Welcome back to School for Term 4!

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all students and families back to school for Term 4. There are so many wonderful things happening during this term, as you will see in our newsletter this week, so we encourage all families to carefully read our communication each week so that you know what is happening and can be involved where you can. There will be notes emailed out for special events, so please continue to check your inboxes for what you need to do.  

Thank you from Mrs Koning

I am excited to be back for Term 4 after my leave in Term 3. It has been a joyful week re-engaging with students across the school and seeing just how well they have been working, not to mention how much they have grown! I would like to thank Mrs Ucdereli and all of the leadership team for their wonderful care for our school, students and families in my absence. I look forward to all of the things we will achieve together in Term 4. Thank you to parents and carers who have warmly greeted me across this time and for your well wishes on my new appointment in 2023. The process of discerning a new Principal to begin in 2023 is taking place during the start of this term, and I will communicate to you future leadership of the school once this process is complete.   

Kindergarten Teaching Team for 2023

Our Kindergarten 2023 Transition and Orientation program begins next week and continues through the term to support the start of school for our youngest learners. Each year we believe it is important to set them up for success by making this as comfortable as possible. For this reason, we would like to announce the teaching team who will be working together with them in 2023:

Mrs Kathy Bailey, Ms Magda Buckley and Mrs Brianne Hoitink

 

Class Placements for 2023

A reminder that any input from parents and carers regarding placements of students for 2023 is due by Monday 31st October via email to the school email address. Only information received by this date will be considered by teachers when forming class grouping.    

Celebrating Our Faith

Launching our new School Website and School Values - Community Evening and Family Art Competition

You are invited to a very special community evening on Wednesday 2nd November from 5:30 to 6:30pm when we will be launching our new school website and new school values. 

Over the past two years, our school community has been learning about the history of our school, specifically the Sisters of St Joseph’s. We have sought voice from our students, parents and staff to help shape our new school values. 

At St Joseph's we aspire to be like St Joseph. 

With integrity we live out the values of Courage, Humility and Compassion.

In the coming weeks we will be exploring these three values in greater detail and we would like you to join us by participating in our family art competition. How does your family show these values of St Joseph? As a family show us in artistic form on an A4 sheet of paper the values of Courage, Humility and Compassion. All entries need to be submitted to the school office by Friday 28th October (Week 3). One piece from each class will be chosen to be recreated professionally to form an artwork which will be displayed in our front office. The winning designs will be revealed on the night.

Grandparents and Grandfriends Day - "In my day..."

You are invited to our Grandparents & Grandfriends celebration.

We really hope you can join us for an afternoon of open classrooms, old school games and activities, BYO picnic and whole school liturgy.

When: Friday 28th October, 1:10pm - 3:00pm 

Where: St Joseph’s Primary, Warlters Street. We will open the gate between the Administration building and the Canteen at 12:55pm for your entry to the school grounds.

1:10pm - Open Classrooms - we would love you to bring a photo or story from your youth to share with your grandchild and their friends. “In my day…”
1:40pm - Join us on the playground for some “Old School Games” - Elastics, skipping, marbles, hopscotch.
2:00pm - BYO Picnic afternoon tea with Grandparents and Grandfriends. Please remember we are a nut and allergy aware school, thank you for bringing safe treats into our school.
2:15pm - Year 1 will be hosting our whole school Prayer Assembly.

We look forward to seeing you. Please feel free to join us for all or as much of the day as you can.

Student Forum

Our fantastic Year 6 Student Representative Council, voiced this year that they would like to hear from their younger peers. They visited classrooms and organised voting for our Student Forum to be reinstated at St Joseph’s for Term 4. The team will meet fortnightly on Thursdays at Lunch 2, to discuss ways we can make positive change in our school.

Congratulations to these students from Kinder to Year 6 for being our Student Forum for Term 4, 2022.

Learning Together

Sharing a snippet from our School Review Commendations and Affirmations

Following on from last term we thought we would share with you some of the feedback the Panel shared with us. It will be from this information we as a school community will begin to shape our School Improvement Plan for 2023-2025. This process will also include input from all stakeholders in our school community.

St Joseph’s is to be commended for:- 

• Strong commitment and focus on faith, learning and wellbeing outcomes for students.
• Tailoring of intervention programs to meet the needs of a range of students.
• Commitment to exploring evidence based practices and processes to support whole school improvement.
• The well developed collaborative approach with all staff members.
• The proactive and highly valued work of the Educational Assistants that improves the learning and wellbeing outcomes for all students.
• The work of the ‘Office Aunties’ who are the face of the school and commit to making every students and their family feel a sense of belonging.

St Joseph’s is to be affirmed for:-

• The collaborative process that has led to the development of the school mission and values (compassion, courage and humility).
• The openness to feedback and commitment to respond to student needs.
• The clearly articulated desire to reconnect with the community following COVID-19 restrictions being lifted.
• The efforts that ensure well developed partnerships continue.
• The continued support of student agency and voice.

Once again we would like to take this opportunity to thank the School Review Panel for their conversations, observations and considerations through the course of their visit.

PAT Assessments (Year 2 - Year 6)

During Weeks 2, 3 and 4 our students in Years 2 - 6 will complete their ACER PAT Mathematics and Reading tests. ACER’s Progressive Achievement approach is used in thousands of schools in Australia and around the world. The approach focuses on assessing and monitoring student growth over time and is underpinned by an understanding that students of the same age and in the same year of school can be at very different points in their learning and development.

These tests are designed to provide objective, norm-referenced information to teachers about their students’ skills and understandings in a range of key areas. The Mathematics test assesses students’ skill and understanding in the six strands of Number, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Statistics and Probability. The Reading test assesses students’ reading comprehension skills, vocabulary knowledge and spelling.

Why do schools use PAT tests?

• They provide a measure of student achievement in each learning area.
• There is a common achievement scale for all tests within a learning area.
• They are mapped to the Australian Curriculum.
• They provide overall descriptions of the types of skills mastered and those still to be developed based on test performance.
• They can be used to inform teaching and learning and to assist in planning effective and targeted learning programs.

If you have any questions about the ACER testing please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher for further clarification.