eNews Term 2, Week 7, 2025

Dear Parents, Carers, Teachers, and Students,

As we approach the end of Term 2, we take this opportunity to reflect on the many achievements of Semester 1. It has been a busy and rewarding time of learning, growth, and progress across all year levels. Over the next few weeks, several events will continue to take place, allowing our students to explore, improve their skills, and represent our school in various sporting and outdoor events. Please refer to our newsletter diary. While these activities are happening, our incredible teachers continue to guide and teach the curriculum and are also currently reviewing assessments and student achievement data as they prepare Semester 1 reports.

These reports will be available to families via SEQTA Engage in Week 10, Thursday 3rd July of this term.

Please note that school reports are no longer posted or distributed to students. If your family requires a printed copy, we ask that you contact the administration office to request one and arrange to collect it in person.

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to celebrating a strong finish to the term.

Strengthening Wellbeing and Safety - St Joseph’s School ‘New’ Personal Responsibility Policy

At St Joseph’s School, the safety and well-being of every student and staff member are central to who we are as a Catholic community. Over the past six months, our leadership team has conducted a comprehensive review of our practices regarding expectations for learning and ensuring the safety and well-being of all, grounded in restorative and trauma-informed approaches, and aligned with Catholic Education South Australia’s policies and procedures. These include the Safeguarding Children and Young People policy, the Building Respectful Relationships: Behaviour, Education, and Student Behaviour Support Policy and Procedure, and the Safe Environments for All policy. These documents can be found on the Catholic Education SA website.

https://www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/our-schools/safe-environments-for-all

I’m now pleased to share with our community that our new Personal Responsibility Policy has been finalised. This important work has involved collaboration across staff, students, and the School Board to ensure the policy reflects our school’s context, values, and commitment to building a respectful and safe learning environment for all.

A key feature of the policy is the ‘Ready to Learn’ Framework, which supports consistent and positive expectations across all classrooms. This framework has already been explicitly taught to students, helping them understand how to participate in safe, respectful, and engaging learning and play.

We invite all families to read the policy, available as a PDF attached to this newsletter. On Monday, June 16, a copy will also be send home via Seesaw, email and uploaded to our school website for your reference. Together—students, families, and staff—we can continue to build a strong culture of responsibility, safety, and care at St Joseph’s School.

Infographics, explained in detail in the Personal Responsibility Policy

Last week, we had the privilege of showcasing the exceptional work of our teachers to Angela Faulkenburg, President of the Australian Primary Principals Association, and Professor Clare Wood from the United Kingdom, at Nottingham Trent University. As a group, we discussed the importance of literacy learning and what current research is showing regarding effective strategies to consolidate early literacy skills. Our visitors observed our teachers providing explicit instruction, demonstrating effective teaching methods in literacy, and showcasing our TeachWell strategies. Our students were excellent, actively engaged in learning, and participating enthusiastically in the classroom. Thank you to Mrs. Megan Rowland, the Leader of Learning at St Joseph’s School, who manages, coordinates, and supports overall curriculum expectations, assessments, and literacy support in our school. The dedicated work of Meghan continues to have a positive impact on enhancing learning outcomes for all our students, and we acknowledge her commitment and outstanding work on behalf of all in our school.

Angela Faulkenberg, Ros Oates, Professor Clare Wood and Meghan Rowland

Best regards,

Ros Oates

PRINCIPAL

2026 ENROLMENTS

Enrolments are also open for the beginning of 2026. Children who turn five from 1 November 2025 until 30 April 2026 can begin school in Term 1 of 2026.

Contact the school administration to register your interest and book a Principal's tour.

Please refer to the QR Code below for information about our JOEY’s transition program, which is available from Term 3, 2025, for all children starting school at the beginning of 2026. This is also a free program for those students.

You are invited to Register Now for JOEY’s Transition Program & Information Session/s.

https://forms.office.com/r/1Wa0P0VzGi

Farewell Deacon Arturo 

Deacon Arturo Jimenea has been supporting the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Murray Bridge and our school for 3.5 years. He has been a peaceful and graceful presence during this time, helping to lead our school Masses and Prayer Services. We would like to thank Deacon Arturo for his interest and dedication to our students, staff and the school community. He will make a few final visits to various Mass centres before being allocated to a Parish in Adelaide. There will be a farewell for Deacon Arturo at the Sunday Mass on 29th June at 11am. School families are most welcome to attend. We wish Deacon Arturo and his wife Mary, all the best.

Prayer Services and Class Masses 

Parents and Grandparents are most welcome to attend our Prayer Services and Masses. The Year Level Prayer Services and Masses for the remainder of the term are as follows; 

• Year 2 and 3 Prayer Service – Wednesday 18th June at 12:15pm in the Church 
• Year 6 Mass – Wednesday 25th June at 9:30am in the Church 
• Year 4 Mass – Wednesday 2nd July at 9:30am in the Church 

Pentecost Whole School Mass 

I would like to thank the students in Year 7, 8 and 9 for leading parts of the Whole School Mass on 11th June. It was wonderful to have Fr George, our new Parish Priest, lead his first Whole School Mass with us. Thank you to the parents and parishioners for attending, to make the Mass a School and Parish community event. 

First Eucharist 

11 students from St Joseph’s School are currently preparing to receive their final Sacrament of Initiation, First Communion. There are two more preparation sessions for these students to attend in the Church at 5pm on 18th and 25th June. These students will be able to choose, with their families, to receive First Communion on either Saturday 28th June at 6pm or on Sunday 29th June at 11am. Keep these students in your prayers as they prepare for this special occasion, which will make them full members of the Catholic Church.

The Power of Reading Together: Why Listening to Your Child Read and Reading to Them Matters

At St Joseph’s, we believe that reading is one of the most powerful tools we can give our children, and that the journey of learning to read is best shared between home and school. One of the simplest and most effective ways you can support your child’s literacy is by listening to them read and reading aloud to them at home.

Why listen to your child read?
When children read aloud, they practise their decoding skills, fluency, and expression. Regular reading at home builds confidence, helps them hear how language sounds, and gives them a chance to apply what they are learning in the classroom. It also shows them that reading is not just a school task, it is something valued and enjoyed in everyday life.

Why read to your child (even if they can read themselves)?
Reading aloud to children, even older ones, exposes them to richer vocabulary, more complex sentence structures, and exciting ideas they may not yet be able to read themselves. It sparks imagination, promotes curiosity, and nurtures a love of books. Shared reading times also foster emotional connections and create a calm, safe space to wind down together.

Tips for reading at home:

• Choose books your child is interested in. Fiction, nonfiction, comics, or magazines all count.
• Celebrate mistakes as learning opportunities.
• Ask questions like “What do you think will happen next?” or “How do you think the character is feeling?”
• Keep it relaxed and positive. The goal is enjoyment and connection.
• Just ten to fifteen minutes a day can make a big difference. Thank you for the important role you play in supporting your child’s learning. Together, we can build strong readers for life.

Our Reception and Year 1 students have been enjoying an exciting AFL clinic as part of the Sporting Schools program, delivered by coaches from the SANFL. This initiative aims to further develop students’ fundamental movement skills, with a particular focus on kicking. The clinic builds on the skills explored during this term’s soccer and kicking unit in Physical Education. Sessions will continue each Wednesday until the end of the term.

This term in Performing Arts, students explored Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. As part of their learning, they created their own puppets and used instruments to help retell and perform sections of a Dreamtime story for the class.

In Term Two, students across the school have been exploring texture, colour and shape through different printmaking techniques.

Reception and Year 1 students have been exploring printmaking and applying painting with a range of objects, including bottles, fingers, and marbles. Students have also been exploring and responding to artworks by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama who loves to include lots of dots in her artwork.

Year 2, 3 and 4 students have been making textured cardboard collages to make wax crayon rubbings. This technique teaches students how they can reproduce their designs again and again in different ways.

Year 5 & 6 students have been designing and making mini prints using craft foam and cardboard. They made mini-prints inspired by nature and learnt printmaking techniques of applying paint with a foam roller and reproducing multiple prints of the same image.

Year 7, 8 & 9 students began with making mini print using craft foam and have moved onto exploring more complex printmaking designs. Students have challenged themselves to incorporate multiple sources of inspiration into their designs. Students were inspired by personal interest, cultural or historical significance and popular culture.

On Wednesday 11th of June, a group of enthusiastic 5/6 netballers proudly represented St Joseph’s in a knockout netball competition. Every student demonstrated determination, teamwork and school spirit throughout the day. 

The competition started with our first game against Unity College. Despite each student giving their best efforts and maintaining solid teamwork, St Joseph's lost the match. The students showed great resilience. Our second match was against Mount Barker South Primary. With great teamwork, accurate passing, and solid defence, St Joseph's won the match 36-11. 

Each student played an important role across both games and the team spirit displayed was outstanding. Each student demonstrated excellent sportsmanship, positive encouragement and determination throughout the day. It was a fun and memorable day for everyone!

Please find The Southern Cross newsletter and the online edition of The Southern Cross June 2025.