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