School Newsletter

A joyous week was had last week as we celebrated Catholic School’s Open Week along with Book Week. Several special events occurred including a large school tour for potential new families on Tuesday.  We get many favourable comments on the small community feel of our school as well as our wonderful new playspace.  You might have noticed our advertising featuring Livingstone at the Welland Shopping Centre and Angela travelling the city on the back of a bus!

Our St Joseph’s School community came together in a big way on Wednesday for our annual Grandfriends Day.  We received 277 RSVPs for this event which was unprecedented and required us to seriously rethink our logistics for the morning.

 We gathered together in our hall to welcome our VIP visitors, pray with them, sing with them and ultimately to celebrate the beautiful gift that our grandparents are.

During our gathering Jake and Grace invited some of our grandparents to share some of their thoughts and wisdom. Quote of the day came from one grandparent, who expressed how being a grandparent has allowed her to experience a whole new kind of love. Not sure there was a dry eye in the room! Watch our interview below 👇

Thank you to our generous community for their donations of scones and those who volunteered to set up and prepare our morning tea. Our children loved welcoming their visitors into their learning spaces and many lovely memories were made.

An amazing and clever array of costumes and characters were on display as classes strutted their stuff in our annual Book Week Parade. The St Joseph’s School community definitely embraces Book Week and I am sure many hours of thinking and preparing were invested to create the perfect costume.   The weather was stunning and we once again welcomed many visitors into our school community to watch the parade.

Several our students completed their initiation into the Catholic Church on Sunday August 27, with the celebration of the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist at our 9am Parish Mass. The Sacramental program has taken place in the Hindmarsh/Findon Parish over several months with children and their families, and I thank Katie Downie, Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission, for leading children and their families through this period of preparation.

Congratulations to Aker, Clara, Sofia, Sienna, Billy, Grace and Lotye, and to their families for accompanying them on this journey towards full initiation into the Catholic Church.

We ask parents to please reinforce the concept of ‘safe hand, safe feet, safe mouths’ at home as we are here at school.  We have noticed an increase in rough play amongst our students, particularly our youngest who are still learning how to play in a busy and exciting play space.   Every child has the right to feel and be safe at school and rough play can quickly result in injury.  Teachers are currently responding by removing students from the play space who are not playing safely.

We are pleased to inform you that there will be no increase in school fees for the 2024 school year.

Dr Neil McGoran, Executive Director of Catholic Education SA has announced that CESA will freeze tuition fees at its 84 Diocesan schools for the 2024 school year.  This is in recognition of the cost-of-living increases which are putting significant financial pressures on families.

The fee freeze has been made possible by growth in enrolments across the State in our 101 Catholic Schools, together with prudent financial management and will not impact the quality of education. CESA is committed to keeping school fees as low as possible to ensure a Catholic education is affordable and accessible to all.

Further fee remissions are available to those who are experiencing financial difficulties. Families should contact our Finance Officer, Jo Puccetti, for more information.

Last Sunday our 7 students completed their Sacraments of Initiation by celebrating their Confirmation and Holy Communion. Fr Lancy and Fr Santhosh celebrated the Mass and each of the students were very proud of themselves in completing the Sacraments of Initiation. It was a very special celebration for these students, their families and the Sacred Heart Parish community. We continue to keep these students in our prayers as they continue their journey with God.

Later this term, the Year 3/4 unit will be meeting with Tony Johnston Diocesan Director of  Catholic Mission. Tony will be informing the students of Socktober and what they will need to do to raise money for people in Timor-Leste. Part of this program is collecting old or odd socks. These will be used by the 3/4s to make soccer balls. If you have any old or odd socks lying around, please start to collect them. We will send a message out later in the term when we are ready to collect them.

At St Joseph's School we use several programmes, including Friendly Schools, to support social and emotional wellbeing. 

Friendly Schools is a planned, coordinated and monitored approach across the school to actively engage students in a developmentally appropriate social and emotional learning curriculum provides students with the skills and understandings to build and maintain their wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of bullying.  

This term as part of the health curriculum and student wellbeing many of our classes have been looking at bullying and the effects it can have on others.

What is the Wrinkled Heart activity?

Year 3/4G and RM both participated in a social and emotional learning activity called the 'Wrinkled Heart'. This looks at the concept of hurt feelings and creates a visual example for students to understand. 

💔 We did an activity called the wrinkled heart, to show the effects that harmful words can have on others. We made a display in our hallway to help remind everyone that we should think before we speak! - Sofia Yr 3/4G 

❤️‍🩹 If the B choices are too strong, the heart can't be fixed. - Azalia

❤️ If everyone makes A choices and is kind, our heart will get bigger and bigger and not wrinkled. - Lachie

This Term, the 5/6 students were posed with a question ‘what makes a good GAME?’ From here, a technology inquiry has unfolded where students are designing and making their own board game! 

Students were invited to bring in and share with their peers an assortment of board games  to analyse, PLAY and evaluate. The learning intention during this phase of our inquiry was for students to gather data by investigating a range of existing games to define common elements that are necessary for enjoyment and functionality. Their data told them exactly what users want and need in a game. 

Next, it was time to use all of this data to generate and design their own game! Considering purpose, functional requirements and necessary features - game designing has provided our students an opportunity to replicate existing games in their own style, or build on their functionality and game play to create their own creation!

This inquiry is integrated into several other learning areas. All board games are required to have an electrical circuit feature, which links to our learning in Science. For Economics and Business (HASS), students have engaged in learning about needs and wants and types of resources, which they will be applying to their game design and construction. 

Stay tuned in coming weeks to see our progress! 

The 3/4 unit have been working on art with nature and composing art pieces that are sustainable. Last week they designed playground models using recycled materials. 

1/2RM and 3/4G for Book Week on Friday integrated their learning of digital technology and the theme for Book Week 'Read, Grow, Inspire'  to write about who inspires them. 

This year our school participated in a book cover competition. Students had to create or reinvent a book cover. The winners of this competition received a Dymocks book voucher.

Check out their design below 👇

Come along to celebrate and support South Australia’s talented youth on one of four evenings presented by the Catholic Schools Music Festival. 

In September 2023, the annual Catholic Schools Music Festival will showcase 2000 extraordinary students from the ages of 10-18 years on the stage of the Festival Theatre. 

👉 Our school choir will be performing on Friday 29 September at the Festival Theatre. Book online through Ticketek here

Girls blossom as members of the AGC, both on and off the stage. Your daughter will develop confidence, public speaking and presentation skills, resilience and friendships that will last a lifetime.

🎶 On Thursday 7th September, the AGC will be visiting our school to hold an Assessment Workshop with interested girls. Open to girls in Reception to Year 6.

The group assessment workshop includes singing and movement activities and is designed to be a fun and positive experience. Following our visit, we will post a personalised report and further information about 2023 classes to you.

👉 Register online here or see Mrs Arthur for more information.

📅 Thursday 21st September (Week 9)
🕘 9.00 am - 1.15 pm
⏰ Students to arrive by 8.45 am
📍 Henley & Grange Memorial Oval - White St, Henley Beach SA 5022

🕛 Preschool Time: from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm (early finish)

🔴 🟡   Sports Day Checklist   🟢 🔵

✅ Complete Sports Day Family Consent Form
🌭 Preorder your sausage sizzle via Qkr! - $2.50 each
🚌 Fill our the consent form and head to Qkr! to confirm your booking for bus travel to/from venue - $5 per student

• Parents are expected to drop off and pick their child up from the venue, unless a bus booking has been made via the booking request below.
• Students are asked to meet their teacher at the team shelters from 8:45 am, ready for a prompt 9.00 am start
• Pack recess and brain food (sausage in bread is available for order), drink bottle, hat and apply sunscreen to your child before they arrive
• Families are invited to setup their picnic space in the parents area beneath the large tree
• At the end of the event please see your child's classroom teacher before leaving for dismissal

👉 Complete the Sports Day Family Consent Form by following this link to register your child/ren's attendance. All families must complete this form. One form per family.

• Make a booking by completing our Sports Day Consent Form
• Students need to be at school by 7.45 am, to have their names checked off. The bus will depart at 8.00 am
• Bus travel is $5 per student and must be paid via Qkr! to confirm the bus booking
• If your child/ren are returning to school, they will be supervised by teachers until 3.00 pm finish.  Uncollected children at this time will be placed in OSHC and charged accordingly.

• If you need to use Before School and/or After School Care please to make a booking via the Spike App
• If you have permanent OSHC booking please confirm your Before School and After School Care bookings with OSHC Staff
• Before School Care will run from 7.30 am - 8.00 am (bus departs)
• After School Care will run from 3.00 pm - 6.00 pm
• OSHC mobile phone number is 0408 809 107

• Sausages in bread are available via preorder on Qkr!
• P&F class reps will deliver sausage orders to class groups during their designated recess break.
• Additional family members can order sausages to be delivered with the class order.

• Preschoolers will be dismissed to their parents at 12:00pm, unless they have made prior arrangements to travel by bus back to school.
• All Preschoolers are welcome to attend sports day however only the Thurs/Fri children will be supervised by staff.
• The Mon/Tues children are able to attend as well, however they will need to be supervised by their parent/caregivers throughout the day and will be able to join in on all activities.