Thursday 21 May 2015

1. Principal News Week 5, Term 2 2015

Engaged Learning Shared with the Whitestone Learning and Change Network
On Monday six of our Year 8 leaders presented slide shows about what engages them in their learning to staff from the Whitestone LCN including St Kevin's College staff. All of us were very impressed with the articulate way they shared their presentations and answered the tricky questions afterwards. As well as getting to experience the high school environment through technology classes for our Year 7 and 8's, opportunities such as sharing about learning are other ways to promote a richer learning transition to high school.
Special thanks to those students for stepping up and moving out of their comfort zones on Monday.

Visit with Miss Jackson at Holy Family School, Melbourne
This weekend my healthy mother is celebrating her 80th birthday. I have taken the opportunity to travel over and spend a day at Miss Chantelle Jackson's school in Mt Waverley. There are many different initiatives that take place in Catholic schools in Melbourne and it is a great opportunity to gain an insight first hand. I will be starting the day as a teacher aid in Miss Jackson's classroom! I am writing this blog from her classroom and have already had a tour of the very large and spacious school. I am looking forward to meeting with staff involved in different parts of the school today and look forward to sharing my learning with staff here when I return on Monday.

Competitions at the Opera House
A huge congratulations to the large number of St Joseph's children who participated in the speech, drama, dance and instrumental competitions last weekend.  Many of our talented children were awarded with scholarships, cups and ribbons. 

Mrs Bridget McNally said that our children were outstanding in the way they supported and encouraged each other and demonstrated our school values of respect and resilience.  I'd like to share with you some reflections from Mrs McNally. She emailed me to say: 

Aside from the results, I just wanted to email and tell you about the amazing behaviour and special character that all kids showed throughout the weekend. First time performers on stage that were petrified showed incredible resilience and got up on stage to give it their best shot. Quite a few kids were nervous before the bible reading so I just said 'just pretend you are in church' to which they replied ' oh yeah'. I think sometimes it's taken for granted the amazing exposure they get at St Josephs school and to them getting up in church is a piece of cake (which it certainly is not). This exposure helps them tremendously in competitions like this as they are able to take that prior experience and use it in another setting.
Well done to all participants who showed us how to Reach for the Stars as Lifelong Learners of the Catholic Faith.


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