Filter Content
Wishes for the end of 2021
Thank you to all of our parents, carers and families for your support of St Joseph’s in 2021. We thought it would be a more “normal” year than 2020 which saw COVID-19 significantly changing how we did things. As we look back now, we see how we became accustomed to potential and real lock downs, Blended Learning, mask wearing, QR check ins and being unable to welcome our families into school. However, our students, families and staff continued to work together to achieve much to be proud and thankful for. As we are reminded daily on our thankful tree, we can still be grateful for so much and I pray at this time of the year for you all and that the year to come holds more to be thankful for. We wish you the most wonderful Christmas together and hope that over the holidays there is some time to spend together. May God bless you all, and the Nativity be a reminder of how much you are loved and cared for.
Blessing and Dedication of our Memorial Garden
On Friday 3rd December, we held a special blessing and dedication prayer service in memory of Mrs Rosemary Saunders, who many will know and remember as a teacher who was part of our school community for 43 years. After Mrs Saunders passed away in November 2020, her family and our community wanted to remember her service to education and her faithfulness to our community in a special way. In our Prayer Garden close to the MPA, there is now a special space in memory of Mrs Saunders and all others who have been a part of our community but are no longer with us. When we are able to invite parents and carers back into our school, we welcome you to come and “sit awhile” in this special space. We have included for you a video this week of our Blessing.
Year 6 Graduation
This week, we enjoyed celebrating the conclusion to the primary school years for our Year 6 students with their Mass, awards, dinner, fun day and final farewell assembly. We are thankful for being able to give our students these experiences. It has been a pleasure to work with these students and their families for all of us at St Joseph’s. We wish them the very best in moving on to high school and we know they will achieve great things. A very big thanks to all parents, carers and staff who made the graduation events so very special.
Major Award Winners
Dux of the School |
Penny Little and Riley Robinson |
Wally Dick Memorial Award |
Macey Stewart |
Paul Wilson Award |
Hudson Bell |
Caleb Scott Award |
Matthew Kelly |
St Agnes’ Parish Father Leo Donnelly Award |
Aaron Biju |
Excellence Award |
Tori McGrath |
Sportsperson of the Year |
Tori McGrath and Hudson Bell |
Cultural Award |
Eva Francis |
Thank you for Parish hamper donations
St Joseph’s, along with St Agnes’ Parish, would like to thank all families for their generosity once again in donating items for our hampers this year. Our Parish team could not coordinate the enormous efforts they normally do, but our schools and other Parish groups worked together to ensure that we could still give to those in need within our own communities and beyond. We also give a very special thanks to Lisa Gilchrist, Laura Hatherly and our Mini Vinnies students who worked tirelessly to organise and pack our hampers. A thank you goes to our staff who delivered these for us to the families in need over the past weekend: Holly Hough, Laura Hatherly, Kathy Bailey, Jeannine Ucdereli, Sarah Blundell, Deb Rennes and Karen Davies. It is truly a privilege to be able to bring some joy to those who would be feeling things are pretty tough this year.
Christmas Mass Times
Goodbyes and Thank yous for Staff
I would like to acknowledge staff who will be leaving or changing their work with us for 2021.
We say goodbye and thank you to Mr Nathanael Spannari, who has worked with us at St Joseph’s since November 2020. His contributions to our school have been appreciated and valued, and we will miss his crazy socks, dance moves, warm smile, compassion and gentle faith. Nathanael with his wife Lauren and baby Addelyna, are moving to Grafton to be closer to family and to take on a new position. We wish him all the best in this new adventure.
We also thank Miss Lauren Ussher, who worked part time in our teaching team this year across a number of grades. We greatly appreciate Lauren’s commitment and work with us, and will continue to have Lauren work with us on a casual basis next year, so we will only be saying “see you later” and thank you for now.
Staffing 2022
Kindergarten |
Magda Buckley (KBB) |
Year 1 |
Naomi Currall (1CS) |
Year 2 |
Melissa Buckland (2BT) |
Year 3 |
Lucy Barber (3B) Kate Mitchell / Holly Hough (3MH) Danica Stephens (Third Teacher and Intervention) |
Year 4 |
Sarah McKinnon / Robyn McDougall (4MM) Deb Rennes (4R) Danica Stephens (Third Teacher and Intervention) |
Year 5 |
Sarah Blundell / Laura Hatherly (5BH) Samuel Taylor (5T) |
Year 6 |
Elise Howard (6H) David Lynch (6L) |
RFF |
Damian Lawrence - PE - Years 3-5 Nicola Jackson - Years K-2 Vanessa Goldstein - Years 3-6 Emma Francis - Years K, 1, 2, 6 |
Educational Assistants |
Tracy Bancroft Briony Butt Robyn Fitzpatrick Di Gamack Leanne Germain Lisa Gilchrist Vickye McKechnie |
Indigenous Education Worker |
Caleb Smith |
Administration |
Aunty Heather Aunty Ant Aunty Sam Aunty Kim Lisa Gilchrist |
Library |
Di Gamack Laura Malligan (Assistant) |
Counsellor |
Kelly Russell |
Student Support Worker |
Cate Hearle |
Canteen |
Kim Goldie |
Maintenance |
Matt Moretti Darren Northey |
Leadership Team
Principal - Tess Koning AP Mission - Nathan Porter AP Learning & Teaching - Jeannine Ucdereli Leader of Pedagogy - Robyn McDougall Leader of Digital Technologies and Innovation - Sarah Blundell Leader of Inclusion - Lyn Kelly Leader of Pastoral Care - Holly Hough |
Coordinators Cultural - Elise Howard Sport - Leah Toole |
Premier's Reading Challenge 2021
Congratulations to the following students who completed the Premier's Reading Challenge for 2021
Miley Ashcroft | Taylor Ashcroft | Misty-Lee Bennett | Mearah Canty |
Sienna-Maree Canty | Harriet Clough | Gemma Cooper | Hannah Cooper |
Rafael D'Souza | Aryan Vishanth | Toby Hamilton | Wyatt Hough |
Alivia Johnson | Phoenix Kitching (Gold) | Alexia Lynch | Tori McGrath (Platinum) |
Siya Modi | Lylah Robinson | Riley Robinson | Anabel Shijo (Gold) |
Isabel Shijo | Aibel Shoby | Aidan Shoby | Lucas Single |
Lily Skinner | Aislinn Suveesh | Riley Tattersal | Jaina Thakrani |
Primary Swimming Carnival
Our Primary Swimming Carnival is planned to take place on Thursday 10th February (Week 2 Term 1) at the Wauchope Memorial Olympic Pool. Please encourage your children to practice their swimming all summer holidays and, early next year, you will be given the option to enter your child in competitive events or non-competitive events. Only the competitive events will be timed and these students will have a chance to make it into the Zone Swimming Carnival. This carnival will include all students who are aged Under 8’s to Under 13’s.
Leah Toole
Sports Coordinator
Week 1 - Term 1 2022 |
|
Monday |
|
Tuesday |
|
Wednesday |
|
Thursday |
|
Friday |
|
Week 2 - Term 1 2022 |
|
Monday |
|
Thursday 10th Feburary |
|
Please note these dates can change from time to time due to unforeseen circumstances and we will endeavour to advise you of any changes at the earliest possible opportunity. Our school Google calendar can be accessed via this link for additional advanced dates -
For your convenience 2022 school term dates are listed below. They are also located on our website. Click on the words “TERM DATES” on the home page.
TERM 1 2022
School Administration Day (Pupil Free) - Friday 28th January 2022
School Administration Day (Pupil Free) - Monday 31st January 2022
Year 1 to 6 Maths Assessment Interviews - Tuesday 1st February to Thursday 3rd February 2022
Kindergarten Best Start Interviews - Tuesday 1st February to Friday 4th February 2022
Year 1 to 6 commence classes for Term 1 - Friday 4th February 2022
Kindergarten commence classes for Term 1 - Monday 7th February 2022
Last day of classes for Term 1 - Friday 8th April 2022
TERM 2
Kindergarten to Year 6 commence classes for Term 2
Tuesday 26th April 2022
Kindergarten to Year 6 last day of classes Term 2
Friday 1st July 2022
TERM 3
Kindergarten to Year 6 commence classes for Term 3
Monday 18th July 2022
Kindergarten to Year 6 last day of classes Term 3
Friday 23rd September 2022
TERM 4
Kindergarten to Year 6 commence classes for Term 4
Tuesday 10th October 2022
Kindergarten to Year 6 last day of classes for Term 4
Friday 16th December 2022
Staff Development Day (Pupil Free) - Monday 19th December 2022
Staff Development Day (Pupil Free) - Tuesday 20th December 2022
Other Holidays in 2022
Australia Day – 26th January (Public Holiday)
Good Friday – 15th April (Public Holiday)
Easter Monday – 18th April (Public Holiday)
ANZAC Day – 25th April (Public Holiday)
Queen’s Birthday – 13th June (Public Holiday)
Labour Day – 3rd October (Public Holiday)
Christmas Day - 25th December (Public Holiday)
Boxing Day - 26th December (Public Holiday)