Term 4 Week 9 Newsletter 2022

Dear Parents, Friends, Staff and Students of St Catherine’s,  

As we conclude the 2022 school year, I congratulate all our students for the incredible progress they have made throughout the year. Thankfully a distant memory now, but the start of 2022 looked very different to any other year of schooling we have experienced with some students being at school, whilst others started the first two weeks in a remote/ online learning mode. Despite the challenges of the year, every student has demonstrated growth in their learning, wellbeing, social capabilities and resilience. Helping students understand themselves as learners and supporting them to be the best learners they can be has been a strong focus at St Catherine's this year. 

Thank you to our parent community for your ongoing support of our school. I'd like to particularly acknowledge and thank Elise Campbell-Hand, our P&F chairperson for all she has contributed to our community this year. Elise has overseen the successful running of our Monday Tuck and Friday Lunch orders as well as coordinated fundraising events such as a bake stall at the Adelaide Hills Open Gardens weekend and our St Catherine's Quiz Night. I thank all the volunteers and our school community who have supported Elise with each of these services and events. Through these initiatives, we have surpassed our fundraising goal of $13000 which will be used to upgrade our outdoor play equipment. 

I'd also like to acknowledge the Adelaide Hills Catholic Parish for their ongoing support and partnership with our school community. Not only does Fr Fred visit each Tuesday to celebrate Mass or Liturgy, he makes every effort to join school celebrations throughout the year to talk with the students and families. Thank you Fr Fred. 

We have had an action packed last few weeks of the school year with several events and activities taking place. 

We welcomed our 2023 Reception students and their families . The children spent two mornings at St Catherine's, becoming familiar with their classroom spaces and teachers for next year. We look forward to these children joining our community and starting their learning journey with us. 

We celebrated our Italian language learning program through an Italian Day full of Italian games, activities and food. Thank you to our Italian teacher, Deanna Puliatti for coordinating this special day and our sincere thanks to our parent and grandparent volunteers for preparing the delicious pasta lunch for us all.  

Three of our year 6 students attended the Catholic Education Arch D Podcasting Awards held at Sacred Heart College. Congratulations to Elena, Allegra and Lily for creating a narrative style podcast which led to them being nominated for an award.  

The Christmas festivities started with a large group of St Catherine's students and families joining the Stirling Christmas Pageant, held in the main street of Stirling on Sunday 4th December. The theme of this year's pageant was 'A Planet Friendly Pageant.' Thank you to Janelle Stevenson for coordinating this event and to the many parent volunteers who helped with costume making and the construction of environmentally friendly musical instruments.  

We had great weather for our end of year school picnic held last week and it was wonderful to see so many families join us for a relaxed afternoon. The students did a fantastic job at singing carols, helping everyone enjoy the festive spirit of Christmas. 

We held a transition morning this week where all our students visited their 2023 classroom space and spent time with their new classmates and teachers.  

We celebrated our end or year Mass on Wednesday this week - a time of reflection and thanksgiving for the year. We also formally acknowledged and farewelled staff members Gaby O'Dwyer, Sonya Melhop, Lauren Mather, Mandy Herbert and Sumiko Davoli. Following Mass, we held our Graduation Assembly where we said goodbye to the Year 6 graduating class of 2022 and recognised their achievements this year. We were joined by Monsignor John Swann, the Honourable Josh Teague and Michael Bartlett (Representative for Rebekah Sharkie) who presented awards to our students. 

Congratulations to the Year 6 students who received the following awards: 

• Celine Smerdon Award – Clara  (Yr 5) 
• Monsignor John Swann Award – Lucille 
• Dominican Leadership Award - Isabella and Sebastian 
• Heysen Citizenship Award – Milly 
• Mayo Community Service Award - Saxon 
• St Catherine’s Year 6 Award – Lucy 

A year 6 graduation dinner followed in the evening, held at the beautiful Mt Lofty Summit Café. Thank you to Kerry Cornelius and Krystina Dawe for coordinating such a wonderful event to congratulate and celebrate our year 6 graduates. It was a privilege to listen to each student share, through their farewell speeches, their memories and experiences of their time at St Catherine's. Well done to all our graduating students. We wish you every success as you start the next chapter of school life at Secondary School.   

I hope the holiday break brings you a time of rest and relaxation and I pray that your Christmas is filled with hope, peace, love and joy surrounded by family and friends.  

Stay safe and we look forward to seeing students return to school on Monday 30th January. 

Merry Christmas. 

John Low
Principal

Christmas Blessings 

In the lead up to Christmas we have been acknowledging the weeks of Advent by taking part in a candle lighting celebration. Classes have explored the way in which we prepare for special events, the significance of liturgical colours and recognising the importance of being ready for the coming of Jesus. As we now move into the fourth week of Advent, with a focus on Love , we are reminded of God's love for the world. 

Nativity Play 

St Matthew's Parish in Bridgwater will be enacting the Nativity Story at the Christmas Vigil. We already have a number of students who are planning to be involved but anyone else interested is invited to attend a brief practice Thursday 22, December at 5 pm at St Matthew’s. All children attending the Vigil are invited to dress as angels/shepherds and to take part in the Nativity tableau.  Please contact Cathie catherineoswald@ozemail.com.au for more information. 

Catholic Charities Mass 

Our School Captains were invited to attend the Catholic Charities Thanksgiving Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral. They did an amazing job representing our school for the final time as School Captains and I continue to be amazed at the confidence and poise our students show at such events. We were very excited to also attend the exhibition afterwards to learn for about the different organisations affiliated with Catholic Charities. We look forward to continuing our work with Catholic Charities in 2023. 

Vinnies Christmas Appeal  

Thank you to everyone for your generosity in supporting The St Vinnie's Christmas Appeal. Paul from the Stirling Conference at St Vinnie's was pleased to drive away with a car overflowing with goodies ready to turning into food hampers for families in need. Every space in his car was filled and our School Captains were smiling from ear to ear with pride as they help gather the donated items. It is amazing to see our Faith in Action as we share our blessings with those who need our support at this time. 

End of Year Mass and Graduation 

On Wednesday morning, our whole school came together along with Fr Fred, to celebrate and give thanks to God for what was another busy, but wonderful year of learning at St Catherine’s School. Our theme for our End of Year Mass and celebrations was ‘Kind Hearts, Fierce Minds and Brave Spirits’. During the Mass, we celebrated highlights of our year and we also said a special farewell to our Year 6 Graduates for 2022. 

Our students in Year 6C officially graduated St Catherine’s School in front of their family members and our distinguished guests who assisted in the presentation of some special awards. Our year 5 students were also excited to receive their 2023 leadership candle which was lit for the first time as part of the handing over ceremony. 

We officially farewelled these students at the Graduation Dinner which was celebrated with their parents and St Catherine's School staff. Thank you to The Summit Café and Function Centre for once again hosting what was a fabulous event. The evening was absolutely fantastic and was a very fitting finish to a wonderful final year of their primary schooling. I would like to wish these students and their families every blessing for the Christmas season and for what lays ahead in 2023. 

Congratulations to our Year 6 students on their graduation.  

"Let your light shine before others" Matthew 5: 16 

Finally, as we now come to the end of another very busy year, I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas with family and friends. I also extend my thanks to the school community for their support throughout the year.  

Many Blessings,                                          

Krystina Dawe 
Assistant Principal, Religious Identity and Mission 
kdawe@stcaths.catholic.edu.au

Congratulations to the 37 students that competed in the annual SACPSSA Athletics Carnival this year on Monday 21st November. This year the Carnival was held at the very unfamiliar Bridgestone Stadium, Salisbury in very windy and difficult conditions for athletes.

Our school finished a very respectable second overall position competing in the section 3 Carnival this year against some very tough competition. A big thank you to Mrs Dawe and Mrs Cornelius for their help on the day and Mrs Cindy Tinnefield, Mrs Jane McCaffrey and Mrs Karina Sharp for their help officiating on the day.

Special mention to Hugo Gwynne who won the age champion medallion for the best year 6 boy in section 3 on the day. Our year 6 boys also won the overall year 6 pennant for most points in the year 6 age category.

Some commendable results on the day included:

Hugo – 1st Long Jump, 1st 100m, 1st 400m, 1st 200m,
Flynn – 1st 800m, 1st 400m, 1st Baton Relay (Flynn, Archie, Jasper, Alfie)
Lochie – 1st 800m, 4th 100m, 3rd 200m,1st Baton relay (Lochie, Hugo, Mack, Louis)
Phoebe – 2nd 800m, 4th 400m
Jasper – 3rd 200m, 1st Baton Relay (Flynn, Archie, Jasper, Alfie)
Alfie – 2nd 100m, 1st Baton Relay (Flynn, Archie, Jasper, Alfie)
Archie – 2nd 100m, 1st Baton Relay (Flynn, Archie, Jasper, Alfie)
Louis – 2nd 100m, 1st Baton relay (Lochie, Hugo, Mack, Louis)
Saxon – 2nd 1500m, 4th High Jump
Noah – 3rd Shot Put
Joseph – 1st 100m, 1st High Jump, 3rd 800m
Paul – 4th 200m,
Jensen – 3rd Shot Put
Jack – 2nd Long Jump, 3rd 100m, 4th 200m,
Sylvie - 2nd 400m, 4th 200m,
Zara - 2nd Shot Put,
Xanthe - 2nd High Jump
Kiyan - 3rd 400m, 4th 200m
Raphi - 3rd 100m

Mr De Giovanniello (Physical Education Teacher/Sports Coordinator)

On Thursday the 1st of December St Catherine's celebrated Italian day. It was a day filled with celebrating all things Italian including soccer, bocce and Italian Carnevale mask making. The students enjoyed a delicious pasta lunch made by Loretta Pascale and Nonna Rosa and some gelato from Gelato Bello. We ended Italian day with a special Italian Carnevale and paraded the masks that we made through out the day. It was a great day with lots of Italian fun and we raised $336.00 for Vinnies!

Deanna Puliatti
Italian Teacher

Dear Families, 

Thank you for the commitment to your child's learning this year. Teachers and staff have loved watching students grow and develop throughout the year into thriving people and capable learners. 

Wishing you a happy and safe Christmas break. We hope you find ways to wind down and enjoy the sunshine over Summer. Below is a great list of ways to connect with nature over the holiday period.  

Dear Families,  

2022 is a year that I am grateful for. I feel extremely lucky that I was given the opportunity to become Leader of Wellbeing and Inclusion and I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year in this position. I feel very blessed to have worked with and supported many families across the school - a lot that I connected with this year for the very first time. I look forward to building upon those existing relationships and also welcoming new families into our fold in the years to come. I am passionate about my work and am delighted that I will be continuing in this highly rewarding role in 2023.  

Supporting young people during the holidays 

Even though the holidays are mostly looked forward to and embraced by many, the reality is that the change to routine does not always have a positive effect on some children and they may require some support to manage their mental health and wellbeing during the break. I thought I would include this article from headspace given that I know we have families with children of all ages at home (preschool, school age and teen) that may benefit from some of the information, strategies and support included.  

Mind Body Care 

Mind Body Care is a new service offering mental health nursing/counselling, art therapy, exercise therapy and personal training to support children, young people and adults with mental illness and/or autism. They are located in Stirling and are happy to visit homes and schools.  

Thank you and best wishes 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful and blessed holiday break with your loved ones. I hope that you are able to find a time to reconnect with those you care deeply about and recharge after what was a very busy but rewarding school year. Thank you for your support, trust and partnership. I can't wait to work with you all in 2023 to ensure that our children at St Catherine's School continue to flourish.  

Warm Regards,  

Kerry Cornelius 
Leader of Learning (R-6) – Wellbeing and Inclusion  
kcornelius@stcaths.catholic.edu.au 

ROW

In Reception we have continued our learning about the past and present. We have been looking at toys from the past and how they have changed. A highlight was viewing how Mr Potato head has transformed over the years! We have also enjoyed interviewing our parents and grandparents about the toys they used to play with.

In Religion we have been learning about the Bible and how these stories teach us about God’s love. We are looking forward to learning about Advent and the Nativity story from week 7.

In Maths we have been learning about sharing and subtraction. The children all enjoy the hands on learning opportunities provided during these lessons.

It’s hard to believe that the school year is nearly over. Seeing the growth each child has made in their first year of schooling at St Catherine’s is so rewarding.

R/1BD

In R/1BD we have been very interested in finding out about toys throughout history. We interviewed our families to find out about toys that they played with when they were young. We researched how other toys have evolved and recorded them on timelines.  

We discovered that Mr Potato Head has been around since the 1940s and used to be made from a real potato!

In Religion we have been hearing stories from the Old Testament and learning about the messages of God’s love through the stories. We drew pictures and wrote about the stories. In Maths we have been counting and ordering coins. We have had lots of fun playing shops and counting money in our money bags.  

In art we created pictures of teddy bears using lines to add detail. We think they look great! 

1/2F

The children have been enjoying their learning about how things have evolved and changed over time in Hass and Science. The children are currently completing their assessment where they chose an object of their choice and are creating a presentation to show how their object has changed over time and what they predict their object will evolve into in the future. The children are using Venn Diagrams and timelines to show their thinking.

In Religious Education, the children are learning about Mary and how she is the mother of Jesus. The children enjoyed creating Mary artworks where they explained their thoughts around who Mary is and why she is special. The children also learnt how people pray to Mary through the Hail Mary and the Rosary.

Chance is always a fun topic in Maths where the children explored events that had an impossible, possible, and certain outcome. The children have started to explore the topic of money in Maths and are learning how to identify coins by their numbers and images. They are learning how to sort coins not by size but by their value.

1/2J

The children in 1/2J have continued their learning about 'Then and Now'. We have chosen an object to compare and see how it has changed over time. We have gathered information from the internet and are creating a poster.

Last week we celebrated our liturgy about Prayer together. We have been learning about the Bible and the difference between the old testament and the new testament. We have learnt that stories from the Bible are God's way of trying to teach us how to live and follow in Jesus' footsteps.

We have finished our learning about procedures with an observation of 'How to make a worm farm' with John Rodella. He came in and showed us how to make one. We then took this information and created our own procedure texts. 

3/4FW & 3/4LD

We have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the year 3/4 cohort, despite many obstacles. COVID restrictions and online learning at the beginning of the year, change of staff with Katie Kasperski on maternity leave and Andrea Williams stepping in and finally the two lots of power outages! We are proud of our students and their families of the resilience they have shown throughout these changes.

We have been very lucky to be a part of the Limitless Social Entrepreneurial Pilot project. The students have engaged in some rigorous learning, where they had to deeply consider the needs of others and what happens when a persons needs are not met. They set up their own bartering system to try and get their own needs met, which they thoroughly enjoyed. 3/4LD were invited to be filmed as a class in action engaging in the project. The video will be a part of the launch to teach other Catholic schools around Australia how the project connects to real world learning and the Key Capabilities.

Year 5

In HASS, we have been looking further into Democracy and have been running an election for a new Principal of the School. We have created political parties, policies, and campaign posters. We are looking forward to Election Day and finding out whether the school will be run by the Anti-homework Party or the Friday Funday Party!

In Religious Education we have been learning more about prayer. We have looked at prayers modelled in scripture and are using the Psalms to write our own prayers of thanks and praise.

We have made Shadow Puppets in Science and are creating short i-movies of our Nursery Rhyme puppet shows.

Year 6

Remembrance Day 2022

On the 11th November, our Year 6 class walked into Stirling and attended a beautiful service for Remembrance Day, planned by the Stirling RSL. We joined together with members of the community and distinguished guests to mark the occasion. Our Senior students created a wreath that our School Captains placed at the memorial. Our students represented the school well in what is a significant opportunity during their final year of Primary school.

Year 6 Camp

Our Year 6 leaders spent a most enjoyable four days and three nights on Kangaroo Island last week. We stayed at Kingsgate Haven in American River and toured all around the island to see the major sites. Crowd favourites included Little Sahara (sand tobogganing) and Seal Bay. This was a wonderful way to celebrate a fantastic final year of primary schooling together.

Other News:

Our Graduation ceremony was held during the day on Wednesday 14th December with the Graduation Dinner the same evening at the Summit Café and Restaurant at Mt Lofty.
Year 6 students have attended various transition visits to their new high schools for 2023. While this brings about a lot of excitement, it also brings out some anxiety in others as change is imminent.