From the Principal

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Students

Welcome back to all students and staff to Term 4. I hope you had a restful and enjoyable break and are ready for what is always a very busy term that seems to fly by so quickly.

As usual term four starts fast with the All Schools Touch Carnival occurring at the end of the first week. I offer my sincere thanks to the staff who travelled to the Gold Coast as managers, coaches and supporters of our teams. Your efforts in supporting the students with training, during performance and genuine care is appreciated.

From all reports the students were just terrific and played with heart and sportsmanship. Congratulations to all players across all year levels for the way you clearly demonstrated the Joey’s Way in your efforts over the week.

Staffing Changes

There have been some staff changes for term four and I welcome the following staff to St Joseph’s College.

• Ms Emily Rigg – Principal’s Personal Assistant
• Ms Ellie Jolley – School Officer Marketing and Communications
• Mrs Rebecca Wong – Religion Teacher

Student Leader Induction

This morning we celebrated the induction of our Student Leaders for 2023. As in previous years, this celebration was one of great significance. The induction of student leaders and the passing of the symbols of student leadership from the current leaders to the new leadership group strengthens and inspires the Year 11 leaders for the challenges of leadership, both individually and communally.

The challenge of ‘Serving Him in Others’, being selfless, community minded, welcoming and caring is one that all leaders face each day, and it is now the turn of our current Year 11 students.

It with great pleasure that I would like to announce that our Student Leaders for 2023 are;

We wish this wonderful group of young people all the best for their tenure as the Captains of St Joseph’s College and we look forward to working with them as we continue to engage with ‘The Joeys Way’ over the next year.

Finally, I would like to thank our Year 12 cohort who have done a wonderful job in leading our community this year. We thank them so very much for their efforts. We wish them all the best for the remainder of their exam preparation period and their upcoming external exams.

Parent Engagement in Schools

St Joseph’s College greatly values parent and caregivers who work in collaboration with our teachers to support each of our students as they strive to achieve to their potential. However, we also understand that it can be quite daunting for parents and caregivers to initially engage with the secondary school environment.

In order to grow parent engagement in student’s learning Catholic School Parents Australia have available the Gearing Up for Parent Engagement in Student Learning toolkit. This important free resource will assist all schools and families in Australia. The toolkit aims to build knowledge to encourage families to engage in their children’s learning and wellbeing for all of their schooling. We invite you to take a look at the parent engagement website http://www.parentengagementcspa.edu.au as we have found it to be a very useful resource in designing our transition and orientation programs.

In addition to this resource St Joseph’s College welcomes all families to be part of our Parent Engagement Network. Our next PEN session is booked in for the date below. We hope that many of our families will be able to join us on this occasion.

Tuesday 25 October

6.30pm – 7.00pm – Welcome and social gathering

7.00 – 8.00pm – SJC Teaching and Learning Framework – Mrs Kerrie-Anne Fellenberg, Mrs Karen Tobin and Mrs Cate Park-Ballay.

A reminder also that while we do not have official parent - teacher - student conferences scheduled for this term our teachers are always willing to communicate via phone / email or meet with parents to discuss the progress of our students. Please call the College if you would like to make an appointment.

Finally, I would like to promote the following presentation below. Adair Donaldson is a highly regarded speaker on the topic of consent, the law and young people and this presentation will provide parents and families with an understanding of the topics that were covered in the student presentations for Years 10 & 11 held on the same day at our College. Please use the following link to book for this free presentation, https://www.trybooking.com/CCSWS

Student Protection at St Joseph’s College Toowoomba

The most important daily concern for our school community is the health, safety and wellbeing of our students and staff. St Joseph’s College has a number of specific child protection responsibilities which are detailed in the Student Protection Processes and Guidelines, available on the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Website along with other information for parents and caregivers. Student protection | Parents and community | Diocese of Toowoomba Catholic Schools (twb.catholic.edu.au)

At our school, we have 4 staff members who can assist with student protection concerns. These staff members are called School Student Protection Contacts (SSPC’s) and you will see their names and photographs on posters around the school. Our current SSPC’s are Mr Thomas Moore (Rice House Leader), Ms Shauna Green (School Counsellor), Mr Joe Cryle (Assistant Principal Student Engagement) and as College Principal I am also a SSPC. Students can speak to any of these 4 staff members if they have any worries about their own safety or wellbeing, or that of a friend or classmate. We thank these staff members for undertaking this important role in our school.

Long Service Leave

I would like to inform the community that from the end of week four this term I will be taking long service leave for the remainder of 2022.

Whilst I am on leave the following people will be undertaking the following roles:

Acting Principal – Mr Brendon Willocks

Acting Deputy Principal – Mr Joe Cryle

Acting Assistant Principal Student Engagement – Mr Luke Logan

Acting Brennan House Leader – Mr Ben Gehrmann

Acting Student Induction Leader – Mrs Natasha Digweed

I thank these people for their willingness to undertake these roles during my period of leave and I thank the College community in anticipation of their support of these wonderful people.

Kort Goodman - Principal - KGoodman@sjc.qld.edu.au