Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Thank you for another wonderful term. All of us at St Joseph's wish everyone a happy and holy Christmas. Enjoy the break and have a safe holiday. I look forward to seeing everyone next year!

We also thank everyone in the Joey's community who assisted and participated in the St Vincent De Paul's Christmas Appeal and Christmas In the COLA.

Regards,

Ms Amanda Wilson

Principal

On Wednesday, as a Community, we celebrated our 2022 Giving Liturgy with Father Leo. Over the past term, students and staff have been collecting items and money for the St Vincent De Paul's Christmas Appeal. These generous gifts and donations were given to Tony Young from the Albion Park St Vincent De Paul Chapter. Thank you to all members of our school community who donated to the Christmas Appeal, your support is greatly appreciated!!

This year Christmas in the Cola was organised by the SRC students who did an outstanding job getting this event ready. Mrs Minns and her team sang Christmas Carols for the festive celebration and it was enjoyed by all. To get into the Christmas spirit many students wore Christmas mufti and there were many sugary treats and photos taken. Joey's was very lucky this year as Santa visited our special event even though he had a busy schedule!

I would like to Congratulate all the students who had singing lessons each Tuesday in preparation for liturgies, band performances and carols in the cola you all excelled and made st. Joseph's proud of your talents.
Thank you to Holly Collins, Miah Williams, Eva Mutton, Matthew Hay, Tim Bennett and Ray Strickland for sharing your talents.

See you all, old and new, each week for singing lessons next year.

Year 12 students from across the diocese recently attended an overnight leadership retreat in Mittagong, facilitated by Bishop Brian Mascord and members of the Catholic Education Office.

Students spent time in faith workshops, reflection and prayer. In the words of attendees from St Benedict's Catholic College, Oran Park, “the retreat was an incredibly immersive experience that provided us with new insight and tools for Catholic leadership.”

We're excited to see how these student leaders continue to model faith-filled leadership in the new year and beyond.

Last week we made Sushi as part of our Japanese course. Sushi making was a part of our learning about the Japanese culture, country and interesting cities. Making sushi can be difficult, as it is a very well respected Japanese task, and is considered disrespectful if done incorrectly purposely. We had plenty of options to choose from, including a choice of bringing your own food and adding it to your fancied desire. Making sushi was a really fun, interesting experience. We also really enjoyed stuffing our faces with our choice of mixed ingredients in our mini sushi rolls. Additionally, we got to have a sweet cake while making the sushi and at the end, we got to eat Zooper Doopers. Thanks to Sensai Abel who organised the yummy food and showed us the steps involved to make Sushi.

By Taylah French & Hayley McGeorge (Yr 7 Japanese)

HSC Results

Yr 12 students received their HSC results this week. There were many fine performances from our students which we will recognise formally at our annual high achiever assembly at the start of 2023. For now, we would like to congratulate all of our Yr 12 students not just on their results but on completing the journey to the end of Yr 12. At the time of writing pretty much all students who applied have received early entry, a number of students have already secured apprenticeships starting in the new year and other students have already been accepted into their chosen TAFE courses. We wish the Yr 12 cohort of 2022 all the best as they take their initial steps beyond the school walls and will follow their progress with interest in the future.

School Resources for 2023

We will be providing students/families with a list of resources required for 2023. This will be sent out via student email accounts as well as Compass. A reminder that the NSW Government is currently doing the Back to School program where each NSW school student can register to receive 3 x $50 vouchers to spend on necessary school resources such as stationery, uniforms etc. Further information can be found on the Services NSW website - https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/back-to-school-vouchers - please look at this opportunity to help offset some of the costs associated with back-to-school at the start of the year.

Finally

Merry Christmas to all our students as well as their families. We would like to thank you for your support in what is always a busy year. We pray that you all have a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas and holiday and look forward to 2023 where we will once again support our students through their next year of high school.

The St Joseph's TGS Society celebrated the completion of another year of Science education, with new members inducted and existing members acknowledged. TGS wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.