From the Principal

Catholic Schools Week

We celebrated Middle Schools Day last week as part of Catholic Schools Week. Thank you to Mr Lilley and staff for running a very successful day and making our prospective Year 7 2026 students feel welcome and supported. Our new students must have a sense of belonging as they commence a new school year in a new school. As I explained to the Year 6 students on the day, in many years past, before we started Middle Schools Day, we had some very anxious students walking in on the first day of High School. Now they walk in confident that they know some of the teachers and other students, and thus are much more comfortable and relaxed. 

This year, we trialled splitting Year 5 and Year 6 Middle Schools Days due to the number of students wishing to participate in the events. The Middle Schools Day for Year 5 will be held on Wednesday, 3 September. The Year 6 students enrolling in 2026 will return in Term 4 for Orientation.

DioSounds

I had the absolute pleasure of attending DioSounds last Thursday night at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle. All of the diocesan secondary colleges have a 10-minute performance slot to showcase the musical talents of their students. Huge congratulations to our music teachers, Claire Dent, Bronwen Smith, and Ellie Hicks, for preparing our students who did our college proud. Thanks also to Laura Pegrum and James Douglass, who were their support crew. An upbeat collection of 90's hits opened the second act, in red and black costumes with a hint of glitter. The students' performances were lively and perfectly on pitch. I was so proud of them all.

Catholic Schools Awards Night

Last Friday night, I attended the HSC Dux Awards Ceremony at NEX. Ashton Blake received an award for his 95+ ATAR in the 2025 HSC. It was lovely to catch up with Ashton and his parents and find out what he is doing after leaving St Joseph’s last year. Ashton is in his first year of medicine at the University of Newcastle, along with Emily Ward and Charlise Anderson. 

One of the guest speakers on the night was Meg Southcombe who is another ex-student from St Joseph’s. Meg spoke about her education at our school and the importance of the relationships and connections she made with both students and staff that helped her become the person she is today. It was very reassuring to sit back and listen to both students, who are both on a successful and rewarding career path.

Veronica Rolfe

Principal