Term 2 Week 10 Newsletter 2022

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

Recently, I had the great privilege of attending a Podcasting Leadership Day with two of our Year  6 students, Mia and Louis. The day, which included students from Year 6 to Year 10 at the Catholic Education Office focused on hearing and learning from some of the best podcast and radio producers in the world. A highlight was guest speaker Jodie Oddy from Nova who talked about various tips and tricks for work in the radio or podcasting industry before running some mock interviews with a few of the students. The Year 6 students at St Catherine's are some of the first students across Catholic Schools in South Australia to achieve their level 3 podcasting badge and I congratulate them on the work they have done to have their voices heard through this medium. 

This week, Semester 1 Student Achievement Reports were sent home. The reports reflect the progress that students have made across term 1 and 2 this year. I encourage you to take the opportunity to celebrate the progress your child has made as well as discuss one or two areas that your child could focus more on through term 3 and 4.  

We held two transition visit mornings over the past two weeks where four new Reception students visited and spent time with their new classmates. We look forward to Leni, Harriet, Thomas and Max joining the St Catherine's community next term. 

Several excursions have taken place in recent weeks and I'd like to acknowledge and thank our parent volunteers who were able to be involved and help out with supervision and/or transport for these trips. 

Our Reception to Year 2 students participated in an excursion to the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre where they spent the day participating in activities and tours aimed at developing their knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. 

The Year 3/4 students enjoyed a day outdoors at Belair National Park learning about shelters and cubby building. They worked collaboratively in small groups to create their own cubby structures. 

Our Year 5 and 6 choir students have been busy learning their repertoire of songs and actions ready to perform as part of the Catholic Schools Music Festival at the Adelaide Festival Theatre at the end of next term and they recently joined other school choirs at St Joseph's School at Tranmere for a combined rehearsal. Information regarding ticket sales for this performance will be shared early next term.   

We had 70 students form Years 3-6 participate in the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival at the Netball SA Stadium at Mile End on Tuesday this week. The students represented St Catherine's with pride and demonstrated great team spirit. 

Our Friday Lunches have been very popular with students (and their families). Thank you again to our parent volunteers who make these lunches possible. A special thank you to Hailey and Montie, owners of Honey Bang Bang in Littlehampton, who donated the delicious lunch of curry and rice.  

It is exciting to see the work on Stage 2 of our building project continue day by day and the new areas are starting to take shape. Due to the current climate we are in with various labour and material shortages, unfortunately the anticipated completion date for the project has been pushed out until August 31st which will be in the second half of next term. We are all eagerly waiting for the completion of these wonderful new spaces for our school and I thank all our students, staff and parents for their ongoing patience. It will be well worth it in the end! 

Next term we start our St Caths After School Art Club on Thursdays for year 3/4 students. Interested students will work with Mandy Herbert exploring and creating a variety of art works using various mediums. In Term 4 the Art Club will be available to year 1/2 students. We hope that this pilot Art Club can be offered to other year levels in the future. 

As part of the Physical Education program next term, students will participate in 5 gymnastics lessons faciliated by Alpha Gymnastics. Many thanks to Steven DeGiovanniello for coordinating this experience for our students. 

Finally, a reminder that Monday 25th July is a Pupil Free Day.  

Have a safe, relaxing and fun school holiday break. I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday 26th July. 

Warm regards, 

John Low 
Principal

We are pleased to inform our school families that there will be no increase in school fees for the 2023 school year.

As South Australians continue to feel the impact of COVID-19, Catholic Education SA has announced it will freeze fees at its 86 Diocesan schools for the 2023 school year.

“These decisions are part of our continued COVID 19 response as we seek to support families at a time when they are being impacted by rising costs and inflation,” says Dr Neil McGoran, Director, Catholic Education SA.

Since 2019, Catholic Education SA has been implementing the Making Catholic Education More Affordable Initiative to ensure our schools are accessible to any family who wants their child to have a Catholic education.

Dr Neil McGoran said the fee-freeze would not impact the quality of education.

“We’re committed to keeping school fees as low as possible and ensuring a Catholic education is affordable and accessible to all.”

In addition to the fee-freeze, further fee remissions are available to any family who is struggling to pay school fees due to financial pressures. Families should contact the Finance Officer, Gina Kennedy, for more information.

Supporting St Vincent de Paul Society    

Our fundraising efforts this term have again been very successful thanks to the generosity of our school community. Our School Captains worked collaboratively on a variety of initiatives to raise a variety of donations including board games, warm clothing items and over $400. I would also like to especially thank our parent helpers who put together a special soup lunch which also raised an additional $280 for St Vincent de Paul Society. Along with raising much needed donations it has been an opportunity for us to learn about the important work of this charity and the way in which poverty and homelessness can take many forms and is a reality for many families within the Adelaide Hills. 

Staff Reflection Day 

Our Staff Reflection Day was held on Friday June 10th at the Monastery on Cross Road Urrbrae. Robyn Mercer joined us for the day and lead us through reflections on scripture using Godly Play. The day was focused on the importance of sharing and learning through narrative with staff also having the opportunity to share their own narrative with each other. There was also time for staff to spend in silent contemplation around the prayer gardens at the Monastery. 

Bringing the Lizard Garden Back to Life 

We are again excited to share our recent success in the 2022 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant. The focus of this years funding will be the lizard garden. This garden was established a number of years ago by senior students. Sadly over recent years the garden has become overgrown with runner grass and other weeds meaning it is under utilised and unable to be enjoyed by students. With this grant we hope to, not only restore the garden, but also improve the area around it with some more permanent pathways to allow better access. For all this to come to fruition we are looking for some extra sets of hands to help. During Term 3, I will be looking to hold some mini 'Working Bee Wednesdays' to chip away at preparing the area. This will start at 8am on a Wednesday morning until 8.45am when school begins (weather permitting). Parents are invited to assist, along with their child, however all parents assisting will be required to have their volunteer documentation up to date. If you are unsure of whether you are currently up to date please contact the front office. You are asked to register your interest via the school website each week so that we know approximate numbers and can plan accordingly. 

https://woolworthsgrantsmap.juniorlandcare.org.au/grant-round-4/lizard-garden-comes-back-to-life/ 

Catholic Schools Netball Carnival – 2022

Congratulations to the 70 students that competed at the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival this year on Tuesday 5th July. The school entered 9 teams in total with all teams playing 6 games on the day against various Catholic Schools across the state. Although there are no results or scores recorded on the day I’m sure if there had been a cup our school would have come very close to winning it!

Special thanks to all the parent helpers that gave up their time to help supervise and coach teams. Special thanks to Emma Beare, Kristen Beltrame, Karina Sharp, Cindy Tinnefeld, Rachel Hutton and Josie Tetris for umpiring teams.

Also a big thank you to the teachers that assisted, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Fox, Mrs Kirby and Mrs Wheeler and our umpires from Cabra that also assisted on the day.

Mr De Giovanniello
(Physical Education Teacher/Sports Coordinator)

Last week the Year 5 class went for an author talk to the Stirling Library. The guest speaker was renowned children's author Gabrielle Wang, the 2022-23 Australian Children's Laureate. Gabrielle shared her writing experiences with the class, talking about what inspires her as a writer and how she collects ideas for her novels and characters. As a writer/illustrator, Gabrielle also talked to the children about what it is like to create the illustrations for her own books. She lead the children through a drawing of her favourite dragon character Peng, from her book 'The Hidden Monastery'. The experience was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and the children eagerly listened to her advice on how to write a wonderful story with engaging characters. 

Reflection Day  

On Friday 17th June our Year 6 Seniors spent the day at St Matthew’s Church for our annual Year 6 Reflection Day. We shared morning tea with our families, Fr Fred and the Parishioners and we also celebrated Mass altogether at 11am. This day focussed on concepts like leadership, character strengths and developing relationships. We were fortunate to hear from Mr Low, our guest speaker, and we also started our Scrapbooks and completed a Kokedama each. It was a wonderful day.  

The reflection day made me think about what my life would be like in the future. It made me wonder how much I could actually do in one year and how far through the year we have come. It made me wonder how far I will have come by the end of the year. - Lucy 

What inspired me was Father Fred’s passion of being a priest and his dedication to God and Jesus and the activity of writing to our future selves. I am really looking forward to opening the letter at graduation. - Lila 

Year 5/6 Talk Money Workshops 

Students in Year 5 and Year 6 recently participated in two free workshops delivered by Ecstra Foundation which has launched a new nationwide in-school financial education program.  

Workshop A: Through a series of activities, students examine how people value money differently and how they can have constructive conversations with family and friends about money. They learn how to set savings goals as part of managing their money.  

Workshop B: Students examine how to save and manage money and consider different payment options, including the digitisation of money. 

We had a great time learning from Tina! 

Year 6 Level 3 Podcasting 

We recently welcomed James Meston from Arch D Radio and Podcasting back into our classroom as our Year 6’s have now commenced their Level 3 Podcasting course. Excitingly, we are the first Primary class ever to undertake Level 3 Narrative Podcasting as this is normally reserved for Secondary Schools. What an exciting and wonderful opportunity for our Senior students! 

Year 6 English - Discussion Writing 

Earlier this term, our Year 6 students learned about and completed a piece of writing using the techniques of the discussion genre. Students were required to present both sides of an argument, using supporting evidence that they had researched online. Our topic was inspired by our own Purple Spotted Gudgeon that we are fortunate to care for in our school. Our topic was also closely linked the learning we had completed previously in Biological Sciences. The following piece of work was written by Year 6 student, Lucy.  

A captive breeding program is a good way to boost the population of endangered animals-such as the Southern Purple-Spotted Gudgeon

Is a captive breeding program a good way to boost the population of endangered animals, such as the Southern Purple-Spotted Gudgeon? People have different opinions about this. Many believe that it is a great way to bring back the population of an endangered species, while others believe it can be cruel to the animals. There are different qualities of captive breeding, therefore making this a difficult question with many points of view.

Many people believe captive breeding programs are wonderful ways to boost the population of endangered animals. According to Our Endangered World, captive breeding is helpful for scientific research and protects them from predators. Furthermore, the Arabian Oryx, which was almost hunted to extinction, was revived by a breeding program that started with nine Arabian Oryx. On top of this, Captive breeding programs can provide more convenient conditions for mating.

On the other hand, some people believe a captive breeding program is an oldfashioned way to boost the population of endangered animals and that it should be banned. On slide player, Brianna Sutherland writes that “Breeding programmes are designed to bolster populations, but this can involve things such as inbreeding and unnatural behaviours, for example lions at Kingdom of Zion are fed meat that is already cut and so they do not have to work for their food and so would not have the required instincts if they were to be released into the wild.”. Furthermore, due to inbreeding during a captive breeding program, a white tiger was born cross eyed. On top of this, many captive breeding programs do not provide enough space for the animals, and the animals will become cramped and can become stressed.

In my opinion, captive breeding shouldn’t be banned but they should have requirements to fulfill and should be shut down or fixed if they do not fulfill the requirements. This is so that they are not cruel to the animals, to prevent cross breeding and to preserve their natural instincts. Captive breeding programs that are abusing their animals should be banned. However, captive breeding programs that are providing their animals with the right conditions should be encouraged and not banned.

Launch of the revised Australian Curriculum  

The national curriculum is reviewed every 6 years and the 2020– 2021 review resulted in the Australian Curriculum, Version 9.0. 

The Australian Curriculum, Version 9.0 is a more stripped-back and teachable curriculum that identifies the essential content our children should learn. It can be accessed at https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/  

Overall, there’s a reduction in content, as well as better alignment between achievement standards and content descriptions, and improved links between learning areas and the general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities. The key changes include: 

• the removal and reduction of content so the curriculum can be taught with depth and rigour, including a 21% reduction in the number of content descriptions, which describe what is to be taught and what students are expected to learn 
• a stronger focus on phonics in English 
• a stronger focus on students mastering the essential mathematical facts, skills, concepts and processes 
• making clear what mathematical computations need to be done without a calculator, reinforcing the importance of achieving proficiency in foundational skills 
• a revision of the sequencing of content in Mathematics; in particular, telling time, introduction of fractions, recall of multiplication facts (“times tables’) and solving equations 
• deepening students’ understanding of First Nations Australian histories and cultures, the impact on - and perspectives of - First Nations Australians of the arrival of British settlers as well as their contribution to the building of modern Australia 
• strengthening the focus on students being physically active and increased content with a focus on activity in natural and outdoor settings. 
• addition of privacy and security in the Digital Technologies curriculum 

Teachers will be implementing the revised version 9 of the Australian curriculum in 2023. 

NAIDOC WEEK 

Each year, the NAIDOC Week theme is chosen to highlight matters of importance, create awareness and to recognise the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The NAIDOC Week theme for 2022 Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! encourages all of us to drive institutional, structural, and collaborative change while also acknowledging and celebrating those who for generations have driven positive change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.  

The staff at St Catherine's are committed to including First Nations knowledges and perspectives across the curriculum throughout the year. Recently the R-2 classes went on an excursion to the Kaurna Cultural Centre and Warriparinga Wetlands.  

The R/1 classes have been enthusiastically learning about Bush Tucker and planning a school indigenous garden.  While on excursion at the Kaurna Cultural Centre we went on a guided walk with Mark to learn about local Kaurna plants. Students were able to see, smell and feel local bush tucker. Students returned to school eager to begin weeding the lizard garden to prepare this space for our own planting.

The Year 1/2 classes worked with Elijah to decorate boomerangs with Kaurna symbols in order to tell their story. Elijah taught the children how the boomerangs are used and demonstrated how to throw them effectively. 

Mrs Dawe, Miss Foote and Mrs Brine have been attending the Norton Summitt Community Hub to engage in Kaurna language and Culture classes with Mr Jack Buckskin, which we look forward to sharing with our students.  

Clarity  

St Catherine's School has been one of the first as an early adopter of the Clarity Learning Suite of the Eastern Region. This has enabled our staff to understand deeply how children learn and how we can best support them.  

We use a variety of strategies  to support our students in the next steps in their learning. In all of our classrooms we have a 'Bump It Up' wall. This includes examples and prompt for students to know what they need to be successful in the task. In addition to this, staff include learning intentions and success criteria. This takes the 'guess' work out of what is expected, enabling every student to be successful. In a recent staff meeting, the teaching staff shared what we are doing in our classrooms and how this is going for our students.  

On Monday 25 July, the teaching staff at St Catherine's will be working with our system coaches Tracey Grice and Carla Thomas on giving and receiving effective self and peer feedback. 

Narelle Brine and Corey Lewis 
R-2 & 3-6 Leaders of Learning: Curriculum and Assessment