Term 3 - 2022 - Week 9

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This newsletter concludes the end of a jam-packed term of teaching, learning, assessing, sporting and cultural activities mixed in with lots of outside excursions, camps and sickness. Teachers and students are undoubtedly ready for a well-earned break. Hopefully, families get an opportunity to spend some quality time together in some warmer weather completing a project or travelling.

Over the past few weeks, we have had cause to speak to students about device usage at school once again. It has been discovered that some students bring their mobile phones to school without permission, keep them on throughout the day, and access 'hotspot' to look up sites blocked by our school's Wifi system on their school and BYO devices.
Attached to this newsletter is the St Joseph's School Communication Device Guidelines (Mobile Phones and Smartwatches). Please revise these guidelines and remind your child/ren that if they have permission to bring their mobile phone to school for safety purposes, it must be turned off during the day and kept in their school bag. Any breach of the guidelines will lead to confiscating the device, and parents will be informed. 

NAPLAN Results
Parents and Carers, please note that the 2022 NAPLAN results are being sent home with Year 3, 5 and 7 students on Wednesday, September 28. They will be in an A4-sized envelope. Contact your child's teacher or school administration if you do not receive the results by Friday afternoon. Please also contact relevant teachers to discuss any concerns or questions you may have upon receipt of the results. Please remember that NAPLAN offers a 'snapshot' of your child's skills on particular days in Term 2 when the tests take place. Teachers use many other assessment tools to plan optimal learning experiences for your child.  Please refer to the attached flyer. 

Catholic Schools Music Festival
Next week the St Joseph's School choir is performing at the Festival Theatre on Thursday, September 29, with other Catholic Schools. We look forward to watching them on the big stage next week! Many thanks to Lynne Liebich and Chelsea Foster, our music teacher and choir assistant, for preparing our children for this incredible experience.

Last Day of Term
The school will conclude Term 3 on Friday, September 30, at 2.20 pm in line with public bus transport and resume Term 4 on Monday, October 17, at 8.30 am.
Friday is a free casual day.  Please ensure covered shoes and appropriate school clothing.

Mask wearing

From September 20 2022, masks were no longer required to be worn on public transport, and schools do not need to recommend mask wearing on private school buses, such as those hired for excursions.
 

MAKE A GOOD CHOICE!

Often the last plea we say before a child/student explodes or bolts straight out the door. At this point, emotions are driving behaviours, and any sense of logic and calmness is well and truly out the window.

It's estimated that, on average, we are presented with 2000 + choices to make every day of our lives. Many decisions are easy, like what to wear and eat, but others are complex and stressful. At times, choices need to be made at the moment, and we think on our feet. Others, we'll try and plan to ensure that we are well-prepared.

Making good choices is a skill. Like every other aspect of life, we need to practise to improve our performance. For the students in our classrooms, decision-making is often hard work. To help our students make better choices under pressure, we need to allow them to practice in school and home environments. Unfortunately, the best learning can't come from role plays or even a mini-lesson. That all helps, but it generally comes from facing situations where choices are presented and learning with the people who support you and care for you in those situations.

Be comfortable in knowing that bad choices are not your burden to carry. Whilst most students generally know right from wrong, they'll still make many poor decisions. A wrong choice doesn't mean a bad kid, and the most helpful approach we can take is to be relentless with our support and accountability. Even if, at times, it's through gritted teeth. Not only that, our students may sometimes demonstrate little self-control, low care for consequences and little consideration for those around them. That's part of it too.

To help you step into providing the support and accountability for your children need to make good decisions, give a little consideration to the dot points below that we follow at St Joseph's School:

• Frame it as a learning experience. If they mess up, give them the chance to clean up.
• Understand the neuroscience. Put simply, the part of the brain that controls how young people react to situations is the last part to develop. You can't speed this process up.
• Make it about them, not other children or yourself. Don't compare to other students and don't start the conversation with 'when I was your age'.
• Fight your impulse to tell them why it was a wrong decision. You'd be better off asking good questions to get them thinking about their decision. That's reflection and something our kids would all benefit from practising.
• Avoid an emotional investment in their decision. We can't control their decision. We can only give them the best tools and structure to make the right choice.
• Help your students connect their decision to the consequence. Although it seems obvious to us adults, it's not so apparent to kids.
• Model that you are invested in their choices and try to understand. This is the unwavering support part.
• Leverage the relationship. The stronger the relationship, the more you can leverage.

So, before the next time that you blurt the words' make a good choice', stop and think if you're creating the right conditions for the right choice to be made. Are you helping your students to take responsibility? I'm all for shifting responsibility to our children, but if we don't choose the right approach and put the support in place, we're setting them up for a wrong decision every time.

Making good choices is rarely an accident.

Real Schools Team

For more information, please refer to https://realschools.com.au/
 

In All Things Kindness

Mrs Ros Oates

As Christians, we are called to discipleship. A disciple seeks to do what Jesus would do and to be all they were created to be for the good of the world.  We need to nourish and support people so that all can fulfil their potential and flourish within a lifegiving community.  Mercy, encouragement, and inclusion are vital; as are the practical supports for growing and maintaining good mental health, like housing stability and financial support.

Advocacy for those most vulnerable is necessary, as is genuine personal friendship and fellowship.  Christ is present in the rejection of any stigmatisation, and when policies and services meet and serve the needs of the most at risk as integral parts of ‘us’.

Taking on the mind of God sees gift, potential and dignity in every human life, no matter how broken or imperfect it may seem by temporal, worldly standards.

"Never see a need without doing something about it" was one of the sayings of St Mary MacKillop and is what drives Catholic Charities to assist struggling families and individuals in our community.

In September, Catholic Charities have an appeal asking for support to raise funds for some needy South Australia organisations.  Catholic Charities support a variety of local charities, including:

• Centacare Catholic Family Services
• Hutt Street Centre
• Calvary Ain Karim  
• Our Lady of La Vang & St Patrick's Special Schools
• SA Catholic Deaf Association 
• Aboriginal Catholic Ministry – Otherway Centre
• Catherine House

St Vincent DePaul Society is another of our Catholic Charities who work tirelessly in our community to support the most vulnerable.  At our recent Year 8 Retreat the students participated in an activity by becoming a ‘volunteer’ of Vinnies where they cleaned and sorted CD’s, records, cards and beanies supported by Teresa who also shared some of the wonderful work that Vinnies achieve each year.

This week the Year 8 students had their first retreat. Retreats are a time for group bonding and looking at the bigger questions in life such as: Why are we here? What makes you happy? Who do people think Jesus is? And What does forgiveness mean to you?

The day started with students watching 2 Alpha Youth videos. Alpha is a non-denominational program that creates a space where youth are excited to engage in conversations about faith.

After recess a representative from St Vinnies came and students spent 1 hour cleaning and sorting records and CDs, cleaning sunglasses, putting prices on donated cards and getting beanies ready for sale. All of these items will be for sale in the Murray Bridge Vinnies shop. Money raised is used to support people in our Community who need our help.

Before lunch, we had fun playing volleyball together to build relationships and then we all walked to Daily Deli to pick up our lunch. Thanks Ms Ireland for donating the hot chips to us…..they were really yummy!

The afternoon finished with a final Alpha video where we discussed how we are all human and make mistakes but no matter what we do, God forgives us if we ask.

Thanks Ms Holland for sharing the day with us,

Annette Lamont (Leader of Middle Years)

This term some of our Middle Years students have participated in rowing as part of their micro credential subject. The students gained valuable and expert advice about rowing skills and techniques from members of the Murray Bridge Rowing Club. 

Students spent time learning the techniques of rowing using ergo machines, touring the amazing facilities of the rowing club and hitting the water to put into practice their rowing skills. 

The Student Voice Council Reps are organising a disco for the last day of school- Friday 30^th September. R-Yr.4 will have their disco at 11.00am and Yr. 5-8 will have their disco at 1.10pm. Everyone is allowed to wear casual clothes on the day as well. So get your dancing shoes on and lets celebrate the end of Term 3. 

Throughout this term the year 3 classes have been looking into the classification of living and non-living organisms in Science. Last Thursday we consolidated this learning through an excursion to the Monarto Safari Park. We had a bus trip looking at the different animals of the zoo, including newly born giraffes and elands. We also experienced a walking based tour learning about different wildlife and their habitats. We learned about and observed evidence of various animals in their natural habitat using as many senses as possible.

All the students that went learnt something new about the conservation efforts that is evident within the Safari park. Most importantly they all had an amazing time learning about the various animals and habitats that were at the Safari Park.

Hello friends and families,

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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.