Dear Parents, Caregivers and Families,

It is always a pleasure of mine to do a yard duty and witness our children playing at lunch times. The joy, fun and community spirit is always on show at St Joseph’s. Our children love being here. With the completion of Week 3, we move closer to the end of the 2025 school year. 

I have outlined below, the Schedule for the last weeks of the 2025 school year, and the first week of the 2026 school year.

Please note the final day of the Year for all students, being Wednesday the 17^th December 2025.

Please contact the school if you have any questions regarding this schedule, being aware that more information regarding certain events will be published as they get closer.

At today’s assembly, I spoke to the students about Good Manners. I explained how Please and Thank You are magic words, and how using these words help other people feel important and appreciated.  

The benefits of effective Parent-Teacher Communication

‘A 2020 study’ found ‘that teachers feel parents often fail to keep them informed about major changes happening at home that could affect their students’. ‘The outcomes’ of this ‘research determines that teachers need to be updated on major events in a child’s life, such as divorce, major illness or accidents and death in the family’. ‘A teacher without any knowledge of what is going on at home will lack context as to the true cause and may put it down to general behavioural problems’.

The researcher advises that a teacher who has context from parents, can be more understanding towards students who are struggling or acting out and is able to effectively work on addressing the problems correctly’.

‘Teachers and parents have equally important, although different, roles in a child’s overall development, and when working together can give the child the best possible education and upbringing’.

‘The study outlined a number of helpful and proactive ways’ to improve communication in order to benefit our children.

1. Over-communicate - Information is King. The more you can share with your teachers the better equipped they will be to help your children.
2. Contact details - Make sure teachers are able to contact you via the school communications methods (email, phone, Compass Connect).
3. Be proactive - Reach out to the teacher if you have a concern about your child rather than waiting for the teacher/school to contact you.

Sourced from: https://www.cos.net.au/e_catalogues/Innovate-for-Teachers/10/#zoom=z accessed 5/11/2024

The School Administering Medication to Students

There will be occasions when the administration of medication during school hours is necessary to support students during the course of the school day and during extra-curricular school activities. While the school has a strict set of responsibilities regarding this, parents and carers also have responsibilities to abide by when asking the school to administer medication to your children.

• Parents/carers should make every effort to administer medication to students in the home;
• Ensure medical documentation reflecting dosage is provided to the school;
• Obtain, complete and return the relevant school medication forms;
• Provide the medication in the original labelled container to the nominated staff member(s);
• Ensure the medication is not out of date and has an original pharmacy label with the student’s name, dosage and time to be taken;
• Provide written instructions from a medical practitioner for medication that is not obtained on prescription, or medication that is to be self-administered by the student, indicating: Name of student; Condition for which the medication is required; and Guidelines for administration.

For more information, please see the ‘Administering Medication Policy’ on the School website under Policies.

Year 5 Camp

This week our Year 5 students went on camp for two days. I often talk about the staff of St Joseph’s and how special they are. I thank all our staff who attended the camp and every Year 5 student for their maturity, fun, resilience and teamwork.

Upcoming Events

 As always, I thank you for your support in regards to your child’s ongoing learning.

Guy Campbell
Driving Excellence in the Macleay