Dear families

On Tuesday we had our Annual Athletics Carnival at the Joe Carmody Track in Newborough.  It was a fantastic day!  The teachers and families felt especially proud of the student's efforts.  Congratulations!  Thank you Taryn Maxwell-Garratt for organising such a great school day.

Sports Day Prayer 

Lord, thank you for a healthy body that is fit and strong.

Help us to play fair, whether we win or lose,

and show good sportsmanship. 

Keep us safe and injury free and bless our efforts.

We pray for our coaches, and we thank them for their time

and dedication to our team.

Lord, remind us that it's more important 

to play well and enjoy the game than winning.  

We are grateful for the friends we make and the

lessons we learn through our sport.  Amen.

Teaching Masses

This year we are focusing on learning more about the Mass.  Fr Bernard is a great teacher and is running a series of teaching masses to help us understand the Mass more.  Each class will have a teaching Mass and we warmly invite you to come when your child's Mass is on.  The Gr 4/5 Teaching Mass is Thursday May 2nd.  We hope you can come.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

One of the most important things that we do in a school year, is to prepare students for the Sacraments.  There are seven Sacraments in our church (Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders and Annointing of the Sick).  At school, we prepare students for Reconciliation in Gr 3, Eucharist (First Holy Communion) in Gr 4 and Confirmation in Gr 5 or 6.  This year we have 5 students who are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The parents have already attended a parent education evening in Warragul and the families have attended the Commitment Mass in our church, where Fr Bernard welcomed them as part of the parish family. 

We pray especially for Isabella, Billy, Evie, Lola, Lachie and Reuben as they prepare for this Sacrament. They will celebrate their First Reconciliation in our church  on Thursday March 14th at 5.30pm.  All families are welcome to celebrate with us. We will have a special morning tea at school on Friday to celebrate with these students.

As part of our Child Safety lessons, each class has now watched the first webinar from the Inform and Empower Cyber Safety and Digital Wellbeing Program.
These incursions aim to inform and empower learners to be more aware, clever, kind and brave online citizens. 

The topics for Term 1 were:

F/1/2- Understanding the internet, Trusted adults & Early warning signs

3/4-    Digital footprint & identity, Passwords & Internet etiquette

5/6-    Our digital footprint, Public & permanent and Passwords

The students have really enjoyed these lessons, as the presenters deliver this important topic in an engaging and interactive way.  This has led to great follow-up discussions in class. Please make use of the tip sheets provided by the classroom teachers following the lessons, to help you support your children to be safe online. 

On the 16 th of February before the sun had risen, nine grade 6 students departed from
Trafalgar station towards Melbourne to attend the National Youth Leader’s day in Melbourne
at the Royal Exhibition Centre.
National Young Leader’s Day is an exciting opportunity for students in grade 6 and 12 across
Australia to listen to personalities speak about what it takes to become a leader. This year
our students heard from memory champion Anastasia Woolmer, Ninja-Warrior winner Bryson
Klein, Matilda’s goalkeeper and ex-captain Melissa Barbieri and weather reporter Jane
Bunn. Each speaker shared their wisdom about leadership, from overcoming social barriers,
to treating people with respect, and the importance of developing resilience.
Our grade 6 students had a great time, reflecting positively on the quality of the speakers
and the excitement of travelling and navigating inner-Melbourne. For more information on
the event, please visit www.halogen.org.au.

We have been using Japanese to write stories. This is the year of the dragon. Ryu is the Japanese word for dragon.

The grade 2 class co-created a story with me, then wrote it by ‘delayed copying’. They were able to look at the sentences I wrote, but had to go to walk back to the other side of the room to write it. Here are some examples:

Hot Cross Bun Drive

Hot Cross Buns will be delivered to school tomorrow (Friday the 8th of March) Thank you to all the families who supported the drive and placed orders. We were able to raise around $200 to go towards our school.
Orders will be sent home with students, however if you placed a large order, we strongly recommend coming in at the end of the day to collect.

Easter Raffle

We are running an Easter Raffle this term. We are very excited to have $1000 worth of Big 4 holiday park vouchers to be split up among the major prizes.
To ensure our raffle is a success, we kindly ask all families to please donate an Easter themed item to go towards the prizes. A tub for donations can be found in the office. Thank you for your ongoing support, it is greatly appreciated.
Raffle tickets are being sent home with students this week. Please write a name and phone number on each of the tickets. They cost $2 each and can be paid for via CDF pay.
The raffle will be drawn on the last day of term, Thursday the 28th of March after the Easter Dramatization in the church at 12 midday.

St Joseph’s Feast Day Special Lunch

Tuesday the 19th of March is St Joseph’s Feast Day, Parents and Friends are offering a special sushi lunch order day to mark the occasion. Students can choose from smoked salmon, prawn, crispy chicken, teriyaki chicken or vegetarian. All orders cost $10 each and come with two pieces of the same flavour. Please place orders on CDF pay.

NAPLAN (National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy) is a series of annual tests conducted in Australian schools to assess students' academic skills in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy. These tests will be administered in week 7 from Wednesday March 13th through to the next week , Tuesday March 19th.  Gr 3 and Gr 5 students sit the NAPLAN tests.  NAPLAN provides an opportunity for your child to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. It is important to remember that while NAPLAN is an important assessment, it is just one measure of your child's progress and should be viewed as part of a broader picture of their education. 

November

Tues 19                       2. Interest Based Learning

Wed 20                        Father's Group Parish Centre 5.30 to 6.30pm

Tues 26                       3. Interest Based Learning

                                  First Orientation Session for Foundation 2025 

Fri 29                          Gr 3/4 full day at Mill Valley Camp

December

Mon 2 to Fri 6              SWIMMING program

Tues 3                         Second Orientation Session for Foundation 2025

Fri 6                            3pm Advent Assembly and sending off Gr 6s

Tues 10                       Third Orientation Session for Foundation 2025

Thurs 12                    End of Year & Graduation Mass 2.15pm

                                 Gr 6 Graduation

Fri 13                         Gr 5 & 6 Fun Day

                                 School Reports go out

Tues 17                      Last day of school 1pm dismissal

Wed 18 to Fri 20         Planning days for 2025

2025

January

Tues 28                     First day of school for teachers

Wed 29 & Thurs 30    Individual Testing Days

Fri 31                        First day of school for all students

February

March

Fri 3                         Student Free day (Staff Professional Learning in RE)