This term we will once again hold our Family Fun Night. The event will take place in the school grounds on Friday December 6 commencing at 5:30pm. Members of our Parents and Friends will work alongside APRIM Simon McCullough to plan for and prepare the evening. Further details about the event will be distributed to families closer to the time. I encourage you to put this date into your diaries. 

Friday November 15 will be a Pupil Free Day. On this day all staff will be involved in Professional Learning focusing on developing a Shared Vision for Learning reflective of the Living Learning Leading Framework which was launched by Catholic Education SA in January this year. In addition staff will develop an Action Plan around Ecological Conversion in line with our sustainability focus across the school. What is developed on this day will become a key driver of teaching and learning across the school in 2020 and beyond. OSHC will be available for families who require the service on this day. Bookings are essential so please see Mieke if you need to make a booking.

St Joseph's Got Talent Show photo 2.

Our 2019 NAPLAN results arrived this week with children's results being sent home to parents and carers on Wednesday September 18. Our NAPLAN results continue to reinforce the strength of our Targeted Teaching Literacy and Numeracy programs across the school. 100% of our Year 3 and 5 children participated in the testing with 100% of Year 3 and 5 children achieving the National Minimal Standard for Reading, Writing, Spelling and Numeracy. 17 of 18 Year 3s achieved the National Minimal Standard for Grammar and Punctuation while 18 of 19 Year 5s achieved the National Minimal Standard for Grammar and Punctuation. 39% of our Year 5 children achieved High Growth in their NAPLAN Reading results between Year 3 and Year 5. This compares to the National average of 25%. This once again reinforces the strength of our Targeted Teaching Literacy Program and the great work classroom teachers, education support officers and in particular Louise Moody is doing in her role as Leader of Teaching and Learning/Inclusive Education Coordinator/EAL Teacher. Our overall Student Mean Score in all areas of NAPLAN has improved over the past 3 years. 72% of our families speak a language other than English at home while we have a significant number of children who we make Supplementary or Substantial adjustments to their classroom learning programs. It is important to always remember as with any form of summative assessment (testing) that the results demonstrate how children performed on a given day, with a given circumstance in a structured environment. The results should always be considered as being indicative of their performance rather than a definitive account of the testing. Having said this our 2019 NAPLAN results are very encouraging and worthwhile celebrating.