Term 4 - 2022 - Week 5

Last Friday we commemorated Remembrance Day where we remembered and prayed for those who gave their lives for us in wars and peacekeeping around the world.  November is also the month we remember and pray for all our loved ones who have died.  We believe through the death and resurrection of Jesus that those who have died are now in the loving arms of our creator, God.

Knowing God is the ultimate ambition of any Christian and hope is the virtue that makes us want to know God.  It is hope that motivates us to desire eternal life as the final happiness.  It is hope that answers our strong desire for happiness; it gives us strength to avoid discouragement as it supports us in times of self-concern, when feelings of disconnectedness from others and loneliness might be strong.

There is an old joke about a man who prayed week after week that he would win the lottery, and in the end, God said to him, “For heaven’s sake, give yourself some hope – buy a ticket”.  The Christian Scriptures emphasise the importance of hope in the life of a Christian by referring to hope in a variety of ways: “Hope is the anchor of the soul.” (Heb 6:19); “He is the God of hope,” (Rom. 15:13); “Because of his Resurrection we also have hope for resurrection.” (1 Peter 1:3).  St Paul, in particular, has many encouraging things to say to us about hope: “Now may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Heb 1:1)

As we move into the Christmas season and the church liturgical season of Advent, especially during these days of flooding through so many areas of our country and the impact it may also have on our local community, having hope and knowing God is there for us will enable us to make it through and be able to support each other.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

With only four weeks of the 2022 school year remaining, all classroom teachers are striving to complete term content and look at final assessments before writing school reports. This year, St Joseph's School is a pilot school for Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) Academic School Reports, in conjunction with several other Catholic school representatives. CESA has developed a series of draft academic report designs in SEQTA, our school management system. During Semester 2, 2022, a pilot of these reports has been provided to our staff. They have been dedicated to testing our readiness to use SEQTA MarksBook for reporting and identifying on behalf of CESA the positives and improvements in the new report formats that will be used across our system of schools in 2023. At the end of this term, parents will receive the latest report in paper format in a sealed envelope. In future, we will endeavour to return to the email system once CESA has enabled that function for our school. I thank the teachers for their time and effort put into this pilot, as our information, processes and feedback to CESA have been valued and vital to the overall improvement of the reports for all our system schools next year. 

Last week I had the pleasure of attending on Monday 7th, November at Bonython Hall, The University of Adelaide 2022 Children's University Graduation Ceremony. I presented our outstanding St Joseph's School students on stage in front of their parents, representatives of our staff and several other schools who also presented their students on the night.    

The Children's University Australasia allows our children to participate in exciting free-range learning activities outside their day-to-day schoolwork, whether before school, at lunchtime, after school, in the school holidays etc. The best part about Children's University Australia is that it's voluntary, so children can choose what activities they would like to do, where, when and how they would like to do them. The things children learn about will always be connected to something they could study at a university.

On behalf of the school community, we congratulate our St Joseph's School students for their hard work, commitment and dedication to their education displayed. Twenty-two students from Years 2 to 8 graduated across our school, with a staggering 2100 hours of additional learning accumulated. We are very grateful to Children's University for continuing to promote a lifelong love of learning for all students involved and for the commitment of Mrs Nicki Clifford and Mrs Lisa Watkins to supporting the students at school. 

In All Things Kindness

Ros Oates

PaperBoats Performance

We were thrilled to welcome the PaperBoats Theatre Company to our school on Thursday 10 November for a beautiful non-verbal, interactive visual theatre performance that recreated the joys, excitement and anticipations around celebrating a twins sixth birthday party. Especially on Birthdays captured the hearts of our Reception to Year 2 students as well as their teachers and myself. The show has been created by South Australian Artists and premiered as part of the 2018 Commwealth Games Arts Festival in Australia followed by seasons in Singapore and the United States of America.

Our school has been fortunate to secure free performances from PaperBoats thanks to the generousity of the Thyne Reid Foundation and Country ArtsSA, who are supporting regional communities, schools and artists in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I would like to thank Dave Brown the Artistic Director and Robyn Brown from PaperBoats for contacting me to work in partnership over the next three years.

Congratulations to our Year 2-6 students and their teachers who recently completed their Student Voice Postcards to tell their Commissioner, Helen Connolly what matters to them. I received an email this week from the commissioners office who shared with me that she was very excited to hear from our students for the first time and they are blown away by the number of postcards they have received.

The Aim of the Project is:

• To significantly bolster student agency and civic participation for 8 – 12 year old children.
• To encourage children aged 8 – 12 years to identify and share what aspects of their lives are most important to them.
• To provide children aged 8 – 12 years with greater awareness of the Commissioner and her work.
• To provide children aged 8 – 12 years with an opportunity to have their voices heard by sending a message to the Commissioner who will advocate on their behalf policy and decision makers on matters impacting on them on their behalf.

Over the next few months, the Commissioner and her team will read, analyse and collate the information from the postcards to see what key themes emerge. This will then be presented in the Things That Matter report to be released next year.  

Well done everyone! It will be great to see the Things That Matter Report and know that our incredible students made their contribution to such important work.

The Year 6’s have been focusing on Poetry in English this term.  They have been learning about the elements and forms of poetry.  They have been writing limericks, haiku’s, Ode’s, Ballads and Cinquains, just to name a few.  They are then analysing their poetry for structure, purpose, rhyme and such things as personification, alliteration, similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia.

During maths the class have been making Octi-Origami.  Then they have been looking at the angles, patterns and shapes.  They have turned out briliantly!

In Science this term, the Year 6’s have been investigating electricity. Students have been using electrical science kits with light bulbs to create circuits. Last week, students found random objects from around the classroom to test whether they are insulators or conductors.

Congratulations to Year 6 students Mason Rowland and Zavier O’Hara on their efforts during last weeks SAPSASA cricket carnival. Both played important roles for their Murraylands team, who played well enough to earn a silver medal. Both boys also represented the Murraylands in the SAPSASA Football carnival earlier in the year, in which they also won silver medals. Well Done boys!

Last week the Year 8 students went to Adelaide for a city immersion camp. Activities included: Christie Walk (a walk around a sustainable village), exploring the Adelaide Central Market, MOD (Museum of discovery), Adelaide Caravan Park, Glenelg Discovery Museum, Glenelg Foreshore. Student reflections include:

I enjoyed camp a lot because I spent time with my friends and even though it was a school excursion it didn’t really feel like it. I liked the activities we got to do especially the adventure rooms because it was fun and a little competitive and going to Glenelg was nice.

I liked how we got to go and trams and travel while it was dark.

I really liked going on the trams and going through Rundle Mall and I also really liked the adventure room.

This camp was extremely fun, and it was the first excursion/camp I’ve been in for several years. I liked how we got around on trams. The Central Market was amazing fun as I went and got myself some chips along with some friends. The Adventure Room was also fun, and I would love to do it again.

The MOD Museum was very cool and I enjoyed all the interactive things we could do there.

I really loved how we could learn how to travel around the city catching trams. I suggest the year 7’s to do the same things we did next year because it was enjoyable.

I liked the Adventure Rooms as we needed to find the password for the locks. We found the last key and we were in a group that managed to get out.

My experience at camp was really fun and I learnt how to catch a tram.

Thankyou to Mr Brooks and Ms Lienert for coming with us on camp and to Ms Pearce for joining us on her day off.

Ms Lamont (Leader of Middle Years)

Hello friends and families,

Select Read More 

School Uniform Update

We have been working with Vinnies to help improve the process for our families to either book a uniform fitting order or place an order for the new uniform. This can now be done via scanning QR codes using a mobile device such as your mobile phone.

Book a Fitting

Please see the attached Vinnies Uniform Shop Book a Uniform Fitting flyer, scan the QR code and make a booking for a suitable time. Opening hours at Vinnies in Murray Bridge are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30 – 5:00 pm. Please call the store manager Rochelle on (08) 8532 6699 if you have any questions.

Place an Online Order

Please scan the below QR code to be directed to the St Joseph’s Murray Bridge - School Uniform online order form. Once you scan the code, you will be directed to the Vinnies Shop page and will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to locate the school’s online uniform order form. There is also a link to the School’s Uniform Price List as of 13 October. This is also attached in this week’s newsletter.

SELECT READ MORE FOR THE CURTRENT UNIFORM PRICE LIST

Even though we are always very diligent regarding student safety, car-park drop-off and pick-up times are always times in which we need to be especially conscious of the safety of our children. Please, if you are parking across the road on McHenry and Florence Street, you should escort your children to the road crossing or take them across the road on McHenry Street. It is a busy time in the mornings and afternoons, and sometimes our students may forget to look for incoming traffic. A reminder to parents parking on Florence Street and McHenry Street that you are not to cover housing driveways or do a U-turn in the middle of the street. I appreciate your help in this matter.

SA Health requires schools to continue to record staff and student COVID-19-positive cases throughout Term 4 to support outbreak management.  Reports of positive cases need to be reported, by parents, to the administration at 85342000 as soon as a positive RAT or PCR test is recorded.  Families are reminded of the expectation that students are to stay away from school if they display symptoms, as this is the most effective control against an outbreak of COVID-19 in a school community. 

· If you are unwell, please stay home.

· If you have a cold or flu symptoms, you should get tested for COVID-19.

· If you have COVID-19, please stay at home until your acute symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, cough and fever) have cleared.  In consideration for the health of others, when you return to school, please wear a mask while indoors until seven days have passed since your symptoms first started or since you tested positive (whichever is earliest).