Dear God, thank you for the apples and strawberries and raspberries and trees, and the birds that sing. Amen

Dear God, I hope you have a good day. Amen

Dear God, thank you for the birds that sing and for all the food and drinks. Amen

Dear parents and carers,

Last term I started a Pray and Play activity group at is open to all students on a Monday at first break. Admittedly there is much more ‘play’ than pray involved as the students get out some board games and just enjoy some quiet time with new friends. However, this week we completed a simple task of writing a prayer to start a prayer chain, which we will add to over time. Our prayers this week are a small insight into the wonderful innocence that exists in children. My prayer is that all children in our world, at some point, have the opportunity to be kids and to pray for the simple things in life.

Tell Them From Me Survey

In the coming weeks we will be inviting students, teachers and parents to provide feedback on their experience of our school using an online survey. The surveys are an important part of our whole school evaluation and planning process.

We would like to invite you to complete the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Partners in Learning survey. As we value the role of parents and carers within our school community we would greatly appreciate your feedback. The information you provide will be used to maintain our commitment to working together in partnership to further improve student learning and wellbeing at St Joseph’s.

In next week’s brief newsletter a link will be provided to enable all parents to complete the anonymous survey on their computer or mobile device.

School Disco

With only a couple of days until the school disco, please ensure you have 'purchased' your free ticket via Qkr!

It is a Mr Men & Little Miss themed disco, so we are looking forward to seeing some creative dress ups as a favourite Mr Men or Little Miss.

• Junior Disco - ELC to Year 2 - 6.15 - 7.15pm (ELC parents are required to stay for the hour)
• Senior Disco - Year 3 to 6 - 7.30 - 8.30pm

Hotdogs and drinks will be provided to the children.

This is an event put on by the School Community Council at no cost for families.

However, tickets must be purchased via Qkr! so that we can know numbers. 'Tickets' are available for both the Junior and Senior Discos.

Happy Families

Please see linked this week's Insights article from Happy Families on Every Day Counts. As I have reflected upon previously, attending school every day and arriving on time is so important to fostering positive connections with peers and maintaining momentum in learning.

I have also included a second Insights article called Stop, Look and Listen to Your Kids.

There are other great resources available on the Happy Families website –

URL - https://schools.happyfamilies.com.au/login/stjosephs

Password – happysjps

School Community Council

Tonight the School Community Council Exec is meeting. Included on the agenda is the planned building project and managing the impact to school operations, reviewing a revised Home Learning Statement of Practice, consideration of playground works ‘under the trees’ behind the Library and continuing to promote school and family events to build community. A report will be shared with the wider community following the meeting.

To promote and broaden the reach of the Council Exec, linked is an School_Community_Council_St_Joseph_s_O_Connor.pdf. Also, the email address – sjo.schoolcommunitycouncil@gmail.com allows for all parents to contact the Council Exec, provide feedback and comment, and to raise any items for the Open Meeting Agenda.

The next Open Meeting is on Wednesday 11 September and will be a parent information night to learn about the new LEGO Robotics resources that the school is purchasing with the support of the Community Council.

New Building Project

Work is continuing on the planned demolition and then reconstruction of new administration and staff spaces in the school.  In short, all the offices and staffrooms from the entrance of the school to the start of Foundation White will be demolished and rebuilt. Linked are images of the new project, with the entrance to the Front Office to now be half-way along the side of the current staff areas. 

Northern View - looking towards exiting front of school

Main Entry - looking from trees towards the existing staffroom

Have a great end to the week.

Yours in Christ,

Cameron Tarrant

cameron.tarrant@cg.catholic.edu.au