Community

Recently we have been planning for a number of upcoming events that are designed to not only connect students to their school community, but to also bring our families and wider community together. It was testament to the willingness of all in our school to engage in community, that our Mother’s Day breakfast was attended by so many families and there was a feeling of joy in having people in our school grounds. While our schools are places of quality learning and pastoral care, they are also places where people meet and find support in the company of each other, even for only small periods of time. We encourage you to continue coming into the school and coming together when the opportunities are there, to find support not only in our staff, but in each other. Networking is a very strong part of feeling connected to each other and to knowing that parenting and life is always challenging, but if we work together, it lightens that load.   

Kindergarten Enrolments 2023

Our recent school tours were very well attended across our Parish and it was so special to share our wonderful school with families who visited. This week, Principals in our three Parish Primary schools met together to view the first round of applications for Kindergarten 2023. We were astonished by the numbers of applications already in, as compared to this time last year. We ask that if any of our school families have children who are of school age for Kindergarten 2023, to apply as soon as possible. If you also know others who have not yet applied, please encourage them to do so while there may still be placements available before we go through the interview process during this term. Notes will come out to families next week to enable booking interviews during the coming weeks.  

Celebrating Our Faith

May - The Month of Mary

Following on from our focus on Mary in last week’s newsletter, the prayer that led our message this week is a traditional prayer that is prayed by Catholic people all over the world. It reminds us of the importance of Mary in the story of our faith and in how we can pray to her for our needs as she intercedes with God and has a special loving presence in our lives. 

Nourishment for Families

As COVID restrictions have allowed more events to take place, some of the beautiful initiatives in our school and Parish have been restarted. For many years, our Parish has enriched the lives of families through Family Groups, where families can come together socially to spend time together and encourage the richness of community. The annual Family Group Mass will be celebrated on Sunday 15th May at the 9.00am Mass providing an opportunity for all our family group members to come together for Mass. All parishioners are welcome to attend as following this special Mass our first Parish Cuppa in over two years will be held on the parish grounds!! So stay after Mass and enjoy a cuppa and a chat and take the opportunity to meet new people and reconnect with old.

Learning Together

Have your say…….

What do our learners of today need to know, understand and be able to do? This is the question we discussed at a recent staff meeting and are now asking you for your input. Please think about the skills and attributes you believe your child/ren need to focus on in Primary School. If you would like to contribute to our ‘thinking pit’ please share your thoughts with us via this online form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1

CREATE - Developing future Capabilities by fostering Relationships, developing Enterprising skills, activating student Agency through a Targeted and Empowering curriculum.

As a school we have been awarded a Learning and Innovation Grant from the Catholic Schools Office which is focused on preparing our learners for life beyond the school gates of St Joseph’s Primary School. We know that our learners need to develop the skills and attributes of resilience, adaptability, agency and inclusive mindsets. As future focused educators we must have these elements as key components. We need a forward-looking curriculum that includes a focus on complex competencies and character strengths to help guide the way for our learners to embrace the opportunities and negotiate the challenges of their future.

As staff we explored how we can provide our learners with authentic experiences that foster the capacity to analyse, innovate, solve problems and collaborate. These skills will help them prepare for a future we do not know anything about with confidence and optimism.