Principals' Message

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Week 10 and the culmination of another busy and productive term. It has certainly been a term that seems to have gone very quickly indeed, where have the weeks gone? As we have said many times, what an amazing term we have had as a school community with lots of learning, celebrating and fun!

Learning Together - Clarity Workshop

Last week, we hosted the Clarity Suite Professional Learning Workshop which involved presenter Dr Lyn Sharratt from Ontario, Canada, Armidale Catholic Schools personnel and approximately seventy Principals and teachers from across the Armidale Diocese. This Armidale Diocesan initiative revisits the work done with Dr Lyn Sharratt over the past eight years in our system of schools.

It was a rich couple of days and affirming of the great work already taking place here at St Joseph's on our learning agenda. The work placed a huge weight on student voice; in particular, making students assessment-capable, that is, having students being able to articulate their learning through the five learning questions.

The feedback at the conclusion of the Learning Walks and Talks was absolutely amazing and a credit to our staff and students. Of course, everyone was impressed with the beautiful learning spaces, but they also saw the precision in classroom practice and consistency across K-6. They were in absolute awe of the third teacher, the calm learning spaces, the ability of the students to articulate their learning, the differentiation and they could see how all the adults were collaborating together to enhance the learning opportunities for our students.

To say we were proud is an understatement.

Here are a few of the responses from the participants:

"I appreciate the dedicated staff who were obviously providing rich and robust tasks."
"I appreciate the commitment you have all shown to improving the learning outcomes for all students."
"Very proud of one of our schools who are living the 14 Parameters. A powerful story of cultural change and school improvement. Congratulations everyone!"
"I appreciate everyone at St Joey's. What an amazing school. You have showcased CLARITY in every classroom, on the data wall and around the school!"

As Miss George so aptly said, "I wish all the staff had the opportunity to hear the conversations taking place as the visitors were debriefing after the learning walks. They were very impressed and inspired by the learning and teaching taking place at St Joseph's."

Kindergarten Transition Program

In Week 8 we commenced our Kindergarten Transition Program as we warmly welcomed the pre-schoolers and their families to St Joseph’s School. It was great to see how excited they were to be at ‘big’ school. Transition provides an excellent opportunity for the children to become familiar with the school environment, staff and students. It also provides an opportunity for staff to get to know the children before they commence next year. A special thank you to Mrs Lockwood, Miss Bruce and Miss George for coordinating the program and supporting the children in their transition to school. A great start to Kindergarten is an important part of the educational journey. The Kindergarten Transition Program continues tomorrow and then runs into next term with the children attending full days. We look forward to a long and happy association with the Kindergarten class of 2025 and their families.

As Term 3 draws to a close, we would like to thank the St Joseph's School community for another great term of learning. All of us can be very proud of the many achievements and successes that we have enjoyed throughout the term. We wish you all an enjoyable and relaxing school holiday break and look forward to seeing everyone back for the start Term 4 on Tuesday 15th October.

Maree Holland & Greg O'Toole

Co-Principals

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