Dear Families and friends,

The 2025 year is well underway, and even with THE HEAT students and staff have had a very positive start. The beginning of every school year is an exciting time of new starts, new relationships, new challenges and new opportunities. Of course, amongst all of this, are the ample nerves, particularly for those new members of our community. 

We welcome Michael Mastrangelo, teaching year 3 and all the new students and families who have joined us, especially our very capable Receptions that have had an amazing start.

We offer a warm welcome to all our new members of our Joeys family starting next week, and trust that their experience of all things St Joseph’s Kingswood will be wonderful.

Building Excellence

In 2025, we have had introduced some new positions to support our work in building excellence for all students. These Key Teachers will support the Leadership Team which consists of myself, Christine and Vanessa.

Vanessa Saccardo (Tue/Wed/Thurs)

Assistant Principal/Leader of Learning will work closely with our Key Teachers and continue leading Literacy and Maths as well as students who require adapted programs for support and stretch.

Christine Farrugia (Mon/Tue/Fri)

APRIM – Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Misson. This includes working with our Parish and supporting Wellbeing.

Michael Mastrangelo 

Position of Responsibility – SEQTA, Assessment and Curriculum Leader

Felicity Davis 

Position of Responsibility - Visible Wellbeing Project

Josh Bennett

Teach Well Leader and 3-6 Focus Teacher

Bonnie Crofts

Teach Well R-2 Focus Teacher

Kirstie Wicks

Numeracy Key Teacher 

Kate Mueller

Gifted and Highly Able Key Teacher

Alannah Prestwich 

English as an Additional Language or Dialect Key Teacher

If you ever have a query to support your child thrive, initially connect your child’s class teacher and they can further help direct you to one of our Key Teachers for any further support.

Student Leaders

Thursday's Assembly was led by our Year 6 Leaders and those with specific leadership roles. I am already excited as they have been very proactive. I can wait to work in Connections with them to build Excellence!  

The Green!!

We are so excited that the new Green was able to be used from the start of the year. It has been enjoyed by all over the last few weeks and has really lifted the space. Although our footprint is the same, the new layout has created more space and use. The upgrade is near complete, with a new shed to be installed soon. 

This project was part of the work of our School Board and on behalf of the Board I thank the Parents & Friends committee and volunteers for the amazing fundraising efforts through the Colour Run! In our year of Gratitude, we are grateful for the funds raised by students and families. You have made a difference – thank you.

With kindness and gratitude,

Jodie Higgins,

Principal

In all things Charity

Dear Parents and Families,

Welcome to 2025!  It has been wonderful to see all our beautiful students and families begin the year in such a positive manner.  As always there is plenty happening behind the scenes to ensure we continue to strive for excellence in all aspects at St. Joseph’s Kingswood.

Whole Staff Professional Development – Bill Hansberry, Behaviour 101

Our first day back together as a staff was spent building classroom routines and expectations that are consistent across the school.   Bill Hansberry, an experienced classroom management expert, reminded us of the importance of ensuring consistency with routines and expectations.  Routines ensure our students have certainty about what is expected in the classroom by providing stability, predictability and structure.  Well established routines help our students to reduce cognitive load so that they are able to focus more clearly on their learning, rather than what behaviour is expected by each teacher.  As a result, you may see us explicitly teaching and modelling behaviours of routines in classrooms, the yard, assembly or church.  This will help to free up student’s working memory and will eventually become automatic so we don’t have to think about these things and can focus on our learning.  It also reinforces the high expectations we have of all our children and the belief that every single child can be successful given the right time, resources and support. 

Education Support Staff Professional Training – Laser Tier 2 Intervention

Last Thursday all our wonderful Educational Support Staff, Jodie and I undertook Tier 2 training for Laser Playberry.  Many of you would have heard me refer to the response to intervention model and our aim is for the majority of students to achieve mastery within the class setting (Tier One).  However, we know that some of our students require further revision and therefore access additional (Tier 2 small group) support. Students needing even more support may access Tier 3, Playberry (1:1) support.  As we use Laser for our Tier One phonics instruction it makes sense to use this for Tier 2 as well.  This will allow for a smoother transition back to Tier One once they are ready as it follows a similar structure. This will replace MacqLit for 2-6s in 2025, while Year 1s will continue to access MiniLit if required.  This will be a trial period, and we will continue to track students’ progress and report to parents as per previous interventions.  If your child is identified as requiring any of the above intervention, further information will be sent home shortly.

A link to parent information in regards to the pedagogy and structure of Laser Literacy can be found here: Laser T1-2 Parent Information

Inclusive Education:

This term I will provide opportunities to meet with any families who would like to review or discuss their child’s personalised learning plan which will roll over from last year.  It is important to continually review these and ensure that any adjustments in place are beneficial to our students to ensure the best possible learning outcomes.  I have sent messages via Seesaw to families who this applies to.  If you have not received a message and would like to meet, please let me know and I am more than happy to accommodate.

Gifted Education:

This year we are excited to work alongside Kirsten Maycock (CESA Gifted Education Consultant) to create a response to intervention model for students who require extension. Kirsten has already run a staff meeting this year around how to identify students who may be gifted or highly able.  In addition to this, she has assisted myself and Kate Mueller in the organisation of a calendar of events which allow students the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of extension opportunities.  The first of 2025 is The Oliphant Science Awards which is an annual competition for South Australian school students that aims to support, encourage and celebrate science education within South Australian schools.  The competition is open to students in Reception through to year 12 and includes a range of categories to suit a wide variety of abilities and interests. The Oliphant Science Awards provide students with an opportunity to expand their scientific literacy, by showing interest and understanding in the world around them and engaging in discussions about science.

Particular classes may choose to be involved in this; however, you are welcome to take the opportunity to extend your child at home as anyone can register. The following link provides information for students who may wish to enter: Oliphant Science Awards Student Information. 

As well as a link to further parent information:  Oliphant Science Awards Parent Information 

If you require any further support, please feel free to contact me and we can navigate through this together. We look forward to continuing our work in this space – stay tuned!

Leaving with a Literacy Tip…

As part of our phonics program and to ensure the best possible outcomes for our students we are committed to ensuring consistency with the pronunciation of sounds. As you know, it is very important that we pronounce the phonemes purely (without "schwas", more to come on this) so that students can identify each individual sound.  This assists with both the decoding and encoding of words. Below is a clip of Bill Hansberry (co-author of Laser Literacy) pronouncing all the Phase 1 phonemes in a Reading Card Drill.  I will continue to send the sounds from each phase in the coming weeks to allow you to best support your child at home.

Bill Hansberry - Pronunciation of Pure Sounds Phase 1

I look forward to another successful year ahead and am extremely lucky to be working alongside you to support your child in all aspects of schooling. My door is always open for any further discussions.

Until next time…

Vanessa Saccardo

3 Mastrangelo has had an incredible start to the school year! Our first few weeks have been all about building strong relationships, understanding new routines, and creating a positive and inclusive classroom culture.

A key focus of our learning has been exploring our school’s learner dispositions, particularly collaboration, bravery, and resilience. These qualities were put to the test in some exciting hands-on challenges! Students stepped out of their comfort zones in our 'Bravery Walk' navigating an obstacle course blindfolded while relying on the guidance of their peers. This activity built trust and reinforced the importance of clear communication.

Collaboration was at the heart of our Cup Stacking Challenge, where students worked together to stack a tower using only a piece of string—a true test of patience, problem-solving and applying a growth mindset!

It's been inspiring to see the students embrace these challenges with enthusiasm and determination. We can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings as we continue to grow and learn together! 

In Health lessons this term, the Year 4 students are learning how to describe how valuing diversity influences wellbeing. We will explore different activities that are aimed at promoting inclusion in their communities. In our first lesson, students listened to the story of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. This story teaches about diversity by illustrating the value of being different, showing how a colourful, unique elephant like Elmer is accepted and celebrated by his friends despite not looking like the other elephants, encouraging acceptance and appreciation of individual differences within a community. 

Our music program is up and running with the commencement of Festival Choir, Junior Choir, Band, Rocktopuses and Instrumental lessons. We have many students learning an instrument and our Instrumental tutors are at full capacity. 

If your child enjoys singing, join Junior Choir (Year 3 and 4) or Festival Choir (Year 5 and 6). Both choirs rehearse each Wednesday. This year the Catholic Schools Music Festival is at the Adelaide Convention Centre, where students in Festival Choir will be singing in a massed choir of 400.

Please click here to register for Years 3 & 4 Junior Choir

Please click here to register for Years 5 & 6 Festival Choir

We are looking for more musicians to join our Band, so if you have been playing the flute, clarinet, trumpet or another instrument for more than two terms, you are welcome to join us. We rehearse on Thursdays at 8:30am-9:15am. On assembly weeks we rehearse at 2:30pm-3:10pm.

Please click here to register for Band

Year 3 Strings has started this week and will be each Friday during Term 1 and 2. The students are looking forward to learning their new instrument.

We are looking forward to a fun year of making music.

If you have any questions about the music program please reach out through Seesaw messages.

Rebecca Pfitzner

Music teacher 

Hi Families, 

Welcome back to OSHC at St Joseph's School, Kingswood for 2025 and welcome to the new families, some of whom have already joined us at vacation care over the Summer. Speaking of vacation care, we had an amazing time with all of our students and educators as we had a program full of fun incursions and excursions such as the Adelaide Zoo, Jam Band, Discos and the movies. Keep an eye out later in the term for the vacation care program for the April school holidays……we will heading to Zootopia and AFL Max!

Just a reminder that you need to update your bookings on Fullybooked for 2025 as they do not roll over from the previous year. Please reach out to us if you need any support or guidance using Fullbooked.

We look forward to seeing you all through term 1.

Bridget, Emma and the OSHC team 

Thank you to our beautiful St Joseph’s Kingswood community for supporting the Parents and Friends social and fundraising events last year. We have been able to contribute a significant amount of money to improve school facilities and resources which have been enjoyed by all the children and staff. We are looking forward to another exciting year of events.

It was great to see some new members at our first meeting this week. Thank you to all our P&F members both new and existing. We are so lucky to have such a big group of committed parents. Please don’t hesitate to join us for one or all meetings throughout the year. It’s a great way to get to the know the school community and most importantly a night off the bedtime routine.

Our first event for the year is the student disco. This is a highlight for most students. It is held in the multipurpose room and supervised by teachers and registered parent/carer volunteers. We have locked in Friday 28^th of March with more details to follow. There will also be a bar with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for those that want to hang around. This is held in the reception courtyard so there is plenty of room for little ones to play while you enjoy a drink.

Our big social event for the year will be the Gala “Winter Wonderland”. It is a stand-up cocktail evening with DJ and silent auction. At this stage it will be held on Saturday August 30^th. Venue has not been confirmed yet. Tickets will include canapes and a drink on arrival and drinks will be purchased individually on consumption. Put the date in your diary and keep an eye out for more details.

Other events to look out for are the Mothers Lunch (Always very popular), Dads Day Out (we need a dad to organise this) and end of year Carols on the Green.

Our fundraising events for year include the Scholastic Book Club, Kytons, Gala Auction, Second hand uniform shop and our iconic bar and sausage sizzle at most school events. Orders for our first Scholastic Book Club close 17th February, so make sure you get in quick to avoid disappointment! 

Kyton's Easter treats are available to order now via Qkr! Orders must be made before 3rd April, with items available for collection from the school on Thursday 10th April. 

Here is a summary of profits from 2024 from our bigger fundraising events.

Colour Run- $15,000

Second Hand Uniforms- $6,000

Bar and BBQ at School events- $4,000

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 12th of March. Please check the P&F Facebook Page for any changes or updates. We use this page as our main source of communication.