Newsletter 18 2023

New Building Walk Throughs

I am delighted to share the images from the recent student and staff walk throughs. A link to the walk through is available here.

P.E. Week

Thanks to Corey Tucker for his enthusiasm and preparation in organising our highly successful P.E. Week. It was great to see the smiles on the faces of the students as they joined in the activities throughout the week. Well done also to the Year 6 students who offered their leadership in support of the younger students.

Uniform Update

We have had an update around school uniforms. Stock should be in the Belgravia showroom at the start of December and a size range at the school to assist with the transition to the new uniform. Uniform fittings will be available at Belgravia showroom from Monday 4 December. A welcome letter with all information, along with a uniform list, will be sent home in the next couple of days.

Staffing 2024

The incoming Principal Emma Fowler, Corey-Lee Lewis and I have been interviewing staff for 2024 over the past week and I look forward to sharing an update regarding staffing soon. I am reassured that St Raphael’s School continues to attract high quality applicants.

Mark Simpson
Acting Principal

We certainly have had a busy term with liturgical services. Our joyous Grandparents Day Liturgy was a huge success with a wonderful turnout by our Grandparents and VIPs. Thank-you for supporting this day and the time you took to spend at the school visiting your special people.

Remembrance Day was observed with a ceremony and the whole school attended showing their respect and reverence towards the meaning of the occasion. 

The following few weeks mark the Liturgical time of the year known as Advent where we focus on the waiting for Jesus to be born. Each week, we light a candle to represent the following  Peace Hope Joy and Love.  At St Raphael’s School, we celebrate each week of Advent in our classrooms through special prayers and reflections. 

Brother Michael Christmas Hamper Appeal

As we remember this time of the year, it is about giving rather than receiving and we know that some people, at this point in time, are experiencing some hard times. To help bring some joy into the lives of others we support the Brother Michael Christmas Hamper Appeal.

A reminder that we are asking families to continue this tradition of outreach to those who need assistance in our wider community by bringing in the following items from each year level:

Reception:  Baby Food, Jelly Crystals
Year 1: Noodles, Rice
Year 2: Pasta, Pasta sauce
Year 3: Cereal, Tuna
Year 4: Jam, Vegemite
Year 5: Instant Coffee
Year 6: Tea Bags

End of Year Mass

The theme of our end of year mass is ‘We Give Joyful Thanks’.  The Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday 6 December at 9:30am at St Raphael’s Church. You are warmly invited to attend our End of Year Mass.

May the Peace, Love, Hope and Joy of Advent be with you all,
Helena Card
APRIM (Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission)

At St Raphael’s School we use DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) to support our staff to measure the acquisition of literacy skills. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures that can be used to regularly detect risk and monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills in Reception through Year 6. The purpose of DIBELS is to provide educators with standards for gauging the status and progress of all students.

Students with scores falling well below the benchmark are identified as at risk of not meeting end-of-year expectations in reading. These students require intensive intervention to get back on track in reading. At St Raphael’s School, students who require intensive intervention join our MiniLit and MacqLit intervention groups. Students scoring above the well below benchmark but still below the benchmark are considered at some risk for not meeting end-of-year expectations. They require strategic planning on the part of educators to determine appropriate strategies to support the students to meet subsequent literacy goals. To support our students we introduced progress monitoring of students who were below benchmark goals. Progress monitoring is essential for ensuring that students identified for intensive and strategic support actually benefit from this support as intended. Progress monitoring enables us to change and intensify intervention until the desired pattern of improvement is achieved. By progress monitoring students using DIBELS, teachers can determine whether they are responding to instruction or would benefit from a change in instruction.

As you can see from the data above, our students have made significant growth over the year in reading. Congratulations to all our learners!

Corey-Lee Lewis
Assistant Principal - Leader of Learning

Over the past fortnight we have been busy with a variety of sports related events. In Week 4 we took a group of talented young athletes to Santos Stadium to compete in the SACPSSA Athletics carnival. Students competed in a variety of events, putting their all into representing the school. Students will be recognised for their efforts in Week 7’s Sports Assembly!

P.E. Week

Physical Education Week was a great success last week, with students having the opportunity to engage in various activities hosted by teachers and Year 6 students. Each morning saw our Year 6s lead our younger years through energising health hustles and games. Our Year 6s also helped facilitate a fun run for our JP year levels. We thank our Year 6 leaders and school staff members for helping in making this a week worth celebrating!

Water Safety Week

With Water Safety Week quickly approaching in Week 7, a reminder for students to come to school with their bathers underneath their school uniform. This will ensure that once we arrive at Unley Swimming Centre, that we are best prepared to quickly begin our lessons, and spend more time in the pool.

Term 3 Kelly Sports R-5

The Kelly Sports Program has kicked off to great success this school term with Reception – Year 2 engaging in cricket and soccer. While sessions have also started for volleyball  in our multi-sport program for Years 3-5. Both sessions will continue to be held on Wednesdays after school from 3:15pm - 4:00pm. It is not too late to register your child. Please be mindful that you must be on time and pick your child up at 4:00pm otherwise they will be sent to OSHC.

Flyers for nominations for Term 4 were sent home to student’s last term. Nominations will continue to be accepted across the term.

Key Dates

After School Sport
Kelly Sports: Multi Sport Program
Time: Wednesdays 3:15-4:00pm

Water Safety Week (Reception – Year 5)
When: Daily from Monday 27 November to Thursday 30 November, Week 7, Term 4, 2022
Where: Unley Swimming Centre, Ethel Street, Goodwood

P.E./Sports Assembly
When: Friday 1 December at 9am

Corey Tucker
P.E. Teacher and Sports Coordinator

Last Friday, Leo's mum, came in to teach us about watercolour techniques. Amy is a high school art teacher and she explained how we could create a range of effects by using different amounts of water and paint. Our favourite ones were using salt and using a wet brush on wet paper because they created interesting patterns. We are looking forward to working with Amy again. 

Our Grandparents morning was a tremendous success, and we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the grandparents who attended. The morning was full of love and warmth. We are grateful to Father Tony for leading a wonderfully emotional liturgy. The students spoke eloquently about the positive impact their grandparents have had on their lives, and Mila and Oliver's music performance in the hall was outstanding.

We would also like to thank all the teachers who facilitated great classroom visits, providing the students with an opportunity to share their learning with their grandparents. In one classroom, PE was scheduled, and a friendly match of Bocce was played with the Year 6 students and their special grandparents.

Helena, our APRIM, deserves a special mention for organising the event that concluded with a delightful morning tea in The Loft, enjoyed by all. We would like to thank our community and extended families for showing their love and support on this special day.

Thank you to all our Parent and Friends for your wonderful hard work this year. Your selfless efforts in organising events and fundraising activities have made our school a better place for our children to learn and grow.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our school playdate on the weekend. It was great to enjoy some down time.

Lastly, we are excited to announce our final fundraiser of the year – our school cookbook! We can't wait to share our favourite recipes with you and hope that you will enjoy them as much as we do. Keep an eye out for more information on how to purchase your copy in the coming weeks.

2023 has been a busy year in the Counselling space. A very common theme this year has been parent separation, divorce and conflict. Being separated parents can be very hard work and takes an emotional toll on all parties, especially children. 'Because it's for the kids' is a booklet, available here, offering support, ideas and wisdom to help you help your child/ren cope through the changes. There are many other helpful resources available at https://www.familyrelationships.gov.au/documents and www.relationshipsaustralia.org.au 

Sarah Byrnes
School Counsellor