Happy World Teacher’s Day Teachers help shape the future through the young people we work with every day. We are truly blessed at St Joseph’s to have such a dedicated, hardworking and collaborative group of teachers. On behalf of our community, I wish to commend our teachers on their commitment to continued professional learning, their support of our children’s families and their support of all the members of our team to get the very best learning progress for each and every child.

2023 Classroom Teachers – As part of our planning for 2023, we are very happy to announce the appointment of a new teacher Rory Harrington to our team. We look forward to meeting Rory at our bump up day on Monday 14^th November. Kathy Mitten will also be joining our staff as School Officer. We are fortunate to have Kathy start with us on Monday 7^th November.  Although we still have another Teaching and School Officer position to fill, we hope to be able to make further announcements by the end of this week.

We still are in need of a Tuckshop Coordinator and grounds person. If you are interested or know someone who would be suitable please encourage them to apply or make enquires at our office.

As we enter our the final few weeks of school for 2022, many of our year 6 students will be looking forward and looking back. I have already heard the phrase, “This will be the last time we..” Memories are precious and they form us.

With such a short time left in the year, our thoughts turn toward end of year events. Graduations, end of year farewells and Christmas. But while this school year is coming to an end, our journey of learning is not over. Over these next few weeks teachers will be finalising teaching and assessment tasks in preparation for end of year reporting.  I ask that parents work with the school to try to have children in attendance as much as possible during this term so that students can be fully engaged in the tasks that are being undertaken.

We are super excited to be sending our playground design and quote off to the Diocesan Finance and Development Committee for approval!  We are hoping this will be completed by the end of next week and construction will be able to begin in January.  Thank you all in advance for your patience with this project - it will definitely been worth the wait!

I will be away at the end of this week to attend the Principal conference that is held each term. We all have similar challenges in our role and it is a it is a great time to link with other principals that offer a wealth of knowledge and advice. Cairns Catholic Education Services keep us up to date with what is happening and the direction that they would like the schools to move in. At this time of the year, we focus on Strategic Directions and how these relate to our Annual School Improvement Plans.

Cent Auction Hampers   To minimise confusion for families we have decided to change back to having a theme for each class instead of a theme each week. If you have already sent in an item or have purchase a donation that doesn’t match with your class theme do not worry. We are happy to accept all donations and will ensure your child gets acknowledge for contributing.

Class Allocations are as follows:

Prep - Christmas

One - Games and Toys

Two -Arts and Crafts

Three/Four - Homewares, gardening and pets

 Five/Six - Camping, BBQ and Fishing

SJW 2022 Awards Night   We are now entering the celebration season of the school year. This is a time where we are able to acknowledge all the good work and effort that students have done throughout the year.  On Monday 21^st November, our Annual Awards Night will acknowledge those students who have performed to a high standard academically, as well as those who have demonstrated their gifts and talents through Service and Christian Leadership. We hope as many family members to be present to witness these events.

NAPLAN 2022 Our Year 3 and Year 5 individual student reports were sent home in Week 2.

You may have heard on the news recently that NAPLAN Literacy results have not improved, particularly in Grammar/Punctuation across Australia from Years 3 to Year 9. I am happy to report that our school data is not supportive of this trend, and I can proudly report that our results are overwhelmingly positive in both Year 3 and Year 5.

Our staff will spend considerable time analysing our school and individual results, comparing them to our Diocesan scores to see where we can improve, and when available to our State and National scores. Our individual student results are also examined to determine how each student can be supported either via intervention, or extension with a particular focus in ensuring growth.

I congratulate not only our students on their achievement, dedication and hard work, but in particular I thank our staff for their overwhelming commitment to quality teaching and learning in ALL year levels.