Term 1 Week 3 2024

Principal's Message

To our wonderful St Joseph's Community. Welcome to 2024. 

The year has started off beautifully with a sense of calm and happiness for both staff and students.  If you have been on the school grounds you will have noticed our brand new COLA which has made such a difference already in both wet and hot weather. This space has been celebrated by our entire school community in providing shelter from the elements for our students and allows us to provide a sun-safe play option.

We welcome our new Kindergarten students who have settled in well despite some tears.  This can be a difficult time for parents as they leave their precious little ones with us trusting in our community to do the best for their children.  Please be rest assured they are in the most capable and kind care possible and we look forward to watching them grow into confident individuals. 

This year our focus will be on student and staff wellbeing.  We are aiming to build resilient, empathetic, and independent children who can engage in school and life with positivity and kindness. This will involve updating our PBS focus and the development of a whole school common language where students 'bounce forward' and 'treat others how they would like to be treated'.  As a school community, we would like to include all families in this initiative and will hold information nights and provide guest speakers on relevant issues for families to help understand the complex world our children live in. 

Please also take up the invitation to join our Parent Community Group meetings held twice a term. Our first one for this year is next Monday 19th February at 5 pm in our school library. This is an opportunity for parents to come together and positively contribute to our school community. There is no commitment needed, just your time and ideas.  

Pope Francis has asked that 2024 be marked as a Year of Prayer. The Holy Father announced its launch on Sunday 21 January 2024, on the fifth annual celebration of the ‘Sunday of the Word of God’. The Pope wrote: “From now on I am happy to think that the year preceding the Jubilee event, 2024, will be dedicated to a great ‘symphony’ of prayer. First of all, to recover the desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and adore him.” In preparation for the Jubilee, we as a parish school community will encourage families and our students to engage in prayer, both formal and informal.  We do this in a variety of ways and will offer opportunities throughout this year to come together and celebrate through prayer.

Thank you for your continued support. I look forward to the year ahead with excitement and gratitude for the wonderful community we have here at St Joseph's 

Assistant Principal - Learning & Teaching

Well, what a busy start to our year! 

As you know all our planning is based on data and we have begun the year with our Best Start Literacy for Kinder, Dalwood testing for Spelling and the MAI (Mathemtical Assessessment Interviews) for all classes. This data is being analysed at the moment and then groups will be formed for intervention or enrichment. This week the children have also been given a writing stimulus which the staff will moderate next week.  This allows the teachers to see where the gaps are in writing, as they are based on the NSW learning progressions for creating texts. Teachers then plan accordingly, so each child can start to practice the skills needed to improve.

We are partners with you in your child's learning and it was great to see so many people at the parent information sessions for each class this week. We know it is difficult to make time as we are all very busy but it is so important to build a relationship between yourselves and the teachers who are the co-teachers of your child.  Please remember that the teachers are available the half hour before and after school if you need any help, guidance or clarification on any issue. My door is always open to all parents if you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me either in person or by email   christine.mulherin@lism.catholic.edu.au.

Just a reminder that all communication with teachers must be done through compass email. No teacher is allowed to respond in Seesaw as it is a digital portfolio tool.  Please also understand that teachers do not check their emails during the day as they are teaching so if you need to give your child a message please ring the office so they can pass the message on.  To alleviate any anxiety it is important that the children know exactly what the afternoon instructions are before they arrive at school because miscommunication can cause the children distress. 

Looking forward to working with your children this year.

All the best

Chris Mulherin

Assistant Principal Mission

Welcome

Dear St Joseph's Community,

Welcome to our 2024 school year.  We have had a couple of wonderful celebrations to begin our year with our opening mass and Ash Wednesday mass.  Friday was an exciting opportunity to officially acknowledge our student leaders for the year.  We are supremely confident they will be wonderful role models for all of our students.  We then enjoyed a lovely mass to begin our Lenten Journey on Ash Wednesday.  We are working together to provide opportunities for students to engage more and more in this Lenten journey of drawing closer to God and are excited to share this with the students in the coming weeks.  All students will be encouraged to give what they can to our Project Compassion campaign.  This is a wonderful opportunity for us to teach solidarity and gratitude within our own lives - often sacrificing the extras we have to provide others with the necessities in life.

Zones of Regulation

Some of you may have seen posters in classrooms or around the school that refer to different zones (green zone, blue zone, yellow zone, red zone).  These are from a program that helps children with their emotional awareness and prepares them to respond appropriately.  Our wonderful counsellor, Mrs. Ingrid Hartmann, and our new Student Wellbeing Officer, Mrs. Genevieve Campbell-Star will be working with classroom teachers in the coming weeks to remind students of these zones as a way of identifying our emotions and acting accordingly.  This is a key element of wellbeing and a wonderful, research-backed program that helps us teach children emotional awareness, emotional literacy, and ultimately emotional regulation - key skills for learning and life.

Attendance

All families are reminded at the start of the year of the importance of attendance and punctuality.  Far too many students have struggled to readjust to the routines of school life, and this is something we need to rectify quickly.  All students are expected to be in attendance from 8:40 am each day.  If students arrive after this time, the parent must walk the child into the office to provide a reason for the lateness.  Frequent lateness impacts not only the student arriving late but also interrupts the class that is already settled into learning.  Your assistance in this matter is much appreciated.

Uniform

Thank you to the vast majority of families that have followed our expectations regarding uniforms, shoes, haircuts, and jewelry.  Some students have been spoken to regarding hairstyles or jewelry and I again thank the parents that have responded to these conversations.  A reminder that our policy for earrings is only one pair of small gold or silver studs or sleepers. Several students are still wearing mesh joggers that will be spoken to over the next week by their classroom teacher. As per previous correspondence, shoes are to be black and all leather.  The same shoes are to be worn with both school uniforms.  Any breaches of our uniform policy are asked to be rectified quickly to avoid any consequences for children.

Thank you

Thank you all for such a positive beginning to the year.  It was so great to see many families at our welcome BBQ last week despite the rain.  A massive thank you also to the families that supported our pancake sales to kickstart our Project Compassion campaign.  Your generosity was very much appreciated.  I am looking forward to seeing you all soon and for a wonderful year ahead.

God bless,

Ryan O'Connor

NAPLAN 2024

NAPLAN is fast approaching so please mark the following dates in your calendar:

• WRITING: March 13th
• READING: March 14th
• CONVENTIONS OF LANGUAGE: March 18th
• NUMERACY: March 20th

For additional details, please refer to the attached document "NAPLAN Information for Parents and Carers 2024."

Important Dates Term 1

Monday 19.2.24 School Parent Community Group Meeting 5-6 PM

Monday 11.3.24 School Parent Community Group Meeting 5-6 PM

Tuesday 19.3.24 St Joseph's Feast Day

Friday 29.3.24 Good Friday Monday 1.4.24 Easter Monday

Friday 5.4.24 School Cross Country

Monday 11.3.24 St Joseph's OPEN DAY FOR 2025 ENROLMENTS

Thursday 11.4.24 & Friday 12.4.24      PUPIL FREE DAYS

Drop Off and Pick Up Zone Reminders

As you are aware, parking is limited around our school. Please respect the drop-off and pick-up zone arrangements that have been negotiated to ensure your family's safety. We ask that you do not park in the visitor parking zones in the unit blocks around our school and be mindful of not blocking driveways. For the safety of our students, our main gates are opened at approximately 8 am and 2.45 pm if you would like to wait on the playground.

2024 School Fee Information

2024 SCHOOL FEE BREAKDOWN

$2424.00 per year per child (unless you have a sibling discount)

Term 1 total $1020.0o

This consists of;

Term 1 Tuition Fee of $468.00

Resource Levy $328.00 (only billed first term)

Technology Levy $224.00 (only billed first term)

Term 2 total  Tuition Fee $468.00

Term 3 total  Tuition Fee $468.00

Term 4 total Tuition Fee $468.00

Sibling discounts apply to Tuition Fees only-2nd child 25% 3rd child 50% 4th &5th child 100%

The preferred method of payment is BPAY as Compass Pay incurs fee charges. Your unique BPAY details can be found on your monthly statements. Catholic Schools Office issues these at the end of every month. If you would like to pay fees in installments, you can set up a recurring BPAY payment through your bank e.g. weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.

School Fees are no longer Parish-based and all enquiries should be made to Toni via the school office at  twdp-finance@lism.catholic.edu.au or on 0755362519.

Kindergarten 2025 Enrolments

Student enrolment forms will need to be completed via the school website (link in flyer below) by Friday May 3rd, 2024. Parents will be contacted when an online enrolment form has been received to book an interview. Interviews with our School Principal will then commence early in Term 2.

Acceptance letters for Kindergarten 2025 placements will then be issued by the 14th of June 2024.

Parents of siblings at St Joseph's Primary School wishing to enrol them for Kindergarten 2025 are urged to complete an online enrolment form as soon as possible.

We are in the process of contacting any 2025 enrolments already received online to book interviews.

Please direct any enquiries to the office (075536 2519)

Canteen

Our canteen is open on a Wednesday and Friday. Orders are to be placed via the Compass app. For Sushi to be delivered to school on time, ALL canteen orders are to be placed before 7.30 am on the day. (Orders can always be placed ahead of the day including recurring orders for the term.)

On Mondays in 2024, Subway can now be ordered and delivered to school via the Subway app. Instructions are below. Orders MUST be placed by Sunday night or they will not be delivered.

Parent Presentation at St Joseph's College, Banora Point - Safe on Social Media

Book Club

St Joseph's Primary Book Club is coordinated/distributed by our wonderful parent Jenna. Parents order online through Scholastic Book Club and delivered to the school for distribution. Every order contributes points for our school to go towards classroom/library resources.

Realtalk Free Resources for Parents

School Crossing Supervisor Position

Safe On Social

Seagulls Fishing Club

COMPASS How to...

How to submit an absence note in Compass

Class rolls are marked first thing daily by the classroom teacher. If a child is not marked present, Compass will automatically send a message to parents. Instructions on how to submit an absent note are below. You can also respond to an absence message once received. If an absence is not explained it will stay on the student's record as unexplained. Rolls are monitored by the Catholic School's Office and the NSW government for non-attendance.