11 April 2025

A Message from the Principal

Every now and again you hear someone speak and the power of the message you listen to hits you with a thud. The words of the speaker make you think deeply, and you suddenly have a clearer understanding of a deeper meaning. This was me yesterday during our St. Joseph’s Day liturgy.

Sr. Maureen was invited to speak to the community after the Gospel and she offered a powerful and insightful presentation that had me hanging off her every word. With the community assembled in Mackillop Place, after our students had maturely and beautifully led us in prayer, Sr. Maureen rose in her seat, a lectern was ushered in front of her and one of our leaders appeared by her side with a microphone. It struck me immediately that this lady, a fixture of our college and this community immediately captured the attention and respect of all in attendance.

Sr. Maureen started by simply drawing the connections between St. Joseph the man and the values of our community, where she said.

“I will name just a few of these values for us to ponder and try to imitate – courage, strength in difficulties; justice, a fair go for everyone; humility, recognising our talents and limitations; hard working, Jesus was called the carpenter’s son and community-minded, never see a need without doing something about It”

Then Sr. Maureen really hit her stride and made the important links between the historical figure of St. Joseph and our world today.

“Today, I would like to highlight Joseph’s great courage as protector and provider.  In Matthew’s Gospel, we heard that warned in a dream of King Herod’s plan to find and do away with the baby Jesus Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother by night left for Egypt and stayed there until the death of Herod.   

Joseph, Mary and Jesus became refugees, like the millions of people who today are fleeing from oppressive regimes in their homelands, risking their lives in treacherous seas in the hope of gaining a better future for their families. 

Joseph courageously faced the difficult prospect of leaving all that he and Mary had known and loved, in the hope that their lives would be saved.  It was not the threat of dangerous seas but the thought of pursuing soldiers sent by King Herold that caused Joseph to act immediately.  Joseph led his family under cover of darkness to an unknown and distant land trusting that God would keep them safe.

The question for us is how do we face difficult situations?  Do we run from them, hoping that they disappear? Do we blame or complain?  On the other hand, do we face the difficult situation with courage, relying, as Joseph did, on God’s help? 

Pope Francis has declared 2025 to be a Jubilee year of hope.  We live in a world where there is much violence, war and uncertainty.  Let us like Joseph be pilgrims of hope, finding ways to sow seeds of hope in the world around us.  Each time we extend the hand of friendship to another, offer to assist others or listen to another’s story we are sowing seeds of hope.”

As Sr. Maureen offered this reflection as part of a liturgy, it was not appropriate to rise to my feet and roundly applaud, however, that’s what I was wanting to do.

The richness of our story, the importance of our shared values and the timeless message that our Sisters of St. Joseph’s provide us is the cornerstone of this community.

Easter Holidays

As we head into our Easter holidays, I wish to thank you for your ongoing support of the College and invite you to celebrate the easter story in your local parishes. Details of local mass services can be found in each edition of our Newsletter.

Happy Easter.

Regards

Mr Peter Antcliff
Principal

Ministry Musings

St Joseph's Day Celebration

On Wednesday 9^th April, our school community came together in a spirit of joy, reflection, and unity to celebrate St Joseph—our College’s patron and a model of faithful service. The day began with a beautiful liturgy that brought together students, staff, and special guests in a sacred celebration of Joseph’s quiet strength and unwavering trust in God.

A heartfelt thank you must go to the incredible MacKillop Team, whose commitment and reverence were evident in every part of the liturgy. Their thoughtful preparation, confident delivery of readings and prayers, and their leadership in setting the tone for the day was inspiring. We were also privileged to hear from Sr Maureen, whose reflection on the story of St Joseph offered a powerful reminder of the importance of humility, courage, and trust in God’s plan. Her words challenged and uplifted us, leaving a lasting impression on all who gathered.

The respect and reverence shown by our students throughout the liturgy was truly moving—a testament to the spirit and values that lie at the heart of our College community.

Following our liturgy, the celebrations continued in full swing with a vibrant range of festivities that brought joy and laughter to all. The ice cream truck was a crowd favourite, and we extend our sincere thanks for their generous donation to Project Compassion. The energy was electric at the silent disco, Blow-up slides, the ever-popular dunk tank - seeing multiple teachers and College Leaders dunked for charity, and a wide variety of fun activities provided endless entertainment across the school grounds.

We concluded the day with the Easter Raffle, coordinated by our the College Leaders and the MacKillop Team, which raised further funds for Project Compassion 2025. Their dedication to social justice, both in their liturgical participation and fundraising efforts, is a shining example of faith in action.

We offer our sincere thanks to all staff and student for their commitment, creativity, and leadership in making this day such a success.

Easter Send Off

As we approach the end of Term 1 and prepare for the Easter season, it's a fitting time to reflect on the true significance of Easter in our Catholic faith.

Although Easter is often associated with chocolate eggs and family celebrations, at its heart it is the most sacred and joyous occasion in the Church’s calendar. Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ—an event that is central to Christian belief and the foundation of our hope.

The lead-up to Easter is marked by Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding with Easter Sunday. This week allows us to journey with Jesus through His final days, from His welcome into Jerusalem to His suffering, death, and glorious resurrection. Each moment invites us to remember the depth of His love and the hope that comes from His victory over sin and death.

Easter reminds us that light triumphs over darkness, that love is stronger than hatred, and that life has the final word. It is a powerful message of renewal and grace—one that encourages us to live with compassion, courage, and faith.

As a community, may we carry the spirit of Easter in our hearts and lives, and be reminded of the hope and joy that comes from the risen Christ.

Please find below details for the Easter Services offered in the Chisholm and Vineyard Parish regions.

Have a happy and holy Easter!

God Bless,
Mr Taylor Zahra
Leader of College Ministry

From the Assistant Principals....

Year 12 News

From Tuesday, 29^th April, B22 will be open each morning from 8 am for Year 12 students to have a quiet study space. It is encouraged that Year 12 students come along to this room to finish any homework tasks and be supported by a teacher.

We congratulate all Year 12 students for their fabulous work during Semester One of their HSC year. Year 12 reports will be available in Week 1 of Term 2, and parents are encouraged to book interviews with their child’s teacher, which will take place on Monday, 12^th May.

We look forward to spending some special time together at the Year 12 Retreat early next term, as it will be an important time to reflect on many special moments through the years.

Transport Updates

We continue to advocate for students travelling on westbound buses to Greta, Branxton, North Rothbury, and Singleton.  It is disappointing that despite utilising many channels, we still face capacity issues and late buses. It is hoped that continued advocacy will result in improvement. I would like to commend our students on their patience and cooperation during this term it has been very much appreciated.

Assessment Handbooks

A reminder that Assessment Handbooks are available via Compass – School Documentation – 2025 Assessment Handbooks. These are essential documents and readings for students and parents to understand what is upcoming for learning.

Year 7, 9 and 11 Students

With the holidays just around the corner, now is the time for year 7, 9 and 11 students to reflect on the term thus far. For year 7 students, Term 1 marks a significant change in their learning journey as they move from primary to secondary school. They have many more teachers, have to move from classroom to classroom and are navigating a College with over 1000 students. Over the holiday period, ask your child the following questions;

• What did they enjoy this term?
• what was unexpected?
• what challenging?

Based on these answers, assist your child in developing ways to meet the challenges as they move into Term 2. For the most part, year 7 have navigated this quite well, however we have had a number of incidents where students have made a choice to break the hands off policy resulting in significant consequences. I remind all students the need to adhere to this policy for their and everyone else's safety.

Year 9 have settled in well, particularly in terms of their electives. Moving into term two is the time to begin develop really effective organisational and study habits. These are skills that will assist them greatly, particularly as they move into year 10 and 11. One thing that I would encourage all students to adhere to is our College uniform policy, particularly in terms of facial hair, jewellery and footwear. A reminder that all students must be clean shaven, only two ear rings per ear and appropriate enclosed footwear. For reference please see the uniform policy 

Year 11 have started to receive their marks for their first assessment task. Some students have been shocked by their marks and were somewhat disappointed. Whilst I appreciate their feelings around this, it should now serve as a reminder that year 11 is very different to year 10, particularly in the amount of work needed to be completed outside of school. As a general rule, students should be completing around 60 minutes of homework per subject per week. This would be in the form of teacher set homework, revision of past papers and the development of study and revision notes. Brain research has indicated that there is up to an 80% retention of information when student revise their classwork within 48 hours of completing it.

On behalf of the Assistant Principal’s, we wish you all a blessed Easter season. Have a restful and safe Easter break and we look forward to seeing you back in two week.

Mr Paul Dart  & Mrs Elizabeth Stokes
Assistant Principals

Change of Assessment Information

From the Counsellor’s Desk

As parents and carers you know your child better than anyone and have the best opportunity to support and guide them to have safer online experiences. This guide covers some of the key online safety issues for young people and includes a range of practical tips and advice on what to do if things go wrong. You can also find a list of important services that can offer extra support.

Mr Christopher Gabrielides & Mrs Julia Priestley
St Joseph's School Counsellors

Curriculum News (KLA’s)

Country Secondary Schools Chess Competition

We are excited to share the following information about the first round of the Country Secondary Schools Chess Competition, where our school’s team went head-to-head against Rutherford Technology High School.

Our team, consisting of Matthew (Year 12), Blake (Year 10), Ethan (Year 10), and Brooklyn (Year 7), showed exceptional skill, determination, and sportsmanship throughout their matches. Though we faced some tough competition, St Joseph’s College managed to secure an impressive victory in one of the four games.

While Rutherford Technology High School ultimately emerged as the winners of the round, our students demonstrated remarkable resilience and learning potential. Each player gained valuable experience that will undoubtedly help them improve in future rounds. Matthew’s experience, combined with the focus of Blake, Ethan, and Brooklyn, made for a fantastic team dynamic.

We are proud of how our students represented the school and look forward to seeing how they’ll apply their skills in upcoming games. Stay tuned for more updates as our team continues to grow and sharpen their strategies!

Great job, team!

da Vinci Decathlon

Last week, our Years 7 and 8 Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Schools da Vinci Decathlon team competed in the first day of the 2025 da Vinci Decathlon at Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College. This rigorous academic competition challenged students across ten disciplines, all centred around this year’s theme: Sustainability.   

Students worked collaboratively across Mathematics, English, Science, Code Breaking, Engineering, Ideation, Creative Producers, Art and Poetry, Cartography, and Legacy, applying their critical and creative thinking skills under competition conditions.   

Our team of eight high-ability students in each year group from across the diocese demonstrated exceptional problem-solving, teamwork, and resilience as they tackled complex challenges throughout the day. We are proud of Oliver McNally who was a part of the Year 7 team and contributed to achieving the following results; 

1st Science   1st Code Breaking   2nd Engineering Challenge 

2nd Ideation   2nd Cartography   3rd Mathematics  

Overall, this team received Second Place 

 We had Mitchell Daly and Ryan Lambert who was a part of the Year 8 team and contributed to achieving the following results; 

Our Year 8 Team achieved the following results; 

2nd Code Breaking   2nd Cartography 

A heartfelt thank you to the students, their families on getting them to the event and all supporting staff for fostering high potential and gifted education. We are so proud of all our students and how they represented our school with pride. Please see below pictures from the day.  

Maree Pittaway 

Gifted Education Mentor Project Officer 

Maitland Newcastle Diocese 

Art Donations

Yalawa Yarnings

Anikanya (Hello)! 

Indigenous All Stars V SJL All Stars

This week we held a Oz Tag game which allowed the opportunity for our students to showcase their sporting prowess. Students represented the Indigenous All Stars and the SJL All Stars and it was a close clash with plenty to spectators to enhance the atmosphere. The final score was 2-1 with the SJL All Stars winning the match. It was a fun morning promoting Reconciliation and we look forward to next terms game which will be held towards the end of term. Thankyou to all students for their involvement!

Family Call Out

Does your family have a relative (living or not) who was an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and fought in war? We would love for you to be in touch to share your loved one’s story as a part of our ANZAC day celebration. Please contact Miss Small on nicole.small@mn.catholic.edu.au 

Senior Room

At Yalawa we have a room dedicate to quiet study which is prioritised for senior students. Next term we will be holding a morning tea and yarn up to encourage more of our senior students to use this space for their study periods and for any other time they wish to study. They can access teacher support through here which can either be general or specialised for the subject area when available.

Deadly Achievements

Good luck to Porschea Longbottom in Year 12 who has two competitions over the school holidays! We wish you all the best and look forward to hearing how you go.

Congratulations to Sienna Drage who competed in the NSW Little Athletics state championships 400m and finished 12^th in the state and achieving a personal best time. Well done Sienna. We are proud of you.

Student Support

If there are any issues that we can support students with or that you think that we need to be aware of please do not hesitate to contact one of us. The earlier that we can intervene with matters, the better the chance of a successful outcome. Below is a table of when our Aboriginal Education Teachers are on site and relevant contact details. Alternatively, please phone reception on 49307291 and ask to speak to someone in the Yalawa Centre.

Ms Zara Francisco, Mr Thomas Germon & Ms Nicole Small
Aboriginal Education Teachers

Message from the Finance Office

School Fees have been invoiced for the full school year and the fee review process is now commencing, thank you to families who have commenced regular payments or been in contact.

Statements are emailed at the beginning of every month, please review and regular weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments are required with fees to be finalised by 30/11/2025.  Families who have opted to pay a lump sum are due on 30/06/2025. 

Payments can be made via BPay, direct debit, credit card or cash.

Please call the Finance Office on 0249 307 291 or email finance@lochinvarsj.catholic.edu.au to discuss payment options if families are experiencing financial hardship.

Health Care Card and Pension Card Holders / Family Discount on Tuition Fee

Maximum Tuition Fee discount of 50% applies and can be made up with the sibling discount and the Health Care Card/Pension Card if both discount options are applicable.

If you are a Health Care Card/Pension Card holder the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle offer a lower tuition fee to ‘means tested’ low income families. This rate is 50% of the Diocesan Tuition Fee full rate for each child.  If you are a fee payer and hold a current Australian Government Health Care Card/Pension Card you may be entitled to a discount on your school fees, please email a copy of your card to finance@lochinvarsj.catholic.edu.au

In 2025, the family discount on full rate diocesan tuition fees are:

• 1 child family 0% - full rate to be applied
• 2 child family 15% - each child
• 3 child family 25% - each child
• 4+ child family 50% - each child

Mrs Cathy Duff
Finance Officer

Canteen News

Lunch Orders

Lunch Orders are still available through the QKR app. Orders made via QKR need to be placed by 8.15am.

Qkr! – Getting Started

Mrs Tania Cullity
Food Operations Manager

Contact us (Email addresses)

In order to keep our records up to date:

FOR STUDENT SERVICES – Please email studentservices@lochinvarsj.catholic.edu.au 

FOR FINANCE – Please email finance@lochinvarsj.catholic.edu.au

ALL OTHER MATTERS (other than Finance) - please use the email admin@lochinvarsj.catholic.edu.au

Alinta Uniform Shop

School Holiday Trading hours

In-Store Payment Options

New Uniform Products

Blazers

Due to the lead time associated with the delivery of blazers for our senior students we are asking if parents/carers could place their orders as soon as possible. This will alleviate any delays as the weather gets cooler.

General News

Aspire Programs

Community Announcements

Parish Mass Times

St Joseph's, East Maitland
(Cnr King St & New England Highway)
Vigil 5.00pm
Sunday 8.30pm
Youth Mass 6.00pm

Sacred Heart
(New England Highway, Campbell's Hill)
Vigil 6.30pm

Holy Family
(11 John St, Largs)
Sunday 8.00am

St Columba's
(Cnr Prince & Church St, Paterson)
Sunday 9.30am

Immaculate Conception
(Cnr George & James Sts, Morpeth)
Sunday 7.15am

St Patrick's
(55 New England Highway, Lochinvar)
Sunday 9.30am

Our Lady of Lourdes
(Cnr Anderson Dr & Delprat Ave, Beresfield)
Vigil 6.00pm

St Paul's
(10 Young St, Rutherford)
Sunday 8.00am