Principal's Message
Dear parents and carers,
As we prepare for the return to on-site teaching and learning in the coming weeks, I hope that you all are continuing to manage well during remote learning and the easing of restrictions. The prayer this week is from our staff payer on Monday, and I chose to include it today as it speaks about the fact that God gives us the strength and ability to deal with adversity and to see the blessings that surround us. When speaking with the staff, I highlighted that we all are the right people, at the right time, to be able to deal with, and recover from, the challenges of the past two years. Your children will grow to understand the resilience that is needed when facing challenges, and they will draw on the example you have provided throughout the lockdown. Thank you for the example and strength you each have shown.
Tournament of Minds (TOM)
This year, St Joseph’s entered teams into the Tournament of Minds. TOM is an international, team-based problem-solving competition where teams of seven students are given seven weeks to solve a complex problem in the area of the Arts, STEM, Social Sciences or Language Literature. Students need to work together and demonstrate strong communication, time management, and team skills to complete the challenge and present their solutions in a dramatic and creative way.
With the COVID lockdown interrupting the preparations, our four school teams had to move online and work remotely. While this imposed some significant challenges, we are extremely proud of the efforts of our students. St Joseph’s team members showed that they are highly resilient and adapted their ideas and adjusted their presentations to meet the challenges of online presentations.
While all our teams completed the challenges and presented their challenges well, we are extremely excited to announce that our Drama Queens placed second overall in the Language Literature category. This is an amazing outcome and we congratulate the team members for their outstanding efforts.
Thank you to all the students involved, and to Tiffany Fletcher for her support and guidance to have the teams ready to present.
Baby Gould
As announced last week, Riley Harrison Gould was born just before the start of the term. This week it is lovely to be able to introduce him to the school community!
COVID-19 Updates
Earlier this week, FAQs for our return to face-to-face teaching and learning were shared with the school community. It is important to note that we will continue to adjust and adapt our plans to meet the advice from ACT Health, and any guidelines from Catholic Education. We are currently preparing further correspondence to go out to parents and carers early next week, outlining specific measures that will be in place to ensure a safe and welcoming learning and teaching environment when the students return. Please continue to refer to the communications that are sent out via Compass.
Have a great end to the week. Stay safe and go gently.
Cameron Tarrant