As the year comes to an end, I would like to thank all students, their families and the staff for helping to make the year another successful one for the school.

As an indicator of our academic success, I would like to highlight our very positive NAPLAN results this year. NAPLAN assesses the fundamental skills of literacy and numeracy, with the data provided used by families, schools and education systems to ensure Australian students are supported in their learning. Our students scored above both the Australian Mean Scale Score and Queensland Scale Score in a significant majority of assessed skills (reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy). In particular, the Year 7 results were outstanding with our students achieving overall highest results for all schools in the Tooowoomba Diocese. In fact, our Year 7 students have outperformed most, if not all schools (state, Catholic, independent) in the Toowoomba region.

Another indicator of our success is the strong enrolment numbers we have for 2022 and the number of students we are retaining from Year 6 in Year 7. Next year our total enrolments across the school will be over 400, a 10+% increase from the start of 2021.

I would like to thank both the P&F Association and the Board for their guidance and contributions throughout the year.  Their efforts are very important in helping to set the direction of the school and provide assistance to the students.

The staff as a whole deserve a special mention for their good work to get all students and the school through another challenging year. They are a dedicated and hard-working group who have the interests of the students at heart. I thank Erin Canavan, Carmelo Citrigno, Tanya Bell and Robyn Smith who finish this week. We wish them all the best for the future. Lesley Grant and Cathryn Taylor also finish part-time contracts this week. However, they will continue in casual roles. Lesley has been a valued member of our staff for many years and has taken the final step towards retirement.

Well done to all the students for working towards the best they can be. I hope they all come back to school well rested and ready to continue their Joey’s journey. Congratulations to all the Year 6 students who finish their Primary schooling this week. We wish them the very best in their journey into Secondary. Our thanks to Amanda Thompson and the other staff who have worked so well with them this year, and also those teachers and staff who have shared in their education since they started school. I am confident they have the grounding they need to start and succeed in Secondary.

Finally, I would like to wish all a merry and safe Christmas period.

God Bless