From the Principal

Dear Parents and Friends of St Joseph’s College,

As we prepare to receive our new student leaders, I was reminded of the virtues of leadership recently in the writings from Peter 5:2-3 – Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve. True leadership involves serving and caring for those under our responsibility with a genuine heart. Our college motto “serve him in others” captures the essence of leadership so well. Authentic leaders make the face of Jesus known to others by enacting our college motto and embracing our values of Respect, Compassion, Dignity and Endeavour.

At the end of last term, our new college leaders for 2025 were announced after a rigorous selection process. There were over forty-five applicants for the eighteen available positions which speaks volumes about the desire of our senior students to serve our college community. I had the privilege of witnessing many of our Year 11 cohort display leadership attributes at Emu Gully during their Term 3 camp and through the recent leadership interviews. I am extremely confident in the quality of the young men and women that we are raising in partnership with our families, and I look forward to collaborating with them to grow those we serve.

Congratulations to the following students:

Rice Captains: Zahra Rice, Claire Zimmerle

Murphy Captains: Mackenzie Crompton, Lilly Wiemers

McAuley Captains: Finn Bensted, Aleks Bradley

Brennan Captains: Riley Chandler, Mitchell Hunt

Cultural Captains: Christian Lanzafame, Piper Wiemers

Mission Captains: Lillian Hoffman, Eva Madden

Sports Captains:  Matt Lowe, Addyson Jones

Academic Captains: Sarah Ellis, Gabrielle Horton

College Captains: Tim Kist, Emalia Brocherie

Our newly appointed leaders will be inducted this Friday 11th October as part of the Handover Ceremony with our outgoing leaders.

During the September holidays students and staff from the College ventured to Japan to experience everything the country has to offer. The intention of the trip was to deepen student experience in language as well as culture. Feedback from students and staff indicated the tour was an exceptionally rich experience. I thank Ms Maree Nunn and Mr Adam Watts for facilitating the tour and our families who invested financially to provide this experience for their children.

Congratulations to all our participating teams in the CBSQ Basketball and All Schools Touch competitions that were held at the Gold Coast at the end of last term and last weekend, respectively. All teams competed with enthusiasm and displayed wonderful sportsmanship. Such events expose our students to a high standard of competition and provide opportunities to develop college spirit. I thank all our staff who gave their time to attend these two events.

During Week 10 of last term our Year 12 students participated in their final retreat as students at St Joseph’s College. As individuals and a year-level cohort, they reflected on their own personal faith journey and the stories they have created. Each journey is a highly personal experience and allows students to reflect on their achievements, growth and learnings whilst considering their next steps. I was deeply impressed with how our young men and women engaged in the activities especially the Tuesday night liturgy which focussed on the theme of reconciliation. In my address to the students, I asked our students to reflect on their experiences and learnings and how they will use them as an anchor on how to life live and “serve him in others.”

This term we welcome back three staff member – Ms Ashlee Jeffery, Ms Kate Stenhouse, and Ms Pam Pedernal. Ashlee and Kate return from parental leave whilst Pam is replacing Angela Harris who is on secondment to St Mary’s College as Assistant Principal Curriculum.

At the commencement of Week 4, Ms Karen Tobin will commence long service leave for the remainder of term 4. This has meant the backfilling of three positions within the college which include - Bill Whiting (Program Leader Senior Schooling), Tom Moore (Program Leader Student Engagement) and Elle Moss (Middle Leader Student Engagement – Rice House).

Recently long-serving staff member Cathy Barton announced her retirement from St Joseph’s College effective from the end of this year. Cathy has served our college community well through teaching and leadership positions and I take this opportunity to acknowledge her contributions and wish her well with future plans. The College will celebrate Cathy at the conclusion of this term.

Construction of our new building is racing towards completion, and we are most eager to take possession of this amazing facility which will be a wonderful asset for students and staff. The building is scheduled for completion at the end of November, and we will be announcing the name of the building in the next few weeks.

God Bless,

Jim Brennan - Principal - jbrennan@sjc.qld.edu.au