On Friday the 4/5/6 students represented St Joseph’s Ottoway at the Touch Rugby Carnival.  All participated with great sportsmanship skills and had a very enjoyable time playing touch rugby together.

Catholic Identity

Throughout his ministry, Jesus often used parables (stories) to help explain his teachings. Many parables involved the use of images of vegetation known to the region at the time. The parable of the Mustard Seed is one such example. The message Jesus portrays is that from little things big things grow. The mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds grows to become the largest of all plants. Here at St Joseph’s School, we are entrusted with supporting our parents as they nurture their children to grow and become the best they can be in whatever direction they choose to take in life. At St Joseph’s School we focus on the education of the whole child, intellectually, morally, emotionally, spiritually, religiously, physically and socially, providing many varied learning opportunities and experiences in the process.

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

Draw a clock and show on it the time you wake up each morning.

What are some things you do each day between 4:30pm and 6:30pm?

Years 4-6

The time is now 35 minutes after 11 0’clock. Show this time in as many ways as you can.

A round of golf takes 3 hours and 55 minutes to complete. What might be suitable starting and finishing times? List as many possibilities as you can.

Happy inquiry.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

This year many of our children have once again taken up the opportunity to participate in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. The challenge closed on Friday September 8 with children needing to have their Premier’s Reading Challenge Student Reading Record forms handed into the front office by this date.

Later this year Premier’s Reading Challenge medals and certificates will be presented to all children who participated in the challenge as part of our whole school assembly.

Happy reading.

School Master Plan Update

The digging of footings, installation of footings steel reinforcement and underfloor plumbing has taken place over the past two weeks on our Education and Administration Centre building project with the concrete slab poured this week. This will be followed by the prefabricated steel frame being erected.

Touch Rugby Carnival

On Friday 8 September, 22 of our children had the opportunity to participate in the 2023 Catholic School Touch Rugby carnival. Specialist PE teacher Daniel Nguyen has been preparing children for the event. Our children enjoyed the experience.

Multicultural Day

On Wednesday September 20 we will hold our annual multicultural day. The day provides the school with an opportunity to celebrate our Multiculturalism. Children will have the opportunity to come to school dressed in their traditional cultural dress as part of the celebration. A number of activities have been planned for the day by a group of our senior students and supported by APRIM Simon McCullough. Parents and Carers have been invited to join our celebration.

Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir

33 of our children have been preparing since Term One for the upcoming Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir to be held at the Festival Theatre on Wednesday September 27. Choir coordinator Janine Meyer has spent many hours working with the choir throughout the year in preparation for the event. The Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir is held during the last week of Term Three each year. It is a wonderful advertisement for Catholic Education in South Australia. A big thank you to Janine Meyer for all her efforts in preparing our children for this year’s event.

Father’s Day Breakfast

Now that we have come out of the Covid 19 pandemic, on Friday September 1 we held our Father’s Day breakfast for the first time since 2019. APRIM Simon McCullough and I prepared a bacon and eggs breakfast for all dads to enjoy before heading off to work. A big thank you to all the dads who joined us. Simon and I were very pleased with the turn out and are hoping to grow the event even further in coming years.

Kiss and Drop Zone

A reminder that the school Kiss and Drop Zone along Rosewater Terrace is not a place to park your car if you need to enter the school grounds as this holds up all incoming and outgoing traffic. It also leads to children exiting their cars on Rosewater Terrace and having to manoeuvre between traffic, raising safety concerns.

If you need to come into the school grounds parking is available along Rosewater Terrace and on Ina Avenue. Thank you in anticipation of your support with this important safety matter.

Skool Bag name change to Audiri

To keep up to date with what is happening within our school along with upcoming school events why not download the Audiri (formerly Skool Bag) App from the App Store on your mobile phone. Once downloaded simply search St Joseph’s School, Ottoway and add to your Audiri page. Many of our families currently use the Audiri App to keep up to date with what is happening across our school.

Diary Dates

Term 3 Concludes - 3:00pm Thursday September 28.

Friday September 29 is a school directed non-teaching day. OSHC is available for children requiring care. See Mieke to make a booking.

Term 4 Commences - 8:45am Monday October 16.

May God bless all our families throughout Term 3.

Working in partnership with you.

Shaun O’Leary.

Multicultural Celebration

A group of our students, staff and parents have organised a multicultural celebration which will be held on Wednesday 20^th of September.

There will be a special assembly lead by the students, and this will be followed by a shared school community lunch. We are inviting students to wear national costumes or colours from their family’s country of origin. You are most welcome to do the same. 

We hope you might be able to join us for this whole family event.  

We would like to share in a picnic in the school grounds and ask that you consider if you would like to prepare and cook some food to share for this.  Children should still bring their lunch, this shared food is part of the experience for them. 

The rules for preparation of food off the school site are listed below. It is essential that all food is prepared in the correct way and labelled clearly with all ingredients that have been used. This is important so that we can keep all our students who have food allergies safe.

Please read the following guidelines if you are bringing food to share.

Kind regards

Simon McCullough

Safe food handling and labelling rules

Clean -- Wash hands and surfaces often  

Separate  --  Don’t cross-contaminate 

Cook - Cook to proper temperatures. 

Chill - Refrigerate promptly 

Storage 

Always refrigerate perishable food within two hours (one hour when the temperature is above 90?. 

Preparation 

Always wash hands before and after handling food 

Don’t cross -contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish and their juices away from the food.  After cutting raw meats, wash hands, cutting board, knife, and counter tops with hot, soapy water. 

Cooking 

· Cook ground meats to 160?; ground poultry to 165?. 

· Beef, veal and lamb steaks, roasts and chops may be cooked to 145?; all cuts of fresh pork, 160?. 

· Whole poultry should reach 180? in the thigh; breasts, 170? 

Cook Thoroughly 

Cook food to a safe internal temperature to destroy harmful bacteria.  Meat and poultry cooked on a grill often browns very fast on the outside. 

Serving 

· Hot food should be held at 140? or warmer. 

· Cold foods should be held at 40? or colder. 

· When serving food at a buffet, keep food hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays.  Keep food cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice or use small serving trays and replace them often. 

· Perishable food should not be left out more than two hours at room temperature (one hour when the temperature is above 90?). 

Serving the Food 

When taking food off the grill, use a clean platter.  Don’t put cooked food on the same platter that held raw meat or poultry.  Any harmful bacteria present in the raw meat juices could contaminate safely cooked food.  In hot weather (above 90?), food should never sit out for more than one hour. 

Labelling  

All food bought in for school celebrations must be clearly labelled with all the ingredients used.  This is vital information for people with any food allergies.