ST Joseph’s Primary is a Catholic school with a rich tradition in Kerang having opened its doors in 1912.
Along the way, St Joseph’s has continued to evolve and is now a school, not only with a great connection to the local community, but also with a bright, contemporary appearance within its traditional shell.
Principal Chris Mitchell said families that have chosen St Joseph’s as the school for their children often talk about the “feel” of the place.
“That feeling relates to many things – our warm welcome and hospitality, our focus on ensuring learning for all and the respectful expectations around behaviour,” he said.
“We warmly welcome families – new and old – to St Joseph’s.
“The best way to choose a school is to see it in action on a normal day, so book a tour and check out our great classrooms and the excellent facilities we have built over time.
“Our enrolments are always open to prospective families and we encourage you to make sure you have toured our school before making that important choice for your child.”
Mr Mitchell said a key component of how Foundation students were supported was through the buddy program.
Every Foundation student is connected to one or two Grade 5/6 students.
“This program has proven to be of great value to both those students in their first year of school and our Grade 5/6 students, as both groups tackle the challenge and excitement of transitioning from one educational setting to another,” Mr Mitchell said.
He said St Joseph’s was a school that took “very seriously” the staff motto of ‘ensuring learning for all’.
“We strive to live up to this motto by providing our students with what they need, when they need it, as a child grows and improves as a learner,” Mr Mitchell said.
“We do this through the structure of a professional learning community. To be a professional learning community school is not the purchasing of a program or the completion of a course, it is an ongoing, continuous, never-ending process that challenges educators to work collaboratively in cycles of learning and action research to achieve better outcomes for their students.”
Mr Mitchell said the school’s respectful expectations around behaviour came from being a “positive behaviour school”.
“At St Joseph’s, we understand that learning and behaviour are mutually supportive,” he said.
“Appropriate behaviours create environments in which learning can most productively occur. The expectations of behaviour are communicated through the context of respect for self, others and the environment.
“We also take the wellbeing of our students very seriously, that is why we employ a school counsellor to provide support to our students in an ongoing way.
“The health and happiness of students contributes greatly to their ability to learn and interact with our students successfully.”
If you have a child starting school in 2024, make contact for a school tour or future enrolment.
Call 5452 1426 or email principal@sjkerang.catholic.edu.au
