DEPUTY PRINCIPAL STUDENTS
As we come toward the end of Term 1, I trust all the students have made a positive start to 2024 and are enjoying their time at the college. I wish all the students, staff, and families an enjoyable Easter and school holiday period – and hope that you are eager for an exciting Term 2.
I take this opportunity to farewell Mrs Blythman, who I have worked closely with for the past five years. Under her guidance, the college has continued to flourish into a nurturing environment where students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Her vision and tireless efforts have transformed challenges into opportunities, fostering an atmosphere of innovation and excellence. As she embarks on this new chapter of her life, may it be filled with joy, relaxation, and the fulfillment of all her dreams and aspirations, spending time with her much-loved family.
I congratulate Mr Kluske on his appointment as the next Principal of St Joseph’s College Mildura. Mr Kluske’s commitment and dedication to the college over an extended period has been outstanding. Mr Kluske works tirelessly to ensure each student reaches their unique and full potential. He leads and promotes a culture of faith, community, innovation, respect, hard work, consistency, fairness, and safety. When we talk about the core values of the college – Spirituality, Compassion, Justice, Excellence, Hospitality, Service and Community – there is no person that lives these values more than Mr Kluske, and we look forward to him leading the college into the future.
ANZAC DAY CEREMONIES
The college has again been invited to continue its association with the Mildura RSL by participating in the War Graves Service at the Nichols Point Cemetery on Anzac Day. I thank in advance those students, staff and families that will participate in and attend the service. Any student that is interested in participating in the service can contact Mrs Birnie jbirnie@sjcmda.vic.edu.au or myself hmcclaer@sjcmda.vic.edu.au. All students are welcome, with community service hours available for Year 11 and 12 students.
COLLEGE UNIFORM
A reminder that students are required to wear the College Blazer as the outer garment when they enter and exit the college during Terms 2 and 3, as per the College Uniform Policy. Students are also required to wear the blazer to morning Homeroom. This also applies to Year 12 students when they wear their Year 12 rugby jumper on a Tuesday and Thursday.
Please be aware that the blue shirt (Years 7–10) needs to be tucked in, unless students are actively engaged in sport. Ties need to be worn correctly at the top button, as per the image below. Additionally, skirt length is to be at the knee.
If you have any queries, please refer to the uniform policy on the college website.
SWIMMING CARNIVAL
In recent weeks the college held our annual Swimming Carnival, another great day where again Xavier was victorious with a narrow victory over Chisholm House. All the individual race winners and our best swimmers then went on to represent the college at SSVS level, at Mildura Waves. The winning swimmers and relays from SSVS then went on to LMR level in Swan Hill.
In Swan Hill St Joseph’s College students came home with a total of 19 (7 Gold, 12 Silver, 2 Bronze) medals. Congratulations to Joaquin Leal-Kaiser, Jed Ferguson, Jesse Sinclair, Zander Sagasser, Leliyn Beechey, Archie Nokes, Archie Littore, Cruz Lihou, and Max Bell who won individual or relay gold medals and will now go on to represent the college at the State Championships in Melbourne.
INTERSCHOOL SPORT
Along with swimming, the interschool sport competition has begun with Tennis and Volleyball. Congratulations to all teams who played to the best of their ability with our Junior Girls advancing to LMR in both the Tennis and Volleyball competitions.
PHONES AND LOCKS FOR LOCKERS
A large number of students do not use padlocks or use their padlocks incorrectly. While we are fortunate that theft is extremely rare at St Joseph's College, we have had multiple incidents where intruders have entered the college on a weekend, where reports of theft have been made to Victoria Police. I encourage all students to have and use a padlock to ensure their belongings are safe. As stated in the Student Mobile Technology Policy, students are required to keep their phones in their locked lockers throughout the day. Students do keep valuable items in their lockers, and they need to ensure these items are kept safe.
A reminder for all students that as per the policy, students are not to use mobile devices before school, during recess and lunch breaks or after school while on the college grounds. We ask students to simply wait until they have left the school grounds.
PAT CRONIN FOUNDATION
In recent weeks we had a presentation from the Pat Cronin Foundation to our Year 11 and 12 students. The Melbourne-based charity, formed in 2016 after the death of 19-year-old Pat Cronin from a Coward Punch attack, delivered its powerful 'Violence is Never OK' presentation, raising awareness around the often long-lasting impacts of social violence.
Foundation Director Matt Cronin, Pat's father, hopes the presentation brings young people vital life skills: 'Thousands of people are hospitalised each year in Australia due to assault, often resulting in tragic lifelong consequences for the victims, as well as the perpetrators and families. There’s a real need for educating the next generation in how to handle anger and aggression, defuse conflict, and make appropriate choices when they’re out and about in the community. By giving them an understanding of Pat’s story, raising awareness of the impact of violence, and offering practical tips and strategies, we hope to make serious inroads into those statistics as well as ending the Coward Punch.'
LOOKING AHEAD...
We look forward to another busy and exciting term. Many of our Year 12 students will be enjoying their subject camps early in Term 2. They then all make their way to Anglesea in the final week of June for the Year 12 Retreat. Our Year 8s will be heading down to Halls Gap in mid-May. We will also celebrate the St Joseph the Worker Mass on 1 May. We follow this with our ever-popular fun day of Cross Country and Feast Day on 2 May. This year we see a change of venue and date to our College Ball for our Year 9–12 students. We look forward to seeing all our students dressed up to attend the College Ball on 31 May at the Club Da Vinci.
Have a great break.
Mr Heath McClaer
Deputy Principal Students