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Dear Families and Community,
The sun is shining! It feels like we missed spring this year hopefully the erratic weather has ended, and we can get into the outdoors, especially with December looming. In talking to families and children, I am aware several you endured time without power, for me it was only a couple of days. It is a reminder of how important the basics are – warm showers, coffee, and light.
School Concert! Oh, what a night!!!
No words can convey how wonderful the show was last week. The staff have been appreciative and proud with the number of heartfelt words you have given after the show. We are glad you enjoyed the concert as much as we and the students did.
I offered many thanks at both performances to all involved – students, parents, and staff. It certainly takes a team to put on such a wonderful event. However, I will offer special commendation to our one and only Ringmaster Steph Insanally and her wonderful assistant Mary-Rose Coghlan. They have put a great deal of time, energy, and passion over the year (yes…all year!) Planning and preparing – it certainly was a show to remember – thank you!
I can’t help but congratulate the students! They certainly were exhausted after a very big day… I congratulate them on remembering all their places and for making it to the sage on cue. The smiles and looks on their faces were just delightful, and I hope it will be a moment they treasure (I bet you remember your school performance too – mine was “The grand old duke of York!”).
Staffing
With all schools, the conclusion of each year often brings with it some staff changes- whether it be a contract ending, awarding permanency, taking some well-deserved leave or some of the many other opportunities. We continue to finalise our 2023 staff, and look forward to sharing this with our community.
I am pleased to advise we will be seeing a bit more of Mr D, with him working an extra day at the school next year to cover some non-contact time as well as time to further enhance our Sports Program at St Joseph’s Kingswood.
The following staff are retiring:
- Anne-Marie Stanton (Finance)
- Tania Shackleford (Teacher on leave)
- Graham Connor (Teacher on leave)
With a significant number of combined years (decades!) of teaching and service, we are very grateful to Anne-Marie, Tania and Graham for the positive impact each of them have had on our school.
Alannah Prestwich (Signora) and Lidia Saccone are taking 12 months of leave to further upskill and take care of family respectively, we look forward to their return in 2024!
As their 12 month contracts conclude, we thank Louise Marshall and Stephanie McNeil for their dedication and fresh energy they have brought to St Joseph’s Kingswood this year.
We will farewell staff formally at the end of the year whole school Mass on Wednesday 14th December, but please feel free to pass along your well wishes if you see them in the yard!
Class placements
I would like to thank those who have put in class placement requests. This option is now closed. As they are requests, they will carefully be considered. A reminder that we are unable to facilitate requests for a specific Teacher. Due to the large number of requests, I will make contact with parents ONLY if the request cannot be fulfilled and we believe it is necessary to inform you personally to support your child.
Children will spend time with their 2023 teacher and class, with letters going home to parents advising of your child’s class on Monday 12th December. Class structures can change from year-to-year depending on many factors. In setting structures, it is desirable to create teaching teams that support clusters of year levels as it has such a significant impact on student success.
This time of year can be an anxious time for children, parents, and staff. We have carefully listened to families, and, as with all facets of parenting – views of what an ideal class structure is, vary greatly. It’s what makes us human and is to be celebrated, but I want to communicate that it is not a one size fits all solution. Some parents want stable groups; others want more change in groups. Some think a composite would benefit their child, others prefer flat year levels etc. We as a staff agonise over the decisions, and I emphasise that we do make every effort to find the best composition of class structures, sizes and students. I thank those who have expressed their confidence in the school making the best possible decision for all students.
KEEPING SAFE
We appreciate parent contributions of different materials from time-to-time when class teachers are engaging in a relevant topic (e.g. building a toy etc.). Please ensure you carefully read the below guide to ensure our student's safety.
Bring recycled materials for making
- ensure all boxes, containers have been checked for any dangerous items/ remnants – sharps, nuts etc
- Make sure items don’t have sharp edges – ie avoid cans
- Look to see if the item, images etc are appropriate for children (ie medicines, drugs etc)
Volunteers
I have noticed an increased number of excursions in the next few weeks. These are not possible without parental support, thank you to those who have put their hand-up to help make these experiences possible for our children. Please note below the best ways for volunteers to support staff on an excursion:
- Undertake the role as described by the teacher
- Always think about the safety and wellbeing of young people as per your RAN induction
- Be confidential – it is teacher responsibility to contact parents etc, unless directed by staff.
- Behaviour management is the responsibility of staff, unless it is for immediate safety purposes. Report incidents/concerns to staff only.
- Don’t use your personal phone to take/send photos of other children (even if a friend has asked)
- Be respectful and confidential not to disclose information you may have seen, heard etc Please report to staff only and the school will act accordingly.
- Keep yourself safe and let a staff member know if you need support
- Enjoy the excursion and supporting the students and staff.
We are grateful of the support our volunteers and families provide to our school activities and events.
We only have a few weeks to go, I look forward to seeing you at our various end of year events.
Enjoy Summer!
Kind regards,
Jodie
Jodie Higgins
Principal
Hello Families,
Damien Reemst The End of an Era
Volunteer - a person who freely offers to undertake a service.
Volunteers are dying breed. With the busyness of life and all the additional checks and balances required, finding the time to volunteer can be a challenge for so many people. We are blessed here at St Joseph’s Kingswood with so many people volunteering their time to be part of one of our committees either the Board, P&F or FOM, we have parents volunteer to coach or umpire our school sports as well as attend excursions or help transport children to events. This is something the students and staff are so grateful for as many of the things we do here at St Joseph’s wouldn’t be possible without the support of our volunteers.
With this is mind, I want to acknowledge the particular dedication of one of our volunteers who as the definition states has given freely of his time to coach our school basketball team as well as attend other sport carnivals over the years. This dedication and service to the school community has been a total of 18 years. An amazing achievement and something our students have benefited greatly from.
Now being new to the school community and only having small interactions with Damien this year at our Basketball Carnival, I thought it best to hear from the people who have benefited the most from his coaching:
Joshua Putrus – I admire how he strives to help each and every child at basketball improve on what they are learning.
Jayden Begg – If we get the drill wrong, he will help us and re-explain what we need to do.
Jasper Loechel – He takes his basketball very seriously
Oliver Balint – He is really good at teaching you how to play.
Damien, words can never thank you for all you have given to St Joseph’s Kingswood. We hope the memories you have made and the lives you have impacted over the years continue to bring you joy. You will be missed!
Dear Families,
As we edge closer to the end of the year, I find myself looking back and feeling a lot of peace from the amazing post-covid recovery we have made here at St Joseph’s. It was an incredible year of rediscovery of our Identity and we are coming back stronger than ever.
One of the items that has been reviewed is the Sacramental Program: we will now be offering the Program from February to be more streamlined with the scholastic year. Please email me at cfarrugia@stjk.catholic.edu.au if you are interesting in enrolling your child for 2023.
And speaking of community, Term 4 is Vinnies Christmas Appeal Term- our biggest charity appeal of the year.
“In all thing Charity” is our crest motto: one penned by Saint Mary MacKillop herself. St Mary explained that Charity is ‘Love in Action’. We are called to love one another, especially those in need, and lift each other up so that ‘none will be left behind’.
We are asking for donations to help our Parish Vinnies group provide for the countless families hit by the rising cost of living. Please send your donations to the school until the end of week 8. See the poster attached for more information. And heartfelt thanks in advance.
The senior members of the St. Joseph’s band visited year 1/2 D Angelo who all played a solo piece on their instrument. The children were very intrigued about hearing the different instruments and even had the opportunity to play some music games.
SACPSSA ATHLETICS CARNIVAL
Congratulations to all of our students who tried their best as they ably represented our school at the SACPSSA Athletics Carnival on Monday 21st November. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to officiate on the day, with trying weather conditions. There were many successes on the day, but comraderie, good sportsmanship and resilience continue to be what our school is proud of.
Well done especially to:
- Year 3 Boys Relay Team (Kye P, Liam B, Archie H and Josh P) for coming first
- Year 4 Boys Relay Team (Charles F, Jack S, Elijah O and Antonio P) for coming third
- Kye P who came first in 100m, 400m and 800m (as well as the relay) resulting in him winning the winning Age Champion
- Liam B - first in Year 3 Boys High Jump
- Claire J - first in Year 6 Girls 800m
- Year 3 Boys for winning overall Age Champion
Congratulations to Isla Bello, and Charlie Revell for being selected in the U14 State Metro Basketball squads, beating out some fierce competition.
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While the Year 6’s were away on camp the Year 5’s had a great time with Leadership Week. We experienced what it's like to be a school leader. We are very thankful for our amazing teachers, and staff and for receiving special guest videos from Hannah Petty and Kyle Charmers that supported us throughout the week. We did all sorts of fun activities together, for example, the communication game and team-building activities. During the week we wrote our leadership applications for 2023, for roles like School Captain, House leader, Spirit team and Eco-warrior. We shared with the teachers what we think makes a good leader and the main qualities of a leader like Compassion, Respect, Responsibility, Listening, Teamwork, Joyfulness and Kindness. We had lots of fun and we are now prepared to lead the school in 2023 and we are very excited about this opportunity.
-Lillian C, Darcey H and Clara P
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On Thursday 17th November, the Children’s University graduates from St. Joseph’s Kingswood gathered at the beautiful Bonython Hall for the annual Children’s University Graduation Ceremony. It was a wonderful celebration of achievement and we are proud of the 25 students who graduated.
Our list of graduates:
National Bronze Award for 30 hours
| Lucia Burvill | Claire Daunt |
| Emily Daunt | Olivia Daunt |
| Clara De Giovanniello | Olive Ferraretto |
| Violet Ferraretto | Zoe Ferraretto |
| Bethany Frith | Archie Higham |
| Eliza Larcombe | Miles Larcombe |
| Antonio Porcaro | Chase Quarberg |
| Annaliese Shaw | Millie Veale |
National Silver Award for 65 hours
- Oscar Vilanova
- Orlando Waller
- Elliot Wells
National Gold Award for 100 hours
- Arshia Alizadeh
National Bronze Certificate for 130 hours
- Anastasia Harrison
National Silver Certificate for 165 hours
- Owen Fox
National Bronze Diploma for 230 hours
- Krish Desai
National Silver Diploma for 265 hours
- Maggie Bedson
National Silver Degree for 365 hours
- Mia Davis
Anyone else who is interested is encouraged to join Children’s University in 2023.
All school fees for 2022 should now be paid in full. This includes Instrumental Hire charges, IT Device Hire Charge and Camps.
Please contact finance@stjk.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions regarding your account.
The good news is that School Fees are staying the same for 2023!!!
Tuition Fees for 2023 will be $3,800 (Low Income Fee is $2,250)
This includes Sporting Carnivals, Choir, Music Ensembles, Excursions, Debating and many other exciting school
events and incursions.
Added costs per year level:
|
Year 3 Big Day Out |
$85 |
|
Year 4 Sleepover |
$125 |
|
Year 5 Camp – 2 nights |
$475 |
|
Year 6 Camp (KI) – 3 nights |
$1150 |
|
Yr 5/6 IT Device Hire Charge |
$220 |
|
Yr 6 Jacket |
$TBC |
Sibling discounts apply and many payment options are available.
Further details will be available via SZapp in the coming weeks.
OSHC – If you are using OSHC you should be receiving a weekly invoice. Please let us know if you
are not.
If your invoice does not include CCS Child Care Subsidy and you think you are eligible, please
check your myGov account. Check to ensure that you are linked to our service and have answered any
questions that Centrelink is asking. You may need to just tick a box or it may be that you have not yet
submitted your 2020/21 tax return. If you are eligible for CCS we would hate for you to miss out!
It is important to action any requests as soon as possible because in many cases CCS will not be backdated.
As of Jan 2023 a new Booking and Billing system for OSHC will be introduced which will allow parents
greater control over their bookings and payments. We look forward to sharing this with you soon.
For any OSHC Billing questions please speak to Vicky or email vwilson@stjk.catholic.edu.au .
Alternatively email finance@stjk.catholic.edu.au .
Can you believe it is term 4!! Vacation Care for term 3 went extremely well with our numbers picking up from last year. The children were certainly entertained with all the activities and Vacation Care just flew past! The Sports Clinic with Mr D proved very popular so stay tuned and Mr D will be back for another one!! The program and bookings for December vacation care are available now here or through SZapp. We will be running the December vacation care from Thursday 15 December to the 23 December. Then January’s vacation care will run from Monday 16 January to Friday 27 January 2023.
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 2nd 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.
This term you might have noticed some new Educators. So feel free to introduce yourselves to them. The following are our new Educators.
Janie Steele, Mallory Steele, Caitlin Rule and Emma Penno.
Also a reminder to let Centrelink know your estimated income for the financial year on Mygov as this is a requirement to keep getting your CCS.
Vicky Wilson & OSHC Team
Our playgroup community has been a wonderful place to meet families from within our school community and beyond. It has been so great to see new and familiar faces every Friday morning to be able to catch-up, chat and engage in some fun and exciting activities. Come and join us in our last two weeks of Playgroup, we have a Festive Fun theme in Week 7 and an End of Year Celebration in Week 8.
We are also nearing the end of our JOEYS program and the children are more than ready to move into Reception next year. Our JOEYS absolutely loved having the whole school to themselves last Wednesday as we were able to explore each of the classrooms, have a play at the oval and have our own little performance in the Multipurpose room. We are also nearing the end of our JOEYS program and the children are more than ready to move into Reception next year. We have our last session this week and will finish with our Graduation will be on Wednesday 30 November.
St Joe's P&F have thoroughly enjoying bringing out community back together after COVID restrictions. We have a two last fundraisers for the year being...
Kytons Christmas sweet treats – ORDER VIA Qkr!
Our Annual Wine Drive https://www.behindthedoorwines.com.au/st-josephs-school-kingswood.html?fbclid=IwAR13wLX5OnVMpLNoZSxdPXBLHnY5yUuInSsEczuiNLL41E7Nts6lyA1btsY
Cut off dates for both are rapidly approaching being WEDNESDAY 30th November for 8th December Collection.
If you would like to be part of the P&F in 2023 please keep your eye out for SZapp over the Christmas Period.
If you would like to be a Year level/cohort rep for 2023 please also keep your eye out for a SZapp on how later in the term
Look forwarding to seeing you all at Picnic on the Green. Our Bar will be well stocked with drinks by the glass or bottle.
