2022 | Issue 19| SJC Newsletter

Dear Parents and Carers,

The end of each school year brings a range of emotions. There is satisfaction with the achievements of the year, happiness with an extended holiday period approaching but also some sadness in the knowledge that some students and staff will not be rejoining us in 2023.

On behalf of the College I would like to wish all exiting students well. I have spoken to many and have assured them they will always be a Joey’s boy and encouraged them to stay in touch.

With a staff of over 260 the end of each year will always bring some changes. I would like to thank and congratulate those teaching and support staff who will be finishing at the end of this year: teachers, Crystal Priestley, Eliza-Jane Rundle, Andrew Clements, Ben Peacock, Lauren Barton, Jane Emerick, Michael Wright, Ellie Purser, David Shalders, Aaron Westgarth, Sam Hughes, Maisie Barlow, Brendan Fairfield, Mark Turner and Michael Anderson, support staff, Noah Biggs, Samara Wall, David Hunt, Libby Eckhardt, Maddy Cole, Matt Manly, Will Paatsch, Carlene Davy, Mary Holmes, Matisse Waight, Charlotte Furphy, and our AFL trainees Max Jones and Sam McKew.

I particularly acknowledge those long-serving members of staff Lauren Barton (12 years), David Shalders (17 years), Mark Turner (18 years) and Michael Anderson (24 years). I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Sena Palmer who retired earlier this year having served the College for 35 years.

All of those leaving depart with our grateful thanks and I hope that each person finds the sadness of leaving offset by the knowledge that they have made St Joseph’s and the world a better place by their influence on the lives of young people.

As we look back over the year there is much to give thanks and be grateful for. I am particularly grateful for the positivity and goodwill of students, parents, and staff as we adjusted to the return to a full year of face-to-face teaching and learning.

Australia is an increasingly secular society fewer of us are religious and even fewer involved in the formal practice of our religion than in previous generations. Christmas however is a time when many of us reengage with our faith and our parishes as family groups attend Mass.

Pope Francis recently spoke about rediscovering the true richness of Christmas by focusing on simple traditional symbols like the Christmas tree and the nativity scene. "In its genuine poverty", the Pope said "the nativity scene helps us to rediscover the true richness of Christmas”, a different Christmas “from the consumerist and commercial one”. It helps us “to become intimate with God, with the fragile simplicity of a small newborn, with the meekness of his being laid down, with the tender affection of the swaddling clothes that surround him”.

I hope you and your family find the opportunity to engage with the true richness of the Christmas celebrations. There is much for us to take from the story of a child born into poverty who grew up challenging the prevailing norms of the day, who accepted everybody, discriminated against no one, and preached a message of unconditional love.

Best wishes for a peaceful and blessed Christmas, a restorative and safe holiday time. I look forward to welcoming all students back-to-school on Tuesday 31 January.

God Bless