The end of Term 2 marks the half-way point in the school year with Semester One School Reports sent home on Wednesday July 1. This is an opportunity for parents and children to discuss achievements during the first half of the year and set goals for the remainder of the year. The upcoming school holidays is an ideal time to do this.

Catholic Identity

Over the past 3 weeks I have had the pleasure of being a part of several class liturgies. Our school liturgies provide an opportunity for children to experience contemporary liturgical celebrations with a focus directly related to classroom learning experiences. This is in line with our School Strategic Improvement Plan.

Curriculum News

I have included two mathematical tasks which you might like to have a go at with your child/children.

This week’s Mathematical tasks:

Reception to Year 3

I am thinking of a number between 10 and 100 with a single 9 in it. What might my number be?

What numbers can you make using 2, 4 and 7?

Years 4-6

How many numbers can you make using the digits 2, 5, 8 and 0? You can only use each digit once in each number.

Two numbers multiply to give 8000. What might the two numbers be?

Happy inquiry.

Children develop their reading skills, knowledge and understanding by reading regularly. Below are some strategies you might like to try at home to support your children’s learning:

• Encourage and model reading in the home
• Listen to your child read their reading material and ask specific questions related to what they have read
• Read with your child
• Share what you are reading with your child
• Read your child a bedtime story
• Read to your child in your family’s first language
• Talk to your child about the different situations you find yourself in whereby you are required to read texts.

Happy reading.

Teaching and Learning Update

On Wednesday July 1 you should have received your child’s Semester One school report. This report captures the entire learning achieved by your child during their first semester of school this year.

Each of our children received a grade for ‘Achievement’ and for ‘Effort’. One of the areas I take particular note of is a child’s ‘Effort’. This grade is provided for each subject area and compliments the ‘Achievement' grade, informing you about how your child has applied themselves and given effort in their learning. Two of our Keys to Success; ‘Persistence and Resilience’ highlight the importance of trying your best, regardless of your knowledge or interest level in a particular subject area.

I’d like to thank our teachers for their efforts with writing these reports and encourage you to celebrate your child’s achievements and talk to them about the importance of setting personal learning goals for the remainder of the year.

STEM Open Day

As part of Catholic Schools Open Week (Term 3 Week 5) and to coincide with National Science Week (Term 3 Week 5), you are invited to join our school STEM Open Day on Tuesday August 18, 11:30am-1:30pm in the school grounds. Parents and family members will have the opportunity to join our children as they work in class groups engaging in STEM learning activities planned by our teaching staff. It is hoped that as many of our parents and carers as possible will be able to join us as it provides teaching staff with an opportunity to showcase the learning which takes place as part of our ongoing STEM learning focus. 

School Climate Surveys

This year through Catholic Education South Australia we are continuing our partnership with Curtin University who is supporting Catholic schools in Developing Leadership Capacity in School Improvement through surveying the school community.The School Improvement focus involves collecting and analysing data from the school community (students, parents, and staff) to identify plans for future actions. Surveys will take place in Term 3 with further details provided early next term. This year we will once again be using the Living Learning Leading surveys.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified - the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

How Much Exercise do Children and Young People Need?

The Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines outline the following recommendations for children and young people:

• Infants (birth to one year): 30 minutes of supervised interactive floor-based play including tummy time, reaching and grasping, pushing and pulling and crawling.
• Toddlers (1-2 years): at least 180 minutes a day, including energetic play such as running and jumping.
• Pre-schoolers (3-5 years): at least 180 minutes a day of which 60 minutes is energetic play such as running, jumping and kicking and throwing.
• Children (5-12 years) and young people (13-17 years): at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity every day.

The percentage of children meeting current guidelines is:

• 61% of two to five-year-olds
• 26% of five to 12-year-olds
• 7.9% of 13 to 17-year-olds.

To learn more about how you can support the wellbeing of your child, visit Be You (formerly Beyond Blue). The website also provides a range of resources and ideas to support the mental health and wellbeing of our young people. I encourage you to visit the website at https://beyou.edu.au/and have a look for yourself.  

Term 3 Preschool and Reception Intake

St. Joseph’s School will once again have a Pre-school and Reception intake at the start of Term 3 this year. Our Term 3 new Pre-school children will replace those moving into Reception as part of our Term 3 Reception intake. The criteria for starting Pre-school or Reception on the first day of school in Term 3 is that a child will have turned 4 (Pre-school) or 5 (Reception) between 1 May and 31 October in that year. This week we held the last of three transition visit mornings for our new Pre-school and Reception children with the aim of supporting their new start.

May the love of the Risen Lord continue to be with us.

Working in partnership with you.

Shaun O’Leary.

Audiri App has been replaced by EdSmart

As you may be aware we have moved away from using the Audiri App to using EdSmart which is an email-based product. Information regarding what is happening within our school along with upcoming school events will now be communicated to families using EdSmart. Be sure to monitor your email inbox for school updates.

The school has cancelled its subscription with Audiri.

Some dates for the diary:

• Multicultural Day - Monday 24/8 starting with Whole School performance from Sean Choolburra
• Book Week Parade - Wednesday 2/9 from 9am
• Father's Day breakfast and liturgy - Friday 4/9
• St Joseph’s Got Talent - Wednesday 16th September from 1:30pm
• Community prayer each Friday 8:45am including a celebration of St Mary of the Cross 7/8 and St Maximilion Kolbe 14/7.

It’s been a great term together, I hope you and your family have a wonderful break and see you in Term 3.

Sneak Peak!

Miss Vi has begun an exciting new project in our school - our very own Tree of Dreams! Carefully and creatively, she has started bringing this display to life, laying the foundations for something truly special. Each flower petal has been thoughtfully written by our students as a thank you, creating a beautiful collection of appreciation that will make the tree come alive. We can’t wait to see it all come together - watch this space, because the final result is sure to be something amazing.

100 Days of School! 

This week the Reception students celebrated their 100th Day of School with a day full of fun and exciting activities!

The students took part in a 100 Second Challenges, where they worked together to complete challenges  in just 100 seconds. They also enjoyed making their own delicious pizzas for lunch, which was a highlight of the day.

Many students came dressed as 100-year-olds, filling our classroom with plenty of laughter and creativity. Throughout the day, we also completed a range of 100 Days craft activities, celebrating all that we have learned and achieved during our first 100 days of school.

It has been wonderful to see how much every student has grown in confidence, friendships, and learning since the beginning of the year. We are so proud of everything they have accomplished and can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Private Instrumental Tuition

St Joseph’s partners with Hallmark Music Studio to provide in-school private instrumental tuition on various musical instruments as one-on-one lessons for students of all ages.  There are currently limited vacancies for piano, guitar and violin.  Lessons are provided throughout the school day by visiting music tutors with one lesson a week - with a major benefit of in-school lessons being no after school run around taking children to after school music lessons.  Parents/caregivers are responsible for the payment of all lessons for the term and the costs are not included in your school fee’s.  If you are interested in enrolling your child, please see reception for a brochure and further information, or email: kylie@hallmarkmusicstudio.com.au

Wild Little Minds - Sensory Play Experiences

Wild Little Minds offers nature-inspired sensory play experiences designed to support children's development through play.