Term 3 - 2021 - Week 10

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Congratulations to our Festival Choir who represented our school well at the Entertainment Centre last night joining several other Catholic Schools as part of the 250 plus strong ensemble choir for the Catholic School’s Music Festival.  The choir have been preparing since the beginning of the year, learning numerous songs.   Mrs Liebich said that she was very proud of our singers who contributed strongly to the ensemble choir for the Catholic School’s Music Festival.  We thank Mrs Liebich who does a wonderful job every year in preparing our choir for this prestigious event. We are truly grateful for her continued efforts and enthusiasm.

Well done to all of our choir on a stellar evening:

Lina Aldyni, Layla Allen, Shaniya Anderson, Jessica Brine, Olivia Carr, Emma Chilvers, Patreece Dela Cerna, Zarah Eeles, Molly Freaney, Angie Garcia, Lilliana Gates, Miley Hammond, Daina Hannaford, Matilda Millan, Lillian Hoare, Mary Huang, Ella Ireland, Enqi Luo, Jeanella Maranan, Kaiden Martin, Simonne Pearson, Lucy Scalzi, Adelaide  Scheirich, Archer Archer, Charlotte Smith, Cary Tano, Atisha Vidal, Alexis Watkins, Imogen Watkins, Allegra Willason, Olivia Williams, Charlotte Wise.

I trust that everyone attending and participating will have a stellar evening at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Term 4 Uniform

As Term 3 concludes at the end of this week it will be time to put winter uniforms in mothballs until next year. All students are expected to wear full summer uniform in Term 4, please refer to the Uniform Policy here. We ask for your support to help us maintain a high standard of dress and ensure your child is wearing the correct summer or sports uniform on the appropriate day. If this is not possible for any reason on a particular day, please don’t hesitate to see your child’s teacher or write a note. Please be reminded that students are required to wear hats in when the UV is 3 or above, which will be every day in Term 4.

NAPLAN Reports

This Friday individual NAPLAN results will be sent home with Year 3, 5 and 7 Students. More than a million Australian school-age children in Years 3, 5, 7 or 9 took the NAPLAN tests (the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) in May. In the NAPLAN report, your child's results will be shown against six levels of achievement. If you require any further clarification, please do not hesitate to see your child’s teacher, Grace Vassallo-Wakefield or myself. Students grow academically at different rates and often a conversation can be fruitful in understanding the results and whether there has been further growth since NAPLAN was completed in May.

Year 6 and 7 Graduation

Please reserve the date claimer of Wednesday 8 December this year we will celebrating the completion of Primary School for Year 6 and 7 on this evening!  While there are no firm details yet as we cater for the ever-changing landscape, but we acknowledge that many of our students graduate from primary school, whether they are staying or moving elsewhere for their secondary education.

QKR NEWS

We are pleased to advise that we can now accept payments for your School Fees via the QKR APP using your Credit Card.

If you would like further information please contact Carol Rowland, Bursar

Volunteers

At the end of every term, I like to extend our thanks to everybody who has generously volunteered their time in some way, shape or form across the course of the semester. Parental support, involvement and participation in school life is something that we actively encourage and need, to be able to undertake many of the memorable events and excursions and to ensure that day to day necessities such as the canteen happen. 

Thanks to those parents who supported in sport, excursions, camps Catholic Schools Parents SA and the School Board

Term Three concludes this Friday at 2:20 pm.

God Bless

Brady Stallard

Year 4's had a fantastic day on Wednesday on Wednesday exploring the Botanical Gardens. Some favourite experiences included the Rainforest Conservatory, the bottle tree, leaf boat races, the lilly pads and crossing the wetlands.

On Monday September 20^th, 6 students from Years 4 and 5 attended the very first CESA Women in STEM breakfast at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The students were given a gift bag on their arrival and had the opportunity to listen to a range of guest speakers talking about women in the field of STEM.

Together with over 300 students from other South Australian Catholic Schools, the girls were invited to consider how they can stand up for what they believe in, voice their ideas to make a difference and to see themselves being involved in STEM which has traditionally been a very male dominated field.

When the girls were asked what key messages they would take home from the breakfast, the students said the following:

“That we can do anything” Erin (Year 5)

“We should use our voice to stand up for ourselves and what we want to do” Charlie and Claire (Year 4) & Emily (Year 5)

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl, you can still achieve things and do what you want to do” Amira (Year 4)

“Girls can do anything no matter what” Imogen (Year 5)

Season of Creation

Acting APRIM - Sarah Barrett

Spending time in the garden last weekend  I was amazed at the colours that were everywhere.  Beautiful, happy yellows from the wattle trees, the deep red that is appearing on the banksias, the bright vivid colours of the pigface and the colours of the leaves as they begin to appear on the roses and the trees. 

The colours reminded me that we have left behind the bareness of winter and are now in the season of spring, the season of creation.  Spring is the season between winter and summer and often marks the time when we emerge from ‘hibernation’.   It is a time to clear the clutter, sometimes called spring-cleaning and the paddocks become a hive of activity as hay is cut and harvesting occurs.  It is also a time for planting and reflecting on how we are caring for our environment – our small part of God’s creation in the universe.

In 1979, Pope John Paul 11 declared St Francis of Assisi to be the Patron Saint of the Environment.  Here we were, in all our modern sophistication, turning to a person who lived in the 13^th Century, seeking his guidance and inspiration to deal with our global pollution and the collapse of our planet’s eco-systems.  What would St Francis have known about matters such as these?

Certainly, he would not have been familiar with the terminology but Francis held a very strong belief that God was present in everything around him so that wherever he encountered nature, in its many expressions, he encountered God.  For St Francis, the world around him drew him to God, and everything around him was an expression of God’s love.  His attitude to nature was a humble one in that he realised that all of us are reliant on the environment for our survival.

Pope Francis was so inspired by St Francis that he took his name when he was elected Bishop of Rome.  As he says in Laudato Si (On Care for Our Common Home)10, “I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically.  He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast.  He loved and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness.  He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.”

The guidance and inspiration of  St Francis is a reminder that we are part of nature, part of God’s creation and gifted with privilege and responsibility.  To restate this in a natural setting, we might borrow these words:

“Your mind is a garden,

Your thoughts are the seeds,

The harvest can be either

flowers or weeds.”

(Author Unknown)

The Year 7 boys and girls basketball teams competed in the Murraylands Basketball Competition on Tuesday the 7th of September. 

The boys won the overall competition, being undefeated in 6 out of 6 games. The boys were able to win most games with quite a big margin due to some tremendous 3 point shots from Brodie and Taj. Noah was strong in the post, putting up many shots from his rebounds. Adriel and Ethan did a fantastic job at double teaming that caused many turn overs for the other teams. Beau used his great ball handling skills to get the ball down the court with ease! A big thanks to Leah McFarlane who helped out on the scoring bench.

The girls had improved out of sight since the SAPSASA tournament bring home 3 out of 6 wins! Halle and Chloe led the team with many fast breaks and driving to the basket. Molly, Lexie and Danielle were star defenders with many intercepts that eventuated in a goal. Charlotte and Miley used their skills to get a few rebounds and stop the other teams from scoring. It was amazing to see everyone giving it a go and growing in their confidence throughout the day. 

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Hello friends and families,

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Dear Parishioners,

If you know of anyone who wishes to know more about or join the Catholic Church family, please let them know we begin RCIA with an inquiry night on Tuesday October 5, 7 pm in the parish meeting room. The RCIA is the step by step journey preparing people to become part of the Catholic family. It’s also an opportunity for people who want to reconnect or renew their faith. People can register their interest by ringing the parish on 8531-1699 or per email on j.vildzius@bigpond.com

Fr John Vildzius

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.