Principal's Welcome Message
Dear Parents, Carers and the St Joseph’s Community,
Welcome back to the new term. I trust that you all had some time as a family to enjoy the break from the school routine. Incredibly, we are now into the second half of the year and with this comes a couple of changes and announcements.
Staffing
I am pleased to announce that Carolyn McFarland has been seconded to the position of Wellbeing and Diversity Office at Catholic Education, Canberra and Goulburn for the remainder of the 2019 school year. During this time, Carolyn will continue in her role as Classroom Support Teacher on Wednesday and Thursday at St Joseph’s, and fulfill her new role at Catholic Education on the other days. On behalf of the St Joseph’s community, I congratulate Carolyn on this appointment and wish her well in her new role.
A temporary part-time Classroom Support Teacher position has been advertised on the Catholic Education website and an appointment will be made in the coming weeks.
Over the break I visited Catherine Parmenter and she is doing very well. Following surgery towards the end of Term 2 and a positive outcome, she is now well on the road to recovery. Catherine will continue to take leave in the coming weeks, anticipating being able to take the second half of Term 3 as Long Service Leave to enjoy some time in the sun somewhere. We continue to keep Catherine in our thoughts and prayers as she recovers.
We officially welcome Linley Ellis on staff this term, replacing Catherine Parmenter. Linley will continue her work in the Library during Term 3. The Seasons for Growth program that was due to run in Term 3 with Catherine, will now run in Term 4.
Building Project
After numerous delays and some challenges in preparing the site, the Stage 2 building project has been given final approval and has now gone to tender. The building project includes the construction of 4 new classrooms at the end of the Foundation corridor, extending out towards the storage container under the trees. This will be followed immediately by a full refurbishment of the current Year 1 and 2 classrooms, downstairs in the original school building. The anticipated completion of the 4 new classrooms will be the end of Term 1, 2020. The anticipated completion of the refurbished classrooms will be the end of Term 3, 2020. With a more clear timeline in place, planning for the 2020 school year and preparations for the building works will continue. Included here is a floor plan, as well as two ‘artist’s impressions of the building works. In the coming week, the plans and architectural diagrams will be displayed outside the Library for the community to view.
Anxiety
As parents, it can be good to hear from others about their experience or expertise in particular areas. Anxiety in our children is currently a great concern for many parents and below is a link to a seminar hosted by Michael Grose and Dr. Jodi Richardson, co-authors of a new book, Anxious Kids: How children can turn their anxiety into resilience. Please see full details for the seminar by following the link.
Afternoon Pick Up
It has been brought to our attention that there are some unsafe practices occurring on Macarthur Ave at afternoon pick up time. Parents, if you are going to park on Macarthur Ave to collect your child/ren, please park on the school side of the road and have them enter the car from the curb side. A concerned past parent witnessed on a couple of occasions, children running onto the road to get into the street side of the parked car. We always want to ensure the safest practices around our school at drop off and pick up times.
Transition from Skoolbag to Schoolzine (SZapp)
Following the successful transition of our newsletter from PDF to the new online version on the Schoolzine (SZapp) platform, this term we will continue to move more of what we do across from Skoolbag to Schoolzine (SZapp). Anytime there is going to be a change, we will communicate this well in advance, but it is expected that by the end of the year that all school-wide communication with parents will be via the Schoolzine (SZapp) platform. This includes alerts and also completion of online absence notes. If you are yet to download SZapp, the instructions are included at the end of this newsletter. Further details will be sent out in the coming weeks regarding the first changes.
Don't forget to follow our page on Facebook to keep up to date and to support our fantastic school. https://www.facebook.com/StJosephsPrimarySchoolOConnor/
This term, we will be starting 'meet the teacher' posts. Teachers will be answering questions the students want to know about them. Believe me, there are some very interesting questions!
Have a great end to the week.
Yours in Christ,
Cameron Tarrant
Principal