Term 3 Week 3 Newsletter 2021

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

The start of Term 3 has certainly not been as we expected or hoped for. The students returned to school, to be faced firstly with Level 4 COVID restrictions which were soon replaced with a seven-day full SA lockdown. The experiences of the past 18 months have required greater flexibility than ever before and my sincere thanks go to all our staff, students and parents for the way they responded to and managed the change to online/home learning. We were so glad to see the lockdown restrictions end and have children return to school. We continue to operate with a variety of restrictions in place, however we also remain prepared should we be faced with additional lockdowns in the future. Let us continue to pray and care for those in need during these times, especially our family and friends interstate.  

We have taken time this week to acknowledge, celebrate and learn more about the life of St Dominic who founded the Dominican Order of Preachers back in 1216. It was the Dominican Order of the Holy Cross Province that purchased 'Mt St Catherine Convent' in 1947 (now the private residence adjacent the school grounds) and Mt St Catherine Primary began. 

The Feast Day of St Dominic is held on August 8th, which is also now recognised as Mary MacKillop's Feast Day. Like St Dominic hundreds of years earlier, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, the first Saint of Australia, influenced many through her commitment to the poor, helping those who needed it the most. Both of these Saints demonstrate how to live a life that follows Jesus and they remind us of the important role study and education play in living a life to the full. 

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Tilly, James, Mason, Riley and Gaby as new Reception students this term. These students have joined our ROA class and we look forward to seeing them learn and grow as part of the St Catherine's community. 

As we commence a new semester, we have a new group of students from Reception to Year 6 taking on the roles of SRC members and Eco Reps. Mrs Dawe and I look forward to working with these students throughout the next two terms as they contribute to the ongoing cycle of improvement for our school. 

This year's Catholic Schools Open Week takes place between August 9-15 and the 2021/22 South Australian Catholic Schools lift out magazine was in last Saturday's Advertiser. The articles in the magazine highlight our focus as a system of schools to encourage young people to become 'thriving people, capable learners and leaders for the world God desires.' A variety of activities are planned across Catholic schools in South Australia throughout the week (albeit with slight changes due to COVID restrictions). At this stage, we have a Principal's Tour planned for the following week, Thursday 19th August to share our wonderful learning environment with prospective families. If you are aware of any families discerning a school for their child, please invite them to come along to our tour. We are also in the process of finalising our enrolments for 2022 so if you are yet to enrol a sibling, please contact Cathy Fischle as a matter of urgency: cfischle@stcaths.catholic.edu.au 

The Archdiocese of Adelaide is preparing for a Diocesan Assembly in September and I encourage parents to find out more about the important role you can play in this process. You will find further information in the APRIM News of this Newsletter. 

Towards the end of last term, I received a letter of resignation from Gill Holmes as our School Board Chairperson. Through a change in their working circumstances Gill and her family needed to relocate (at short notice) to Perth. Gill was a wonderful asset to our school across a variety of roles during her time here. For the remainder of the year, I thank Deputy Chairperson, Russell Gwynne for assuming the role of Chairperson.  

Thank you to those parents who completed the survey shared at the end of last term regarding a proposal to move to a One Uniform/ Activewear. The response rate was exceptional with responses from 73% of our family population. 97% of respondents indicated that a move to One Uniform Activewear is a positive move for the school and the many comments received will support what we hope will be a smooth transition for this. The uniform committee will meet in the coming weeks and then further information will be provided regarding this transition. 

Parent Workshop 

Following the positive response from our Parent workshop offered in Term 1, we are again holding an evening Parent workshop on Wednesday 11th August at 7pm in the hall at St Catherine’s. Facilitator Bill Hansberry will present 2 topics: ‘How to Catch and Build Good Behaviour’ (Adjusting your parenting spotlight to get more of the behaviour you want) and ‘Rules haven’t Gone out of Style’ (Building rules that stick). If you are able to attend, please register via our school website: 

https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-attendance-registration   

Policies, Reports and Guidelines 

Student safety is always a high priority at St Catherine's and we have several system and school policies which guide our work in this area. As a school community it is important that we are aware of each of our responsibilities in this area. The following policies, procedures and guidelines relate to keeping children safe:  

Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy 

Reporting Harm of Children and Young People Procedure 2020 

Cybersafety: Keeping Children Safe in a Connected World 

Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum 

These are available on our school website: https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/our-school/current-policies-reports-and-guidelines 

With best wishes for a safe and relaxing weekend. 

John Low 
Principal

 St Vincent de Paul Society 

I would like to thank our school community for their generosity through collecting valuable items for St Vincent de Paul Society. In total we were able to gather about 12 large bags of new items which I am sure will be greatly valued by those who are vulnerable this winter. Our Stirling Conference for St Vincent de Paul Society were most pleased to be able to collect these donations to distribute. In addition to this, our school captains are to be commended on their efforts with the Cosy Clothes day which brought together over $500 dollars which was also donated to St Vincent de Paul Society. Thank to everyone who was able to participate in this initiative.  

Sacramental Program  

The Sacrament of Confirmation was held on Friday 25th June at St Matthew's Church. The Sacrament was officiated by Archbishop Patrick and well attended by family and friends. We are now moving through our preparations for First Holy Communion. The Covid lockdown did impact one of our sacramental workshops however arrangements have been made to give the children a chance to take part in the preparations ahead of the sacrament. Our next sacramental workshop will be help on August 10th at 6pm.      

Community Prayer  

We finished the term with another community prayer led by Year 6. Thank you again to our Year 6 leaders who organised and facilitated our second community prayer for the year as part of their Dominican Leadership Program. The theme was generosity which fit nicely with our charity work during the Vinnies Winter Appeal, with students attending in their Cosy Clothes. Thank you to the parents who were able to attend on this occasion. 

St Dominic’s Feast Day

We have used this week as an opportunity to recognise the life and contributions of St Dominic, and better understand our schools Dominican heritage. St Dominic, as the founder of the order of Dominicans has provided us with a great example in accepting his mission from God to live out a life goodness. While not always easy, he took on this challenge and as a result we now have schools such as St Catherine's which continue to live our his mission today. Throughout the week classes have taken part in activities which encompass the four Dominican Pillars of Spirituality being Prayer, Community, Ministry and Study. While initially we had planned on having a whole school Mass, due to COVID restrictions we were required to change some of our plans, but the week was still a great success. Thank you also to Fr Fred and the St Matthew's Parish for hosting our year 3 and 4 students for a shared Mass. 

Flexibility During Covid 

While the lockdown presented some challenges, as a staff it was pleasing to still gather, via MS Teams, to share in our weekly staff prayer. Staff connected from their homes to share in a reading from the Gospel and a reflection on how it feels to be disconnected from others. It came as a timely reminder of how important this connection to community is and what our role is at St Catherine’s, particularly during a lock down. 

                                 John 15:5 ‘I am the vine, you are the branches' 

Adelaide Diocesan Assembly 

Over the coming weeks we enter the time of the Adelaide Diocesan Assembly is an important event for the life of our faith community and your assistance in preparation for the Assembly is essential to its success. Families will receive a postcard which invites them to give their feedback. You may want to first watch the videos about the Adelaide Diocesan Assembly prior to completing the feedback. These can be found at the following link. 

Resources — Adelaide Diocesan Assembly 

ReLAT 

This term our Year 4 Students will be participating in an assessment of Religious Education which is designed for all Year 4 students in South Australian Catholic Schools. This annual assessment has been developed by the Catholic Education Office and will take place during Week 5 of Term 3, 2021 (Tuesday August 17). 

Religious Education (RE) is a core Learning Area in all Catholic schools. It is a foundation for all learning and is integrated into the life of the school through prayer, liturgy and social justice programs. This is the first year of the implementation of the new Crossways RE curriculum, therefore in 2021 ReLAT will be based on general religious knowledge gained from participation in RE lessons and the religious dimension of the Catholic school. Please note that the assessment is not a measure of a child’s faith, nor their participation in the broader life of the Catholic community. It is important to draw upon a variety of assessment strategies in order to develop a comprehensive picture of a child’s progress and understanding in Religious Education. 

The data from the ReLAT assessment will be collated and used by the school to inform whole-of-school professional learning needs and the continuous improvement of teaching in Religious Education. If you have any questions regarding the Religious Literacy Assessment Tool please contact Krystina Dawe. 

Made in the Image of God 

The Made in The Image of God (MITIOG), Human Sexuality curriculum is mandated for South Australian Catholic Schools, for Years R-12. Each year our students engage with age-appropriate curriculum content regarding sexuality through this (MITIOG) curriculum.  

Catholic understanding is that all humans are made in the image of God and therefore deserving of the utmost dignity and honour and that our sexuality is a fundamental dimension of the human person. We acknowledge that the beliefs, values and insights of the Christian Tradition and Catholic moral teaching enrich our lives. 

This year the Human Sexuality Curriculum will be taught during Term three (weeks 6-9).  You should have received information regarding the content to be covered in the MITIOG, Human Sexuality Curriculum for each year level via skoolbag. 

We acknowledge that families are the first educators of their child’s sexuality, and that the role of the school is to support families in this area. We are committed to supporting and enriching these partnerships. Parents and guardians are invited to attend an information session which will further cover the MITIOG curriculum and be an opportunity to explore some of the resources which are used. This will be held on Thursday August 19th at 6pm. Please register your attendance via the school website.  

Grant Success 

We have been successful in receiving a recycled bench for our school through the Coles Sustainability4Schools program. The bench is made from recycled plastics and will be used to further promote the importance of recycling plastics, particularly soft plastics. This has been identified as a focus for our ECO reps this term. We now eagerly await the arrival of this item.

Semester 2 ECO Reps 

I welcome this terms ECO reps as environmental advocates for their class. We have had our first meeting and I am looking forward to working with these students after hearing their exciting ideas and seeing their enthusiasm.                              

A word from our ECO Reps 

We have met this term to discuss ways we can improve our actions at school and at home. One of the things we have mentioned is the use of compost bins. Many of our classes used folded newspaper bins to help compost our classroom food scraps, paper lunch bags, pencil sharpening and small bits of paper. These work really well but can take some time to learn how to make. We thought we could challenge our school community to also learn how to make them. All you need is some newspaper and the instruction video which can be found at the following link and was made by some of our senior students. See if you can follow along to also make a newspaper compost bin. If you get really good at it you may even find this is something you would like to do in your household too. We look forward to hearing how you go! 

Origami food scrap buckets - made by St Catherine's School, Stirling 

Beginning of Term 3

We have started the term with the theme of The Olympics, so being at home and being able to watch some of the events was a treat. As we returned to school, we continued our learning on the Olympic Games. Learning about the history of the Olympic games, sports, various traditions and also looking at Japan and the culture. This is a large part of our cross-curriculum link of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia.  Currently we have looked at languages spoken and the art form of origami.

This topic then leads us to our study of countries around the world.  We look forward to including our families in our learning and learning about the origins of our family.

Melinda James

Leader of Learning: Wellbeing and Inclusion

Staff professional development

On our recent pupil free day staff spent 2 sessions looking at how we can support students with their learning and wellbeing.

Positive Education

On our pupil free day, Kerry and I facilitated a session on Positive Education where we introduced staff to the ‘Foundations of Positive Education’. The work that we did continues on with the learning that our staff have been doing throughout the year with students focussing on the foundations of flourishing. We looked at the science behind Positive psychology, Mindfulness, Gratitude and learning how to be aware of our character traits. Do you know what your child’s character strengths are? You might like to take the free quiz to find out: https://www.viacharacter.org/.

Occupational therapy – Sensory Processing

As adults, we often have certain strategies that we use to help us calm down, concentrate or remain engaged. Have you ever scribbled whilst on the phone, continually clicked or tapped a pen? These can be actions that help us to remain calm, relaxed or engaged. Have you ever thought about what your child does to help them concentrate, remain calm ready to learn?

Our entire staff spent the afternoon with Kelly Kroeger from Learn sense Grow. Kelly has an Occupational therapy business. Our session focused on deepening our understanding about the important role sensory systems play in our daily lives, looking at the “hidden senses’, unpacking sensory disorders and their subtypes and to learn more about tools and strategies that help assist children to reach a calm-alert state.

Staff enjoyed doing some of the activities suggested by Kelly and look forward to implementing strategies to provide support for students when they need it.

Parent Session with Bill Hansberry 

After Bill led our parent session 'Raising kids with Grit' we had many parents request another parent workshop facilitated by Bill. We look forward to providing a second evening parent session on Wednesday August 11th. The sessions that Bill will present this time are; 
How to catch and build good behaviour- adjusting your parenting spotlight to get more of the behaviour you want. 
Rules haven’t gone out of style – Building rules that stick. 

Due to COVID restrictions, please make sure you use the on line booking system.
https://www.stcaths.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-attendance-registration

Melinda James
Leader of Learning:  Wellbeing and Inclusion

LLL Survey 

Living, Learning, Leading Survey for parents 

You will be invited to participate in a survey about St Catherine's School’s performance. Similar surveys have been administered to teachers and students to enable us to capture a community snapshot. 

All responses are confidential and will be used for school improvement purposes. 

Completion of the survey is on a voluntary basis.  

Your confidentiality  

To protect your confidentiality all surveys are anonymous. All answers go directly to the National School Improvement Partnerships, where the results are analysed for St Catherine's School. Answers from individual surveys will NOT be reported back to the school. Staff of the National School Improvement Partnerships staff are bound by a Code of Ethics and follow strict professional conduct.  

Use of the data  

National School Improvement Partnerships will report the results to the school in an aggregated format so that individuals cannot be identified. To enable drill-down reporting, the information provided to the school will contain data based on background information. This anonymous data will be provided to CESA for reporting and consideration of support for schools.  

How to complete the survey  

A skoolbag will be sent with a link and access code.

If you require more information or have any feedback, please contact Belinda Hurcombe. 
Email: belinda.Hurcombe@cardijn.catholic.edu.au 
Your time and consideration are much appreciated.  

Corey Lewis 
Leader of Learning – Curriculum