Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff, Students and the wider St. Joseph’s Primary School Community,

It is with a great sense of pride, excitement and humility that I undertake this important role as your child’s principal here at St Joseph's. In this my first newsletter I take this opportunity to introduce myself.

As the youngest of three children, I grew up in the north-eastern suburb of Rosanna in Melbourne. My parents, Peter and Janet continue to live in the family home I was raised in.

Being the youngest, my siblings Danny and Cathy, say that I was spoilt. But of course the opposite was true and I had to do all of the worst jobs around the house. I attended St Martin of Tours Primary School in Rosanna then Parade Secondary College in Bundoora. Like most people I can’t remember the particulars of what I learnt at school but I do remember the people, especially my friends and some of the teachers along the way. Three in particular had a major impact on me. Their common characteristic was that they all really seemed to care about me as an individual. I tried to replicate this as I began my teaching journey 34 years ago.

Following school I studied at Mercy Institute of Catholic Education (now Australian Catholic University) where I gained my initial teaching degree.  More importantly it is where I first met Monica, a country girl from Tower Hill. I began teaching in 1987 and continued studying part time and received a Bachelor of Education.  Monica and I married and later travelled before settling in Montmorency, Melbourne and becoming parents to our eldest child Paddy, followed by Bridget 19 months later. We decided to take our two pre-schoolers on a one year “sea change” experience to Warrnambool.  We soon discovered Warrnambool to be a wonderful place to raise our family, and abandoned our plans of a return to city living and later welcomed Matilda, Molly and Scarlett to the O’Brien Family. Our five children have each had a wonderful primary years experience at St Joes.  I taught at St Pius X, West Warrnambool and held the role of Deputy Principal whilst I gained a further qualification of Masters of Educational Leadership through ACU.

After 13 years at St Pius, I moved to the Catholic Education Office where I have spent the past 7 years working across the southern part of our diocese with school leaders and teachers supporting school improvement particularly in the area of Teaching and Learning.

Beyond school and education, our family is engaged in the community through sports and clubs. The Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club has been an important part of our lives as have the various football and netball, tennis, gymnastics, triathlon, athletics and soccer clubs that we have joined along the way.  We have also placed a great importance on travel and been fortunate to have travelled around Australia on a six month road trip in 2007. In 2011, we embarked on a 12 month adventure when we backpacked in 25 countries throughout South East Asia, Europe and India.

So that is me in a nutshell, family, education, sports and travel. These varied life experiences; ups, downs, changes, challenges, successes and disappointments have all helped form the person that I am today as I begin this exciting new chapter in my life. 

I am looking forward to meeting you all and getting to know your children as we work together for all in the St Joseph’s community.

Catholic Education Week May 23rd - 29th

This week we celebrate Catholic Education Week and in particular 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. A national theme, “Faith in the Future” has been developed for the 200 years celebrations. The theme reflects the core purpose of Catholic education to form students in their faith, and to provide an education that enables our graduates to make a meaningful contribution to the world. The theme reflects our commitment to build on the great work of those who have come before us, and to provide a Catholic education for future generations of students in a world that is rapidly changing and poses new challenges for Catholic school communities. Yet, we have faith that we can face these challenges and continue to build on, and strengthen our mission of Catholic education.

Our Year Six students will join with students from across the Warrnambool Catholic Schools’ Network to celebrate mass this Friday.

About the logo

The Christian cross is the central element of the logo and represents the faith dimension of Catholic schools and our mission of service in Christ. The Southern Cross and outline of Australia represents the Great South Land of Australia. Dots are used as a key design element connecting to the traditional custodians of the land – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The colours – burnt red and yellow – represent the desert in the heart of the Australian outback, contrasting with the deep blue representing the Southern sky and ocean surrounding our continent.