St Joseph’s School Renmark
Transcript of St Joseph’s School Renmark
are affected.
Our thoughts are also focused on the Holy Lands.
Violence is rapidly deepening in Gaza and the suffering
of civilians caught in the conflict is unimaginable. As a
whole community we also pray for peace in Gaza.
Sacraments: One of our greatest
celebrations during the school year is
the time we celebrate receiving of
sacraments for a number of our
students. Over the next two weeks I
have the privilege of seeing the Year
7 students prepare to receive the sacrament of
Confirmation with Fr Medard and Bishop Greg. These
children were baptised as babies and now they have
reached an age of reason and wish to make the next
step into becoming a fully initiated Catholic person. I
wish them, their sponsors and their families all the
best as they prepare for this very special occasion.
Welcome: Last week we welcomed a new family to our
community. We wish Rebecca and Jeremy Smith along
with their children, Jye and Chloe, all the best as they
begin their time with us at St Joseph’s School. They
were proudly acknowledged at our welcome assembly
and were presented with a special Bible from Parents
and Friends.
SRC News: Our SRC program is a valued component of
our school which promotes students leadership and
provides students with opportunities to share opinions,
ideas and activities. Semester 2 SRCs have been
selected and will be formally inducted at next week’s
Mass on Monday 4th August. Semester 1 SRCs will
Messages From Don
St Joseph’s School Renmark Term 3 Week 2 ~ 1 August 2014
www.sjsr.catholic.edu.au
Respect Safety Learning Trust
Dear Parents, Friends and Students,
Staff and students have had a great start to the
term and it has been pleasing to see classes engaged
in a variety of creative and stimulating learning
experiences. We have a very busy term ahead of us
with many events and activities including:-
Confirmation, St Mary MacKillop Feast Day, Book
Week, Open Day, Camps and Excursions, Riverland
Music Festival, SAPSASA Athletics and ongoing
learning activities in classrooms.
Term 3 is an opportunity for all of us to renew our
focus on learning and development. After receiving
Semester 1 reports, we all have had time to reflect on
the information they contain and to set clear and
achievable goals for the weeks ahead. It is now
imperative that we endeavour to put those well laid
plans and goals into action.
Social Justice: As a Catholic community, we highlight
many social justice issues and make our students
aware of those in need around the world. As we
began this term we discussed and outlined the recent
events in the Middle East and also the tragedy with
Malaysian Airlines.
At this time we offer our prayers and thoughts to the
families whose loved ones fell victim to
the MH17 tragedy. We pray that the
disaster site and victims are treated
with dignity, the leaders find answers
quickly and that in time, peace and
healing are found by the relatives who
Ray, Chloe, Sarah & Tayla pray the Rosary Jye & Chloe Smith Year 7 Confirmation students
COMMUNICATE COOPERATE CONSOLIDATE
COMUNICARE COOPERARE CONSOLAZIONE
continue to have input and will certainly be
recognised for their positive contribution at the end
of the year.
We congratulate the following students who have
been elected SRC for Semester 2.:
R/1AT: April McDonald & Arshvir Bhangoo
R/1DP: Arielle Milich & Con Demou
1/2LP: Katherine Tran & Torren Frawley
1/2MC: Mia DePalma & Abishake Sutharsan
3/4GR: Oviya Sutharsan & Kyeton Frawley
3/4DF: Teresa Levak & Harrison Binder
5/6JA: Gemma Petty-Zimmermann & Lachlan Strelan
5/6TL: Taneesha Venables & Brock Rover
7MS: Eleni Nikas & Mitchell Forsyth
Riverland Festival Choir: Eleven of our students
have been practicing for the Riverland Festival Choir
over the past months under the guidance of Mrs
Daws. They performed during the week at the
Chaffey Theatre with students from other Primary
Schools. It was wonderful to listen to the songs and
watch as they represented our school with pride,
commitment and determination to do their best. We
congratulate Josh Crook and Gemma Petty-
Zimmermann for their excellent commentary and to
Jacob Siviour for his outstanding individual solo
performance. A special thank you to Mrs Daws and
Mrs Pick for all of their support, time and
commitment to the Choir.
Road Safety: We recently had a very close call with
one of our students. Connor Blackwell was involved in
an accident where he was hit by a car close to our
school. Luckily he escaped with minor injuries but
was very fortunate he was wearing a helmet. This
was a total accident but provides us with a very
important message about safety. A repeated
reminder to all parents and road users to drive
safely, especially around schools, for both their own
children’s safety and others. As outlined in a recent
article in the Murray Pioneer we encourage all
parents and students to be mindful, diligent and
extremely conscious of the safety rules when
around our school.
2015 Enrolments: We have been overwhelmed with
the number of applications which has resulted in a
process being followed and a waiting list created. I
have concluded interviews with all prospective new
families and am currently meeting existing families.
With more than 40 families to meet, this has been
very demanding but extremely rewarding. All the
families have been very impressed with our learning
environment and are very complimentary about our
school and the children. This gives us great
confidence for a sustainable future at St Joseph’s.
Fund My Idea Project ‘Active Learning Space’:
I would like to think Amy Martinson for her
initiative which enabled us to participate in a unique
way to receive government funding. It is based on
an application which invites the community to have
input into decision making. The successful
application will be approved based on how many
votes the idea receives. We continue to ask for
support for our idea at St Joseph’s School
Renmark. With grants very hard to come by we
hope this may be one way we can improve the
learning opportunities for our children.
We are currently 4th out of 60 but need to finish
in the top three. Voting is only open for one more
week. Please find below a link to log on to and vote
for St Joseph's grant to improve our front
entrance by making an Active Learning Space and
also the art/mural project.
This is a competition with other Riverland Grant
Applicants, so get all your friends (facebook or
other social media) and family to follow the link and
vote. Please follow this Link:
http://yoursay.sa.gov.au/fundmyidea/riverland
Students of the Riverland Music Festival Choir Students at our School Crossing
RESPECT SAFETY LEARNING TRUST
RISPETTO SALVEZZA IMPARARE FIDUCIA
Facebook Link:
https://www.facebook.com/YourFutureSA
Please pass this on to as many people as you can to
help the school maximise its chances for success!!
Congratulations: We wish to congratulate James
and Kerry Robertson for their recent positive
story about the Chowilla Station on Today Tonight.
This provided outstanding publicity for our region.
We also acknowledge the families and students who
participated in the unique TV experience Bing Unit
that was also publicised on Today Tonight. Some
fantastic acting with some future movie stars on
display. Well done to the following who were
involved:- Sue Lyon and Holly Teare, Jacob and
Luke Siviour.
Book Week: Book Week commences August 18 and
the theme this year is ‘Connect to Reading’. During
this week students will be involved in a variety of
reading activities, Public Library visits and of
course the very popular Book Week parade on
Wednesday 20th August. Please encourage your
child to dress up for the parade. It would be
fabulous to have all students participate in some
way.
P&F Community – Pamper Night for all our mums:
Our P&F team recently met and had another very
productive meeting. Many items and events were
discussed. I wish to promote the upcoming Pamper
Night, Wednesday 20th August, and encourage as
many mums to come and have a wonderful night of
indulgence, relaxation and fun.
Maintenance During The Holidays: We sincerely
thank all parents, staff, students and friends who
attended the recent Building, Grounds &
Maintenance Busy Bee on the last Sunday of the
recent holidays. Together with the Programmed
Maintenance Team and Andy Gaylard, we achieved
the following: Girls toilets painted, painting two
classrooms and touch ups throughout the school,
soft-fall raked and levelled, all roses pruned, bag
racks cleaned, shelter swept, down pipes on
Josephite shelter installed and general tidy-up
throughout the whole school. We take pride in our
school and value the ongoing maintenance required
to keep it a beautiful and safe environment for
staff, parents and the students. A tremendous
effort from everyone.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Feast Day: We
will celebrate this special day next Thursday,
August 7th. St Mary MacKillop, together with Fr
Julian Tenison Woods began the Sisters of St
Joseph, an order of religious Sisters, whose vision
was to provide a Catholic education for children of
the poor and disadvantaged. The sisters took a vow
of poverty. They dedicated their life to helping the
poor, the homeless, the lonely, the sick, prisoners
and anyone who was in need. The sisters went
without so that they could provide for others. They
were, and still are, true disciples of Jesus. We will
celebrate this important feast day with a variety of
class activities.
Staff News: I am pleased to announce that Mrs
Fiona Kupke will be replacing Mrs Leah Pilla in term
4 as Mrs Pilla will be taking maternity leave.
We have also been working on Mrs Giula Del Zoppo’s
Italian position. We were not able to receive
enough suitable applicants for the advertised
position and therefore reviewed the position. We
are pleased to announce that Mr Tom Knauer will
replace Mrs Del Zoppo starting in Week 5. He will
continue to cover the Italian content and will also
have one day in the Year 7 Room.
Thank you everyone for your continued support and
encouragement last semester and we look forward
to an equally positive and productive Term 3.
Don DePalma
Alex & Regan assisting at our recent working bee. Parental support is always appreciated, thank you!
Religious Education
Parish Connections Parish Priest ~ Fr Medard Kunambi
Mass: Saturday 6.30pm Sunday 9.00am
St Mary MacKillop of the
Cross Feast Day: Friday 8th
August is the Feast Day of
St Mary of the Cross
MacKillop. St Mary MacKillop
is our first Australian Saint.
She received her strength
and direction from her faith in God and lived her
life sharing the love of God with all people,
especially those who needed it the most. She co-
founded the Order of the Sisters of St Joseph
with Fr Julian Tenison Woods and together they
worked to give children who were isolated or
disadvantaged a Catholic Education. Her motto
for life was ‘never see a need without doing
something about it’. St Mary MacKillop’s feast
day will be celebrated on Thursday 7th August
with a whole school liturgy at 11:40am under the
shelter. All families are welcome to attend.
R e l i g i o u s E d u c a t i o n
Assessment Tool (ReLAT):
All Year 4 students will be
p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n a n
assessment in Religious
Education. This assessment
has been developed by the
Catholic Education Office. Religious Education 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. ReLAT is designed to
assess some of the basic knowledge taught in
Visitor: Ray Hartigan, a parishioner from St
Therese Parish, visited the year 7 class to discuss
and pray the Rosary. Thank you Ray for your kind
donation of Rosary Cards to every year 7 student.
Religious Education lessons. Please note that the
assessment is not a measure of a child’s faith or
their participation in the broader life of the
Catholic community. Rather it is an assessment
strategy used to further develop a comprehensive
picture of their progress and understanding in
Religious Education. Pre-test is Week 4 & test
week is Week 7. Confirmation Students for 2014:
St Joseph’s School and the Parish of
St Therese are pleased to introduce
o u r C o n f i r m a t i o n s t u d e n t s .
Confirmation Mass will be held with
Bishop Greg O’Kelly, SJ on Saturday
16th August at 6:30pm. Those receiving their
Confirmation are Regan Binder, Lily Bright,
Emmerson Brown, Riley Byrne, Anastacia Festa,
Tom Fewster, Demi Johnson, Isabella Leonard,
Callum Rover, Brooke Sadlier, Benny Schuetze,
Abbey Siviour and Sarah Valente.
Prayer for Confirmation Candidates Father,
we bring before you those about to be confirmed. We ask that the power of the Holy Spirit may be in their lives so that they may live fully with his gifts
of wisdom and understanding, of knowledge and good judgment, of courage and reverence, and of
wonder and awe in your Presence. Inspire them to live their faith in a genuine and
credible way, and grow as the people you call them to be. Amen.
Susan Frawley
Christian Grapevine Bookshop: Looking for
confirmation card or gift? Call into the Christian
Grapevine Book and Gift Shop at 54 Ral Ral Ave
Renmark. Best wishes to all the candidates.
.
We’re ALL a part of Parents & Friends Community
Footy Update: With only five rounds left in the season things are
hotting up on the leaderboard. Round 18 was a
shocker for many tippers, but for Mr DePalma it was
a great round. He ended up getting six right which
catapulted him to 108 points, only one point behind
Mr Luxton at the top of the leaderboard. Equal
second is Todd. Coming in equal fourth with 107
points, only two behind the leader, are Derek,
Tate and Abbie. It will all come down to who can
pick the upsets from here as a point won or lost
makes all the
difference.
Happy tipping!
Pamper Night: It’s on again!!
Wednesday 20th August.
All Mums, Grandmas, Aunts, Sisters and female
friends are welcome to attend this special night of
pampering. Some of the businesses that will be
providing special services and products are The
Beauty Spot Skin & Body Clinic, Envy Jewellery,
Wellness Pilates, Amanda's Bowen Clinic & Little
Birdie Candles. Please keep an eye out for your
invitation from the students. Looking forward to a
wonderful evening.
P&F Community
Our major focus for our SEL lessons this term has
been ’20 Things That We Should Say More’. Each
class has come up with their own personal lists of
things they should say more. These can include
simple phrases such as please, thankyou, excuse me
but will also include things such as positive
greetings, encouraging and caring words. By doing
this the school will be focusing on talking in a more
positive, friendly and welcoming manner. All classes
will be presenting their list of 20 things to say on
posters, which will be displayed around the school
and in classrooms.
Numeracy Challenge Junior Primary (R-2): Anna's team scored 5 runs
in the first inning of the baseball game. They
scored 6 more runs in the second inning and 3 runs
in the last inning. How many runs did Anna's team
score overall?
Middle Primary (3-5): Ricky has a magic money
box. Every day, the box doubles the number of coins
Next assembly we will be introducing a
KidsMatter champion award. This is an award for
the students that is nominated by the students.
There will only be a small number of winners
which will be presented every three weeks at
assembly. This is an initiative designed to
highlight the positive behaviours that our
students are demonstrating and to teach
students to recognise the positive behaviours
being shown by their peers.
Tony Luxton & The KidsMatter Team
placed inside of it. Ricky put 3 coins in
the box on Monday. He looked inside
his box on Friday. How many coins did
Ricky see?
Upper Primary (6/7):
Alex and Kyle made 27 paper
planes. Kyle made half as
many as Alex. How many
planes did Kyle make?
21st Century Learning—In Action
such as black box and red gums.
The first stage of the project involved the
Renmark-Paringa Council filling up Johnson’s Water
Hole with water as part of the ‘Water for Nature’
Program. The second stage was the tree planting.
The aim of the project is to create a whole habitat
teaming with native plants, animals and birds. This
is part of the long-term plan to revive the Ral Ral
floodplain. This worthwhile and meaningful project
is allowing our students to play a major role in
changing their local environment for the better.
This ties in with the theme of ‘Sustainability’ which
the students are focused on with their inquiry-
based learning this term.
Changing Our Local Environment:
The Year 3-4 classes were invited by Teagan
McKillop, the Environmental Officer for the
Renmark-Paringa Council, to plant trees at
Johnson’s Waterhole for National Tree Day.
The 42 students, 2 teachers and 6 mums and dads
equipped themselves with shovels, hand spades
and gloves and went out and planted 229 trees.
They were helped by 30 volunteers and workers
from the Renmark Irrigation Trust, Renmark to
the Border Local Action Planning (LAP) group,
Renmark Paringa Council, National Resources SA
Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) and the Nature
Foundation SA. They planted ruby saltbush or
bush tomato and other types of eucalyptus trees
Garden Club Today all students received a packet of seeds that
have been kindly donated by Morris & Sally from
Go Potti on Plants. Children are encouraged to go
home and plant, nurture and grow their plant or
vegetable. This links with the Australian
Curriculum priority of Sustainability.
We hope you enjoy getting your hands dirty with
your child!
Thank you—Garden Club Members
For Science we made slime as part of our inquiry-
based learning investigations. We are learning
about materials and how heat can change them.
We used a simple formula for making slime being
cornflour, food colouring and water. We heated up
our concoctions in a microwave oven. This made
the substance change from a liquid to a solid and
become slimey, meaning it could stretch and be
flexible but stay together.
We also looked at using a powdered fibre
supplement like Metamucil.
We love these experiments because we learn a lot ,
have fun and it is gooey. 3/4 students
3/4 Slimey Science
Reception / Year 1 Discovery Time Learning
KIDSMATTER NEWSLETTER WEEK 2
Term 3
Our major focus for our SEL lessons this
We welcome Jye Smith and his
family to our class this term.
We have changed some of the
areas in the classroom for
Discovery Time. Some of the new
activities are the Light Box, Farm
and growing things, I Spy, Fine
Motor/Sensory/Coloured Rice,
Musical Instruments, Coloured
W a t e r / P a i n t d r o p p e r
paintings, Writing Table/
Letter and Card writing as well
as continuing with old
favourites like box making,
playdough and Lego.
In Mathematics we have been
learning about fractions, length,
counting to 100, sorting money,
area and capacity.
We have so much fun in the R/1
classes, learning lots in many
different ways.
We have been learning how to do yoga
and meditation to help us to focus and
concentrate.
We also have been sharing our family
celebrations posters.
Congratulations to Mrs Thompson’s, Mrs Pick’s, Mr
Luxton’s and Miss Armes’ classes who have all
completed the challenge. So far 102 students have
completed. The challenge finishes on 5th
September so set yourself the challenge and read,
read, read!!
Mikayla represented Rachel
McLeod Dance Studios at
the Riverland Primary
Schools Music Festival at
the Chaffey Theatre on
Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday night, along with
other Renmark dancers
from her Dance Studio.
They danced to one of the
opening songs that the choir
were singing.
Well done Mikayla!
FREE workshops
6&7 August
Relationships Aust
85824122
For more information
see the poster in our
notice board at the
entrance to our school.
$10 Gift Voucher for all new BankSA Accounts
For the start of Term 3, BankSA
is offering all students who open a
new Incentive Saver Account via
the School a $10 Gift Voucher,
which will be deposited into your
child’s account once opened.
This offer is available until 26
Sept. 2014 and is for new
customers only. For more details or to collect a
BankSA Application Pack, please call Bank SA
Renmark 8586 6671
Renmark High School ~ Future Planning Expo:
We would like to invite you to attend the first event of
our transition program, the Future Planning Expo, which
will be held on Wednesday, August 13, from 5:30-
7:30pm. The evening will include a parent information
session at 6pm, advice from current Year 8 parents and
students and an opportunity to ask any questions about
our school. During the expo you will can take a tour of
our facilities, learn about our innovative learning
program and speak to our teachers. There will also be
demonstrations of some of our specialty subjects. For
more information, please contact Principal Orio Denti
or David Crouch at the school on 8586 6974.
WE NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE!: We all know that you’re supposed to reduce, reuse and recycle, but for
artists, reuse and recycle often have totally different meanings than they do for the rest of us. This term,
all classes will be looking at recyclable art and creating our very own recycled masterpieces. To do this
successfully, we need help with collecting a wide range of recycled materials and resources. Donations can be
brought to school and placed in the bins marked ‘recycled materials for art’ located near the front gate.
There will also be containers to place various smaller items such as bottle caps, materials, pegs and jewellery
etc. We are looking for donations of the following recyclable materials: Boxes of all shapes and sizes, old
washing up sponges (clean), ribbons, shoelaces, hair elastics, onion skins and egg shells, old clothes, tinfoil,
coloured paper, wrapping paper, newspaper, magazines, bottle caps, old cards, book and postcards, buttons,
wool, egg cartons, fabrics and felts, toilet or paper towel rolls, straws, old lego, puzzle and game pieces,
washed meat trays, pegs, plastic bottles, jewellery and beads. We thank you for your support. We look
forward to creating some imaginative and unique art pieces.
Fund my idea: Please help us gain this funding by voting for our
“Active Learning Space” at
yoursay.sa.gov.au/ideas/activelearningspace
Log-in, register, receive a confirmation email,
activate and vote for US!!
Then share with all your friends and family please.
In a spirit of deep joy and gratitude, Bishop Greg O’Kelly, along with
The Riverland Regional Council and School Communities of the Riverland
invite
All families and friends of the St Joseph’s School Community
to the Mass celebrating the Proclamation of
Our Lady of the River Catholic Parish
incorporating the communities of
St Francis Xavier’s in Barmera, St. Mary’s in Berri, St. Albert’s in Loxton,
St. Ursula’s in Morgan, St. Therese in Renmark and St. Thomas More’s in Waikerie
on
Friday 15th August 2014
Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
at
Our Lady of the River School Hall
Crawford Terrace, Berri S.A.
RSVP: 8th August 2014
St Joseph’s
School
Renmark
No high heels to be worn in
the school hall please.