Happy Holidays!

Dear Families,

This will be the final newsletter of the year with some important dates for the days and months ahead.

Today we gather together as a community to celebrate our friendships, achievements and the gift of community at St. Joseph's. During our end of year mass we will also farewell our Year 6 students and formally announce our new captaincies for 2020.

A special word of thanks to Faye Forbes for organising this afternoon’s mass and for preparing our students for readings and other roles in the mass.

It’s hard to believe that we are only a few days away from the summer holidays, and what a year it has been for our community. We have achieved so much together.

Now at the end of my second year as Principal of St Joseph’s I continue to marvel at the strong and supportive relationships that exist at our school, and It is this sense of connection and belonging that is such a special part of what we do and who we are.

We have much to celebrate and acknowledge as the year draws to a close.

From academic achievements, sporting endeavours such as basketball, swimming, athletics, football, netball, and even hockey; participation in the arts with the magnificent Art Show, “Colour My World” and the most impressive instrumental music program; camps/ excursions to many exciting places; student leadership, skipping teams, Maths Olympiad, morning tennis, chess club each Monday and a wide range of other extracurricular activities...the list goes on... our children have well and truly embraced the many opportunities on offer this year and I believe each child has had the chance to shine or explore new interests.

All of these positive outcomes only happen because of the collective efforts of the special people in our community:

We have a parent community who are committed to working in partnership with our staff and these relationships have such an important and positive impact on your child's learning.

We have an Education Advisory Board who have supported myself and the staff throughout the year and who have provided valuable guidance and advice from a parent perspective.

We have our amazing Parents and Friends Association, who, through a variety of fundraising events, have achieved incredible things within our community- I cannot even begin to list your endeavours as they happen daily, and with the commitment of so many people. Thank you all, we simply couldn’t have achieved so much without you. The 2019 total for fundraising is approximately $40,000; quite amazing for a small school.

To our staff: the Teacher Aides who provide support and care for our students, are much-appreciated colleagues of our teachers, and go well beyond the call of duty to look after our children.

To the Administration team of Joanne and Isabelle, who provide the ‘front of house’ experience for our families and provide all the answers and reassurance to parents and students on a daily basis, and do so with patience and kindness- and a much-needed sense of humour.

Of course, to our classroom teachers and the leadership team: I cannot thank you enough for the work you do with our children; it is a privilege to work alongside you each and every day and your work this year has ensured our students have made considerable progress with their learning. I thank you for all of your hard work and commitment to our school community.

A special thank you to Martin Earl, our deputy principal, who is an extremely skilled and talented educator- I am very lucky to work alongside him at St. Joseph’s. Martin, thank you for all you do behind the scenes for students and staff alike.

As we end the 2019 school year we farewell three members of staff: Amy Kempton will be taking a year’s leave in 2020 and taking the opportunity to travel and also embark on some postgraduate studies in wellbeing; Maria Falla will also be taking a year’s leave to pursue literacy intervention teaching in another school. We say a special farewell and thank you to Miss Trish who is retiring at the end of the year, after 13 years of service to St. Joseph’s. Trish has worked alongside many of our teachers in various year levels and looked after countless children in our school. We will certainly miss Trish next year but wish her many years of rest and relaxation in her retirement, which is very well deserved.

At the end of the year we also farewell families who have been an integral part of our school family for a very long time. We thank you for your support and many contributions over the years and I hope you all look back on your experiences and time with us with fondness. We send our best wishes and sincere thanks to the following families: Baille; Coombes; Farlow; Fielding; Gardiner; Hoy; Jones; Mah; Palumbo; Petrides; Pham; Smith; Todd; Angelopolous; Benston; Gray; Leeds; Vivian and Russell.

And finally, to the most important people in our community: the students:

I congratulate all of you for your humour, hard work, enthusiasm, commitment, risk-taking attitudes and inclusiveness; it has been a pleasure and joy to spend each day with you, from your cheerful hellos and firm handshakes in the morning to seeing you work with such commitment in the classroom or on the sporting field- I feel blessed to be here with you.

To our departing Year 6 students, we thank you for your leadership of our school this year; you have embraced all challenges thrown your way and have done so with energy and positivity. I am immensely proud of all your achievements and couldn’t have wished for a better group of senior students to lead our school. We wish you the best of luck in your new schools, and we ask that you please keep in touch in the future. I am certain you will excel as you move into secondary school.

To all other students leaving us at the conclusion of the year- we will miss you all. We thank you for your contributions to our school community and please remember that we would love to have you come back and visit us!

2020 Captains

Congratulations to our 2020 Year 6 students who presented their leadership speeches in front of students, staff and family members on Monday morning. With public speaking skills that would be the envy of many adults, the Year 5s presented confidently and fluently.

Mr Earl and I spent the morning counting the student votes (preferential voting system) and the results are as follows:

School Captain: Zara Gaiardo

School Captain: Samson Hassett

Technology Captains: Ashton DCouta; Dean Tetoros

Social Justice Captains : Niamh Farrell; Daniel Mercuri

Art Captains: Grace Hughes; Claire Gadzinski; Erynne Amada; Chloe Depeux

Red House Captains: Joseph Noonan; Molly Gerrand; Tyson Tsiavis

Green House Captains: Alessandra Lane; Freddie Cornell; Taj Davey

Yellow House Captains: Eve Torcasio; Maudie Claunies-Ross

Christmas...A Time for Giving

The Refugee Support Group from our Parish work throughout the year supporting families who have arrived in Australia as refugees. I struggle to imagine what it would be like to arrive in a country as a refugee without the all-important community/ family connections and roots, let alone without money/ employment/ accommodation.

As I marvelled at the (nearly 100) gifts at the foot of our school 'Giving Tree', I imagined the delight of the local families and refugee families who will receive these gifts for Christmas. Thank you for your kindness.

The Christmas story is not about a refugee family, but it is about a family seeking refuge. Ordered by an occupying government to travel by foot for days on end so that Caesar Augustus could count the number of people under his order, an expectant mother at the peak of her pregnancy is forced to undergo the single most dangerous experience of a first-century woman’s life not at home, but away in a manger. I believe the Christmas story should open our eyes and our hearts to those most vulnerable in our midst. To those whose only hope is to travel by foot and inflatable raft for days in search of a livable life:

Dear Lord,

As we prepare for Your coming,

let us reflect on the journey Your

earthly parents took.

They were tired and alone,

yet there was no room for them at the inn.

There was no one to lend a helping hand.

Lord, help us to recognize those who may

need our help or love this Christmas.

Let us pray for those who have none.

We pray that those without loved ones

will still share in the season’s blessings.

We especially pray for those who feel

forgotten and unloved.

Lord, break our hearts for what breaks Yours.

Help us to see with Your eyes,

serve with Your hands, and to give of the

talents and treasures You have blessed us with.

We ask you, O Lord, to stretch forth

Your paternal arms to anyone feeling the

sting of loneliness or pangs of sadness

this Christmas season. Please bring them

into Your love and peace.

Amen.

On behalf of all the St. Joseph’s staff, we wish all of our families a happy and holy holiday ahead, may it be filled with lots of rest, relaxation, fun and precious family time.

Thank you,

Michelle

Term 4 Dates for the Diary