NEWSLETTER

On March 19th, we celebrated St. Joseph’s Day. The whole school gathered at church for a special Mass, and afterwards, we treated ourselves to delicious chocolate donuts. The fun didn’t stop there! After recess, we teamed up with our buddy class for an exciting activity that everyone loved. It was a day full of celebration, smiles, and St. Joseph’s Day spirit!

Catholic Identity

The season of Lent lasts for forty days and is a reflective time of fasting, prayer, and penance in the lead up to Easter. The official liturgical colour for the season of Lent is violet. During Lent, our school has been participating in Project Compassion which is Caritas Australia’s annual Lenten fundraising and awareness-raising appeal bringing thousands of Australians together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. This year the theme for Project Compassion is “Unite Against Poverty”. Classes have had the opportunity to share stories that reflect this year’s theme. These inspiring stories tell how the lives of people in need have changed through our schools’ support of Caritas Australia's development programs.

Curriculum News

I have included two mathematical tasks which you might like to have a go at with your child/children.

This week’s Mathematical tasks:

Reception to Year 3

How many different ways can you make 11?

Years 4-6

I am thinking of a number where the digits go even, odd, even, odd etc. When I add all the digits together, the total is 20. What could my number be?

Happy inquiry.

Children develop their reading skills, knowledge and understanding by reading regularly. Below are some strategies you might like to try at home to support your children’s learning:

• Encourage and model reading in the home
• Listen to your child read their reading material and ask specific questions related to what they have read
• Read with your child
• Share what you are reading with your child
• Read your child a bedtime story
• Talk to your child about the different situations you find yourself in whereby you are required to read texts.

Happy reading.

Teaching and Learning Updates:

Inclusive Education - L Moody

Class teachers have been developing/updating a Personalised Plan for Learning (PPL) for all our children with a disability who require accommodations or modifications in class.  Accommodations may include support staff, more time to complete work, sitting at the front for instructions or adapted equipment.  Teachers will discuss the PPLs with parents during the Inclusive Education review meetings which commenced last week.

Several external specialists are working with our students under NDIS funding. We ask that these OTs and Speech Therapists make regular contact with the students’ classroom teachers so that we can maximise support effectiveness.

Currently, we have several specialist programs for targeted students. These include the Dyslexia Support Program with Melissa Strudwick, Lego Club, The Listening Program, Nimble Nippers Coordination Program, Speech Program and the Literacy Intervention Program.

English as an Additional Language Dialect (EALD) - T Pfeiffer

At St. Joseph’s School, we are committed to understanding and targeting the learning needs of every student. 2025 Targeted learning programs to support children identified during assessment as needing further support in English have begun. Assessments continually inform teachers of student progress and areas to target, with learning programs created for students based on individual needs.

In Week 0 the Early Years teachers created learning groups using the results from an Assessment called Dibels. This assessment is based around 5 one-minute tests in Reading. We use this test from Reception to Year 3.

Literacy small group interventions have begun, and children are being supported in Oral Language, Reading and Writing.

Dyslexia Support Program - M Strudwick

This year, the Dyslexia Support Program is run each Thursday. Eleven students have again continued from last year with the Playberry Multisensory Literacy program. These are students with Dyslexia and other learning difficulties. Two students in Year 2 and 3 will continue with a modified UFLI Literacy program to align with their classroom. This is providing students with more repetition and practice to help them in class.

Students have a 30 minute lesson each Thursday, followed by 30 minutes with ESO (Education Support officer) Jan James during the week to continue the program. ESO, Tran Dang also takes the students for 10 minutes, where she practices their sound and rule cards and decodable book.

The program started in Week 1, with students eagerly attending the lesson. This year, 3/4H, 4/5P and 5/6S will continue with the spelling words to align with the program. This has been highly successful for the students. Continual discussions with the teachers also allow us to cater for their needs or modify it if necessary. Other students can then also access the spelling program. The use of decodable books has assisted students in their reading. More decodable reading books will be purchased for our Year 1- 6 students to access.

It is fantastic to see the students succeeding and gaining confidence in their reading and spelling. Collaboration with staff has helped us put in place structures and strategies to support students within the school.

2025 NAPLAN Testing

NAPLAN Testing for our Year 3 and Year 5 children took place on Wednesday March 12, Thursday March 13 and Tuesday March 18. All NAPLAN testing was conducted online apart from the Year 3 Writing Test which was a paper test. NAPLAN is a nationally developed program that provides schools, states and territories with information about how education programs are working and what areas need to be prioritised for improvement. NAPLAN tests are administered simultaneously in all schools across Australia and the content of the tests are aligned to the Australian Curriculum; English and Mathematics. NAPLAN Tests are just one of many assessments conducted at our school.  NAPLAN test results will be made available to the school and the families of participating children in Term 2.

Parent-Teacher Learning Conversations - Week Beginning Monday March 24

Parents have been invited to book a time with their child/children’s classroom teacher to discuss wellbeing, support currently in place and learning. Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions, seek clarification and have input into the conversation. Please contact the front office if you haven’t received your invitation to book a conversation time online.

St. Joseph’s Feast Day - Wednesday March 19

As a whole school we celebrated the feast day of St Joseph on Wednesday March 19. We began the day by celebrating Mass as a whole school in the parish Church. This was followed by a range of fun activities held throughout the day with classes buddying up with each other creating the opportunity for older children to work with and support younger children across the school. Children were also treated to a free donut on the day.

In addition, the St Joseph House (yellow team) will lead a whole school liturgy focused on St Joseph as part of our communal prayer on Friday March 28.

Pupil Free Day - Friday March 21

Our staff will be involved in professional learning facilitated by Autism SA, focusing on working with children on the autism spectrum. As this is a whole staff day, Mieke Vandenbos and the OSHC staff will join us and as a result OSHC will not be available on Friday March 21.

Sports Day - Thursday May 1

Sport Day this year will once again be held at the Port Adelaide Athletics Club.

Student Social Wellbeing and Restorative Practice

Children and young people’s ability to understand others and take their needs and views into account develops over time. Young children are naturally self-focused. They often play beside, rather than with, other children and tend to think that everyone sees things the same way that they do. In early primary school, children learn that others may see things differently from them. Then, as their thinking skills develop, children and young people are more able to understand another person’s point of view and, ?nally, to appreciate multiple ways of looking at the same event or situation. 

Teaching children how to put themselves in someone else’s shoes helps them to relate better to others and manage con?ict more effectively. It promotes caring, respect and fairness. Research shows that children and young people who’ve learnt to value others are more likely to include and appreciate people who are different from them or who are viewed negatively by others.

We use Restorative Practices to support children when they are in conflict with one another. A teacher or member of the leadership team will conduct a Restorative Conversation which involves asking the following 5 questions, allowing all those involved to share their view of what took place while also listening to the views of others:

• What Happened?
• What were you thinking?
• Who has been effected/upset?
• What needs to happen to make things better?
• What needs to happen if there is a repeat of this behaviour?

At this point in the conversation the teacher or leader may decide to work through the definitions of Rude, Mean and Bullying to determine where the behaviour sits:

Rude:When someone says or does something unintentionally hurtful, and they do it once.

Mean:When someone says or does something intentionally hurtful, and they do it once.

Bullying:When someone says or does something intentionally hurtful, and they keep doing it even when they are asked to stop.

At this point the teacher or leader will draw from those impacted that they would like the behaviour to stop and emphasise to those displaying the behaviour that if it continues, it becomes Bullying and that is when their parents will become involved. The conversation is also documented for future reference if required.

From my 35 years’ experience of working in schools, the behaviour almost always stops here as children do not like to be labelled as bullies.

For the Restorative Practice process to work, it is important that children inform a teacher or a member of the leadership if they feel upset over something that has occurred at school.

To learn more about how you can help support the wellbeing of your children visit Be You (formerly Beyond Blue). The website provides a range of resources and ideas to support the mental health and wellbeing of our young people. I encourage you to visit the website at https://beyou.edu.au/and have a look for yourself.

Term 3 Preschool and Reception Intake

St. Joseph’s School will once again have a Pre-school and Reception intake at the start of Term 3 this year. Our Term 3 new Pre-school children will replace those moving into Reception as part of our Term 3 Reception intake. The criteria for starting Pre-school or Reception on the first day of school in Term 3 is that a child will have turned 4 (Pre-school) or 5 (Reception) between 1 May and 31 October in that year. During Term 2 we will hold three transition visit mornings for our new Pre-school and Reception children with the aim of supporting their new start.

Kiss and Drop Zone Speed Limit 10km per Hour.

A reminder that the school Kiss and Drop Zone along Rosewater Terrace has a speed limit of 10km per hour. Please ensure you observe the speed limit when using the Kiss and Drop Zone as this is an area where children are entering and exiting the school in large numbers.

A reminder also that the school Kiss and Drop Zone is not a place to park your car if you need to enter the school grounds as this holds up all incoming and outgoing traffic. It also leads to children exiting their cars on Rosewater Terrace and having to manoeuvre between traffic, raising further safety concerns. If you need to come into the school grounds, parking is available along Rosewater Terrace and on Ina Avenue.

Thank you in anticipation of your support with these important safety matter.

21^st Pupil Free Day - OSHC CLOSED

24^th, 25^th, 26^th Parent Teacher Conversations