Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

As a school community, we have so much to be grateful for. 

School Musical Performances

In particular, during Week 5 many parents, students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the performances of the School Musical, Cinderella. To all who purchased tickets - thank you for your much appreciated support. To each member of the fabulous cast and crew, and to the Director Mrs Burns, Mrs Mercieca, Mr Dennelly, Mr Burns and all members of our wonderful Creative and Performing Arts Faculty - thank you for your dedication and passion which were again very evident in this year’s school musical. All participants put their heart and soul into each performance and are to be highly commended for all their hard work and the success of the show!

Bishop’s Student Excellence Award Ceremony

On Tuesday, 23 August, I attended the Diocesan Bishop’s Student Excellence Award Ceremony with our School Captain, Neave Keenan and her parents. On behalf of the school community, congratulations to Neave who is the very deserving 2022 recipient of this most prestigious award. Well done Neave!

MacKillop Community Day

On Thursday, 25 August the School celebrated our first ‘Mackillop Day’ with a meaningful and spiritually inspiring full school liturgy held in the Gym. We were reminded of the trail-blazing nature of the life of our nation’s first saint, St. Mary of the Cross Mackillop. As members of this Catholic school, we were encouraged to follow in Mary MacKillop’s footsteps by: being people of justice and ecumenism, being courageous and hopeful, having a deep faith in our God who provides, and by living the Gospel with a Josephite heart. Also highlighted was Mary MacKillop’s inspirational quote, “never see a need without doing something about it”.

Congratulations to the following students who were presented the inaugural MacKillop Awards at this assembly. This award recognises students who in their words and actions epitomise the following values demonstrated by both Mary Mackillop in her lifetime & and the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart today: justice, service, compassion, respect, humility, courage and hospitality.

Year 7 Mackillop Day Awards Recipients:  Isaiah Infante, Amy Jedrzejcza, Edward Robinson, Alyssa Shepherd and Nikita Toseska.

Year 8 Mackillop Day Awards Recipients:  James Billett, Katelyn Blissett, Bella Brennan, Hayden Smith and Pradhana Sreejith.

Year 9 Mackillop Day Awards Recipients: Emily Di Pietro, Ethan Field, Anabella Filipovic, Chloe Norris and Matthew Shepherd.

Year 10 Mackillop Day Awards Recipients: Mackenzie Best, Chloe Bloomfield, Aidan Curnow, Isabelle Dimitrevski, Isabelle Plattner, Lucas Thompson and Isabella Toohey.

Year 11 Mackillop Day Awards Recipients are: Aaron Jeffery, Jasmine Kaschubs, Tara Massey, Bailey Miller and Nicholas Schulz.

Year 12 Mackillop Day Awards Recipients are:  Teya Garcia, Jake Heys, Charlotte May, Jack Tomasi and Zara Williams.

Principal’s Gold Awards

The following students received Principal’s Gold Awards at the Full School Assembly on Monday 15 August:

Ryan Cazalet-Smith 
Lucas Thompson 
Isabelle Dimitrievski 
Isabelle Plattner 
Sarah Taylor 
Jessica Seveque
Liana Carella 
Alex Quinion 
Jasmine Kaschubs 
Indiana Taylor 
Vincent Nardi 
Hannah Hill-Harrison 
Emily Allen 
Isabella Micovski 
Chelsea Whalan 
Katelyn Blissett 
Eva Mutton 
Holly Collins 
Timothy Bloomfield 
Cooper Hill 
Hayley Jedrzejczak 
Tahlia Coan 
Rithika Sutheesh
Cate Mansbridge 
Ryan Cergovski 
Leon Photiou
Travis Grimson 
Aiden Mcewan 
Phoenix Chetcuti 
Alphons Lijoy 
Ellie Micovski 
Talisha Ristevski 
Gemma Cresswell
Michael Broomham 
Blake Barsby 
Nathan Berto 
Mia Haslam 
Breanna Cresswell 
Declan Bone 
Lachlan Daly 
Billie Elliott 

This is a fine achievement with each of these students having been issued 48 merit stamps for respect for self, others, learning and/or the environment. Congratulations and well done to all recipients.

It is pleasing to see so many students being rewarded for their outstanding effort and positive behaviours for learning at school. 

Senior Students

Year 12 returned to school from their Trial HSC Exams last week and are now busy finalising their preparations for the HSC Exams next term. Meanwhile, Year 11 students are revising in preparation for their end of Year 11 examinations scheduled to commence on Thursday 15 September in Week 9.

Reminder -  Book Week Celebration Day 

We look forward to celebrating Book Week on Monday 29 August and hope as many students as possible will demonstrate school spirit by dressing up for this fun day!

Have a well deserved relaxing weekend everyone!

Mrs Jenny Bell
Acting Principal

Yr 12 Update

Yr 12 students have now received the results from their trial HSC exams. Students should be using the remaining class time to review the feedback given by their teachers and ensuring the work they do in class as well as at home is targeted at developing the areas that need improvement. Classes are running as normal and students are strongly advised to ensure that they attend all classes and make the most of the remaining time available with their class teachers.

Best wishes to our students finalising their major projects for submission as well as students doing upcoming performances in Music and Drama as well as our Language students who have their Oral assessments in coming weeks. We hope your hard work over the past 12 months is reflected in your performances on the day.

Yr 11 Update

The draft schedule for this exam block has been distributed to students. One thing to note that the exam block is scheduled across 7 days to maximise classroom time before the exams. This means most students at some point will have at least one day where there are two exams in a day. Exams are generally 2 hours duration meaning a morning exam and an afternoon exam each day. Whilst we try to spread exams to limit the number of students doing 2 exams a day, there will still be days where students have to double up. This may also be the case in the HSC exams as well.

At the end of the Yr 11 course most students will be in a position to drop one subject. This is because the majority of students have a pattern of study consisting of 13 units, most will only need 11 units to satisfy for Yr 12 eligibility requirements. Students are not able to drop a subject until term 4, more information will be provided at that time. For now students are reminded that they need to keep working diligently to meet the requirements of all their courses to ensure they satisfactorily complete their Yr 11 courses to allow them to progress to Yr 12 study.

Stage 5 2023 Electives

Congratulations to the students in Yr 9 who have been offered positions in Pathways subjects for 2023. The quality of the applicants this year was exceptional - unfortunately some students had to miss out as we had more applications than positions available.

Yr 9 students had a year meeting regarding Yr 10 electives earlier this week. The online portal for choosing Yr 10 electives closes at 9am on Monday 29th August. Students are reminded to check their school email accounts for further information.

Yr 8 students will begin the process of choosing Yr 9 electives in week 7. We will hold a year meeting on Tuesday to explain the process as well as allow the Leaders of Learning to provide a summary of the various elective subjects available for students to choose. Students have already been emailed a copy of the Elective Handbook that contains all the information about the elective process and subjects being offered. Students are again encouraged to take time to review this document to assist in finalising their elective choices for 2023.

Naplan

We are expecting Naplan results for Yr 7 and 9 next week. Individual reports for parents/carers are scheduled to be distributed to students by the end of the term.

Book week was this week! 

This year's theme is 'Dreaming with eyes open...' and focuses on acknowledging Australia's First Nations People and their rich story-based culture.

As a school community we will celebrate our dress up day on Monday and students and staff have been invited to wear their costume to assembly on Monday August 29. 

The Library and IT staff will be dressing up as a character from the well known picture book "Where the Wild Things Are".

Our Term 3 coaching sessions for AFL and cricket kicked off last week. It has been wonderful to witness so many keen Joey’s students having a go and developing their skills. We thank NSW/ACT AFL, Top Edge Cricket Coaching and our Joey’s staff coaches for their expertise and guidance. Coaching clinics for basketball are scheduled to commence shortly. The lunchtime basketball competition is in full swing with Overtime and 2016 Warriors taking an early lead. Students involved in the competition are asked to  check the revised draw on Compass as duty teams have been added. This is essential to ensuring that games are played safely and fairly. 

Congratulations and Good Luck 

Lewis Mercieca in Year 10 has been selected in the U16 NSW Baseball team. He will tour Florida, USA for 2 weeks at the start of September and compete in various baseball tournaments. 

Lewis was also selected from the Down Under Winter Classic U16 division (that competed in Qld recently) into the Australian Waves U16 Team that will represent Australia in the Perfect Game International, also in Florida from the 24th September until the 13th October. This is an outstanding achievement. We wish Lewis continued success and safe travels as he represents at this high level. 

Congratulations to Mackenzie Best in Year 10 who has been selected to represent the Wollongong Diocese in the 1500m Walk at the NSWCCC Secondary Athletics Championships at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday 12 September. She will join fellow Joey’s athletes Grace Pomery, Tayissa Buchanan and Thomas Hofman. Best of luck to our talented track and field athletes.

Congratulations to Caitlyn Bloomfield in Year 12 who has been awarded Illawarra Basketball Referee of the Year for 2022. 

National Health & Physical Education Day

Australian school children rank among the worst in the world when it comes to their physical activity levels. To tackle this problem, they need to be taught skills and have better knowledge and understanding of how to lead active and healthy lifestyles.

That’s why National Health and Physical Education (HPE) Day has been designed to raise awareness of, and advocate for, a greater focus of HPE in our schools.

The theme of HPE day is Good for Children, Good for Schools and Good for Communities and in 2020 HPE day will be celebrated on Wednesday 7th September 2022! Everyone is encouraged to get moving, because every step counts!

The Joey’s PDHPE teachers are planning to run sports activities for Year 7 in periods 3 & 4 and for the whole school community at lunchtime. Activities include: Boxing with SAVVY Fitness, Frisbee Golf, Yoga/Meditation, Beep Test Challenge and Touch Football/Basketball. Students who participate in a lunch time sport will receive a raffle ticket to go in the draw to win a Rebel Sport voucher. We are especially looking forward to seeing Year 7’s exhibit their poster boards for their ‘Let’s Get Along’ Joey’s Lunchtime Club Assessment Task!

Exploring Early Childhood

Year 11 EEC students visited All Saints Preschool and Park & Play in Albion Park to investigate children’s services. They had a wonderful time playing games, interacting with the children and learning about the services from the experienced staff. 

Year 9 PDHPE classes have been really enjoying Wheelchair Sports at Shellharbour Sports Stadium. They have been lucky enough to participate in Wheelchair basketball and AFL. We thank the team from Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT Roadshows and Javier Jimimez in Year 10 for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students as part of their Paralympic Games Unit. 

 

Upcoming Events

TERM 4 Sport	Venue	Date	Teams	Staff Coach/Manager
Boys Cricket	Dalton Park	October 12 (Wed Week 1) Backup 19/10	7-9	Mr Lewis  Mr Dowdell
Boys AFL	Dalton Park	October 14 (Friday Week 1) Backup 24/10	U14 (can’t turn 15 in 2022)	Mrs Jansson
Girls AFL	Macquarie Fields	October 14 (Friday Week 1) Backup 24/10	7-9	Mrs Hensman
Boys Basketball	Campbelltown	October 17 (Week 2)	Junior 7-9	Mr Lewis
			Senior 10-11	Mr Dowdell
Girls Basketball	Beaton Park	October 17 (Week 2)	Junior 7-9	Mrs Linsley
			Senior 10-11	Mrs Musgrave
Berg Shield	TBC	TBC	7-9	Mr Moran
Downie Shield	TBC	TBC	Open	Mr Lewis/Mr Dowdell

 

Mrs Michelle Garbutt Representative Sports Coordinator

Applications for the Elite Athlete Program have opened.

Closing date for applications is 4PM ON FRIDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2022. Please ensure we have received your application at sjchselite@dow.catholic.edu.au before this date.

You can access the prospectus and enrolment application below or through the school website.

Thank you to everyone who helped with, participated in or attended our school muscial - Cinderella.

Everyone had an amazing time and it was great to finally share everyone's hard work with the school community.

On Tuesday, the 16th of August, four students, Sienna Kaschubs (Yr 7), Noah Bechara (Yr 11), Clayton Van Leeuwen (Yr 11) and Hannah Watson (Yr 11), attended Holy Spirit College in Bellambi to compete against other schools within the South Coast in a Public Speaking competition. 

With special help from Mr Tim Wilson, the students were able to craft speeches and practise their public speaking skills. I would like to especially congratulate Clayton Van Leeuwen of Year 11 for placing first within his group with an amazing speech about the topic, “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful”.  

I would also like to acknowledge Mr Tim Wilson for all of the effort he put into ensuring that the students who attended put their best foot forward. He ensured that we were prepared and had perfected our speeches and delivery techniques. 

Thank you as well to Mrs Schneider for taking the time out of her day to attend the event, giving us another familiar face in the crowds. 

Thank you to those who attended, and to those who proudly represented St Joseph’s. 

-Hannah Watson, Year 11

As we move into Semester 2, please check your school fee statement to ensure your  school fees will be paid for 2022 school year.

A reminder payment can be made by eftpos, Bpay and in cash.

If you are experiencing financial difficulty please contact the school for a confidential discussion with the school principal.

New Research in the fields of psychology, education and neuroscience shows meditation can have positive effects on students' well-being, social skills and academic skills.

Mindfulness Meditation

“Mindfulness” meditation involves a three-step mental process where students:

1. Focus attention on a particular target (for example your own breathing, a sound, a sensation).
2. Notice when attention has wandered away from the target.
3. Bring attention back to the target.

Students should do this without being judgmental and with a curiosity that allows them to identify patterns in their thoughts and feelings. This leads to a clearer mind and a more peaceful outlook.

There are many different forms of mindfulness meditation you might like to try.

The process below outlines Awareness Meditation.

When you first meditate, your mind might be like a hyper-active child, undisciplined and always wanting its own way. So to start give the mind lots to focus on; as you improve your meditation and relaxation skills you give it fewer and simpler objects of focus. This first stage of meditation is called “present moment awareness.” Simply turn your attention to:

Sounds.

First focus on the most obvious sounds and as your concentration gets sharper, notice more subtle sounds, such as bird calls and distant traffic. Just allow those sounds to wash over you, letting go of the sounds that have just passed by and being present to the sounds that arise now.

Bodily sensations.

Feel your arms resting on your lap, your legs on the chair. Feel your clothes against your skin. Notice any pains, muscle tightness, fluttering in your stomach or anxious feelings, the very things you were trying to avoid. Watch how these sensations shift and change, letting go of them and becoming present to those that arise.

Thoughts.

Watch your thoughts arise and pass, without getting caught up in them or feeling that you have to act on them. Some thoughts are nonsense; others are so compelling that you follow them. With demanding thoughts, observe them, label them and let them go. For example, if you are thinking: “I’m upset over that insult,” you might label it “hurt” and let it go, ready for the next thought to arise. It’s like watching clouds passing in the sky and you are progressing towards a “blue sky mind” where storm clouds pass and the mind is clear, calm and alert.

Breathing.

Watch the natural changes in your breathing as you become more relaxed. You might notice that your breath starts shallow and fast, but becomes deeper and more regular as you relax more profoundly.

Learn more on the Study Skills Handbook site which includes access to the Study Samurai Video Library.

www.studyskillshandbook.com.au

Do you know an 8-29 year old with the potential to be an entrepreneur?

The Zig Zag Hub in Nowra & Wollongong have released their next round of programs for young people:

Entrepreneurship for Creative Kids School holiday workshops 

These will take place in Nowra, Shellharbour and Wollongong in the September School Holidays 2022, for 8-17 year olds.

$100 – Creative kids vouchers accepted. To utilise these to book your child’s place please email info@zigzaghub.com.au. You will need to provide the voucher number, name of voucher holder and D.O.B for voucher holder.

Otherwise you can book here for Nowra: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/school-holiday-design-thinking-workshops-nowra-tickets-399906560287

Book here for Shellharbour: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/school-holiday-design-thinking-workshops-shellharbour-tickets-399907623467

Book here for Wollongong: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/myevent?eid=399863772307

PCYC Lake Illawarra offer a Safer Driver Course at the PCYC.  If you have anyone who is on their Learners permit, has 50 hours on their log book, under 25 years of age and would like to participate in one of our courses please contact PCYC on 42964448 to enrol.

Please follow the link to a short video about the program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChnyuS-6DZs