Dear SJMS Community
This has been a very busy and productive term. I have been continually impressed by the level of student commitment, learning and sheer joy that your children bring to our school community.
Congratulations to the following students who celebrated their reconciliation on Tuesday evening:
Grace, Mia, Sean, Charlotte, Alexander, Levi, Olivia, Lexie, Pearl, Shanaya, Alessia, Sebi, Isabella, Katia, Annie and Jude.
R U Ok? Day
Yesterday was R U OK? day. I was impressed to be asked by several students if I was ok, indicating to me that our motto “in all things love” was alive and well. R U OK? day is a national day of action dedicated to encouraging all people to regularly and meaningfully ask “are u OK?” to support those struggling with life. Through connectivity and awareness, the R U OK? campaign aims to remove the stigma associated with mental health and suicide. Take time today to inspire conversations and ask each other "are you Ok?" - This one sentence can make a world of difference.
Learning Journey
Our Annual Learning Journey would normally provide the opportunity for families to visit the school and view their child’s learning. This year the format of our Learning Journey may look different but the purpose is still the same, to showcase our students’ work. Each class created a video to showcase their learning themed “St Mary MacKillop”, which are available on our YouTube channel. This virtual Learning Journey aims, during these times, to continue to put your child and their learning at the centre of our shared discussion. At the core was for your child to talk about their learning, celebrating their successes and sharing their individual short-term learning goals. As a staff we recognise that if our children are to be successful in the future, they must be given the skills to learn how to learn. We want them to understand that learning is something they do, it is not something done to them. While this looked very different at different year levels, we hope you enjoyed the experience.
2021 Planning
School staff are making plans for 2021. This planning will continue throughout the term and well into Term 4. There are many operational aspects that need to be considered at this time. Primarily in the coming month I need to ensure that we are sufficiently staffed for next year.
Today, a letter has been sent home asking you to express your intentions for 2021 to enable our leadership team to explore various class structures, ensuring an optimal learning environment considerate of friendship groups and learning styles can be developed to challenge and support each child’s continuity of learning. Knowing the number of students we are likely to have in school next year is vital information - this is where I need your help.
Fees to reduce across all Catholic Diocesan Primary Schools
The South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools has announced that it will make Catholic education more affordable by lowering the school fees of every Catholic diocesan primary school in 2021 under its Making Catholic Education More Affordable initiative.
The exact level of fee reduction in each diocesan primary school will vary from school to school to take into account their circumstances and the needs of their families.
Our school board is working with Catholic Education South Australia to finalise our fees for 2021 and these will be released in the coming weeks.
There is more information about the initiative in the letter sent from the Chair of the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools to families this week and on the Catholic Education South Australia website.
Catholic Schools Music Festival
Since the start of the year, our choir under the guidance and leadership of Ms Radman, have been preparing for this performance.
This year’s Catholic School Music Festival has had to innovate in the light of the challenges of COVID-19. The organisers had come up with different models which have evolved as this term has progressed in regards to what the timing and the Festival will look like this year. Our choir has continued to practice and we have now been notified that our performance on Tuesday 22 September in Week 10 will be at the Debourg Theatre at Sacred Heart College. This performance will be filmed and then made available to families in Term 4.
We wish our choir all the very best.
Debating
Thank you to Mrs Brewer, Isabel Brewer and Mrs Vassallo Wakefield for coordinating Debating over the past term. This has seen 13 students improve their debating skills and become very confident public speakers. Each team could confidently say that they have improved from the beginning of the season. Well done debaters on a great season.
God Bless
Brady Stallard
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