Newsletter 13 2022

Dear Parents/Caregivers, Students, Staff and Friends of St Raphael's School,

Congratulations to our Parents and Friends Committee and to Gemma Cooper as Quiz Extraordinaire at our recent community Trivia Night. We had over 70 people attend, and our Silent Auction raised over $1400. We thank all our attendees and look forward to the possibility of another Trivia Night in 2023.

Our Instrumental Music Night was a triumph and a tremendous celebration of our students and their musical talent. Please make sure to have a look at our gallery of photos in this newsletter. We are grateful to our music tutors, Yuri Markov, Aiden Foyel, Patricia Heller, Elliot Litchfield and Jack Willsmore for the service they provide our students. If families are considering the option of music tuition, please contact the Office info@raph.catholic.edu.au

Another wonderful recent turnout was last Friday’s Book Week Parade, and again we had over 70 guests attend on the day. It was great welcoming our families back to our school events.

Catholic School Music Festival

Last week I attended the combined rehearsal at Loreto College for the upcoming Catholic School Music Festival in which a group of Year 5 and Year 6 students are involved.  We will be performing on Thursday 29 September at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. Ticket sales have opened and parents/caregivers intending to attend, will need to organise tickets as soon as possible to avoid missing out. This evening is always a highlight of the year with over 1000 students from over 100 Catholic Schools performing in separate massed choirs over the course of the week. Naturally,  our students sound like angels.  It is a credit to their families for allowing their participation in this fantastic event.

Father’s Day/Special VIP Liturgy and Gift Stall

We are holding our Father’s Day/Special VIP Stall on Thursday from 9:00am – 11:00am. We thank our Parents and Friends for organising the stall and providing this service to our school community. Gift prices range from $2 - $5. All students will have the opportunity to purchase a gift, should they choose to do so.

On Friday 2 September we will be having a morning tea followed by our Father’s/Special VIP Day Liturgy and we hope to see you there.

Wishing all fathers, grandfathers and special VIPs a very happy day on Sunday with your loved ones.

With every best wish,
Mia Harms
Principal

It continues to be my pleasure to meet parents, become increasingly familiar with student names, and to learn something about each child at St Raphael’s School. I hope families are keeping well and the time for household colds is easing. I have included some of the recent and upcoming Religious Identity and Mission aspects of school life in this newsletter. Please know you can contact me at any time to discuss not just what I have included but any aspect of my work or the needs of your child/ren.

Community Prayer

The school community has been celebrating weekly Community Prayer on Thursday mornings with each class taking responsibility for the readings. We won’t be having Community Prayer this week due to the Father’s Day/Special VIP Stall and will return on Thursday 15 September (Week 8). You are very welcome to join us to celebrate these mornings and stay for a cup of tea or coffee afterwards. In fact, we would love to see you there!

Father’s Day/Special VIP Morning Tea and Liturgy 

We will celebrate Father’s Day/Special VIP on 2 September with a morning tea and Liturgy for significant male role models in the lives of the children. The Liturgy will be led by our School Ambassadors and the members of the Student Voice Committee. You are warmly invited to attend this event at 8:30am in the courtyard for morning tea then to the Hall for our Liturgy which will feature images of our staff as fathers (or partners with their children), and with their fathers and grandfathers.

ReLAT

Religious Literacy testing will take place towards the end of the term for students in Year 4. This occurs each year and is organised similar to NAPLAN in that the students answer questions online and the questions are modified as they proceed through the test. The grade they receive is not reflected in their Religious Education School Report at the end of the year. Instead, a separate grade is sent home. I will include more information on ReLAT in a future newsletter.

Andrea Bishop
Acting Assistant Principal, Religious Identity and Mission

Date: Thursday 22 September

Konnichiwa Minasan,

On Thursday 22 September, our St Raphael’s School community will celebrate ‘Haru no Matsuri’ (Japanese Spring Festival) to welcome the Spring season.

To appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of Japanese culture, students are asked to wear ‘Red and White’, the colours of the Japanese flag.

Our students will participate in Taiko drumming, Japanese traditional umbrella dance, Kendo performance and Japanese folk dance.

A special Sushi lunch order is available on this day through Eastern Sushi Bar. Please place your child/children’s Sushi lunch order via the QKR app.

I hope our students will have an authentic Japanese cultural experience through this event.

Arigato gozaimashita!
Aftab Sensei
Japanese Teacher

Instrumental Music Concert

I am thrilled to announce that our Instrumental Concert on Tuesday 23 August was an extraordinary success for our participating student musicians and their families. 

To commence the occasion, our participating Year 3 and 4 Ukulele Club students performed two short songs, before our Private Music Tuition students (in the areas of Drums, Voice/Singing, Piano and Guitar) presented individual solo performances. 

On the evening, we had an assortment of students who were at different points in their learning journeys (some who had been learning their instrument for 2+ years and some who had only undertaken their instrument for two terms) and it fills me with great pride to announce that every single student musician demonstrated an exceptional amount of enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment when it was their turn to take the stage. In addition, all the students were incredibly supportive of their student peers and demonstrated exceptional audience skills.

Therefore, I would like to say a warm thank you to all participating students and their families for their attendance and participation on the night. Additionally, I would also like to humbly thank our five dedicated Music Tutors, Mr Aidan Foyel (Singing/Voice), Mrs Patricia Heller (Piano), Mr Yuri Markov (Drums), Mr Elliot Litchfield (Guitar) and Mr Jack Willsmore (Guitar) who made this positive experience possible for all participating student musicians. 

Year 5/6 Choir

Last Thursday, our Year 5/6 Choir Ensemble attended a rehearsal at Loreto College for their upcoming performance as part of this year's Catholic Schools Music Festival.

As you can imagine, all voices and spirits were high on the day, especially while students were rehearsing their favourite choral numbers. 

Thus, I would like to warmly thank all choir members who not only put their best foot forward, but also represented our learning and teaching community with pride and enthusiasm. Additionally, I would also like to sincerely thank our wonderful Principal Mrs Mia Harms who accompanied us and supported all student performers. 

Music Tuition Vacancies

I am happy to announce that we currently have a few new vacancies for prospective student musicians who are interested in learning how to play the guitar for the remainder of Terms 3 and 4. 

Our incredible Music Tutors Mr Elliot Litchfield and Mr Jack Willsmore teach individual one-on-one Guitar lessons to students during school hours for thirty minutes each week. If your child is interested in pursuing this extra-curricular learning focus, please request an Expression of Interest Form at the Front Office, or alternatively, your child can request one from our Performing Arts Teacher Mrs Mandy Flynn (who teaches on Tuesdays and Fridays).

Other Instruments

If your child is interested in exploring another instrument (Singing/Voice, Piano or Drums), I also encourage you to collect and return an Expression of Interest Form. However, some tutors are currently not taking new students, but we can place your child's name on our waitlist for when a vacancy becomes available. 

Amanda Flynn
Performing Arts Coordinator

Touch Football

In our Physical Education lessons Year 3-6 have been learning the game of Touch Football and next Thursday these students will be participating in the SACPSSA Touch Football Carnival. St Raphael’s School has six teams participating; two Year 5/6 Girls Teams, Year 5/6 Boys, Year 3/4 Girls and two Yr 3/4 Boys Teams. This is a fantastic representation of our school.  The SACPSSA Touch Football Carnival is held each year at Park 17, Touch SA Headquarters located at the corner of Greenhill Road and Beaumont Road. With the skills of kicking and tackling removed, Touch Football is a fast, fluid and exciting game in its own right. Touch Football now boasts in excess of 400,000 members and over 500,000 children playing in school programs across Australia.

When: Thursday Week 7, Term 3, 8 September 2022
Where: Touch SA Headquarters, corner of Greenhill Road & Beaumont Road
Time: 10:00am - 2.00pm

We are still seeking parent volunteers to assist us on the day. If you hold a current Working with Children Check and will be attending to watch your child please strongly consider putting your hand up to help out. No experience is needed, and this can ultimately be a shared role between multiple parents to help spread the load across the course of the day.

Hannah Reid
P.E. Teacher and Sports Coordinator

Congratulations are in order for our P&F Committee for achieving a great result with the Trivia Night. We want to make special mention of Gemma Copper our Trivia Extraordinaire who made the night wonderful. We raised approximately $1,415 to further improve our school.

Our next event is this week's Father's Day Stall, on Thursday 1 September. Please send your child to school with $2, $3, $4 or $5 to purchase a gift.

We are still holding a Working Bee on 24 September from 10am to midday, so please save the date.  

For Term 4 we are keen to ask our P&F to arrange to collect items from our school community to then sell at the Monastery's Car Boot sale on 27 November. If you would like to be involved in this project, please let us know.   

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support, and we hope to see some of you at the various school events we have coming up: https://www.raph.catholic.edu.au/news-events/upcoming-events

Kind regards,
Katrina Tucker
Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Fee statements have been sent home to all families with an outstanding balance.

Instalment Term 3 - Due Date 16 September

Instalment Term 4 - Due Date 4 November

Please assist us by keeping fee payments up to date.

If you have having difficulties paying school fees, it is important that you contact the school finance office to discuss and make alternate payment arrangements.

2023 school fees

A reminder that our 2023 school fees will remain unchanged at the reduced 2021 fee. This includes fee free for 2023 mid-year Reception.

We are mindful of the financial pressures being faced by many families and our fee structure does include additional fee relief for families on lower incomes.  

A full schedule of our fees is available on our website. 

The fee reduction will not impact the quality of education at our school. We will continue our commitment to the care, wellbeing and academic development of our students. 

Damian Emery
Finance Officer

MSP Photography payment envelopes have been sent home to families.  Should you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact MSP Photography by email: admin.adelaidesouth@msp.com.au or phone: 08 83913951.

Remember these helpful points:
- Don’t seal envelopes inside each other. You can pay for all children in one envelope however each child needs to have their own envelope on photo day.
- Family envelopes are available at the school Office upon request and need to be ordered before or on photography day. Please make your children aware they are having a family photo.
- Please enclose correct money as no change is given. Cash, cheques, credit card and money orders accepted. Why not give ONLINE ORDERING a go!! It’s the safest and easiest way to order.

Last week was Book Week with the highlight being the Book Week Parade.  Please enjoy the gallery of photos below from our parade held on Friday 26 August. 

A few highlights this term include our visit to The South Australian Maritime Museum, at Port Adelaide. There, we engaged with the interactive displays, climbed aboard a ketch, to imagine historical life at sea and cruised along the Port River on the Archie Badenoch. Another fun learning experience was our STEM incursion. Run by STEM Punks, we coded Microbits, creating our own pedometer and compass and collaborated in Minecraft to build a solution for our group challenge. We are currently ideating our solutions using orthographic images for another STEM challenge, see some of our solutions below. We are looking forward to building our prototypes. Finally, last week we explored the authors of The Gospel’s, providing us with some understanding of the intended audience and representations of Jesus. We used an online Padlet to collectively share our finding.