Dear Parents and Caregivers
As I write this newsletter, we are grateful that we have returned to face to face teaching this week. To ensure that we continue to keep our community safe, I ask that for the time being we restrict the number of adults on site to staff, allied health professionals and university students who have been placed at our school. As information comes to hand regarding movements around schools, we will endeavour to keep you all updated and look forward to parents and caregivers being onsite in the not too distant future.
Thank you to the staff, students and especially you, our wonderful parents and caregivers for supporting your child with home learning. We appreciate that this is difficult, especially if you have also been working from home.
As a staff we are reviewing the processes we have used for home learning so that we can continue to improve on our practise.
Welcome
Last week, we welcomed new staff, students and their families to the SJMS community.
Welcome to the following students who started their journey at SJMS this term:
Alyssa
August
Esther
Evie
Hugo
Isla
Jessica
Luca
Paris
Tia
Wallace
Welcome also to Miss Nicola Ciuffini who will be the Reception Blue teacher for the remainder of the year.
Grandparents Day
On Sunday we celebrated the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents. In recognition of all grandparents around the world, Pope Francis has established the inaugural World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly on this day, seeking to make a link and recognise the need for both the elderly and the young which values the gifts this relationship offers to them both.
The prayer below was written and offered for all Grandparents by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI in 2008:
Lord Jesus,
you were born of the Virgin Mary,
the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anne.
Look with love on grandparents the world over.
Protect them! They are a source of enrichment
for families, for the Church and for all of society.
Support them! As they grow older,
may they continue to be for their families
strong pillars of Gospel faith,
guardians of noble domestic ideals,
living treasuries of sound religious traditions.
Make them teachers of wisdom and courage,
that they may pass on to future generations the fruits
of their mature human and spiritual experience.
Lord Jesus,
help families and society
to value the presence and role of grandparents.
May they never be ignored or excluded,
but always encounter respect and love.
Help them to live serenely and to feel welcomed
in all the years of life which you give them.
Mary, Mother of all the living,
keep grandparents constantly in your care,
accompany them on their earthly pilgrimage,
and by your prayers, grant that all families
may one day be reunited in our heavenly homeland,
where you await all humanity
for the great embrace of life without end. Amen.
Performing Arts Studio - Building Project (photo above)
In our last newsletter, I referred to the possibility of our Performing Arts Studio build commencing soon.
It is with pleasure that I inform the community that during the school holidays, we secured MOSSOPS as the builder for this project. An initial meeting was held via TEAMS last week. We are hopeful that over the next few weeks, the project will commence. This will mean that there will be some changes / restrictions at the William Street campus.
I will endeavour to keep you up to date as this happens. Thank you in anticipation of your support during this time.
Parent Volunteers
Last term, you would have received information via email (on 29 June) regarding the requirements for all volunteers working in Catholic Schools. As well as a Catholic Police Clearance, current volunteers needed to complete a RAN online training course. If you are a current volunteer, please ensure that you have completed this information and provided a copy of your certificate to either Mary Fantasia or Jess Nelson. This information must be provided before you are able to continue volunteering at SJMS this Semester.
For all our new Parent Volunteers, a package will be made available to you in the next week for your information.
Thank you to all our Parents and Caregivers who support us in this valuable role. Without the support of our volunteers, many afterschool activities and excursions would not be possible.
Social Work Students
Over the next semester, SJMS will again host Master of Social Work students from the University of SA for their placement. We welcome Sophie, Karen, Noor and Rachel as they being their placements.
The goal during their placement is to provide children with the support they need to be successful and engaged learners. They will promote social and emotional wellbeing through fun and varied activities, encouraging students to overcome challenges and achieve their goals.
In the next Newsletter, they will introduce themselves to the community.
Yours sincerely
Grace Vassallo-Wakefield