Principals' Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 8. It is hard to believe that there are just three more weeks of school before the end of term holiday break! Next Tuesday, the Transition Program begins for the 2023 Kindergarten class. We look forward to welcoming our new students and their families to St Joseph's as they prepare for their official start to 'big school' next year.

Last Tuesday, Mrs Clare Healy, who is the principal of O'Connor Catholic College in Armidale, visited St Joseph's along with five O'Connor staff members. They were keen to learn about our co-teaching framework and see first hand how our contemporary learning spaces support effective pedagogical practices from Kindergarten to Year 6. On behalf of her staff, Mrs Healy thanked us for the opportunity to tour our beautiful school and support their professional learning agenda. 

Happy Father's Day

Did you know that the first Father's Day was celebrated 112 years ago?  Father's Day, as we know it, started in 1910 as a result of the efforts of a young American girl who wanted to recognise fathers, inspired by her own father who was a single Dad with six children. Since then Father's Day is celebrated in many countries but not all on the first Sunday in September as it is here in Australia. 

Father's Day is a celebration of fatherhood; a time for us to honour, celebrate and to be thankful for all of the men, father figures and male role models in our lives. We recognise the very important role you have in the lives of children, so thank you to all of the dads and father figures in our school community. We hope you all enjoyed a very happy Father's Day yesterday and were able to celebrate with the special people in your lives.  

Grandparents Day & Book Week Parade

Thank you to all of the wonderful Grandparents who attended our Book Week Parade on Friday the 25th August. What an absolute cracker of a day that we were blessed with to celebrate and acknowledge the significant gift that grandparents play in our lives. The warm sunshine provided the perfect opportunity for a shared morning tea for the many families in attendance and time to browse through the Book Fair display organised by Mrs Holley. It was energising and exciting for all to have our school community back celebrating together!

NAPLAN

St Joseph's School has a very strong learning agenda focusing on improving student outcomes and wellbeing which is clearly stated in our Annual Improvement Plan.  Over the past few years there has been a consistent approach to research informed, contemporary pedagogy across K-6 which is having a direct impact on student achievement. This improvement can be identified through our internal reading data via PM Benchmarking which is monitored very closely by the staff and leadership team. Improvement is also measured through external assessments and we are very pleased with our recent NAPLAN results for Years 3 and 5, particularly in Reading and Spelling.

Please see the report outlining our achievements in the 'Learning Zone' section of this newsletter. Congratulations to the staff for their dedication to our students and thank you to you, their parents and carers for supporting the students in their learning. 

Teacher Aide Appreciation Week

Last week, we enjoyed a special morning tea to celebrate Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week and say a big thank you to our wonderful Education Assistants; Kim W, Mel, Sumudu, Laura, Amy, Chloe and Kim T.  We are extremely blessed at St Joseph's to have such an amazing team of dedicated adults working in our learning spaces each day. 

Celebrating teacher aides making a difference in schools, everyday!

May God bless you and your family,

Maree Holland & Greg O'Toole

Co-Principals

St Joseph's School - a Faith Filled Community Where Learning Matters.