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Dear parents and carers,
Farewell to Ms Clancy
This Friday, Ms Clancy will conclude her role as Principal of St Joseph’s. After more than five years of dedicated service, she will be taking up a new challenge of supporting Catholic schools in the western region of the Archdiocese. She will be sharing her expertise with principals particularly regarding the curriculum and online learning.
Ms Clancy has made significant changes to the school particularly in the learning agenda and teaching strategies. She has worked hard to improve the physical fabric of the school. She has had a strong pastoral concern for the students always trying to encourage them to do their best and be their best.
Today we held a special school assembly for Ms Clancy where the students offered speeches of appreciation and presented her with a video and booklet expressing their thanks for her service to the school. She was also presented with flowers.
Ms Clancy thanked the students for their words and expression of appreciation. She said she was sad to leave but would look back on her time at Grenfell with fondness, particularly for the students. She wished all the students the very best for the future
There will be an opportunity to have a farewell function on behalf of parents in a few weeks. The function will be organised by the P&F.
Ms Clancy at the recent K-2 Canberra Excursion
Selection process for the appointment of the Principal of St Joseph’s
Catholic Education Canberra-Goulburn (CE) is conducting the selection process for the next Principal of St Joseph’s. One step in the process is a Community Consultation session. Mrs Mary-Jane Carroll-Fajarda from CE will be attending to hear parents and staff views about the qualities needed in the new principal.
The session will be held on Friday May 21 commencing at 2:00pm after the “Lunch with Mum and Dad” event. I hope you might be able to attend.
Advice will be circulated closer to the event for parents who can not attend about how you might offer your views.
Visit by Chair and Deputy Chair of the Catholic Education Commission for Canberra-Goulburn to thank Ms Clancy for her leadership of the School
The Chair and Deputy Chair of the Catholic Education Commission for Canberra-Goulburn paid a visit to the school on Tuesday. Dr Patrick McArdle as the Chair was given a tour of the school by our School Captains Genevieve and Charlie. He took the opportunity to express thanks to Ms Clancy for her work as Principal of St Joseph’s for the last five and half years. Dr McArdle was interested to hear about the learning approaches at the school. Present also was Mrs Vanesa Gibson, a parent at St Joseph’s, who is the Deputy Chair of the Commission. I thank Dr McArdle and Mrs Gibson for taking the time to visit St Joseph’s to show their appreciation of Ms Clancy’s leadership of the school.
Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea
Thank you to those parents who were able to attend the Mother’s Day afternoon tea last Friday. It was pleasing to have the opportunity to catch up with so many of you. Thank you to the parents who organised the Mother’s Day Stall and Afternoon Tea.
I hope all mothers had a lovely day last Sunday on Mother’s Day.
Athletics Carnival - The Athletics Carnival will be held tomorrow. The running and long jump events will be held at Henry Lawson High School. High jump, discuss and shot putt events will be held at St Joseph’s during Wednesday Sport sessions over the next couple of weeks. The Carnival is expected to start at approximately 9:40am at the High School.
All students will be competing in the events that are allocated for their age groups other than the 800 metres which will voluntary. Please remind students to wear their sports uniform.
The Parents and Friends Committee will be holding a Sausage Sizzle at lunchtime (1:15pm). Parents are most welcome to attend and your assistance with running events would be much appreciated.
St Joseph’s Athletics Carnival 2021
Program of Events
N.B High Jump and Shotput (to be run at St Joseph’s during PDHPE lesson time)
Venue: The Henry Lawson High School
9.40 a.m. Open 800m
10.00 a.m. Rotation 1-Long Jump (Boys) and Discus (Girls)
10.45 a.m. 200 m races
11.00 a.m. Recess (Junior school arrives)
11.30 a.m. Age Races
12.00 p.m. Rotation 2 -Long Jump (Girls) and Discus (Boys), concurrently with Novelty events
12.45 p.m. Relays
1.15 p.m. Lunch (Sausage Sizzle - run by P& F – parents welcome)
2.00 p.m. Presentation of Ribbons
2.15 p.m. Pack up and return to school
Office Closure
Tomorrow the office will be closed between 10:30am and 2:30pm. The school landline will be rediverted to a mobile phone which will be answered at the Carnival.
Annual Parent Satisfaction Survey - Tell Them From Me.
Each year CE organises for parents of all schools to be surveyed about aspects of school life. In 2021 CE has adopted a difference survey tool which offers a great range of issues for parents to respond to. The survey tool also has the capacity to compare a single schools satisfaction levels with groups of schools. The survey is call Tell Them From Me.
The survey will be made available on the Parent Portal from Monday 24 May until Wednesday 11 June. This timing is earlier than last year’s survey. Details for accessing the survey will be available in the next Newsletter.
Open Day at Hennessy College
If you would like to visit Hennessy College, please note the upcoming Open Day. Hennessy College is the Catholic High School in Young and it has had students from St Joseph attending for many years.
Contact with teachers – As always, I encourage you to keep in contact with class teachers if you feel there are issues about your child’s learning. Your support is appreciated.
Kind regards
Peter Hamill
Acting Principal
When someone has been a part of a community for as long as Ms Clancy has, the things they have contributed to that community become interwoven into the fabric that makes up that community, thereby leaving behind a lasting reminder of their contributions.
Ms Clancy has worked very hard over the years to follow her vision of making St Joseph’s School a great place to be. She always saw our school, not as small, but as mighty in spirit, dedication and hard work. She encouraged the teachers to be leaders by promoting professional learning in many different areas and involving the school in projects that put us in the forefront of current teaching and learning pathways.
She also had great vision for making the physical environment better for the students. From building and planting gardens, to transforming the oval into a cathead-free green oasis, to creating a home for our 3 resident chooks, to building up the books in the library to the point where the shelves are now bulging, Ms Clancy was always looking for opportunities to improve the school, and to encourage students to be involved in projects outside of the classroom.
As for technology, that was always on her agenda and she worked tirelessly to improve it during her five years with us. It is a credit to her hard work and determination that our school is well above average in the schools in our Archdiocese when it comes to internet connectivity and speed.
It is now time to farewell you, Ms Clancy, but we won’t forget all that you have done to make our school a better place for everyone. Our fabric is richer for what you have contributed to it. We wish you all the best in your new job and with whatever else the future holds in store.
Peace and blessings from all of us,
