Week 6. Term 3 2023

Dear St Joseph’s Memorial Families,

As Week 6 of Term 3 draws to a close we can already stop and reflect on the myriad of events and experiences that have taken place so far this term.

Book Week Parade

Last week we celebrated the Book Week, the theme this year was "Read, Grow, Inspire". As a whole school we celebrated with a Book Week Parade at the Performing Arts Studio.

Not only did families and staff enjoy a wonderful morning together, we also got to see the children from Preschool through to Year 6 join the parade.

A very special thank you to all students who participated and to all families for assisting children in organising their costumes. 

Book Week also reminds us about the joy of learning through reading and the important role of reading in developing vocabulary and comprehension.

Quiz Night

Last Saturday night we held a community Quiz Night with close to 100 people who attended the event. Thank you to everyone that came along and all the wonderful sponsors for their kind donations. An enormous thank you to our incredible Parents & Friends team for all their work to ensure the event was a huge success to fundraise to benefit our school community.

Father’s Day Stall and Breakfast

This week we celebrated Fathers and Grandfathers with the Parents & Friends committee hosting the Father’s Day Stall and Breakfast. It was great to see many people out to celebrate the important Father figures in the lives of our community. Thank you again to the Parent’s & Friends team for all of their organisation to ensure all events ran smoothly.

SJMS Extra Curricular

Well done to all our extra-curricular teams and their volunteer coaches who wrapped up an extremely successful season and year of school sports.

Well done to our Year 5 & 6 debating teams for ending their season with great success. Our Year 6 and 5 team finished with a win and congratulations to Lucy for being awarded speaker of the night. Our Year 6 team impressively went undefeated all season! We are very proud of all the students who participated and represented the school so well this year. A huge thank you must go to Mrs Vassallo-Wakefield who coached the teams throughout the year and Ms DiSisto for helping out on the debate nights.

On Thursday, I had the privilege as the Chair of the Catholic School Music Festival to see our choir undertake the whole group combined rehearsal. I was amazed of the exceptional standard of singing by all of the school choir members and we are all looking forward to the event at the Adelaide Festival Centre on Thursday of week 9 at the end of this term.

Clarity Project at St Joseph's Memorial School

We are delighted to announce that as a result of the school's work this year to implement the Clarity project, we have been selected as a Catholic school to host the project founder, Dr Lyn Sharratt in week 9. Our school has been selected for the visit due to the extensive work of all teachers and classes to implement the Clarity parameters and practices including using learning intentions, success criteria, bump it up walls, learning walks and talks, data walls and case management approaches.

In the past few weeks, I have been undertaking learning walks and talks in classes to ask students questions about what they are learning, how they are going, how they know they are going well, how they can improve and where can they go for help. The students have provided wonderfully insightful feedback about their learning in this process.

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Reconciliation Celebrations

As children within our parish prepare to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance next week, we reflect on the story of the Prodigal Son.

In the story, the younger son has turned his back on his father and run away.  After squandering his father’s gifts, he decides it is in his best interests to return home.  On his return, the son is not confronted with a closed door but rather with a father waiting on the front porch, for his return.

When the son meets his father, the father is not interested in his son’s excuses but instead embraces him and takes him in immediately.  He is home, nothing else matters.  This example of the Father is the one Jesus talks to us about.  The father, who offers his love and acceptance, to the people around him unconditionally.

In the same story the older brother is there to remind us that even if we get our relationship with God wrong, that God’s love is free and forgiving.  The older son believes that he has earned his father’s love, but love is not earned it is spontaneous and forgiving.

Please keep all the candidates celebrating this Sacrament in your prayers.

Season of Creation

This Friday we enter the Season of Creation which runs from 1 September to 4 October. The world’s 2.2 billion Christians are invited to pray and renew their relationship with our Creator and all creation. During this season we contribute to actions to ensure that the web of life is preserved and cared for so that we can allow justice and peace to flow for all creation.

The link below will take you to a message from Pope Francis:

https://seasonofcreation.org/2023/05/25/message-of-pope-francis-for-creation-day-2023/

Father’s Day 

This Sunday we celebrate the gift of Fathers or those special men in our lives who are like a Father. Thank you for the things you do to support your children. I would like to wish all fathers and those who have a special role as a father figure in a child’s life a Happy Father’s Day.

Loving God, 
We thank you for the gift of dads, 
and everything that they do for us. 
Help them to have 
patience when we are difficult, 
wisdom when we cannot see the way, 
strength when we need comforting, 
and love at all times, 
so that, through them, 
we get a little glimpse of how you feel about us, 
our heavenly Father 
Amen. 

Safeguarding Sunday and National Child Protection Week

This year’s National Child Protection Week will take place from 3 to 9 September 2023. The theme for this year continues to promote a safe and supported life for every child, now and into the future, being “Where we start matters”.

Safeguarding Sunday, follows National Child Protection Week and will be celebrated in all Australian Catholic Dioceses on Sunday 10 September 2023.

At SJMS, we are committed to keeping students safe. As part of our commitment all classroom teachers are trained to teach the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC). Learning about respectful relationships is at the foundation of the KS:CPC for children and young people from early to secondary years.

The curriculum follows 2 main themes:

• We all have the right to be safe
• We can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.

The 2 themes are explored through 4 focus areas:

• The right to be safe
• Relationships
• Recognising and reporting abuse
• Protective strategies.

The focus areas are targeted to the age of the learners.

As well, anyone who works with our students (Teachers, ESO’s, Allied Health Professionals, Student Teachers etc.) must have the necessary clearances which include:

• Catholic Police Check
• Responding to Harm, Abuse and Neglect Education and Care training (RRHAN–EC)

Parents and caregivers who would like to volunteer at SJMS to coach sports teams, go on excursions, support teachers and students in the classroom or be a representative on our School Board or P&F Team must also have the following in place before they can work with our students:

• Catholic Police Clearance
• CESA Volunteer Application Package
• Responding to Abuse and Neglect Education and Care training: Information for School Volunteers

If you would like to register as a Volunteer at SJMS, please contact Mary Fantasia at William Street for all the necessary information or visit our website for details.

Cross Country

In week 4, 54 SJMS students from year 3-6 attended the annual SACPSSA Cross Country Carnival held in the East Parklands. Our students competed against approximately 60 schools and approximately 2500 students. A special mention to Paris from year 3 who placed 1^st in A division, Ella Thomas from year 6, who placed 10^th in A division and Azariah from year 4, who placed 6^th in B division. It was an enjoyable day filled with many achievements and sportsmanship across the board.

Maths

In Year 6 mathematics we have been learning about reflections, rotations and translations. Our teacher Mr Heaney, has tried to challenge us with each lesson we participate in so, we visited the website www.educationquizzes.com and faced a series of questions set for year 11s. Although it was hard, we tried our best and correctly accomplished a few questions. We are all looking  forward to take a deeper dive into this topic in the near future.

Religion

Currently in Religion we have been using www.edu.blogs.org and are researching and learning about the 3 sacraments, baptism, confirmation and Eucharist.

Our questions were:

• What is baptism?
• What is Confirmation
• What is different and what is similar between Confirmation and Baptism?
• Why were the disciples given the tongues of fire?

Following this we then had Father Chris visit our classroom on a Wednesday and we got to ask him questions about the topic. following after that we had Mrs Vassallo-Wakefield visit. We had to use the information provided to us by Father Chris and Mrs Vassallo-Wakefield to put into a few paragraphs.

A reminder that there is Kiss and Drop Zone ONLY in front of Bridge Street and William Street from 8-9am and 3-4pm Monday to Friday.  You must not leave your vehicle and take your child/ren to class – this has been causing congestion for parents wanting to use the zone as intended.

Please note that the sign states:

IMMEDIATE PICK UP AND DROP OFF ONLY

2 MIN MAX

8-9 am  and again  3-4 pm

SCHOOL DAYS

DRIVER MUST REMAIN WITH THE VEHICLE

Please consider this when dropping off/collecting your child from school. 

Preschool parents and caregivers will need to find alternative parking as they need to sign their child in and out of Preschool.

Please be advised that Parking Inspectors do patrol the area and parents/caregivers may be fined.

We thank you in anticipation of your support in this matter.  Your child's safety is our priority.

We would like to inform you of the dates for Pupil Free Days (PFD) for this year. Please note that OSHC will be available for families that require this service on these days.

• Monday 16 October 2023
• Thursday 14 December 2023
• Friday 15 December 2023

We are trialing a new Assembly format for the year.

In Term 1 to Term 3 we will have 3 Assemblies per term and in Term 4, 2 Assemblies. All Assemblies will be held in the Performing Arts Studio at William St on Friday afternoons at 2pm.

Students from Bridge Street will walk across to William Street to participate in Assemblies, face to face.

Term 3

11 August - Preschool Assembly
1 September - Reception Assembly
22 September - Year 2/3B Assembly

Term 4
10 November - Year 2/3G Assembly
1 December - Mid-Year Reception Assembly

We will ask for help from our wonderful parents and caregivers to help walk the Bridge Street students across on these dates. Please look out for the form on Skoolbag, next week.

Please remember to check the school calendar regularly for any updates.

Come see our Preschool in action, contact us for a tour or enrolment information.

St Joseph's Memorial School provides a safe environment for all while valuing the partnership between school and home.

As a Catholic community, we welcome and value volunteers. To be able to volunteer, and/or attend at other times throughout the school year, we ask that you hold the following:

1. A current Catholic Police Check (parents/caregivers attending excursions, reading in class, helping in class, attending community events);
2. A current Responding to Abuse and Neglect in Education and Care for Volunteers certificate (please click here to view how to complete this requirement);
3. Completed the volunteers application.

A Catholic Police Check for volunteers at SJMS are free for our current parents and caregivers. Application Forms are available to download here or at either school office.

We ask that you present your completed form with verification ID to the front office, and we will submit the application on your behalf. You will then receive an email link to complete the process online. Once all cleared you will receive a Catholic Police Check ID card in the post, please bring this in to the front office and we will take a copy of your clearance.

This process ensures we maintain a child safe environment. To avoid disappointment, we encourage you to apply for a Catholic Police Check through either school office as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at either office.

Thanking you
The SJMS Admin Team
info@sjms.catholic.edu.au

For more information on how Catholic Education SA provides a safe environment for all, please click here.

Summary of what is needed to volunteer at SJMS:
Valid Catholic Police Check
Responding to Abuse and Neglect Education and Care Volunteer Certificate
Completed application form