Principal's Report
Thoughts from our Principal - Mr Geoff McManus
As you would be aware from previous newsletter articles, “Attendance Matters” at St Joseph’s School Glen Innes. Our team of skilful helpful adults do a great job day in day out making sure that we ‘future-proof’ our children with high expectations and achievement in literacy and numeracy. That hard work becomes much more difficult if children are regularly missing from the classroom. Each term we celebrate those children who attend school regularly by awarding Gold (100%) Silver (95%) and Bronze (90%) Attendance Certificates. Currently, there are 37 students who are eligible for the Gold (100%) Attendance Certificates! The Term Two certificates will be awarded on Friday 30 June at the Whole School Assembly from 2:30 pm.
The Uniform Survey has been running now for close to two weeks and will close on Friday, June 30. Currently, we have 54 replies from Families and 8 replies from staff. Please note that NO firm decisions are being made about a change to the uniform. The sole purpose of this survey is to determine if we have a need for a slight change, a full change or no change at all. If you have lost the link please check your newsfeed on COMPASS or email me directly for the link to be sent to you.
Congratulations to our Senior Netball team for their resounding win in the Schools Cup in Inverell last week. While remaining undefeated all day, our team now qualifies for the Regional Finals in Tamworth in September. Once again another example of St Joseph’s Glen Innes students excelling in local competitions and seeking opportunities to test themselves at the next level!
Team members - Fletcher Barratt, Paige Floyd, Ella Bruce, Danyela Bailey, George Claxton, Zoe McAllister, Abigail Pietsch, Aila McBain and Lachlan Grob.
Late breaking news! Congratulations to Fletcher Barratt and Sophia Nugent for their selection in the Polding Cross Country Team to compete at the NSWPSSA Cross Country Championships! Fletcher clearly won his event with a Gold medal performance!
Planning is well in hand for our 2023 Talent Show. With an Australian theme, many of our children are preparing song, dance, poetry and much more for a showcase of ‘Australiana’ talent on Tuesday 27 June from 12:30 pm. Keep an eye on COMPASS and Facebook for updates and promos!
Formal written reports are just one way that schools engage and work in partnership with families about our children and their learning and wellbeing. Research with Australian families would support the notion that formal reports on their own do not enhance a positive learning partnership. Hence, while you will receive detailed written reports via COMPASS from our team of skilful helpful adults on Monday 26 June, engaging more deeply with the school and parent community at Student-Led Conferences, P&F events, volunteering for sporting and governance opportunities are all proactive ways of enhancing a culture of mutual and positive engagement for high learning achievement and positive wellbeing.
Similarly, as there may be times during the school year when you have a concern about learning or your child’s wellbeing, trying to have a ‘doorstop’ learning conversation at the back gate or ‘lobbing’ at the front office straight after school about something that happened in the playground 2 hours previous, are rarely positive conversations. At St Joseph’s Glen Innes, as a school team committed to our children feeling Safe, Valued, Respected and Cared for with a focus on Learning, we guarantee to get back to you, no matter what the issue. Just drop us a line through a quick phone call, or email or ask the teacher for a convenient time to meet. That way we can schedule a meeting time and devote the time and necessary attention to a valued conversation.
In the meantime, I publicly endorse the time, effort and intellect applied to the generation of quality formal written reports by our teaching staff. For your information, each report will provide a written comment and a rating on the Knowledge and Skills for English and Mathematics as well as a Student Engagement rating for every Key Learning Area (KLA). On the back page, a rating for Wellbeing and Social Skills will be listed along with the Attendance data and a General Comment. Compulsory changes to the NSW Curriculum for English and Mathematics in Early Stage 1 (Kinder) and Stage 1, necessitate some criteria changes that will be explained separately to those families. Check out Mrs McCarthy’s article in this newsletter and look out for the COMPASS push that provides the links to the NESA documents for parents and families.
Until next time.
May God go with you.
Geoff McManus
Principal