Dear Parents & Carers, 

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday. Over the holidays we celebrated Easter and also ANZAC Day. While we may have commemorated and celebrated these events differently this year, the honouring of our ANZAC tradition was very still very real and present.

We have resumed Term 2 under continued guidelines, but in Week 3 will transition from home learning back to face-to-face teaching, beginning Monday 11th May. This is based on advice that it is safe for a reintroduction of students to full-time face-to-face instruction for a school our size. This is not only to attend to the learning needs of students, but also best supports their social, emotional, physical and psychological needs. In returning to school we will maintain our focus on the health and well-being of our students and staff as our core priority and we will continue to work hand in hand with parents and carers, with measures and guidelines in place to ensure the safety of our students and staff. Assemblies, excursions, sports events and non-essential meetings will remain on-hold.

I would like to thank parents for the manner in which you have all handled this situation and the support you have given your children. I would also like to acknowledge our wonderful staff and their efforts in quickly adapting to home learning and ensuring the best possible outcome for our students during this time. Finally, I am so proud of all of our students for their resilience and efforts with home learning.

Peace & Best wishes

Amy Maslen

If you have a child or sibling that is enrolling for 2021, please contact the office for an enrolment pack for 2021.

St. Joseph's have implemented a new student information system called Compass. Compass is a comprehensive system that will enable the school to effectively manage student information and is part of the information system for all schools in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese. During Term 2 we will be providing some more information on Compass for parents. As we move into Compass, this portal will replace the Schoolzine App. We will be communicating more regarding Compass in the next few weeks. 

Congratulations to the following students who are about to celebrate their birthday. We hope you have a fabulous time celebrating your special day:

Clarry Fulton 9th November

Cooper Allan 13th November

Stuart Turner 13th November

Coming Up

Monday 11th May

Face-to-face teaching resumes for all classes

Winter Uniforms 

Students are able to wear their winter uniform from Monday May 11th, Week 3. Please call the office for any uniform orders or pick ups. 

All volunteers in Maitland-Newcastle Diocesan Schools are required to complete a Working With Children Check. These checks are free for volunteers. You can apply online and then must attend the RMS to have your identification validated. Once you obtain your Working With Children Clearance number this must then be provided to Lisa in the front office who will pass the information on to Zimmerman House and the Catholic Schools Office for further processing. We love having volunteers in our school but me must comply with this requirement. If you have any queries regarding this please contact Lisa who is only too willing to assist you. 

https://www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/child-safe-organisations/working-with-children-check  

St Joseph’s Primary School endeavours to provide a safe environment for students, including students with severe nut allergies. The number of children with food allergies in Australia is increasing and it is estimated that 1 in 20 have a food allergy and 1 in 50 have a peanut allergy. The most common food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews etc) cow’s milk, soy, seafood and eggs. The health and wellbeing of students at this school is carefully considered in all activities. Parents are requested not to send food to school that contain nuts, especially peanuts. This includes products such as peanut paste, most nuts, peanut cooking oil and other foods that may contain nuts.