Term 2, Week 10, 2024

Dear Families,

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the whole school community, from parents, students, staff and visitors for the contribution you have made to our school this semester. The first two terms seem to have gone very quickly and I’m sure the next two will be the same. From my perspective there has been lots of learning happening for our students, not just in academics but also around our Mercy values of Compassion, Courage, Hospitality, Justice, Respect and Service. I enjoy chatting with parents each morning and each afternoon as they drop their children off or pick them up at the end of the day. Many parents tell me that St Mary Magdalene’s really has a ‘community feel’ to it and is a great place to be, both for them and their children.

This week our Principal, Chris Platten, appointed Matt McGinty to the position of Leader of Teaching and Learning, with an emphasis on Wellbeing. Matt is already working in this role across both St Mary Magdalene’s and St Thomas More on a contract basis for 2024. This appointment is a permanent one as a teacher at St Mary Magdalene’s but undertaking this specific wellbeing role for the next 4 years. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Matt on his appointment.

This week we sent the Semester 1 reports home to all families. This is a record of how your child is progressing at school and are based on their achievements against the standards of the Australian Curriculum, although there are a number of our students who the teachers make adjustments for and may therefore have a modified report. Hopefully during the Learning Conversations earlier in the term the teachers would have given you some insight as to how your child(ren) is going, so you would not have had any real surprises in the reports. Thank you to our teachers for the time given to writing these reports and our admin staff in the physical production of them, in a slightly different format using new software called SEQTA.

There has been quite a deal of sickness throughout this term and hopefully this two week break will enable students and staff to rest up and recover and come back refreshed for next term. I would like to wish our Year 5 and Year 6 students well for their camp on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of Term 3. When we return we will welcome our 16 new Receptions who will be divided into Mrs Drewett’s and Miss Hill’s classes. This will take our enrolment for the remainder of the year to past 190! This growth is placing some pressure on our school resources and classroom space. For this reason we have been busy preparing a Masterplan with the intention of looking at a staged building program to build new classrooms in preparation for the future. This will all depend on systemic and government funding and requires a set process for the school to go through. I am sure you will hear more information as time goes on.

Over the past couple of years we have been discerning the possibility of providing Auslan in our school as a language subject, rather than Chinese. This year most of our classes have been participating in online Auslan lessons. This has been discussed as a School Board and we have attached a letter about Auslan from the Principal, Chris Platten, to this newsletter for your perusal.

A big thank you to all those families who have returned their overdue library books over the past couple of weeks. It is greatly appreciated.

We would like to remind students and families to be wary of approaches from strangers, especially when they are unaccompanied or travelling to and from school. If they are approached, students should not respond and should not accept offers of rides or gifts. Students should seek the assistance of other nearby adults if they feel unsafe and should report any events to a trusted adult (parent or school staff member) as soon as possible. SAPOL advises that taking out a mobile phone and calling police can deter an offender and they recommend the student making a formal report to their closest police station.

Each year we remind parents of some of the policies that apply in schools across our Catholic education system. Please feel free to check out the following policy around keeping children safe:

• Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy (Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide)
• Responding to Online Safety incidents in South Australian schools: Guidelines for staff working in education settings
• Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum information for educators (Department for Education SA) 

Please remember that we have the following dates set aside as Pupil Free Days for the staff to undertake professional development, staff reflection, complete hand over activities, etc. Our remaining set dates are: Friday 23 August, Monday 14 October, Thursday 12 December and Friday 13 December. Please mark them in your diary and book in to OSHC if you require this service (spaces are limited).

Please remember that school reopens on Monday 22 July with school photos on Thursday 25th July. 

Kind regards

Peter Mercer

Head of School

‘Shaping our Future Together’

CATHOLIC IDENTITY

LITURGICAL CALENDAR INFORMATION

A Liturgical Calendar shows the cycle of seasons in the Catholic Church. The Church year consists of six liturgical seasons: Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time after Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time after Pentecost. In each newsletter we aim to highlight different events in the Liturgical Calendar that we might be focusing on or celebrating in our school.

This term we celebrate many feast days that occur in our liturgical calendar. A feast day is a day when we remember and celebrate something or someone important to our faith.

Special celebrations that we focus on during classroom and whole school prayer throughout term 2 and those that come up in our liturgical calendar include:

Week 10

7/7 NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC WEEK

Sunday July 7 is the beginning of NAIDOC Week. A special day for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was first observed in 1938. This single day has developed into a beautiful week - long celebration with many events held in local areas which demonstrate the cultural richness of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is also a time to remember the need for justice for Aboriginal Australians. Students from Year 1 Shapcott and Year 3 Haylock, prepared a liturgy for NAIDOC Week. Together they created an art piece as part of their learning and placed this on the prayer space as part of their liturgy.

ELIZABETH CATHOLIC PARISH SACRAMENT PROGRAM

For those families who have enrolled in the program, please be aware of the following dates:

Reconciliation Celebration (TERM 3)

Friday August 2^nd

6pm

St. Thomas More Church – 19 Laverstock Rd, Elizabeth North.

Practice for Confirmation and First Eucharist (TERM 3)

Saturday September 7

3:30 pm to 5:00pm.

St. Ann’s Church – Midway Rd, Elizabeth East

Please contact Melissa Musolino for more information.

Phone: 82556144

Email: mmusolino@smm.catholic.edu.au

OR

Phone: 7285 1500

Email: mmusolino@sttmore.catholic.edu.au

Pack smart, and avoid a fine these holidays

Thinking of packing fresh apples, oranges, tomatoes, or avocadoes for your school holiday road trip to the Riverland, or interstate? Think again!

Due to fruit fly outbreaks and permanent quarantine rules, these are just some of the items you cannot take into the Riverland or when entering South Australia.

The only way you can take restricted produce on the road is if it’s been canned, cooked, dried, frozen, grated, or pureed.

If you arrive at fixed checkpoints and pop-up roadblocks with fresh restricted items in your vehicle, you may be fined.

Before you travel, check the full list of restricted produce to make sure you follow quarantine regulations, and protect the region (and our state) from quarantine issues and pests like fruit fly.

You can still snack healthy with these creative recipes, or explore the local food scene in the Riverland for delicious and fresh options. Visit our fruit fly website to get all the details.

Remember to pack smart and enjoy your trip!