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Last week our Gr 6 students welcomed our new Foundation students to school at the Friday Assembly. You may have seen this virtually through the Google Meeting. It was just lovely! At the final school assembly in December this year, the Foundation students will reciprocate the introduction and send off their buddy to High School. The relationship that the buddies form at school is very precious and valuable. Each week at school the buddies engage in learning or fun activities for 45 minutes and this helps to develop these meaningful relationships.
This week in the newsletter I would like to introduce our staff to you.
Lucy Martiniano is our front office person. Michelle Guthrie helps with School Fees.
Katie Balfour and Cat Ryan teach Gr 5/6. Jenny Gavin helps in Gr 5/6.
Will Troy teaches Gr 4/5 and Emma Poore helps in Gr 4/5.
James Simon teaches Gr 2/3 and Stacey Lia helps in Gr 2/3.
Taryn Maxwell-Garratt and Michele Midgley teach Gr 1/2 and Sabrina Shaw helps in Gr 1/2.
Liza Marino teaches F/1 and Carmen Farrell helps in F/1.
Susan Taylor teaches Japanese on Wednesdays.
Kathy Grass teaches Art on Wednesdays.
Raelee Hill teaches Music on Thursdays.
They really are a talented bunch of people and we are tremendously grateful for their work.
May God bless us in our learning together
Trish Mulqueen
Principal
God, please bless my school. Thank You for all of the teachers that work so hard to help us learn. Thank You for recess and lunchtime, when we get to play with our friends. Thank You for providing a place where we can learn more about the world You created for us to live in, and how it works. Please keep my school safe. Protect all of the grown ups and kids that come to school everyday. Protect us from harm, and help us to be kind to each other. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Remember icy poles are sold on Fridays in Term 1 & Term 4. $1 each.
Remember hats are worn everyday in Terms 1 & 4.
Birthdays: we don’t encourage food sharing (including lollies) for birthdays. We will of course, acknowledge your child’s birthday in the classroom but in these COVID times we certainly don’t encourage any kind of food sharing. We trust you understand this stance.
This year we will gather 8.55am outside at the flagpoles for Monday morning assemblies. We will sing the National Anthem, do class awards and announcements. In addition we will have two Friday afternoon assemblies each term to showcase our learning. You might like to add these dates to your diaries. Hopefully parents will be able to come to these assemblies in the Mary MacKillop Room but if not, we will conduct the assembly virtually.
Friday Assemblies 3pm+ |
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Term 1 |
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Wk 8 Mar 18 |
Gr 5/6 Learning Presentation |
Wk 9 Mar 25 |
Lent Liturgy in the church |
Term 2 |
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Wk 3 May 13 |
F/1 Learning Presentation |
Wk 6 June 3rd |
Catholic Education Week (Leaders) |
Term 3 |
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Wk 4 Aug 5 |
Gr 1/2 Learning Presentation |
Wk 9 Sept 9 |
Gr 2/3 Learning Presentation |
Term 4 |
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Wk 5 Nov 4 |
Gr 4/5 Learning Presentation |
Wk 10 Dec 9 |
Foundation students send off Gr 6 students |
We have sent home the second lot of RATs and ask all families to please test your child twice weekly. You don’t have to give evidence of a negative test but rather if your child’s test is positive you must either ring or email us to let us know, then we will tell you what you need to do. Your response includes reporting the test result and 7 days isolation. We thank all families for following this protocol. This helps to keep us all safe and open.
St Joseph’s promotes positive relationships and so we encourage our Parent Buddy Program. This is where we partner up an existing parent with a new parent to help the new family to feel welcome at our school. Cat Ryan is in the process of organising this program for us this year and she will be in contact with the new parents and their buddies in the coming weeks. Special thanks to the families who agreed to be part of this program.
Please find attached a copy of our School Fees, these are also available on our website: www.trafalgar.catholic.edu.au
Annual school fee statements have been emailed this week to all families, please check to see that you received this email. If you have any queries regarding your statement please contact the office.
If you have recently acquired a Centrelink concession card (Healthcare Card) please contact our office to request Fee Concession application forms.
We have started Breakfast Club at school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays starting at 8.15am. At the moment it is operating in the Staffroom at school, we hope to move it to the Parish Centre soon. Students cannot arrive at school earlier than 8.15am. At this stage there will be no charge for breakfast, we are hoping to get some sponsorship and donations. We have a list of parents who are interested in helping to staff this club and if you would like to be added to the list or if you would like to include your child in this program, then please email either Cathleen Ryan cryan@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au or myself. pmulqueen@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au
The government supports Physical Education in schools through the Sporting Schools Program. Through this program we are able to supply an expert athletics coach to teach the students over four different visits. Our athletics program will culminate with our school’s athletics carnival at the Joe Carmody Track in Newborough on Tuesday March 15th. We really need lots of parent helpers to run this day successfully so if you are able to help please contact Taryn.
We use technology in our school as a tool to facilitate learning. We teach students to look after the devices and to use them correctly. At the beginning of each school year we revisit our School’s ICT (Information, Communication, Technology) Agreement to help the students to understand this. Teachers unpack the agreement at the level of the students and help the students to see how important it is to be safe on our devices. For your information, I have attached a copy of our Junior ICT Agreement and a copy of our Senior Grades ICT Agreement. You might like to refer to the Agreement in your safe use of technology at home.
Our Parent Code of Conduct is part of positive school practice. Please find a copy attached to this newsletter. We ask that you read it and when you’re next in school, that you sign the registry at the front office to say that you have read it and will follow it. It states very clearly in this code of conduct that school issues are dealt with through the school and not between parents. Please remember parents that if /when an incident happens at school, it is the school’s responsibility (that is, the principal or the teacher’s responsibility) to follow this up and to then communicate information, where necessary, to other parents. You are not allowed to approach another parent about something that happened at school. This is the school’s job.
Our car line operates efficiently and safely. After school, the students will be brought out to the car line from the front of the school. The students line up against the wall and they can only enter their car when it is next to the yellow safety rails. Families have been given their family name labels to put on their visor or dashboard to facilitate the efficient running of the car line. Thank you for using these labels as they really help.
Helpful hint: if your child sometimes goes home from school a different way and you want them to remember how they are getting home today, then perhaps you might like to make a special tag that communicates this, say for example, you prepare a ‘car line’ tag with a picture of a car on it and peg it to your child’s bag that day. This will remind your child how they are getting home and so help to build their independence.
Message to families with a foundation student: remember foundation students have the first 6 Wednesdays off as a rest day. The Wednesday of the week following the long weekend in March is the first Wednesday the foundation students will be at school. Parents please make sure these rest days are quieter and slower days for your child, to allow them to rest and feel ready for school again on the Thursday.
Last year our school community under the leadership of the Mini Vinnies Team, worked hard to fundraise to help with the church renovations. We were very proud of our efforts. We organised a Talent Show, Home-made Lemonade Stall and two successful Cake Stalls. It was great to help out our local community. The Parish would like to thank us for our support and invite all of us to a Parish BBQ to celebrate together. Please feel especially welcome. I’d like to encourage famililies to attend as it is a great way to meet people and helps us all to feel a sense of belonging to something bigger than just our school. Please join us…
February |
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Wed 23rd | Craig Athletics Coach teaching athletics |
Fri 25th | Parish BBQ and opportunity to view the renovations in our church |
March |
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Wed 2nd | Craig Athletics Coach teaching athletics |
Fri 4th | World Day of Prayer (some of our senior students will participate in this) |
Mon 7th to Wed 9th | Proposed Gr 5/6 camp to Soverign Hill Ballarat |
Wed 9th | Craig Athletics Coach teaching athletics |
Mon 14th | Labour Day Holiday |
Tues 15th |
Athletics Carnival at Joe Carmody Track Newborough |
Wed 16th | First Wednesday at school for the Foundation students |
Fri 18th |
National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence Whole School Assembly Gr 5/6 Learning Presentation 3pm |
Mon 21st | St Joseph’s Day Special Celebration including liturgy and dance workshops |
Wed 23rd | Young Leaders Day Gr 6 |
Fri 25th |
Lent Liturgy in church 3pm |
April |
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Fri 8th |
Last day of Term 1 1pm dismissal |
Mon 25th |
ANZAC DAY holiday |
Tues 26th |
First day of Term 2 |
May |
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Fri 13th |
Whole School Assembly F/1 Learning Presentation 3pm |