Welcome to Week 2.  I know that I have talked about the wonderful Eddie Jaku before – so it was extremely sad that he passed away this week at the age of 101.  Eddie was a Holocaust survivor and during World War Two he was imprisoned in four concentration camps, led a daring escape on a train, broke free from a death march and survived in a forest.  His story is simply mind blowing and he dedicated the rest of his life advocating for peace and kindness.  To celebrate his 100^th birthday he published his memoirs entitled “The Happiest Man on Earth.” If you haven’t had the opportunity to read it I strongly encourage you to.  He was such an inspirational man – and his motto to be happy and spread happiness is something we can all take note of.

Thank you again for adhering to Level 3 restrictions when on site – wearing a mask, QR coding in and social distancing.  As you know we are encouraging all students to remain in their class groups where ever practical.   The recent covid case at Kildare Catholic College appears to have not spread across students in different year levels within the school and this was due to year groups not mingling or mixing cohorts.

Next week we will have an online meeting for our parents where architect Russell McFarlane from McFarlane Architects will do a short presentation of the new buildings – plans and images of what the new classrooms and administration building will look like.  Following on from the presentation I would like parent input into the dreams for the school for the next three years which will assist in writing our three year strategic plan for St Joseph’s.  All parents are welcome to attend, and if you could just have your three big goals for the school that you would like to put forward, and give a quick outline of what your dreams are that would be fantastic.  A link will be sent out to all parents next week for the meeting.

Have a great week,

Kirsty Beavan