Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

This week we are celebrating 200 years of Catholic Education. It started with humble beginnings in the outskirts of Sydney with Fr John Therry setting up the first school. Over the years it has grown to what it is today with about 20% of the population being educated in the Catholic system. Our Joey’s student leaders Paris and James attended mass on Monday with all the schools in the Diocese with the Bishop.

It was a great occasion with a good sense of community spirit as all the contributors were recognised. Catholic education brings a lens of love over everything we do - it is for everyone but it must bring hope to the world. Our young people are full of hope. They can often see opportunities that are beyond their years - even though there are new challenges and stressors overall, what St Joseph's is proud of is it’s past and present students and all they have contributed and are yet to contribute to the world. 

Over the last two weeks we have been having a blitz on students learning, especially those students with potential who are not concentrating in class in the way they should. It is  making students more accountable for their time and how they are using it to learn. Most students have been responsive and we are seeing improvements in their learning gains - but learning doesn’t just occur inside a classroom. It happens everywhere and our more successful learners are able to convert and translate to different environments. This is the future.

I look at lessons on social media - if students can critically analyze and think about the validity of what they are being presented with, then they are halfway there.  Taking that next step and being responsible for what you post and how it can affect others is the final step - being kind and not so judgmental is a skill. We live in a world where opinions are often seen as equal - we need to have respect for experts - not all opinions are equal, some are so much more informed than others. Our curriculum is set by the NSW government  - they determine the content and skills that students need. We deliver that education in a Catholic context and try to create meaning and real world experiences for the students. Not all learning can be ‘fun’, sometimes it is challenging as students have to be challenged to learn. Sometimes they do not like this - but you don’t learn if you're in your comfort zone - we guide and scaffold students for success. What we ask parents to do is to encourage student perseverance.

Ms Amanda Wilson
Principal