Dear Parents and Carers,
Mid-year Reception Class
In our Catholic school system, children who turn 5 years old between the months of May and October are eligible to start school in term 3 for our mid-year intake. Children who turn five from November 1 onwards commence Reception at the beginning of the following year. Students who start in Term 3 will spend 18 months in Reception before progressing to Year 1. The benefit of being able to start mid-year provides families with an opportunity to be flexible and responsive to what is best for their child.
In the past several years our school has continued to offer eligible families the option of starting their child in our mid-year intake. Generally these students have topped up our current Reception classes, however this year we are excited to announce we will be establishing a new separate Reception class. This will mean that our school will have 3 Reception classes this year. This is exciting news as we continue to grow and build our enrolment base for the future development of the school.
The mid-year Reception children will transition into the school as one class and will eventually meet and work with the children who will join our school at the beginning of 2022 through our little STAR extended transition.
As a school, we can work closely with families to offer a Transition program to support the child as they begin school and become familiar with our Reception teachers, specialist teachers and the learning environment. The children will be able to engage with their learning within a small class size environment and overall school setting. This will provide them with opportunities to play and work with others, investigate and explore through inquiry opportunities, develop their natural curiosity and build their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
School Uniform
As we enter the winter months, all students need to be wearing the correct winter uniform. Our school uniform is an important statement about our school and students wear the formal uniform and the sports uniform with pride and a great sense of belonging to a wonderful school community.
All students have the opportunity to wear their active wear sports uniform on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays which provides our students with a good balance of both active and formal.
I strongly encourage all parents to make sure their child(ren) are wearing the uniform correctly and that all items are purchased from our uniform shop or from the P & F second hand uniform sale events which are held each term.
A full comprehensive list of the school uniform is available on our website http://stjotran.catholic.edu.au/community/information-for-parents/uniform-shop If you scroll down and click on the link “School Uniform Collection Details” you will see the full list with pictures of the items. Recently we have upgraded some uniform items to include our wonderful logo. These include the sports shorts and the school hat. Very soon you will be able to purchase the new version of our tracksuit pants which will also include the school logo together with new sports socks in the school colours.
All these items will be available soon from our supplier, JS Sports at 10 Newton Road, Campbelltown. We hope to continue to make improvements, so watch this space. Thank you for your support in these matters.
SkoolBag App
The SkoolBag app for our school is another way we communicate with families. One of the important features is the ability to provide you with ‘push notifications’ to your device, instantly informing you about whole school events, activities or any general information. This is very helpful as it keeps you informed and reminds you about the things your child maybe involved in throughout their daily life at St Joseph’s.
If you do not have our SkoolBag app it can be downloaded from the Apple store or Google play store. Please see instructions provided on our website http://www.stjotran.catholic.edu.au/contact-us/stay-connected I would strongly encourage all families to access this app to assist with communicating between school and home. If you are experiencing any issues please contact SkoolBag support@skoolbag.com.au or it might be helpful to reload the app.
Reminder:
Friday 11 June 2021 is a Pupil Free Day and the school will be closed. Families will need to make arrangements for their child on this day. Don’t forget that Monday 14 June 2021 is a public holiday, making this a 4-day break for our students.
Kind regards
Adrian Grbin
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