School Newsletter

It has been wonderful to welcome our students and families back to school and for some, to our school and pre-school for the first time. Staff have been very hard at work in the weeks leading up to Week 1 preparing learning environments and learning experiences as well as engaging in professional learning together.

We welcome the following new students:

In Preschool - Adit, Anthony, Dimi, Georgia, Henry, Henry F, Imogen, Jacob, Joshua, Katy, Lewis, Oliver, Owen, Pauline, Regan, Ryan, Samuel, Vivien and Xavier.

In Reception - Aarav, Ajit, Alvin, Amahlia, Angus, Ashlyn, Avleen, Acel, Cooper, Eden, Eleanor, Harrison, Isabel, James, Julen, Michaela, Romeo, Santiago, Scarlett, Sebastian and Theordore.

In Year 1 - Coco.

Our play space project has progressed significantly over the school holidays and we are so grateful to now have access to the new oval, sheds, bike shelter and some garden areas. For children, the most exciting part remains under construction with our adventure spaces, orchard, climbing equipment, in ground trampolines and our swings still to come in the next few weeks. Children and their families have been incredibly patient as this project has been years in the making. Later in the term when all areas are up and running, we will have an open day, inviting the local community to ‘come and try’

This evening will see our Annual General Meeting take place at 6pm in the Hall and parents/caregivers are welcome to attend. This will be the last official meeting of the 2022 School Board and I thank all of our dedicated Board Members for the time and wisdom over the year. I especially wish to thank Francis Ben and Leath Margrie for their wonderful service as they vacate positions on the Board.  As we received enough nominations to fill the vacant positions a community vote will not be required.  The 2023 School Board will be announced at our AGM this evening.

At 6:30pm following the AGM in the Hall, the teaching staff will be introduced and parents and caregivers invited to go to the learning spaces for a short information session at 6:40pm with the class teacher.  These sessions will be repeated at 7:10pm for families with more than one child at school.

Prior to school returning, Reception to Year 6 teachers engaged in professional learning with Bill Hansberry and Linda Clune from Playberry/Laser where we focused on the research behind the science of reading and the practical application in a learning environment.  Whilst our early years learners have already been taking a multi-sensory and explicit approach to learning reading and spelling for a couple of years now, this approach will now extend across our school for all learners.

Students across Reception to Year 6 will soon undergo some one-on-one and whole group assessments to provide us information about several their reading skills such as their ability to recognise and name letters, sounds and blends, their level of reading fluency and their reading comprehension. This will give us a baseline from which to measure progress across the year.

Through the InitialLit program in Reception and the Playberry/Laser program in Year 1-6, students will experience explicit teaching to build their:

• phonological awareness (recognising the smaller components in words) 
• phonemic awareness (recognising the individual sounds in the spoken word), and
• phonics skills (recognising that letters represent the sounds in print)

This learning will be multi-sensory, engaging auditory (listening), oral (speaking) and written processes.

Students in the early stages of learning to read will use decodable reading texts.  This means they will take home only one or two readers per week to reinforce the sounds and letter blends that have been explicitly taught.  As these texts are often very short and simple, they will also be encouraged to take home other reading material from the library which can be read together or listened to with their parents.

An opportunity for parents to come along and hear more about how we teach reading and spelling will be provided on the evening of February 28th from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm in the School Hall.  This will be facilitated by Linda Clune of Playberry Laser, who is a specialist dyslexia teacher.  This short information session will be of particular interest to parents of early readers but is available for all parents/caregivers to come along and find out more.

This year when we are celebrating Mass in our school hall the students will be facing the OSHC glass doors. The reason for this is we are trying to teach our students the appropriate behaviour when attending Mass which is different than when they attend an assembly. We will also be playing a song – The Blessing Australia – to remind students that they are about to participate in a Mass. We ask if you are attending a school Mass you to take the time to be quiet and reverent as well.

The focus of this term is understanding why, as a Catholic school, we are called to care for creation. Students will have opportunities to connect with God through creation. They will learn about Laudato Si, unpacking its key messages and identifying ways they can show their faith in Action

Now that students are grounded in the ‘why’ of sustainability, they will now take this learning deeper and undertake a project-based unit. In this unit, they will explore ways that they can incorporate and strengthen already established sustainability initiatives at the school. This will incorporate links to STEM.

Using CESA’s Limitless Framework and resources, students will learn more about Social Entrepreneurship and how this links with their growing capabilities as an Ecological Leader. They will develop a project whereby they demonstrate social entrepreneurship in action, linking back to key learnings from Term 1 and continuing to reflect on their growing capabilities.

This term will focus on creating a whole school strategy for sustainability incorporating all of the learnings from Terms 1-3. There will be opportunities to connect with the local community and parish and create sustainable actions showing care for our common home. A whole school ‘One Earth Day’ will be developed showing the school’s commitment to whole school change.

Our focus will be the garden area in front of the Parish house. This is an exciting project and an opportunity for students to develop skills and knowledge they can use beyond their school life.

In the Year 1/2 classrooms, we have a new class member... he is our Kindness Buddy. He is watching over us and catching those people who are being kind. 

In 1/2 RM our Kindness Buddy is called Rocco. 

In 1/2SW he is called Big Foot. 

In 1/2B he is called Dippy. 

Last week, Hamish was named Kindness Kid for 1/2B. Congratulations Hamish. We look forward to sharing more from our kindness buddy in the future. 

Students are invited and encouraged to participate in extracurricular sport throughout 2023 - representing St Joseph's School, Hindmarsh.

This year we are offering:

🏀 Basketball - Rec to Yr 6

🏐 Netball - Rec to Yr 6

⚽ Soccer - Rec to Yr 6

🏐 Volleyball - Yrs 4 to 6

✅ Registrations now openThe first game will begin in Week 4 - so to help us with registrations, we ask if families can complete the form by Friday 10th February.

If you're interested in joining any of these school teams, head to our Form Library to read more about it and complete the After School Sports form.

👉 Visit our Form Library to submit your form.

Sacred Heart Parish, Hindmarsh-Findon warmly welcomes you to continue the faith journey of your child/children through the celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation. 

If you'd like to learn more about the Sacramental Program, attend our upcoming Parent Information session.

 📅 Date: Tuesday, 14th February

 🕢 Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm  

📍 Location: St Michael’s College (Primary Campus) in the Chapel, 78 East Ave, Beverley

 🟧 Reminder: Only one parent per family can attend this session.

 🟥 Registrations close: Friday, 24th February 2023

If you feel your child is ready to prepare for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist, please head to our Form Library on our website and complete the form 👇

✉️ If you have any questions please contact our APRIM Katie Downie, kdownie@sjsh.catholic.edu.au   

👉 Visit our Form Library to submit your form.

In weeks 1 & 2 of Term 1, we will hold choir "Come and Try" sessions, with an opportunity for all Year 5 & 6 students to come along and see if they would be interested in joining the choir for the year.

🎤 The Performance will take place at the Adelaide Festival Centre from Tuesday 26th - Friday 29th September. Our school will be performing on one of these nights which will be announced closer to the day.

If your child would like to join the choir, can you please assist them to complete the attached agreement and return it by Friday 10th February at the latest.

✉️ If you have any questions please contact our Performing Arts Teacher Reanna Arthur, rart@sjsh.catholic.edu.au 

👉 Visit our Form Library to submit your form.

This year we're offering:

🎹 Piano

🎸 Guitar (Classical, Electric, Bass, Ukulele)

🥁 Drums

🎻 Violin/Cello

🎼 Flute

🎺 Trumpet or Trombone

✉️ If you have any questions please contact our Performing Arts Teacher Reanna Arthur, rart@sjsh.catholic.edu.au 

👉 Visit our Form Library to submit your form.

Please complete and return the ICT user agreement as soon as possible.

It is a requirement that this agreement is signed and returned prior to students accessing any ICT equipment.

👉 Visit our Form Library to submit your form.

Have you submitted your childs/ren Student Multiple Consent Form?

👉 If you haven't done so already, please head to our Form Library to submit your form.

At the end of last year a 2023 Back to School Information Sheet went home with your child's report pack.

It included the name of your child's teacher and important dates for 2023. This information helps the teachers get to know your child, read their aspirations and what their goals will be for the year. 

👉 Please take the time to scan the QR code or 🔗 follow this link and complete the Parent Questionnaire at your earliest convenience.