St Joseph's Primary School Trafalgar eNewsletter

Dear families

Last week we hosted a fabulous Learning Expo where the students exhibited their quality work. I hope that you too were as impressed as I was with their work. Thank you families for supporting this important event. When you attend such events you show your child that you value school, and when families value and support school, students perform better, so thank you!

Thank you students and teachers for doing your best work. We certainly enjoyed unveiling our tiled feature wall for you.

Our New Cousellor

We warmly welcome Miss Madalyn McStay to our school community.

"I am someone who truly enjoys the great outdoors and values time spent with family. My hobbies include camping and boating, which allow me to connect with nature and create lasting memories. In addition to these activities, I love to express my creativity through drawing and also immerse myself in different worlds by reading any & all books. Whether I’m exploring the wilderness or enjoying a quiet moment with a good book, being surrounded by my loved ones makes every experience even more special.

I have always been very empathetic & wanted to work with children to support & uplift them in life. I have always believed that we as a collective must nurture & encourage the up & coming generation, so that when they do enter the world as adults they do so with confidence & kindness." Madi

Father's Group

As a follow up to our Father's Day celebrations, Dr Chris Laming is going to run a Father's Group in the Parish Centre on Wednesday Nov 20th 5.30pm to 6.30. Gold Coin donation to cover the hot drinks. It's going to be called 'A Dad's Workshop' and you are welcome to bring a mate. The idea is to support Dad's in their very important role in our families. This workshop is open to all Dads in our community, not just school Dads.

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May God continue to bless and guide us in our learning together.

Trish Mulqueen

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Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child's education.

It is really important that students are at school on school days. It is important to organise family holidays in school holiday time as we know how crucial it is for children to be at school.

Parents please understand that if you have more than one child at school, if one child is sick it is still really important that the other child comes to school. If your child is not able to come to school then we ask that you go on to PAM and let the school know that your child will not be at school. Please also give a reason why your child is absent eg sick, doctor's appointment. For child safety reasons we need to know where your child is, so you are required to notify the school of your child's attendance. If we cannot contact you then our normal attendance procedure is followed where we will contact your emergency contacts.

All school children should be at school if they are well. Parents, please prioritize school attendance.

Please also remember it is not ok to have a day off because it is your birthday. We certainly can't do that as adults and honestly this is not good training for our children.

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After very careful consideration, the staff have set the class structure for 2025. The structure is: F/1, Gr 1/2, Gr 3/4, Gr 4/5 & Gr 5/6.

We have begun the process of planning our class lists for the 2025 school year. Whilst this is an onerous and time-consuming task, we are blessed to have such a knowledgeable staff who are aware of each student’s individual needs and work collaboratively to make professional judgements in relation to class planning and student placement. When deciding our individual class structures, a number of factors are taken into account, which include: • Student’s social, emotional, academic and physical development • Student’s cognitive development • Student relationships • Family dynamics, eg. sibling placement • Teacher knowledge, skill and expertise • Enrolment numbers at the various levels • Practical resources, such as space. If your child has a particular need or there is important information that we should be aware of when considering class placement for the 2025 school year, we ask that parents put this information in writing and submit it via email to; principal@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au All requests are specifically about your child’s needs. Obviously, we cannot accommodate requests for particular teachers; we can only look at the needs of each individual child. All email requests need to be submitted by close of business on Thursday 21st November and we ask parents to understand that all requests will be considered on merit but there are no guarantees. Any requests received after the above date will not be taken into consideration and once grades have been set there will be no changes.

If your family’s enrolment situation at St Joseph’s is changing in the future, we would also appreciate you letting us know. An accurate indication of student numbers assists us enormously in our planning for 2025.

Our recent 2024 School Improvement Survey data was positive and also showed some challenges. Although the Community Engagement Aggregate score was very high, the students showed a decline in the Student Wellbeing Aggregate Indicator. Student Wellbeing continues to be an area of focus for us.

In the School Climate data we scored high in School Improvement Focus, and Adaptive Behaviours and Innovation continue to be high. Generally, the staff recorded a similar pattern to last year’s data with an increase in Teacher Confidence and a continued focus on Quality Teaching.

In the social emotional data, senior students indicated a lower trend in Engagement In Learning, however Student Motivation was up. The students scored Student Safety high, this is positive. Parents also scored Student Safety high and Community Engagement high, with an increase in Approachability, Parent Input and Reporting.

We use this data to inform our focus on School Improvement.

Christmas Raffle

We are running a Christmas Raffle this term.

We kindly ask all families to please donate an item to go towards the prizes. A tub for donations can be found in the office. We greatly appreciate the support of families and are grateful for donations you can give.

Tickets will be sent home with students next week. They cost $2 each. Please fill in the tickets with a name and phone number before returning to school in an envelope. Please pay for tickets via CDF pay.

The raffle will be drawn in the last week of school. Good luck everyone!!

In week 9 we will run our 5 day swimming program from Monday December 2nd through to Friday December 6th. The students will travel by bus to Warragul Leisure Centre each day to participate in a 45 minute swimming lesson by trained swimming teachers. This is an important part of the curriculum and it is expected that all students will participate. Please access the information note and the permission on PAM. Your child is encouraged to either wear their bathers to school under their uniform or bring their bathers (this is a good option if your child has a one piece suit) in a smaller bag to take swimming. We are looking for parent helpers, especially in the junior classes. All helpers must have a current Working with Children's Check. Please see the attached timetable. If you are able to help please let your classroom teacher know.

REVERSE ADVENT CALENDAR

Advent is a time for giving so why not do something lovely as a family and create a Reverse Advent Calendar for those in need. Throughout November and December, instead of receiving a gift or small sweet treat, we invite you and your family to DONATE a non-perishable item and put it into a box, basket or bag. At the end of Advent, you will have a hamper (in a box, basket or bags) to donate. The hampers will be distributed to local families in need. I really like this idea because it helps little ones to understand that Advent is about preparing for something great, and in this way we are preparing and giving to others, which is great. Please see below the Reverse Advent Calendar that we will use at school. The ideas on our Reverse Advent Calendar are only suggestions, you can of course, do whatever works for your family (or use whatever you have in your pantry). At the end of Week 10 (Friday 13th December), you are welcome to drop your Reverse Advent Calendar Hamper in at school for us to distribute to families in need. Let's start getting ready for Christmas...

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