Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to school and the start of term 2. Teachers have returned energised and looking forward to engaging with the students. Term 2 is a great opportunity for students to consolidate their learning, and work purposefully towards achieving their goals.

Next week, our year 3 and 5 students will undertake NAPLAN assessments in aspects of Literacy and Numeracy. These assessments provide schools and teachers with a snapshot of children learning, and allow us to plan next steps in learning, with more scope. The testing period begins on Tuesday 14th May and concludes on Friday 24th May. This year, for the first time, students will undertake the test online and so we should have the results of the tests a little earlier.

As term 2 gets underway, our Winter sports teams begin their seasons. Footy, Soccer and Netball teams are coming together, along with those continuing to play Basketball and Volleyball. My sincere thanks to Mr Steven DeGiovanniello, and to all of our parent volunteers for their support and assistance in getting these seasons underway. Being physically active is such an important indicator of future health and wellbeing. Current statistics show that only 1 in 10 children and young people undertake the recommended 60 minutes per day of physical activity.  Being involved in sporting teams is a great way for children to more regularly reach these targets!

In addition to our budding sports stars, our Music program continues to grow from strength to strength. As of the beginning of the term, over 170 students at St. Joseph’s Kingswood were learning at least one musical instrument! Research shows clearly that learning a musical instrument has a myriad of other benefits to learning, such as improved language and reasoning, memorisation, increased coordination, stronger emotional development, greater commitment to improvement through practice and higher engagement in school. My earnest thanks to Mrs Steph Insanally, Mrs Michelle Page and all of our wonderful instrumental teachers, who provide such a high quality music program.

We have some adjustments to staff coming up this term, as we prepare to temporarily farewell Christine Farrugia (APRIM) as well as Kirstie Wicks (Years 4/5) as they each move closer to their respective due dates and each the exciting arrivals of new additions to their families. We wish both Christine and Kirstie (and their families) well in the coming months and look forward to hearing and sharing the news of the arrivals. I am pleased to have had the flexibility within our staff to cover Christine and Kirstie’s maternity leave periods with very minimal disruption to the students. Jamie Deverson will resume his former role as Deputy/APRIM (to cover Christine), Lisa Lambourne has agreed to increase her hours to full-time (to cover Jamie) and Serena Pike, already one half of the 4/5 Wicks/Pike team will also become full-time (to cover Kirstie). Thank you to all staff for working so collaboratively, providing an excellent outcome for our families.

As Principal, I wear many hats – educator, mediator, leader and sports coach to name a few. One of the things I really enjoy is engaging not just with our students, but also parents, grandparents and other caregivers within our school community. Reflecting on some of the conversations I have, they are often cut short as these discussions are usually off the cuff while I’m on yard duty in the mornings/afternoons. Over the holidays I decided I wanted provide our families the opportunity to expand on, or provide time for instigating some of these conversations (and to break down the stigma often associated with a phone call from the school Principal!). With that in mind, I am committing to call each of our families during Term 2. I look forward to sharing a little of your child’s learning journey, hearing what you think we are doing well and what we can do better, and overall getting to know our parents better.

I ask all families in our school community to keep the Balint family - Madie, Jason and Oliver, and their extended families - in your thoughts and prayers as they face some challenging times. May God give them the strength they need at this time.

Have a great term everyone,

God bless,

Phil Schultz

Principal

Federal Election Update

Catholic schools are a vital part of Australia’s education landscape; from humble beginnings almost 200 years ago, Catholic Education is now the nation’s largest provider of education outside the government.

The key national issues for Catholic Education at the upcoming federal election are:

• increased capital funding
• more resources for early childhood education
• religious freedom in schools

To find out more go to:  http://www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/news/federal-election-2019

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a great holiday period and Easter break. As you may know I have recently returned from Finland. I had an amazing time and enjoyed learning about the Finnish educational system. I am happy to report that there are more similarities than differences when it comes to what both countries do educationally. And most of the differences are cultural and would be hard to replicate here. I believe after seeing what happens in Finland, that we are very lucky to be working and learning here at St Joseph’s Kingswood. The hardest part would be to try and replicate what we do here throughout all schools in Australia, which is what they’ve been able to do in Finland. In Australia we have many overarching bodies of education including Catholic, Independent and state schools, whilst most schools in Finland are state schools. In Finland they just have one system. Besides this I had a great experience going to many different types of restaurants, going to a soccer and ice hockey game and meeting new people. It is a very beautiful place but very cold. When we were at the soccer game it was -3 and snowing. During most days it was about 1-2 degrees and warmed up to about 8 degrees on the last 2 days there. The students told me that during the winter it gets to -30!

As mentioned by Phil, I will be taking over as APRIM for the remainder of the year while Christine is on maternity leave. I am really looking forward to all of the wonderful things that have been planned and working with the Parish to bring about a holistic and fulfilling school life.

I hope all have a great term. I look forward to the many exciting things planned in the next few weeks.

Take care,

Jamie Deverson

On April 12^th the SRC organised a casual clothes day to help raise money for Todd Murfitt, the sick Principal of St John's the Baptist School. A total of $298.25 was raised. We would like to thank everyone within the St Joseph's Kingswood community who brought in some money to support such a good cause.

Lawson Stevens, Year 6 SRC