Dear Families,
We hope you and your families have enjoyed a positive start to the new school year. We are pleased to welcome new and existing families to our school community.
The staff and students have returned with renewed excitement about what the new school year will bring. The year ahead will be filled with many learning opportunities, community connecting events, and collaboration with the aim to live each day with our school motto, ‘In All Things Love,’ as our guide.
WEEK 0
Before the students returned, the school undertook professional learning that included working with Professor Anne Bayetto, a researcher and lecturer, on developing reading comprehension and fluency practices to improve student literacy development in the big 6 of reading, which are:
At the end of last year, teachers undertook a curriculum professional development session with our eastern region Catholic Education advisor, Alison Hubner-Booth, on curriculum mapping, with a focus on Numeracy. This training helped staff to identify the scope and sequence of their teaching to ensure impactful learning attainment and achievement for their students.
On the Wednesday, we introduced the opportunity for students and families to ‘Meet their Teacher’ prior to school commencing in Term 1.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
This year we celebrated a large group of students in our Preschool, Ready for Reception and two Reception classes. Currently, across both campuses, we have over 220 students attending from Preschool to Year 6.
WELCOMING MASS
Despite the weather not enabling our Bridge St students and teachers to walk over to attend the welcoming mass at the Norwood parish yesterday, they still held a liturgy of the word as a group. Our William St students celebrated Mass to welcome in the new year, led by Father Chris Jenkins, who is an incredibly relational and caring faith leader for our community.
WELCOME DRINKS EVENT
Our annual 'Welcome Drinks' event, held on Saturday, February 15th in our Performing Arts Studio at William St, is fast approaching. We would love all parents and guardians to attend, as this is a wonderful way for our community to connect to start the year. For catering purposes, please RSVP to pandf@sjms.catholic.edu.au
SCHOOL BOARD AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING INFORMATION
The Annual General Meeting of St Joseph’s Memorial School Board will be conducted on Wednesday, 19th February 2025, at the Performing Art Studio located at William Street at 6.30pm. Parents and caregivers are all welcome to attend.
The School Board has several important governance roles for the effective progression and development of the school. One of its critical roles is oversight and approval of all matters that have a financial implication for the school.
The Board also acts as a consultative forum for the Principal on issues such as:
• Faith formation of students and staff;
• Curriculum development;
• Property and maintenance;
• Administration;
• Human resources; and
• Parent education.
In addition, the School Board also provides timely, appropriate advice as requested and assists the Principal in monitoring school effectiveness. As a body, the School Board is always seeking to harness the expertise, talents and resources of members of the school community and wider local community for the benefit of the school.
Anyone wishing to nominate for the School Board is requested to email me at aslater@sjms.catholic.edu.au.
The process for voting in new board members occurs during the Annual General Meeting.
Uniform
At our school, we take great pride in our uniform as it reflects our sense of community and belonging. We kindly ask families to take a moment to review our uniform policy to ensure they are up to date with our expectations. For your convenience, a copy of the policy can be accessed at the link below:
https://www.sjms.catholic.edu.au/__files/f/23313/SJMS_Uniform_Policy.pdf
Thank you for your support in helping our students wear their uniform with pride!
In relation to the required uniform for students to wear on the days we have a school Mass, currently we are happy for students to wear the uniform they would usually wear on the day of the Mass. The only Mass we require all students to wear a formal uniform for is the Year 6 Gradutation Mass at the end of the year.
Road and Traffic school safety
As we commence a new school year, it is important to share pivotal reminders with the community regarding optimising road safety for all members of our school.
The Norwood, Payneham and St Peters Council have a brochure on keeping children safe near school zones, which can be accessed via the link below:
https://www.npsp.sa.gov.au/files/10613_keep_kids_safe_brochure.pdf
I would like to remind our community to ensure that they park in suitable spaces marked with signage and be mindful of the speed limit going through school zones.
Here is some useful information provided by our local council to assist our community traffic awareness to optimise safety for all:
Birthday Celebrations
As part of our commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive and healthy environment for all students, we kindly remind families not to send food or treats to school for birthday celebrations. Any such items brought to school will be sent back home.
This is in place to ensure:
We also want to emphasise that there is absolutely no expectation for families to provide anything for birthday celebrations. However, if you would like to acknowledge your child’s special day, here are a few thoughtful, non-food suggestions:
Once again, I wanted to sincerely thank the community for your trust and support. I am looking forward to seeing you around the school in the coming weeks and am committed to leading St Joseph’s Memorial as a school of faith, learning, and community into a promising future.
God bless,
Adam Slater
Principal