PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

I am very pleased to present the first edition of Community for 2024, the Year of Compassion at St Joseph’s College. I extend a very warm welcome to our new students and families along with our returning students and families. We are so happy you have all chosen to become part of our community.

We are four weeks into Term 1, and in a relatively short amount of time we have welcomed a new Year 7 cohort, hosted Seminar Days, honoured excellence at our Awards Assembly, and much more. Every week brings our students new experiences and opportunities to learn and grow.

Focus on Health & PE

We can all agree that children need healthy habits to thrive. Proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep give young people the stamina and energy their bodies and minds need to study, play sport, pursue hobbies, and recover from illness. 

A healthy body also contributes to a healthy mind. Search online, and you will find several articles (like this one) that discuss the positive effects that good physical health has on mental health and higher achievement. Put simply, a healthy lifestyle encourages overall wellbeing in children and helps them to succeed.

Here at the college, students enjoy getting active at recess and lunch by playing basketball on our new courts and joining in other games using college facilities. They also study aspects of health and fitness in the Health & Physical Education (PE) Learning Area, which features in this edition. Encompassing sport, nationally recognised VET certifications, and Health and Human Development units, Health & PE continues to grow in popularity among students across all cohorts.

Continuous Improvement

St Joseph’s College is in the process of gathering information that will preserve our heritage and safeguard a sustainable future in which our teaching practices will continue to satisfy the learning needs of our students. 

To achieve this goal, we are currently undertaking three projects:

• Traffic Survey
• School Improvement Framework
• College Master Plan

Traffic Survey

The college is committed to ensuring the safety of everyone working on, studying at, and visiting our campuses. Therefore, we have engaged the Traffic Works Group to complete a road survey to assess the condition of the intersection at Riverside Avenue and Eleventh Street. The results of this survey will help St Joseph’s College prepare suggestions for improvements that we can submit to the Mildura Rural City Council and VicRoads. 

School Improvement Framework (SIF) Update

Improving outcomes for all students drives workplace culture at St Joseph’s College and informs our Strategic Plan. We have begun to prepare a new, reinvigorated Plan for 2025–2029 using data from two past and one forthcoming survey.

1. The Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) survey (2022)
2. An organisational health survey run by Insight SRC (2023)
3. The Characteristics of a Highly Effective Catholic School (CHECS) survey (2024)

By keeping school improvement front of mind, we remain focused on the best interests of the students and the college community. 

College Master Plan

In addition to the Strategic Plan, St Joseph’s College is in the process of formulating a Master Plan to establish guidelines for creating and preserving a place of learning that will endure for decades to come. 

Along with feedback from staff, we will engage and consult with the broader school community, parents, and local residents in the following ways:

• community information night(s)
• project website or dedicated project update webpage
• updates in future editions of Community, letters, and notices
• social media

Look for more information and updates on all three projects as the year progresses.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Community. Please join me in welcoming our new staff members below. I also congratulate our existing staff members who have been appointed to leadership roles within the college and those who have completed years of service milestones.

God Bless

Mrs Marg Blythman

College Principal

STAFFING UPDATE

A warm welcome to our new and returning staff as well as those staff who have been appointed into new leadership roles.

NEW STAFF

Ms Ceara Kearney – Teacher

Ceara has over 10 years experience as a Visual Arts Teacher. She joins us from Riverside Girls High School and will teach Media Studies and IT. We also welcome Ceara as House Leader for Padua.

Mr James Canavan – Teacher

With 20 years service in Catholic Education, James joins our teaching team in Religious Education, PE, and Science. He is also the Health & PE Learning Area Leader.

Mrs Samantha Alexander – Teacher

Sam, known to most for her CRT work, has officially joined the college as a Science teacher and is the Science Learning Area Facilitator. 

Mr Daniel Gralow – Teacher

After receiving permission to teach from VIT, I am pleased to announce that Daniel will be teaching Mathematics at the college whilst continuing his studies in Bachelor of Education. 

Ms Maddison Jago – Teacher

Maddi, a Solicitor for several years before obtaining her Master of Teaching in 2022, joins us from Chaffey Secondary College. She will teach English and Humanities.

Mr Joshua McMillan – Teacher

Armed with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and currently pursuing a Master's degree in Teaching, Josh joins us through the University of Melbourne’s internship program and will teach Chemistry and Biology. 

Mr Ashley Weir – Teacher

Ash brings more than 20 years of fitness industry experience to our Health & PE Learning Area. He is completing a Bachelor of Education at La Trobe University and has received permission to teach at the college from VIT.

Mr Dylan Watson – Teacher

Dylan, a college alumnus, studied for his Bachelor of Music at WAAPA and is currently studying a Masters of Teaching through ACU. He joins us in the role of Music and Drama teacher. 

Ms Melinda Farnsworth – Teacher

Melinda has over 20 years of experience in education and is passionate about supporting students achieve their goals through the Victoria Pathways Certificate program.

Mr Nick Noblet – Teacher

Nick, an experienced educator in PE & Health, joins us from Chaffey Secondary College. He will teach PE & Health and will attend Outdoor Ed Camps and various excursions.

Ms Lisa Hooper - VET Beauty Trainer

Lisa joins the college as a VET Beauty Trainer. She brings with her extensive industry experience having owned and operated her own beauty business, “Macquiller” since 2012.

Mr Lewis White - Instrumental Music

With 20+ years of experience in the music industry and his own tutoring business, Lewis joins us as Instrumental Music teacher.

Mr Chris Wescombe – Grounds and Maintenance Officer

With over 20 years of experience running a landscaping and irrigation business, Chris will maintain and improve the college landscape.

Mr Matt Ingham – Maintenance and Fleet Officer

Matt has joined our maintenance team and will manage the college fleet after previously working as a property assistant at Endeavour College in SA.

RETURNING STAFF

We also welcome the following staff members who are returning from leave:

• Mrs Sophie Law
• Ms Shelley Rozario
• Ms Taylor-Paige Wilkie

NEW LEADERSHIP ROLES 

Congratulations to the following staff on their newly appointed leadership roles:

We acknowledge the following staff for their years of service at St Joseph's College and those leaving us for the next chapter of their lives.

10 YEARS OF SERVICE

• Mrs Caroline Lewis
• Mr Marcus Parker
• Mr John Fleming
• Ms Susan Quinn

20 YEARS OF SERVICE

• Ms Teresa Hagen
• Mr John McGlashan

30 YEARS OF SERVICE

• Mrs Jill Peters

40+ YEARS OF SERVICE

• Mr Greg Kluske

 DEPARTED 

• Mr John Menhennett
• Mrs Megan Mannes
• Mrs Kym Mayne
• Ms Stacey Lawn
• Mr Memphis Baker
• Ms Wendy Yeung