Principal's Report

Earlier in the year, I wrote about the positive feedback that we had from our student surveys with regard to their personal perceptions about feeling Safe, Valued, Respected and Cared for with a focus on Learning. Another separate metric that our Catholic schools use to measure and value their stakeholder engagement is the annual School Improvement Surveys that many families completed in September this year. In 2022, 44% of our families (55/125) responded to 28 questions that relate to key domains such as safety, wellbeing, academic focus, parish relationship and communication. I am pleased to report that there is broad and improving satisfaction with our wonderful school in comparison to previous survey data. Some of the higher ratings from our families include -

“The school is a safe place for my child”

“I can make contact with my child’s teacher or other staff easily”

“Catholic religious identity is a high priority in the school”

“I have opportunities to be involved in the life of the school”

“I would recommend this school to others”

“I feel welcome to volunteer and/or contribute to various school events and initiatives”

There are a couple of areas that bear further investigation according to the survey responses - 

“Parent/teacher conferences are helpful at this school”

“The school's reporting processes give me a good understanding of my child's progress and areas for improvement”

I wish to personally follow through on these identified concerns in 2023 whereby I will facilitate parent focus groups to come and have a chat about these two issues so we can more deeply understand the perception and continue to actively improve our learning and wellbeing partnership with families.  Stay tuned for focus group dates in 2023!

In the spirit of encouraging more time on task in classrooms and making our learning partnership even more affordable for families, we will be purchasing ALL stationery and exercise book items for every student at the school from 2023. Consequently, there will be no need for families to purchase exercise books, pens, pencils, pencil cases, highlighters, etc. etc. Every classroom will be fully stocked with these consumable items at hand and on the desks and shelves ready for students to more easily access in their learning. And even more importantly there will be no increase in school fees to cover these stationery purchases. In the spirit of understanding our families and their current increases in the cost of living expenses, the school will absorb these costs for 2023 under the current fee structure. I trust that this reduction in consumable costs for families and the removal of the stress of buying and restocking pencil cases and exercise books enhances our strong learning and wellbeing partnership at St Joseph's School Glen Innes.

In a similar vein of encouraging effective learning spaces and resources and a simple FYI, we will be swapping stage locations for Stages 2 and 3 from 2023. With a larger number of students in Stage 2 than Stage 3 in 2023, we will utilise the slightly larger space in the upstairs MacKillop block to accommodate the Year 3 and Year 4 children and there is adequate room for the Year 5 and 6 children downstairs and in the breakout space. The 2023 Stage teams of skilful helpful adults will be published in the next newsletter.

Congratulations to our New England Sings Choir for an exceptional performance in Armidale on 23 October. With close to 2000 people either present in the audience or on stage to describe it as spectacular would be an understatement. Special mention to Shanny Core for expertly leading the choir through their lunchtime rehearsals, dress rehearsals and final performance across the past 5 months. All of the hard work and effort came to such positive fruition and I know I speak on behalf of all of the staff and parents who attended in describing it as “INCREDIBLE!”

Similarly, congratulations to the Brain Olympiad teams for their recent participation in the competition held at Holy Trinity in Inverell. Competing across the four domains of 50 General Knowledge Questions, 5 complex Mathematical problems, a public speaking competition and a team drama performance, our two teams of 8 children from Years 4, 5 and 6 acquitted themselves brilliantly and while not progressing to the finals, demonstrated great adaptability to unseen complex problems and scenarios. Thank you to Kate Dance and Judy McManus for generously and skilfully coaching the teams in the weeks prior.

We are the recent beneficiaries of a generous community donation from our local Coles store. To assist with any area of need across the school, our local Glen Innes Coles store has donated an ongoing weekly $100 voucher as their way of contributing back to the local community. Great country spirit from Coles and their manager Lachie Wirth and a store well worth supporting by our school community. Thank you!

And finally, it is my great pleasure to announce the appointment of a new permanent full-time teacher to Glen Innes from 2023 - Tracey Condrick. Tracey is a member of our local catholic parish and a very experienced teacher who comes to us most recently from Guyra Central School and has also taught for a number of years at Glen Innes Public School. We look forward to adding Tracey's expertise to our teams of skilful helpful adults to continue to enhance learning and wellbeing at St Joseph’s School.

I refuse to mention the weather. However, please stay safe everyone in these tempestuous times!?

May God go with you

Geoff McManus

Principal