Dear Parents and Caregivers
Welcome back to Term 2. I trust that you all had a well-deserved break with your children and managed to have some quality family time together.
Last Sunday at mass we celebrated the 5th Sunday of Easter. It is interesting that some people believe that Easter is a one-off event rather than a Season that consists of 7 weeks in our Liturgical Calendar. Last Sunday at mass, we heard these words from the Gospel of John 15:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. … Every branch in me that … bears fruit he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. … Without me you can do nothing.
Fr Paul, in his reflection on the Gospel from last Sunday wrote:
To believe in the Resurrection of Jesus means to believe in its power here and now. The passage from Saint John’s gospel (15:1-8) on which we are asked to reflect and pray this Sunday contains the wonderful image of Christ as the vine and, we, his followers as the branches. Thus, as believing people we are connected to each other through our faith in Jesus Christ. Similarly, we are nourished by Jesus and thus given the grace to live out our lives with integrity and love. This love must be expressed in deeds. Our deeds proclaim that we are resurrection people. The Lord rose after his passion and death. We can expect no less. But we also live in the hope of our promised transformation here and now. Resurrection people are people of hope because the Lord came, not to condemn the world, but to bring it to fulfilment. Thus, our world is a place of hope because of the Christ who came to show us how to live. Christian living is challenging. We can only achieve what the Lord promises through his grace. In this belief we take our stand.
Today more than ever this has a powerful message for us. If we as humans are all interconnected as part of the vine, then we need to ensure that we help to bring forth great fruit to this planet. It is our common home and our mission, our function, our purpose is to care for all life on our planet. Through this care, God’s love will flow through our branches to others we encounter.
Staff Changes
As you are all aware, Brady Stallard is taking some study leave for the next 5 weeks. As I step into the role of Acting Principal, I would like to thank Toni Benci (Leadership support) and Matt Harrison (Acting APRIM) for stepping in and supporting me over the next few weeks.
This term, I would like to welcome to our community Mr Nicholas Ryan, Pedagogical Coach for the next 12 months. Nick comes from St Michael’s College where he worked at the Beverley Campus (R-6) for the past eight years in varying positions from R-3 including curriculum leadership as a Literacy and Numeracy Coach.
Cathy Woods takes some well-deserved Long Service Leave this term. We welcome back to our community Ms Mae McGee (Monday to Wednesday) and Ms Alessandra Dichiera (Thursday and Friday) as the classroom teachers of the Reception Blue class.
We also welcome Mr James Samra who will be working in the Year 5/6 Hub co-teaching with Mrs Paula Wesley and Mr Christopher Heaney.
Finally, welcome to Ms Abbey Arbon who will work in Year 2/3R on Thursday and Fridays to release Matt Harrison in the Acting APRIM role.
Parent Wellbeing Information Session
This week, you would have received a flier re: our Parent Wellbeing Sessions for this term on Handling your Child’s Worries and Anxiety. Madhavi Nawana Parker from Positive Minds Australia will again be leading these information sessions. Please book early as places are limited.
NAPLAN
In Weeks 3 and 4, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across Australia will participate in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). NAPLAN helps parents, carers and educators to ensure that children are meeting important numeracy and literacy standards. Parents and Caregivers of students at SJMS in Years 3 and 5 will receive further information regarding NAPLAN this week.
200 Years of Catholic Education
This year, we celebrate 200 years of Catholic Education. This is a significant milestone for us in Catholic Schools around Australia. To celebrate, there will be a School Mass on Monday 24 May. More information will be available in the coming weeks.
Debating
This year, we have 4 teams from Year 5 and Year 6 participating in the Debating SA competition. We wish them every success as they represent our school in this competition.
Tournament of Minds
At the end of last term, a note was sent out via Skoolbag re: TOM for our years 4, 5 and 6 students. If you have not responded, but would like your child to participate in this competition, could you please advise me asap.
Yours sincerely
Grace Vassallo-Wakefield
Acting Principal
Social