Dear Families and Friends of St Joseph’s School Community,

Welcome to Week 5! The term is certainly flying by very quickly!

Last week we celebrated Catholic Education Week. Celebrating all the things we do that make our school such a special place, was a wonderful reminder of how blessed we are to be a part of Catholic education.

This year’s theme for Catholic Education Week is ‘Communities of: Faith, Hope & Love’. Friday we all came together to rejoice in and acknowledge the importance of community within our school and the important qualities of Faith, Hope and Love that are shown in our daily interactions with each other.

At St Joseph’s, we value deeply the partnership between families and teachers in the support of our learners and their progress. We believe that when we work together, children can reach their next goals in learning and experience great feelings of success. This is a unique partnership like no other, integral to this relationship is a trust that each other is trying to do their best in their roles in this important work for your children. We are working with young people that need the relationship between home and school to be positive and heading in the same direction. 

As a Catholic school we strive to make a difference in the lives of all those at St Joseph’s School and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.

Congratulations to the students who received a Spirit of St Joseph’s Award. These students were recognized for living out Jesus’ message in their daily lives. 

A special thank you to Veronica Ah Shay for making such a beautiful cake for our Spirit Award Winners to cut and the delicious cupcakes the children enjoyed as a special treat.

School Satisfaction Survey

Thank you for your assistance in helping to shape the future direction of St Joseph’s. For some reason we had a number of surveys being sent out to parents over the last few weeks. I appreciate this can be confusing and a little frustrating. We didn’t quite reach the goal of 89% completion, but we will be holding a Pizza Party for all on Friday week 6. Those children who do not like Pizza will have alternative preferred options available.

Prep Enrolment Interviews

I am looking forward to conducting Prep Enrolment interviews for 2023, which begin in week 6. These beautiful children are always excited and keen to join their older siblings as they join the learning community of St Joseph’s.

It takes a community ‘to grow a school’!

We are currently adding an additional Prep class in 2023 to St Joseph’s to support our growing enrolments! This is great news and is testament to our wonderful community, families, and teachers.

 I ask all members of the St Joseph’s community, staff, students and parents to encourage friends and family to enrol at St Joseph’s. All families can help build St Joseph’s into the future by being a loyal, supportive, and vocal advocates for the high-quality educational program and nurturing environment that is St Joseph’s.  It takes a community ‘to grow a school’! Thank you for playing your part as an invested member of our community to promote St Joseph’s

We are very much looking forward to our upcoming Prep Open Day on Wednesday the 24^th of August 2022. If you know of anyone who may be looking to start Prep next year, please pass along our flyer, or to share our Facebook Posts.

Choosing a school is not just a decision we make with our minds, it’s a decision we also need to make with our hearts. You need to feel a school to see if it’s the right fit for you and your child. This is why we encourage anyone considering St Joseph’s to attend our Open Day and experience for themselves what we have to offer.

Here are just some of the reasons to enrol at St Joseph’s

Learning for the future St Joseph’s has developed a strong reputation for academic excellence, embracing the latest in learning and teaching practice, our students are reaping the benefits of high impact strategies founded on educational research.

Every Child is known At St Joseph’s, knowing the diverse needs of each student is essential to providing quality personalised learning. Responding to the dignity of each and every child, St Joseph’s staff meet each learner in creative ways that challenge the mind, stretch the imagination and improve educational outcomes, engaging with the latest learning resources and technologies.

21st century facilities St Joseph’s state-of-the-art agile learning spaces facilitate delivery of the schools dynamic and integrated curriculum that is essential to 21st century learning needs – even of our youngest learners. Modern technology 1:1 devices, robotics, programming, and STEM from Prep.

The St Joseph way Based on the dignity of every child, the values of respect, engagement in learning and personal best, you’ll love the feel of our welcoming and caring community and our growth mindset culture that produces resilient learners.

A growth mindset A growth mindset embraces challenges, persists in the face of obstacles, sees effort as necessary, learns from constructive criticism and is inspired by others’ success. St Joseph’s students learn how to have and maintain a growth mindset, so they can be resilient learners for life. This Growth Mindset permeates all learning at St Joseph’s, from Prep through to Year 6

Flexible fees St Joseph’s strives to keep fees as low as possible and be affordable to all. We also offer generous concessions and multi-student discounts. No child is denied because of financial hardship.

No application fee To help families, we have no enrolment application fee. So, you can complete an online application form, and have a tour of our school without any out-of-pocket expense.  There is no reason not to apply and see what St Joseph’s has to offer.

A Catholic school for all St Joseph’s is inclusive and welcoming to all faiths and abilities. St Joseph’s realises its authentic Catholic identity through a strong spirit of community, outreach, excellence in learning, and spiritual formation and growth.

COVID Update

It is a COVID environment that we live in and unfortunately, we have had a large number of students and staff away due to COVID over the last 3 weeks. Despite this ongoing challenge, the school has continued delivering, due to staff supporting each other and ensuring your children get the very best in education.

St Joseph's regularly consults with the Cairns Catholic Education Services and relevant authorities, and continues to follow the advice of Queensland Health regarding cleaning requirements. Queensland Health has advised that no quarantine of students or staff is required as a result of a school based contact.

As COVID-19 remains active in our community we ask you to continue to monitor your child’s/children’s health and if they develop any flu-like symptoms:

• Keep your child/children at home
• Seek a Rapid Antigen test where it is recommended and notify the school of positive results. 
• Follow the advice of Queensland Health

We will continue to work closely with health authorities to keep our school community informed of any developments and advice. Thank you once again for your ongoing support.

Principal Forum

This week I am fortunate enough to be attending the Principal Conference in Cairns, along with the other Principals from the Carins Diocese. Thank you to Mrs Gear and the rest of the leadership team who will be filling in while I’m attending the Conference. This Professional Learning opportunity provides a chance for all Principals to gather, network and share ideas, as well as ensuring our school aligns to system policies and initiatives.

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead,

God Bless,

Megan