Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Only three weeks to go before the end of term 2!  I’m sure all children, families and school staff are looking forward to the mid-year break.

On Friday 7^th June, St. Joseph’s Kingswood staff engaged in some professional learning around the principles and practices of Restorative Practice. Michael Lincoln-Inclusion an Learning Consultant with Catholic Education SA facilitated our session. It was a very productive day, and our staff are now looking forward to the follow up presentation later this year. I acknowledge the support of families, who managed the disruption to the school term which allowed us to have this valuable learning opportunity.

Teachers have been working productively over the past few weeks, preparing Semester one Summative Reports for the children. We assess and report student progress formatively (i.e. in an ongoing manner) in a variety of ways throughout the year. We prepare summative reports (i.e. a summary of learning progress) twice each year. You will receive your child’s summative report for semester one, on the last day of term. The information contained in the report should simply confirm what you already have a clear picture of, based on your interactions with the teacher during the first semester. Once we return from the holiday break, there will be an opportunity for you to follow up any aspect of your child’s report you want greater clarification of. For teachers, the process of preparing these reports is beneficial, as they review and re-set goals for each student, heading into Semester 2.

St Joseph’s Kingswood annual student Disco will be held on Friday 28 June, with sessions for the R-2 and 3-6 students. This is always a fun event, and our Parents & Friends group have been hard at work planning and preparing. If your child hasn’t already bought a ticket, please do so ASAP! I know the P&F are also looking for volunteers to assist on the night – if you can help out, please let us know!

There will be a number of important events happening in the early part of term 3 and I ask that you ‘claim the dates’ now. These include:

• QUIZ NIGHT – planned for Saturday 24 August. This will be one of our major fundraisers for the year, with funds going towards the ongoing playground development (see Jamie’s report below for exciting info forwards regarding that) 
• VISUAL ART EXHIBITION – while students engage in both performing and visual arts in many ways throughout their day-to-day schooling, we have a whole-school focus on Performing Arts in even years (remember last year’s amazing concert?) and the Visual Arts in odd years. This year, our Visual Arts exhibition will be held on Tuesday August 13, here at school. Our theme for the exhibition is “One Small Step…” and this reflects the 50 year anniversary of the first Moon landing. We have registered our exhibition in the SALA (South Australian Living Arts) Festival, and as such we will be competing for school prizes! Our exhibition will be open to the public on Wednesday 14 August, as part of the SALA festival.
• BOOK WEEK– As we do each year, St. Joseph’s Kingswood will be celebrating Book Week, from the 17-23 August. This is always an exciting week, as we celebrate books and reading. The theme this year is Reading is my secret power.
• PUPIL FREE DAYS – During Term 3 we will have two Pupil Free Days – the first of these is Monday 22 July, and the second is Monday 12 August. We will be offering OSHC on those days, so please look out for booking information. Both days will be tied to the ongoing professional learning of the teachers.

As this edition of the newsletter goes ‘live’ our students in years 3-6 will have been competing in the annual SACPSSA (South Australian Catholic Primary Schools Sports Association) Athletics Carnival at Santos Stadium. We have done well in previous years, and I am looking forward to hearing of the team’s successes!

Last but most definitely not least, I'm pleased to share with you that Christine Farrugia (APRIM) welcomed a second daughter, Grace Marie Farrugia on Monday 10th June. Everyone is doing well, with big sister Tess suitably thrilled with the addition. Staff are looking forward to a visit from Christine and to meet Grace soon.

Have a great week everyone.

Phil