Dear parents and carers,

What a great gift to have so many mothers, grandmothers and friends here at school to celebrate Mother’s Day last Friday! Thank you for your terrific support! We trust you enjoyed the delicious breakfast, the prayers for mothers and the special gifts the children prepared with love and care.

We are so blessed to have a great team to make such events happen. Special gratitude is extended to Sheridan Hunter and Sally Metcalfe for their vision and all their work make this event so special and memorable. Thank you also to the staff, parents and carers who were part of the team.

Leslie King

We are sad to inform parents that Leslie is suffering from a serious illness, and she will be commencing sick leave next week to focus on her health. Leslie is a highly respected and valued member of the St Joseph’s school community, and we are sorry to share this news with you all.

While Leslie focuses on her health, she will not be at school on a full-time basis, and she will be spending time in Canberra.  

We are sure that the whole community joins us in wishing Leslie well. Please join us in praying for Leslie and her family at this challenging time.

The teachers have explained to the children today that Leslie is taking some time off school to focus on her health. 

We will keep the community updated and look forward to supporting Leslie and her family. Well wishes can be dropped into the office.

Term 2 Staffing

Leslie has been working with dedication and diligence to ensure the learning for the children will continue uninterrupted throughout the term. We are pleased to inform you that Ms Kathryn Harvey, a trusted and well-known St Joseph’s relief teacher will be taking over Leslie’s InitiaLit, Spelling Mastery and CMC groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She will also teach Yr 5/6 Science on Tuesday afternoons and assist in K/1 on Thursday afternoons. Ms Dione Ryan will teach the Groups on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as taking on the Library lessons for all classes, and Maths in Yr 2/3/4 on Fridays. We are very grateful to Leslie for preparing the teaching and learning programs with excellence to ensure continuity of the learning for the children.

Dione Ryan joins us at St Joseph's after a much varied and interesting career. Born in Young and having attended St Mary’s, Dione commenced her teaching career in NSW. She has had a very wide range of experience across her career in a number of locations; Yakanarra in The Kimberley in WA, Yarrabah, Cairns, Lockhart River in Cape York, Thursday Island and Townsville in Qld, Hermannsburg (Ntaria) in The NT. Most recently Dione taught for two and half years at the Islamic school in Young- New Madinah College. Dione is a very experienced, dedicated  and talented teacher. 

We are most fortunate that Ms Harvey and Ms Ryan are available to join our team and we look forward very much to making them welcome in our community.

School Community Council

We are pleased to share with you that the transition to the School Community Council is now complete. Thank you to all the members of the outgoing School Board and Parents and Friends Association for their assistance and support throughout this process. 

Moving forward, School Community Council meetings will be open to ALL members of the school community. Having a child attend St Joseph’s automatically makes parents and carers members of the Council.  We will advertise forthcoming meetings well in advance in the Newsletter, on Compass, etc and look forward to your attendance.

I am sure all members of our community join me in gratitude to the following parents who have taken on Executive roles following the recent Expressions of Interest process:

Co-Chair- Davina and Andrew Ray

Treasurer- Amanda Protheroe

Secretary- Rochelle Cawthorne

Ordinary Members-

Mel Martens

Natasha Barker

Belinda Mawhinney

Sheridan Hunter

Staff Representative- Sally Metcalfe

Parish Priest Fr Jiss

Hennessy Catholic College Visit

We were delighted to welcome Mrs Kathy Holding, Principal of Hennessy Catholic College to St Joseph’s last Friday. Mrs Holding gave the Yr 5/6 children a comprehensive overview of the amazing opportunities available at Hennessy for high school. The students enjoyed hearing about the school and gaining insights into life in high school and all that lies ahead. The students came up with some great questions too.

Families who are interested in learning more about life at Hennessy Catholic College, please contact the school to arrange a tour and an appointment: (02) 6382 1486

Athletics Carnival

The St Joseph’s Athletics Carnival will see children K-6 competing in a wide range of track, field and novelty events. This event is scheduled for Friday 31st May and we hope many parents and friends will be available to join us and cheer the children on!

A great day of sport is assured!

In conclusion…

At last the fallen tree has been removed and tidied up! Our sincere thanks to Sarah Cassell and Phil Nealon for taking on this big job! We really appreciate how this work has been done with excellence and the playground made safe for the children.

Playgroup recommences for term 2 tomorrow and we look forward to welcoming families from the community with little ones yet to start school. 

With best wishes,