eNews Term 4, Week 3, 2024

Dear parents, carers, teachers, and students,

Welcome to our week 3 newsletter.

In all things Kindness

I have just returned from five-weeks leave in Canada and would like to express my sincere appreciation to Jamie and Nicki for stepping in to lead the school on such short notice during my absence. I also want to commend all staff members who assumed additional responsibilities during this period.

My gratitude extends to the staff who dedicated their time to promote our school and engage with the local community about St. Joseph’s School at the Murray Bridge Show. It is essential that we continue to support community events and highlight the incredible work our students produce.

As we approach Term 4, further adjustments will be necessary as we enter the final weeks of the academic year. Many staff are gearing up for various transitions, and our leadership team is actively planning for 2025. In the remaining 6-7 weeks of the term, teachers will maintain their focus on delivering thoughtfully planned high-quality learning and assessments.

With the final term underway, we are thrilled to present multiple community-invited opportunities for families to celebrate graduation and year-end events, as well as to share our Christmas story. The Year 2 classes are gearing up to take part in the Murray Bridge Christmas pageant, and the Reception classes, together with our Year 6 students, are organising a Christmas concert for the entire school community.

Parents, please make sure to regularly check important dates and Seesaw messages for updates and information. Thank you for your continued support.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Ros Oates
PRINCIPAL

New Responding to Risks of Harm, Abuse and Neglect Training for Volunteers 

Please be reminded to complete the updated RRHAN-EC course in order to keep volunteering. The completion of the online update will need to be completed before 31 December 2024 when our current certificate expires. You need to complete the new RRHAN-EC online update unless you already have a current certificate with an expiry date of 31 December 2027. 

To access the online update please use this link:  

https://www.plink.sa.edu.au/ilp/pages/external-dashboard.jsf?menuId=1104&locale=en-GB#/?dashboardId=6 

To login as ‘Non Department for Education staff login’ OR if you don’t already have a plink login, register via this link https://www.plink.sa.edu.au/ilp/pages/user-profile-signup.jsf 

If your RRHAN-EC has already expired or you are new to education, please refer to the following guide below which will help you to determine which course you need to do. 

Which course is right for you? 

My certificate expires on 31 December 2024 – do the online update only (takes about 2 hours). 

My certificate is expired – start with the fundamentals. If you also work directly with children and young people, do the masterclass after you’ve finished the fundamentals course. 

St Vinnies Christmas Appeal

As part of our Catholic Social Teachings our mission is to reach out and serve the most vulnerable. This year we will be supporting the St Vinnies Christmas Appeal. We will be asking for generous donations of children’s toys (keeping in mind children from 12-16 years of age). Please remember not to wrap any items. 

We will begin collecting your generous donations from Monday 4th November - Friday 6th December. Donations to be brought into the administration office. We thank you sincerely for your support and generosity

2025 Term Dates 

• Term 1 - 28 January to 11 April 
• Term 2 - 28 April to 4 July 
• Term 3 - 21 July to 26 September 
• Term 4 - 13 October to 12 December

ALL SAINTS DAY

November 1st

Most of us would be able to name at least one or two saints – St Joseph, St Mary MacKillop and more recently St Teresa of Calcutta would probably be ones that come to mind more readily. Though they led vastly different lives, they all had uncommon kindness and were examples to us, not to forget those people who are the “forgettables” in our world.

The Archbishop of San Salvador in El Salvador during the 1970’s, Oscar Romero is one of the most recent saints to be canonised in the Catholic Church. During his time as Archbishop he spoke out about human rights violations in El Salvador. He denounced violence that was occurring during their civil war and urged soldiers and police not to follow orders to kill civilians and stop the repression. St Oscar Romero is an inspirational figure to hundreds of millions of Catholics around the world. He didn’t simply talk about the need to love your neighbour, but courageously named the injustices that plagued his country. He reminded us that Christ is found in people living in poverty, and that we cannot ignore the suffering of our brothers and sisters in need. He was shot dead on 24 March 1980, aged 62, while celebrating Mass and his words, “Aspire not to have more, but to be more” continue to inspire us today.

The saints are always calling us back to our Christian roots. They are real human beings like us with their own personal problems but who battle on to achieve extraordinary deeds. Because of this, we should not leave them as lifeless statues or stained-glass windows and excuse ourselves from our responsibilities to other people on the pretext that we aren’t perfect. The very fact, that they are human like us, is a reminder to us of our responsibilities even if we are flawed and imperfect persons.

Some saints are famous. Their names are in prayer books and their pictures are in the newspaper or on the walls and windows of churches. Their stories teach us that there are many ways to follow Christ.

From the moment of our birth we were all given the chance to become a saint. Even in our time we can probably recall many people throughout the world who have lived the truth of Jesus but have not been canonised by the church as a saint. The world needs more saints in the making, people like us who can do something, if only of a minor nature, to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged and neglected people.

St Joseph Pray for Us St Oscar Romero Pray for Us

St Patrick Pray for Us St John Pray for Us

St Mary MacKillop Pray for Us St Joan Pray for Us

St Catherine Pray for Us St Peter Pray for Us

Last Wednesday, we were thrilled to participate in a special filming day organised by CESA, featuring explicit instruction in action across three of our classrooms. Mrs Watkins' Reception class, Mrs Scott's Year 2 class, and Ms Gibbon's Year 6 class all took part, demonstrating how we’ve implemented this valuable, evidence-based approach in our maths lessons as a whole school.

This project, done in collaboration with AERO, focuses on using a structured and research-driven methodology to maximise student learning. We’re incredibly fortunate to have adopted this approach early, allowing our students to benefit from targeted, high-quality instruction.

The video from our filming day will be shared with other Catholic schools throughout South Australia, showcasing the fantastic learning and engagement we’re seeing in our classrooms. It’s an exciting chance for our school community to lead the way in effective teaching practices, and we’re proud to be part of such an impactful initiative.

Our recent Year 6 Market Day was a wonderful celebration of creativity, sustainability, and community spirit! Each product, thoughtfully designed by our Year 6 students, featured repurposed materials collected from around the school, underscoring our commitment to sustainability.

Market Day was not only an opportunity for students to learn about product design, marketing, and sales but also a chance to give back to the community. Proceeds from the event will be donated to local charities, reflecting the generosity and dedication of our students.

Our Year 2 students had a fantastic sleepover from Friday, October 25, to Saturday, October 26! After arriving and enjoying some playground time, we gathered under the auditorium to meet our groups, review the rules, and assign special helper badges. Each group created a fun name and decorated a team poster.

Soon, the pizzas arrived, and after a delicious dinner, we set up our beds in the PAC. Outdoor games followed, then it was time to change into pyjamas and create raps, poems, or songs about our teams. We enjoyed Milo and choc-chip cookies while admiring the night-lit school grounds.

To wrap up the evening, we performed our team songs, shared a few torchlight games, and settled down to sleep. Morning came quickly, with a yummy breakfast of toast and pikelets before our parents arrived to take us home.

A huge thank-you to Miss Lauren, Mr. Law and Mrs. Holland for all their help and support!

Miss Stanford and Mrs. Scott