Term 3 - 2021 - Week 5

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Thank you for your assistance in remaining vigilant in the face of Coronavirus.

Can I reiterate that I am very grateful for how everyone is banding together to keep our students safe and for our teachers and parents who continue to normalise, explore-new and create exciting learning experiences for our students.

Due to COVID and the ever-changing restrictions, I encourage you to observe the upcoming dates. As we endeavour to comply with restrictions and cancel or reschedule events, we will update this from time to time. Changes reflected in upcoming dates include:

• Book Week – going ahead with restrictions in place
• Father’s Day Breakfast - cancelled
• Photo Day: going ahead as planned

As we understand the restrictions closer to the dates of the events, we will inform parents to ensure that the latest details are given out to our community. As an example, Mr Law has planned most of the Sports Day for  Friday 15 October at Le Measurer Oval, however there is a restriction around events being limited to 1000 people. At this point in time that would mean that 1 adult per student could attend, however we will hold off on all communication until as late as possible to ensure a consistent message is going out to parents. Our apologies if this comes across as tardy communication, however we want to ensure information is as accurate as can be.

Book Week

It’s that time of year again! Book Week will be celebrated across Australia in most schools and libraries from Saturday 21 August concluding Friday 27 August. The 2019 Book Week theme is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds’.  Next Wednesday we celebrate 2021 Book Week with our St Joseph’s Book Week Parade.

Parents and Caregiver’s dressing their child/ren up for book week should never be an onerous task, please keep it simple. This can be a great week to simply model the enjoyment that reading brings!

Unfortunately, we have been advised that parents will not be able to attend as COVID restrictions currently state that mass gathering should be limited.

NAPLAN

I have heard that I will receive the Year 3, 5 & 7 NAPLAN results in the coming weeks. Upon receiving these individual test results, teachers will send both reports home in an envelope.

As with any form of summative assessment (testing), we must remember that the results demonstrate how children performed on a given day, with a given circumstance in a structured environment. The results should always be considered as being indicative of their performance rather than a definitive account. However, we do hold high expectations for student’s individual growth. 

We must remember that these results do not define who they are or what they are capable of becoming.  Like you, we are proud of your child and how they continue to grow as a unique and special person with a good sense of self and a commitment to always doing their best.

ReLAT

Yesterday our Year 4 students successfully undertook the ReLAT (Religious Literacy Assessment Tool. This assessment is an online multiple-choice test with 35 questions and is designed for students in Year 4 who are nearing the completion of Standard 2 of Crossways, the Religious Education Framework for Catholic schools in South Australia, and is based on the learning outcomes identified in Crossways. ReLAT assesses some of the basic knowledge taught in Religious Education lessons. The assessment is not a measure of a child’s faith or their participation in the broader life of the Catholic community. The data from the ReLAT assessment will be collated and solely used by the school to inform whole-of-school professional learning needs and the continuous improvement of teaching in Religious Education.

National SSO Week

Today we took the opportunity to celebrate National SSO Week with all of our ESO’s.  We were able acknowledge the wonderful work that our ESO’s; working with students, in administration and maintaining our wonderful grounds do in our school.

A big thank-you for all of our ESO’s for the work they do in our school.

Building Update

The Middle School building continues to make progress and we look forward to seeing the cladding and walls go up in the coming week.

Pupil Free Days

Remember to put the Pupil Free Days Friday 27 August, into your family calendars (Reception to Year 7).

Next Friday staff will be engaged in a Retreat organised by Mrs Holland in the PAC.  The retreat centres on our catholic identity and our own personal identities, also touching on how we can make engaging Religious Education lessons for students.

Athletics

Congratulations to all the Year 4 to Year 7 Athletes who competed in the recent SAPSASA District Athletics Carnival.  Everyone represented St Joseph’s with pride and were the eventual runner-up on the day.

Special congratulations to Taj and Indii Garrett who were champions in their age group at the recent SAPSASA District Athletics Carnival at Unity on Monday.

Well done boys and girls.

God Bless

Brady Stallard

On November 10th 2020 The Fiegert family’s world came crashing down. Nicholas, the youngest son of 4 beautiful boys was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Nicky has commenced IV chemotherapy, at times daily for weeks at a time. His treatment plan also includes intensive weeks of daily Radiotherapy leaving him extremely ill. Nicholas’ treatment is ongoing with at least another round of Radiotherapy and continued IV chemotherapy and then moving onto oral chemotherapy until at least next year.

We reach out to our St Joseph school family for love, prayers and support.

If you would like to offer a financial contribution please see the link below.

Thank you for your generosity and prayers.

PLEASE NOTE - Scheduled items may be postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19 Restrictions. Attendance by Parents & Caregivers may also be restricted. Advice will be given by the school when it is received.

Select READ MORE to view the TERM 3 CALENDAR

Select Read More for more details.

Hello friends and families,

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On Monday 23^rd August, 27 students went to Mt Barker to compete in the SAPSASA Basketball State Championships. St Joseph’s had a team in the Year 6 Boys, Year 6 Girls, Year 7 Boys, and Year 7 Girls competitions to verse teams from Eastern Fleurieu, Karoonda, and Littlehampton to name a few.

The competition was strong, but our teams were well prepared and excited to play. Miss Jong coached both the girls’ teams. The Year 6 Girls played well as a team to win one game, draw another game and lose two games (one of which was by just one point). The Year 7 girls had a tougher draw. Their closest match was against Littlehampton. The girls got plenty of shots at the goal but unfortunately too many didn’t drop in, going down 16 to 13.

Mr Law coached the both the boys’ teams. The Year 6 Boys were feeling the effects of the Football Carnival they’d played the previous day but managed to start with two close wins thanks to the whole team playing their set roles and the defensive pressure they applied. A draw to Karoonda and a loss to first placed Eastern Fleurieu saw them second overall. The Year 7 Boys had a tough opening game against St Francis de Sales who went on to win the day. They did manage to hold St Francis to their smallest win margin which is a credit to the team. The boys comfortably won their next two games with tough defensive pressure and quick ball movement. With two players out due to injuries, the last game against Unity was well played and neck and neck for the first half, but like the girls, our shots just wouldn’t go in.

The students had a great day and represented our school with pride and good sportsmanship. Thank you to the parent volunteers who drove the team down to Mt Barker, helped supervise and score the games.