Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

The past couple of weeks has been a very busy time for our school community. 

School Cyclic Review
Last week, the School's Cyclic Review was held. This involved a panel of Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong representatives and other leading Catholic Education consultants visiting the school on Tuesday, 10 May and Wednesday 11 May. Interviews were conducted with student, staff and parent representatives and Albion Park Parish Priest, Fr Leo Duck to review and evaluate our School's progress over the past five years. This will assist Ms Wilson and the School Leadership Team in our planning for the next five years. There were many affirmations of our School's achievements and some recommendations of focus areas to support ongoing, continuous improvement over the next five year cycle. 

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the parent, student and staff representatives who generously shared your experiences, knowledge and wisdom, and engaged so enthusiastically, honestly and passionately to support this important process. Your contributions and insights were so valuable and a crucial part of the review. These will be used to inform future strategic planning for the benefit of all students who are at the centre of everything that we do in this great school community.

NAPLAN Tests
Last week, Year 7 and 9 students completed their NAPLAN tests. Results in these external tests will provide teachers with valuable data to inform future teaching strategies to offer the types of support required to take students to the next level. Parents will also gain a snapshot of your child's literacy and numeracy skills development. All teachers have high expectations and are keen to ensure that their students learn as much as they can so that they can have as many post secondary schooling opportunities as possible. 

2022 Illawarra Schools Careers Expo
For the purpose of educating students in the many career opportunities that are on offer for them, on Wednesday 11 May all Years 10, 11 and 12 students attended the 2022 Illawarra Schools Careers Expo. Congratulations to all students who were commended for their excellent behaviour and positive engagement with the exhibitors to find out as much information as they could about the pathways to the careers to which they are aspiring. A huge thank you to our Careers Advisor, Mrs Sue Kennedy for all her hard work in organising this valuable excursion for students.

Year 11 PDHPE Camp
Year 11 PDHPE students participated in their Outdoor Education Camp last week. While it rained consistently, this did not dampen the true Joey's spirit and zeal with which the students and teachers - Mr Hetherington, Miss Corradini and Mr Mahar participated in the outdoor educational experiences. We thank the students for their cooperative behaviour throughout the camp and the staff for so generously giving their time and talent to make this excellent experience possible.

Study Skills Handbook Online Resource 
In Pastoral Care time this week, Years 8-12 students have worked on further enhancing their study skills via the Study Samurai Library - Study Skills Handbook. We are utilising this online platform to support every child's capacity to consolidate their classroom learning experiences with a structured home study routine. So far this year, focus areas for various Year groups have ranged from goal setting, establishing a home study environment and time management skills to managing workload, summarising and assignment skills. We anticipate that this programme will assist all students to hone their individual study routine to support them achieving their best at school. 

Please find attached to this week's newsletter a separate item to support your child's engagement with the knowledge available through the Study Samurai Library resource.