Principal's Report

What a wild finish to our second term of learning and positive well-being at St Joseph's School Glen Innes! All in the space of 2 days in Week 9 we achieved some marvelous cultural milestones and continued our great learning growth. 

From a highly successful fundraising day where not only did we raise $328 for Nathan Stapleton, but much fun and frivolity was had by all. I especially thank the SRC and Mrs McCarthy for their collective planning and hard work on the day. Check out the pics in Mrs McCarthy’s section!

Onto the School Disco that night, I cannot speak more highly of the P&F members and their meticulous planning and setup that led to a highly enjoyable evening for our children and staff. The lolly treats and the pizza were gobbled up with gusto and the quality of the dancing was impressive. It was a close run thing between Mr Withers and Sam Stephens (Year 1) as to who was the best dancer on the night! Don’t forget to register for the next big P&F event - the Trivia Night on Friday 22 July!

The next day our year 6 students participated in the Diocesan Year 6 RE Test. We hope to share some positive results after the holidays. 

We were then privileged to finally share in a Whole School Mass back in St Patrick’s Church. It has been a long long time since we have been able to celebrate the Eucharist as the Body of Christ with our Parish Priest - Father Gleeson. As it was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, remembering the unconditional and compassionate love of Jesus, it was also an opportunity to show our love in action by giving to the poor.  Many of our children brought in non-perishable items to donate to St Vincent de Paul to distribute to the needy in our local community. It was also an opportunity for our recent  First Holy Communicants to actively participate in the liturgy, either by reading or being part of the Offertory and receiving Holy Communion. A wonderful new beginning for our school-parish relationship after an enforced hiatus. 

Our big learning news continues to reinforce the great work that our team of skilful helpful adults is doing to grow our student’s reading capacity. Our latest PM Benchmarks show that our end-of-year targets are certainly quite attainable when 57% of Year 1, 56% of Year 2 and 81% of our Year 3 students are already at or above those targets and it is only Term 2! Our high adult density in the 2-hour Literacy Block and a collective focus on strong learning and well-being partnerships are reaping the rewards for effort. Well done everyone!

I am incredibly proud of our achievements in the sporting arena over the past couple of weeks. In Polding Cross Country Fletcher Barratt (1st) and Aila McBain (6th) lead the way. Our Stage 3 Netball team blitzed everyone and were undefeated to win the Northern Inland Netball Schools Cup and now advance to the regional finals in September. And to complete the Trifecta, our Rugby league team only had two tries scored against them with an overall tally of 90 points to also finish undefeated and win the inaugural Toni Palmer Shield. This team also moves onto Port Macquarie for regional finals in August. A WINNING Trifecta for St Joseph's Glen Innes! Well done to all of the staff and parents who supported and trained and coached our skilful kids to these THREE great achievements!

And, of course, the end of Semester One Student reports went live on Monday and can be accessed through the parent COMPASS portal. Student-Led Conferences will be held early in Term 3 to discuss your child’s growth and future learning goals. Stay tuned for more information after the holidays.

Finally, I do remember signing off on the last newsletter encouraging everyone to “Stay well and keep warm”. Well, having personally come down with COVID this week along with at least 5 other staff and, on average, 55 students absent each day this week, I do not think the “stay well” bit was achieved!? I think it is a clear message that the holiday break cannot come soon enough. Enjoy the downtime everyone and if you are traveling please travel safely.

May God go with you

Geoff McManus

Principal