Catholic Identity

On Wednesday February 18 we celebrated Ash Wednesday as a school community. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Church season of Lent. To begin Lent we are marked using ash from the burning of palm branches used on Palm Sunday last year. This ceremony reminds us of Jesus’ love for us. The season of Lent lasts for forty days and is a reflective time of fasting, prayer, and penance in the lead up to Easter. The official liturgical colour for the season of Lent is violet.

Curriculum News

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

Reception to Year 3

Mandy from Neptune has a friend from Jupiter. Her friend has 4 eyes, 6 arms, 3 legs, 12 fingers and lots of spots. What does he or she look like? What is its name? Try to create number sentences about Mandy’s friend.

Years 4-6

Clara has a puzzle to solve. Help her list all numbers that fit these clues:

I have two digits. I am less than 90. I am more than 20. The sum of my digits is even. My ones digit is two more than my tens digit. Please show working out. Example: 24. (Working Out: 2+4=6. 24= 2 Tens and 4 Ones).

Happy inquiry!

Reading

Reading is another core learning area here at St Joseph’s School. Our staff use an agreed set of practices around children’s development of reading skills, knowledge and understanding. These practices shape our reading programs across the school.

Children develop their reading skills, knowledge and understanding by reading regularly. At St Joseph’s School regular reading at home forms a major part of homework set each evening. Why not create regular timeslots throughout the week whereby all electronic devices in the home are turned off and members of the family spend 15 minutes reading together. 

Happy reading!

Junior Primary Learning Update

Year R/1C - Ms Callisto

The Reception/Year 1 students have made a fantastic start to the school year. Over the first few weeks, students have been getting to know one another, forming positive friendships, and learning how to work cooperatively while caring for our classroom environment.

During this time, we have focused on establishing consistent routines, expectations and procedures to support a smooth transition into learning. The Reception students have been growing in 

confidence and independence as they become familiar with school life, while also developing important organisational and social skills. Students are beginning to take greater responsibility for daily classroom tasks and managing their own belongings. The Year 1 students have also been demonstrating wonderful leadership by supporting and guiding the new Reception students as they begin this exciting stage of their schooling journey. They have taken pride in being positive role models, helping younger students learn routines, understand expectations, and feel confident and settled in the classroom environment.

As a school, we participated in our first excursion to Tusmore Park, which provided a wonderful opportunity for students to connect with students from all year levels and enjoy time together. We are looking forward to a positive and engaging year of learning and are excited to continue working alongside families.

Year 1/2D - Ms Doyle

The class have been busily working, learning all the class routines and labelling their new books. Our literacy block where children learn in smaller groups began in Week 4. We are enjoying reading and listening to stories and becoming authors of our own in book making. We have been using white board packs in UFLI and word work to help us hear sounds in words and solve words in writing.

Numeracy groups have also begun. Learning is currently focused on number (making groups of numbers in the quickest possible time), odd and even numbers and simple addition.

In Science we will begin looking at our 5 senses and how they help us to use the 4 zones of regulation. Later this term we will look at growing beans; 1 bean in soil, 1 bean in cotton wool and 1 bean in a plastic bag. 

In Hass we are looking at places we live and the country Australia, including the states, cities and major icons for each city. 

In Religion we are continuing to focus on Prayer and to ask wonder questions such as What is Prayer? Why do we pray? Where can we pray?  We have started by looking at prayer beginnings and we are making a class quilt displaying different prayer beginnings.  

I have been very pleased with the 1/2 class; their attitude to learning and being part of our school community.

2026 NAPLAN Testing

This year our Year 3 and Year 5 children will once again complete their NAPLAN testing online although the Year 3 Writing Test will continue to be a paper test. NAPLAN is a nationally developed program that provides schools, states, and territories with information about how education programs are working and what areas need to be prioritised for improvement. NAPLAN tests are administered simultaneously in all schools across Australia and the content of the tests are aligned to the Australian Curriculum; English and Mathematics. The 2026 NAPLAN Testing window opens on March 11 and closes on March 23. NAPLAN Tests are just one of many assessments conducted at our school.

Student Safety and Wellbeing

The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide Safeguarding Children and Young People policy can be found on our school website under Community, Welfare, Your Child’s Welfare. The policy outlines the key principles and responsibilities of Catholic schools to ensure a total community approach towards the protection of children and young people in their care. I encourage you to visit our website to view the full policy.

The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum, in a sense is the curriculum component of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide Safeguarding Children and Young People policy links directly to the Religious Education Curriculum, the Made in the Image of God Curriculum and our ongoing emphasise on child protection. The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum forms a large part of our classroom focus during the first 3 weeks of the school year. 

Why we teach children about keeping safe

School systems have a legal responsibility to protect children and young people from abuse in their settings and in the wider community. All children and young people have a right to:

• be treated with respect and to be protected from harm
• be asked for their opinions about things that affect their lives and to be listened to
• feel and be safe in their interactions with adults and other children and young people
• understand as early as possible what is meant by 'feeling and being safe'.

Curriculum Themes

The curriculum follows 2 main themes:

• we all have the right to be safe
• we can help ourselves to be safe by talking to people we trust.

Focus areas

The 2 themes are explored through 4 focus areas:

• the right to be safe
• relationships
• recognising and reporting abuse
• protective strategies.

The focus areas are targeted to the age of the learners.

The Cyber Safety: Keeping Children Safe in a Connected World document can also be found on our school website under Community, Welfare, Your Child’s Welfare. The document aims to ensure a safe learning environment for all children when using ICTs and working online.

Our Student Wellbeing & Personal Responsibility school policy can also be found on our school website under Community, Welfare, Your Child’s Welfare.

Collectively these documents outline the processes and protocols in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children in our care.

If you have any questions around any of these documents or would like further clarification, feel free to speak to your child’s classroom teacher, our APRIM Simon McCullough or myself.

 What is Resilience?

Resilience refers to the ability to manage everyday stressors and challenges. Resilience enables people to shift back along the mental health continuum towards good mental health. A child or young person’s ability to be resilient can depend upon many things and can change depending upon their situation. Importantly, specific situations or events that one child or young person may find challenging, another may not.

A child or young person who is resilient might: 

• be optimistic
• use positive self-talk for encouragement
• have a positive sense of self
• identify and express their feelings and thoughts
• not hide away from strong feelings
• have helpful, age-appropriate strategies to manage their emotions when upset
• rearrange their plans to work around an unexpected situation
• have a sense of agency or responsibility
• keep on trying if something doesn’t work out and use their judgment about when to stop
• hold a sense of purpose or hope for the future
• actively ask for help if they need it
• feel a sense of attachment to family, their learning community and to learning.

To learn more about how you can help build resilience in your children visit Be You. 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.

May God’s love continue to be with us during the season of Lent.

Working in partnership with you.

Shaun O’Leary.

Audiri App is transitioning to EdSmart

As you may be aware we have commenced the move 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.

At this stage we will continue to use Audiri to allow for parents to complete absentee slips.

Dialogue Week

Last week was Dialogue Week (22-28 February 2026), a time when our school joined other Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Adelaide to share our thoughts and hopes for the future of the Church. This feedback will be reviewed and discussed at the upcoming Synod, which is a gathering of people from parishes, schools, and communities listening to one another and offering ideas to Archbishop Patrick O’Regan about the direction we should take together.  Our students and staff took part in simple discussions and activities that encouraged conversations about their experiences, their community, and how we can all contribute to a hopeful future for the Church in South Australia. 

Some event and dates you might like to know are:

Masses in Term 1 - all families are invited to join us

• St Patrick's Tuesday 17/3
• St Joseph's Thursday 19/3
• The Annunciation of the Lord Wednesday 25/3

Holy Week Liturgies - 30/3 - 2/4 - There will be a daily liturgy and we would love for you to join us.
 

Holy Week Liturgies 2026

• Mother's Day breakfast and liturgy - Friday 8/5
• Father's Day breakfast and liturgy - Friday 9/9
• Multicultural Day - Monday 24/8 starting with Whole School performance from Sean Choolburra
• Andrew Chinn is also booked for a whole day on Friday October 16. There will be a concert at the end of the day and you are very welcome to join us.

Below are the dates that the Year 3 and 5 students will be sitting the Naplan tests at St Joseph's. We ask, if possible, that you do not schedule appointments for your child at these times.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child sitting these test please see either Trish or Shaun to discuss.

Next week on Tuesday there will be a Naplan readiness test which will happen statewide to test that the computers and software are running smoothly. 
 

NAPLAN 2026 Schedule
 

Please see the Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter at: Archbishop Pastoral Letter