Term 1 Week 2 Newsletter 2024

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

Welcome to the 2024 school year and our first newsletter for the year. A very warm welcome to our newest families joining the St Catherine's community. We look forward to getting to know you and your child and working together to help them grow and flourish as capable and confident young people. We also welcome two new teaching staff members to St Catherine's - Jenna Coates in Year 1/2 and Stefan Butler in Year 4/5. It has been a fantastic start to the year with students getting to know their teachers and classmates during these first two weeks of term.  

R-4 Water Safety Program  

We certainly have hit the ground running with our Reception to Year 4 students participating in Water Safety lessons at the Woodside pool each afternoon this week. The children have thoroughly enjoyed their time at the pool and we have been blessed with good weather each day. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who were able to assist throughout the week. 

2/3F Whole School Mass 

Well done to all the students in Miss Foote's class who hosted the first Mass of the year on Tuesday this week. Pope Francis has designated 2024 a 'Year of Prayer' and Fr Fred spoke about the importance of prayer and the simple ways in which we might engage in prayer throughout our daily lives. It was lovely to have parents and relatives join us for the Mass - please know that all parents and relatives are warmly welcome to attend our Masses and Liturgies throughout the year. 

Parish and School Picnic - Sunday 25th February 

As a Catholic school, we have a strong connection with our local Adelaide Hills Catholic Parish. Fr Fred Farrugia, the Parish Priest, visits our school weekly to celebrate Liturgies and Masses with the students. On Sunday 25th February, we are holding our first Parish School event for the year. The Parish School Picnic is held at the Oakbank Racecourse from 9.30am - 1.00pm and is a wonderful opportunity for families to gather, meet new people and enjoy a range of activities. We hope to see you there. 

Parent Teacher Information Sessions 

Thank you to the many parents who made time to attend our parent teacher information sessions held on Tuesday. These sessions are an important part of supporting your child/ren to be set up for success with their learning for the year.  

Our formal communication about student achievement in 2024 is as follows: 

Additional meetings can also be requested throughout the year by teachers or parents/ guardians as required on an individual basis. 

Child Safeguarding 

As we begin the year, it is important that you are aware of the following policies and guidelines, that provide information about the work schools do, in partnership with families to ensure there is a safe environment for all. Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with these documents which are available via our school website: 

• Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy  
• Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum information for parents and carers 

Student Safety Before and After School 

It is important that children are not dropped and left to wait unsupervised at the front of the school prior to 8.30am. The school has a duty of care which commences with supervision from 8.30am when students can enter the school grounds and be supervised by school staff. Similarly, we have staff on duty after school until 3.30pm. Camp Australia provides before and after school care for those families that require it. If your child/ren needs to be at school prior to 8.30am, or after 3.30pm, for their own safety, please ensure they are booked into the OSHC service. https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/community/oshc  

CESA Partners in Practice Project 

I am pleased to share that we have been able to recruit an Occupational Therapist to continue the work across St Catherine's School, St Joseph's School, Murray Bridge and St Francis de Sales College which commenced at the beginning of 2023. Briony Lucas is an experienced Pediatric Occupational Therapist who will join our staff in a 0.2FTE role providing support to staff, students and families. We look forward to welcoming Briony to our site in the coming weeks. 

Annual General Meeting (AGM) 

The AGM will be held on Tuesday 20th February at 6pm. The AGM provides an opportunity each year for our community to hear from the School Board about achievements and challenges from the previous year. It is also at the AGM that any new nominations for positions on the School Board are elected. Please note that in 2024 there are no current vacancies on the School Board. All parents and guardians from the school community are invited to attend.  Please register your attendance via our website: https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-attendance-registration-form 

P&F 

We are fortunate to have a very active Parents and Friends team at St Catherine's, creating and coordinating various activities throughout the school year to build our school community. Thank you to Lucia Clements who will oversee the work of the P&F as Coordinator this year. Our Monday Tuck and Friday Lunch very much depend on the support of our parent volunteers, so I encourage you to consider being involved in whatever capacity you have to support this service for our students. P&F meetings generally take place twice a term and parents can volunteer for particular events throughout the year that fit with their own schedules. 

2024 Learn to Play After School Sports Program (Reception to Year 2) 

Children in Reception to Year 2 have the opportunity to participate in various after school 'Learn to Play' sports. There is a different sport focus each term held on Tuesdays: 

Term 1 R-2 Learn to Play First Serve Tennis 
Term 2 R-2 Learn to Play Net Started Netball  
Term 3 R-2 Learn to Play Jump Start Basketball  
Term 4 R-2 Learn to Play Super Soccer Skills  

Further information regarding cost and times will be shared via Audiri throughout the year. For any questions about the program please contact Steven DeGiovanniello (PE teacher): sdegiovanniello@stcaths.catholic.edu.au  

2024 Instrumental Program 

If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument, please contact Kathryn Thomson (Performing Arts teacher): kthomson@stcaths.catholic.edu.au  

Pupil Free Day - Monday 12th February 

Next Monday our staff are undertaking Fire Extinguisher training which is a WHS requirement for school sites. We are also engaging  in Strategic Planning workshops, establishing our future directions and priorities for St Catherine's School for 2024-2026. Following work with our School Board, we look forward to sharing these plans with the community in the coming weeks. 

Term 1 Calendar 

Our calendar of events for Term 1 was sent to all families via Audiri last week. Please be aware that from time to time the calendar is updated and re-sent, so make sure you refer to the most recent version. If you have any queries about particular events, please contact Cathy Fischle: cfischle@stcaths.catholic.edu.au 

Warm regards, 

John 

Together in Faith, Learning and Community 

Welcome! 

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new students, families and staff who have joined our community this year. We are thrilled to have you with us, and we look forward to sharing in the joys of learning, growing, and deepening our faith together. Welcome, and may your journey with us be filled with blessings, growth, and endless opportunities. 

2024 - The Year of Prayer 

Ahead of the 2025 Jubilee year, Pope Francis has announced 2024 as the Year of Prayer. As a Catholic community he invites us to rediscover the value of prayer in our personal lives, within the church and within the wider world.  

This year we plan to bring to the front of our minds the importance of prayer, taking time to explore a wide variety of prayers and enjoying these opportunities as a chance to strengthen our relationship with God.  

Through this Year of Prayer, we hope to strengthen our faith, support one another on our spiritual journeys, and foster a deeper sense of unity within our school community. Together, let us open our hearts to the transformative power of prayer and embrace the blessings that come from drawing closer to God. We look forward to this sacred journey together and the blessings it will bring to our school community. 

Introducing The Kitchen Garden Foundation program for 2024  

In line with our sustainability school value, we are excited to introduce this inspiring and fun program that will change your child’s relationship with food and the environment. Founded by Stephanie Alexander AO, one of Australia’s most recognised cooks, food educators and authors in 2004, the purpose is to educate young people about fresh, seasonal, delicious food so they form positive food habits for life, as well as build the skills to help them be more hands on in the food production process. We can also see this program having a positive impact on the mental health and wellbeing of our students, as they build resilience when trying new things, work collaboratively and enjoy sharing in experiences with their peers.  

This year classes will participate in growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing home grown organic, fresh food. As part of the program, the children will be able to participate in the following: 

• Planting and growing produce in our veggie gardens. 
• Establishing and maintaining worm farms for composting. 
• Picking and preparing produce when it is ready. 
• Have fun in the kitchen cooking delicious healthy meals.  
• Enjoy and share prepared meals with their classmates. 

We would like to acknowledge the assistance from Blair Boyer, Minister for Education, Training and Skills for securing funding to support this initiative.  

Each term a class will participate in the program and classes will also continue to maintain the gardening projects throughout the year. 

This term the program will generally run every Thursday between recess and lunch (11.30am-12.50pm).  The first class to start the program in Term 1 is R1B.  

Parents are welcome to come and participate (you must be registered to volunteer and have completed a Working with Children clearance). If you are planning on attending, we kindly ask that you send the teacher a courtesy email to let them know just in case there has been a last minute change to the schedule. 

We are excited to begin our Kitchen Garden journey. 

Sacramental Program - Information Session 

Student in years 4 onwards and invited to consider whether they would like to be involved in the 2024 Sacramental Program. An information session will be held on Tuesday 13th February for those who may be interested. Download a registration form here. This can be returned via the school office or brought along on the night. Please see the flyer for further infromation.  

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

In Year 1/2C, we have begun our school year by  ‘Setting Up for Success’!

Over the last 2 weeks, we have started to develop an understanding about ourselves and the peers in our class by creating self-portraits, interviewing our friends, recording fun facts, and learning goals. In Year 1/2C we are a rainbow of possibilities, who play both an important part in our school and our classroom.

                       ​

It has been wonderful to see the children settling in well into their new class. To foster a sense of wonder and build upon their personal identities the children created a ‘Nature Me!’.

Everyone enjoyed working outdoors in our school environment to collect natural materials that were fashioned into their clothes. It was also an opportunity for the children to use their Character Strength of Creativity!

Buongiorno a tutti! Hello everyone.

In honour of Pope Francis dedicating 2024 to the year of prayer the students have been learning the “Our Father” “Padre Nostro” in Italian this week. They listened and repeated it together and then wrote it down in their Italian books. They did a wonderful job!

Signora Puliatti

NAPLAN 

In March students in years 3 and 5 will undertake the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards.  

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It does not replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress. 

NAPLAN also provides schools, education authorities and governments with information about how education programs are working and whether young Australians are achieving important educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy. 

Read the NAPLAN Privacy Collection Notice here

Cybersafe Families 

As we enter a new school year, classes have dedicated time to work with students around how to stay safe when using devices. Students have explored their ICT User Agreements and discussed code of conducts which will help them navigate this responsibility. In addition to this, Cybersafe Families visited students in years 5 and 6 to take them through age appropriate content including digital citizenship, ways to stay safe and where to seek help, online wellbeing and screen time management.  

We would like to thank the families who were able to join us for our annual Cybersafe Families session. As part of our commitment to families and our students, we were pleased to once again provide this for families to attend. Todd from Cybersafe Families shared with us  strategies to make home environments more cybersafe. This included understanding online threats and exploring some of the practices which can be in place to help ensure children are well equipped to protect themselves. 

For those who were unable to join us for this session, further information can be accessed through the Cybersafe Families website and through the e-safety commissioner website. 

https://cybersafefamilies.com.au/parents/ 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents 

InitiaLit 

At the beginning of the school year the Early Years staff engaged in training to implement the InitiaLit synthetic phonics program across the R-2 classes. We will be now implementing this program to align our classroom practice with our successful intervention programs MiniLit and MacqLit. 

This means that our Early Years students will have access to high quality literacy instruction which is aligned to scientific research about how students learn to read and write. Students will be taught letter- sound relationships and how to blend the sounds to form words. This will enable students to read decodable books fluently and develop reading strategies that will set them up to be successful readers into the future.  

We are excited to share our progress with you as we begin to implement these programs in the following weeks. If you would like to read more about InitiaLit in the classroom please follow the attached link: https://multilit.com/  

Children's University 

We are excited to once again participate in the Children's University program. Students in Years 3, 4 and 5 will be able to participate, building upon their hours which were achieved in 2023, or starting off as a new participant. 

This year the registration process is slightly different and parents are asked to use the QR code to register their child. You will need to complete the registation form then make the appropriate payment directly to the school through Qkr. 

The annual fee for 2024 remains the same and is $38.50 (inc GST) per member.  A Passport is included in a member’s first year only with any replacement Passport incurring a fee of $7.70 (inc GST).  

If you have any questions regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact Krystina Dawe.

SeeSaw  

This year we will continue to use SeeSaw as a tool for communication across our R-6 communities. SeeSaw helps continue to build connections between school and home as it shares a child's individual school portfolio with their parents. As students become familiar with the tools within this platform they are able to independently upload and share their work and achievement with their family.  

You may already be familiar with SeeSaw and if you have already connected to this in previous years you will continue to be able to log in through the same method. For those who are new to our school, information will be sent home via classroom teachers to help connect you with your child's portfolio.  

Narelle Brine and Krystina Dawe 
Leaders of Learning – Curriculum and Assessment

PBIS  

This year we will continue to explore Positive Behaviour Intervention and Supports (PBIS). The PBIS team, Bianca Foote, Andrea Williams, Hailey Wariach and myself, will have training days throughout the year with other Catholic schools from South Australia to bring back our learning to share with our staff to implement as a whole school approach to positive behaviour. 

The goals of PBIS include; 

• Create a positive school environment 
• Improve academic and behavioural outcomes 
• Prevent and reduce problem behaviours 
• Teach and reinforce desired behaviours 

Growing with Gratitude 

This year, we are fortunate enough for the Growing with Gratitude school wellbeing program to be visiting our school. This has been kindly donated by the Burton Foundation and we are very grateful for the opportunity. On Thursday 29/2, Ash Manuel, the founder and presenter of the Growing with Gratitude program will be visiting the school to do some workshops with the children about Resilience and Grit. Their philosophy is “just like a skill in a sport grit can be practiced.” Ash connects a lot of the learning to sports and involves players from the Adelaide Crows to help deliver the program. He will then stay on for a parent and child workshop at 3:30pm – 4:30pm, to go through some positive relationship building together through fun games. Please see the flyer below and register via this link; https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-attendance-registration-form 

INCLUSION 

Proprioception – Big Movement/Heavy Work 

What is proprioception?  

Proprioception is the sensory information we receive from our muscles and joints about the position, force and movement of our body parts. It allows us to know where our body is in space, without looking.  

Why is proprioception important?  

Proprioception is required to carry out motor tasks in a controlled way. It is important in terms of emotional security as when we trust our bodies we feel safe and secure. A child who has difficulty processing sensory information may:  

• Apply too much or too little pressure when engaging in everyday tasks such as writing.  
• Watch their body during movement tasks. 
• Bump or crash into other people or objects.  
• Have difficulty maintaining appropriate personal space.  

Proprioception can also help children to regulate their level of arousal or wakefulness. It can help to alert children when they are ‘low’ or calm children when they are ‘high’ and can therefore help children to concentrate. 

Throughout this year, teachers and children will be focusing on proprioceptive movement in order to help settle our nervous system to be ready to learn! 

Try some activities out for yourself here; https://empoweredparents.co/proprioceptive-input/ 

Genevieve Jong 
Leader of Learning – Wellbeing and Inclusion