Many of you would be aware that the last few weeks have been extremely challenging with high teacher/staff absence due to illness. We are currently sitting close to 10 COVID cases often with 15-20 more teachers taking sick or carers leave on any given day. This is being extremely well managed by our operations team and I appreciate the fact that all staff are being called to do their bit to support those who are away unwell. I also feel our students are quite agile and resilient in this space and the skills that we learnt through remote learning has enabled the learning to continue whilst they or their teacher is absent.

Regardless of this we feel we have been able to provide all of our scheduled experiences this term all of which complement the teaching and learning. An example of this was our Year 8s participating in Year 8 Renewals from the Courage to Care team. The Courage to Care team share personal experiences from the Holocaust conveying the importance of being upstanders in our community. The students got to participate in other sessions focussing on mindfulness, respectful relationships and interfaith dialogue. This renewal compliments the learning in the Year 8 Religious Education curriculum.

We are excited to have 21 Year 10 and 11 students attending the Lake Mungo Immersion, leaving on June 20 for a week. Teachers, Ash Crook and Tania Willard along with the Red Earth Team will lead this immersion. This is the first time since COVID-19 that we have participated in an immersion and the first time we have visited The World Heritage Listed Willandra Lakes Region. Situated in South-West New South Wales, the 240,000-hectare site is home to a network of dried saltwater lake beds that provide incredible insight into the deep past of Australia. We wish this group a safe and meaningful experience.

Our students are all participating in exams this week and I thank families for helping them prepare and participate with a positive mindset. Students will be able to receive exam feedback in the final week of the term with many of our classes commencing Semester 2 units. Our staff will utilise the professional practice day on Friday 24 June to finalise Semester 1 reports that will become available for all families on Monday 27 June.

Our 2022 Annual Giving Campaign commenced this week and this initiative enables many of our students who are unable to afford an SJC education, the ability to attend and learn at St Joseph’s. Every gift, no matter the size, has a positive influence on our student's learning environment. It gives every student the opportunity to fulfil their personal potential, benefiting from the college community, learning environment and programs to “Strive for the Highest”.

I will hand back the Principal reins to Tony Paatsch at the end of the term and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to lead this great community as Acting Principal. I have felt very supported from the students, staff and families at the College and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I hope everyone enjoys the mid-year break and stays healthy and safe.

God Bless!

Give your Gift

Fill out the form below to nominate how you would like to make a difference at St Joseph's College Geelong

Thank you for considering your gift

Gifting is an opportunity for all of us within the St Joseph’s Community to demonstrate our strong

commitment to our boys and show how we value a St Joseph’s education.

Every gift, no matter the size, has a positive influence on our learning environment. It gives every boy the opportunity to fulfill his personal potential, benefiting from the College’s staff, learning environment and programs to “Strive for the Highest”.

Giving your gift, will have a direct and immediate impact on the students of St Joseph’s College.

Gift Options

Click on the images at the bottom of this page to read more on each of the gifting options we have available and how each and every one of them makes a difference here at St Joseph's.

Why Gift?

End of Semester reports will be released to parents and carers through the PAM portal on Monday 27 June. The format of the reports at Years 7 -10 are outlined below, and the Year 11 and 12 reports include the outcomes completed as per VCAA Unit requirements, as well as any scored assessment results.

Learning Dispositions

Learning dispositions provide a report on your child's approach to their learning at school. A student’s approach to their learning is one of the biggest influences on learning success. As such, the mid-semester and end of semester reports have changed to allow teachers to give feedback on the core learning dispositions we hope to instil in our students for success. As seen in the example below, your child's approach to learning is measured in the frequency they demonstrate the learning dispositions rather than the quality. It is important to note that this is not a teacher's judgment on your child’s academic ability or skill level – this is made through assessment tasks and judgments against the standards.

7 - 10 Victorian Curriculum Standards

This area of the report shows the progress your child has made since the previous report against a particular achievement standard, assigned as a score, which reflects where each student is along the relevant learning continuum for all curriculum areas taught during the reporting period.

P - Previous Score

C - Current Score

Assessment Tasks

Assessment tasks are a cornerstone element of your child’s learning as it allows them to demonstrate their knowledge and skill acquisition. Teachers use assessment tasks to gauge the success of their practice and to help guide future teaching and learning programs. In a similar fashion, the feedback associated with assessment, both in preparation and after the task is complete, is crucial in driving your child’s progression (feedback is the largest contributor to student learning progression).

At the start of each semester, each class will outline the assessment tasks that your son will need to complete. This not only allows students and parents to prepare learning schedules in advance but also know the types of learning tasks that will be covered throughout a term. As part of our change in this area for Years 7-10, the school will be reporting on assessment tasks that receive a percentage grade and no longer be formally reporting on Satisfactory/Non-satisfactory benchmarking tasks. This will allow you to track your child's academic progress and see what skill development they need to work on.

To help facilitate this, feedback will now be directed toward your child with a focus on what they demonstrated in their assessment, what their next steps are in terms of skill development and how to achieve this. You will be able to access these feedback comments through PAM to help assist your child’s learning as they are released by the teacher. As they are visible and most relevant to you when they are released, the feedback comments are no longer imported onto End of Semester Reports. We encourage you to engage with PAM on a regular basis for this reason.

Wellbeing Information

The Resilience Project Parent and Carer Hub Update

The latest presentation from The Resilience Project is all about Mindfulness. Mindfulness is our ability to be calm and present at any given moment. We practise this by slowing down and concentrating on one thing at a time. Thousands of studies have proven benefits include reduced stress, reduced rumination, increased memory, increased cognitive function and physical health benefits through improved immunity.

View Part 4 of the series here - Mindfulness https://theresilienceproject.com.au/parent-and-carer-hub/

Mindfulness can be practised through meditation, yoga, flow-states and daily activities such as cooking. For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page

Last week the Year 8 students celebrated their Renewal Day, where they took time to renew their body, mind and spirit by participating in a range of workshops. The Year 8 Renewals were a great success this year beginning with a liturgy that enabled our students to be educated on the importance of ‘Respectful Relationships’, the need to have the ‘Courage to Care to be Upstanders’ in their community, the importance interfaith dialogue and the benefits of mindfulness for our wellbeing. We were so pleased to welcome back the dedicated ‘Courage to Care’ team who this year celebrate their 30^th Anniversary of Upstander education.

Our students were able to experience the traveling exhibition and education program that uses the Holocaust to explore racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and bullying and to highlight the Righteous Among the Nations and heroes of other genocides, inspiring students to reject the role of being a bystander and instead becoming upstanders. We had the special privilege of listening to a holocaust survivor Harry Better OAM in his eighties, who shared his childhood memories as a child during World War II. He told of the family who were upstanders who took him in to enable him to be able to share his message today that everyone has the ability to make a difference.

Student Reflections from 8I

“The Courage to Care workshop was the highlight of my day. Listening to the family stories of WWII survivors was incredibly moving. I still can’t fully comprehend how they were able to flee Poland and navigate parts of Europe. As a Year 8 cohort we were privileged to be able to listen to all the inspirational stories that were shared and just find out how lucky we are to live in the conditions we live in today.”

“Year 8 Renewals challenged us as a group to be Upstanders. We were challenged to be more inclusive and develop Respectful Relationships with all types of people. We were challenged to think beyond ourselves. We were challenged to remember the past to ensure it would never be repeated.”

“The Renewals program explored the similar beliefs most religions uphold like the Golden Rule: “Do onto others as you, yourself would want to be done to you”.

“During the final part of the day, the ‘Courage to Care’ group revealed the events of WW2, and the German persecution of Jews. Years with the fascist group: the Nazis in power, and the sadistic vision of Adolf Hitler attempting to annihilate a group of people he believed inferior. So, Mr. Hitler decided to create a systematic and slow but eventual annihilation of race, with simple gestures of not allowing them on public transport, buses, public chairs and to filed into concentration camps, dehumanizing them by naming them as numbers, making them forget their own names. Unfortunately, people did not stand up to this dictator, and a race of people suffered. As a cohort, we explored the importance of this, and how being an upstander for the smallest action can have the biggest impact. So, are you going to be an upstander?

Thanks to Belinda Milverton our Faith Development Coordinator for preparing the Year 8 Renewals reflecting our Touchstones of Social Justice, Inclusive Community, Liberating Education and Gospel Spirituality.

Refugee Week Theme Healing

In Week 9, Rachel Ivey our Refugee Coordinator, will launch our celebration of Refugee Week from Sunday 19 June - Saturday 25 June. This year the theme for Refugee Week is Healing. June 20 is the United Nations’ World Refugee Day. Students are encouraged to think about refugees and people seeking asylum with compassion, to move their understanding from the head to the heart and then to some form of action. One action we will take will be creating a Circle of Solidarity next Thursday 23 June at lunchtime. Together we will express our support and solidarity for refugees and people seeking asylum. We will gather to uphold our values of compassion and integrity, just as Edmund Rice would have done, and Jesus before him, who was a refugee himself.

The focus for Refugee week this year is, healing. As a result of the global pandemic, Australia and the rest of the world have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit the reset button on how we behave towards one another. The importance of human connections has been underscored by the pandemic, and such lessons can help us in so many ways. Mainstream and refugee communities alike can draw upon shared hardship to heal wounds, to learn from each other and to move forward. Just as this week we have seen with Priya and Nade’s family return to the peace and safety back in the welcoming community of Biloela. Healing can occur through storytelling, through community and also through realisation of our intrinsic interconnectedness as individuals. 

The common theme is a reminder of our role as individuals and as a wider St Joseph’s community to engage with acts of healing and storytelling in an attempt to work towards rejuvenation. 2022 cannot just ‘be another year’. Let it be a year that allows us to heal together and emerge as a more fulfilled and connected society. This ties into our identity theme for 2022 from Matthew’s gospel 19:26 where, ‘Anything is possible with God’. Another action we invite you to take towards healing is to come along and support CRAG (Combined Refugee Action Group Geelong) by attending the film Scattered People this coming Tuesday 21 June in our St Joseph’s PAC with special guest speaker: Fran McAloon, Executive Member of CRAG. All proceeds going to CRAG. Former SJC staff member and CRAG volunteer, Kathy Jenkins will be there on the night and there are opportunities to buy raffle tickets. Movie tickets only $15. Purchase online https://www.trybooking.com/BZFMO

Artwork series by artist Bri Apma Hayes

The second panel of artwork we are sharing from Bri’s narrative series this week is titled ‘Culture’.

This yellow set has a few stories to tell that connect.

It tells the story of our rich culture and the things we share when we gather as one. The handprints represent ochre and painting up in significant times to dance, sing and share. The handprints have been done in a similar way to how you would see handprints in caves/on rocks as the ochre was put in your mouth and sprayed out over the hand as a stencil. The red and orange represent the fires we use to cleanse us, welcoming us to country and cleansing our moorroop (spirit).

The fire is also key to having healthy country with fire management and preserving country. This has been done for thousands of years and is important to keep country maintained. We lived in sync and harmony with the land, knowing the right amount to take and to give back. Our practices are some of the most sustainable.

The five green circles represent the Kulin Nations: Waddawurrung, Boonwurrung, Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri. Bri Apma Hayes

Give your Gift

Fill out the form below to nominate how you would like to make a difference at St Joseph's College Geelong

Thank you for considering your gift

Gifting is an opportunity for all of us within the St Joseph’s Community to demonstrate our strong

commitment to our boys and show how we value a St Joseph’s education.

Every gift, no matter the size, has a positive influence on our learning environment. It gives every boy the opportunity to fulfill his personal potential, benefiting from the College’s staff, learning environment and programs to “Strive for the Highest”.

Giving your gift, will have a direct and immediate impact on the students of St Joseph’s College.

Gift Options

Click on the images at the bottom of this page to read more on each of the gifting options we have available and how each and every one of them makes a difference here at St Joseph's.

Why Gift?

Thursday 2 June was a big day on the music department calendar. The Annual Geelong Region Combined Bands Day was hosted by St Joseph’s this year. Combining forces with Kardinia International College, Sacred Heart, Covenant College, Clonard College, Belmont High School, and St Ignatius College, with a total mass of around 160 students all armed with their musical instruments, the SJC gym came alive with music.

Under the expert baton of former SJC Director of Music, Ms Amy Wert, the students were guided through two concert band works that they had not played together before, to produce an incredible performance by the day's end. It was a wonderful celebration of the power of music and friendship and is a day which we all look forward to every year. Having Amy there to impart her musical wisdom to the students was really special and we music thank her school, Toorak College, for enabling Amy to come and work with us. Thank you to all the SJC intermediate band students who were involved in the day and especially to the music staff, who worked tirelessly to ensure the day ran smoothly.

UPCOMING EVENTS TERM 2

Every day - CUT THE WRAP

Wednesday 22 June UK Artist Jane Perkins visiting Westcourt Campus

OTWAYS GARDEN UPGRADE

On Tuesday 31 May, several Year 10 students braved the bitterly cold and wet conditions to commence the next phase of our Otways inspired garden in the Edmund Rice Campus quadrangle, as part of our Enviroservice (Service Learning) activities. In 2019, Year 10 Environmental Science students commenced the upgrade, planting several Soft Tree ferns (Dicksonia Antartica) and Bird’s Nest Ferns (Asplenium nidus). With the introduction of a spray mist watering system under the ramps, it has become an idyllic environment for these species to thrive. Over the past fortnight, Sustainability leaders have continued the upgrade, by planting various species including; Soft Tree ferns (Dicksonia Antartica), Bird’s Nest Ferns (Asplenium nidus), Mother Shield Fern (Polystichum proliferum), Native violet (Viola Heteracea) and Mountain Correa (Correa Lawrenceana).

CALLING FOR PLASTIC BOTTLE TOPS AND BREAD CLIPS

As the Year 11 VCAL students gear up for new recycling and reforming polymer projects next semester, we need the support of our community for recycled plastic resources. We are encouraging all families to keep plastic bottle tops (numbers 2 & 4). In addition, other items that may be recycled at the College include; corks, stamps and plastic bread tags (in support of the Bread Tags for Wheelchairs project).

All bottle tops (washed only) and other items may be delivered to the Reception of either campus.

St Joseph's College and the Combined Refugee Action Group present a screening of "Scattered People" with special guest speaker: Fran McAloon, Executive Member of CRAG.

Scattered People

Produced by John and Lizzi Swatland

www.scatteredpeoplefilm.org

When Australian musicians go into a Brisbane detention centre to share music, they meet two Iranian musicians, Mas and Saha, who sing on their three albums.

Missy Higgins, John Butler, Harry James Angus (The Cat Empire), Katie Noonan, Michael Franti, Archie Roach, Dan Sultan, and Robbie James talk about the power of music, its ability to break through barriers, unite people and create shared experiences.

What does the music we produce, sing and listen to tell us about ourselves, our country and life experience?

Academics, psychologists and refugee specialists talk about the role artistic expression plays in building personal and national identity, and the healing power of creative expression and shared stories.

BOOK TICKETS:

Event Guidelines during COVID-19

Due to the uncertainty that the COVID-19 pandemic has created around holding public events, we would like to reassure our future guests of the following:

All of our events will be held in accordance with the latest COVID guidelines. Guest and staff wellbeing will be our priority.

At this stage, current vaccination status is not required to be shown for event attendance, however we will be ultimately bound by the current rules on the day of the event.

If restrictions prevent a scheduled event from occurring, we will attempt to reschedule. If rescheduling is not practical, then tickets to the event will be fully refunded.

Guests unable to attend our event due to being unwell, awaiting COVID tests or restricted by quarantine regulations can contact us to organise a refund.

We look forward to continuing to host a variety of events for our community to enjoy. Thank you for supporting St Joseph’s College Geelong.

Save the Date! 

The 2022 Fashion Dinner will be held at Mt Duneed Estate on Friday 19 August! 

Tickets will go on sale from Tuesday 12 July. 

This event sold out last year, so be sure to get your friends organised and add the date to your calendar. 

The 2021 College Yearbook - Virtus, has been printed and delivered to the College this week!

All Year 8-12 students who attended St Joseph's in 2021 and have elected to have a copy of Virtus Magazine as part of their fees, will be receiving their copy via their homeroom before the end of Term 2. Please make sure they do not get left behind in schoolbags or lockers. 

Students that were part of the Graduating Class of 2021, will be receiving their copy via post. 

Thank you to everyone for their patience, with the added challenges of 2021 and such a busy Term 1, we wanted to make sure we were able to provide the best yearbook we could as a keepsake for our students, which took some extra time. 

OFFICE CLOSURE

Westcourt Campus will close at 4.00pm on Friday 24 June and reopen at 8.00am on Monday 11 July.

Edmund Rice Campus will close at 4.00pm on Friday 1 July and reopen at 8.00am on Monday 11 July.

All families and friends are welcome to come and enjoy the Senior Music Showcase in the College Chapel on Tuesday 21 June.

The concert will feature the Senior Band, Vocal Ensemble and VCE Soloists.

Entry is free, dress warmly if it is a cool evening.

Tom La Spada passed away suddenly. Father to Rebecca Spark (staff) & David, grandfather to Lincoln (Year 9) and Harvey.

Noella O'Donohue 96 years, passed away recently in Warrnambool. Aunty of Damian Moynihan (Staff Member). Our thoughts are with you Damian at this difficult time. 

“Our hearts go out to you all as we pray “That God will welcome these faithfully departed into His loving arms. And that precious memories will be of comfort to those left behind, knowing that their love will live on in their hearts forever.”