Principals' Message
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to Week 8! As we enter the home straight for another school year we have much to be thankful for at St Joseph's Primary School. We look forward to celebrating our marvellous achievements with our school community in the final weeks of this term.
Lake Burrendong Excursion
Congratulations to our Stage 3 students who recently visited Lake Burrendong Sport and Recreation Camp for their excursion. They had a great time undertaking a variety of activities including the giant slip & slide, kayaking, paintball archery and BMX just to name a few. It was fantastic to hear the glowing praise bestowed on our students from all the instructors regarding their overall engagement and conduct. Special thanks to Miss O’Shea, Mr Paterson and Mrs Lockwood for giving up their personal time to supervise the students for the three days. We know that the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and appreciated the opportunity to visit Lake Burrendong.
Year 5 Leadership Speeches
Next week our Year 5 students will present speeches to our school community outlining their leadership capabilities for St Joseph's in 2024. This is a great opportunity for every child in our school, as they will be delivering their speeches in front of our entire school community as well as teachers, parents and friends.
This event provides a chance for our students to think about what makes a good leader not just in words but through their actions and how they can represent St Joseph's in a dignified manner at all times. We wish our Year 5 students all the best in their leadership aspirations for 2024.
Year 6 Orientation Day
Last Thursday our Year Six students who will be attending McCarthy Catholic College in 2024 had their Orientation Day. The students experienced a typical day in the life of a secondary student at the College. The day included taking part in various lessons, familiarisation with the layout of the school as well as an introduction to the routines of a high school timetable. Thank you to the staff at McCarthy Catholic College for their
coordination of the day's activities.
Year 6 Graduation Mass
The Graduation Mass will be at 9.00am on Friday 8th December. This is a special celebration when we come together as a faith community to acknowledge and celebrate our departing Year 6 students. The Mass will be a wonderful occasion and highlight the many and varied talents and achievements of a truly great group of young men and women as they take another step in their life journey.
Learning Together
Recently, Miss Buckland was asked to present at the Armidale Early Career Teachers' Conference in Tamworth. The topic of the presentation was around Mathematics, in particular the MaST Project and the importance of carefully unpacking a unit of work prior to commencing the teaching, learning and assessment components of the program.
This Thursday Mrs Ryan will be presenting at the Term 4 Armidale Diocesan Principals Meeting in Armidale. Mrs Ryan will be presenting with Mrs Mitchell (Subject Matter Expert - Mathematics) from the Catholic Schools Office. Their presentation is focussed on the Year 1 Number Assessment Project. St Joseph's was lucky to be one of four pilot schools chosen from across the Armidale Diocese to participate in the project.
Congratulations to Mrs Ryan and Miss Buckland for taking up these opportunities to present to our colleagues across the Diocese. This is fantastic acknowledgement and an accolade to the quality teaching and learning taking place here at St Joseph's.
Staffing News
To conclude, it is our great pleasure to congratulate Mrs Dominica Bearman on her appointment to the Principal position at St Joseph's Barraba commencing at the beginning of the 2024 school year. We wish Mrs Bearman all best as she undertakes this significant leadership role within the Armidale Diocese next year.
We have advertised for an Assistant Principal/Religious Education Coordinator for 2024 and hope to have this position filled in the near future.
Have a great week.
Maree Holland & Greg O'Toole
Co-Principals
St Joseph's School - a Faith Filled Community Where Learning Matters.