In the blink of an eye, we have come to the mid-point of term 4, and the penultimate newsletter for the year. Over the past few weeks, Jamie and I have had the privilege of hosting a significant number of school tours – both individual and collective. It has been a wonderful opportunity for us to talk about the many fantastic elements of a Catholic education at St. Joseph’s School. I am very much looking forward to welcoming those families into our community in the coming months and years. One piece of feedback we regularly receive from attendees at our tour is of the positive way people talk about our school and what we offer, and I am always grateful for this support!

My sincere thanks to Katie Routley and Makella Holden and the wider P&F for organising the Fashion and Fizz evening – I am reliably informed that it was a most enjoyable evening! As always, funds raised from the evening will go towards the redevelopment of our playground into a Nature Play space during 2020. Whilst you haven’t heard much of late about this project, there has been considerable work done behind the scenes on both this project, and stage one of our Master Plan. Both projects are due to begin during the 2020 school year, and careful planning is going to be required. What I can say, though, is that we should have some exciting concept plans for presentation by the end of the year, and I trust this will generate significant excitement, heading into 2020.

One small area of our playground that has had a recent addition has been the small garden outside the Reception classrooms. Parents may have noticed a new structure there – a shop! I want to sincerely thank the Mueller family for their very generous donation of the shop, and associated shopping items. Our students have THOROUGHLY been enjoying themselves engaging in a variety of play! 

Last Thursday, our outstanding band along with combined choirs, under the tutelage of Steph Insanally and Michelle Page, performed at the Mitcham Square Shopping Centre. Their performance was very well received by all, and was a brilliant showcase of the gifts and talents of our young musicians. Their next public performance will be at the City of Mitcham Carols, on Saturday November 30. I encourage all families to get along and enjoy the evening’s festivities, and support our choirs!

While the choir was performing in public, I was at Mercedes College learning more about the impact of homelessness in our city, and broader community, while participating the inaugural Vinnies Principal Sleepout.  While I had a cold and uncomfortable night’s sleep, I was able to go home, shower and turn up for work the next day, knowing that I had a home and a family to go to on Friday night. Many South Australians don’t have that some opportunity, and Vinnies is on the front line every day, providing shelter, food, care, support and the possibility of a brighter future, for the many, many homeless people in SA. This is the mission of the Catholic church lived out by so many wonderful, faith filled volunteers. My heartfelt thanks to all members of the St. Joseph’s Kingswood community who contributed to my fundraising efforts. I am proud and humbled to have exceeded my fundraising target of $1264 (contributing to the total in excess of $40k) , and that money will go directly into supporting the homeless in SA.

As we approach. The end of the school year, there are a number of significant upcoming events. Three of these are the Semester 2 Instrumental evening on December 2, The Carols on the Green on Friday December 6 and the end of year Thanksgiving Mass, on Tuesday December 10. Please make sure these dates are in your diaries and that you prioritise your attendance.

God Bless,

Phil Schultz