Principal's Page

Principal Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

On Friday, students will celebrate the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. It is hard to believe but it has been 10 years since she was canonised as a saint by our church. Mary MacKillop is well known as a prolific writer of letters to the Sisters of St Joseph spread throughout many rural communities. In one letter she wrote,

There where you are you will find God. (1874) 

At some point in our lives it is natural to ask, Where is God? 

Mary MacKillop was keenly aware that God was to be found in the seemingly ordinary moments of the day, in the very breath of our living, dwelling within us. She understood that God, the giver of grace, could be found in our joy, growth, struggles, silence and discovery. God, she knew, was especially to be found in life’s difficulties, and in the efforts to rise above them. 

Mary saw each person she cared for as an encounter with the human face of the indwelling God. Through her insights, we grasp that God is there to be found in our communion with those we reach out to. God is intimately at the very heart of all our relationships. 

The prophet Isaiah tells us that, God responds to the question, Where is God? 

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,to be found by those who did not seek me.I said, ‘Here I am, here I am’, to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands all day long ... (Isaiah 65:1-2) 

We do not need to be anywhere else or anything more, only willing to find God in this day, in this place, and in the community of people that is St Joseph’s. We are invited to listen to where God might be trying to break through to us each day in our school. 

We might well ask, Where is God? But how often do we take a moment to hear God saying, ‘Here I am, here I am’ and gently and consciously take the divine hand held out so lovingly to us? 

St Joseph's Cyclic Review

This year, St Joseph’s is undergoing a School Review and Improvement, Cyclic Review. The Cyclic Review is conducted every 5 years and is facilitated by the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong. It is an opportunity for the school to reflect on the yearly strategic plans for school improvement, over the last 5 years, and make recommendations for the next 5-year cycle. 

The Cyclic Review will take place on Thursday 13 August. The staff is looking forward to celebrating all that has been achieved, setting future directions, and receiving feedback and recommendation from the Cyclic Review Panel.

Among the many school improvements since 2017 at St Joseph’s are:

• The transition into a two-stream school with a current enrolment of 400 students
• Completion, in 2018, of the building project:
  • new school office
  • five new classrooms
  • refurbishment of three classrooms
  • covered outdoor learning area
  • additional school entry, and stairway on Hutton Ave
  • the refurbishment of the previous school office as two Kindergarten classrooms,
  • the redevelopment of all school playgrounds, including a new adventure playground.
• Updating of Religious Education storytelling curriculum resources
• A greater focus on the needs of individual students using a whole school Literacy Assessment Plan, data analysis, and professional data conversations among teachers to drive teaching and learning.
• The introduction of the Assessment and Instruction Framework. Students are now using Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, and are able to use these to know how they are going in their learning and how they can improve.
• Introduction of the Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions to track and monitor student achievement.
• Implementation of Letters and Sounds Phonic program in K-2.
• Implementation of the Words Their Way spelling program in Years 3 to 6.
• Implementation of explicit reading comprehension strategies and new teaching activities and strategies.
• Re-development of the school library and a re-stock of books.
• Overhaul of guided reading texts for classroom reading lessons.
• Reshaping of the Mathematics scope and sequence of learning K-6, the introduction of Number Sense, and the updating of Mathematics resources.
• Introduction of annual PAT online assessments in reading and numeracy.
• The development of a professional learning culture and intensive professional learning for teachers in reading, spelling, phonics, and Mathematics.
• New procedures and processes for the induction of new staff.
• Full implementation of the Positive Behaviours for Learning Framework (PB4L).
• Development of the school’s processes for the case management of students with diverse learning needs. This includes a School Case Collaboration Team to meet the needs of students with a disability or learning difficulty, and the employment of a dedicated Diverse Learning Needs teacher.
• The implementation of Early Intervention strategies and procedures for students not meeting expected learning growth. This includes additional support teachers in all grades, an additional teacher in Kindergarten, and the MiniLit and MultiLit programs.
• Processes for the identification of high achieving and gifted students, and further opportunities and support for those students.
• Centralising of parent communication in a new digital school newsletter and Compass.
• Review and updating of school office procedures and management to meet the needs of a two-stream school.
• The introduction of Compass.

I am very grateful to staff for the professional way they have worked towards our school improvement goals. We are blessed to have a dedicated staff, and a collaborative and hard-working leadership team.

Special thanks to our wonderful parents and carers who always support St Joseph's and our work to improve student learning and growth in faith. Significant donations by the P&F have allowed for the purchase of resources relevant to many of the school improvement goals, and a better school for your children.

For all things at St Joseph’s, give thanks!

Jen Charadia

Principal

School Handbook

Principal Awards and Merit Awards

The following students will receive their Principal Awards at our morning assembly on Friday 8 August 2020.  

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Acknowledgment to Country

St Joseph's Bulli acknowledges and pays respect to the Dharawal people past and present, the traditional custodians of the land on which our school is built.