Dear Parents,

Welcome back to a new term of learning at St Joseph’s. We trust you have had a wonderful break with your families, making moments matter by spending valuable time together.

Prayers for Pope Francis

Last week, we joined the global Catholic community in mourning the passing of Pope Francis. As our Holy Father, he was a deeply compassionate and courageous leader who guided the Church with humility, wisdom, and a heart open to all.

Pope Francis reminded us time and again that to love God is to care for one another and for the Earth we share. His voice echoed especially strongly in his commitment to creation and social justice. In Laudato Si’, he called us to live with purpose and care, reminding us:

“The entire material universe speaks of God’s love… Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.”

Here at St Joseph's, we have felt this call in our everyday learning and relationships—through our outdoor spaces, our environmental stewardship, our acts of kindness, and our shared prayers. Pope Francis’ legacy lives on in the way we teach our children to be thoughtful, compassionate stewards of God’s creation and defenders of the dignity of every person.

We give thanks for the life and service of Pope Francis, and we pray for his eternal rest and for all who mourn his passing. May his example continue to inspire us in our journey of faith.

The faith and well-being theme for the first two weeks is centered around belonging, listening, and respecting each other's stories- what a great way to start the term by honoring and championing each other and allowing everyone in our school to be themselves and flourish on a daily basis.

Please continue to read our wellbeing section in the newsletter to deepen your understanding of the themes. Click the ink below to go to our

Wellbeing page

Term Two Celebrations

This term is set to be an exciting term of learning at St. Joseph's. With Eucharist, Mother's Day celebrations along with many sporting events and other things on the calendar it will be an action-packed term for all.

ANZAC Day

We thank all of our community who were able to attend the Anzac Day service in Crib Point. This is a significant day in our school as we respect, revere and remember our Defence Force families who continue to serve our country today along with the soldiers who did not return home.

Mother's Day Celebrations

This week we highlight the upcoming Mother's Day celebrations. Our mothers and special carers are always looking out caring and nurturing every child in their care. We celebrate their importance in the development of children and we invite all of our community to the special Mothers Day celebrations on Friday 9th May. We will have our Mother's Day Lunch at 12pm where we invite all of our Mums, Grandmothers, Aunties and any special members of our community to a lunch to thank and celebrate you all. Our student leaders will serve a light lunch and we have a guest speaker, along with some students performing. For catering purposes, please remember to RSVP.

After our lunch, we invite you to attend our Mother's day Mass at 2pm.

We will also be sending our mothers day presents home on this day so please remember to send your $5 per child.

Enrolments

Enrolments are now open for 2026. If you know of anyone who would like to enrol their child at our wonderful school please let them know to ring the office for a tour. Please let any prospective families know they can just ring the office to book a tour. Our biggest marketing tool is word of mouth so please spread the word in our community how special our school is. We have our Open days coming up so please pass the invite on. There are fliers in our office and if you can distribute any fliers in our community please let us know.

St Joseph's Cross Country

Come along on Thursday, May 8th to our cross country. All students from Year 3 to Year 6 will be running and we look forward to a great event commencing at 2pm-3pm .

Reminders and Communication Term 2

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank our amazing principal Gab Espenschied and the St Joseph's community for the love, support, and prayers you’ve offered since I shared the news of my diagnosis. Your kind words, thoughtful gestures, and the quiet strength of your prayers have been a great source of comfort. Our school community has always been a place of warmth, care, and faith—and I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of it.

Just a reminder Gab will be taking Long Service Leave in Term 2 and returning to St Joseph's in Term 3 to continue to lead this magnificent school. She will be travelling to Western Australia and Central Australia throughout the term and we look forward to hearing about all of her adventures across our magnificent country. The school will continue to be led by myself and our leadership team, Deputy of organisation and operations, Trish Brennan and Wellbeing leader, Kate Huon. Along with our remote principal Gab, we will work collaboratively with our emerging leaders Megan Williams, Ashleigh Gledhill, Luke Hewitt, Georgie Dunn and Ebony Jenkin and our school staff to ensure our school is managed effectively.

Communication Term 2

If you need to contact our wonderful leaders please email leadership@sjcribpoint.catholic.edu.au and someone will be in touch with you as soon as practicable.

If you have a question or concern regarding your child please contact your learning community first and someone will be in touch with you as soon as practicable. Leadership will receive the email as well.

prepcommunity@sjcribpoint.catholic.edu.au

12community@sjcribpoint.catholic.edu.au

34community@sjcribpoint.catholic.edu.au

56community@sjcribpoint.catholic.edu.au

We look forward to another wonderful term of learning and supporting your children to continue to grow and flourish.

Yours in Partnership,

Sue Jackson

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