It has been an action-packed term and I know students and teachers are ready for the holidays. They have worked extremely hard over the term engaging in learning, undertaking excursions, participating in our school review, learning about feedback strategies, showing pride at many sporting events and much, much more. Each term, I become even more proud of the people that our students are growing into and the type of learners they are becoming. A number of school visitors regularly comment on the high levels of student engagement in learning across all classrooms and manners and courtesy they experience from our students. Fabulous work!
This Semester we have faced the continued challenge of managing interruptions due to sickness throughout the school and wider community. I thank and congratulate our amazing school staff for their continued hard work and dedication not only this week but every week. We have a very capable leadership Team and staff who go above and beyond to ensure the events and activities we have enrich the lives of our school community.
Last Friday we welcomed over 500 children to St Joseph’s, when we hosted Under 8’s Day for 2022. It was great to have so many different services and groups from our community come to share in the fun and a wonderful time was had by all. Events like this don’t just happen; they require considerable planning.
A huge thanks to Mrs O’Brien who spent many hours coordinating the day and to all our dedicated staff for making the event such a success. Thank you to the parents who were able to help out with the activities the children have such a great experience. I’m sure they will all enjoy some down time over the break & return to school refreshed for a new Semester.
We were fortunate to have a visit from Fr Dariusz for both Under 8’s Day and Monday’s NAIDOC Mass before he takes a few months leave. We wish him safe travels as he visits his family back in Poland and look forward to sharing in his holiday news upon his return in Term 4.
With National NAIDOC Week celebrations being held across Australia in the first week of July each year which is in school holidays, we have chosen to make the last week of term 2 as our NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week is an important opportunity for our school community to learn more about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. Our school has enjoyed the many activities, excursions and visitors who have joined with us to celebrate to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Congratulations to everyone on a very successful Athletics Carnival this week. Perfect weather, wonderful crowd atmosphere and well-prepared competition surface. Thanks again to all of our staff, parents, PCYC and AFL teachers for your assistance throughout the day. Although I was away attending Professional development on the day I was extremely pleased to hear from staff of the impressive level of sportsmanship and persistence students displayed. Thanks to Libby Lang, who with the support of all staff, created an event that provided a positive experience for our students. The cooperation of the students enabled the day to run extremely smoothly. Thanks to all of the parents who were able to attend the carnival, especially those who offered their assistance.
As we finish off this semester, I’d like to congratulate our students on all of their great work. There has been some tremendous work produced as well as some fantastic growth in our Key Learning Areas. You can all rest up and feel proud of your work this semester. I’d like to thank our hard working teachers for all of their time and dedication over the semester. You should be proud of what you and your students have achieved. I’m looking forward to Term 3 and building on these successes.