Dear parents, carers and the St Joseph’s community,

As we continue to move through challenging and changing times, we start the newsletter today with a prayer for ourselves and those around us.

Dear God,

We turn to you today at a time of need, knowing that through difficult times we can seek comfort in Your loving support.

Be with us as we face new challenges and work together, while at the same time respecting the need to care for ourselves and others.

Thank you for the wonderful work of those striving to find solutions and answers to questions and situations that continue to change each day.

Stay with us over the coming weeks, when we are here at school and in our homes, keeping us safe in the knowledge that You are with us always.

Amen

Good News!

Today the students in Year 5 were informed that Mrs Laura Knight is pregnant! This is such wonderful news for her and her husband, Tim. On behalf of the students, staff and wider St Joseph’s community, I congratulate Laura on her exciting news. Something for us all to look forward to!

COVID-19 Updates

Over recent weeks regular updates have been communicated to the school community via SZapp. These updates convey both school and Catholic Education decisions around the impact of COVID-19. Please continue to monitor these updates, particularly in the coming weeks. Our priority at present is to develop a ‘remote learning plan’ for the students should the need arise. Please contact me if you have any questions.

School Board and P&F

At the end of 2019 and early in 2020, the School Board and P&F positions were finalised. The School Board takes a significant role in the governance of the school, providing support and advice to myself and the wider school community, in matters relating to the budget, priorities and direction. The P&F members also take on a significant role within the school community, ensuring that all parents have access and opportunity to engage in the life of the school. Together, the School Board and P&F form a wonderful aspect of parent contribution and guidance for our school. Thank you to all those involved.

These members of the School Board and P&F are always very happy to speak with parents, in order to maintain positive communication between school and the wider community.

It’s Not Ok

As a school we work very hard to build and maintain a positive atmosphere across the school. On the whole, all students are happy to come to school and contribute to fostering a Christ-centred community. However, at times we do experience unnecessary aggression, and inappropriate language and behaviour on the playground.

To address this, I have continued to speak to the students that ‘it’s not ok’ to behave or to speak in a way that makes others feel threatened or less than they should at our school. Regardless of the reasons, it is not ok to intimidate or to have hands on. We strive to find a balance between allowing the students to play games they enjoy, but to also ensure they are safe and respectful of each other.

Each class has been involved in sessions run by Ms Doszpot, looking at strategies to manage emotions and to be aware of how others and ourselves are feeling. We have all heard about the need to be ‘present’, ‘centred’ and ‘grounded’, and then last week the focus was on self-regulation. We read that providing children with self-regulatory processes empowers them to become more self-aware, emotionally literate and able to build a toolbox of strategies, including the ability to ask for help. There are 5 steps in the self-regulation process:

• Identify the emotion, feeling and body state that we don’t like
• Choose how you would like to feel
• Identify what you need to feel better
• Initiate action
• Evaluate if this worked

Please ask your child about these sessions and support their understanding about how they might apply these strategies when it really matters.

Yours in Christ,

Cameron Tarrant

Principal

cameron.tarrant@cg.catholic.edu.au