Michael Gray, Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians, Students, Staff and our Wider School Community.

Strategic Planning 2020-2024 Workshop, Developing Catholic Education across our Diocese.

 The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Education Office will be holding Strategic Planning 2020-2024 Workshops in Colac and Warrnambool. These workshops are open to staff, parents, parish and community members and will be held in Colac on Monday 29 July and Warrnambool on Tuesday 30 July. We look forward to your participation in the planning for 2020-2024. Come and Join Us!

Parish News

Fr. John Fitzgerald heads off on his sabbatical to the Holy Land, including Jordan and Egypt today and will be away for a couple of months. We wish John all the best for what will be a time of renewal, learning and challenge. John's major focus will be an ecumenical experience (religions learning from and about each other). He will study at Tantur (Notre Dame Campus in Jerusalem).

A warm welcome to Fr. Peter Murnane OP who is with us while John is away. We trust his time here at St. Joseph’s will be fulfilling one. We also welcome Fr. John Corrigan who has recently been appointed as an Assistant Priest to this area and will support our parish sacramental program and the parish of Koroit and Port Fairy.

Fortunately, we also have to stay with us Fr. Edward who is a traingJesuit priest completing his pastoral experience. Fr. Edward is from Zimbabwe. Edward has an amazing story to tell; he lives and works is a parish on the edge of Lake Victoria in Africa.

Election Update

A reminder that St. Joseph’s Hall is a polling venue for the Federal election this weekend. As the Commonwealth is the predominant funder of non-government schools, including St. Joseph’s, the National Catholic Commission (NCEC) has endorsed the following document to share with our communities. The Commission (NCEC) is the body that presents catholic schools funding issues to governments for consideration.

This linked document presents the three main parties answers to the key questions about funding our sector. The document includes the response of the Coalition, Labour and Greens in the interest of sharing this information. Of note also Dan Tehan, our local member, is the current education minister.