookings are essential).

Tournament of the Minds (TOM)

Last weekend students from grades 4, 5 and 6 in our Tournament Of Minds teams competed in the regional TOM competition at the Australian National University. St Joseph’s entered four teams into the STEM and Language and Literature categories. TOM is a problem solving program for teams of students from both primary and secondary years.  

TOM aims to enhance the potential of our youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management, and the discipline to work collaboratively within a competitive environment. Each team was given a long term challenge and 6 weeks to solve the challenge, write a script to a dramatic performance and create props and costumes.

We are very proud of all of our teams who worked tirelessly in the lead up to the day and are thrilled that three of our teams made it through to the finals.

A huge thank you to Tiffany Fletcher for her incredible efforts to work with our students to prepare for the competition, and to Ryan McGee and Jake Kucher for attending on the day and supporting our students. Well done everyone!

We wish them all the best for the finals on September 10.

Staffing News

We have had several reasons to celebrate as a staff this term! Congratulations to Courtney Bonner on her engagement to Daniel whilst on holiday in Croatia earlier this term, and to Jake Kucher who popped the question to his partner Emma. A big babylations is in order for Hayley Gould and her husband Daniel who will be welcoming their third child in March next year.

Nacho Day

Q: Did you hear that joke about the nachos?
A: It was so cheesy.

Q: Why are nachos like South America?
A: They have Chile on the side.

Do not forget to place your order on Qkr! for our Term 3 Nacho Day being held next Tuesday 6 September. If you are able to offer any assistance on the day or in the lead up, please contact Nichole Hanlon hdn.h@outlook.com

Nature Playground

After much anticipation, our new Nature Playground will be opening on Monday. Thank you to Tom from Dan and Dan Landscaping for the amazing work in building such a beautiful play area for our students which will no doubt also be enjoyed by the wider community on the weekends. We have developed a set of Nature Playground rules to ensure our students stay safe while having fun. These will be shared with the students later this week. Stay tuned for more information regarding an official opening and the highlight of Mr Tarrant going down the slide into a pool of slime!

Unexplained Absences

Today, an email was sent to families of students with unexplained absences. It is important that all student absences are lodged using the Compass Parent Portal. This can be done prior to your child being away, on the day of their absence or in a timely manner after they return to school. Maintaining and following up absences is a legal requirement so I appreciate your help in keeping your records up to date. If you have any questions regarding Compass please do not hesitate to contact me via phone or email.

A New Toy

Mr Tarrant and Mr Hetherington are currently fighting over who will be using our new toy. After a few years in the making, the decision was passed through the School Board to purchase a ride-on mower. This will allow the school to save money rather than outsourcing the lawn maintenance as previously done.

NAPLAN 2023

Improvements to NAPLAN agreed to by education ministers will enhance NAPLAN and the National Assessment Program (NAP) as measures that allow teachers, schools, governments, and parents to support students and ensure they are gaining important literacy and numeracy skills. 

NAPLAN, which has always been held in the second week of May, will move to mid-March from 2023. In 2023, NAPLAN will be held from Wednesday 15 March to Monday 27 March. This will mean results will be available to education authorities earlier in the year to inform school and system teaching and learning programs and will allow teachers to better assess what support students need for the coming year.

All students in Years 3 and 5 will sit NAPLAN next year for four assessments; Reading, Writing, Spelling & Grammar and Numeracy.

Further information regarding NAPLAN will be communicated to parents in early Term 1, 2023.

I hope you have an enjoyable end to the week.