who witnessed 11 of our Year 7 students complete their initiation. Bishop Greg was again the main celebrant and the students made us all proud. Well done to Michael Slagter, Susan Frawley and Guilia Del Zoppo. Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day: Last Thursday, August 7th, we celebrated the feast day of St Mary Of The Cross MacKillop. The day was a wonderful success and I thank the students for their outstanding reverence and positive participation. I also thank and congratulate Mrs Frawley and the whole staff for their organisation and leadership. It was a memorable day for everyone involved and one which affirms our school’s Catholic identity and Josephite charism. Assumption of Mary Mother of Jesus: Last Friday, August 8th, we celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Mary. On this day we remember that Mary was taken up into the glory of heaven not only with her soul, but also with her body. Mary’s life was a wonderful example of praise and thanksgiving to God. We are all reminded to ask ourselves “is there anything about Mary’s life that could help me to be a better person? Parent Satisfaction Survey: I thank all the families who have already diligently returned the Parent Satisfaction Survey. We have received many positive comments which affirms all our Messages From Don St Joseph’s School Renmark Term 3 Week 5 ~ 18 August 2014 www.sjsr.catholic.edu.au Respect Safety Learning Trust Dear Parents, Friends and Students, As I conduct my daily visits into classrooms, I thought it worth a mention that I have been very pleased with how the students are engaging positively in their learning. The rooms are abuzz with interest and excitement with the work that they are doing. It is a privilege to be able to wander the rooms and playgrounds of our school and see and hear children learning about respect, safety, learning and trust. With our KidsMatter focus, they are learning how to work through challenges in a positive way and take responsibility for the choices that they make. I can only say that the future will be in great hands with their hopefulness, their vitality and their creative ways of dealing with their lives and respecting the lives of others. I wish to highlight that this is one of the features of being in a Catholic School as we not only focus on academics but also the human side of people. Special Events: We witnessed a significant event last Friday when the five Riverland Parishes united together as one under the banner of Our Lady of the River Catholic Parish. Bishop Greg, as the main celebrant, had the honour of announcing the proclamation and he was joined by more than 250 members of all five parishes. This was a special night and we thank all staff, parents and students who attended. Confirmation on Saturday was another special event. We were joined with families, staff and parishioners The SRC’s at their first meeting for this Semester. Sarah receiving her certificate from Marg & Bishop Greg.
Transcript
who witnessed 11 of our Year 7 students complete their
initiation. Bishop Greg was again the main celebrant and
the students made us all proud. Well done to Michael
Slagter, Susan Frawley and Guilia Del Zoppo.
Mary MacKillop’s Feast Day:
Last Thursday, August 7th, we celebrated the feast
day of St Mary Of The Cross MacKillop. The day was a
wonderful success and I thank the students for their
outstanding reverence and positive participation. I also
thank and congratulate Mrs Frawley and the whole
staff for their organisation and leadership. It was a
memorable day for everyone involved and one which
affirms our school’s Catholic identity and Josephite
charism.
Assumption of Mary Mother of Jesus:
Last Friday, August 8th, we celebrated the feast of
the Assumption of Mary. On this day we remember that
Mary was taken up into the glory of heaven not only
with her soul, but also with her body. Mary’s life was a
wonderful example of praise and thanksgiving to God.
We are all reminded to ask ourselves “is there anything
about Mary’s life that could help me to be a better
person?
Parent Satisfaction Survey:
I thank all the families who have already diligently
returned the Parent Satisfaction Survey. We have
received many positive comments which affirms all our
Messages From Don
St Joseph’s School Renmark Term 3 Week 5 ~ 18 August 2014
www.sjsr.catholic.edu.au
Respect Safety Learning Trust
Dear Parents, Friends and Students,
As I conduct my daily visits into classrooms, I thought
it worth a mention that I have been very pleased with
how the students are engaging positively in their
learning. The rooms are abuzz with interest and
excitement with the work that they are doing. It is a
privilege to be able to wander the rooms and
playgrounds of our school and see and hear children
learning about respect, safety, learning and trust.
With our KidsMatter focus, they are learning how to
work through challenges in a positive way and take
responsibility for the choices that they make. I can
only say that the future will be in great hands with
their hopefulness, their vitality and their creative
ways of dealing with their lives and respecting the
lives of others. I wish to highlight that this is one of
the features of being in a Catholic School as we not
only focus on academics but also the human side of
people.
Special Events:
We witnessed a significant event last Friday when the
five Riverland Parishes united together as one under
the banner of Our Lady of the River Catholic Parish.
Bishop Greg, as the main celebrant, had the honour of
announcing the proclamation and he was joined by more
than 250 members of all five parishes. This was a
special night and we thank all staff, parents and
students who attended.
Confirmation on Saturday was another special event.
We were joined with families, staff and parishioners
The SRC’s at their first meeting for this Semester. Sarah receiving her certificate from Marg & Bishop Greg.
teaching methods, structures and events. We have
also received some excellent constructive feedback
which will help us continue to improve in all areas.
The staff and I certainly appreciate the wonderful
support from our parent community and value the
positive relationships that have been established.
The Satisfaction Surveys are due this Friday 22nd
August.
Text Messaging:
Parents/caregivers have started receiving text
messages to alert you if your child is absent from
school. This is a component of our new CEO
administration system. The school will also use this
computer software service to send out public
broadcast information about school events and other
important information. We see this as a good way to
continue the communication between home and school
to ensure that we are providing your children with
the best possible learning experiences. If any of your
details change please see Lyn in the front office.
SRC:
At our recent Mass we inducted the new SRCs for
Term 3 & 4 and presented them with their badges.
We look forward to the ideas and suggestions that
they will share.
Book Week ~ School Parade:
Book Week is the longest running children's festival
in Australia. Each year, many schools and public
libraries from all over Australia spend a week
celebrating books and Australian authors and
illustrators. Book Week highlights the importance of
reading and draws on the joys of stories and
creativity of Australian books. The theme of
Children's Book Week 2014 is Connect to Reading.
Connect to reading is about enjoying the experience
of exploring story, and travelling to other worlds.
Reading to connect, has a broader social meaning,
suggesting that reading assists in creating a bond
with others. Within the world of the contemporary
child, this is also relevant as they read books and
they read to connect through a variety of media.
We will have a our Dress-up Day on Wednesday
20th August. We encourage all students to come
dressed as a book character and welcome parents/
carers to come and join in the fun at 9.15am under
the shelter. The children have been making chains
and have linked them all together. Please come into
our Library to view their display.
Pamper Night:
What a fantastic idea by the P&F to hold this
evening full of fun and pampering experiences. I
encourage you to return the invite to assist with
the catering. Again I congratulate our P&F
community for the initiative to build relationships
and continue to foster a positive school community.
Fund My Idea Progress:
I must thank and congratulate our whole community
for their support and encouragement as our Active
Learning Space finished 1st in the ‘Fund My Idea’
government initiative. Our project is now being
assessed by a government panel and we will be
informed very soon regarding what funding we will
receive. We look forward to the response.
Wall Mural Project:
We are obviously waiting for the ‘Fund My Idea’
results to continue our plans with our wall mural.
Our team on this project recently met and had a
productive discussion. This resulted in three main
themes. See details in this newsletter about the
themes and we welcome further feedback or ideas.
COMMUNICATE COOPERATE CONSOLIDATE
COMUNICARE COOPERARE CONSOLAZIONE
Year 7 Confirmation Candidates on Saturday night.
Wednesday
10.30~11.30
Friday
9.00 ~ 9.45
10.30~11.30
Week 5
20th Aug
22nd Aug
Help required pls Help required pls
Help required pls
Week 6
27 Aug
29 Aug
Help required pls Emma Warner
Deonie Singleton
Canteen
THANK YOU to the family of
Emily Singleton
for donating some oranges.
They were distributed to students to enjoy.
All donations are gratefully appreciated.
HOME LITERACY & COMPREHENSION:
There are many ways we can support and guide our
children to develop comprehension. They include:
Do a book walk before reading: I wonder what
this book is about? Can you guess what might
happen to this boy? Why do you think there is a
broken vase on the ground?
Question your child about what
they are reading: Tell me three
new pieces of information you learnt
when you read that section about
Emperor Penguins.
SAPSASA Athletics: I thank Hannah Foody for all
of her dedication to our students in preparing them
for SAPSASA Athletics recently along with Deb
James and Luke Prokopec’s assistance. Of course
these events do not take place without parental
support and I thank everyone who contributed to
the successful day. All students performed with
great sportsmanship and true St Joseph’s spirit.
Please see the separate article in this newsletter.
Maintenance:
At St Joseph’s we continue to place high priority on
maintenance and making sure our school remains
safe, tidy and well presented. We recently had a
new tank installed by Simon at Thinkwater and I
thank Andy Gaylard and Kym Binder who gave up
their time to volunteer to help with the installation.
We are very fortunate for the many ways that the
community contribute to the numerous and varied
events that the school conducts.
At St Joseph’s we value the strong bonds we have
created with Parents/Caregivers and other
community organisations. This certainly contributes
to the many positive learning experiences that we
aim to provide for our students. Please enjoy this
newsletter which highlights many wonderful
learning opportunites.
Don DePalma Principal
Talk about Character
traits: Try to get your
child to take on character
feelings and emotions. How do you think George
would have felt when he discovered his friend had
left school?
Make connections between book events and
personal experiences: This allows deeper
connection to text, increasing your child’s
involvement in reading and comprehension.
Home Reading & Literacy
RESPECT SAFETY LEARNING TRUST
RISPETTO SALVEZZA IMPARARE FIDUCIA
L-R: Michelle Morris, Jaydn Mason, Stuart Lehmann,
Sarah Valente, Brock Rover, Haylee Erskine, Nicole
DiCerbo, Allira Sweetman, Lilly Phan.
Absent: Zach Tripney.
Star Student Awards presented at our recent assembly.
L-R: Skyla Halliday, Sukhraj Gill,
Lachlan Keynes, Madison Young, Emilia Valente,
Jayden Quach, Sophie Kernich.
Absent: Jackson Bentley.
Classes have been continuing to focus on their list
of 20 things to say more often. Teachers have
been recognising students who have been speaking
positively to each other and the atmosphere that
this has created in classes and the yard has been
great to see.
Our Social and Emotional Learning for this term
will see classes focusing on Feelings, Emotions and
Empathy. Teachers will be focusing on supporting
students understanding on areas such as:
what causes feelings.
which situations trigger certain feelings.
recognising their own feelings.
recognising feelings in others.
positive or helpful ways to respond to
feelings in themselves and others.
showing/feeling empathy.
Teaching students about feelings is important,
because as they grow and develop they will
experience situations that bring up many different
feelings, as they are still developing physically,
psychologically and neurologically they may not
always make the best judgements in response to
those feelings. At home you can help to support
the learning taking place by talking to your child
about how they are feeling and talking through
ways they can deal with their own feelings.
KidsMatter Champion:
Monday’s assembly saw the presentation of the
school’s first two KidsMatter Champions. Over 40
students were nominated by their friends for the
award, so narrowing it down to just two winners
was very difficult. The KidsMatter Champions are
Jacob Burn and Danielle Leonard.
Jacob was nominated by his friend Oscar
Freeman, for always being nice, kind, fair and
helpful to other people. Danielle was nominated
by her friend Bradley Lehmann, for always
including others when they have no one to play
with and for being a great friend.
While these two students were made KidsMatter
Champions, they are just some of the many
students demonstrating positive, friendly and
welcoming behaviours in the classroom and
schoolyard. The KidsMatter Champion award is a
way that we can recognise these students and the
positive contribution that they are making within
the school.
Tony Luxton
& The
KidsMatter
Team
Religious Education
Confirmation Retreat/Workshop:
All Year 7 students attended a
Confirmation retreat/workshop on Friday
15th August at St Therese Hall and the
Jarrett Memorial Gardens. This was a
wonderful opportunity for all students,
especially our Confirmation candidates, to
concentrate on the importance of the
Sacrament of Confirmation and what it
means to be in full membership in the Catholic
Church. The day’s activities focused on the seven
Gifts of the Holy Spirit and concluded with Fr
Medard celebrating the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, traditionally celebrated prior to
any major sacramental celebration allowing
candidates to strengthen their relationship with
God and those around them.
Celebration of Confirmation:
On Saturday 16th August the Parish of St
Therese and members of St Joseph’s School
community celebrated the Sacrament of
Confirmation with 11 of our students. Bishop
Greg O Kelly SJ, Fr Steve and Fr Medard
officiated this very special Mass and
welcomed these students into full
membership in the Catholic Church. A very
warm congratulations to Regan Binder, Lily Bright,
