On Friday, April 4th, at 11:20 am, we will gather as a school community to walk with Jesus through his final hours.

The children from different grades will lead us in the Stations of the Cross. Each grade level has created a prayer space to help deepen the children's understanding of the events of Holy Week and Easter.

Parents are warmly invited to visit the prayer spaces, reflect, and engage in this meaningful time. 

We also encourage you to join us for the Stations of the Cross service, where the children will share and reflect on their ‘Prayer Space/Station.

You are also warmly invited to attend the Stations of the Cross service. 

Mini Vinnies

Here’s Dante receiving his Mini Vinnies badge at the school assembly.

JDB celebrated their Liturgy of the Word

 (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

This Thursday 27th March, JDB (Year 2)  participated in the Liturgy of the Word. JTA (Year 2) joined them for the celebration.

The following is their reflection and prayers:

During this season of Lent we are reminded that it is a time to think about the choices that we make. In today’s parable we have learnt that God will always forgive us, if we are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness.

Lent is a time when we can focus on forgiveness.

As a class we reflected on how we can show God's forgiveness to others?

We can show God’s forgiveness by being more like him and making peace, forgiving others and loving all people.

For example: 

When you do wrong by your friends, you can show you are sorry by shaking hands and trying to be a better friend.

When you do wrong by your family you can show you are sorry by giving them a hug

As a class we have reflected on what actions we could ‘take up’ to make us each a better person and bring us closer to Jesus. 

Prayers of the Faithful:

Loving God, 

Thank you for always loving us and giving us second chances. 

Lord hear us

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Please help us to remember and think about how our actions may hurt others and to say sorry if they have upset someone. 

Lord hear us.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Loving God,

Please help us to forgive each other when our friends are sorry for something they have done.

Lord hear us. 

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Dear God, 

Help us to spend more time with you during this Lenten season. 

Lord hear us. 

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Loving God,

We pray for all those who are sick. We also remember their family and friends and we ask God to give them strength and comfort at this time of need. 

Lord hear us.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Dear God, 

In this Jubilee Year, we pray that we may be signs of hope in our world through all that we do and how we treat one another. Lord hear us.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Wacky Wednesday is wonderful!

Foundation students at St Joachim's are loving the letter 'W'!

More to Sport than Sport!

At St Joachim’s we have noticed many benefits of physical activity for our students. You do not need to be super sporty or heading to represent Australia at the olympics to benefit from physical activity.

• At its essence, being a part of a sports team helps students of all ages to develop friendships and participation encourages respect for diversity.

• Research has shown a strong connection between sports activities and improved memory and cognitive functions of the brain, meaning skills such as coordination, multitasking and situational awareness all enhance academic capabilities.

• The ability to use sport as a tool to develop leadership skills, which can lead to good decision making.

• Maintaining a positive mindset, is a core skill that often supersedes the physical ability to play a sport competitively. 

• Even participation in a light activity such as walking will release endorphins and can help increase blood flow to the brain.

• Staying active can help with supporting a better sleep routine.

• Sports may even help ward off issues like depression and anxiety.

• Ball sports can improve hand-eye and foot-eye coordination promoting better balance.

• Physical activity helps to regulate mood and is a great stress reliever.

Almost all students had a great day on Monday at our Tabloid Sports and then Athletics even though it was a tiring day for them (and the adults)!

Please start collecting washed bottle top lids in a variety of sizes and colours. 

The lids can be from milk containers, laundry detergents, medicine lids... the more shapes, sizes and colour the better!

They can be dropped off at the ART HUB on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. 

Thanks in advance for your help !

Year 2 Reading

During reading groups we focus on a reading strategy. This week we have been focusing on Making Connections. We use our prior knowledge to help increase our understanding of a text and remember what has been done. 

Sports News

Tabloid activities and Annual House Athletics

On Monday, the children participated in 2 hours of fun filled tabloid activities. The school was divided into 13 groups comprising a mix of children from Foundation to Grade 6.The activities were run by the grade 6 school leaders who did a fabulous job. Many thanks to our school leaders for a job well done!

Our Annual House Athletics was as competitive as ever. Well done to all the children for putting in their best efforts. 

This year saw new winners being crowned the CHAMPIONS. Well done to the BLUE TEAM for putting in a great team effort to win the trophy.

Many thanks to the staff and the parents for all your help: supervising, organising teams, place judging, score keeping and to the starters.

A special thank you to Rod for an excellent job done at marking the oval and getting it all ready for the day. Thank you to all the parents and staff who assisted with the pack up at the end of the day. Your help is always appreciated.

Swimming!

Swimming News

On Wednesday a number of students from St Joachim’s participated in the Division Swimming Trials held at the YAWA Swim Centre in Rosebud.

I would like to commend all the students on their fantastic efforts. The girls 12/13 freestyle relay team placed 3rd, the boys/mixed 12/13 freestyle relay team placed 2nd and the boys/mixed medley relay placed first. Onyx finished 2nd in the 12/13 year boy’s butterfly and Mya finished 3rd in the 11 year old girls butterfly 50m race. 

Audiri App

Our school uses the Audiri App to help us communicate more effectively with our Parent community. This type of notification does not usually require a response from parents (as Operoo does).

We ask parents to install our Audiri School App which is easily obtainable from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Once installed, just search for our school name “St Joachim's Primary School”. 

Absence Notifications on Audiri

Absence notifications are sent to the school via the Audiri App. These notifications are seen by the classroom teacher, and the office staff who manage the daily roll. 

Parents and carers have an obligation to notify the school of their child’s absence as soon as possible on the day of absence - preferably before 8:30am.

Other messages such as early pick up, can also sent using the Absence notifications form of the Audiri App.

Here’s a video on how to send absence notifications.

If you're having trouble with your Audiri App on your phone, it may need to be deleted and the latest version installed. Families and staff are telling us that this has fixed any Audiri issues that they have been having.