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Dear Parents, Guardians and Carers,
Welcome back to Term 3. We hope that you had a chance to rest and recharge over the winter break. While the children were away, we had a pergola installed as part of the State Government’s initiative to provide more covered outdoor spaces. Although it is yet to be used by classes, it is expected that in the warmer months ahead, classes will take their learning outside under the canopy.
Please read the following updated information.
Child Safety Standards
Following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Child Safe Standards were put into place in Victoria in 2016 to protect children and young people from harm and abuse. From 1st July, changes have been made to make the Child Safety Standards even stronger. There are now 11 standards, replacing the previous 7 standards, which include new requirements around:
- involving families and communities in organisations’ efforts to keep children and young people safe
- a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
- managing the risk of child abuse in online environments.
The 11 standards are as follows:
Standard 1 – Organisations establish a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.
Standard 2 – Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.
Standard 3 – Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
Standard 4 – Families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Standard 5 – Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.
Standard 6 – People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Standard 7 – Processes for complaints and concerns are child focused.
Standard 8 – Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
Standard 9 – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Standard 10 – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
Standard 11 – Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.
At St Joseph’s we are committed to upholding the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people as a central and fundamental responsibility. For resources and support for parents and carers, please visit the Commission for Children and Young People website here.
Current COVID-19 procedures and RAT Testing
Face masks
Until the end of winter, students aged eight (8) and over and all school staff are strongly encouraged to wear face masks when in class. The use of face masks should not constrain student participation in the full range of school activities, including music, sport and performances.It remains mandatory for everyone aged eight (8) years or over to wear a face mask when travelling on public transport, taxis or rideshare vehicles, unless an exception applies. This includes when travelling to and from school, school activities, school camps and excursions on school buses or via public transport.
Testing positive for COVID-19
If a student tests positive for COVID-19 they are required to Isolate at home or in private accommodation for 7 days (inclusive of weekends) and do not attend school during this period. Parents or guardians are to Inform the school if their child(ren) have tested positive to COVID-19. Please Note: A negative test is not required to return to school following completion of 7 days of isolation.
RAT Tests
The Victorian Government has announced that they will continue to provide RAT tests for schools in Term 3 and into Term 4. RAT tests are available to staff and students for use when they are symptomatic or for use as household contacts. Please see the office if you need a supply of RAT tests.
Household Contacts
If a student is a household contact of a COVID-19 positive person, the school should be notified that they are a household contact. Household contacts are no longer required to quarantine as long as they take additional safety measures, but are required to:
- notify the school if returning during their 7 day period
- undertake daily rapid antigen testing five times within the 7 days
- wear a face covering when indoors (if aged 8 years and above or unless they have a valid exemption)
Transport of Children to School by Positive COVID-19 Cases
Parents, guardians or carers who are COVID-19 positive who leave self-isolation to transport their child(ren) to or from school via a private vehicle must wear a face mask at all times and must adhere to other additional safety requirements.
Changes to Exemption Period for Testing and Isolation
The period of time when someone is considered a recently confirmed case and therefore exempt from testing and isolation requirements has been reduced from the previous 12 weeks to four (4) weeks.
This means that students who have recovered from COVID-19 are not required to get tested or isolate if they are re-exposed to a positive COVID-19 case within four weeks of ending their isolation period. Previously, this exemption period was 12 weeks. After the four-week exemption period, students must follow the relevant testing and isolation advice depending on the type of COVID-19 contact they are.
Hopefully we can all get through the winter as safely as possible.
Warm Regards
Ros Joyner
Principal
TERM 3
Thursday 21 July - Confirmation Parent Information - 7pm St Joseph’s Church, Warragul
Friday 22 July - School Assembly at 2:40pm
Monday 1 August - Warragul Bus Network NOT running – alternative travel arrangements must be made
Wednesday 3 August - AFL Gippsland Clinic – Foundation, Grades 1 & 2
Thursday 4 August - AFL GIRLS Regional Competition
Friday 5 August - Pyjama Day – (dress up) supporting Foster Care children
- P & F Meeting at 2pm
- School Assembly at 2:40pm
Friday 12 August - School Closure Day (Staff Professional Learning Day)
Friday 19 August - School Assembly at 2:40pm
Friday 2 September - P & F Father’s Day Stall
- P & F Meeting at 2pm
- School Assembly at 2:40pm
Friday 16 September - Last day of Term 3 – school finishes at 2:20pm
TERM 4
Monday 3 October - First day of Term 4
- Dental Van Visit
Friday 7 October - P & F Meeting at 2pm
Wednesday 19 -21 Oct - 5/6 Camp - Phillip Island Adventure Resort
Thursday 20 October - Eucharist Parent Information
Monday 31 October - School Closure Day
Tuesday 1 November - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday
Thursday 3 November - Grade 4 Eucharist Parent & Child Workshop
Friday 4 November - P & F Meeting at 2pm
Sunday 6 November - Barefoot Bowls (adult social event)
Friday 18 November - P & F Colour Run (25/11 back up date)
Thursday 1 December - Grade 4 Eucharist 2nd Rite of Reconciliation 7pm
Friday 2 December - P & F Meeting at 2pm
Friday 16 December - Last day of school year
*Please note that dates are subject to change in accordance with DOSCEL recommendations
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Congratulations to these grade three students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the end of last term. We wish you every blessing as you continue your faith journey.
Sacrament of Confirmation
St Joseph's Can Challenge
A message from Deacon Mark
Father!
How absent-mindedly we recite this prayer that Jesus taught us: at every Mass, six times in a Rosary and other times in our daily lives!
Where does it come from? Well, from Jesus of course. But there are strong elements from Old Testament prayer and the Jewish prayer tradition with which Jesus was familiar. Our Catechism teaches that this prayer is “truly the summary of the whole gospel” yet, sadly, in our human frailty, we rarely stop to savour it as we should. This week’s gospel features the less well known Luke version (Luke 11:1-13), essentially the same as Matthew’s but with some interesting variations.
Jesus encourages us to address the “Father” who is extolled as “holy”. No mention of “heaven” but entering into dialogue with the Creator of all, we are blessed to have a special and personal connection. The core of Jesus’ mission is to bring us the Good News of the Father’s Kingdom, which is coming in fullness but is observably already here. Luke’s prayer doesn’t mention the Father’s will (that’s a given in his kingdom) and Jesus encourages us ask for our needs for each and every day, for forgiveness of our sins and to be spared time of trial.
Rattling it off in rote form as we often do is exactly the wrong way to pray. The disciple asks for guidance (Luke 11:1) and Jesus models how to pray rather than the detail of what to pray. He might have said, “these are the main things: remember you are speaking with the Creator of all, who is your loving Father and who wants what is truly best for you and for everyone.” It is in thoughtfully articulating our issues we pray best. The Father knows it anyway but, rather than going around in circles, we might trustingly nestle to this loving Father and telling him how we adore him and what is happening in our lives at the moment.
Deacon Mark Kelly
Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour
At St. Joseph’s, we have a Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour. We continue to use the S.T.A.R. acronym to remind us of the values that underpin our Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour.
We are a School Community, who
Take Responsibility,
Act Safely
and are always Respectful
Have a conversation with your child about being a STAR at St. Joseph’s.
S.T.A.R. Raffle
Our students are familiar with (and can name) our School Wide Expectations and now we are encouraging them to action these expectations with their behaviour.
As an incentive we have launched the S.T.A.R. Raffle for our students to demonstrate our School Wide Expectations. Students demonstrating these positive behaviours will be rewarded with a raffle ticket and go into a fortnightly draw.
Each assembly two students will be drawn. The fortnightly prize is a local Cafe voucher to celebrate their success and support local business. At the conclusion of the Term all the tickets awarded to students throughout the term will go into a Mega Draw. Four students will be drawn and the prize will be for a Cinema Voucher.
Junior School
Middle School
Senior School
It has been great to see students return safely from the holidays and quickly settling back into class routines. In Mathematics we have started a unit on multiplication and division and we will be making goals and learning strategies to ensure we have a good understanding of all our times table facts.
In literacy we are studying how authors use descriptive and figurative language to enhance their writing by studying the David Walliams book “World’s Worst Teachers” which is a sequel to his “World Worst Children” books.
Next week…….
Next week we begin planning our unit on Confirmation to support the children participating in this Sacrament later in the term.
Finally, we start the term with an Inquiry unit on Democracy. We are looking forward to a visit from Wayne Farnham, our local member of parliament, to hear all about what his job entails and the process to becoming a politician.
Sport
Upcoming Dates
TERM 3
Wednesday 3 August - AFL Gippsland Clinic - Foundation, Grades 1 & 2
Thursday 4 August - AFL GIRLS Regional Competition
Basketball Gala Grade 3/4 TBC
Basketball Gala Grade 5/6 TBC
*These dates are subject to change in accordance with DOSCEL recommendations
Welcome back to term 3! This term is a very busy time for our school library. Our annual Book Fair is to be held this term. We also have Book Week and issues 5 and 6 of Book Club.
Book Club
Book Club Issue 5 has been distributed this week and all orders are due by Friday 29th July.
Issue 5 has some great offers for our families. Checkout this link to see what is on offer.
https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/free-book-resources/
Book Fair
Our school is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair on Monday 1st August – Tuesday 9th August.
Our Book Fair is a Family Event and we would love to see you there!
You and your child will have the opportunity to explore a huge range of affordable books featuring characters and subjects kids love and want to read about. From newly released books and bestsellers to award-winning titles and perennial favourites.
This is also a great way for you to learn about, and discuss your child's interests and every book sold benefits our school, adding resources to our library and classrooms.
Scholastic Book Fairs help us show students the wonder of reading. After all, when kids choose their own books, they will be more excited to read, and they will naturally read more!
2022 Theme: Dreaming with Eyes Open...
Dates: Term 3: August 20-26
Artist: Jasmine Seymour
Each year since 1945 the CBCA has brought children and books together across Australia through CBCA Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend one glorious week celebrating books and Australian children's authors and illustrators.
Volunteers
Thank you to those that have volunteered to shelve books in our library but more are still needed. If you have some time to spare and would like to assist, please contact Bernie via email brigano@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au. No experience necessary.
Congratulations to Rosea Robin's family who welcomed the arrival of a little boy at the end of term 2. His name is Joshua. All are doing very well.
Absences & Holidays
In Victoria, it is compulsory for children and young people aged 6–17 years to attend school.
Parents are legally required to ensure their child attends school every day and to provide an explanation for their child's absence from school unless an exemption from attendance has been granted or an exception to their attendance applies.
Absences
If your child is away sick or away due to a planned absence or appointment, please ensure you advise the school office. Student absence text messages are sent out if your child is marked as absent without a reason. In some cases, if you email your child's classroom teacher, they may be away and may not be able to check their emails to forward to the office. It is imperative that you notify the office through one of the following methods:
1. Log into PAM (Parent Access Module) and register your child's absence;
2. Email absence@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au
3. Phone the office on 5623 2943
When sending an email, you may wish to "cc" your child's classroom teacher so they are aware of the absence too.
Holidays
If you are planning an extended holiday (a week or more) during the school term, please email info@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au addressing your intentions to our Principal, Mrs Roslyn Joyner.
LOST PROPERTY
Have you or your child lost a ring? A ring has been handed in at the office. Please make contact if you think this may be yours.
Please ensure all student belongings, especially jumpers and jackets are named!
PAM is our main platform for correspondence. It is important that you register with PAM and verify your email so you can receive all communication.
PAM Instructions
- Ideally parents should have received an email – check your junk/spam folder. If you locate the email in your junk/spam folder – you should make it ‘Not Junk’, then follow the link to verify your email address and set your password.
- If you cannot find the email, please contact our office on 5623 2943 or info@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au and we can help you.
- Once you have been provided with your username and password, go to a browser on your preferred device (phone or iPad) and enter the following web address:
http://pam.stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au
- Use the provided Username and password to login.
- Once logged in, you will need to verify your email address by clicking on the link at the top of the screen:
- This will send an email to your nominated email address. Click on the link in the email to complete the verification process.
- Once the email address has been verified, you can use this as your username.
- Finally, go to the main menu at the top right side of PAM, select ‘My Settings’.
- Enter your preferred password in ‘Change Password’ fields (new password will need to be entered twice), then update password.
- It is recommended that you save this webpage to your home screen and it will appear on your phone screen with the following icon:
Upcoming Dates
Term 3
- P&F Meeting- Friday 5 August, 2pm
- Father’s Day Stall (P&F)- Friday 2 September
- P&F Meeting- Friday 2 September
Term 4
- P&F Meeting- Friday 7 October, 2pm
- P&F Meeting- Friday 4 November, 2pm
- Adults social event (P&F)- Barefoot Bowls- Sunday 6 November
- Colour Run (P&F)- Friday 18 November (back up Friday 25 November)
- P&F Meeting- Friday 2 December
NOTICEBOARD