PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

In life, having a go can make all the difference. After all, we will never succeed or fail if we never ‘do’ in the first place. Here at St Joseph’s College, I am proud to say that our students regularly take on new challenges. Thanks to the support of their classmates and teachers, our young people know that they can fully embrace college life and all the opportunities it offers, whether they succeed or fail.

Our community encourages its members to be their best and congratulates them for what they achieve. This level of encouragement and acceptance continue to shape our culture of Excellence and set it apart. We feel that true excellence lies beyond mere success. It comes as the result of working hard, learning, succeeding, failing, developing resilience, learning how to improve for the next challenge, and celebrating others’ successes along the way.

We believe in our students and have high expectations of them. Interestingly, holding these high expectations is an important key to helping students reach their full potential.

In March, a highly anticipated follow-up to education expert John Hattie’s 2008 book Visible Learning was published. Visible Learning: The Sequel documents over 2,100 meta-analyses related to student achievement. More than 400 million students aged 3 to 25 participated in the 130,000-plus studies detailed in the book. 

John Hattie is a professor of education at the University of Melbourne and the director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute. His findings reinforce the importance of teachers and how maintaining high expectations of students positively affects learning. You can read more about Hattie’s comprehensive study here.

Edition 3 of Community picks up right where we left off in Term 1 and highlights our students’ continued pursuit of personal and shared excellence. Although only three weeks into Term 2, you will find that so much has happened at the college, including our Anzac Day observance and the Feast Day celebrations in honour of St Joseph the Worker, our patron saint. 

Before you read all about those and many other stories, please allow me to wish everyone a very happy Mother’s Day. I hope to see and meet some of you at our fully booked free Mother’s Day Breakfast on Friday 12 May, where Olympic gold medallist Lauren Burns OAM will speak. Throughout the coming weekend, may we all spend time with the important women in our lives and reflect on the treasured memories we hold of those who are no longer with us.

God Bless

Mrs Marg Blythman

College Principal