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This week our Year 12's finish their 13-year journey from Prep to Year 12. For our small group of Seniors, it is the culmination of many years of study and hard work. For four of them it is a journey that started here at St Joseph’s School in Prep 2009.
During the week they shared a number of special moments together on retreat in Toowoomba where they had the opportunity to celebrate a special mass with Father Gonzo and pay their respects to Santina Leonardi who has known all of them for their whole time here at school. Thanks to the support of the P&F Committee they also had the opportunity to learn some defensive driving skills at Willowbank Raceway. All this culminates in their graduation and farewell assembly at the end of the week.
Thanks to all the staff who have contributed to the education and wellbeing of the Year 12's over all these years and to the parents and carers who have entrusted their children in the school. They leave the school set for a full life grounded in our Mercy Values. We pray for their success.
At the other end of their learning journey, this week we welcomed the 2022 Prep students for another preparation day. We look forward to seeing them grow, learn, and develop into the future Seniors of St Joseph’s School.
God Bless
It is hard to believe that after the challenging year we have faced as a school community, and as a wider local and global community, that the year is coming to a close. On 12 November, the last exam as part of the External Assessment block for our Year 12 students finished. I congratulate all the Year 12 students on their wonderful efforts across this year, and indeed all their time at St Joseph’s. On Thursday 18 November, we fittingly farewell our Senior cohort at the Graduation mass and dinner this evening, followed by our farewell liturgy the next day. We wish all these students the best as the embark on the next stage in their young lives.
The Year 7 2022 transition day on November 8 was a huge success and I thank all the staff and students involved for making the day enjoyable. There were many highlights and importantly they formed some early friendships with each other and our Year 12 student leaders for 2022. It was terrific to have the new students commencing in Year 7 2022 join our current Year 6 students for the day, and we welcome them and their families to our community.
To all students, I wish you the best as your school year draws to a close. I encourage you all to work hard and complete assessment to the best of your ability. It has been a great year and we are looking forward to a positive end to the year.
Live Jesus in our hearts,
Matthew Brown
Deputy Principal
The final few weeks of the term always bring much activity around any school and we are no exception. We have welcomed the Prep students for 2022 into the school for two practice mornings and it has been wonderful to see their excitement about the prospect of being in 'big school'. Parents will, by now, be aware that we will have two Prep teachers next year and more details will be sent about how this will operate. As well as all classes on Primary spending some time with their new teacher, we also welcomed some students from St Joseph's School Tenterfield who will be joining us in Year 7 next year. They will spend a number of days with the Year 6 cohort as it is important to us that all our students feel comfortable in their new surroundings.
This week we also had the Town Final for the Granite Belt Lecturette competition. Seven of our Year 6 students competed against students from Stanthorpe State Primary and I would like to congratulate them all for their presentations which were of a high quality. The following students have progressed through to the District Final which will take place on Monday 22 November: Patrick Roberts, William Roberts, Faith Lancaster, Abbie Fisher, Cael Armstrong and Lily Simpson. We wish them well for next Monday.
Our music program continues to go from strength to strength and as a result, our students have been learning two different carols for inclusion in an online Advent calendar for the Diocese. In another area of the Arts program, Mrs McLucas along with volunteer Wendy Hine have been working with the students on embroidery and stitching techniques, with the hope that many of the students will enter their work in to the Stanthorpe Show. It has been great to see the enthusiasm with which students across the year levels have embraced this new skill.
As I write this article, the students are currently at the pool for the annual swimming carnival. Later this week we have the final assembly for Year 12 and then in the last week of term, the Semper Una celebration for Year 6. With a blink of an eye, the academic year will be over. I sincerely hope that many memorable moments have been experienced and that we have all learned something about ourselves as individuals and as a community.
With God's blessings
Sarah Yates
Assistant to the Principal Primary
Students commemorated Remembrance Day on Thursday 11th November, both at school and by joining the community at the Stanthorpe Civic Centre.
We remember those who fought bravely in all conflicts, and gratefully acknowledge the sacrifice of individuals, family and communities. We pray for everlasting peace for those who gave their lives and hope and support for those who returned, carrying the scars of war.
Students on Secondary Campus have completed their last ever Science Club lesson by performing a rat dissection.
A rat dissection is conducted to explore the internal structure and function of basic mammalian anatomy. The purpose of this exercise is to explore the alimentary canal of the rat and observe the different parts of the digestive system. By looking at the length of the digestive system of the rat, information about their dietary pattern can be determined, and comparisons made between the rat and other mammals such as omnivores, carnivores and herbivores. Because the rat is a placental mammal and an omnivore it has a body structure very similar to that of humans.
Our students attended a compelling production of the Shakespearean tragedy - King Lear on Saturday night.
Many thanks to the Stanthorpe Little Theatre for coordinating a night of culture for our community. The night was a great success with laughter, intrigue, sorrow and enthusiastic acclamations of boos and hisses towards the antagonist, Edmund.
Our Year 7 - Year 11 students immensely enjoyed this theatrical preview into one of the quality texts available in Year 12 Senior Literature.
The purpose of Youth Council is to provide opportunities for student representatives in giving a voice to young people, and providing the students with the opportunity for regular communication about issues of importance to them directly with the Mayor and Councillors.
Congratulations and well done to our Year 10 Southern Downs Youth Council members, Taylah Organ and Eliza Telfer on representing our school throughout 2021.
With their final year coming to an end, thirteen St Joseph’s School students celebrated the conclusion of thirteen years of school this week by participating in their last ever group activity with a retreat at Garda House, St Ursula's College Toowoomba.
The retreat was a chance for students to reflect and reminisce about their Joeys journey and to consider, wonder and acknowledge their future.
As well as activities and a movie night, students also participated in a meaningful prayer ritual and affirmation activities. A highlight of the retreat was a visit to Miss Santina, which really made her day. Students then participated in a P&F Committee sponsored defensive driving course at Willowbank.
The retreat was a wonderful way for the Year 12 students to conclude the year before their Graduation Dinner to be held tonight, Thursday 18th November, and offers our students a chance to strengthen and renew connections before they embark on the next chapter of their lives.
Staff and students of St Joseph’s School wish the Year 12’s of 2021 all the best for their future and congratulate them on this milestone.
St Joseph’s fundraising achieved impressive results throughout the 2021 year with St Joseph’s students holding a variety of fundraising activities as part of their Mercy values or through their project-based learning.
Some very impressive results were achieved by the students, with the total cash raised being over $12,000 as well as donations of food and goods to various organisations.
| Catholic Missions | |
| Crazy Sock Day | $ 370.00 |
| Walkathon | |
| Brain Cancer Foundation | $ 5391.00 |
| National Families Week | |
| Ronald McDonald House | $ 146.30 |
| Bingo | |
| Mercy Works | $ 2448.00 |
| Donations | |
| Daniel Morcombe Foundation | $ 198.00 |
| St Vincent De Paul | |
| Mini Vinnies - Hambuger Day's | $ 1670.00 |
| Spooky Disco - Year 3's | $ 411.00 |
| Mini Vinnie's Raffle | |
| Brain Cancer Research | $ 500.00 |
| Christmas Appeal | $ 457.00 |
| Pancake Day, Donations, Disco | |
| Caritias | $ 915.00 |
Our students, staff and familiies should all be so very proud of their contributions towards these great organisations.
We would like to sincerely thank the following business’ for hosting our students for work experience throughout 2021. Without the support of local business’, we would be unable to provide this vital experience to our students.
Amcal Pharmacy
Aussie Kindies Early Learning
Barry’s Carpentry & Renovations Plus
Beaumont Electrical
Blu Collar Builders
C&K Stanthorpe Community Kindergarten
Cameron Bolton Interiors
Cattarin’s Mechanical Repairs
Chris Fittock Plumbing & Gas
Craig Barnes Builder
Cuts 'N' Curls
Daily Journal
Elite Torque Mechanical
Em’s Café
Farmtorque
Foxy's Bakery
Granite Belt Diagnostics Imaging
Granite Belt Property Management
Granite Peak Physiotherapy
Johanson Earthmoving
Mal Jackson Physiotherapy
Milestones Early Learning Stanthorpe
MWF Plumbing
Nemeth Whips
Pete's Hot Rod & Resto Shop
Pierpoint Motors
Polished Cosmetics
Queensland College of Wine Tourism
S&J Machining & Engineering Pty Ltd
Sandro Stefanon Cabinets
Southern Downs Electrical
Southern Downs Vet
Stanthorpe Fitness Centre
Stanthorpe Quality Meats
Stanthorpe Real Estate
Stanthorpe Vet Care
Tenterfield Preschool
Tenterfield Veterinary Clinic
The Mobile Vet
VC Catanzaro Solicitor
Vichie & Sons
Zealous Accounts
If you would like to come on board and offer our students the experience to work with you and and your business as part of our work experience program, please contact the School on 4681 5991 or email stanthorpe@twb.catholic.edu.au.
The Queensland Government will conduct its annual statewide survey of Year 12 completers in 2022. The Next Step survey is a brief, confidential survey that gains a comprehensive picture of the employment, study and life choices made by Queensland school completers in the year after they finish Year 12.
Between March and June next year, our current Year 12 students will receive a letter from the Minister for Education or an email or phone call from the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office inviting you to complete the survey. To enable them to reach you, please ensure your contact details are correct in your learning account by logging into the student portal at https://myqce.qcaa.qld.edu.au/
Further information on Next Step and results from previous surveys are available online at www.qld.gov.au/nextstep.
Volleyball Success
Tuesday 9th November saw the first game of a 2 game series in volleyball against the Stanthorpe State High School. The coveted volleyball inter-school shield (which has not been engraved since 1998) was up for grabs.
Our team walked into a different environment, where home court advantage was definitely in the favour of State High (roof was lower, court was smaller).
This took some time to adjust to for the Joey’s crew. The home crowd and nerves got the best of us and we conceded the first set 13-25. Finally, everything settled back down and we took out the second set 25-18. The final set was quite tumultuous. We were up, then we were down. Back and forth it went. Unfortunately, we ended up going down in the third set 11-15. It was a really competitive game of volleyball.
Next week, the State High come onto our turf where we will endeavour to even the score. We have the home court advantage this time.
Good Luck !!
Basketball and Cricket News
A group of Year 7-9 students had a great day of sport in Warwick on Wednesday 3rd November, competing against Assumption College, Warwick SHS and Scots PGC College in Basketball and Cricket.
The day provided a great learning experience for all players resulting in a good number of wins and a couple of losses to learn from.
The highlight of the day was the cricket match against Scots PGC College, where St Joseph's took a thrilling win off the last ball of the match.
Success for Katie-Lee Jansink
The school would like to offer a huge congratulations to Katie-Lee Jansink on being selected in the Darling Downs triathlon team to compete at the State Titles in early 2022.
Katie-Lee is only new to the sport and is enjoying the challenge of testing herself in a competitive environment. Well done Katie-Lee !
Primary Swimming Carnival
Well done to all the students who took part in the Primary Swimming Carnival yesterday and to Ms Sarah Day, our staff, Michael and Gail Smail and pool staff and the families who helped out and supported.
Congratulations to House Champions, Davadi; Spirit Award winners, McAuley; and our age champions and runners up below. A special congratulations also to those students who broke records, one of which has stood since 2000.
| 8 Year old Boy Champion | Jordan Pradella |
| 8 Year old Boy Runner Up | Jason Hatton |
| 8 Year old Girl Champion | Emma Pradella |
| 8 Year old Girl Runner Up | Chloe Inch |
| 9 Year old Boy Champion | Jason Maggiolo |
| 9 Year old Boy Runner Up | Ned Robinson |
| 9 Year old Girl Champion | Ivy Hill |
| 9 Year old Girl Runner Up | Ella Morello |
| 10 Year old Boy Champion | Lyndon Morello |
| 10 Year old Boy Runner Up | Will Favaro |
| 10 Year old Girl Champion | Claire Stanford |
| 10 Year old Girl Runner Up | Georgia Petrie |
| 11 Year old Boy Champion | Liam Green |
| 11 Year old Boy Runner Up | Thomas Telfer |
| 11 Year old Girl Champion | Lily Tuvukica |
| 11 Year old Girl Runner Up | Sasha Kendall |
| 12 Year old Boy Champion | Francesco Barker |
| 12 Year old Boy Runner Up | Alfie Hill |
| 12 Year old Girl Champion | Chloe Searle |
| 12 Year old Girl Runner Up | Emily Robinson |
Records
| Name | Event | Time | Previous Record |
| Emma Pradella | 8yrs Girls Butterfly (50m) | 50.75s | Nicola Cobon (2000) 51.67s |
| 8yrs Girls Freestyle (50m) | 40.63s | Jessica Pradella (2017) 43.78s | |
| Jordan Pradella | 8yrs Boys Backstroke (50m) | 51.95s | Ben Armbruster (2010) 55.19s |
| 8yrs Boys Freestyle (50m) | 42.35s | Ben Armbruster (2010) 42.47s | |
| 18 November | Year 12 Graduation Mass & Dinner |
| 19 November | Prep & Year 1 Fairytale Ball |
| Year 12 Farewell Assembly | |
| Year 12 Students Finish | |
| 22 November | Lecturette District Final |
| 23 November | Year 11 - Toowoomba Senior Business Tour |
| 24 November | Year 11 Leadership Day |
| 26 November | Year 10 & 11 Students Finish |
| 1 December | Semper Una Year 6 Celebration |
| 2 December | Year 6 Bowling - Excursion |
| 3 December | Term 4 Finishes |
