From the Principal

Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Congratulations to our amazingly talented, dedicated, and hardworking musical students on their efforts and outstanding results at the Eisteddfod. A special congratulations to these highly commendable results.

Category - Secondary Brass (unaccompanied) Trio/Quartet – St Joseph’s College Brass – 1st – Alex Tini, Camillo Lanzafame, Piper Wiemers

Category - Secondary School B Grade Stage Band – St Joseph’s College Jazz Ensemble – 3rd – Conductor Mr Andy Will

Category - Secondary School Percussion or Orff Ensemble – St Joseph’s College Percussion Ensemble – 3rd – Sarah Ellis, Rikkie Moon, Gemma Standeaven, Christian Lanzafame

Category - Secondary School B Grade Concert Band – St Joseph’s College Concert Band – 2nd – Conductor Mrs Rosanne Pietsch

Secondary WOODWIND (unaccompanied) TRO/QUARTET – Highly Commended – St Joseph’s College Clarinets – Isobel Bertram, Jordan Conway, Henry Norris, Amelia Rawson – Tutor: Mr Connor Sharpe

Secondary WOODWIND (unaccompanied) TRO/QUARTET – Highly Commended – St Joseph’s College Flute Trio – Henrietta Cullin-Willy, Mitchell Hunt, Daniel Ooi – Tutor: Mrs Lauren Crighton

On behalf of the students, we would like to congratulate and thank our wonderful music tutors and staff. Your support and encouragement is greatly appreciated and vital in the students development.  

Freaky Friday the Musical

Only a week and a half to go until the opening of the St Joseph's College Freaky Friday Musical. Congratulations to the students and staff on your efforts so far. We know you will be outstanding and we are very much looking forward to enjoying your performances and congratulating you on your efforts after the event.

Tickets are still available for sale via the Empire Theatre here.

SJC Towards 2024 Strategic Plan

Wow how time quickly does time pass by. It seems like only yesterday that we launched the St Joseph’s College Towards 2024 Strategic Plan, but here we are three years into the four-year plan.

As with all organisations, the strategic planning process has been integral to achieving our vision and mission. The development of our plan involved extensive consultation with many stakeholders and resulted in the establishment of the strategic intents and initiatives that have been pursued over the last three years. A copy of the full strategic plan is available to all families at the front office of the College, or on our St Joseph’s College website.

It is my intent to share the success that we have achieved in striving for the strategic intents outlined in the plan over the upcoming newsletters so that our community is fully aware of the outstanding growth and commitment the students and staff have demonstrated over the last three years as we head into the final year of the current plan.

The St Joseph’s College: Towards 2024 strategic plan acknowledges the importance of individual growth for our young people, while setting aspirational targets and benchmarks.  Furthermore, it is clearly in alignment with The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, as St Joseph’s College continues to promote excellence and equity in a manner that enables all students to become confident and creative individuals, successful learners, and active and informed community members. 

Domain - Teaching and Learning – Students and their learning 

Strategic Intent: As an aspirational learning community, St Joseph’s College embraces a culture of learning to empower young people to pursue their passions and meet the demands of their future pathways. 

Key Improvement Strategies:  

In relation to Teaching and Learning practices, the College has: 

  • Developed and began the journey of implementing the St Joseph’s College Teaching and Learning Framework that incorporates high impact teaching strategies and target teaching to ensure there is impact on every learner. 
  • Through a focus on both students and staff being learners and a range of celebratory events we continue to foster a culture of teaching and learning that aspires to excellence and agency for both students and staff. 
  • We have continued the highly successful student academic care tracking programs across the school to monitor progress towards measurable improvements. 
  • We have at all times utilised evidence to inform targeted programs and track impact of the teaching and learning programs to increase student outcomes. 
  • Our Enhanced Learning Team and teachers have demonstrated great commitment and effort in maximising student learning and differentiation through Planning for Personalised Learning. 
  • We have begun the process of monitoring and extending high potential learners through differentiation in classes and in the offering of extension subjects at the College. 
  • We have enhanced our use of Canvas to improve the learning and continue to respond innovatively to the changing needs of learners through the implementation of the eLearning plan. 
  • Over the last two years we have achieved the goal of: 
  • 100% of Year 12 students graduating with a QCE and QCIA 
  • 100% of Year 12 students graduating with a dedicated pathway
  • In 2020 37%, in 2021 87% and 2022 89% of our students have achieved an ATAR above 60 with our goal continuing to be 90% ATAR above 60. 
  • In 2020 12%, 2021 23% and 2022 14% of our students have achieved an ATAR of above 90 with our goal continuing to be 28% ATAR above 90. 

In relation to the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy, the College will: 

  • At least 3% above the National Mean in all domains in Year 9 of NAPLAN. In 2020 there was no NAPLAN testing due to COVID, in 2021 the students achieved this goal in 2 out of 5 domains and in 2022 the students again achieved this goal in 2 out of 5 domains. Data for 2023 is still to come.
  • Show continual growth in all domains from Year 7 to Year 9 NAPLAN.  In 2020 there was no NAPLAN testing due to COVID, in 2021 the students achieved this goal in 4 out of 5 domains and in 2022 this growth is not available due to no NAPLAN in 2020. Data for 2023 is still to come.

Congratulations to all who have contributed to these wonderful achievements. We look forward to further growth and the embedding of these initiatives over the next 18 months.

Dignity and Student Safety

Last year I shared this information with our community around a similar time. I intentionally do so again to ensure this very serious issue is in the front of our minds as we continue to support our young people’s use of technology.

You may not be familiar with the term, but ‘sextortion' is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to share intimate images of you unless you give in to their demands. It has been an issue for more than a decade, with many adults falling victim to this type of online crime. More recently though, it has been reported that there has been a higher rate of adolescent males falling victim, but that is not to say that young females are not also targeted.

Across the globe, organised criminal gangs are using social media, chat apps, instant messaging platforms and online games to target and connect with their victims. Recently, there has been a 400% increase in this type of crime being reported to police in Australia alone with these figures being replicated in most western countries. Any child that uses an online account to connect on social media, chat apps, instant messaging platforms or online games needs to understand the dangers associated with engaging with random people that they don’t know personally. Therefore, it is vitally important for adult carers to be aware of this serious issue and to start having an age-appropriate conversation with their young person as early as possible to help protect them from online offenders making demands.

Even though your young person’s online account may be set to private, random people can still message your child. Managing devices can be difficult especially with older teens, but it is important to weigh up the risks and dangers. Sadly, even good kids who never make a poor decision elsewhere in their life, can and do make poor choices online.

This Special Report explains how your young person can fall victim to such a crime and what action to take to support them. We hope you take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://sjc.qld.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-sextortion

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