Friday November 15 will be a Pupil Free Day. On this day all staff will be involved in Professional Learning focusing on developing a Shared Vision for Learning reflective of the Living Learning Leading Framework which was launched by Catholic Education SA in January this year. In addition staff will develop an Action Plan around Ecological Conversion in line with our sustainability focus across the school. What is developed on this day will become a key driver of teaching and learning across the school in 2020 and beyond. OSHC will be available for families who require the service on this day. Bookings are essential so please see Mieke if you need to make a booking.

St Joseph's Got Talent Show photo 2.

Our 2019 NAPLAN results arrived this week with children's results being sent home to parents and carers on Wednesday September 18. Our NAPLAN results continue to reinforce the strength of our Targeted Teaching Literacy and Numeracy programs across the school. 100% of our Year 3 and 5 children participated in the testing with 100% of Year 3 and 5 children achieving the National Minimal Standard for Reading, Writing, Spelling and Numeracy. 17 of 18 Year 3s achieved the National Minimal Standard for Grammar and Punctuation while 18 of 19 Year 5s achieved the National Minimal Standard for Grammar and Punctuation. 39% of our Year 5 children achieved High Growth in their NAPLAN Reading results between Year 3 and Year 5. This compares to the National average of 25%. This once again reinforces the strength of our Targeted Teaching Literacy Program and the great work classroom teachers, education support officers and in particular Louise Moody is doing in her role as Leader of Teaching and Learning/Inclusive Education Coordinator/EAL Teacher. Our overall Student Mean Score in all areas of NAPLAN has improved over the past 3 years. 72% of our families speak a language other than English at home while we have a significant number of children who we make Supplementary or Substantial adjustments to their classroom learning programs. It is important to always remember as with any form of summative assessment (testing) 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 of the testing. Having said this our 2019 NAPLAN results are very encouraging and worthwhile celebrating.

Catholic Charities supports Catholic welfare agencies within the Archdiocese of Adelaide. Their primary role is to raise money by way of donations in order to partly fund the works of these charitable agencies as they help make the daily lives better for disadvantaged people within our community. While the agencies are Catholic welfare agencies, they provide critical care for all people in need. As part of a fundraiser we invite all children to wear casual clothes on the final day of school and to bring a gold coin donation. Thanks for your support.