2024 | ISSUE 1 | SJC Newsletter

Principal's Video News

Welcome to 2024. I am pleased to report that the experience of the first few days of school have been enormously positive for staff and students. I would also like to thank and acknowledge all families for your commitment to ensuring that students returned ready for the school year. While this is the first newsletter of the year, families should have received an earlier email communication prior to school commencing, in which I welcomed those staff and students new to the school, particularly those commencing in Year 7. I also introduced the College theme for this year “Let your light shine through service to others.”

In January, young School Leaders from EREA schools across the country gathered at St Patrick’s College Ballarat. Over 50 young people from 40 schools from every state and territory across Australia participated in the conference, the theme of which was “Voice and Agency”. The Young Leaders explored an understanding of leadership from a Gospel and Edmund Rice perspective, and the importance of justice, Reconciliation, advocacy, service and global engagement. St Joseph’s was represented by College Captain, Michael Ahearn. Michael addressed all Mt Sion students last week about this experience.

During the holiday break the basketball and handball court in our Year 7 precinct was upgraded to a synthetic grass surface featuring the Aboriginal flag. This idea was originally proposed by a group of our First Nations students. It is a great example of the power of student voice and advocacy and is in keeping with our commitment to deliver an inclusive safe and diverse culture as outlined in our strategic plan. The court looks magnificent and the colours mirror those of the College. In the first few days it has certainly been well received and well utilised by our Year 7 students.

In recent days, I was delighted to receive a copy of “The Josian”. The Josian was originally the annual magazine of the old collegians, first published in 1944. The College English and Arts staff have reimagined The Josian which is now a beautifully presented hardcopy journal showcasing outstanding works of art and literature from our students during 2023. This will be formally launched at an exhibition in the Pat Bourke Gallery later this month. Copies will be available after that date.

I am pleased to announce the creation of the “SJC Parent Network”. The aim of this group is to provide a strong connection between the College and the parent community. This group is a rebranded “Parents and Friends Association” with an emphasis on connection rather than fundraising. Our initial intention is to provide the opportunity for about eight gatherings per year to discuss any relevant issues and to share information between the school and community. The SJC Parent Network will also aim to host about three social events during the year to provide further networking opportunities. A member of the College Leadership team will be present at all meetings, providing attendees with access to the decision-makers within the College. I encourage all parents, but particularly those with students new to the College, to consider attending the SJC Parent Network gatherings.

At St Joseph’s, we have always taken pride in our capacity to support students achieving excellence. From the start of this year, we have been able to provide additional opportunities to enhance academic achievement through the provision of tutoring to senior students and an academic panel to monitor the achievement levels of senior students, and sporting achievement through high-performance training support with assistance from a Federation University trainer and researcher and discrete AFL and soccer (football) pathways. Our Music students continue to excel with the choral ensemble excellent in their first commitment for the year at the Westcourt Opening Mass last Friday.

The annual inter-house Athletics Carnival was held yesterday. With high levels of participation, many excellent results and an enjoyable atmosphere, it was a great day. This gives us confidence that our Athletics squad will be strong for the ACC Athletics Carnival in a few weeks.

Finally, college tours for families who are considering applying for a place at St Joseph’s in 2025 commence mid-March and bookings are being taken now via the College website. Please encourage families of upper primary age boys to book a tour. We expect demand to be high with steadily increasing demand from students in government independent and Catholic primary schools.

God Bless.

Tony Paatsch
Principal

Warm Welcome Back!

I extend a warm welcome back to all existing families of the College and a special welcome to all new families. I am the recently appointed Acting Deputy Principal for Staff and Student Wellbeing. For those whom I have not met, I have worked at St Joseph’s College for over ten years and, within this time, have held several wellbeing leadership positions, including Head of Mt Sion-Wellbeing and Director of Westcourt. I am genuinely excited to lead the wellbeing of all within our College, believing that young people learn best when their wellbeing is well-nurtured and developed, with families and the school working together in positive partnership.

Busy Term Ahead

Term 1 is a short but very busy term. Over the next two weeks, we have several important events that involve all students and staff within the College. This week, we held our annual College Athletics Carnival. As always, it was excellent to see our young people participating and showing the utmost respect and sportsmanship throughout the day. A special congratulations to the age group champions for their stellar performance.

In the coming weeks, the following key events take place:

• Year 7 Parent Welcoming Evening: 12 February
• Waterford Awards Ceremony: 13 February
• Westcourt & Mt Sion Awards Ceremony: 14 February

The wellbeing team (Year Level Coordinators and House Coordinators) regularly meet with their year levels/houses to provide College information and remind students of daily expectations. As a reminder to all families, please read below our daily expectations of all students:

• Students need to arrive on campus by 8.50 am and be at their first class by 9.00am.
• Students who arrive after 9.00 am need to sign in at the Campus reception.
• Students should wear their uniform correctly and with pride. This includes appropriate black school shoes, no visible t-shirts under school shirts, and hair tied back.
• If jewellery is worn, it is to only be silver or gold stud earrings and/or a necklace for religious purposes only.
• Phones should be placed in lockers and not seen throughout the day from 9.00am until the end of the school day. All students who use headphones should remove these throughout the day.
• Students should arrive ready to learn each day, with a charged laptop and all school materials for the classes scheduled throughout the day.

I look forward to a positive Term 1 and working with both families and the College community to continue to strengthen the wellbeing culture.

Cassandra Gleeson
Acting Deputy Principal- Wellbeing

Identity News

Multicultural Youth Leadership Conference

A group of St Joseph’s students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds attended the annual Multicultural Youth Leadership Conference at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Students were empowered to Connect, Empower and Lead at Australia's largest Multicultural Youth leadership conference.

The MYLC conference aims to bring together CALD secondary students from all across Victoria to build the leadership capacity of Victoria’s vibrant multicultural student population, through interactive sessions being delivered by world class young multicultural professionals.

The theme for this year's conference was "Connect, Empower, and Lead." It was designed for secondary school aged multicultural students to focus on building essential skills that are vital for leadership development and becoming dynamic leaders of tomorrow. Through a series of engaging sessions and activities, including a session from guest keynote speaker Peter Bol it aimed to provide students with practical tools, knowledge, and inspiration to enhance their leadership capabilities.

The work of Endeavour Youth Australia is grounded by a solid evidence-based youth participation framework which works alongside young people to work through the many barriers to participation, with a specialist focus re-engaging disengaged and disenfranchised CALD communities in education. Through their service delivery EYA have demonstrated the capacity to identify, mobilise and empower young people to lead the responses on issues which matter to them. Sessions included: Advocacy in action with Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Semra, Harnessing the language of leaders with Kano Ravalji, and Strengthening resilience for success with Mohamed Ahmed. 

The MYLC Multicultural Youth Leadership Conference was an extraordinary day, where culturally and linguistically diverse students were able to learn about how being a leader in their community and culture can be achieved. My favourite part of the day would have to be when Olympic runner Peter Bol came on stage to chat. He shared major parts of his story and successes. Also, thank you so much for the day Mrs Malone and Ms Ivey it was an incredible experience.
Alessio Senna, Year 11

The best part of the day was when Peter Bol told us how he got free hair cuts at the Olympics and when I asked him who inspired him in his family and he spoke about his parents and his big supportive family. His message was to ‘Be yourself, put in the work and be aware of managing your pressure bubble. To always have a mentor, have authenticity and to have strong values (in his case including family, health and spirit).'
Yathushanth Suranther and Pavithran Vijayaraj, Year 8

I had a wonderful time at the multicultural conference and learnt a lot about the importance of communication, identifying strengths by having a positive mind set to overcoming challenges and what it means to become a good leader and how to become one.
Zubayr Akhtar and Fedel Haddad

St Joseph’s College Commencement Masses

‘Let your light shine through service to others’ (Matthew 5:16)

Last Friday we warmly welcomed Fr Jude Johnson from St Mary’s Parish to celebrate our Westcourt College Commencement Mass. Tomorrow, we will welcome Fr Hang Ho fromSt Bernard’s Parish Belmont to celebrate Mass at our Edmund Rice Campus.

We launched our theme for 2024, ‘Let your light shine through service to others.’ (Matt 5:16). We formulated this theme by reflecting on the 2024 Liturgical Calendar and the Melbourne Archdiocese theme for this year’s Education Week, ‘In the Light of Christ’. In listening to student voice at our student Touchstone Leadership Formation Day, the theme ‘Lighting the way’ was shared. There are many inspiring and thoughtful Bible references to light and service. Our theme is based on Matthew 5:16 – In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Further inspiration came from John 8:12 – Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ 2 Corinthians 4:6 emphasises: For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Our students are gifted with many opportunities. St Joseph’s College exists not only to educate our students, but to develop a person with deep values and a strong character. Our college stands on the hill of Newtown, our chapel serving as a beacon of light that shines over our community like a lighthouse. This light shines on those who are lucky in life but shines brighter on those living in hardship. This idea is the foundation of our theme for2024, ‘Let your light shine through service to others.’ The light already in us illuminates our path forward and shows us the way to connect to others meaningfully and spiritually. God wants us to be a beacon in the dark pointing others to Him. This year, let us all find our light and shine brightly, so that everyone can be brought closer to each other, closer to unity and closer to God. We encourage all in our community to embrace our theme, be the light today for yourself and others. In doing so, our school community strengthens and is truly seen. As we lit our College candle, we prayed, let us be open to the Spirit moving in our hearts and in our lives. Please encourage your son to take up the various Service Learning opportunities offered on SIMON notices to shine a light on serving those most in need.

Let the light of Christ shine in us and through us as we travel this school year together in service to others as a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition.

Mary Malone – Director of Identity
Belinda Milverton – Faith Development Coordinator

2024 Athletics Carnival

Congratulations to all who competed in the 2024 SJC Athletics Carnival today, it was fantastic to see students giving everything a go to gain points for their house. With a combination of running, jumping, throwing and cheering, it was the Brophy Bees who emerged from the rest to claim first place. A very big thank you to @steigensport for generously gifting packs filled with sport essentials to the boys, they look forward to taking them to the ACC Athletics Carnival this year.

The final results

College Classic

1^st Taj Purcell (Yr 9)

2^nd Hunter McArthur (Yr 7)

3^rd William Blake (Yr 8)

Overall House Points

1^st Brophy – 3123

2^nd Butler – 3099

3^rd Foley – 3097

4^th Jordan – 3008

SJC Parent Network

Welcome back.

Life has quickly returned to school routine with lunches, the Athletics Carnival, after school activities and weekend sport.

The P&F team have been working behind the scenes over the last few months to create a re-brand of our name and meeting format.

SJC Parent Network

The SJC Parent Network provide a strong connection with the broader SJC Community to work together to support students and the College.

At the eight gatherings we have throughout the year, the emphasis is on what is occurring and upcoming around the College, allowing families to be connected and involved. The SJC Parent Network also host three College social events during the year to further bring the College community together to support students.

Parent Network gatherings for 2024

At our various gatherings, we will have updates from a variety of areas of the College, ranging from Wellbeing, Career Pathways, College Clinicians and other areas within SJC. Keep an eye on the newsletter and socials as we plan these throughout the terms.

TERM 1

• 27 February AGM, commencing at 6.45pm

• 19 March – Wellbeing focus and open night with Tony Paatsch and Cassandra Gleeson

• TBC – Comedy Night in the PAC

TERM 2

• 23 April

• 18 May

• 24 May – Trivia Night

• 28 May

TERM 3

• 13 August

• 10 September

TERM 4

• 8 October

• October – Fashion Dinner

• November

If you have any questions or would like to be part of our SJC Parent Network , please reach out to the College’s Events & Community Engagement Coordinator, Jodie Warrick on 5226 8122 or via email [email protected]

We look forward to seeing as many of you there at our AGM on Tuesday 27 February.

Sasha Dickson
President

Year 7 Welcome Evening

What an exciting few weeks it has been for your sons as they embark on their journey at SJC. Hopefully, they have had a great week settling in.

A reminder that the Year 7 Welcome Evening is scheduled for Monday 12th February, at the Peter Chanel Centre. This presents a fantastic opportunity to meet and catch up with fellow Year 7 parents, as well as interact with College staff. The event will begin with hearing from our Principal and Waterford Leaders, followed by heading into your student's homeroom with their respective teacher.

Welcome drinks will be served from 5:30 pm on the basketball courts near the Peter Chanel Centre and the information session will commence at 6:15 pm. It is important to note that this evening is exclusively for parents and carers; no students are required to attend.

Please RSVP to this event here

UPCOMING EVENTS TERM 1

• Wednesday 7 February: “Take 3 for the Sea” launch during Athletics Carnival
• Thursday 29 February: Enviroservice (3:30pm-5:30pm) Making Eddie Coin
• Friday 1 March: “30 for 30” Challenge, Schools Clean Up Day
• Sunday 3 March: Clean Up Australia Day
• Thursday 7 March: Enviroservice (3:30pm – 5:30pm): Mulching Carey Oval Embankment
• Friday 22 March: National Ride to School Day
• Friday 22 March: Earth Hour Schools Day SJC “Switch Off” hour – Time TBC
• Saturday 26 March: Earth Hour 8:30pm-9:30pm (Global event)

"TAKE 3 FOR THE SEA" LAUNCH

The Athletics Carnival provides a wonderful opportunity to launch our “Take 3 for the Sea” initiative and promote best practice with respect to waste management, as students move throughout the College grounds during the day. Blessed with good weather, this year was no exception and students were happy to embrace the food incentive for helping clean up in their vicinity. Co-founded by environmentalist Tim Silverwood in 2010, the “Take 3” initiative was incepted by our College to showcase how “a simple action could produce profound consequences”. We encourage all members of our school community to adopt the habit of “Taking 3”, when out walking and visiting new areas.

SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP

We are now inviting new students with a passion for the environment and motivation to drive change, to join the Sustainability Team.

We are seeking representatives from each Year 7 Homeroom and new members from other year levels are also welcome! Interested students are encouraged to complete the online application via the link below. Meeting times are outlined in the student bulletin on a weekly basis and new members are welcome to participate. Attendance at each meeting will count for 30 minutes of Service Learning.

Sustainability Leadership Application

ENVIROSERVICE

Enviroservice (Service to the Environment) provides students with a wonderful opportunity to conduct their Service-Learning hours at school, whilst enjoying the outdoors and learning more about the Natural World. Enviroservice is conducted after school at the Edmund Rice Campus between 3.30pm and 5.30pm. The Term 1 Enviroserive schedule is below.

• Thursday 29 February: Making Eddie Coin
• Thursday 7 March: Mulching Carey Oval Pavilion Gardens

COMMUNITY NOTICES

PLASTIC BOTTLE TOPS WANTED - NUMBERS 2, 4 AND 5

As we continually strive to reduce our carbon footprint and create new opportunities for circular economy, we are thrilled to announce the anticipated arrival of two new induction moulding machines, scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks. Our new machinery from The Old Alaska, will enable both the opportunity to create larger products and with a broader range of recyclables, including polymer plastics with the number 5.

We encourage all families to collect plastic bottle tops and other polymer containers with numbers 2, 4 and 5 to support new projects for 2024. Donations of washed plastic items with requested numbers only may be delivered to the Reception area of either campus.

OTHER RECYCLABLES ACCEPTED AT ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE

In addition to recycled plastic items with numbers 2, 4 and 5, we also accept plastic bread clips, postage stamps and corks. Unfortunately, due to changed conditions regarding transport and costs for battery recycling, we are no longer accepting battery donations.

NATIONAL SUSTAINABILTY FESTIVAL 2024

The National Sustainability Festival is currently running for the month of February, with a host of events and activities scheduled at various locations in Melbourne. For more information regarding the festival visit; https://sustainabilityfestival...

Kelly Jenkins
Sustainability Coordinator

New and Updated Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

Two new policies have been approved by the SJC Leadership Team and launched, both of these policies are available on the SJC website:

• Visitor Management Policy and Procedure – this applies to visitors to the school grounds when the school is open and the reception office is staffed;
• SJC Enrolment Policy and Guidelines  – this provides guidelines and information on the enrolment process at SJC.

Olympic Changemaker National Summit

Year 11 student, Harris Henderson, recently attended the Australia Olympic Changemaker National Summit, and here is a reflection of his time there.

Year 11 student, Harris Henderson, recently attended the Australia Olympic Changemaker National Summit, and here is a reflection of his time there.

Last year I had the privilege of attending the Australian Olympic Changemaker National Summit. The program ran from 5 to 8 December and was held at the AIS. Aside from the dozens of emails sent about itinerary and the facilitators, all of the changemakers were left in the dark about what was actually happening at the Summit. During the Summit, we participated in team building activities, such as the cone snatching game from the Man Cave that the Year 11s would remember from last year, in which I managed to beat Olympic swimmer Mac Horton in the first round and then I went out straight away. Besides the team building and establishing friendships, our main aim at the Summit was to come up with three ideas that could be used at the Brisbane Olympic Games that would have a positive impact. The four categories for these ideas were social inclusion, rural and remote, benefits of sport, and sustainability, with each group having an Olympic athlete as a mentor. After a day and a half of planning and discussing our ideas in our groups, it was finally time to present in front of all of the groups, a few parliament members, and the CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee, Matt Carroll. The experience of presenting my ideas inside Parliament House was a once in life time opportunity, with not a moment being taken for granted. At the end of the presentation, we each received our medallion made by the Royal Australian Mint. The presentation, team building with Olympians, sharing stories, receiving a shiny circle and beating an Olympian were all great, but the Summit was much more than that.

There were dozens of takeaways from the Summit, but some of the most notable things didn’t come from the Olympians, it came from the people like you and me. Teenagers that live extremely connected lives, however we face problems on our own. Hearing the other changemakers’ stories from where they come from and what they have been through inspired me greatly. Olympic swimmer, Brooke Hanson, gave us this quote during the Summit, “Do it, don’t quit”, and I realised every single one of those changemakers had lived by that quote. Everyone there had a strong passion for something, and no matter what happened they kept chasing and following that dream. Everyone faces problems, and everyone faces them differently, no person’s problem is too small. Another lesson I learnt while at the Summit, is to just open your mouth and start a conversation, although it’s known that I love to talk a lot, I do tend to shut down when it comes to new people. I realised that I’ll never have this opportunity again so I might as well talk, and within the space of three days, it seemed like all of us had known each other for years. I didn’t expect that to be the outcome. With all of us staying in contact with each other after the Summit, it just shows that if you go out there and start that conversation with someone, you might just find a few good friends along the way.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is a message that changemaker Daniel said during the sharing circle and it goes something like this: “I used to hate the world and life, everyone treated me poorly due to my living situation and the way I look. All I wanted to do was let my hate and anger out. But I realised that there is no reward in putting others down so you can climb to the top and feel popular or cool, but eventually you will fall further than where you started from. Don’t build your life based on spreading hate and lies, build it on the strongest foundation, kindness. Give that random person a smile, say hi to that elderly person you always walk past, tell your mates that you value them or that their outfit looks sick. Because at the end of the day, we only know so much about people’s lives, and they could be feeling the same way I did, that the world hates them and they hate it back, but if you have the courage to show a bit of kindness, you could be the one that gives them the courage to be kind”.

Harris Henderson, Year 11

SJC Alumni performing at the Barwon Club

On Friday 16 February 'Tou-Can' and 'Goodwood', both made up of SJC Alumni, will be performing at the Barwon Club. 

Tickets can be purchased here

Waurn Ponds Library Digital Tattoo Workshop

Support Uncle Norm and his family – GoFundMe

The SJC community is saddened to hear that our friend and mentor Uncle Norm Stanley has recently been given a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The college would like to extend its support to Uncle Norm, his wife Nikki, and their kids, as they embark on a difficult journey.

For those who don’t know, St Joseph’s has been very lucky to share a strong relationship with Uncle Norm, who has helped the college with its First Nations programs for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and broader student body. In 2023, Norm led our First Nations Student group on a tour of the Point Addis Coastline sharing knowledge of Country. He and Nikki contributed to and participated in the school’s updated year 10 History Unit, leading groups of students on Wadawurrung Country to support in-class learning. They also joined us for our Reconciliation Week Assembly, where Nikki delivered a special Welcome to Country while accompanied by Norm on didgeridoo.

We are putting a call out to our SJC families to support Norm’s family at this difficult time. You can do this by:

1. Donating to a GoFundMe at the following link: https://gofund.me/a58b774d
2. Donating an artwork to an art auction. All proceeds will go to Norm and his family for travel to the Northern Territory for traditional & spiritual healing. Email: [email protected] if you can contribute.

SYMPATHY

Antonino (Tony) Maltese (86 years) passed away on 8 January 2024, father of Danny and father-in-law of Renee (current staff members).

Deepest sympathies.

Andrew Robertson (74 years) passed away on 18 January 2024, father of Paul (current staff member).

Rest in peace.

Linda Catanzariti passed away on 22 January 2024. Mother of Archie (Year 9), Eli (Year 7) and Ivy (Grade 2, Fyans Park Primary School). Deepest sympathy to Steve (current staff member), Archie, Eli and Ivy.

Now in God’s care.

Anthony Peter Watt (73 years) passed away on 26 January 2024. Father of Adele (current staff member).

Deepest sympathy today and always.

Br Peter Clinch (70 years) passed away on 28 January 2024. Brother Peter was the esteemed Congregation Leader of the Christian Brothers.

May he rest in peace.

Fr Kevin Francis Bates SM passed away on 31 January 2024. Brother of former staff member Philip Bates (deceased). Father Kevin formally opened the Peter Chanel Centre a few years ago and was a great friend of St Joseph’s.

Rest in peace.

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.”

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Ben McDowall and Charlotte on the birth of their daughter, Roxy, on 13 December 2023.

Congratulations to Caterina Giacomazzo and Maurice on the birth of their daughter, Eva Evangelina, on 19 January 2024.