Book Week

Our Book Week celebrations were once again a great success! Thanks to the students (supported by wonderful parents!) and staff who dressed as book characters for our annual parade. It was great to see so many toddlers and future students join in as well! Grade 5/6s outdid themselves in the Bake a Book competition- the cakes are more impressive every year!

Catholic Identity and Religious Education

Recently I attended a Clergy and Primary Principals' Dialogue day, organised by DOSCEL. The aim of the Dialogue meeting was for Clergy and Principals to reflect together on their shared mission, to explore what builds good parish-school partnerships, and what expectations are made of clergy, principals, families and children in the changing culture and circumstances of our society.

We were fortunate to hear from Bishop Gregory Bennett, our Director Paul Velten and Brother Tony Clarke whose role in our diocese is Facilitator of Synodality and Mission. Brother Tony Clarke works closely with Bishop Greg, Diocesan leaders, clergy and groups, in facilitating our efforts to work across the Diocese in learning to be and become a synodal Church. Pope Francis has asked the Church to become synodal: journeying together as people of God, listening to individual members to discern how God might be speaking to us all. Brother Tony’s work will seek to engage parishes and communities, in a process of prayer, listening to the Holy Spirit and discerning how we can allow the synodal vision to flourish in our Diocese.

Fr Darren and I had many opportunities to dialogue with each other and other principals and priests in our diocese. We made a commitment to continue open communication, for Fr Darren to continue his weekly staff room and class visits, to investigate/explore the idea of a parish/school Mass once a term, to encourage classes to visit the church for orientation with Fr Darren and for Fr Darren to attend some staff Professional Learning.

Road Safety

We have had a couple of reports of students crossing Wentworth Rd (near Korumburra Rd) without looking or waiting for car traffic. Please remind your children to follow the road rules and cross roads safety, respecting car traffic. 

Staffing News

Mrs Susan Holmberg will be on leave from next week until the end of the year as she has a special holiday planned.  Mrs Catherine Berry and Mrs Claire Shannon, who have both been in Classroom Support roles will be teaching 1/2F. We hope Susan has a lovely break and enjoys her time away!

We welcome Ms Kathleen Snell to our staff who will be undertaking the Classroom Support role until the end of the year. 

Ms Kasey Ton has resigned her position so will not be returning to our school next year. She will continue to work in South Australia. We wish Kasey the best for her and Anika’s future and thank her for all her work here at St Joes.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Term 3 Parent-Teacher interviews will be held on Tuesday September 10th between 11.40 am-5.00pm. They will all be held in the parish hall. These interviews may be via telephone or face to face. Parents and carers can enter the school via the front entrance and as per our Child Safety protocols, are required to sign in before their interview, so please allow time for this. I encourage you to take this opportunity to talk to your child’s teacher about their academic progress and social growth. If this day doesn't suit you, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher directly to arrange another suitable time.

Joanne Coldebella

Principal

Well done to our award winners who were presented with their certificates at our last assembly, congratulations on all your hard work.  

The Prep children at St Joseph’s Primary School had a fabulous day celebrating their 100th Day of Prep. The theme was, ‘What I want to be when I grow up’. There were vets, nurses, police officers, farmers, an artist, firefighters, an engineer, garbage collector, hairdresser and lots more

We interviewed some of our Prep Students and asked what their favourite thing about the day was.

Harry: “I liked doing the fun activities with our buddies”.

Leo: “I loved the party food and the balloons.”

Saiorse: “I really liked our big 100 Day poster and the lolly bags.

Archie: “The disco was so much fun”.

Jasmine: “I loved the balloons”.

Tessa: “I loved dancing at the disco”.

Prep Team

Year 5/6 Have been working on information reports on The Paris Olympics, firstly on a chosen sport and then on an Olympic athlete or team and we also had a dress up in Green and Gold Day!

Our 5/6 Girls were something of a sensation in AFLW winning the Interschools, then the Division title and coming runners in Regionals going down by less than a kick! We are now moving into Australian History, finding out how life was for early settlers, convicts and First Nation Australians. We have been reading the novel Tom Appleby, Convict Boy which weaves his story together with the history of the First Fleet and life in England, then Australia at that time.   

Along with bake a book everyone got dressed up as their favourite book character and paraded with other classes for Book Week, swimming lessons have kicked off this week. And watch out for our deadly dance moves in Week 7, ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Somebody is watching me’.

5/6 Team

On Friday, August 16, students at St. Joseph's had a blast dressing up as their favorite book characters for our Book Week Parade. It was wonderful to see many parents joining the fun and watching the children express their love for their beloved characters. Even the teachers got in on the excitement!

As Book Week continues, take some time to chat with your kids about your own favorite books. Also, feel free to swing by our Book Fair – there are so many wonderful stories waiting for your child to dive into. Happy reading!

As part of our Book Week celebrations, our 5/6 students had the chance to bake and decorate a cake with a book theme and bring it to school. The enthusiastic bakers spent the weekend whipping up their creative cakes, drawing inspiration from their favorite books.  It was wonderful to see the amazing effort all the students had gone to in the spirit of their love of books.

Allocated times for session two has been sent via email to all families who have confirmed their child's acceptance for Prep enrollment in 2025. If you have any questions, please contact the office. We are excited to welcome our new Preps at our orientation sessions

On Wednesday, August 7 we travelled to Traralgon along with Korumburra Primary School to compete at the Regional Girls Football Competition.

For the first round we had a bye so we watched the other teams play and ate potato slinky spuds with a free slinky.

In the second round, we played a game against St Joseph's Warragul. We played well and won by about 30 points.

We had a short break before our second game which was against Korumburra.

We were down in the first half but came back and won the game in the second half, we played well and it was a great team effort.

After another short break, we played Drouin Primary School and had our first loss of the day by 5 points. After the game, we were really disappointed but we knew we still had one more game.

Our last game was against Yinnar Primary School and it was our closest game for the day, winning by one point!!

After all the games, we had a presentation where we received the runners up flag for our school.  It was an amazing day!  Thanks to Mr Granger and Claire for helping coach and to all of the parents and friends who came to support us.

Congratulations to Drouin Primary for making it to State and good job to the girls for getting runners up.

Hayley, Eleanor and Maya

It's been a bustling term with lots more excitement on the horizon! Big thanks to the Sentinel Times for stopping by, sharing our journey, and spreading the news about all the great things happening at St. Joe's!

Active supervision

Active supervision is the observation, focused attention and intentional interaction with students within the school community, to create an environment that is safe and responsive to the needs of all.  Staff position themselves to observe all students: watching, monitoring, and listening at all times.  Staff have knowledge and understanding of students’ development of social and emotional abilities, to enable the acknowledgement of positive behaviour, anticipation of behaviour and redirection when necessary.  Staff members are aware of the impact of their actions and work to de-escalate behaviour.  

Active supervision involves:

• Understanding duty of care by being aware of and acting on potential risks to student emotional and physical safety
• Being underpinned by the School Wide Expectations
• Purposefully interacting and connecting with students
• Positioning to have a high degree of visibility
• Actively moving around the space during supervision
• Visually scanning, and using non-verbal signals to show that you notice behaviour
• Having processes to de-escalate by responding, diffusing and seeking assistance if required, to maintain dignity and emotional and physical safety 
• Staff understanding how their actions can escalate or de-escalate behaviour

Trish Martin and Kylee Bertacco 

Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Co-ordinators

School closure dates for your diary

Monday September 2, will be a school closure day.

As the weather improves, if the the UV Index is 3 or higher we will ask students to wear their hats when they go outside.

Please ensure your child/ren have their hats labeled and in their school bags.

From now all students should be wearing their hats when outside, in line with our Sun Smart Policy

Hats can be purchased from our uniform supplier Totally Workwear Wonthaggi

Term 3 Parent Teacher Interviews are available for Parents on Tuesday, September 10 between 11:40am and 5:00pm (this will not affect the students’ school attendance that day).

These interviews will be of 10 minutes in duration and will take place in the Parish Hall.  Attendance at these interviews may be either face to face or via phone, of which you may select your preference at the point of booking. Entry for onsite meetings will be through the front office, with all visitors asked to sign in. Please allow extra time before your interview to complete this process.  Please note Parent Teacher Interviews for Susan Holmberg (1/2F) have taken place.

Bookings for Parent Teacher Interviews are to be made though PAM. If you have not setup your account please email the office via info@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au and we will help you get setup. 

If you have been involved in PSG meetings, please do not arrange an appointment. 

If you have any queries regarding booking an appointment please contact the office.

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

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.

Program Information Flyer - TheirCare

How to Enrol

CCS Flyer

Parent Handbook

What is Conveyance Allowance ?

The conveyance allowance is a form of financial assistance to help families in rural and regional Victoria with the cost of transporting their children to their nearest appropriate school/campus. The conveyance allowance is available to eligible students travelling by public transport, private car and private bus. The conveyance allowance is also available to eligible students whose nearest school is not serviced by a free school bus.

Students attending a government or non-government school must:

• attend their nearest government or non-government school/campus appropriate to their year level at which admission is permissible
• be enrolled at a school/campus outside Melbourne’s metropolitan conveyance boundary
• reside 4.8km or more by the shortest practicable route from that school/campus attended
• be of school age (5 to 18 years old at time of application) and reside in Victoria.

Forms are available at the school office or download below. If you have any questions please contact the office or email kcarew@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au

Applications are to be submitted to the school office by Thursday August 29 for processing.

Conveyance Allowance Application

Statements for Term 3 have been emailed to families.  If you have not received your statement or have any queries please contact the office or email kcarew@stjwonthaggi.catholic.edu.au

Weekday Masses:

Tuesday Our Lady Star of the Sea, Inverloch 11:00a.m.


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; 
Anniversaries:For the deceased clergy of the Diocese of sale.  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. “May they rest in peace.”

Fr Darren: will be away on leave from Monday 19th August until 7th September.
While Fr Darren is away there will be no Mass or Liturgy on Wednesday’s at Wonthaggi Church. Liturgy will be held at Inverloch on Tuesday’s at 11am and Wonthaggi on Friday’s at 9.30am.

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 next Meeting: Wednesday August 21st @ 10.30am in the Inverloch Church Annex.
New members are always welcome. Plenty of donated wool is readily available.
Rugs and shawls will now also be on display in the cabinets of the “Quiet Room “ in the foyer of St Joseph’s Church, Wonthaggi as well as in Inverloch .  If you know anyone who may be struggling with life in any way and would benefit from a shawl or rug, please contact one of the following ladies.
Wonthaggi: Maureen Maartensz 0407 055 447, Denise Bordignon 0477 001 639
Inverloch: Philippa Warby. 0408 331 340, Julie de Bondt. 0407 535 032

St. Vincent de Paul
The St. Joseph’s Conference of St. Vincent de Paul is asking for your prayers and financial assistance to-wards our winter appeal.  As you can appreciate, many people in our commu-nity are struggling to keep afloat.  Our members visit in pairs three times a week and the need is great.  Next weekend, 24th and 25th August, we will hold a special collection.  We realize that you have just renewed your parish pledges, but this is our annual Winter Appeal.  Thankyou in anticipation for your constant support.
Mary Morrissey
President, SVDP, Wonthaggi

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