From the Principal

This week, four student leaders accompanied me to the Red Door Community Kitchen at the Muswellbrook Uniting Hall to help serve meals. Every Thursday, they provide a free hot meal for up to 100 people in Muswellbrook. People from all walks of life attend, some for financial reasons, some are lonely and just want a chat over a hot meal, some are not able to cook a hot meal for themselves; people of all ages from young mothers with children, to the elderly access this wonderful place. Thank you to Mrs Carr and Mrs Eveleigh who organise these events each week, taking a different group of student leaders each time. This is a great opportunity to live out our Vision Statement to be a Christ-centred inclusive community, grounded in service and integrity, nurturing the potential in all.

It has been an exceptionally busy term. As I reflect on the past eleven weeks, I have looked over our school calendar to see just how busy we have all been. It struck me that the students at St Joseph’s are very fortunate to have such dedicated staff. I suggested to the students at last week's assembly that they need to thank their teachers for all of the work that they do which is above and beyond what they are paid to do. A few examples of the wonderful work our teachers are doing includes:

1. Mrs Tilse and the staff for the excellent Sports Carnivals we participate in each term, and all the other sports competitions both in and out of school that they organise.
2. Mrs Carr and Mrs Eveleigh for organising the Red Door visits and other community day events working with the Student Representative Council.
3. Mrs Dent and the Musical Team for their continued efforts towards the School Musical each week; such a huge commitment.
4. Ms Bright, Ms Allott and the Ag team for their continued work and success at the numerous shows with our cattle and alpacas.
5. Mrs Chapple for organising the Japan excursion; as they set off this week there was much excitement; it was a huge logistic undertaking for Mrs Chapple.
6. Mrs Burgess for running the after school Timber Club.
7. Mrs Gallagher and the Learning Hub Team for their continued academic support of students.

There are so many staff to be grateful for as they continue to support all of our students to reach their potential.

The attendance raffle was drawn at the school assembly last week. This covered attendance from 30 January to 4 April, about 40 days of school,  Every student with a 95% attendance rate had a ticket in the raffle. Some statistics generated from Compass indicated the attendance rate for the student body:

1. 100% attendance = 62 students – perfection – zero days absent
2. 99% attendance = 95 students – excellent – 1 day absent
3. 97% attendance = 173 students – good – 2 days absent
4. 95% attendance = 254 students – slight concern – 3 days absent
5. 90% attendance = 432 students – concerned – 4 days absent
6. 85% attendance = 543 students – very concerned – 6 days absent

The winner of the Term 1 raffle was Archie Mac. We will conduct another raffle each term and then a Pastoral Class reward for the Pastoral Class with the overall best attendance rate for the year at the end of Term 4.

I would like to wish all our students and staff a restful break. lease return refreshed and eager to learn in Term 2.

Veronica Rolfe

Principal