Principal's Page

Dear Parents and Friends,

By far, the most rewarding aspect of my role as Principal at St Joseph's is my daily interactions with students. Many interactions are spontaneous - students either approaching me whilst I am on duty, during my playground walk arounds or during their visits to the office. Other's may be planned. Whatever the purpose of the interactions, during them I intentionally try and 'see' them for the first time. I am currently reading an inspiring book, How To Know A Person: The Art Of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks. The book asserts that intentionality, curiosity, and a dedication to compassionate listening are necessary for truly 'seeing' others. 

Listening to others with deep curiosity and compassion rather than listening to others whilst we are waiting for our turn to speak sounds easy, however I believe this is an art. I know how fortunate I am to experience connection through daily interactions with our students and I hope that they feel a sense of truly being heard.

Holy Communion

Congratulations to our Year 3 students who recently received the Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time with two masses held last Sunday, 8.30am and 5.30pm. We will celebrate Holy Communion with more Year 3 students again on Sunday 22 September at the 8.30am and 5.30pm masses. Father Patrick, Mrs Smith and Miss O’Donoghue have done a wonderful job in preparing our candidates and we are very grateful for their ministry.

Meet Mrs Welch! 

• Mrs Welch works four days as a School Support Officer with a focus on supporting the wellbeing of our students 
• Mrs Welch first came to St Joseph’s as part of the Chaplain Program and has stayed on with us after the Program’s end
• Mrs Welch is skilled in listening to students and connecting with them. She is currently supporting many students in varied capacities:
• facilitating small group friendship groups
• developing whole class respectful relationship units of work and co-teaching these with class teachers
• Supporting students individually with a variety of focus’ including emotional regulation, social and emotional learning, boosting self-esteem and social skills
• Mrs Welch is a passionate and committed educator who is making a difference to our students’ wellbeing. We are blessed to have her as a member of staff this year.

Annual Improvement Plan Update 

Goal: Students will achieve excellent growth in Mathematics as a result of shared curriculum expectations and collaborative processes ensuring alignment of curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment.

• Mrs Walls, Mrs Smith and Mrs Duffin attended the Diocesan Mathematics Curriculum Implementation Day last week. The day focussed on programming using the backward design model. This professional learning complemented our AIP goal in that it focused on the importance of beginning with assessment so that teachers can design learning at the point of need for students. The day was another opportunity to further deepen our understanding of the revised NSW Mathematics Syllabus. 
• Mrs Walls, Mrs Grose and Mrs Duffin met with Principal of St Michael’s, Thirroul, Mr James Bryce, to share recent learning that he has undertaken with his leadership team on assessment in Mathematics. At this meeting we discussed the importance of a developmental continuum of cognitive depth and understanding in relation to Mathematics and in particular developing a shared understanding of what learning would look like aligned to the Common Grade Scale (ie Extensive, Thorough, Sound, Basic, Elementary). This will be the focus of our Staff Development Day tomorrow.

Uniform Breaches

I am very grateful to parents for ensuring students arrive at school in the correct school uniform and appreciate that every so often students may arrive without a hat, with the wrong socks or shoes - I totally understand! 

In saying that, I am sure our staff and parents agree that it is important to ensure our high expectations for uniform are upheld. To support this, classroom teachers will be giving Out Of Uniform slips to students who are frequently presenting with uniform breaches. These are not ‘one off’ situations. Students will be given three verbal reminders before the slip will be sent home as a reminder. Thank you for your support with this. 

School Captain's Report

Hi! We are back again and this week our school has been extremely focused on learning. This is what the students have been up to… In Kindergarten they have been learning about informative texts and have written compound sentences about Emus' appearances!  Year 1 have been introduced to flexible seating areas which has given them the opportunity to choose which learning style is the best for them.  Year 2 have been enjoying games in maths including one called Cat, Mouse and Cheese.

Wow! So much learning and action in Early Stage 1 and Stage 1.

In Year 3, it was a busy few weeks including an excursion to the Science Centre which was a lot of fun and their first Holy Communion which made them feel closer to Jesus and the Catholic Church. Year 4 has started their Cry of the Earth project and welcomed Mr Swinnerton into their classroom to talk about how to have a more sustainable  environment. 

Whoa!! Stage 2 has worked really hard to be the best they can be in the school environment.

In Year 5, they have been perfecting pleasant poetry writing for the Poem Forest competition and have been concentrating on  the art of mindful drawing. Last but not least, Year 6 have been working on a really fun Maths task where they planned a trip to Sydney in order to learn everything about duration of time, timetables, 24 hour time and time in real life situations. Oh and we really hope that we can convince our parents to take us on the day trip to Sydney!

Another week filled with fun and learning. Can’t wait for the rest of this term to come.

Sophia M

Year 6

Recent Staff Professional Learning

Research tells us that the quality of the teacher is the greatest in-school influence on student achievement. Therefore high quality professional learning for teachers must be a priority to ensure improved teacher practice that leads to improved student learning growth. Professional learning undertaken by our staff over the past fortnight includes:

2 September 2024 - Learning in Leadership Course 

Mr Aguilera

4 September  2024 - Mathematics Curriculum Implementation Day

Mrs Smith, Mrs Walls, Mrs Duffin

5 September 2024 - Another Cup of Life, Spirituality day for School Support officers

Mrs Woods, Mrs Laxten, Mrs Vincent

10 September 2024 - Instructional Coach Network Day

Mrs Grose

Pupil Free Day - Tomorrow - Friday 13 September

Friday 13 September

Staff Development Day (Pupil Free Day)

School Assembly - 27 September 2024

Our final whole school assembly for Term 3 will be held on Friday 27 September at 2pm. Everyone is welcome.

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 at today's assembly.

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.

End of Term Awards

The following student will be presented their End of Term 3 Achievement Awards on Friday 27 September 2024 (Term 3 Week 10). Parents of students receiving End of Term Awards are welcome to join the assembly.

Academic Achievement Awards

Habits of Mind Awards

Mary of the Cross 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.