St Joseph’s is a place of “Hope”, it is a gift from God as part of grace…hope for the future, hope in making a difference …. Hope has many aspects. Over the last week I heard of Hope being a ‘place’ where you have the freedom from fear, humiliation, and destruction. I thought this was a very thoughtful image. Jesus brings hope and brings it to a place when people act with compassion and kindness and inclusion …. I want St Joseph’s not just to be a place of ‘hope’ but a beacon of ‘hope’.  Where students take on the Josephite values to make a difference in the world.

Good luck to Year 11 who are moving into their exams next week, this is the culmination of your preliminary year. Please give it your best effort. Doing exams is a skill and it takes practice to learn to manage your time and nerves so you can do your best thinking and show what your knowledge about your subject areas and apply the skills you have learnt to different situations.

Our Year 12 move into the intensive week of learning to prepare you have your HSC examinations. Congratulations to those students who received early entry but now is the time to keep working towards your HSC and put your best effort in to reach your potential. The Early entry is to be celebrated but achieving the best result from thirteen years of school is really what you should be aiming for. I would ask that parents and caregivers support their young person to be the best they can be.

I would like to thank the Science and HSIE faculties for the last two weeks of activities promoting their areas including related professions for students to think about. It is wonderful the efforts the staff have put in to make the students learning dynamic and engaging.

I would like to thank Anna Watson, the member for Shellharbour for her visit last Wednesday. Anna is helping with our bus dilemmas and assisting us to move forward with the possible change of bell times to miss the traffic congestion around the Dapto, Albion Park and Shellharbour area to reduce student travel time and that then allows them to better engage with their learning.

Ms Amanda Wilson

Principal