Dear Parents and Guardians,
As we approach the end of Week 9, I am filled with gratitude for all the wonderful things happening here at St Joseph’s. It has been a time of growth, reflection, and celebration as our students continue to thrive in the classroom, on the sporting field, and within our Lenten observance.
I find myself continually reflecting on just how quickly the weeks have passed. It feels like only yesterday that we gathered, welcoming our students and staff back for a new term. I feel so grateful as a new principal at St Joseph’s and how warmly welcomed I have felt throughout this term, and you can be assured that I will do my best every day to ensure we continue to accomplish great things together.
In the spirit of our Catholic faith, we are reminded that doing our best isn’t about being perfect—it’s about growth, effort, and intention. Every day, our students, staff, and families at St Joseph’s contribute to a vibrant community, and it’s evident that God’s love is reflected in the way we treat each other, the way we learn, and the way we serve.
It was an honour to present the 2024 Annual Report at our Annual General Meeting recently. Not being here last year, it was a wonderful opportunity for me to spend some time reflecting on 2024 and see all the many blessings, achievements, and progress that our great school continues to achieve.
Through the hard work of our dedicated staff, the enthusiasm of our students, and the support of our families, we’ve seen incredible progress in academic achievement, faith life, building and development, sport, finances, and arts/music. But it is not just about numbers and statistics—it's about the lives we are shaping, the faith we are nurturing, and the future we are building together.
Our final two weeks of term will contain a whirlwind of excitement and activity, with leadership development of our middle school students, and the Year 8 Camp which I’ve been informed is an absolute highlight. The students will embrace outdoor adventures, challenging themselves with team-building activities, stepping out of their comfort zones, building new friendships, and creating memories that will last a lifetime.
We will also journey through the final weeks of Lent, as a school community, where we are reminded of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice and love for us. Our students have been amazing in their support of Project Compassion, such an important learning tool which teaches us all that true compassion involves not only giving but also listening, learning, and standing alongside those who need help. It is a reminder that we are all responsible for one another and that, together, we have the power to create a world where compassion is at the heart of everything we do.
May these last weeks of Lent strengthen our spirits, as we prepare for the joy of Easter to fill us all with peace and love.
God bless,
Joe
Masses and Liturgies
Thank you to all the classes who have recently hosted Masses and Liturgies. We have loved being able to go back inside at Carinya and interact with residents after years impacted by Covid. Thank you to the Yr 6s who visited and hosted the Liturgy last week.
The Yr 8s hosted a Mass today around the theme of Lent. A special mention to Lucy Ward, our Student Parliamentary Faith & Spirituality Minister, for preparing so much of the service.
A big thank you to all who helped at our last Family Mass, we had a great representation of children from Reception and Year 1, along with a few older children.
Caritas Project Compassion
Thank you to families for your generous support of Project Compassion so far this Lent. Thanks to Millie’s Smoothie Fundraiser and our Footy Colours Day, we have already raised over $800 for Caritas Project Compassion.
Our last fundraiser will be a “Coin Charlie” in Week 11 when families return their Project Compassion boxes to the office. This will be coordinated by our Spirituality Minister, Lucy W, and more information will come out early next week.
Third Week of Lent
Lam is 27 years old from a small village in rural Vietnam who faced significant challenges due to his short stature. Growing up, Lam often felt isolated due to limited job opportunities and difficulty moving around his community. While his friends started jobs after high school, Lam stayed home with his parents, unsure if he could ever achieve his dream of becoming a graphic designer.
Everything changed when Lam joined the I-SHINE program, supported by Caritas Australia. Through this initiative, Lam completed a six-month course developing his graphic design skills. Along the way, he built confidence, made friends and gained a sense of connection.
Today, Lam runs a successful freelance graphic design business from home, serving clients worldwide and earning a steady income. Lam hopes his story will encourage other young people with disabilities to overcome obstacles and pursue their dreams.
Lam’s journey shows how your support of Project Compassion empowers individuals to break barriers and transform their lives.
Will you walk alongside people like Lam this Lent?
Fourth Week of Lent
Irene lives in a remote village in the Kongolo Region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Life hasn’t been easy for Irene. After losing her father in a war, Irene and her family were forced to flee their home. Life became even more challenging when her husband left, leaving Irene to raise her 2 children alone. Without finishing her education and with few job opportunities in her village, she struggled to provide even the basics for her family.
Things began to change when Irene joined the Youth Capacity Strengthening Program (YCSP), run by Caritas Kongolo with the support of Caritas Australia. Through the program, Irene learned sewing skills and was provided with a sewing machine and fabric. Irene also gained farming skills. Now, she grows enough food to feed her family and even shares her sewing knowledge by mentoring other women in her community.
“Before, women depended on men's income, but now, with our sewing skills, we can take care of ourselves,” Irene said.
Your support of Project Compassion helps women like Irene to create brighter futures for themselves and their families.
Watch Irene’s story here. (For secondary students and parents)
Will you stand in solidarity with people like Irene this Lent?
Upcoming Masses/Liturgies - Holy Week.
Holy Week begins when Jesus returns from the 40 days in the desert and enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, finishing with the Easter Tridiuum. This year, Holy Week falls during the first week of School Holidays.
To assist the children to gain a deeper understanding of the Easter Story classes are recreating the events through re-enacting the story, from Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the Resurrection at Easter. These are held here at school starting on Tuesday 8 April and running right through until after the holidays, with the Resurrection. Each of the representations will be approximately 15-20 minutes long.
Please note: we would love to have parents join us for these services.
Sacramental Program 2025
The Sacramental Program in the Sevenhill Parish is run both through St Joseph’s School and through the Parish.
Reconciliation, First Eucharist, Confirmation: Enrolments
Information about the 2025 Sacramental Program went out to students in Years 3 and 4 as a hard copy this week. There are also copies available in the Front Office.
An enrolment form for the Sacraments of Reconciliation (Year 3 up) and Confirmation and Communion (Yr 4 up) can be accessed at the link below.
The celebration for Confirmation and First Holy Communion will be held on Sunday July 27 at 10am at St Aloysius Church, Sevenhill. Reconciliation will be celebrated mid-week in late Term 3, in St Michael’s Church, Clare.
https://forms.office.com/r/gMzSXz8TWh
EASTER CELEBRATIONS - EASTER EGG GIVING
While as a school community we don’t believe it is necessary for students to give each other Easter Eggs, as they often get a number at home, if children are wishing to share Easter eggs with their class members, we ask that this does not occur until Monday April 28, after the Resurrection of Jesus has been celebrated on Easter Sunday.
If teachers chose to give classes Easter eggs, this will not occur until then. The egg is a symbol of new life, hence why we wait until Easter to hand them out. Thank you.
Prayer
God of all peoples and nations,
As you accompany us on our Lenten journey,
May our fasting strengthen our commitment to live in solidarity,
Our almsgiving be an act of justice,
And our prayers anchor us in love and compassion.
Awaken our hearts and minds that we may be one human family
As we all go further together.
We ask this in Jesus’ name,
Amen
God Bless
Helen Hay - Assistant Principal- Religious Identity and Mission
SACPSSA Swimming
On Tuesday 25 March, 24 swimmers from St Joseph's represented our school at the SACPSSA Division 2 Swimming Carnival at Burnside. We competed against 7 other Metropolitan Catholic Schools and did extremely well with numerous place getters throughout the day.
Congratulations to Clara for receiving the Year 6 Girls age Champion and Kade for receiving the Year 4 boys Age Champion medal. Clara and Kade received those awards for being the highest point scorers in their age group on the day.
Overall Place ribbons on the day.
First Place-8 awards
Second Place- 15 awards
Third Place- 14 awards
Fourth Place- 10 awards
Student Leadership
Our student leaders have been highly active in our community and have hit the ground running with their roles. The School Captains met with Penny Pratt to discuss a number of different topics around leadership in our community. In particular, we spoke about an award on offer for young people in our community who play a role in making it better, whether that be through volunteer organisations or other means. We are developing some criteria and processes for how this award would work at our School.
Millie, our Health and Wellbeing Minister, organised an outstanding event selling over $650 worth of smoothies earlier this week. It was a fantastic initiative and one that was completely driven by her. She demonstrated great leadership by seeing a need and getting a number of her peers to help along the way. This money will be donated to Project Compassion.
Middle School Sporting Success
I was lucky to be able to attend the 100th Lower North Athletics Carnival. The day was well organised, and an absolute downpour brought a welcome cool change to the day. Not only was this event a great display of our students’ athletic abilities and efforts but it was again a great display of our community working together. I had the pleasure of working with Denika, Gabrielle and Kristy throughout the day, running the Javelin event. We got drenched but had a great time doing it. Congratulations to Millie and Maddie on winning the Age Championship in their respective age groups. I would love to know the names of the successful athletes from 1925. I am sure there would be some familiar names on the results card.
SA Merino Field Days
On Thursday 13 March, the Year 8 & 9 Ag class visited the SA Merino Field Days at Burra oval. We were able to interview stud breeders about their enterprises and the history of their stud, view the static displays present on the day and observe the judging of the Ram & Ewe pair. It was an interesting day to understand some of the work that is involved in breeding Merino sheep and the associated career pathways and industries available. We would like to thank Mr Shearer and Ms Crawford for organising and supporting us on this excursion.
Year 8 & 9 Ag class.
Pedal Prix
Over the summer, we were lucky enough to be given three Pedal Prix trikes from a Catholic school who were wrapping up their program. The Year 7s this year are so lucky to be able to be racing in these trikes and it will help us to continue to develop this program and engage even more children.
Year 7 Fundraiser Woodchop
While it has been a hot start to 2025, we have already been out chopping wood ready for the winter. I have loved working with a range of different parents and look forward to continuing this work over the coming weeks. Not only is it an opportunity to raise some money together for the Year 7 Canberra excursion, but it is a chance to meet and catch up. It helps our students understand the effort involved in giving them these great extra-curricular opportunities and the value of working as a community.
If you are thinking about firewood for the winter or know anyone who is, please get in contact with us here at school or complete the order form below. All finds raised go towards sending our students to Canberra for their Year 7 camp to extend their learnings around Civics & Citizenship.
Year 9 Jumpers
The Year 9s have now received their jumpers and are wearing them proudly, just need some cold weather to put them to good use.
Communication Ministers Podcast
Our Communication Ministers will be producing a Podcast for each Newsletter. Follow the QR code below to hear about our 1st Assembly, Shrove Tuesday, the Whole School Welcome Mass and meet the new Ministers.
Hi everyone, my name is Maddie Maynard. I am the Student Wellbeing Officer at St Joseph’s School. I will provide support to students, their families, staff and the school community on Thursdays and Fridays.
I am local to the Clare area, having lived, worked and studied in the Mid North region for most of my life. I have a professional background in Social Work and have completed further studies in rural Social Work practice, and supporting children, families and societies. My previous work has been in the areas of children’s mental health and wellbeing, kinship and foster care, public health, disability, and adult mental health and crisis intervention.
When I am not in the school, I also work in mental health and pharmacy. I am part of various local groups and committees and like to keep busy and active. In my spare time I enjoy horse riding, playing the piano, being creative, and spending time with my friends and family. I live locally with my partner, a dog, a cat, three goats, a sheep and five horses.
As the Student Wellbeing Officer, I am available to provide counselling and individual support sessions to students. Referrals to external organisations can be arranged for students as required, with your input and consent. I will also run small group sessions for students throughout the school year around topics such as social skills, life changes and transitions, and personal wellbeing. Your child’s teacher will discuss these support options with you prior to counselling or small group participation. In the case of an immediate response being required at school, I will support your child through the situation, and you will be advised accordingly.
All students undertake pastoral care as part of the school’s approach to wellbeing. Each Term focuses on a specific social-emotional concept. The pastoral care outline is as follows:
Term 1 – Emotions and wellbeing
Term 2 – Positive relationships
Term 3 – Achievement
Term 4 – Empowerment
Please come and introduce yourself if you see me around the school or in the community, I’d love to meet you! I am looking forward to working with St Joseph’s School in 2025.
Maddie Maynard - Well being
Readers are Boring!!
We often get asked why school readers are boring and what is the point of them. For our beginning readers, who are learning the code (i.e. the letters that represents sounds in words), practising blending these letters together to make words is crucial to becoming a fluent reader. The first sounds our Reception students learn are “s, a, t, i, m” and there are not many words you can make from those to publish a high interest story. As more sounds are learned, and the corresponding ways to represent them, children can read more and more words.
As students move through Junior Primary, they learn more complex sound-letter combinations and how to decode them. This allows our students to read more widely and be able to utilise a range of texts to practice their reading.
So how do we manage reading at home?
Encourage your child to practice decoding with their reader. They have learned all the sounds in this book, they are now practicing becoming more fluent. Just like we need to practice a new sport skill repeatedly, children need regular practice at reading.
Encourage a love of words and reading by choosing high quality books to read together (from the school library, public library or your own shelves). This will widen their vocabulary while giving them important background knowledge about a range of topics of interest.
Michelle Edmondson - Literacy & Inclusion Leader
