Principal's Corner
The Spirit of Catholic Education Week awards recognise individuals or teams (staff members, parents/carers or volunteers) who are making an outstanding contribution to the life of their school community. Holy Spirit Catholic School congratulates Mrs Jane Aylward on being nominated for 2023. We are very proud of Jane’s service to our school community. Below is her citation which will be read out and presented to her this afternoon at a special ceremony hosted by the Townsville Catholic Education Executive Director, Mrs Jacqui Francis.
Jane demonstrates outstanding service to staff, parents and students within the Holy Spirit Catholic School community. Jane displays generosity and service to the life of the school, contributing to many extra curricula areas to ensure students benefit from a balanced education. Jane’s contribution and sustained service to Holy Spirit spans across 35 years. Jane continues to challenge herself through professional development and is eager to learn new skills as part of her life-long learning journey and commitment to education.
Jane inspires hope in her teaching team, as well as the whole staff. Jane’s random acts of kindness spread joy across the whole school community. She promotes Catholic identity by encouraging a respectful and welcoming culture among students, staff and parents through the Gospel Values. This is particularly evident when she works pastorally with students through restorative justice principles. Jane makes a positive difference in the lives of students by challenging them to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of the community.
Well done, Jane!
School Validation
Next Tuesday, we welcome the external Validation Panel who will be at Holy Spirit Catholic School to hear from leadership, staff, parents and students about how we measure up against the 10 Characteristics of Effective Catholic Schools. The panel will affirm the work we do and endorse or suggest recommendations to include in our new five-year Strategic Renewal Plan. We are looking forward to welcoming the following people who make up the Validation Panel:
Mr Ross Horner – Panel Chair
Mrs Amanda Jones – Visiting Principal from St Francis, Ayr
Trina Neilsen – Visiting APRE from St Joseph’s The Strand
Mr Fred Nucifora – Critical Friend
Mr David McNeale - Education Consultant
Mulkadee
Last Friday evening, I had the privilege of attending the Mulkadee concert at the Townsville Entertainment Centre. Mulkadee is held annually and brings together students who are in Years 4 – 12 from all Catholic schools in our Diocese. Children spent a week participating in a range of disciplines including Choir, Drama, Dance, Strings, Band and Guitar. The concert was AWESOME! Congratulations and thank you to all involved, especially our own teachers and tutors who attended and shared their knowledge and skills with the children they were involved with - Mrs Sue Laing, Mr Stephen Frewan-Lord, Mr Noel Price, Ms Sarah Little, Mr Jonathon Conrad, Ms Laurell Bourne, Mrs Anne Mendiolea, Mrs Louise Wood and Mrs Melissa Taylor.
Commonwealth School Date Collection
Each year, we are required to complete the Non-Government Schools Commonwealth Census. Below is a link to the Privacy Notice we have been asked to share with our school communities.