Principal's Page

Dear Parents and Friends,

In the Church’s calendar, the feast of Christ the King is always held on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, one week before the beginning of Advent. We celebrate this feast day, and the conclusion of the Church's liturgical year, on Sunday 24 November. This solemnity calls us to remember that Christ is our spiritual King and Ruler who rules by truth and love. We declare our loyalty to him by the quality of our Christian commitment, expressed in our serving of others with forgiving love, and by our solidarity with the poor. 

Advent, therefore, begins on Sunday 1 December. This is a beautiful season, filled with personal reflection, anticipation, preparation and joy. In my opinion, it is a season that is often too readily overshadowed by (commercial) Christmas. I ask that we all give Advent its respected time and help our students to also appreciate its beautiful significance. For this reason, I ask that Christmas cards, candy canes etc be shared in our final week of the school year, from Monday 16 December. 

2025 Kindergarten Orientation Day

What a special day Kindergarten Orientation is! We had a full cohort arrive on Thursday and they left mum, dad and grandparents and walked straight into the Kindergarten classrooms like pros! The success of the several playgroup sessions in supporting students and families to familiarise themselves with SJB is pivotal to the success of Kindergarten Orientation.

On behalf of our entire school community, Father Patrick and I welcome every student and family to St Joseph's. We appreciate that parents chose us to nurture and educate their child and willingly accept the responsibility that this entails.

We are so grateful to the up and coming Buddies (current Year 4 students) who performed our School Song under the music direction of Mr Aguilera, to bring the Orientation to a close. 

The Good News....

Thank you so very much to the parents who were able to attend the Spring Fair planning meeting last Wednesday night, or email their willingness to support the planning for our 2025 Spring Fair.  As a result, we are able to go ahead with the Fair!! Please read the P&F section of future newsletters to keep updated on the progress of the planning and how you could support this wonderful event that our students absolutely love.

Our Spring Fair in 2022 raised an incredible $38 000 which contributed to the purchase and installation of our shade sail on the synthetic grass. The shade sail has already provided much needed shade for our Grandparents and Great People Day as well as daily play and sport lessons.     

Christmas Art Story

It is my great privilege to showcase in this newsletter and 2024 remaining newsletters, the artworks designed by some of our Years 5 and 6 students as part of the Christmas Story Art Competition. These artistic reflections of the Christmas Story and accompanying written reflections are a credit to the students, staff and our Creative Arts teacher, Mrs Mel Brooks. 

Journey to Bethlehem, Curtis V

Year Five

My artwork is inspired by the scripture passage ‘Journey to Bethlehem’ (Luke 2:3-5). The words in this passage made me reflect upon the struggle, stress and worry Mary and Joseph went through during this unexpected time. I think that Mary stood strong in the darkness and pushed through. In times of my own stress that I’m going through I go and talk to my caring mother and I know that, just like Mary, my mother is a strength for me. Even though Mary didn’t know what the future may hold, she still put all her care and effort into guiding and protecting her child. I know that in the hard times she was a brave mother. 

I created my artwork by sketching with lead pencil. I chose to keep everything black, grey and white. Black representing the fear, mystery and power that Mary has throughout her journey, grey representing strength of character and maturity and white representing hope, light, goodness and her purity in God. Techniques that I have used are shading and blending to create smooth transitions from light to dark.

The Holy Family, Abigail T

Year Six

I took inspiration from the scripture passage ‘The Birth of Christ’ (Matthew 1:18-25) for my artwork. It depicts the Holy Family bonding together on a beautiful dark starry night, enjoying the birth of their son - our Saviour. Mary and Joseph are looking down in awe at the arrival of the most precious gift, just like my mum and dad would have looked down in the same way at me when I was born. I am an only child like Jesus and share an unbreakable bond with my family, just like the Holy Family. I too am blessed to have a loving family watching over me and protecting me.

I used watercolours for my artwork in order to create warmth and gentleness. I blended watercolour pencils on top of the paint to create texture and shade. I added gold flakes around Jesus to represent him being the chosen one and to show the importance of this moment. I decided to use blue for Mary to show the trust, loyalty and faith she had in God. 

Class Splits 2025

A reminder that special requests for 2025 class splits are due via email to school office tomorrow, Friday 22 November. Please note that request for specific teachers are not appropriate. 

School Assembly

Our next school assembly will be held tomorrow, Friday 22 November at 2pm. Everyone is welcome.

Upcoming Assemblies for 2024

• Friday 6 December - Week 8 Assembly @ 2pm
• Friday 13 December - End of Year Assembly (including End of Term Awards) @2pm

Kaylene Duffin

Principal, 

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Principal Awards

Our Principal awards are presented to students fortnightly on the even week.  

The following students received their Principal Awards tomorrow, Friday 22 November 2024.  The last Principal Awards for 2024 will be presented on Friday 6 December.  

How does my child receive a Principal's Award?

Class teachers nominate students for Blue Merit Awards which are presented at the weekly assembly.  When five Blue Merit Awards have been received, students send them to the school office to be recorded and are then eligible for a Principal’s Award. When students attain their 4th Principal Award, they are awarded a Principal’s Medallion at an assembly. End of Term awards can be included as part of the 5 awards.  Please see the "School Handbook" for a full list of eligible awards.

Acknowledgement to Country

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