February 15, 2023
FROM THE ACTING PRINCIPAL
Mr Fitzgerald
Due to Mr Fitzgerald’s family still needing his support and care on a daily basis, Bernard has decided he needs to extend his leave until the beginning of Term 2. Therefore, for the remainder of Bernard’s leave, I will continue in the position of Acting Principal and Brooke Black will continue in the position of Acting APC. Please keep the Fitzgerald family in your thoughts and prayers.
Friday Sport
Last Friday saw the start of our in-house Season A sport rotations. The students spent the whole afternoon session learning and practising skills for the sports of soccer, tee-ball, basketball and general fitness. Thanks to Catherine Farr for putting together the following clip of the students enjoying the first week of Friday sport.
Access to School
We have had quite a few occasions this year where students have tried to leave the school grounds. As I’m sure you can appreciate, this is a serious safety issue, especially with such a busy road at the front of the school. In order to keep our students safely inside the school, all gates around the school have been padlocked. All gates at the back of the school will remain permanently locked. The gates at the front of the school will be unlocked in the morning when the first staff member arrives at school, relocked once the school day begins and unlocked again at approx 2:45 of an afternoon.
Parents are welcome to enter the school at any time of the day. When the gates are locked, all students and parents should enter the school through the office as per our normal procedures.
Of an afternoon, parents/caregivers are welcome to enter the school to collect their child. We just ask that adults don’t linger around outside classrooms, as this can be very distracting to the students.
There are plenty of tables around the school where parents and carers are able to sit and wait for their children to be released at 3pm. Please be aware, however, that at 3pm the MPA court area legally becomes an OSHC space and you will be asked to vacate this area. Prep and Year 1 students will continue to be walked up to the pick up area, as this is also done for the safety of these younger students.
Thanks for your understanding of this important safety precaution we have put in place.
St Joseph’s Learning Spaces
We often have people ask us how our rooms operate and why we do what we do. Over the term, I will share with you the reasons why we love our teaching and learning spaces and philosophy.
Reason Number One:
Our rooms enable small group instruction based on needs. This means lessons are taught to small groups and tailored to suit the current needs of the students in each group. No longer do we have one teacher instructing 30 students at the same time. This allows for teachers to really target the learning needs of each student in the cohort. Teachers keep detailed notes of progress and needs during each workshop and are able to touch base individually with each student.
Tuckshop Volunteers Needed:
Please consider volunteering some of your time in the tuckshop and at Breakfast Club. Without enough volunteers, we won’t be able to offer these services as frequently as we currently do. It’s very simple to volunteer and you don’t have to volunteer weekly, any time you can give will be appreciated. Please see Debbie in the tuckshop if you can help.
Upcoming Events:
Regards,
Deanne Senini
Acting Principal
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