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Dear parents and caregivers,
Week 5 is upon us - half way through the term already! Learning has begun in earnest in our classrooms, after our initial focus on wellbeing and competency development. It is a delight to visit classrooms and witness first-hand how hard your children are working, implementing some of the strategies they were exposed to in the first couple of weeks of term.
Thank you to all who came to our Welcome Gathering, by all accounts (myself included) it was a very enjoyable evening. I know that the children revel in the opportunity to share their classroom and school work with their family unit, as well as it being a great opportunity for some more in-depth chats between teachers and parents. The chance to socialise with friends old and new afterwards ‘on the green’ was also fantastic, and it was great so see so many members of the St Joseph's Kingswood community on what was a beautiful evening.
Earlier that day, the Parents & Friends met for the first time in 2019. We had a very good turnout for the meeting and I am delighted that the following parents took on designated roles as part of the P&F:
- Chairperson - Makella Holden
- Secretary - Jacqui McLeod
- School Board Representative - Amanda Hyams
- Finance Liaison - Susan Kim
I am encouraged by the conversation and enthusiasm at our P&F meeting and ask that the whole school consider how they can get involved- be it volunteering your time or simply supporting the school (and a local SA icon, Kytons Bakery), by eating a dozen hot cross buns over the term break! Please read through the P&F section of this newsletter to learn about fun and fundraising activities planned for term 1. The more funds raised, the quicker we can deliver an upgrades to the playground at the back of the Green on Seafield Avenue (designs and info to follow).
Over the past couple of weeks, our 2 choirs have commenced for the year. Our CSMF senior choir is under the expert tutelage of Steph Insanally, while our 3/4 choir is being ably led by Michelle Page. In addition to these choirs, band has started again. There has been much excitement about the introduction of a percussion (drums) teacher to our school, and we already have 19 interested drummers! Additionally, our year 3 children have commenced their term’s tuition in violin and, for the first time, cello. In all, over 150 of our children are currently involved in learning an instrument, which is very exciting for our school community!
Coffee Connect is up and running again for 2019 - with a change of days to Friday! Fresh barista made coffee is available from 8.30-9.30am every Friday, so stop by, grab a cup and join in the conversation! If you are feeling more adventurous, you might like to consider becoming trained as a barista - it's free, and a great skill to have, as well as contributing to our community life.
Last week, we welcomed our new Maintenance Officer, Rod MacFarlane. Rod takes over from Bruce Ford, who has worked for us for over 6 years. Bruce’s business has expanded such that he needed to be able to manage his work schedule. We sincerely thank Bruce for his time with us. Rod has already taken over the reins with aplomb and the school is lucky to have been able to replace Bruce so capably.
Later this week, on Wednesday, our JOEYS (Joint Opportunities in Engaging our Young Students) transition to school program will commence. Our experience with JOEYS last year was so positive, and the children who went through the program have settled calmly and successfully into school life. If you know of any families who might be interested in joining our program, please ask them to contact us - we still have some spaces available!
Have a great week everyone.
God bless,
Phil
As you may know, this year I will be working in the Year 6 class on Fridays. I have really enjoyed getting to know the children and their families. Lisa and I have already developed a great working relationship as we have collaborated and planned some of the years learning together. I am excited about the possibilities of what this year may bring.
This year we will also have Matt Richards back to help us make the most of our Apple products. Matt is an experienced Apple consultant and we are happy to once again have him working with us. Matt works with staff and students and has made a positive contribution to how we think about and use IT. Matt and I have developed a scope and sequence for all year levels that we will roll out over the next 12 months.
We are pretty close to completing our new hard ware integration. As it stands now, we are 1:2 iPad in Rec-Year 2, 1:1 iPad Year 3-5 and the Year 6s are using Macs. The Year 3-5 students are loving their new iPads and have already taken to them like a duck to water. These iPads have added keyboard to that students can still learn important typing skills with the added flexibility of being portable.
As part of our commitment to caring for our environment, we have registered to be a part of Clean Up Australia Day, by participating in the School's Clean Up Day on Friday 1st March. On this day our Year 5s and 6s will head down to Kingswood Oval after lunch for a little clean up. This is a park our school children use often. The remaining students in Reception-Year 4 will stay at School and clean up here. If you have any child size garden gloves/old tongs that the kids can bring along to aid their efforts, that would be great.
Follow this link to find out more information. https://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/fundraiser/jamiedeverson
Good luck everyone for the remainder of the year. If there are any issues or concerns or you just want to chat, please feel free to see Phil or myself at any time. We are here to make sure you and your children have the most rewarding time at school possible and love working with parents to make sure this happens.
Take care,
Jamie
Dear families
The Easter season is almost here, with Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent occurring in Week 6 (6th March). Many activities and celebrations are being planned for this beautiful time in the Liturgical Calendar:
- Shrove Tuesday Pancake Stall
- Ash Wednesday Liturgy (**please note the change of time to 11.30am)
- Holy Week Performance
- Easter Mass
Please refer to the Calendar on SZapp for all the dates and times for the above (as well as other important school events).
Lent also sees the launch of Caritas, Project Compassion. Each year Project Compassion brings together thousands of Australians in schools, parishes and the community to stand in solidarity with the world’s most vulnerable communities, to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.
This year’s Project Compassion showcases the many ways Caritas Australia works around the world with our local partners to offer hope to people most vulnerable to extreme poverty and injustice. Through a holistic approach Caritas is working with communities providing hope for a just and fair world regardless of their ethnicity, political beliefs, gender or religion. We are assisting women, children and men to break free from the cycle of poverty whilst ensuring they are the architects of their own development.
We will be distributing the money boxes in the coming weeks and sharing this year’s Caritas stories through the Lenten Season. The theme that Caritas chose for Project Compassion 2019 is ‘Give Lent 100%’.
Christine Farrugia
Assistant Principal- Religious Identity and Mission
P&F REMINDERS
Catch-up at The Cremorne this Wednesday at 7pm
Drop by for a glass of wine and/or nibbles – plenty of parking too!
We will be discussing upcoming fundraisers, second-hand uniform sale and generally catching-up with members of the St Joseph’s Kingswood community.
One and all very welcome.
We hope to see you there!
Fundraising to upgrade the playground at the back of the Green on Seafield Avenue
Kytons hot cross buns & lamington orders
- Due | Monday 1st April
- Available for collection | Thursday 11th April
See the below form to order (there's rows for you to split out how many you're getting for Grandparents/Cousins/Neighbours or you can just tally them all together in the one row), there will also be copies in the Front Office.
Payments can be easily made via
- QKR (enter the tallied amount, note "QKR" in the bottom right of the form and return the form to school ASAP by 1st April); or
- in the Front Office
Any questions, contact Makella Holden (makella.price@hotmail.com)
Sausage Sizzle
- Saturday 23rd March (pick your timeslot)
- @ Woolworths Cumberland Park
Many hands make light work and we aren't looking for a full day commitment. We are looking for as many people as possible to volunteer for one or two hour shifts between 8am and 5pm. Please email Jacqui McLeod Jac.mcleod@internode.on.net with a couple of timeslots you can help out by 15th March.
For parents with children in year 6, particularly within the Leadership Team, please consider including your child too. They can help with taking orders and money (prep and cooking is strictly for adults only).
If you can't help out on the day, please do come past to grab a snag and support our fundraising efforts.
Beers for Dads
Make sure this date is in your diary-
Dear Families
It has been seven months since the new Child Care Subsidy started. It is a good time to check in on your family income estimate. Make sure it is up-to-date and reflects your household's income estimate for the whole financial year and current activity levels.
If your estimate is lower than your actual income or circumstances have changed, you may be having too much offset in your OSCH payment, resulting in having to make a repayment come EOFY.
The easiest way to update your family income estimate/activity level is by using your Centrelink online account through myGov, or the Express Plus Centrelink app.
For more information, please visit here.
Also, there is confusion around Centrelink citing that your enrolment has ceased for families who don't use OSHC on a regular basis. There is campaigning around increasing the exisiting 8 week "unenrolled" period. The good news is that this will be rectified as soon as the child attends a session and we submit this to Centrelink (which we do on a weekly basis) then you will be re-enrolled with Centrelink.
Lastly, please note the below fees for OSHC. There has been an increase to after school care fees by $1, others have remained the same.
Before School Care
- $10 if booked before 6pm day prior to attending
- $15 if booked after 6pm day prior to attending
After School Care
- $26 if booked before 10am on the day of attending
- $31 if booked after 10am day of attending
Any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me
Thanks
Vicky Wilson – Director OSHC
ABSENTEE & LATE ARRIVALS
We have updated SZapp so you can now submit a form for your child/ren to advise that they will be arriving late or will not be attending school. If you prefer, you can still contact us via phone or email, but we are pleased to be able to deliver the SZapp option as it is a handy way of communicating that has been requested by some families this term.
SPORTS
We have added a button to the SZapp home screen titled Sports. Given the multitude of activities we have here at St Joseph's Kingswood, this will evolve to become the one-stop-shop for permission slips, details regarding sports and events to participate in for the term, as well as fixtures for the weekend ahead. While we are building in some of these capabilities, it's immediate function will be to contain the detail of upcoming cricket games (rather than being communicated each week separately). Please check the Sports button on Fridays to know where your child is playing on the weekend.
SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE NEWSLETTER LINK BY EMAIL
Thank you for all the positive feedback received regarding the format and ease of use for our first SZapp Newsletter. Parents/caregivers that like to read the content on a screen bigger than their phone, can open the app and click "Subscribe to Newsletter", enter their email address and they will have the link emailed each fortnight to open on their desktop/laptop. We are also working towards having it embedded into our website.
SZapp offers a wide variety of functionality, a lot of which we have captured already, with more to come throughout the year. We will keep you updated as we make more improvements and integrations to the app. We welcome any questions or feedback you may have.
There will be some info coming out with some times to come and meet with members of the school should you be unsure about how to navigate/turn on notifications etc. however for any immediate questions, please ask at the Front Office.
We now have sports socks ($9.50) available for purchase in the Front Office, as well as hats ($14).
Reminder that sneakers are to be predominantly white or predominantly black with a splash of colour. We do not wish for families to go out and purchase new sneakers, however we ask that when your child outgrows their current pair, you be mindful of this when you buy their next pair.
We have received some feedback (mostly from new families) about confusion regarding things like which colour socks/hair ribbons to purchase etc., so we will be putting together a flyer to clarify- particularly ahead of Winter uniform in term 2. Until this is circulated, should you have any queries, please don't hesitate to ask at the Front Office or St Vinnies Uniform shop.