Newsletter 3 2022

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

How time passes very quickly. We have already reached the mid-way point of the first term! Like you, I often wonder where the time goes and how quickly life seems to pass us by. On reflection, I am reminded of the opportunity I have to enjoy spending time with my family and friends and just how precious that time is. During this liturgical season of Lent we are all invited to think about our fortunate lives and reflect on how we can in our own way support those around us who are less fortunate than us. It is the small acts of kindness that we can all do, daily, to improve someone else’s day.

P&F Playdate at Marshmallow Park

Thank you to the many families who supported the recent P&F initiate and attended the playdate at Marshmallow Park on the weekend. It was a glorious day and children were thrilled with their ‘lucky dip’ surprise.  I thank the P&F, led by Gaia Ricci, for their organisation of the event. During this time of COVID-19, we now more than ever are wanting to reconnect with one another and having a playdate was one small way of doing that. Next term the P&F are having a Quiz Night, and this will be another opportunity to bring families together.

Welcome to our New Students

This week we welcomed two new students to our community, Sanuli in Year 5, and Senul in Year 4. We wish them and their family well as they begin their educational journey with us.

COVID-19 Updates

SA Health have advised that schools are no longer required to maintain COVID-SAfe QR Codes for checking in of adults attending our sites. We do continue to require all visitors to register their attendance at school as we normally do, i.e. signing in at the Office. Volunteers, contractors and visitors (but not parents, delivery drivers and those attending an emergency) must continue to evidence their vaccination status. Visitors should not enter the site if they have any COVID-19 symptoms.

Change to definition of re-infection period for COVID-19

In line with new national standards, SA Health have announced a change to the defined re-infection period for COVID-19. Up until now a person who had recovered from COVID-19 was not required to test or quarantine, regardless of symptoms, in the 30 days after their isolation period ended.

This has now been extended to 8 weeks.

This means that any person who comes into contact with COVID-19 after 4 March 2022, and who has recovered from COVID-19 previously, will not be regarded as a close contact and should not test during the 8 weeks immediately following their isolation period ending. They should, however, stay home if they are symptomatic, for the duration of symptoms.

For further information see the SA Health website at https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/conditions/infectious+diseases/covid-19/testing+and+tracing/close+contacts or call the SA Health COVID-19 Information Line on 1800 253 787 between 8am and 8pm daily.

2022 Annual General Meeting

On Tuesday 22 March we hold our Annual General Meeting at 6:00pm and due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions the AGM will be held over Microsoft Teams. Please RSVP here by Friday 18 March if you are able to attend.    As we are moving to form a new 2022 School Board, I wish to thank Lev Makaev who is retiring from serving on our School Board.  Lev has been a member of the School Board for the past 3 years and I thank him for his wisdom, commitment, and willingness to help lead our wonderful school. If parents/caregivers wish to nominate to become part of the School Board, select here for the Nomination Form. All forms and RSVPs are due to the Office at info@raph.catholic.edu.au by Friday 18 March 2022.

Pupil Free Day Tuesday 15 March

Our Professional Learning Day for teachers is taking place on Tuesday 15 March. This is an opportunity to further collaborate with our colleagues from St Catherine’s School, Stirling and St Joseph’s School, Kingswood on our cross-moderation project in the area of moderation and assessment. Please contact Anne O’Connell at aoconnell@raph.catholic.edu.au if you require OHSC on this day.

With every best wish,
Mia Harms
Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The season of Lent has commenced and Sunday’s Gospel reading focussed on Luke’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. The fact that Jesus spent 40 days in the desert is significant as this connects to the 40 years the Israelites were in the desert after being led from slavery. The number 40 also marks the season of Lent. This well-known Gospel story where Jesus rejects multiple attempts at temptation can teach us a lot. Jesus was steadfast in his resolve and trusted in Scripture and God to overcome the temptations presented to him. Although temptations themselves are not necessarily bad, the lesson here for all us is what we do with them to ensure that we are always striving to be the best version of ourselves.

Our students have kicked off our almsgiving campaign to support Caritas and Project Compassion by their donations on Shrove Tuesday. A big thank you to Jim (grandfather of Annabella) who cooked all the delicious pancakes for us. We encourage children and their families to continue to support this appeal throughout Lent. There will be some more initiatives and opportunities to give throughout the term and we encourage all to be involved.

The theme this year for Project Compassion is: For All Future Generations. Our learners watched a video presentation as part of their Ash Wednesday liturgies last week, which helped explain where the monies and support from Caritas goes. Below I share with you an excerpt from Anatercia from Mozambique whose story is the focus for the first week of Lent.

Anatercia 12, was struggling to cope with adult responsibilities after her father died. Then she participated in Caritas Australia- supported training and gained access to psychosocial supports. Now, Anatercia can easily access clean drinking water, community members are able to grow healthy crops all year round, and there is enough nutritious food to eat. Anatercia now feels better supported by her community, has more time to study and do her homework, and hopes to fulfil her dream of becoming a nurse.

Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow For All Future Generations.

You can donate through Project Compassion donation boxes at home or in classrooms or by visiting lent.caritas.org.au

Student Voice and Year 6 Student Leaders

On Friday we gathered as a whole school, outside, to present our Year 6 leaders and Student Voice Representatives with their badges. We spoke about the importance of leadership and ways in which we can all contribute.  Our representatives will be our voice throughout the year, however doing what is right even when no one is watching and engaging in acts of service and kindness, like Jesus, can be fulfilled by each and every one of us.

Our Student Voice Representatives will work alongside me this year and we look forward to developing student agency, working in partnership to make our school and our world a better place.

We congratulate the following Student Voice Representatives for Semester 1:

Reception: Renee and Ishivaay
Year 1: Jake and Audrey
Year 2: Connor and Sebastian
Year 3: Leo and Isabelle
Year 4: Ebony and Celine
Year 5: Mia and Lorraine
Year 6: Georgia and Sidney (who are our School Ambassadors)

Mercy Values

We had a wonderful response from our parent community sharing their thoughts on our selection of three Mercy Values for St Raphael’s School. We appreciate the time taken to complete the questionnaire. Our staff and students also offered their ideas and we are in the process of collating the data and finalising the three values, which in conjunction with our learner dispositions, describe the school we desire to be. Stay tuned!

Commissioning Mass

The St Raphael’s School Staff will be commissioned at St Raphael’s Church next Saturday evening, 19 March, at 5:30pm. At the Mass, staff will pledge a commitment of service to the school and community. We warmly welcome any families who wish to attend this Mass with us.

Sacramental Program: Confirmation and First Communion

Last night we held our Parent Information Evening for the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Communion. We will be holding small group sessions for our young people across this term and next with the ceremonies taking place in July. We pray for all our young people embarking on their sacramental journey at St Paul of the Cross Parish.

Southern Cross

The March edition of the Southern Cross can be found here https://thesoutherncross.org.au

Praying this Lent

Like you all, I am sure you have been saddened by the horrific circumstances unfolding in the Ukraine and the flood devastation faced back home in the Eastern states. It is difficult to comprehend what these families are going through and a feeling of helplessness comes to the fore. Pope Francis, last Wednesday declared a day of Prayer and Fasting for Ukraine. Furthermore, as part of the universal Church we can support by continuing to pray for peace in the region, by constantly being informed about the situation and finally, by supporting the works of Caritas who are providing significant humanitarian aid.

Prayer, the lifeline of our faith, must continue to be one way we offer our intentions and care to all those who are suffering. I share below a prayer for the people of Ukraine.

Prayer for Ukraine

Gracious God, we pray for the people of Ukraine suffering from war,

May they be held in your loving care and protection and given the strength to endure their suffering and hardship.

Transform the hearts and minds of those who perpetrate the violence and oppression.

Grant wisdom to world leaders in advancing efforts toward peace; may they not be compromised by self-interest and blind indifference.

May the world unite and encourage peace so that no more suffering is endured.

We ask all of this in the name of your Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

God bless,
Kelly Manera
Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission

STEM Learning Space

With the completion of our upstairs refurbishment, we now have our dedicated STEM learning space open for business!

This area has been visited by a number of classes in the past week who have experimented with using some simple, reusable provocation materials to engage their brains.  These have been provided to encourage our learners to develop their critical and creative thinking, problem solving and collaboration skills. 

STEM is not a learning area unto itself, rather a way to bring together several disciplines of learning (namely Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).  This integration, based around a focus of solution-finding, provides opportunities for learners to transfer the learning that has occurred in the different learning areas and provoke the development of learning dispositions and capabilities that transcend individual learning areas.

Our Reception and Year 1 learners collaborated to find solutions to the challenge of building a marble run without using sticky tap, glue or any other adhesives. As you can see in the pictures, some built structures to keep slides and tunnels angled, others used the room fixtures to get the height they needed and worked together to hold the connecting parts in place. This type of collaborative problem solving is at the heart of quality learning.

Ms Rowson and Ms Bello described the learning experience this way - “The learners were so excited to use the new space. They were set the challenge to co-construct a marble run or building, using a variety of materials. In this challenge learners were developing their learner dispositions, to be collaborative, resilient, responsible, thoughtful, and curious. They achieved all of this and more!

There were constant shrieks of excitement and roars of laughter as the learners jumped around the space exploring and engaging together. The learners can’t wait to go back up to the STEM room, it is a wonderful space for collaboration and co-construction.”

Marianne Farrugia
Assistant Principal Director of Learning

Sport is back in full swing at St Raphael’s School. This week saw our first swimming trial at Norwood Pool. It was great to see many eager students wanting to represent our school. We have another trial happening this Friday, and following this, our team will be announced for the Carnival that is being held on Thursday 24 March.

Last week on Friday I attended a professional development day with other Physical Education teachers that focused on enhancing Physical Education programs. There was a huge focus on TPSR which stands for ‘Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility’ through TPSR students gain valuable knowledge to enhance their understanding and implementation of the following attributes; respect, leadership, team work and transfer. Through our Physical Education lessons this can be seen through enhancing student wellbeing and promoting sportsmanship and fair play in our school and the wider community.

Term 2 Sport: Expressions of Interest

Next term we will provide the opportunity for students in Year 3-6 to participate in out of school hours sport, in either soccer or netball. Soccer would be played on Saturday mornings and netball would be played on Thursday afternoons. We will need enough interest to ensure that teams can be formed. If your child is interested in representing the school, please email me at hreid@raph.catholic.edu.au ASAP.

Sports Day Raffle

Sports Day is fast approaching. We kindly ask every family in the school to donate one or more items in their child’s team colour. All items will be collected and placed into themed Sports Day colour gift baskets, which will be raffled on the day. A few basic suggestions could be a red drink bottle, a blue cap, a yellow beach ball or some green tennis balls. Be creative, thinking of items that will excite and surprise! If donating food items, non-perishable is the way to go. We would appreciate if all items can be brought in by Wednesday 30 March. They can be deposited in your child’s classroom or the Office. Sports day will take place on Thursday 7 April.

Yours in sport,
Hannah Reid
PE and Sport Coordinator

As a school governed by South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools we are guided by policies and Direction from Catholic Education South Australia (CESA).  Below is the link to the commitment from Archbishop Patrick O’Reagen regarding child protection.

Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy (Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide)

Learning about respectful relationships is at the foundation of the Child Protection Curriculum for children and young people from early to secondary years. Concepts focussing on consent are embedded throughout the curriculum at an age and developmentally appropriate level. Class teachers will provide further information when this curriculum will be taught in their respective classes.

Sunday’s Playdate provided a wonderful afternoon of catching up and fun in the sun. It was fantastic to see that so many were able to come along. With almost 40 children in attendance we hope everyone had a chance to reconnect. We’ll be hosting another playdate in Term 4.

Our next P&F activity will be our 14 May Trivia Night. We will be reaching out to local business in the coming weeks to donate goods and services and tickets will go on sale soon.

Katrina Tucker
Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Just a reminder families that Tuesday 15 March is a Pupil Free Day and OSHC will be available if required from 8.00am – 5.30pm.

Please book through the Fully Booked system as soon as possible.

https://straphaelsos.fullybookedccms.com.au/family/login

Children can wear casual clothes as this is not a school day. There will be programmed activities and games as well as free play all day. Please pack lunch, recess, a water bottle and a hat.

Due to strict staffing:child ratios, if you arrive on the day without booking there may not be a place available for your child.

Also please note the OSHC gate code has been changed. Anne will email the new code to all OSHC families. Please ensure you keep this code hidden from your children and remind any other carer who may collect your children from OSHC to also keep it “secret”. This is to ensure the safety of all St Raphael’s School children. Once the code is shared with children we cannot ensure that they won’t use it to leave the school grounds unauthorised and unnoticed during OSHC sessions. This code is to be used by families for OSHC drop off and collection only.

Anne O’Connell
OSHC Director

Our Year 4 students have been learning about the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, focussing specifically on the CST of Common Good. Our learners have also made connections to the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching through prayer and video presentations relating to the work of Caritas Australia. As a class we discussed the difference between equity and equality and ways we see this in our community. Our learners identified the attributes people need to uphold and promote human dignity for all. Students promoted these attributes by creating public artworks that will be displayed around the school to raise awareness and discussion about Catholic Social Teaching.