Farewell

To begin with we need to say a sad farewell to Mrs Taylor who will be finishing up at St Joseph’s next week. Mrs Taylor has worked in the Curriculum Office for the past 3 years supporting students with ensuring they meet the NESA requirements for the HSC andRoSA, setting up exam periods, Parent/Teacher Interviews, subject selectionhandbooks and assessment manuals for each year group, catching up missed exams/assessments and also issuing the odd N Warning where required. 

Her care and concern for students has always been well received and the students will no doubt miss her smiling face in the curriculum office. We thank her for her efforts and support during her time at St Joseph’s and wish her well in her new career path.

Stage 6 AI Workshop

Earlier this week students spent time with IT staff from the CEO looking at AI tools - specifically Notebook LM and Gemini. These are platforms that students can access while enrolled at CEO schools. The purpose of the workshops was to show students how these platforms can be used to support their home study program as well as further develop their knowledge and understanding of concepts they may be covering in their courses.

The workshops were generally well received with students appreciating the power of AI to do more than just write essays/complete questions etc. Students are encouraged to consider where and how these powerful tools can best be applied to support their learning and preparation for upcoming exams. We hope to follow this up with Yr 10 and staff early next term.

Year 12

A busy couple of weeks for Year 12. Last week a number of universities issued their early entry offers. Once again a large number of St Joseph’s students were fortunate enough to be given offers to a range of courses. While this is great news it can also be challenging as students can tend to ‘ease off’ their preparations knowing that a place at university is potentially secured. To this end we had a year meeting where we discussed the importance of finishing the journey that we have started.

Final HSC results are determined by the performance of the whole class in each subject compared to other classes around the state. Each students result can impact other students results positively or negatively and so to that end it is important that students continue with their diligent approach and work collaboratively to support each other right until the end.

To keep things fresh this week students have taken part in intensive 2-3hr workshops for each of their subjects. This is a means by which we can use the time to really explore the concepts that students need that final support with as the push towards final HSC exams begins. Students are to be commended on their willingness to engage in this process and the class teachers are thanked for the time and effort that they have put into creating these learning activities.

Year 11 Yearly Exams

Year 11 yearly exams begin next week and continue for the remaining two weeks of the term. Students have their exam schedules and also have flexible attendance during this time. We wish them well as they prepare for this final step of Year 11 before embarking on their own HSC journeys from the start of Term 4.

Yr 9 and 10 2026 Electives

Students moving to Yrs 9-11 in 2026 will receive confirmation of their elective choices by early Week 9. We ask that parents review the choices and once confirmed sign the notification and return it to the curriculum office by the end of the term as a record of acceptance. Students places in elective classes will not finalised until the offer of acceptance is returned. Please ensure this is completed to avoid missing out on places in allocated classes.

Minimum Standards Tests

We will be running another round of minimum standards tests in Week 10. Students in Years 10/11 are asked to check their students online account to determine which tests they still need to complete. Students needing to complete any of the three tests will be emailed with the dates these tests are running. Students in Year 11 will have the opportunity to complete the tests on the last day of term and are encouraged to use this time to avoid missing valuable class time at the start of Year 12 courses.