Principal's Page

Dear Parents and Friends,

Last Friday, we welcomed our Principals and Assistant Principals across all 30 of our Diocesan schools as we hosted the Principal & Assistant Principal Network Day.  These days occur each term and we visit a different school each time. It is a wonderful opportunity to visit and learn from other schools. 

During the day, the visitors are guided on a tour of the school. Miguel and I escorted our colleagues on the tour and were both so very proud to showcase our school. The site itself looked immaculate and there were many comments from our colleagues regarding the breakout spaces, the classrooms, play areas and the view from Year 6! However, the highlight for our colleagues was observing student learning in action and the positive interactions between teachers and students. It was a privilege sharing the quality learning that occurs daily at SJB.

Mr Aguilera, Miss Boyd-Skinner and a team of Year 6 students led the group in prayer including a beautiful rendition of 10 000 Reasons. 

How To Read My Child’s Report

Student’s Semester One Academic Reports will be made available to parents on Thursday 25 June 2026. These reports provide a summary of each student's achievement and progress across the learning areas taught during the first semester. Achievement grades are based on the NSW Common Grade Scale and reflect the student's demonstrated knowledge, understanding and skills against the outcomes taught and assessed during the reporting period. The report also includes information about the student's effort and learning behaviours.

To support parents in reading their child’s report, we will be presenting an information session on Tuesday 23 June in the Hall at 9am.

Principal Appraisal

My Principal Appraisal will take place on Thursday 18 June 2026. Thank you to those parents who have already completed the Parent Survey and those who have agreed to participate in a 5-10 minute phone conversation with a member of the panel on the day. If any other parent is willing and able to assist with this aspect of the appraisal process, I would be grateful if you could please contact the school office.

2026 Annual Improvement Plan 

Goal: Students will be challenged to maximise their learning growth in Writing and clearly articulate their learning goals, know their next steps, and monitor their progress.

Progress Update

Progress Update:

• All students have a Personal Writing Goal that has been developed by their teacher through analysis of their writing and identification of their next steps for learning. We encourage you to ask your child to share their Personal Writing Goal with you and discuss how they are working towards achieving it.

• Last week’s Staff Meeting focussed on moderating students writing samples within grade and stage teams to inform the writing of Student Academic Reports.

  Writing samples were moderated against the NESA Common Grade Scale which is the framework used to describe student achievement in relation to syllabus outcomes. It provides a consistent way for teachers to make judgements about student learning and report achievement across schools in New South Wales.

   

• This week's Staff Meeting focussed on the implementation of Peer Observation and Feedback Cycles. This Instructional Strategy supports teachers to learn from eachother through intentional opportunities to reflect on the impact of their teaching on student learning progress. We are blessed at St Joseph's to have such a committed team of teachers, guided by excellent Instructional Coaches, who enthusiastically embrace these profesional learning opportunities. 

• Our fourth Collaborative Planning Cycle and Co-Teaching Cycle has begun over the past fortnight.

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. 

Please find a snapshot of the professional learning our staff will attend over the coming fortnight:

9 June 2026

Collaborative Planning Cycles

Mrs  Page, Mrs Hoile, Miss Boyd-Skinner, Miss Tighe, Miss Muse, Mrs Smith

10 June 2026

Mathematics Quality Assurance

Mrs  Walls

18 June 2026

Collaborative Planning Cycles

Mrs Lantry, Mrs Parker, Mr Barr, Miss Boyd-Skinner, Mrs Turner, Miss Wragge, Mrs Liplyn, Mrs Clarkson.

SJB Merit Award System

The following summarises the school’s current Award System that leads to the accumulation of Principal Awards:

Class Merit Contributions  - per class

• 2 PB4L Awards/fortnight 

• 4 Blue Merit Awards/fortnight (Classroom Focus)

School Awards - End of Term Contributions 

• Academic Achievement Awards

• Mary of Cross MacKillop Awards

• Habits of Mind Awards 

School Events Currently Contributing to Principal Award Recognition 

• Spelling Bee (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

• Stage 3 Public Speaking Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) 

• Diocesan Christmas Story Art Competition Top 3 in Yr 5 and YR 6

• Annual St Francis of Assisi Annual Award

When students have received five awards from any combination of the categories above, they submit them to the school office to be recorded and become eligible to receive a Principal’s Award. Upon receiving their fourth Principal’s Award, students are presented with a Principal’s Medallion at a school assembly.

School Assemblies

Our next whole school assembly will be held tomorrow, Friday 12 June at 2pm.  

End of Term Assembly - Thursday 25 June

Please note, our End of Term Assembly will be held on Thursday in Week 10 (there are 11 weeks in this term).

Kaylene Duffin

Principal

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School

Principal Awards

Our Principal's awards are presented to students fortnightly on the even week.  

The following students will receive their Principal Awards at our whole school assembly tomorrow, Friday 12 June 2026 (Week 8).

How does my child receive a Principal's Award?

When students have received five awards from any combination of the following categories: Blue Merit, End of Term, Spelling Bee (1st , 2nd 3rd), Stage 3 Public Speaking (1st , 2nd 3rd), Stage 3 Diocesan Christmas Art Story (top three in Yr 5 & Yr 6) and St Francis of Assisi, they submit them to the school office to be recorded and become eligible to receive a Principal’s Award at the school assembly. Upon receiving their fourth Principal’s Award, students are presented with a Principal’s Medallion at a school assembly.

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 2 Achievement Awards to students on Thursday 25 June (Term 2 Week 10). Parents of students receiving End of Term Awards are welcome to join the assembly.

Academic Achievement Awards

Habits of Mind Awards

Saint Mary MacKillop Award

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