Dear St Joseph’s School Community,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our school community for the warm welcome and support as the newly appointed Deputy Principal of St Joseph’s School. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to help shape the future of this wonderful school. This is something we will continue to build together in the spirit of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, with strong partnerships with students, families, staff and the broader Murray Lands communities.
Building Project
There has been great excitement in the school recently with the pouring of the concrete foundations for the Year 7-9 secondary building. What a fantastic opportunity for our children and teachers to connect this real world experience with student learning. As Inquisitive Thinkers, the students certainly had many questions…how many cement trucks are needed, how much concrete is in one truck, how long will this take, will it cost a lot of money, how big is the slab of concrete, what are the pipes sticking out of the concrete, how long will it take to dry, does the rain stop it drying properly? I am sure as the next phase begins many more questions and learning opportunities will present themselves, as preparation begins in coming weeks for the student amphitheatre outdoor space.
Enrolments
The Joey’s Transition to School Program will be run again during Term 3 and 4, and places are still available for students that will commence Reception in Term 1, 2022. Mid-Year Reception enrolments are also available for any child that turns 5 before 31 October this year. Year 7 and 8 enrolments commencing in 2022 are now being accepted.
Please contact the School Office on 8534 2000 for all enrolment enquiries.
COVID QR Code and Sign in Compliance
You may have heard media reports this week about ‘tougher measures being put in place by South Australian police to stamp out complacency surrounding the use of QR codes’, and Operation Trace beginning on Thursday 13 May. As such, please remember to ‘check-in’ each time you visit and enter the school grounds by using the QR Codes located at all entry points, and in the School Office. Alternatively, you can manually sign in at the front office if not using the QR Codes.
NAPLAN
This week students in Years 3, 5 and 7 began their 2021 NAPLAN tests in the areas of literacy and numeracy. Apart from the Year 3 writing test, all students will be completing their tests using an online platform. The testing window will continue through next week and I ask parents and caregivers to refer to the NAPLAN timetable sent home with students in Week 1 for details of when they are being conducted. Congratulations to the students in Years 3, 5 and 7 for their efforts towards NAPLAN so far.
Reconciliation Week
On Monday 24 May, Week 5 at 3:00pm we will celebrate Reconciliation Week with a Ngarrindjeri flag raising ceremony. We welcome all members of our school community to be part of this very important event.
ARCH D Radio and Podcasting
The Catholic Office for Youth and Young Adults produce the "Arch D Radio", "School Life", "Living Learning Leading", "For Teachers" and "Parishes of Adelaide" Podcasts which are available through Apple, Spotify and all major podcast platforms. They produce a twice-weekly radio show titled "Arch D Radio" which airs on 1079 Life Adelaide on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.
This year St Joseph's has accepted an exciting opportunity for our Year 5 students to become involved in the Arch D Radio project as part of their curriculum. It will provide opportunities for students to be involved in every facet of the production of a professional podcast and FM radio show. Create a formational experience for young people in a contemporary, life-giving and engaging way. Provide to the broader community, information about Catholic schools and upcoming Catholic programs and events they can engage in and involve Catholic school students in a formational opportunity that would go beyond the graduation experience.
The students will be given a chance to be involved in journalism, guest announcing, music programming, sound engineering and production.
The students will begin this journey in Term 3 with James Meston and his team from the Catholic Education Office so keep an eye out for the completed podcast towards the end of Term 3 or beginning of Term 4.
Mother’s Day
A big thank you to the many mums, grandmas, nanas, aunties and special women who joined us on Friday for breakfast to celebrate Mother’s Day and recognise the unconditional love of all mums and significant women in our lives. It was wonderful to see so many of you with your children and I hope you all had a special day on Sunday 7 May. Perhaps you were also lucky enough to be treated to a delicious breakfast in bed, sleep in, flowers or homemade gift or card. Thank you to our amazing staff for supporting this event with food preparation and serving, assisting with COVID check-ins, setting and packing up our library and socialising with families.
Sonja Smith
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