Newsletter – Term 1 Week 5 2022

February 23, 2022

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Parents & Guardians

It was lovely to see so many students and their families at our Children’s Mass last Saturday evening. We have only had one Children’s Mass over the last 18 months. In recognising this, I am very appreciative of the Parish for allowing us to share in the vigil mass and in accommodating the processes we have had to put in place in order to take part in the mass.

Well done to the children who had specific roles in the celebration and for our parishioners who took care of the music. It was truly wonderful to be able to get back to our marvellous, school led celebrations in our beautiful little church.

Our updated School Uniform Policy will soon be available on both the school website and the Skoolbag app. The policy will have updates regarding school socks, skorts and options for long sleeve sports shirts.

Regarding jewellery, please remember that:

• No rings of any kind should be worn by students.
• Small gold or silver cross/religious medallion on a suitable chain.
• Plain small gold or silver sleepers or studs. One earing permitted per ear lobe.
• No other body piercing permitted.
• Medical alert bracelet or necklace for medical reasons.

Regarding the new skorts that are an option for the sports uniform, they must be the new maroon skorts that can be purchased from Wearico/Wearitto. At the moment we have some of our students in plain maroon skorts which are not actually a part of our uniform. When the new skorts become available, the two acceptable options will be the official embroidered maroon school shorts or the similar new skort option. Thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.

The P&F Association have provided me with the link for the SJPA Secondhand Uniform Facebook Group –

Last week we had our first P&F and School Board meeting via a combined Zoom format. For the remainder of the year our meeting dates will go back to their normal times. These being:

• P&F meetings are the second Wednesday of the month in the library. All are welcome to attend.
• School Board Meetings are the third Wednesday of the month in the library. If you wish to be a part of the School Board please contact me.

The next meetings will be on the 9th of March for the P&F and the 16th for the School Board.

Finally, some parents have contacted me about fees regarding the delayed start the 2022 academic year due to the Government mandates around COVID. Fees statements that are usually sent out at the end of Week 2 were instead scheduled for the end of Week 4 and were made available by last Friday the 18th of February.

At this point, there has been a systemic decision from DCEO that the fee schedule for 2022 remain the same as what was prescribed late last year. This means that this will be the case for all Catholic Schools across the entire Diocese. If you are experiencing troubles meeting your fee commitments due to COVID related circumstances, we have certain processes in place to help families. If this is the case for you, please contact Megan through the office to make a time to come and see me.

Don’t Forget….

• Ash Wednesday, 2nd March (Students will celebrate in Year Levels)
• Early 2:50pm Pick-up processes are in place till at least the end of Week 6, Friday the 4th of March.

Kindest Regards
Bernard Fitzgerald

Principal – St. Joseph’s Catholic School Park Avenue