Newsletter 7 2021

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

At the weekend, Kelly Manera and I were privileged in attending the Ordination of Deacon Tony Simbel to the Passionist Order. Fr Tony was one of the deacons, a seminary student, working closely with Fr Denis Travers and the Passionist community of priests preparing to make his final commitment to serve God in all ways.  Fr Tony began his missionary journey to become a priest eleven years ago and this is a testament to his deep faith and vocation.  The Ordination was a moving celebration led by Archbishop Patrick O’Regan.  We are hoping that Fr Tony will become known to our students as is Fr Denis, who visits regularly and shares our Christian story with classes.   

We have been meeting with Studio 9 Architects and our refurbishment plans for the upstairs two storey building are well underway. We received confirmation late last week that our plans have been approved by the Unley Council. The conceptual development stage of the design process is now complete, and the architects and Catholic Education SA, Planning and Development team are commencing the next stage of working on tender documentation. We hope to have this next process completed by the middle of June. Every stage of the process takes time and planning.  Our conceptual plans have been displayed in our ‘Parent Notice Board’ for your perusal. We are quite excited about our plans and hope to share more news with you soon.

Next week we begin our ‘Little Raph’s Orientation Program’ for new Reception students beginning their educational journey with us in Term 3. This transitional program runs for 5 weeks and is designed to give our new little people a taste of school life.   We have been pleased to once again offer free tuition for Reception students who begin school in Term 3. This has been possible due to one of the initiatives from Catholic Education SA to make schooling affordable for families choosing a Catholic education for their child/ren. We welcome and wish all our new students and their families every success.

As the weather is becoming colder, I encourage students to wear beanies, scarves, mittens, and additional coats to keep warm. I do, however, request that students wear colours in keeping with our uniform colours, i.e. navy blue and grey.  I am noticing that some students are wearing multi-coloured sneakers and I refer families to our Uniform Policy of ‘mainly white sneakers’. Families are reminded that girls can choose to wear long blue trousers instead of the pinafore. Please make your uniform orders via the Qkr! app or contact the office if unsure. Thank you for working with us in partnership to maintain our standards and expectations with regards to our uniform policy.

With every best wish,
Mia Harms
Principal

During Catholic Education week our students shared some beautiful sentiments about what they value at St Raphael’s School. I will share some of their thoughts…

‘I like being at St Raphael’s because I have great friends and supportive teachers that help me stretch my brain and challenge myself.’ Jessica

‘St Raph’s makes me feel safe. This school is good.’ Oliver

‘I enjoy having a relaxing prayer session in the morning. The teachers are helpful when you have a problem.’ Gracie

‘At St Raphael’s I learn how to be kind to other people and treat others the way I want to be treated.’ Ivy

‘St Raphael’s is special to me because it is a small school but a great community.’ Natalia

Vinnies Winter Appeal
This term our school outreach focus will be providing donations to the Vinnies Winter Appeal. We will launch this appeal next week and have invited Umes Acharya, Youth and Community Engagement Officer to come and speak with students about how our support can assist those less fortunate in the community. You will notice wheelie bins outside the school office where donations of clothing, blankets and other quality items can be placed. We thank you in anticipation for your support.

‘Never see a need without doing something about it.’ Blessed Mary Mackillop.

200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia
On Monday 24 May a National Mass will be celebrated on the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians to commemorate 200 years of Catholic education in Australia. To mark this event in South Australia, our leadership team and two of our school leaders will be attending a Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral presided by Archbishop Patrick O’Regan.

The month of May, marks many significant feasts for our Church. Last Sunday we celebrated the Ascension of the Lord, this coming weekend we acknowledge Pentecost, and following that the Holy Trinity. Many of our classes will explore these feasts and discuss with the students why they are important occasions in our liturgical year.

Wishing you a great week ahead.

FOR THE HEART......
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the fiftieth day of the Season of Easter. Pentecost was the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles. The joy of Pentecost is that the risen Christ breathes upon the Church and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).

Below are some petitions that you may like to share with your family:

That the Spirit of knowledge may open the Scripture to us, let us pray to the Lord: Come, Holy Spirit.
That the Spirit of courage will give strength to those who are suffering let us pray to the Lord: Come, Holy Spirit.
That the Spirit of awe may bring people to joy and delight, let us pray to the Lord: Come, Holy Spirit
Let us bring our other hopes and needs to God, as we pray: Mighty God hear our prayer.

God bless,
Kelly Manera
Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission

Gifted Awareness Week is happening from 22-30 May.
In order to celebrate Gifted awareness, Catholic Education is offering the opportunity for our students to participate in gifted awareness competitions. This year the competitions will be ‘Gifted Awareness Lego Competition’ and ‘Gifted Awareness Art Competition’.

The theme of the art competition is ‘I love my brain because...’
Students will create a piece of A4 art depicting this theme using the medium of pens, pencils, crayons, textas, paint or crayon.

The theme of the Lego competition is ‘Marble Maze’.
Students will creatively solve the problem of guiding a marble through the Lego maze, that they will build. This maze needs to be created with Lego only and then a marble to test the maze. The mazes can be made during lunch time at school or at home.

Please check the following link to guide you: https://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/activity-plans/create-your-own-lego-maze/

On Friday 28 May, I will create a de-identified video clip of a maximum 60 seconds in length of the marble moving through the maze. The artwork will be scanned at school. This video or scanned artwork will be sent to Catholic Education to be part of the competition.

Our children have talents in many different areas and allowing them to shine develops their creative and critical thinking skills along with originality and problem solving.

Each entry will receive a participation certificate and prizes will be given for each category.

We are excited to see the mazes and artwork that our students create.

If your child is interested, please pick up a form from the office that details the information. The form needs to be signed to give permission for your child/ren to enter. Forms and artwork or maze need to be returned to the school by Friday 28 May to allow your child/ren to participate.

For any queries please email dhansen@raph.catholic.edu.au

Deborah Hansen
Numeracy/Stem Leader and Year 4 Teacher

Catholic Schools Lacrosse Carnival
Interested students in Year 3 – 6 are taking up on the opportunity to participate in the Catholic Schools Lacrosse Carnival which will be held on Monday 7 June (Week 7). The Carnival will involve playing a number of mini modified Lacrosse games against other Catholic Schools throughout the day. Students in the above year levels are learning the basic skills, rules and game play for this sport in their PE lessons. Those interested in participating in the Carnival will bring home a note with all the details this week.

Winter Sport - Soccer
Our school Soccer players have commenced their competitive season, playing in their combined school teams with either Burnside Primary or St Joseph’s Norwood. All players are enjoying the opportunity to play a team sport and develop their skills in this sport. I want to take this opportunity to thank Diego Dominguez, parent of Lucy (Year 5M), for being willing to take on the coaching role on game days for the combined Year 5/6 team. We rely heavily on the willingness of parent/carer volunteers to assist with the management of our Out of School Hours Sport teams – our teams simply could not operate without them.

Congratulations
Congratulations to Annabella C (Year 2M) in her recent achievements in her chosen sport of Calisthenics. Annabella competes for the Plympton Halifax Calisthenics Club in the sub-junior team. Her team competed in the recent Calisthenics State Sub Junior Championships at the Royalty Theatre, where they achieved a placing in the following disciplines: March – 1st place, Rods – 2nd place, Song and Dance – 3rd place.

Year 6 Student Led Soccer Clinics
A small group of our Year 6 students (Xavier R, Sienna C, Alessandro C, Archie N and Josh M) have enthusiastically initiated the idea of holding soccer skills clinics at recess time for interested students in our school. These selfless and generous students are keen to share their soccer knowledge with their fellow students, giving up their own play time to hold the clinics three times per week over a three-week period. It has been wonderful to witness the connections that our senior student leaders are making with the rest of the student community involved, especially our junior students. They are relishing the opportunity to spend time and connect with these senior students and be developing their soccer skills and be active in a fun setting. You can view the video here. Thank you to Xavier, Sienna, Alessandro, Archie and Josh!  

Jeanette Archer
PE Teacher and Sports Coordinator

Our condolences to Nathan and Nathanael and their family on the sad passing of their Grandmother.