Week 4, Term 1 2025

We are already at Week 4 of the school term and quality learning is well underway in all preschool and school classes now that students have adjusted to their new teachers, classmates and routines.

School staff were commissioned for the 2025 school year by the Sacred Heart Parish community at Mass on Sunday morning. St Joseph’s School is one of five school in the Hindmarsh/Findon Catholic Parish, and we are pleased to have had an opportunity to be formally blessed and commissioned in our educational vocation.

Thank you so much to families who attended our recent AGM of the School Board. I wish to acknowledge Andrea Boseley who presented the Parents and Friends report, Jo Puccetti who presented the Finance Report, and Craig Costello whose report was tabled as he was unable to be in attendance. Please find a copy of our 2024 AGM Report here.

Following this event parents moved to classrooms to our Meet the Teacher sessions. Here at St Joseph’s, we believe that school and family collaboration is essential to successful spiritual, academic and developmental growth of our students. Our Meet the Teacher sessions are one of the ways we work to foster this partnership. We have noted over the past few years that not all parents attend these sessions. If you have any feedback on the timing or other reasons that prevent you from engaging, please reach out so that we can continue to strive to make this important event accessible for all. My direct email is mfarrugia@sjsh.catholic.edu.au or else catch me in the yard before or after school!

As a part of their learning program, our Year 5 and 6 students have this week attended a 3-day camp at El Shaddai in Wellington. As one of the staff members in attendance, I was thrilled to see the way our senior students engaged in the activities with a positive mindset and resilience, giving their best and engaging collaboratively with their peers and instructors. I would particularly like to acknowledge our staff members in attendance, Jessica Taormina, Jemma O’Neil, Matthew Baird, Danielle Dedic, Celine Grandioso and Joshua Rouse. Each of these staff members took time away from their own family life to provide this opportunity for our students. I can vouch for how tiring it is to be responsible for close to 60 students for 24 hours a day! I would also like to acknowledge our newest student, Alannah in Year 5, who joined our school on the Friday before attending camp on the Monday! School camp provides a wonderful, fun opportunity for our students to grow their character strengths of bravery, perseverance, teamwork and zest, as well as build skills of independence.

Thanks to Gail Smith, parent of Isla and Erin, who has volunteered to support the Children’s University program this year and thus we are once again able to facilitate this wonderful opportunity which will be open to children from Year 3 – 6 only. Following registration and payment, your child will receive a Learning Passport and, as a family, you can then record activities linked to Children’s University that your child does outside of school to accumulate hours towards your learning passport. Children who accumulate at least 30 hours across the year are then eligible to ‘graduate’ from Children’s University which occurs onsite at the University of Adelaide! Find out more about the Learning Destinations here. Registrations are now open for 2025 directly with Children’s University via this link 2025 CU Membership Registration Form. Once registered, we ask you to pay the annual fee via the QKR app and the school will make the final registration payment to CU.

The annual fee for 2025 remains the same and is $38.50 per member. A Passport is included in a member’s first year only with any replacement Passport incurring a fee of $7.70. Please note that membership fees for School Card Holders will remain at $16.50 per member also.

See Gail’s message as CU Coordinator, later in this newsletter.

Graziella Panazzolo has resigned her position as Assistant OSHC Director. Graziella, who has been on leave since late 2023, began with the service in 2022 and contributed significantly to our OSHC service over that time. Graziella, in her time as a parent in our community, was instrumental in our Parents and Friends group, assisting in both coordinating events and in catering for them with her delicious creations. We wish Graziella all the very best for her future endeavours.

Please be mindful of road signs when parking nearby our school. There is a sign out the front of 42 Albemarle Street (opposite our school) that disallows parking unless you are a permit holder. The resident has informed us that she regularly arrives home around 3pm to find that she cannot access her park due to our families parking there.

Also be reminded that Kiss and Drop zones on Albemarle and Bertie Street are not for parking and families should only be using this area is their children are able to enter and

exit the car independently. If the indented area is congested, please drive on and around the block rather than blocking up the roadway by waiting in line. We appreciate your courtesy and patience during those few minutes of high demand time at the beginning and end of the school day.

The leadership team, along with our Visible Wellbeing Coordinator, Stephanie Iannotti,  look forward to welcoming families at the first session of this course next Wednesday 26 February at 6:30pm.  It is not too late to register!  Make your booking for this 3 part workshop at this link. 

Once again, we will host a Come and Play Day, particularly for families who may be considering St Joseph’s School and Preschool for their child’s education. This event will take place on Saturday 22 March between 10:30am and 1:30pm. If you would like to come along and help to promote our school to the wider community by assisting with activities or refreshment sales, please let me know via email: mfarrugia@sjsh.catholic.edu.au.  

To celebrate Lunar New Year, the Preschool Blue children shared their family traditions and celebrations. We read stories and information books and watched videos of Lion and Dragon dances together.

After watching a video of some children making their own dragon, the children got to work creating their own dragon to display in our class. Children had free reign on what resources they used to create. We had textas, crayons, pencils, feathers, glue, sticky tape, masking tape, paper plates and lavender from the garden.

As the children worked, they spread out along the dragon’s body and then a small group branched out to create the face. We saw wonderful collaboration as the children created a dragon to display.

Chaplaincy will continue at St Joseph’s School this year. I am happy to let you know that I will continue in my role, coming to engage with the school community each Tuesday. School Chaplaincy plays a crucial role in supporting the spiritual, emotional, and moral development of students in a faith-based educational environment. My intention is to continue to support families and staff by providing pastoral care, offering a listening ear, spiritual guidance, and care to students, staff, and families.

One of my responsibilities as chaplain, is to support the community in promoting a culture of respect, kindness and service, helping to create a compassionate and supportive environment where we can all grow and find strength and purpose in our daily lives.

It's a privilege for me to build relationships with individual students, small groups, classes, staff and parents. I am respectful of the individuality of all those I get to work with.

Please don’t hesitate to come up for a chat when you see me around or contact the school if you would like to meet with me.

Margaret Speechley