At St Joseph’s School we strive to provide as many opportunities as possible outside the normal classroom setting to develop the cultural and intellectual experiences for our students. The following outlines some of these opportunities.

Over the next week, on Friday 10 May and Thursday 16 May, we have our Arts Festival which will involve workshops and performances in Music, Musical Theatre and Drama. They will be delivered by some of our current teachers and external specialist tutors. The festival will culminate in a concert on Thursday 16 May at 1.45pm in the Bathersby Centre. Special guests for the concert will include Mayor Melissa Hamilton, Cr Morwenna Harslett and Cr Russell Wantling from the Southern Downs Regional Council; Mrs Mary Findlay and Mr Dan McArthur from the Stanthorpe Art Gallery; and Fr Gonzo, St Joseph's Parish Priest. Thanks to Dr James Cuskelly OAM and Mrs Amelia Wiltshire for their organisation of the festival.

We have had a run of nominations from students keen to be involved in our school play – The Snow White Variety Show. The play will give students across the school the chance to display their acting, stage management and design talents. Auditions will commence shortly. We are looking forward to watching the performances in August.

The Secondary debating is the strongest it has ever been with teams in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 and the Seniors competing strongly in the Toowoomba Region of the Queensland Debating Union (QDU) competition. Our students have consistently proven themselves a match for the other schools from Toowoomba and our region. This year we are pleased to be involved in a pilot of the online version of the debates. This allows for rural and remote schools to take part in this wonderful competition more easily. Our thanks to QDU for their support and vision to expend the competition to more isolated schools. Each time I watch our students debating I marvel at their speaking skills and ability to present strong arguments on topical and challenging issues.

Our Primary and Secondary students also have opportunities to take part in competitive Chess, a one of the oldest strategy games in the world which develops skills such as tactics, strategy and visual memory. It was good to see so many students enjoying themselves and performing well in the recent Toowoomba Catholic Schools Chess Competition.

Well done to all students involved in these activities and thanks to the staff and parents who support them.