From the Principal

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Our St Joseph’s Vision Statement states that: St Joseph’s College is an educational community focused on the Spirit of Jesus. Those who join it experience, an alive and deepening search for God present-amongst-us in the world; an expectation that to educate each person to their potential is a journey to self, and from self, to the world beyond; an appreciation that growth, which happens differently for each person, needs space and time to truly bear fruit and a commitment to the life and energy of this community is required to enable good to happen. 

As a College community we often reflect upon both our Vision and Mission Statements and how we are ensuring that we continue to embed the moral purpose outlined within these statements into our everyday actions and the teaching and learning experiences. When reflecting upon what these statements outline as our moral purpose, we often have explanations provided like; we want to provide and educational experience that allows our students to become good members of the community. After reading the reflection by Ron Rolheiser (below), on what it means to “Live in the Light,” I think we would all be very happy if through the experiences our students had at our College they could leave with the courage to “Live in the Light.”

 To Live in the Light

We tend to think that to live in the light means that there should be a kind of special sunshine inside of us, a divine glow in our conscience, a sunny joy inside us that makes us constantly want to praise God, an ambience of sacredness surrounding our attitude. 

But that’s unreal.  What does it mean to live in the light?

To live in the light means to live in honesty, pure and simple, to be transparent, to not have part of us hidden as a dark secret.

Spiritual health lies in honesty and transparency and so we live in the light when we are willing to lay every part of our lives open to examination by those who need to trust us.

• To live in the light is to be able always to tell our loves ones where we are and what we are doing.
• To live in the light is to not have to worry if someone traces what websites we have visited.
• To live in the light is to not be anxious if someone in the family finds our files unlocked.
• To live in the light is to be able to let those we live with listen to what’s inside our mobile phones, see what’s inside our emails, and know who’s on our speed-dial.
• To live in the light is to have a confessor and to be able to tell that person what we struggle with, without having to hide anything.

To live in the light is to live in such a way that, for those who know us, our lives are an open book.

Ron Rolheiser.

Year 12 Final Week

Next week the spotlight will be firmly on the Seniors of 2021 who will conclude their time at the College. Over the week they have many farewells including their fun day activity with their cohort, their house and Joey’s Way class farewells, Presentation Night for 2021 and they conclude the week with their Graduation Assembly and Valedictory Dinner.

These farewells are a sign, that over the time that each of the students of the 2021 senior cohort spent at St Joseph’s College, they became a part of a community and their departure creates a sense of loss for us and quite possibly for them. We would hope that all the senior cohort would acknowledge that their time at the College has had a positive impact on their lives to date and will assist them in the future. An important role all of us can fulfil is to hold these young people in our prayers. They all have such huge potential to make a difference to our society.

Finally, I want to wish the Year 12 students every possible blessing in their lives and ask them to remember that their loving God is walking every step of the way with them. Best wishes Year 12 students take care and remember that no matter what challenges lay ahead of you into the future, you are always a past student of St Joseph’s College, and you are always welcome.

Partnerships and Student Responsibilities

In a number of newsletters this year I have outlined how much we value the importance of developing partnerships with our families and how Teacher – Student – Family relationships are one of the keys to improving the outcomes for our students. One aspect of this partnership that is becoming increasingly obvious that requires improvement is the level of responsibility that our students take for catching up with teachers after they have been absent. As teachers we constantly remind students that if they are absent for lessons then they have a responsibility to ensure that they check the CANVAS course during their absence and if this is not possible then when they return to school, they either speak to their teachers (preferably), or peers about what was covered during their absence and make every endeavour to catch up on this work prior to their next lesson. As parents, I would ask that you continue to have this conversation with your child to ensure that they are giving themselves the best chance to succeed.  

Kort Goodman - Principal