From the Principal

Dear Parents and Friends of St Joseph’s College,

As a school community, we recently celebrated the College’s 69th Presentation Evening Year at the Empire Theatre. It was gratifying to see so many parents able to attend the events and witness the achievements of our students across a variety of areas including Joey’s Way, Memorial, Service, Special and Merit Awards for each year level. Each award recipient has demonstrated the Ricean value of Endeavour in their respective area, and I take this opportunity to acknowledge their individual achievements.

Last Thursday our 2024 Seniors were farewelled by the St Joseph’s Community. The day commenced with our student community farewelling our Year 12s at the Graduation Assembly before an emotional final parade and clapout. The celebrations of our journey together continued with the Graduation Mass and Valedictory Dinner held at St Patrick’s Cathedral. The graduates were gifted with a small artist palette charm which affirmed our school theme for 2024 “With these hands we create”. The dinner provided an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the completion of a thirteen-year school journey. The seniors of 2024 have made this year at St Joseph’s College memorable for many reasons, however, I will cherish their kindness, sense of humour and above all else, their mateship. I have equally admired their tenacity and “can do” attitude. I can say with confidence that this cohort of seniors has left a positive legacy and will make an impact well beyond the gates of St Joseph’s College.

In staffing news, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Tom Moore as Assistant Principal Mission and Identity for 2025. Tom replaces Ms Kellie Marie Ford who is on secondment to Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office for a twelve-month period. Tom has over thirteen years of experience as a teacher of Religious Education and Physical Education in the Toowoomba Diocese. He has held pastoral middle leader positions at St John’s School Roma and St Joseph’s College Toowoomba. More recently Tom has held acting positions at St Joseph’s College as Assistant Principal Religious Education (2023) and Acting Program Leader Student Engagement (2024). Ms Elle Moss has been appointed as Rice House Leader for 2025. Elle has been in this position for term 4 of this year and has performed the role of House Leader during 2023. She comes with extensive teaching and leadership experience in several schools.

The College welcomes Mr Tim Stone to St Joseph’s College in 2025. Tim comes with significant teaching and leadership experience having taught at Wilsonton SHS, Oakey SHS and St Joseph’s College Toowoomba. He will be teaching in the Mathematics and Science Teams and his extensive involvement in the sport of basketball will make Tim a very welcomed addition to the College community.

The College also welcomes Charmaine Firkins has been appointed for a 12-month contract at St Joseph’s College in 2025. Charmaine is backfilling behind Brain Cantwell (leave 2025) and Ben Gehrmann (Acting Curriculum Leader Technology 2025). She has extensive teaching experience at St Mary’s College Toowoomba where she has taught a variety of ITD subjects since 2021. Prior to that, Charmaine taught in the Visual Art and E-technology disciplines.

This Friday represents the final day of the year for our Year 10 and 11 students. I congratulate them for their efforts in their respective learning programs and for the contribution made in extracurricular events and the religious life of the school. Many of these students have been acknowledged for their efforts and high standards with an invitation to the Merit Dreamworld Trip on Friday 22nd November.

In 2025 the College will formally implement our Eligibility Criteria for participation in extracurricular events. The intention of these criteria is to set clear standards for all students in order to represent the College at non-compulsory events. The criteria which will be released on our college website for the commencement for 2025 and will clearly outline the standards expected of students in relation to behaviour, engagement in learning and school attendance, and importantly the path back when a student is not meeting expectations. The criteria also outlines the expectation for parents/guardians in relation to commitment to payment of agreed school fees. This means that fees are up to date for each family’s individual agreement whether that be the full schedule or agreed concession. These criteria have been trialled with our Year 11 and 12 cohort during Semester 2 and after consultation with our staff, Parent Engagement Network and Student Leadership Group. The driver for this initiative was born from feedback from parents, students and staff in the School Renewal and Improvement Report (SRIP) conducted earlier this year. Data collected thus far has demonstrated a noted improvement in student engagement and achievement which is in the interest of both each learner and the broader school community.

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