School Newsletter

On Wednesday we farewelled several much-loved staff members who are leaving the St Joseph’s Community.  We laughed and cried with them, prayed our thanks for their wonderful contribution to our school, and asked God’s blessing for their next endeavours. They are:

Julie Bottger – who has been our preschool coordinator and teacher this year during Cate’s leave.  We wish Julie all the best for her new position at St Joseph’s School, Hectorville.

Mary Hemmings – who has been our school Chaplain for several years now, providing support to students and families in a myriad of quiet ways. Mary is retiring from this work to concentrate on her pastoral work in our Parish.

Sue Ciampi – who has served our community for 14 years as an Education Support Officer in many different areas and roles. Sue has provided significant support to so many of our learners as well as facilitating our library.  Sue has decided to pursue other work in the wider community.

Cate Halbert – our beloved preschool teacher and coordinator is retiring after serving young learners in our community for a remarkable 41 years. Cate was presented with a certificate of service from Amanda Humeniuk, School Performance Leaders at the Catholic Education Office representing Dr Neil McGoran, Director of Catholic Education SA.

We have also made several new staff appointments for Semester 2 and beyond. We will welcome the following people to our community over the coming weeks:

Emily Quigley has been appointed to the permanent role of Preschool Coordinator.  Emily comes to us from Loreto College where she has been Preschool Teacher for the past four years, leading a team of educators.  Prior to this Emily has been an Early Years teacher and school leader at Holy Family Catholic School in Parafield Gardens. Emily visited the Preschool today and met with Cate to begin the handover.

Nikki Ouwejan has been appointed as Preschool Co-educator. Nikki is coming to us from New Zealand where she is a qualified Early Years Teacher and brings many years of experience as a teacher, carer and co-educator. As Nikki is moving from overseas during the first week of Term 3, she will be starting with us in Week 2 next term.

We also welcome Natasha Marshall who has been appointed as our third Reception teacher, starting a brand-new class of Reception students next term. Tasha has been with us during Term 2 as she has gently supported all our new students in our ‘Transition to school’ program. This year we have 26 new Reception students beginning with us as mid-year starters.  Some of these students will join our two existing Reception classes.

We are currently finalising the recruitment process for a replacement Chaplain for the remainder of the year.  We will inform the community when this appointment has been finalised.

Finally, Therese Slattery, Reception teacher, will be taking some long service leave for the first two weeks of Term 3.  Ms Kelly Morgan, who is well known to our students, will be relieving in Reception S for the majority of those days.  

It has come to my attention recently that, in 2019, St Joseph’s School families and staff were invited to purchase an engraved brick to be laid during a refurbishment of the yard.  Approximately 50 people paid $30 for a brick to be engraved and laid during this project. Unfortunately, it seems the order for this community fundraiser did not proceed and, subsequently, the bricks were not laid. We offer our apologies to affected families and staff for this unintentional oversight. Upon discussion with the School Board, it was agreed that it is important we honour this commitment to the school that our community members made 4 years ago. These bricks will now be ordered and laid in our community garden at the front of our school early next year during some planned refurbishment of that space.  For families who have ordered a brick but who no longer wish to proceed, please contact Jo Puccetti, Finance Officer, for a refund as soon as possible.

When: Week 10 Monday, July 3.

Who: Rec- Year 6 students

Why? It’s an opportunity to learn more about First Nations’ cultures, histories, stories and language through film and to promote help ‘kick start’ National NAIDOC Week celebrations this year.

 

Background Information

Last year CESA promoted Country Arts SA ‘Nunga Screen’, sharing, and celebrating First nations culture, stories, and language through film to our Regional Catholic Schools.

Nunga Screen is an annual event that screens during the period from Reconciliation Week through to NAIDOC Week and tours across regional South Australia on big screens and in remote communities.

The program is diverse and is able to be viewed by people of all ages.

Kite making last week has led to further discussions about the wind.  We read the The Winter Wind and The Wind Blew to highlight the power of air to move things.  The creation of wind spinners led to the testing of ideas, shared knowledge, further observation, and experimentation. 

Children were invited to make wind spinners with paper plates.  They painted the plates and once dry they were cut in a spiral shape and a string was attached. Some were hung in the trees to observe their spirally movement as the wind blew through our garden. We had to be careful to remove them at the end of the day, so they were not damaged due to rain.

Children helped to prepare the mixture for a banana bread loaf that was shared this week for our graduation afternoon tea. 

Cooking involves all sorts of types of movements that allow children to experiment with manipulating their muscles and practising their fine and gross motor skills. Actions involve stirring, mixing, rolling, pouring, twisting, measuring and more. 

On the 3rd of July 30 students went and participated in the SACPSSA Netball Carnival at the Netball SA Stadium. Students who were involved displayed the school's values and competed in a manner the school can be proud of. All players played in a range of positions over the day which enabled students to learn a new position and get out of their comfort zone. Overall the day was a big success and students and volunteers involved enjoyed their time supporting and representing the school. We look forward to returning next year!

Congratulations to Tilly Buesnel for making the SAPSASA hockey team and Chelsea Petersen for making the SAPSASA netball team.