How wonderful was it last week to be able to gather together again as a community at our Start of Year Mass! The children showed such wonderful listening behaviours, which is such a credit to them and their teachers when it was the first time meeting together as a whole school all year! Well done to our Year 6 leaders who ran assembly for us last week too! It’s always a bit scary speaking in front of so many students and parents for the first time they all did such a wonderful job!
Harmony Week It was great to see the school filled with Orange today as we begin Harmony Week. Well done to Year 4 who led us in today’s Liturgy. Thank you for reminding us all of the importance of respecting and honouring each person we meet just as Jesus did.
During Harmony Week we will have a number of visitors who will be coming into share their cultural traditions with us. The Polynesian Dance group who will be putting on a demonstration for us at 2pm on Monday and then the Western Cape Indigenous Dance group will be sharing traditional dancing with us at 2pm on Thursday. We are looking forward to joining in with both groups and have lots of fun while we learn about other cultures.
P&F AGM Meeting Our P&F is an important part of our school community. We are still currently seeking P&F members to fill our executive positions, if you are interested, please come along to our next meeting on Tuesday 29th March at 7pm in school Library. This meeting will be held in the flexible learning space with an option to dial in via zoom. Zoom link will be sent on the day to all families. All parents and staff are invited to join us for this P&F meeting – it is a great way to be involved in your child’s schooling.
Flood Appeal To support the Vinnies Qld Flood Appeal, this Friday we are holding a free dress day for Harmony Day and then on Friday night from 6:30pm we will hold a Disco where we are asking for a gold coin donation. We are also having an Easter Raffle to raise funds for the appeal.
We have already received a fantastic response to request for donations to our raffle hampers. We have also had a donation of a quality Shimano fishing rod and reel valued at $250. Thanks to our school community for your generosity.
If you have not already, we would be most grateful if you could donate an Easter egg for the occasion. Raffle tickets will be available from Friday night and students will be selling tickets in the mornings before school starts from next Monday. $2 each ticket or 3 for $5.
Many of us know people living in SE QLD and of the devastation that these floods have caused. It is heartbreaking what these communities have had to endure. We thank everyone for giving so generously and know that our contribution will be very much appreciated.
Hockey We are very excited to have hockey starting at St Joseph’s. Shaniah Kennell who is working with Douglas Hockey Association, will be working with each class throughout the year during break times as well as offering after school coaching. More details about our new Hockey program will be shared in an email to all families before the end of term.
Prep Enrolments for 2023 and beyond
Children born between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018 are eligible to attend Prep in 2023. We begin looking ahead to Prep enrolments for the 2023 school year and beyond. We are starting interviews for 2023 Prep placements next week. If you haven’t already, we encourage all of our existing families with children eligible for Prep next year to complete and submit an application form as soon as possible so that you can be part of the interview process.
URGENT! Crossing Supervisor needed.
Interested in becoming a Crossing Supervisor? I encourage all families to either spread the word that we are looking for a crossing supervisor or consider taking on the role full time/part time. Please see the advertisement attached to our latest newsletter.
Establishment of the School Board
St Joseph’s Parish School is establishing our first School Board. The school board provides the opportunity for members of the school, parish and diocesan communities to support the mission of Catholic education in the school by supporting the Principal.
On Monday 9th May at 7pm, we will be holding an information evening for all in the school community who are interested in becoming a school board member. As such, we are calling on nominations to fill these positions. Interested members of our community need to write a short ‘expression of interest’ letter that outlines the nominee’s skill set and what they might bring to this group. These nominations will then be presented to the Board Establishment Committee which will be made up of the Principal, Parish Priest, Director of School Effectiveness and CES Parent Engagement consultant.
The purpose of the School Board is to support the Principal to effectively run the school. In addition to this the Board is responsible for policy review and have input into Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Master Planning. This team is essential in bringing different perspectives of our community together as we discuss and make decisions. They are also important links to the rest of our school community to ensure they are listening to feedback and sharing this information when we meet.