Dear Families and Community,

Spring is in the air (just) and as per usual term 3 is a busy term for everyone.

The Quiz Night was an amazing success – raising close to $9000!!!  A fun filled evening with many families and friends joining in and whole heartly dressing up. I thank you for supporting the school and children through your attendance and the many donations. A reminder to consider supporting the sponsors who have supported our community. Thank you, Lucy Sach, for your leadership and Rosanna Cantone for successful coordinating the event with your team of helpers.

The Father’s Day Breakfast was a wonderful gathering of all the important men who support our children. The children were so excited to have you there and the looks on the dad’s faces during the song were just beautiful. Thank you to our staff for organising the breakfast, especially Katina Dahdah for her working in setting-up and preparing food and to Steph Insanally for choir preparation.

The staff retreat was a wonderful opportunity for staff to be together in “communion’. Mary Carmilleri supported Christine Furrugia in assisting our staff to understand the term communion in our Catholic context – Communion ‘together’ and Eucharist – ‘thanksgiving’. A major part of the day was spent creating a meal together which we share in communion and giving thanks for each other.

National Child Protection Week

Last week was National Child Protection Week. National Child Protection Week raises awareness about the community’s collective responsibility for the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people. This year, the focus is ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’.

For Catholic schools, this provides an opportunity to emphasise their strong commitment to the safety and wellbeing of young people in their care, and the important role they play in creating safe and nurturing environments at school, online, at home and in the community.

At St Joseph School we implement several measures to help ensure the safety of all:

• Staff members maintaining their RRHAN qualifications
• Teaching of the Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum
• Volunteers training and screening
• ESafety - child safety and protection this includes online environments

I bring to your attention the following documents which relate to child protection

• Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy (Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide) or
• Responding to Online Safety incidents in South Australian schools: Guidelines for staff working in education settings
• Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum information for educators (Department for Education SA)

I wish our Senior Choir all the best for their performance in next week and I look forward to catching up with parents and friends on the last day of term for Sports Day. 

Jodie Higgins
Principal

 

Hello families,

This year, our Year 5 and Year 6 students had the opportunity to participate in the South Australian Debating Competition which brings together schools from the Catholic, Public and independent sectors. 

What are the benefits of Debating?

Debating develops a large range of skills in our young people and whilst speaking in front of people can be a challenge initially for students watching them over come these fears and begin to develop in confidence is amazing to see. 

Some key skills that are developed through participating in debating are:

• Critical Thinking Skills
• Articulation
• Research Skills
• Quick-Thinking
• Resolution of Conflict
• Greater Empathy
• Emotional Control
• Finding Meaning in Complex Situations
• Presentation Skills
• A Broader View of the World

Debating is an excellent way students can develop higher-order and critical thinking skills. It teaches students to structure and organize their thoughts while also developing their analytical and research skills. Congratulations to the 3 year 5 Teams our two Year 6 Teams that competed in 2022. St Joseph’s Kingswood finished 5th and 6^th in the Year 5 competition which is an outstanding achievement in our first year.

We can't wait to be back on stage and share our hard work. Our venue this year is a bit smaller to previous years, as the Vogue Theatre is not taking bookings for that period of time. To help us to ensure as many people can see the performance as possible, we are asking every family to complete a form telling us how many tickets you would like per family (not per student) so that we know how many tickets to release per family initially. Please click here to complete the form ASAP, by Tuesday 4th October at the latest. 

We will ask families for minimal (if any) costuming assistance (e.g. a specific coloured top/pants etc.). These details, along with song info will be communicated shortly by class teachers. 

Touch Football Carnival – 2022 

Congratulations to the 92 students that competed at the Touch Football Carnival on Thursday 8^th September at The Touch football Grounds in the parklands. St Joseph’s entered 12 teams on the team with all teams playing at least 6 matches on the day against various Catholic Schools from across the state.

Special thanks to our parent volunteers that assisted on the day: Cassie Lange, Susie Revell, Melissa Porcaro and Bec Swincer. Also, a big thank you to our teacher and ESO helpers: Bridget Hughes, Katina Dahdah, Emily Casey, Janie Steele, Josh Bennett, Sasha Kammash, Kirstie Wicks and Louise Marshall.

SAPSASA Athletics Carnival – 2022

Congratulations to the 17 students that braved the very wet and cold conditions on Friday 9^th September to participate in the Athletics Carnival at a very different venue this year, Bowker Street, Brighton. It was a touch day out for our school, but we did have some outstanding results particularly Charlie Revell who won both his 200m and 100m finals races and will go on to represent the City South district in few weeks at the State Championships.

Some outstanding results included:

Charlie Revell – 1^st - 100m and 200m Finals

Emily Daunt – 100m Finals

Claire Daunt – 200m finals

Matthew Kepka – 4^th - 1500m

Arpi Mihali- 4^th - Long Jump

Summer Sports – Registrations open

Summer Sports registrations are now open. The below Sports are offered at St Joseph’s over the Summer Season (Term 4 and Term 1 2023).

• Cricket – Yrs 2-6  - Saturday Mornings – Sturt School Competition
• Basketball – Year 5/6 (Wayville Sports Centre) – Tuesdays after school
• Basketball – Year 3/4 (Life.Be.In.It Unley) Wednesdays after school
• Netball -  Year 2-6 (Life.Be.In.It Unley) Mondays after school 
• Futsal (Indoor Soccer) – Yr 2-6 (Life.Be.In.It Unley) Sunday mornings – 9.20am-1.20pm
• Volleyball – Yr 4-6 (Life.Be.in.it Unley) Fridays after school

Any questions regarding Summer Sports Teams please email Mr De Giovanniello

sdegiovanniello@stjk.catholic.edu.au

If you have finished playing after school/weekend sport, please ensure you return a clean and laundered uniform to the Front Office ASAP.

Many thanks 

Thank you to all the families who have joined us during this term. We have loved creating, learning, playing, singing, chatting and giggling with all the children. Don't forget there is no Playgroup next week due to Sports Day, but we look forward to seeing you back on Friday 21st October. Stay tuned to Facebook for what our theme will be!

Bookings are now available for Vacation Care which will run from Tuesday 4^th October to Friday 14^th October.  Bookings can now be done on the SZapp but you need to go through the feed application!!  We have some exciting programs so get in quick and book via the SZapp as we only have limited places for our excursions and you don’t want to miss out!

See the program below and click here to book now. 

We are still providing breakfast in Before School Care from 7.30am to 8.00am so come early and enjoy this service.

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!

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.

Vicky Wilson & OSHC Team

The quiz night was our major fundraiser for the year and boy did everyone get on board to make it such a success. The multipurpose room turned into a sea of colour with so many dressing up in theme ready to cruise the night away. It was great to see the school community together again enjoying an evening full of fun and laughter.

A big thanks to everyone that helped to put the night together, and to all our sponsors for their kind generosity in supporting the evening. We were very fortunate to raise over $9,000 which will contribute to enhancing the student's outdoor areas. 

We will be holding the Kyton's Christmas Fundraiser in Term 4 so please keep an eye out for an easy and delicious way to support the school.

Thanks!

P&F