Principal's Report

Congratulations to our first set of students who received Attendance Affirmation Certificates at the Whole School Assembly today. 30 children received a Gold Certificate and a ‘Furry Cow’ voucher for 100% attendance in Term One 2023. A further 53 children received Silver certificates for 95% and above attendance and 17 children received Bronze certificates for attending 90% and above. Out of 141 students at the school, this level of positive attendance is to be highly commended and continually encouraged. All of our statistics will reset after the holidays and every student will be eligible to receive Affirmation certificates for their individual Term Two attendance. Well done everyone - Attendance Matters and we can do great things together with our learning and well-being when we attend school regularly!

As a school committed to improving academic outcomes and positive well-being for our students, we are endeavouring to adapt the timings of our lunch breaks to more readily suit the play and eating needs of our young people. Consequently, from Term Two our children will have an extended First Break from 11:10 am to 12:00 pm with PLAY first until 11:40 am and then sit to EAT until 12 noon. This adaption pushes the Second Break later in the day through to 2:00 pm with a return to learning at 2:30 pm. The notion of PLAY first and EAT second will hopefully have a positive impact on children’s eating habits so that they are not rushing their food or not eating their food at all in readiness to PLAY. This adaptation to break times will begin from Wednesday 26 April.

There is no real impact on parents other than the Lunch Orders from Smeatons on Tuesdays and Fridays. 

Note from Term 2 that all written Lunch Orders must be at the office no later than 9:30 am. All ONLINE Lunch Orders must be lodged no later than 10:00 am, please.

Thank you to Mrs McCarthy and our team of skilful helpful adults for their hard work in delivering a calm and successful NAPLAN assessment period. As you can imagine the hoops that our adults need to jump through to ensure NAPLAN is delivered confidentially and equitably are quite complex and have a hard legislative edge to them to ensure everyone is assessed fairly. Our staff had a strong focus on students feeling calm and supported while our able children tested themselves at the ‘next level’ of national literacy and numeracy benchmarks. Stay tuned for some tales of success later in the year.

Our showcase of past student success has taken a pause this week as I am not being inundated with stories! Please spread the word amongst your families and friends about our great St Joseph's graduates. While it is no surprise that our graduates are humble people, the stories of success provide me and the staff with an opportunity to build aspirational attitudes with our current kids. Whether it be in Business, Sport, Culture, or the Arts, no matter what, we want to hear your stories of success, please!

Email - gmcmanus@arm.catholic.edu.au

Congratulations to our Mini-Vinnies leadership group who were commissioned at Assembly today. This group of young people have a dedicated focus on social justice and outreach to the needy. Their active work supported by Mrs Gannon provides much-needed materials and funds for needy families in Glen Innes. Check out the pictures in the News section.

Please be encouraged to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn Service and/or March in Glen Innes in 2023. Details for the students are shared in this newsletter and via the COMPASS App. As a day of national significance and remembrance of all that our great forefathers and mothers have given to this great country, please join many Glen Innes families at these local services.

While this is the last newsletter for Term One, it is certainly not the end of the term for news and events. Stay tuned on COMPASS and on Facebook for news about Stations of the Cross (Monday); Chrism Mass for Stage 3 (Tuesday) and the big event on Thursday! - Easter Hat Parade and Egg Raffle (from 11.30). Please feel very welcome to bring a picnic rug and sit on the lawn for lunch and view the incredible parade. Also, the final set of tickets will be on sale ($1) to go in the draw for one of at least 30 separate prizes! Thank you so much to all of those families and parishioners who donated to this massive prize pool. All of our profits go to Caritas as a part of our Lenten contribution.

Finally, please enjoy the season of new life that comes with Easter from next Sunday. As we enter the final few days of Lent for 2023, I trust that the time spent in prayer, fasting and almsgiving has brought a period of personal growth and a closer relationship with our God. If you are traveling, please take care and note that due to the Staff Retreat Day (April 24) and ANZAC Day (April 25), the first day of school for Term Two begins at 9 am sharp on Wednesday, April 26.

Until next time.

May God go with you.

Geoff McManus

Principal