Dear families and friends,

The book week parade was a wonderful display of Book characters, dreaming and colour. The students and staff appreciate the effort parents put in to bringing costumes together. The creative flair and clever thinking came out and the children looked very proud. Most importantly continue to read to, read with and your children, and significantly let your children see you read, to show it is a lifelong activity.

LLL Survey

Last year all schools in Catholic Education South Australia have sent out a parent/caregiver survey to ask for feedback about how they are doing. This feedback is very important in helping us make decisions with the strategic direction of the school. Thank you to everyone who completed the survey. We appreciate your feedback and partnership. 

A small school with big achievements!

There is much to celebrate at St Joe’s through the many opportunities and achievements. We are very proud to have both our Netball and Basketball SAPSASA knockout teams win the regional final. The teams will each enter the finals in coming weeks - best of luck!! Also worth recognising, the hard-fought competiton from our Years 5&6 soccer team, making it through their first round of SAPSASA soccer. Congratulations to our STEM MAD Team, receiving a 3^rd place in the Primary Schools section – the youngest group in the comp! 

Thank you to our ESOs

Lastly - we were pleased to celebrate and recognise our wonderful ESOs as part of ESO Week last week, with a coffee and morning tea. I'm sure you will all echo my gratitude for the wonderful contribution our ESOs make to your children and our school community. Their flexibility to adapt to needs, step in when needed - with a smile - is greatly appreciated.

Have a great week everyone.

Jodie

What is excellence?

How do we measure excellence in a school? Is it having NAPLAN results in both years 3 and 5 that exceed the national average? Is it being rated as one of the top 25 schools in South Australia, outperforming all the schools in our local area? (for more info visit this link - https://bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/sa/sa_top_primary_schools.aspx) 

Is it having happy students who enjoy attending school because they feel safe and like they belong? Over 75% of our students here at St Joseph’s Kingswood do according to our Pulse data that "most of the time," whilst at school they feel safe, they feel like their teacher cares for them and that they belong. 

Is excellence having one of your teachers recognised as the best teacher in South Australia for their particular discipline? Mrs Steph Insanally, as you would all be aware, was recognised as best music teacher in South Australia. Steph also won an award over in Melbourne for the best Piano instrumental teacher as well. 

Is it having students compete at elite levels in their chosen sport? We have had students represent St Joseph’s Kingswood as well as South Australia at state levels. Both Emily Daunt for swimming and Noah Pitman for cricket. We’ve also had our knockout netball team and our knockout basketball team make it through to the grand final that will be held later this term.  We have also had students represent St Joseph’s in and south east region in SAPSASA swimming, netball, cricket and soccer. 

Is excellence having a highly regarded transition program that supports young children as they start school for the very first time? A transition program that that due to its success, been adopted by other Catholic primary schools across South Australia. 

Is it being recognised by outside organisations for our outstanding work in Visible Learning. With leaders and teachers from other Catholic schools visiting St Joseph’s Kingswood to see how we have embedded visible learning into our school culture. 

Is it being able to offer a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities for students such as debating, chess, STEM, strings tuition, sports clinics and now our new academies?

Is it having a highly connected and invested school community where parent reps regularly organise events for both children and parents so that families feel welcome and are able to get to know one another?

I’m not sure how other people measure excellence but for me St Joseph’s Kingswood truly is a school of excellence!

Now a secret answer for our upcoming Quiz Night. To all the people who have taken the time to read this article and are attending our upcoming annual fundraiser, the answer to the question "What exotic destination would Mrs Fowler like to visit next." The answer is Fiji. Shhh!  Don’t tell anyone else this is your bonus answer for reading the newsletter.

Thanks,

Emma

We are the best in the state!! Huge congrats to our Netball team on winning the SAPSASA netball carnival on 30th August. Big thanks to their stellar coach, Mrs McNeil for helping to guide the team to victory.

Well done to Emily Daunt for representing South Australia, and winning bronze as a part of the 4 x 50 metre relay swimming team recently! 

CROSS_COUNTRY.pdf

Congrats to our Years 5 & 6 Basketball team for winning their way through to the SAPSASA Grand Final, to be held early next Term. Good luck for the day!

SAPSASA Athletics Carnival – Friday 9^th September – (week 7)

A reminder to all students selected from Term 1 (as the Carnival was postponed to this term) that this carnival IS going ahead. Please sign permission on SZAPP and Mr D will have some training sessions next to prepare students and remind them of their events from Term 1.

The Senior Choir were fantastic this week in their combined rehearsal at Loreto College. They are all very excited to be performing on the Adelaide Festival Theatre stage in week 10!!!

Congrats to Ada Cother for receiving an A+ for her AMEB Preliminary Piano Exam. She has worked very hard this year towards her exam preparation, and this shows with her outstanding result. Well done Ada! 

Bookings for Vacation Care will be available from week 7, which will run from 5 to 13 October, 2022.  We have some exciting things planned so watch out for this program and get in quick and book via the SZapp as we only have limited places for our excursions.

Just reminding everyone it is compulsory to have a wide brimmed hat in ASC and Vacation Care.  Baseball caps are NOT acceptable.  If your child does not bring a hat or brings a baseball cap, we will issue them with one and the fee is $3.00.  You are welcome to supply your child with a hat that we can keep in our hat bag with their name on it.  We also have available 2^nd hand hats to buy for $5.00 and then we will mark them with your child’s name it and keep them for their use only!  Also can you ensure your child wears appropriate footwear ie closed in shoes like sandshoes.

Please note that if your child/ren will not be attending a regular session, even if they are sick you need to notify us by SZapp, text or email.  See policies regarding the times for late bookings and late cancellations.

Also in regards to receiving your CCS you must be registered with My Gov and answer any questions they send you.  If you are not receiving CCS please see me and we can check further regarding this.

Vicky Wilson & OSHC Team

Thank you to our Gold Sponsor, Loan Smith

Thank you to our silver sponsors for your generous support

Thank you to our bronze sponsors for your generous donations

Beautiful Fit

Stamps Restaurant 

The Ed

Mostly Books

Janesce Hyde Park

Lloyd Brothers

Endless Beauty by Collette

The Source

Torrens Arms Hotel

HM Gallerie Mitcham

F45 Unley