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

When this is over, may we never again take for granted a handshake with a stranger, full shelves at the store, conversations with neighbours, a crowded theatre, Friday night out, the taste of communion, the school rush each morning, coffee with a friend, the stadium roaring, a boring Tuesday, life itself.

When this is over may we find that we have become more like the people we wanted to be, we were called to be, we hoped to be and may we stay that way … better for each other because of the worst. Laura Kelley Fanucci

It was such a thrill to see our community back together again on Monday morning. The morning had a feel very similar to that of the first day of the school year … there was excitement, there were new hairstyles (iso inspired this time around), there were freshly cleaned classrooms, there was the joy of students reconnecting with friends and of course there were butterflies from students, parents and teachers alike. It has been wonderful to see how quickly students and staff have settled back into routine, albeit slightly different from normal, with our current safety measures in place.

Thank you to our parent community for helping keep our students and staff safe at St Joseph’s by limiting your visits to the school grounds. Your patience at carline in the afternoons has been appreciated as we work to implement a system that allows for a seamless pick-up process for all families. To help with this, we ask that you do not park on Boronia Drive between 2:40 pm and 3:00 pm as this impacts traffic congestion and considerably slows down the pickup process. We also ask that you remain in your car when using drive-through. This may mean that you will need to park once you have collected your child if they need assistance with seatbelts. 

The below video highlights information for parents and carers, about safety and returning to school, with ACT Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerryn Coleman and Deputy Chief Health Officer, Dr Vanessa Johnston.

We do not learn from experience ... we learn from reflecting on experience - John Dewey

Learning not only comes about from doing but from thinking about what we do. Often, we go through our day to day life without spending too much time “processing” our experiences. This is not a bad thing, as often much of what we do throughout the day is routine and it may not hold a lot of meaningful learning. But when we participate in new experiences, experiences that are outside of our comfort zone or outside of our routine, there is a lot to gain from taking the time to reflect. Today I asked members of the Kids Committee to reflect on their experience of Remote Learning. They shared some great insights:

• I learnt how important patience is. I am also thankful to have wonderful teachers. The steps we are using for hygiene will help us in the future and help prevent something like this again - Amy 5 Orange
• Teamwork is something that we have all had to use to help us get through this difficult time - Tom 6 Lime
• I learnt how important communicating is. Without communication, we would not have been able to stay in contact with our with classmates and teachers from home - Chloe 6 Silver
• I learnt that trust and belief are needed in any situation. When things don’t work you have to believe that they will happen - Reese 4 Green
• You have to be collaborative and be kind to people because it is not always easy -Scarlett 3N
• I learnt that reading instructions is very important. You need to know the difference between ‘and’ and ‘or’ otherwise you might do more tasks than you have to - Mary 2 Magenta
• I learnt that doing things at a different time to other students is hard because we don’t know what the answer is and we cannot ask our table group - Maddison  2 Yellow
• We are privileged to have technology because if we didn’t we would not have been able to connect with anyone while we were home. Without technology, everything would be on paper and take a long time - Josh 5 Blue
• I learnt that you need to work hard if you want to succeed. You don’t have to worry about everything, just the important things - Adam 4 Gold
• Homeschooling meant that we could learn without getting sick - Madeline F White
• It is good to read so that you can grow up and be smart - Claire F Red
• Learning is really important - Gianluca 1 Purple
• I learnt that playing with people is really important because I missed my friends a lot. Jack 1 Teal

Enrolment Period

We are now accepting enrolment applications for the 2021 school year. 

While we are currently unable to offer Open Days, we are always keen to speak with families interested in enrolling at St Joseph’s. Please see our website for more details - https://www.sjo.act.edu.au/for-parents/enrolment

Please see our welcome video

Have an enjoyable end to the week.

Yours in Christ,

Amy Doszpot

Assistant Principal

amy.doszpot@cg.catholic.edu.au

Welcome back everyone. It is so great to see all the students again. We celebrated by cooking Anzac slice this week in Defence Kids club. I hope some made it home for you to share in the goodies. Our Defence kids brought along some friends to enjoy cooking together.

A message from Soldier On - This week is National Volunteering Week and it’s all about saying thanks to those that volunteer as well as those that look after our volunteers!

 

https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/get-involved/nvw/   “Changing Communities. Changing Lives”

 

Serving On is a national Soldier On volunteering program that aims to provide service personnel the opportunity to continue to serve through purposeful work and impactful projects that help people and communities. Its objectives are to engage veterans and volunteers, link and support communities and promote positive public perception of veteran skills. This is all through facilitated regular projects. If you would like to know more please contact Debbie at ACT@soldieron.org.au

Sally Adams

Defence School Mentor

sally.adams@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Thank You!

A big thank you to our wonderful families who have dropped off uniforms to go into the second-hand clothing pool. We have a large range of items available at a very cheap price! More donations are always welcome. 

Happy birthday to these students celebrating their birthdays this week:

Kristina S

Ayla A

Travis M

Aaryan B

Chloe R

Cindy L

Olivia F

Atticus B

Nathan N

Congratulations to this week's award recipients. 

Students will receive their awards in class on Friday.

Photos will be shared later in the day via SZapp.