Hi all,

I hope you are all well now that we’ve settled into Term 2. I have had an amazing few weeks and really enjoyed my time as the Acting Principal. The staff and students have really supported me and eased the transition, and in reality, the school hasn’t missed a beat. This school is such an amazing place to come and work each day and I am grateful that I get to work in a magnificent community full of wonderful people. Speaking of wonderful people, I hope all the mothers from our school had a relaxing, stress free Mother’s Day. I know students were busy making arts and crafts to give as presents during the past few days and I am sure you all enjoyed the heart felt gift you received. Thank you to all the Mother’s and family members who were able to join us at our Mother’s Day Breakfast last Friday morning. It was great to see so many families there to join us. Thank you to all the staff who came and supported the event and a massive thank you to Katina, Sarah, Meredith, Eva and Bridget for their effort in setting up and cleaning up afterwards. And the last thank you goes to Steph Insanally for preparing the Receptions and Choir children to sing 2 beautiful songs. We really are very lucky to have such great people working here. 

Our new staff have settled in well. Emily our new Acting Deputy, has fit in seamlessly, supporting staff and myself in helping teachers develop plans for our students who require additional support. She is also helping teachers understand the full functionality of SEQTA, our schools learning management tool. Adele is doing well teaching STEM classes and Sarah has done a fantastic job managing our marketing and enrolments. Our 4 new students are also setting in well to life at St Joseph’s Kingswood. 

This week starts the beginning of the national NAPLAN tests. Our teachers have been working hard to prepare students for what the test will entail and how they can successfully show their skills. For our Year 3s this will be their first time taking the tests. Whenever you do something for the first time there can be a little fear of the unknown. I’ve been talking to the students about doing the best they can and trying not to worry too much about it. And whilst the tests are important and we certainly want our students to do well, it is by no means an indication of all of the things we do to measure our students’ achievement and success at school and more importantly at life. Emily’s article below will give a little bit more perspective to how we feel about the tests.

You may have heard on the grapevine that ties are no longer being supported by our uniform shop. I can tell you that this is absolutely not true and ties are still a part of the uniform policy. This happened after a comment at a meeting was taken out of context. I have messaged Permapleat and they have assured me that more ties are being ordered and will be available shorty. If you are having any trouble getting a tie, please let me know. On a positive note, Permapleat have recently updated the way they keep the uniform stock and have started using a local embroiderer. This means they should be able to hold more stock unbranded and when an order comes in, if they don’t have it at the shop, they will be able to deliver items to families much sooner.

Our school is looking the best it has ever looked after the little finishing touches of the new build have been completed over the past few weeks. We have also recently had the outside of the hall and parish building re-painted to restore it to its former glory. Whilst you probably won’t have noticed a major difference, up close it looks like new, and should remain looking good for the next few years. We have also built in a maintenance plan to ensure it continues to look good into the future.

I really hope you have all had a great start to the term and thank you to everyone who has offered their kind words and supported my during these first few weeks. I am looking forward to the next few weeks leading this community.

Take care,

Jamie Deverson