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- St Joseph's School Vision
- Deputy Principal's Message
- Prayer
- Assembly Award Winners
- 1/2 Neighbourhood
- 3/4 Neighbourhood
- Prep 100 Days Celebration
- Green & Gold Day
- Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant
- eSafety News
- Book Club Issue 5
- Absences and Holidays
- Communication to the office regarding pickup changes for children
- Child Safety Reminder
- Census Collection August 2024
- Book Week 2024
- 2025 Prep Information
- Afterschool Care Program - TheirCare
- WONTHAGI CATHOLIC PARISH RENEWAL PROGRAM
- Parish News
- Marriage Encounter Weekend
- Wallace and Gromit - Wonthaggi Citizens' Band
- UNDER 12 GIRLS EXHIBITION GAME
- Bass Coast Community Foundation - Science Fair
Dear Parents
A warm welcome back to the start of Term 3. We hope that you have all had an enjoyable break and have been able to take some time to relax and unwind with your child/ren, disconnect from devices and take some time to ‘smell the roses’.
We look forward to the busy term ahead and all that this encapsulates. As we start the term we will once again be focusing on reestablishing the whole school expectations, ‘Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be a Learner’ and what this looks and feels like in each classroom.
The establishment of whole school expectations helps to create and support our child/ren to feel safe and comfortable. We aim to establish clear boundaries and expectations around how we speak, tone of voice and what we say to our peers, friends and all staff members. Remembering to say ‘please and thank you goes a long way!’
We will continue to focus on how we move around the school during learning time and how we work to ensure that we do not impact the learning of others. This is always a work in progress and we acknowledge that the children can and will slip up; however, we provide all children with the opportunity to make amends (say sorry, write a letter of apology or complete a reflection sheet), allowing the children to move on and begin again. These boundaries and expectations are used to support all children and help to reduce anxiety amongst our children.
As many of you would be aware, many children are experiencing a high degree of anxiety and much of the current evidence indicates that the impact of social media feeds into this anxiety. Anxiety disorders are diagnosed by professionals when anxiety persists for an extended period of time and it interferes with daily living. All students can feel anxious at times and this is normal, however, prolonged periods of excessive anxiety can be very harmful to one's health and wellness. Some students suffer from anxieties severe enough to interfere with the daily activities of childhood or adolescence. Anxiety according to headspace.org.au can also help us to perform better and it is normal.
Headspace - Understanding Anxiety Fact Sheet
Click the image for the link to the Anxiety edition of SchoolTV.
The link provides a great resource of materials and discusses the impact of anxiety and how to support children with anxiety. Please take the time to look at these resources.
Footsteps:
We commenced Footsteps dancing with the children this term. We look forward to sharing our new skills and dancing later this term. Watch this space!
Regional Football and Netball
We wish the girls the very best as they participate in Regional Netball on July 31st in Sale and Regional Football in Traralgon on 7th August.
Dianne Gin
Deputy Principal
Well done to our award winners who were presented with their certificates at our last assembly, congratulations on all your hard work.
This term we are very excited to begin our inquiry unit on the Olympics!
Last week we picked the country we will be representing during our Potato Olympics by chance. We started learning about the Olympics and how/where they first began.
This week we looked at the Paris Olympics mascot and explored some ideas we could use to create our own mascot. We gathered in our design groups to begin the planning process and discussed how we can contribute to our group's ideas.
1/2 Team
The 3/4 Students had a fantastic time at Phillip Island Adventure resort for camp last week. We got to try lots of different activities like flying fox, canoeing, photo hunt, archery, and the giant swing. The giant swing was really high! Even though the weather was a bit cold, everyone had a really positive attitude and gave all the activities their best go.
3/4 Team
We will be celebrating all things about our learning: how hard we have worked, our progress, and all the new friends we have made.
As our day is centred around our learning journey, we would love it if your child could dress up as what they want to be when they grow up. We are all looking forward to our ‘100 Days Celebration’ very much.
St Joseph's will be turning Green and Gold on Friday 2nd August, in support of the Australian Olympic Team. Students are invited to come to school dressed in green and gold clothing to show their support for our Australian athletes.
New conversation starter resources for families
Open and honest conversations can empower your family to tackle potential online harms. To help you get started, we’re excited to share new resources from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) and eSafety.
Available in English, Punjabi, Chinese and Arabic, these resources have been tested with culturally and linguistically diverse communities. They include an advice sheet for parents and carers, and conversation cards to help you talk with your family about online safety.
Join our July webinars
Are you interested in short webinars on topics top of mind for parents, like gaming online safely and the opportunities and risks of generative AI? Our July webinars have you covered and include a Q&A with our experts. Here’s what we’ve got lined up:
- Understanding how to support your child with online gaming – Suitable for parents and carers of children and young people in primary and early secondary school.
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An introduction to online safety and emerging technologies – Suitable for parents and carers of children and parents in primary and secondary school.
What to do if your child sees distressing content
We all want the internet to be a safe place for young people, but sometimes they might find something distressing. To help deal with these situations, we have developed fact sheets available in English, Arabic, Assyrian, Chinese, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Check out Google's new tool to protect your personal information
Have you ever Googled yourself to see what information is out there? Google's new 'Results about you' tool allows you to see what personal information is available online and request its removal from Google search results. You can access this tool on Google's mobile app or browser.
When your child shares information like their phone number, personal email address, the name of their school, or home address online, there is a risk it could be used in ways they may not have thought about. For tips on protecting your child's privacy, check out our Privacy and your child resource.
Absence notes must be submitted via PAM each day your child is absent, before 9:30am. You can also email the office via info@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au or call 5672 1052.
We ask that the classroom Seesaw app is not used for notifying of an absence.
If a lunch order has been pre-ordered for the day of absence, please ensure that you let the office know via phone call or email info@stjwonthaggi,catholic.edu.au 9:15am to ensure that the order can be carried over.
If your child or children will be absent from school due to a family holiday outside of the designated holiday period, we kindly request that you submit an email before your holiday to the school office to seek approval from the principal for any absences exceeding 5 days. Please direct any correspondence regarding the dates of your child's absence to the school office via email at info@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au
If you need to change the pickup arrangements for your child/ren, please contact the office via 5672 1052 or email info@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au before 3 pm, so we can ensure the message is delivered on time.
Administration
Signing In/Out – Students
Students who arrive late or leave school early need to be signed in/out at the office. Staff will escort students to their classrooms if necessary, if they arrive late. For early pickups, staff will organise for the student/s to come to the school office.
Parents are welcome to escort their child/ren to their class but need to leave the classroom before 9 am.
The August 2024 Non Government School Census collection notice for your information.
On Friday, August 16 we will hold our annual whole school Book Week Parade in the school gym at 9:05am.
Students may choose to dress as their favourite book character, this may include wearing a mask or a hat if you don't have a complete costume, or if you don't have a costume you may wear your school uniform.
(Please ensure your child has warm clothing and appropriate footwear etc. for playing outside at recess and lunchtime.
Applications for enrolment are now available for Prep 2025. Tours for all prospective 2025 Prep families can be made by contacting the school office for an appointment time.
Orientation sessions will be held for all incoming Prep students beginning in August.
Enrolment information can be found on our website. Email us at info@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au or call the office on 5672 1052 for further information. Click below for our school enrolment pack information.
The TheirCare team are excited to be back for another term! After a successful term 2 we can’t wait to see both familiar and new faces at before and after school care for term 3.
Each day we have exciting new activities on offer that are customised to meet the needs and interests of the students attending, a variety of healthy breakfast and afternoon tea options are also provided.
We look forward to seeing you there!
After School Care: 3:25pm - 6pm
TheirCare provides a stimulating & safe environment where children develop life skills, friendships, confidence, and creativity.
Parents are asked to register their children on the Theircare website.
Children will be required to take a one minute bus ride to the service at Wonthaggi North Primary School on the Harley’s Buslines Wonthaggi township bus ($1.50 per trip to be paid to the bus driver), where an educator will greet them from the service.
For further information, visit www.theircare.com.au or call our support office on 1300 072 410. Further information regarding the program can be viewed via the links below.
We have launched our PARISH RENEWAL PROGRAM – and we would love all our parish school families to be involved! The Renewal Program provides us with a wonderful opportunity – as individuals and as a community - to reflect on the importance of our wonderful parish, as we appreciate the past, engage in the present and plan for our future. It is all about our ENGAGEMENT in parish life.
The Program runs for three weeks, covering themes central to parish life – FAITH, ENGAGEMENT and COMMITMENT. You will have the opportunity to hear how we all have a role to play in building a vibrant parish community, that meets the challenges of today and ensures a sustainable future for our children to enjoy in the years to come.
A special Program brochure has been provided for each parish school family – so please look in the school bag of your eldest child. The brochure details where the parish is now and importantly what are our key priorities in the times ahead – mission, pastoral care and financial. ‘Soft copies’ of the brochure are available through the link below.
Weekday Masses:
Tuesday Our Lady Star of the Sea, Inverloch 11:00a.m.
Wednesday 9:30am St. Joseph’s Wonthaggi
Friday 9:30am St. Joseph’s Wonthaggi
Weekend Masses Our Lady Star of the Sea, Inverloch Sunday 9:00am
St. Joseph’s Wonthaggi Saturday 6:30pm, Sunday 10:30am
PLEASE PRAY FOR;
Baptism: Aengus O’Halloran, Yonah
Recently Deceased: Kay Da Lago, Albert Tiziani
Anniversaries:Anne Harland, Edwin Gilmartin, for the deceased clergy of our diocese.
Parish Office will be open on Wed & Fri 8.30am-4.30pm. All items for the bulletin or Mass intentions to be received by 5pm on Thursdays.
Prayer Group: will be held at Wonthaggi Church on Mondays at 1.15pm. All Welcome
Prayer Shawl Group: Plenty of wool & patterns are freely available . Come along to enjoy a cuppa & chat while knitting or crocheting ! For enquires please contact: Philippa Warby 0408 331 340
Safetrac Module for Working With Children: Just a reminder that the volunteers that have been emailed a module to complete from Safetrac, that they are now overdue. If you are having trouble, please contact Ann in the Parish Office
Our Parish is committed to the safety, well-being and dignity of all children, young people and adults at risk. Find out more at: catholic.org.au/childprotectionsunday and www.catholicregligious.org.au/safeguarding
St Joseph’s Wonthaggi Cuppa after Mass held on 1st Saturday & Sunday of the Month
Our Lady Star of the Sea—Inverloch Cuppa after Mass held on 1st Sunday of the Month
If you are concerned about any form of abuse, or believe that someone is at significant risk, you should immediately raise your concerns with one of our Parish Safeguarding Officers. Contact the Parish Office: 03 56 721 111 or St. Joseph’s School Safeguarding Officer 03 56 721 052. Take care, we are here to help.
If you are in need of urgent assistance, please phone either Father Darren Howie 0356 722 923 or Ann on 03 56 72111 or 04999 15 784.
Father Darren Howie Ann Hemming
Parish Priest Parish Secretary
St. Joseph’s Parish Wonthaggi
Live Your Best Life in Love...
A Marriage Encounter weekend is for you…
Every married couple deserves this very special weekend.
Time-out to nurture your most precious relationship away from daily distractions.
The two of you will come away from your weekend feeling more deeply connected
and with tools to help keep the passion alive.
No group sharing required.
The weekend is based around Catholic values. Couples of all faiths are welcome.
Please check our website for more details and to book your special weekend:
A Live-In weekend: 4 - 6 October 2024 at St Paul's Retreat Centre, Wantirna South.
Starts Friday evening at 7pm and finishes Sunday afternoon around 4:30pm
A Live-Out weekend: 16-17 November 2024 at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Trafalgar.
Starts Saturday morning at 8am and finishes Sunday afternoon around 4:30pm
Information/Bookings: Phone Mercy & James 0409 183 676 or
Email: vicbookings@wwme.org.au Website: wwme.org.au
