As the end of this year begins to approach, we also need to start planning for 2024. Nothing is ever static. There will be a slight change to class structures next year.

Foundation         2 classes

Grade 1/2           3 classes

Grade 3/4           3 classes

Grade 5              2 classes

Grade 6              2 classes

We also warmly welcome our new teacher, Mrs Marina Dospen-Piedrafita to our school community. Marina will join us in 2024 and we look forward to her addition to our team.

Preparation for First Communion is well underway. Fr Elio Capra facilitated the parent workshop in his usual informative and entertaining way. Congratulations to all those families for taking this next step into their child’s faith development.

Please be mindful of no parking areas in the school. The asphalt outside the administration area is not a drop off zone in the mornings.

The building works are going ahead very nicely. We are looking forward to seeing the final product at the end of December.

Best wishes,

Roslyn Joyner

Principal

Wednesday 18 October                - Gippsland Regional Athletics at Joe Carmody Athletics Track, Newborough

Wednesday 25 October                - Mission Market run by Grades 5/6

Friday 27 October                            - Day for Daniel

Friday 27 October                            - Whole School Mass (prepared by middle team) at 9:15am

Friday 3 November                         - Senior Mass at 9:15am

Monday 6 November                    - School Closed

Tuesday 7 November                    - Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Friday 10 November                      - Colour Run (back up date Fri 24 Nov)

Mon 13 – Fri 17 November         - Swimming Program (All Grades)

Thursday 16 November                - Book Fair Begins

Thursday 16 November                - School Advisory Committee Meeting

Friday 24 November                      - Junior Mass at 9:15am

Friday 24 November                      - 2024 Year 7 Orientation Day for Grade 6 Students

Mon 27 – Wed 29 November     - Grade 5 Camp – Camp Rumbug, Foster Nth

Thursday 30 November                - Senior Swimming Carnival (Grades 3-6)

Saturday 2 December                    - First Holy Communion Mass at 7pm

Sunday 3 December                       - First Holy Communion Mass at 9am

Mon 4 – Wed 6 December           - Grade 6 Camp – Urban Camp Melbourne

Thursday 7 December                   - Senior Swimming Carnival (back up date)

Friday 8 December                         - Grade 6 Gumbuya World Excursion

Tuesday 12 December                   - Year 6 Graduation – 5pm Mass at St Joseph’s Church

Thursday 14 December                 - End of Year Whole School Celebration Mass (TBC)

Friday 15 December                       - Last day of Term 4 – school finish time is normal at 3:20pm

Commitment Masses for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion will be celebrated this weekend. Choose one to attend.

Saturday 14^th October 7.00pm St. Joseph’s

Sunday 15^th October 9.00am St. Joseph’s

Sunday 15^th October 10.30am St. Ita’s Drouin

Please keep these children and families in your prayers as they take this important step in their journey of faith.

Fr Elio Capra

On Wednesday evening the parents of the students preparing to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist attended an information meeting presented by Fr Elio Capra.  

REMEMBRANCE MASS

This year’s Remembrance Mass, organised by the Parishes Bereavement Team will be held on: Tuesday, 31^st October 7.30pm St. Ita’s Church Drouin.

All Parishioners are invited and welcome to attend this Mass. Mass will be followed by a cuppa. Please bring a plate of supper to share.

Next weekend at all 3 Church centres, a Remembrance Book will be displayed and available for parishioners to enter the names of deceased relatives and friends.

Enquiries: Barbara Durand: 0414 965 079 or Joan Robertson: 5623 1642: Parish Office.

A message from Deacon Mark

Jesus’ parables are meant to be confronting! This Sunday’s parable (Matt 21:1-14) tells of a king’s wedding invitation, spurned by invitees who have better things to do and a later ring-in who seems to be there only for the food. A new lot of guests are invited and the recalcitrants come to a grizzly end.

Jesus has our attention! So, what is his parable telling twenty first century Christians? 

Jesus is totally dedicated to ‘the reign of God,’ which he declares is already here among us, a transformation of the whole of life and of society, liberating people from whatever dehumanizes them or causes them suffering. Immersed in this “reign of God”, our joy will radiate from us. Removed from it, we are in danger of being what Pope Francis has called “sourpusses”, “prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand.” (Evangeli Gaudium 84/85).

“The reign of God” is not for the faint-hearted or indifferent, nor encountered through formulas or regulations, but through wondrously cherishing and generously responding to God’s action in our lives. If not joyful, then are we really engaged with Jesus’ mission?

Particularly outsiders - the poor, the downtrodden, the marginalised, hear in this parable that the “reign of God” is not the preserve of an inner clique of religious and traditional leaders, but for all. We need to ensure that we are not indifferent or malicious like the first group of invitees in the parable, or negative “sourpusses” about our world. And what of the attendee who sneaks in but has no desire to respond to the wishes of the king? Another “sourpuss”. Not good!

We are called to be a leaven in our world, working joyfully, lovingly and constructively within the world as we find it; celebrating the numerous signs of God’s reign in the people and events around us.

A reminder that we ask families whose children are not intending to return in 2024 to send an email to principal@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible informing of the change. We have a number of enrolment inquiries and are now working on class groupings for 2024, so it is important that we know of any students leaving (apart from the Year 6 students) that may affect enrolments and class groupings for 2024. Please read carefully through our class allocation policy. Please note from our policy:

Parents and carers may provide the School Principal with specific information about their child's learning or social needs, in writing, that they believe the school may not be aware of. Whilst the School Leadership Team appreciates that Parents or Carers may believe their child would benefit from being placed with a certain teacher, we are unable to consider these requests. The information should be provided in writing (letter or email) to the Principal by Friday, Week 3 of Term 4 (20/10/23). This information will be referenced, along with other available information, during the class placement process. The Leadership Team will manage this process in consultation with parents and class teachers. It must be clearly understood that no definite guarantees can be given regarding parental concerns.

St Joseph's Primary School Warragul Class Allocation Policy.pdf

During Term 1 and Term 4, all students are required to wear a school hat when outdoors including recess/lunch breaks, outdoor learning tasks and PE sessions. All students should now be wearing their school hats for outdoor activities. If you are looking to purchase a school hat, please speak to the office or drop into Beleza in Warragul. We are currently in a transition phase between the winter and summer uniforms. By Friday 27th October, all students should be in their full summer uniform, including correct socks and shoes. Wearing the school uniform correctly demonstrates school pride and identity. Please ensure your child has the correct uniform on the correct days. We appreciate your support.

A big THANK YOU to all families who have paid their school fees. A reminder that all school fees are due before the end of the school year.

The School Fee Statements were sent out in the mail on Wednesday.

If you are experiencing any difficulties or wish to arrange a payment plan, please contact Kitty on 5623 2943 or email kbarrett@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au 

Book Club

Book Club Issue 7 has been distributed to all students. Please check your students' bags for the brochure.

This issue, families can get even more savings with 50 EXTRA BOOKS only available online and are all reduced by 60-80%! More details on the back page of Book Club.

Give the gift of reading with Book Club. Book Club allows parents who are giving books as gifts to maintain the surprise gift of reading.
The Gift Function enables you to tag Book Club orders on LOOP that are intended as a surprise gift.

Here is the online link for Book Club
https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-home/

All orders need to be processed by Monday 16th October.

Book Fair

The Book Fair is coming to St Joseph's! It will be arriving on November 16th. The students will have an opportunity on this day to preview our Book Fair. Our official opening will be November 17th 3.20pm - 5.00pm.  Come by and support our school whilst getting your hands on the best new children’s books!

Overdue Books

There are still quite a number of books that are overdue. Please have your children return the books to the library as soon as possible so others can borrow them.

Thank you to all the families that have returned their library books promptly. 

UPCOMING SPORTS DATES:

Wednesday 18 October Gippsland Regional Athletics. Joe Carmody Athletics Track, Newborough

Thursday 2 November - Grade 5/6 Basketball Gala

13 - 17 November - Foundation - Grade 6 School Swimming Program, Leisure Centre

Thursday 30 November -  Senior Swimming Carnival, Leisure Centre

AFL Victoria Clinic

Last week during our P.E. lessons the Junior and Middle students enjoyed an A.F.L. Clinic in preparation for our Footy Colours Day on Friday. The students played and participated in various activities to develop the fundamental skills required for the game.

Hats for Term 4

As we look forward to sunny days in Term 4, we must be SunSmart and remember our hats. Hats must be broad rimmed St. Joseph’s approved uniform, no caps.

Sports Uniform Reminder

It has been great to see so many students prepared for Sport each week with the correct sports uniform. Just a reminder that the sports uniform is to be worn only on the students' Sports Day. This includes appropriate footwear for vigorous activity.

TUESDAY: Grade 3/4 Classes

WEDNESDAY: Foundation and Grade 1/2 Classes

THURSDAY: Grade 5/6 Classes

Grade 6 can also wear their sports uniform on a Monday.

On Friday, we celebrated Footy Colours day to help raise money for the Fight Cancer Foundation. Our school raised $226.20 from the gold coin donation and $136 from the lolly jar. So in total we raised an amazing $362.20.

We had lots of fun with planned activities to spend the day. Many people enjoyed the longest kick competition, design your own guernsey, guess how many lollies in the lolly jar, and at playtime, the S.R.C team held some footy day activities. The lucky Lolly Jar winner was Ashleigh Johnson. All of the students dressed up in their  footy team colours and it was a big success .

By Isabella Hendricks (SRC representative)

Some great things happened during the holidays. Collingwood won the flag and two families from our school community celebrated a very significant event. 

Meryl Jean, along with her sister and father and Jaik Abraham and his parents became Australian citizens at a citizenship ceremony in our shire. 

We congratulate Meryl, Jaik and their families.

Thank you to the Grade 6 Graduation Parent Committee for working with us to plan the upcoming graduation for our Grade 6 students. The graduation will be held on Tuesday 12 December with Mass at 5:00pm to be held at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Warragul. All families are welcome to attend the Mass. Afterwards, the graduates and 2 adults are invited to attend a special dinner and the graduation ceremony in the school hall. More information will be available soon.

If your children are not intending to return to St Joseph's in 2024 (apart from Year 6 students), please send an email to principal@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible informing of the change. We have a number of enrolment inquiries and are preparing for 2024 classes. Our Foundation 2024 enrolments are still open, please encourage any family or friends to speak with Kitty in the office if they are looking to enrol their child in 2024.

Rapid Antigen Tests are available from the school office.

Please note that if your child tests positive to Covid-19, it is strongly recommended that students:

• Who test positive to COVID-19 should stay home and isolate for five (5) days;
• Should not attend school after five (5) days if still symptomatic;
• Who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school until their symptoms resolve;
• Parents, guardians or carers advise the school of the COVID-19 positive test result.

To assist with limiting the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses, parents, guardians and carers should be strongly encouraged to ensure that their child(ren) remain at home if they are unwell, including if they have tested positive to COVID-19.

We’re back!!  The colour run is in full swing and we’re working very hard behind the scenes to make this the best year yet.

The run will take place on Friday 10 November on the school oval, or if the weather doesn’t play nice, the back-up date is Friday 24 November.

Fundraising will open next week so keep an eye out for your child's sponsorship form and information sheets to get started.

There are some incredible prizes to strive for this year.

It promises to be a great day- we’d love you to join us either as a volunteer or spectator. If you’d like to help out, please visit https://volunteersignup.org/9RPL4

We are so excited. Stay tuned!

Big Blokes BBQ

Every year the Baw Baw Big Blokes raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer Research and Awareness. They have again asked St Joseph's to provide wait staff for their major fundraising event, and as a thank you they make a donation to the school.

This year, the fundraising event will be held on Friday 20 October at Lardner Park, from 11am-3pm.

If you are able to help out on the day please sign-up at https://volunteersignup.org/BM7YT.

No experience needed.

It is great fun and a great way to support a group of local volunteers who have chosen to support our school.

Second Hand Uniforms

Has your child lost or grown out of their bomber jacket? If you’ve checked the mountain of lost property with no luck, we have heaps of second-hand jackets in all sizes available, for a gold coin donation. Thanks to Warragul Drycleaners who have donated their services to professionally clean our second-hand school uniforms.

View these in the school hall or contact the P&F Committee on stjosephswarragulpandf@gmail.com.

P&F Meetings

The next P&F meeting is scheduled for Friday 3 November at 2pm in the school meeting room.

If you would like to be involved, we would love to have you! Please reach out to us via email stjosephswarragulpandf@gmail.com, send us a message through our Facebook page ‘Parents and Friends of St Joseph’s Primary School Warragul’ or just turn up.

We're excited to announce that our Annual VIP Sale will be running again soon for 2023!

For our Warragul store, the sale will be running from Saturday 28th of October to Saturday 4th of November. Families can receive 20% off Beleza-branded items during this sale period, so it's a great opportunity for families to prepare for the 2024 school year and save on some of those back-to-school costs.

Gold/yellow long sleeve polo shirts are available in sizes 2, 4, 6, 8 & 12 - 16 (size 10 & 14 are no longer available)

Green windcheaters are ONLY available in sizes 2 & 14

Wild Dog Triathlon Club

Woolworths Cricket Blast

Western Park

Western Park Cricket Club Juniors

Geoff Watt Memorial Fun Run & Festival