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Messages From Don
St Joseph’s School Renmark Term 3 Week 8 ~ 11th September 2015
www.sjsr.catholic.edu.au
Respect Safety Learning Trust
Dear St Joseph’s School Families,
As I write my last newsletter for the term and prepare
for my leave over the next two weeks, I welcome some
much needed family time but know that the school will
be in very good hands. I wish Michael, Ruth and Susan
all the best with their leadership during this time and
know that they will be well supported by our excellent
staff.
Eva Wheatley Special Assembly:
This was a very humbling experience. As a parent and
as our Principal, I had the upmost respect and
admiration for Eva’s family, Sharleigh, Don and Isabel.
I was also very proud of Mrs Luxton and her students
for their powerful participation. We were all filled
with many feelings and emotions. Eva has taught us all
many valuable life lessons which we hope will make us
reflect on our own lives and make us all better people.
Marbles:
As parents do we remember the traditional games that
we played at school? Dominoes, Jacks etc. With the
help of our Year 7s, Dain and Connor, the game of
marbles has recently found its way back at our school.
We have seen positive interaction with many students
engaging in this fun filled game. However, we have
been confronted with numerous challenges. We have
had tears. We have had to negotiate, establish rules
and mediate discussions. We have had to teach winning
and losing, making rules, team work etc. We have
talked about resilience and accepting losing. We have
seen honourable acts of generosity and care for
others. The learning outcomes have been
extraordinary, but it has been hard work. In today’s
society, our children are spending more and more
time with solitary, technology driven play and may
miss the opportunities to develop skills and knowledge
necessary for functioning in the adult world. At St
Joseph’s the staff are committed to continue to work
with the students to work through these challenges
and continue to teach real life lessons.
Humanitarian Refugee Crisis in Europe:
Over the past few weeks, we have seen some very
disturbing images of the refugee crisis in Europe.
The United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR,
estimates that 366,402 refugees and migrants have
crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe this year,
with 2,800 dead or missing. This week Pope Francis
and Bishop Greg have implored all Catholic
institutions to show mercy to the flood of refugees.
As a Catholic School we are called to show care and
concern for others and be better neighbours to those
in desperate need. We pray that Australia can adopt
a bipartisan approach to this unfolding tragedy and
respond to the call of the many families whose lives
have been changed forever.
Operation Christmas Child—Shoe Boxes of Love:
This year our school will again be participating in
Operation Christmas Child to show our care and
compassion for children living in poverty stricken
countries. Each class (and the staff) will have two
shoeboxes, one for a girl and one for a boy. These
Eva Wheatley’s family accepting our donations Students learning ‘Real Life Lessons’ with marbles
boxes will be filled with gifts over the next four
weeks and then sent off to be delivered to a child
at Christmas time.
Every year millions of children around the world are touched by the power of a simple gift... a simple gift-filled shoebox that is a warm and real expression of God's unconditional love for a child in need. More than 100 million shoeboxes have been packed and sent to kids in need around the world since Operation Christmas Child began in 1993.
What is involved? Each class and the staff will be
looking for donations of new items for a girl and a
boy to add to their shoebox. The collection period
will be from now until the end of term, as we need
to send them off in October to ensure that they
will reach the children by Christmas.
The suggested gifts to donate for the boxes
include:
Something to LOVE
Something for PERSONAL HYGIENE
Something to WEAR
Something for SCHOOL
Something to PLAY WITH
Something SPECIAL
National Child Protection Week:
National Child Protection Week aims to engage and
educate all Australians to understand they have a
part to play in keeping our children and young
people safe from violence, abuse and neglect. At
St Joseph’s, we support and promote community-
led prevention. Our priority is the safety and
wellbeing of our students and we believe that by
working together with the wider community we will
help protect children and young people. Please read
the two inserts, Cybersafety and Protective
Practices which are included in this newsletter.
The week will conclude with Mass this Sunday
where the focus will be on reminding our whole
community about protecting our children. We are
encouraged to attend and support this most
important cause.
Class Lists for 2016:
Parents who wish to request consideration for
their child’s placement in classes for 2016 are to
submit their requests in writing to me outlining
sound educational reasoning for the request. All
requests must be submitted by the end of this
term. Requests regarding specific teachers or the
type of class structure will not be considered.
Class structures and the placement of teachers
into teaching roles is the responsibility of the
school. Whilst every educational based request is
considered, not all requests will be able to be met,
given the complex needs of our school community.
Father’s Day Breakfast:
I must acknowledge the fantastic support that
was displayed at our recent P&F (Parents and
Friends) Father’s Day Breakfast. We again had
excellent numbers which highlights another
dimension of what P&F is all about. The amazing
success was felt in the positive vibe that was
experienced and the meaningful discussion and
interaction that was shared. The goal was to
highlight the value that dads have on the lives of
their children and to show that parenting is a
shared responsibility. The feedback was fantastic
and I personally thank everyone for their
involvement and look forward to sharing more
experiences with the dads of our community.
Children happy to receive Shoe Boxes of Love The refugee crisis in Syria
L-R: Breea Martinson, Tammy Tran, Colby Lawton,
Paige Vause, Zaide Seekamp-Hannagan, Ryan Ranford,
Allira Sweetman, Lachlan Wittwer & Sasha Jenke.
Star Student Awards presented at our recent assembly
L-R: Harrison Keynes, Nick Demou, Dino Atsaves,
Sukhraj Gill, Brodie Hunt, Madison Young, Sophie
Robertson & Blake Barton.
Special thanks to Keiren, Derek and Andrew for
cooking and to Lynny and all the staff for their help
and support.
Sensory Garden:
Our Sensory Garden is certainly progressing well. I
wish to thank the many families and staff who have
volunteered there time and services. I also wish to
acknowledge our local Mitre 10 who are generously
supporting the materials for our pergola. We look
forward to sharing the final stages in the coming
weeks.
New Family:
I wish to welcome Darren, Teresa, Heath and Brett
Baker to our school. We wish them well as they
start their education journey in our St Joseph’s
Community.
It is certainly an appropriate time for a change
from our Winter to Summer uniform! From now
until the end of term, there will be a changeover
time where children can wear either Summer or
Winter uniform. From the start of Term 4, all
children need to be wearing their Summer uniform.
I wish everyone all the best as we cheer on our
footy teams in the upcoming finals. Good luck to
footy grandfinalists, Darren Bright and the U13’s
and also to Matty Martinson and the B Grade. I
also congratulate Jack James with his win in the on-
line P&F footy tipping contest and thank all
competitors for participating. I hope many will join
me again next year. Go Swans!
Regards
Don DePalmal
Renmark Rose
Mr DePalma with Brett
and Heath Baker.
Brett is Year 2 in Miss
Allen’s class and Heath
is Year 5 in Mr
Luxton’s class.
Shshsh, go Crows!!
RELIGIOUS IDENTITY & MISSION
Child Protection Sunday 12th September:
In the context of Child Protection Sunday we are
provided with an opportunity to reflect on the words
of Pope Francis who in a letter written on 2nd
February 2015 to the Presidents of the Episcopal
Conferences and Superiors of Religious Institutes
stated that “Families need to know that the Church
is making every effort to protect their children.
They should also know that they have every right to
turn to the Church with full confidence, for it is a
safe and secure home.”
What part do we play in this ‘shared responsibility’
of working to ensure the Church is a safe and secure
community? In the Australian context through Child
Protection Week and in particular this Sunday we are
asked to be ‘someone who listens to children’,
someone who will start a conversation with children
and if needed, be that someone whom children will
turn to when in need.
St Joseph’s School Renmark and Our Lady of the
River Catholic Parish are committed to ensuring our
school and our Church are places safe and secure for
all children and that we all will be “someone who listens to children”. For further information please visit http://
napcan.org.au/ncpw/
Child Protection Curriculum:
This curriculum highlights that everyone is
responsible for making the future safe and secure
for all children. Classes throughout the year engage
in learning based on the Child Protection Curriculum,
with the religious dimension including themes such
as:
God’s love is revealed to us in and through
relationships with others.
Humans are deserving of the utmost dignity
and honour.
We are intrinsically good.
We are gifted by God with free will.
Human beings are relational and are called to
love.
Each person is unique.
The human body is sacred.
We are called to be moral.
Everyone has the right to be safe from
harm.
Sexuality is a gift from God.
The four focus areas in the Child Protection
Curriculum are:
The Right To Be Safe
Relationships
Recognising and Reporting Abuse
Protective Strategies
These complement the learning within Religious
Education, including ‘‘Made In the Image of
God’ (MITIOG), KidsMatter and Health and
Physical Education, as well as being given their
own focus within the life of our school.
SHOE BOXES OF LOVE:
The school is again involved in the Shoe Boxes of
Love program. Families are asked to support this
initiative. We are encouraging each child to bring
in at least one item to be added to their class
box. You have until Monday 19th October to
participate in the program. Your support is
greatly appreciated and will change the life of a
child.
Susan Frawley
Parish Connections
As part of the St Therese Feast Day on Sunday
the 18th of October we are hoping to present a
photographic timeline of the Parish and School.
To create this we are asking members of our
school and parish community to bring in
photographs to the front office they wish to
share with us.
STUDENT WELLBEING
KIDSMATTER CHAMPION:
Our Newest KidsMatter Champion is Ayden
Schloithe. Ayden received his award for showing
excellent resilience in the yard, always enjoying
himself and brushing off minor problems. As well
as always being polite, positive and caring to
others. Well Done Ayden!
INSIDE OUT MOVIE:
This term classes have been learning all about
feelings and emotions in their Social and
Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons. Students have
been learning how to:
Understand what causes feelings.
Predict situations likely to trigger certain
feelings.
Identify feelings in themselves and others
(physical/behavioural signs).
Find constructive ways to deal with feelings.
For this reason and also to reward students for
the great work they have been doing this term.
The KidsMatter Action Team have organised for
the whole school to go to Chaffey Theatre to
watch the movie Inside Out on Thursday the 24th
of September at 9:30am. This will be provided
free of charge to all students.
Inside Out is a great movie that explores the
feelings and emotions people experience and ties
in wonderfully with the work being done in classes.
AMAZING RESILIENCE FORUM:
We invite all parents/carers and family members
to the Community Forum to hear Andrew Fuller
talk about building resilience and the part we all
have to play in this (see info on the left).
This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from an
amazing speaker and one of Australia’s leading
Child Psychologists on a topic that is so relevant to
our children today.
Don’t miss this opportunity!
Andrew is entertaining and very “down to earth”.
We guarantee that you will find his session
enjoyable, very interesting and thought provoking.
There are a limited number of tickets available. To
guarantee your place go to the link on the flyer or
come into the front office and register your
interest.
For more information come in and see your child’s
teacher.
Tony Luxton, Amy Thompson
& The KidsMatter Team
STUDENT LEARNING
Premier’s Reading Challenge
We have had a record 165
students complete the
Premier’s Reading Challenge
for 2015. Congratulations to all
of those students. All outstanding forms must be
returned ASAP. Challenge Cup points will be
announced next week. The awards and medals will
be presented next term.
Choir visits Aged Care
STUDENT FREE DAY on
Wednesday 16th September due to Staff Professional Development.
Out of Hours School Care (OHSC) is available. Please contact Nicole for arrangements 8586 4481
This replaces our normal SFD of first day of Term 4.
Therefore, Term 4 will start on
Monday 12th October.
THRASS
We had a visit from our THRASS consultant, Pete recently.
He worked with teachers and students in evaluating where
we are all at in THRASS and what the next step is in the
process of continual improvement.
The residents at our Aged Care Facility really
enjoyed a recent visit from our Choir. Well done to
all the students and thank you to Mrs Ruth Daws
for her leadership and taking them.
Eva’s family visit
Physical Education
Year 5/6 Ultimate Frisbee:
On Wednesday the 9th of
September the Year 5/6 classes
went to the Renmark Soccer
oval to play a round robin
Ultimate Frisbee tournament.
We would like to say a big
thankyou to Kieran Johnson and
Mr John Pick who came with us
and helped umpire and also filled
in when required.
State Rep: Congratulations to Isabella
Cant who competed in Melbourne at the
National Cross Country Championships.
Izzy finished 4th in Australia (first for
SA) in a field of 35 runners. She finished
with a time of 8.24, a personal best over
2000m, just 14 seconds from the lead.
Izzy was also part of the South Australian
relay team that finished in first place.
Well done Izzy!
Pogo Pulse: 22 Students have been training really enthusiastically on a Tuesday ond Wednesday morning
and Friday afternoon in the lead up to the Pogo-thon. The students have been working hard on their
endurance and learning new skills. We have many students who are able to jump with one or no hands, skip,
shoot basketball goals and jump hurdles while on their pogo sticks. If you would like to see our great skills,
feel free to come and watch on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8.30am-8.50am. We would also like
to invite our community to our Pogo-thon on Friday the 16th of October, which is national bounce back day
which is raising awareness for resilience .
Year 1/2/3 Footba l l :
Students participated in a mini
Football carnival recently as
part of their PE program.
Great fun was had by all.
Raffle tickets:
Please continue to send in your sold (or unsold)
books so we can finalise before the end of Term.
Thank you for once again supporting this easy fund
raising activity for your child’s school.
Footy Tipping:
After a great season of fine tipping it all came
down to the last round to sort out the best from
the rest. Our overall winner with a grand total of
Parents & Friends Community
COMMUNITY
Volunteers are required to assist in the
canteen for Term 2.
Wednesday 10.30-11.30am
Friday 9.00-9.45am
and/or Friday 10.30-11.30am
Please see Jami-Lee or Larissa if you
are able to support them in any way.
Thank you.
146 was Jack (UGOODTHINGS). Derek (Power
Surge) was second on 144 and it took until the
final round for Todd (Josh n Todd) to pull clear
for outright third. Thanks once again to
everyone who was involved. Please come into the
front office to collect your prize. Good luck to
your team if they are in the finals!
P&F Community
As you know, our school has been
participating in the Woolworths
Earn & Learn program. The
program has now finished for
this year, so a big thanks to
everyone who supported our
school. We're now at the
important stage of the program
where the Sticker Sheets are
collected and lodged as our Earn
& Learn claim. We will then be
able to get new educational
equipment for our school. The
more we collect, the more we
can redeem. So this week, please
send in your Woolworths Earn &
Learn Sticker Sheets and any
loose Earn & Learn stickers you
may have. Remember to check
your handbag, the car glove box
or they maybe stuck on the
fridge. Every little bit helps.
Thanks again for all your
support!
Woolies Stickers