We are very pleased with the new signage that has just been installed for our school. It showcases the new logo which retains the traditional colours, emblem and motto of our past. Hopefully the signage will assist newcomers in finding their way into the school.

There have been more complaints about the end of day pick up traffic. I ask again that parents move down to use all available spaces in the pick up line. It is disappointing when staff are met with abuse or aggression when they try to move people down. Then we are met with complaints again because some drivers ignore or refuse to do so and the traffic banks up more than necessary. I implore you to be supportive with this issue. The congestion only lasts for around twenty minutes a day. Patience and tolerance is required during this time.

Several students were present at the ANZAC Day service in Warragul yesterday. Special thanks to our school leaders, Amity, Charlotte and Jasmine for representing St Joseph’s so well during the wreath laying service. Thanks to other students who joined in the march. We also held a service at school on Wednesday morning which gave every student an opportunity to remember our fallen service men and women.

Catholic Education Week is coming up soon which is the time we have Grandparents Day. Also our Mother’s Day celebration will be enjoyed in a couple of weeks. Keep an eye on the school calendar for these events. 

As we are two weeks into term 2, I remind students and families that it is time for winter uniform.

Roslyn Joyner

Principal

Term 2

Monday 15 April – Friday 28 June

Tuesday 30 April                                              West Gippsland Division Athletics, Joe Carmody Athletics Track, Newborough (Back up dates 2/5 or 6/5)

Friday 10 May                                                   Mother’s Day Celebration – 9:30am classroom activities, then followed by morning tea in the hall

Friday 10 May                                                   Mother’s Day Stall

Friday 17 May                                                   Grandparents Day - 9:30am Cabaret Performance and morning tea

Friday 17 May                                                   Catholic Education Week starts

Wednesday 22 May                                        National Simultaneous Storytime

Monday 10 June                                              King’s Birthday Public Holiday

Tuesday 11 June                                              Pupil Free Day

Friday 28 June                                                   Last day of Term 2 – 2:20pm finish

Term 3

Monday 15 July – Friday 20 September

Monday 15 July                                                First Day of Term 3

Thursday 25 July                                              Book Fair begins

Wednesday 14 August                                   Pupil Free Day

17 – 23 August                                                  Book Week

Term 4

Tuesday 8 October – Tuesday 17 December

Monday 7 October                                          Pupil Free Day

Tuesday 8 October                                          First day of Term 4

Tues 8 – Fri 11 October                                 Foundation to Grade 2 Swimming Program

Tuesday 15 October                                      Gippsland Regional Athletics, Joe Carmody Athletics Track, Newborough

Monday 4 November                                    School Closure Day

Tuesday 5 November                                    Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Tuesday 17 December                                   Last day of school for 2024

The bushfire season is upon us and normally runs from October until April.

As St. Joseph’s is located in a high-risk bushfire area, the school will be pre-emptively closed in the event that the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issues a Code Red Fire Danger Rating warning for the weather district in which this school is located (West and South Gippsland - Region). A decision is made at 12:00pm the day before if possible, and will not change regardless of changing weather conditions. If possible, three-days notice may be given to families about the closure. When a school is closed in response to bushfire risk, no one will be permitted on site. This is a part of our emergency management plan for St. Joseph's and every effort will be made to give you advanced warning of a closure. 

Sacrament News

Listed below are some dates for your diary regarding the Sacramental program for Confirmation and First Holy Communion in 2024.

Confirmation 2024

Preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation will begin with an Information Meeting for parents on Thursday 6^th June, 7pm. Our guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Fr. Elio Capra, SDB.  The Confirmation ceremony, celebrated by Bishop Greg Bennett, will be held on Friday, 26^th July, 7pm in Marist Sion Hall.

First Holy Communion

Preparation for First Holy Communion will begin with an Information Meeting for parents on Thursday 29^th August, 7pm. Our guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Fr. Elio Capra, SDB. First Holy Communion Masses will be held on the weekend of 26^th/27^th October.

More details concerning these sacraments will be provided closer to the time.  Contact Liz for further enquiries.

Email: Warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au    

Phone: 5623 1642

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults

Lent

Counting on you

Recognition of Christ’s love for us personally and collectively is what makes us “Christian.” The image of Jesus the vine and we the branches (John 15:1-8) is one of the most evocative in Christianity but the image is often distorted into “survival of the fittest”, simply portraying unworthy branches being tossed on the fire. That is not Jesus’ message. We are most fruitful together, connected to the true vine, so Jesus highlights the perils of loosening our grip, exhorting us all to “abide” with him no matter what.

Daily we are bombarded with distractions seeking to disconnect us from the vine, but our faith isn’t about feelings or opinions or inherited customs or moral recipes, rather about focus on Christ’s love and remaining united to him and each other, day after day, motivated and sustained by his word. Jesus knows our difficulties and exhorts us to cling to him, especially in the bad times, the times of challenge and doubt, the times when it is most difficult to be our best and stay faithful to him.

Discounting the false adage, “It’s ok to do what you like if you’re not hurting anyone else”, Vatican Observatory Director, Br Guy Consolmagno explains our entwining, “If you are ever less than you could have been, you’re ultimately hurting the rest of us. We were counting on you. We all need everyone else to be good, all the time, in order for us to be able to overcome evil ourselves. And that, of course, is another reason why we can’t realistically expect to accomplish anything without the only person who can forgive us all and make us whole for all the times we are less than good.” (Consolmagno, G. God’s Mechanics p216). If we are to plentifully bear fruit together, we must remain (abide) in Christ lest we wither on the vine.

Deacon Mark Kelly

Book Club

National Simultaneous Storytime

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is an important annual campaign that aims to encourage young children to read and enjoy books as well as teach them the value of literacy.

Now celebrating its 24th successful year and coming off the back of the most successful year yet in 2023 where over 2.3 million participants read at over 59,000 locations!

You can get the NSS book, Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker in this Issue of the Book Club.

UPCOMING SPORTS DATES:

Tuesday, 30 April - West Gippsland Division Athletics. Joe Carmody Athletics Track, Newborough (Back up 2/5 or 6/5).

Tuesday, 15 October - Gippsland Regional Athletics. Joe Carmody Athletics Track, Newborough

AFL-X

Congratulations to the students that participated in the AFL-X. All teams played exceptional football and made it into the Grand Final. The boys champsionship team were victorious. Thank you to the Marist students who coached on the day.

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: Foundation and Year 4 Classes

WEDNESDAY: Year 1/2 and Year 3 Classes

THURSDAY: Year 5/6 Classes

*Year 6 students can also wear their sports uniform on Monday.

On Thursday, the Grade three classes went to a camp called Forest Edge for the day. It was so much fun. We got to do a scavenger hunt, the flying fox, made damper and cooked over a fire, played disc golf and initiative games. The flying fox was 312 metres and was so much fun. I can’t wait to sleep there next year. Thank you to all of the teachers and to Mia and Ben for helping us.

By Summer Mumford

On Wednesday, the grade 3's and 4's went to camp at Forest Edge. While the grade 3's only went for the day, the grade 4s slept there overnight. Here is what we all did. When they arrived they had some morning snacks and then went straight to the activities. There were three groups. The activities were the Flying Fox, Initiative games and Camp Cooking and Disk Golf. The Flying Fox was really fun. Two people would go on at a time. It gave you a really good view of the forest and some of the camp. The Initiative games all required teamwork and trust. If the team didn’t work together, then they wouldn’t be able to complete the activity. In Camp cooking and Disk Golf they cooked damper over a fire. You had to find the right spot otherwise it wouldn’t cook. Once they had finished that they did disk golf. Disk golf is a frisbee that you have to throw into a basket. Each group did the activities. Then the grade 3's left. Once the grade 3's had left, the grade 4's had dinner, watched a movie then had hot chocolate and went to bed. The next day there were 2 groups. The activities were Archery and Hut Building. In archery the grade 4's were taught the correct positioning and how to fire an arrow from a bow. In Hut Building, there were two teams. Each team had to make a hut from scratch that would shelter them from water. The rule was that it had to fit all of the children in the hut. Once those activities were complete the grade 4's left. Thanks again to our wonderful helpers Ben and Mia who came to help with all the activities. Thank you also to the teachers for looking after us. Camp was incredible.

By Alaynah Lia

Term 2   Monday 15 April - Friday 28 June

Term 3  Monday 15 July - Friday 20 September

Term 4  Tuesday 8 October - Tuesday 17 December

Car Line

Our school is very blessed with a long carline with ample parking. However, we continue to experience some issues during the afternoon pickup. Burke Street is extremely busy from 3:00-3:30pm. If you arrive before school finishes, it is an expectation that you move all the way down the carline and fill all spaces. If the carline is full, take a parking spot opposite the carline and walk to the crossing for student collection. Alternatively, leaving home 5-10 minutes later may be a better option to avoid being stuck in the congestion. Children are supervised in the carline area until 3:35pm, at which time, our carline and Burke Street are clear.

School Crossing

Please remember that the carline is private property and all people using our carline must follow the instructions of the staff managing the area - this is non-negotiable and aggressive or abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. Entering the carline via the exit is dangerous and illegal.

When waiting along Burke Street to enter the school grounds, please do not stop your vehicle on the school crossing. For safety reasons, the school crossing supervisor is not authorised to allow children to cross the school crossing if a vehicle has stopped over the school crossing.

Medical Profiles and Emergency Contact Details

At the beginning of each school year, we remind parents and carers that it is time to review your child/ren's medical profile on PAM. Any changes in medical needs should be communicated to the school to ensure that we provide the most up-to-date care for our students. If emergency contact details have changed or emails, phone numbers need updating, please contact the office to provide the updates necessary. The most efficient way to provide these details to the office would be to email - info@stjwarragul.catholic.edu.au

If your child is affected by Anaphylaxis or has any allergies and requires an ASCIA Allergy Plan developed by your child's doctor, please provide information and a copy to the office. In addition, Asthma plans may need updating, please ensure that these are also current. If your child has medication stored at our school, please check with the office that the medication is still in date and there is ample supply. 

Lego Final call!

Our Lego Drive will continue all year round and we will accept any donations at the school office. Thank you so much to all our families who have kindly donated and supported our school with this project!

Lunch Orders

• are every Wednesday and Friday
• can be placed using the Flexischools app
• are delivered to school for the first break at 11:30am
• can be placed until 11:00pm the night before (Tuesday and Thursday) from a full menu
• can be placed until 9:00am on Wednesday and Friday mornings from a limited menu

The lost property shelves can be found in the multipurpose room. 

Parents are most welcome to come and look in the tubs if students have lost any items of clothing, drink bottles etc...

We have plenty of unnamed bomber school jackets from lost property, mostly new and hardly worn. These can be purchased for a gold coin donation. Children can see Mrs Mulqueen on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's.

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.

Easter Raffle

In case you missed it on Facebook, here is the list of our Easter Raffle prize winners drawn late last term.

Thanks again for your support.

Mother's Day 
Stall

The annual Parents and Friends Mother’s Day stall will be running on Friday 10 May.

It's time to start gathering up coins so the children can enjoy their shopping experience! Please send along your small change with your child on the day.

Each class will have the opportunity to shop at the stall, with each child able to purchase one small gift for their mum/special person. Gifts will range from $1 - $10.

We will need a small group of helpers on the day to help with setting up, selling gifts and packing up.

If you are available and would like to help out with the stall (11am-2.30pm), please add your name to the volunteer sign-up sheet via the following link volunteersignup.org/CFMLL

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Kids Disco - Save the Date

Friday, 14 June Save the date for the 2024 Disco! 

This will be a fun evening for all St Joseph’s kids, with a DJ and lots of games, music and dancing.

Stay tuned for more details...

Labels

Join us on Facebook

We welcome all families to join our P&F Facebook page, a great place to engage with our school community - please search 'Parents and Friends of St Joseph's Primary School Warragul'.

Second Hand Uniforms

We have lots of new stock of clean second-hand school uniforms, available for a gold coin donation.

View these in the Parents & Friends room or contact the P&F Committee on stjosephswarragulpandf@gmail.com or the school office.

P&F Meetings

P&F meetings are generally held on the first Friday of each month (except during school holidays) at 2.00pm (or 1.30pm on assembly days) at the school. Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday 3 May.  

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 or just turn up.