History:
St Joseph’s School, Crib Point, first opened in 1927. Its existence is largely due to the efforts of Father Adrian Martin who was the Navy Chaplain at HMAS Cerberus at the time. He presented the case for a Catholic school in Crib Point to Archbishop Mannix, who invited the Sisters of St Joseph to staff the proposed new school. The Sisters continued to have a presence at the school until 1975, after which time it was staffed by lay teachers.
The original school building has all the character and charm of its era and after a refurbishment project it is still used today as the administration wing. A new classroom wing was added in 1995 ensuring that today’s classrooms are modern, bright and well designed. The library/technology facility was added in 2000.
Description:
St Joseph’s School is situated on the Mornington Peninsula and belongs to the Parish of Western Port. Enrolments are drawn from Crib Point, Bittern, Somers, Balnarring, Shoreham, Point Leo and the HMAS Cerberus community. St Joseph’s is the closest school to HMAS Cerberus Naval Base and approximately 30–40 % of our enrolment comes from Defence Force families.
The school is set on 2.5 hectares of prime land. The spacious grounds include a sports oval, outdoor learning areas, extensive adventure playgrounds and many shaded areas in a beautiful bush setting. Our school is adjacent to the Crib Point swimming pool, tennis courts and football oval and we are fortunate to have ready access to these facilities.
Features:
• The Christian ethos of the school permeates all we do.
• The Religious Education program aims to support parents in fostering their children’s faith development.
• We are committed to education of the whole child. Concern for student wellbeing is a major focus at all times.
• The school is well resourced with modern classrooms and a fully equipped library/technology room.
• There is an extensive specialist program including Performing and Visual Arts, Music, Science, Information Technology, Physical Education, Indonesian and Electives.
• Literacy support is available with special programs offered at every year level.
• The school is aware of and programs for different educational needs, e.g. single-sex classes and reduced class sizes for some subjects.
• A strong sporting program ensures students have many opportunities to participate in swimming, athletics, cross-country and the full range of inter-school sports offered within the local area.
• Our ‘You Can Do It’ program helps students develop the lifelong skills of social and emotional resilience.
• The Compass program is offered to Year 5/6 students who wish to take on this junior version of the Duke of Edinburgh award.
• Our Prep/Year 6 buddy program provides great support for our youngest students and there are many leadership opportunities for seniors.