Term 2 Week 6 Newsletter 2021

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

Well done to our Year 3 and Year 5 children who undertook the NAPLAN tests recently. Thank you to Corey Lewis  for coordinating NAPLAN and our teachers who supported and supervised the students. We expect to receive our NAPLAN results between mid-August and mid-September. 

Over the past two weeks all of our students have undertaken the termly CESA Classroom Pulse Check survey to help us further understand and support student wellbeing.   

A very warm welcome to Lauren Fox who has joined our staff as the teacher for 3/4H, replacing Nikki Hall who has commenced maternity leave. Lauren has been enjoying getting to know the students in her class and is looking forward to meeting with families over the coming weeks. 

Next week we welcome six new Reception students for their first transition visit to St Catherine's as part of their preparation for joining our ROA class next term.  

We are currently enrolling students for 2022 and 2023. Please make sure that you have submitted an application for enrolment for any siblings that are due to commence school during this time. I invite our current families to share this enrolment timeframe with any friends or relatives who are considering a place for their child at St Catherine's School.

The St Catherine's School Strategic Plan 2021-2023 was finalised and approved by the School Board at their last meeting and is available on our school website: https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/our-school/current-policies-reports-and-guidelines. The Strategic Plan is guided by our School Vision and Values and incorporates the  Dominican heritage of our school. The strategic aspirations reinforce the strong foundations of our school as well as reflect our future direction, supporting all students to become thriving people, capable learners and leaders for the world God desires.  

Thank you to the school and parish community for their contribution via the Strategic Planning survey conducted in 2020 which informed and guided our strategic direction. We are confident that as a community we will continue to create an environment where children can grow and flourish. 

Sacrament of Confirmation 

Thank you to Fr Fred and Cathie Oswald from the Parish as well as Krystina Dawe and Kelly-Ann Kirby for supporting the students preparing for their sacrament of Confirmation. This sacrament will be celebrated with Archbishop Patrick O'Regan and Fr Fred on Friday 25th June at St Matthew's Church, Bridgewater. As a community we keep these children in our thoughts and prayers as they journey towards this important sacrament. 

National Reconciliation Week 

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. 

The dates for NRW are the same each year; 27th May to 3rd June. 

These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively. 

27 May 1967 On this day, Australia’s most successful referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Australian Government power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise them in the Census. 

3 June 1992 On this day, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo’s challenge to the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ (land belonging to no one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title. 

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

(taken from https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/about-nrw) 

At St Catherine's we have continued our learning about our shared histories, cultures and achievements through engagement with local Aboriginal Artist, Chris Crebbin and his work with our Year 2-4 students as well as through aligning our staff reflection day with Kaurna culture, heritage and spirituality. As a staff, the day enabled us to further our understanding of Aboriginal peoples connection to land and enrich our growing understanding of Pope Francis' call to care for our 'common home' through his encyclical Laudato Si'. 

Excursions/Carnivals  

Recently our Reception to Year 2 students visited the Hahndorf Farm Barn and enjoyed a day outdoors interacting with a variety of animals. Thank you to the parent volunteers who were able to offer their support on the day.  

Last week our year 4 and 5 students attended the musical production 'Wicked' at the Hopgood Theatre, performed by senior students from Cabra Dominican College.  

Unfortunately the SAPSASA Hill Cross Country Carnival was cancelled last minute due to the poor weather conditions. Thank you again to our parent community for supporting this change in circumstances. 

Debating 

Congratulations to all the students participating in Debating this year. This week saw our students compete for the second time in the SA Debating competition held at Pultney Grammar School, with three of our teams winning their debate. The students are quickly learning the skills and techniques to create a strong debate and each time they compete, receive feedback that helps them improve their performance. Keep up the good work!  

Student Achievement Reports 

Our teaching staff have begun the process of collating student assessment information in preparation for Student Achievement Reports which will be sent home in the last week of this term. The reports will provide summative information about the progress students have made throughout Semester 1.  

Attendance and Wearing of Correct Uniform 

I remind parents of the importance of ensuring students arrive at school on time. Students can enter the school from 8.30am in the morning and should be ready to go into their class at 8.45am.  

As a school we are required to report absenteeism. The current policy for school attendance in South Australia stipulates: 

A habitual non-attender is a student who is absent for 5 days or more per term (average of 1 day per fortnight) for any reason and that a chronic non-attender is a student who is absent for 10 days or more per term (average of 1 day per week) for any reason.    

I also ask that parents of children in years 3-6 ensure that their child is wearing the correct winter uniform as per information from class teachers.  

I hope you are keeping warm as we start winter in the Adelaide Hills. 

Kind regards, 

John Low 
Principal

200 Years of Catholic Education Mass 

Our school captains represented St Catherine's at the South Australian Mass for the Bicentenary of Catholic Education in South Australia. Mass was held at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in Adelaide and was attended by representatives from Catholic Schools and organisations from across South Australia. Falling on the Feast day of Our Lady Help of Christians, Archbishop Patrick reminded us of all who have been a part of the rich history of Catholic Education in South Australia.

Sacramental Program 

Our students have been busy preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion which will be held on Friday 25th June at St Matthew's Church. As they enter the final weeks of their preparations you are invited to keep them in your prayers, asking for the Holy Spirit to be upon them.  

The Holy Spirit Comes Alive Through Pentecost 

We celebrated Pentecost this term, recognising this as the beginning of the Church. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave God’s people a special gift, the ability to speak in other languages. We have explored this theme with students asking questions such as: In what symbols do we recognise the Holy Spirit? What different would it make to the Pentecost story if Jesus’ followers didn’t recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit in the wind or tongues of fire? and What if Jesus’ followers were still too scared to go out and preach the Good News, as Jesus had commanded?  

Welcoming New Altar Servers 

Thank you to the Year 5 and 6 students who continue to offer their services during our school celebrations by taking part as altar servers. There are a number of Year 5 students who will be mentored by Michael and Xavier in Year 6, as students who are more experienced in this role. It is a wonderful way for these students to engage in the Mass and show their leadership skills. 

All terms are busy, I know, but this one has been a particularly busy one in 5LD. In fact, it has been so busy you will probably be exhausted just reading about all our activities…

Woodhouse Camp

The students of 5LD had the most wonderful time on camp earlier this term. We were able to enjoy some beautiful warm days albeit quite a cool night. 5LD enjoyed 2 exhilarating days of Tube Sliding, Capture the Flag in the maze, Challenge Hill, Spotlight in the forest, Disc Golf and Laser Skirmish. Students put up and disassembled their own tents, which definitely tested persistence and resilience (mostly mine). As always, the children love to comment on the food choices in camp – not sure why this a highlight to them but every year the food is rated highly. The children enjoyed a BBQ and hot chips in the evening and loved making their own wraps for lunch. Of course, the snacks are important: fruit was ravished after so many activities, as were the muesli bars, cup-cakes and popcorn.

NAPLAN

All Year 5 students participated in this year’s NAPLAN testing. The students maintained a wonderful level of calmness throughout the week and felt a great sense of relief when the final test was complete. I congratulate them all on their efforts and commitment to learning at St Catherine’s School.

Podcasting

The students in 5LD have been working super hard on their podcasting project with James Meston and Arch D radio. We are coming towards the end of the program, where students have so far learnt about, planned and produced their podcasts. Now they are up to the editing stage and will be adding special effects. We can’t wait for our podcasts to be broadcast on platforms such as Spotify. Stay tuned for links to the student’s podcasts.

Preservice Teacher

Our class has been extremely lucky to have Rhianna Bugonis from UniSA join us as a 3rd year preservice teacher. Rhianna has been a wonderful addition to our class, providing the students with engaging learning opportunities.

Chariot Races

In our STEM classes the students have designed, created, tested and evaluated chariots to race using our Spheros. Students did an amazing job making the adjustments to their chariots to make sure they worked.

'Wicked Performance'

Last week the Year 4 and 5 students attended the Cabra Dominican College production of Wicked at Hopgood Theatre. The students thoroughly enjoyed the performance of these highly talented actors.

"I loved the expressions that they used and it seemed like they were professionals." - Lila

"I forgot that it was live." - Bowie

Aquaponics in 6C

Written by Zoe, Angas, Charlie and Evie

Study Group – Dominican Leadership Program

In 6C we have been very excited to take over the job of looking after all the fish and the school Aquaponics System from the old Year 6’s. Our class is very keen on looking after all the fish and cleaning the fish tanks. We have a wide variety of animals in our Aquaponics System. The animals we have are Yabbies, a Turtle, Red Jewels, Rainbow Trout, Southern Purple Spotted Gudgeon and Oscar fish. The Oscar fish are called Rusty and Ginger.

We are loving working with all of the fish, and we have learned a lot in the past term, like how all the aquarium lights work, which fish get which type of food, how some fish are easier to keep, how it is really special that we are allowed to have an endangered species in our school, how to clean all of the tanks, how the water helps feed the plants in the grow beds and how to clean everything in the system.

Recently we were lucky enough to get about 40 new Rainbow Trout. The Year 6 class is very excited to have these fish and we have been doing a lot of research on them. We have completed a project on them and we enjoyed it very much.

Sadly, a few of the trout have died. One of them had a spinal problem and couldn't swim properly, but it lived longer than we expected. A goldfish has died as well. We think it is because there was a very high ammonia level in the tank that they were in. We have also recently weighed and measured all of the trout. We then sorted them into different tanks based on their size so the smaller fish won't get eaten. The average weight of the trout a few weeks ago was 85 grams and the average length was 17 centimetres.

Netball Carnival – Tuesday 29th June (week 10)

A reminder that Netball Carnival registrations are still open, if you would like your son or daughter to participate in this Carnival please register on skoobag. We are also looking for parent helpers on the day to help supervise students, no Netball experience is necessary.

Mr De Giovanniello (Physical Education Teacher/Sports Coordinator)

Congratulations to Scarlett

A big congratulations to Scarlett in 6C for being selected as a player in a South Australian Representation Team for the U14 Basketball Australian Classics and Nationals Tournaments being held in Victoria over the coming months! We are very proud of you and wish you all the best, Scarlett!

Wellbeing check in 

Over the last fortnight, our students have participated in the PULSE Survey. The PULSE survey was developed by Catholic Education South Australia and is undertaken in Week 5 and 6 of every term.  The survey provides one avenue of checking in with students to find out how they are currently feeling about their experience in school.  

You would be aware from previous correspondence that our students have taken part in this over the last four school terms.  Teachers have looked at the data produced and adapted ‘Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)’ experiences to support students when and where the support is needed. It is wonderful to see the growth of our students in the area of SEL and to be able to identify where students may need some support. 

Teachers have discussed with their class what it means to have a particular feeling most of the time, sometimes and not very often. Some students found it hard to categorise feelings and deciding whether it is something that happens all the time or sometimes.  Classes are also working with students to learn about what strategies the students have when they are faced with an issue, and how they can work with the situation.   

Developing resilience is one area that teachers often talk about.  We know that resilience is not something we are born with, it’s a skill that people develop as they grow. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from stress adversity, failure, challenges or even trauma. 

How can families help to build Resilience in Children?  

·       Build a Strong Emotional Connection.  

·       Promote Healthy Risk-Taking.  

·       Resist the Urge to Fix It and Ask Questions Instead.  

·       Teach Problem-Solving Skills.  

·       Label Emotions.  

·       Demonstrate Coping Skills.   

·       Embrace Mistakes—Theirs and Yours. 

Melinda James 
Leader of Learning: Wellbeing and Inclusion 

Reading in the Early Years 

To be an effective reader requires using skills of decoding, text use and text analysis. The school has purchased new decodable and traditional readers to support students in their comprehension of reading, in addition to supporting students’ interest, engagement and enjoyment with a variety of text types. Learning to read is an important milestone in a child’s life and parents often want to know how they can support their child. Here are a few tips: 

Pre-reading activities: 
Ask your child to predict using: 

• First or last lines 
• Visuals 
• Key words 
• The title 

During reading activities: 
Ask questions that encourage discussion: 

• What do you know about the characters so far? 
• What do you think will happen next? 

Post-reading activities: 
Ask questions that encourage discussion: 

• What was your favourite part? 
• What did you think about the setting? 
• What do you like/dislike about this book? 

Every child learns at his or her own pace and the single most important thing you can do is to make it enjoyable. By reading regularly, mixing things up with the activities you choose, and letting your child pick out their own books occasionally, you'll instil an early love of reading and give them the best chance at reading success. 

As a network of parents, carers and teachers we will continue to work together to ensure that our children become effective, literate learners. 

Corey Lewis 
Leader of Learning - Curriculum