This year’s Book Week theme, Symphony of Stories, inspired both students and staff to dive into the spirit of this year’s parade.

A feature of this year’s event was a short film put together by Media Production and Analysis students which showcased a convincing argument for picking up a good book and diving into other worlds.

As a whole-College event, year groups then took turns parading to music, many proudly dressed as their favourite book characters. The discerning judges had a tough time picking winners from the many impressive costumes. Judging was based on book character choice, effort, originality, and how well students acted the part.

In the lead-up to Book Week, our annual door decorating competition focused on NAIDOC, inspired by Indigenous Australian books. Students and staff worked together to create eye-catching designs that celebrated culture, creativity, and a love of reading.

Congratulations to the winning rooms – and thank you to everyone who helped make Book Week another great success.

The Secondary School Choir travelled to Perth on September 2^nd to perform at the Catholic Performing Arts Festival (CPAF). The trip also included three one-hour concerts for schools and the wider community.

The first concert was for the students at St Bernard's Primary School, Kojonup, where we entertained a very enthusiastic audience. After a complimentary morning tea of savoury rolls and scones with jam and cream, we boarded the bus and headed to Perth – singing all the way!

At Ursula Frayne Catholic College, we set up our beds, ironed our formal uniforms, shared Red Rooster roast and headed to Trinity College to watch twelve secondary school choirs perform.

On Wednesday morning, we were treated to a yummy breakfast in the Ursula Frayne Café. After a rehearsal in the school’s chapel, we headed to Notre Dame Primary School. Our performance captivated the 600 students. We were treated to a Subway lunch and home-made rocky road in the staffroom.

Our afternoon performance was at Swan Care Bentley - a large retirement village. After another outstanding performance, we chatted with the residents over afternoon tea.

Then it was back to Ursula Frayne for showers, and pizza before travelling to Trinity College for our Festival Performance. Despite a tie and a shoe malfunction just minutes before our performance, the choir entered the stage with confidence and sang beautifully before the adjudicator and several hundred people. The standing ovation from some audience members gave us wings as we exited the stage.

Friday morning saw us in the Ursula Frayne Café again for another spectacular breakfast before we boarded the bus for Albany.

After every performance, the choir was urged “Please, come and perform for us again”

Our trip in a nutshell: sing – eat – sing – eat – sing – eat – sing – eat – sleep! What's not to love about Choir!

Cleaner Part Time and Casual

Monday to Friday

Hours:

School term time 3pm – 7pm

School Holidays: Hours can be negotiated

Commencing ASAP

Martin Road Albany WA 6330 * Phone: (08) 9844 0222

Please direct all applications to: admin@sjc.wa.edu.au.

The Cleaner, under the general supervision of the Cleaner in Charge, is responsible for a range of internal and external cleaning duties. This includes maintaining carpets and hard floor surfaces, cleaning toilets, furniture, fittings, and windows, as well as handling tasks like dusting and rubbish removal. Cleaners are also responsible for reporting faults, maintenance issues, and incidents to the designated supervisor.

The successful applicant will ideally have good attention to detail and will be able to work well with others to ensure a clean and safe school environment. In-addition, the successful applicant will ideally be able to work well both individually and as part of a team and have excellent knowledge of cleaning equipment and safe cleaning procedures, methods and practices.

Congratulations to McCormack Three who continued their winning streak in the lunch time home room soccer competition to make it a 'three peat' winning for the third year in a row. After the tightly contested pool rounds, which saw the top two home rooms from each pool progressing, the finals were all elimination games, and it was McCormack 3 and Cunningham 2 who progressed through to last week's final. The final was an extremely exciting affair with Mr Probert's Cunningham 2 striking first with a long range Natale T's effort to leave the capacity crowd cheering loudly. The crowd were very pro-Cunningham in a desperate attempt to deny McCormack 3's dominance of this event. It was, however, to be McCormack 3's day as they equalised and then went one-up after some masterful skill displays by Jove HW and Max N. Thank you to sports prefect Josh Hanbury for his work with the fixturing and umpiring throughout the event.

The big question? Can anyone stop McCormack 3 in 2027?

On Thursday 20 August while many students were enjoying the super long weekend, sixteen Year Eleven and Twelve students departed for Perth to compete in the WA Volleyball schools cup. The competition brings together the best school volleyball teams in the state with competition taking place over four days at many metropolitan venues. St Joseph's College entered one girls' and one boys' team in the Year Twelve B Division competition with games being held at Joondalup Arena. The players have been honing their volleyball skills over many years of early morning training session, school lessons and playing in the Albany Volleyball Association competitions to prepare for the event.

The team stayed at Karrinyup Waters Resort which offered fantastic, shared cabins and great facilities which were complemented by the lovely Perth winter weather. On Thursday night the team had dinner at late night shopping at Karrinyup Shopping centre, where the newly opened Kikiva store was a highlight for many team members!

Friday required an early start with the first game commencing at 8.00am. Both teams played extremely well but found the level of competition challenging at times with the winning teams in the B Division playing an exceptional standard of Volleyball. We could only imagine how good the Honours division teams must be!

The team celebrated their hard work and efforts with dinner out at Hillary's marina on Friday night before games back at Karrrinyup Waters. The team also enjoyed a great breakfast out on Saturday morning before departing for the return trip to Albany.

It was an amazing experience for these students and a great reward for the many hours of training they have put into Volleyball. The College is now looking for the next generation of players who will take the place of our departing Year 12's.

Open training takes place each Wednesday morning from 7.30-8.30am in the gym for Year 7-12 students interested in improving their volleyball skills.

Touch Football WA will be visiting Albany to deliver both a Level 1 Referee Course and a Coaching Development / Come & Try Session. These sessions are designed to build confidence, game understanding, and leadership skills for young people who want to get involved in sport beyond just playing.

Event Details:

- Monday 21/09 – Referee Course (5:30 PM – 8:30 PM)

- Tuesday 22/09 – Coaching Development & Come & Try (6:00 PM – 8:30 PM)

We would greatly appreciate your support in sharing this opportunity with students who may be interested in refereeing, coaching, or simply expanding their knowledge of the game.

Additionally, **Team Registrations for the 2026/2027 Albany Touch season are now open.**

Key Team Requirements:

- Minimum of 3 females and 3 males

- Up to 14 players can be registered per team

This structure ensures mixed participation and gives schools plenty of flexibility to form teams from different year groups or classes.

Player registrations will open in the coming weeks, so now is the perfect time to get teams organised and ready.

We run the female cricket programs here in Albany & surrounds & have a free another girl's cricket program coming up.

Touch Football WA will be delivering a 'come and try' night alongside Albany Touch Association on Tuesday 22nd September for all ages and experience levels. It is a free event, and it would be great to get as many people in the community involved as possible.

The October school holidays will be packed with amazing activities for all ages.

Please be informed that Spencer Park Dental Therapy Centre will be operating only on Monday and Friday from 07th September to 25th September 2026.

In term 4 - Monday and Friday from 12 October - 13th November 2026.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - from 16th November - 18 December 2026.

For emergency during weekday from 8am - 4pm (Tuesday-Thursday), please contact Yakamia DTC on 9841 3498.

Registrations for the 2026/27 athletics season are now open, and we would love to share the opportunity with families in your school community.

Our club welcomes children of all ages and abilities, and we’re looking forward to another fantastic season of athletics in Albany.

If you require any further information, please feel free to contact us at albanyaths@hotmail.com.

Hi all, we are excited to be bringing Neurominded to Albany to run some parent sessions on 17th around supporting emotional wellbeing in neurodivergent children.

There will be two sessions: 10am for parents of preschool and primary school aged children and 5.30pm for parents of teenagers

Join us for an insightful evening designed for Year 11 and Year 12 school students and their families to explore the exciting opportunities available through engineering at ECU.

The evening includes a Q&A session and guided lab tours, giving you a personalised, behind-the-scenes look at our facilities and learning environment.

Date

Friday 11 September 2026

Time

4:30 – 5:40: Presentations & Q&A

5:40 – 5:50: Light refreshments with engineering academics

5:50 – 6:30: Lab tours

Location

ECU Joondalup Campus

Building 7 Room 102

270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup WA 6027

Parking

Free on-site parking available

Register here

https://www.trybooking.com/DNQYY

Registration is essential to help us plan appropriately for attendees.

Session Details

Foster Care Information Session

Date: Thursday, 17 September 2026

Time: 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Venue: Albany Senior High School, 1 Campbell Road, Mount Clarence WA 6330

Register: https://albany-fostercare-infosession.eventbrite.com.au

Next webinar: Sunday 13 September 2026, 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm AEST

After the webinar, you are welcome to join the Connect and Chat session.

Register Now

Need a speaker for carers week?

We have limited capacity to speak with parent/carer groups during Carers week in October. If you're part of a parent or carer group and would like us to deliver a session, please complete our contact form.

Just turn up and play!

We are holding a Come & Try session on Saturday 12 September from 12:00-1:30pm near Albany Rowing Club, with the option for participants to have a go at a Sprint race directly after if they wish. All ages are welcome from 8 years + through to adults. I would note we are also very flexible if there is interest from a group of students (or adults) who would like to do a session with our instructor earlier in the morning, and we are keen to maximise the opportunity of the event to encourage as many people as possible to get out on the water throughout the weekend.

For more information, please check our website https://paddlewa.asn.au/event/albany-country-carnival/

We will be delivering two FREE Fathering Today workshops for fathers and father figures.

Workshop Details:

Fathering Today

Wednesday 9 September

6:15 pm - 8:15 pm

Child and Parent Centre Mount Lockyer

OR

Thursday 10 September

6:15 pm - 8:15 pm

Albany PCYC

We’re excited to share the poster for this year’s Mad Hatter Tea Party!

The event is happening on Friday 2 October, 10am–1pm at Albany Town Square and we’d love to see your students, young people and families there.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party is a free community event celebrating mental health, connection, creativity and having a bit of fun together. There’ll be activities, entertainment, stalls, food and plenty happening throughout the morning.

School Dental Service (SDS) provides free general dental care to children enrolled in a Department of Education recognized school.

Should you require additional information or would like to provide feedback on the SDS enrolment process, please contact DHS.CAS@health.wa.gov.au .

Presentation Night 2026