Week 6, Term 4 2020

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 4, what a term! How things change so quickly. Thank you for collecting your children in a calm manner on Wednesday afternoon.  We look forward to seeing all children back at school on Monday 23rd November at 8.45am.  I do ask families to ensure they have the School Stream App downloaded on their phone to ensure you are up to date on essential information. A brochure outlining how to download School Stream was sent home with the children earlier in the week.

We have enjoyed many activities so far this term with the children and staff celebrating many events that were postponed from earlier in the year. Unexpectedly, we now have COVID-19 rearing its head again, which has impacted planned activities this week. Our children displayed great resilience and understanding at the disappointment of swimming being cancelled. We will await to see what the next few weeks have install for Adelaide, if necessary many of the usual end of year celebrations may need to be cancelled or scaled down to suit the current climate.

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of spending time with the Year 6 children at their camp at Port Hughes. The children engaged in many team building activities on the beach and at the camp site. The weather was kind to us, enabling the children to participate in many aquatics activities such as kayaking, fishing, raft building and snorkelling. It is always wonderful to connect with children out of the normal school environment, we certainly have a respectful and caring group of seniors who proudly represented our St John Bosco community. During our evening liturgy the children reflected on their primary school journey and gave thanks to those who have supported them. We also spent time looking to the future and embracing all the exciting adventures to come! I would like to thank Franca Jefferies, Dino Zandona and Nicki Sharrad for all the preparation before the camp and their energy and enthusiasm during the camp.

Camp was the best activity for the year because we got the opportunity to try new things - Alex

It was great to experience something new and be with my friends - Jack

Camp builds us up to be more mature and prepare us to be more independent - Juan

Camp was fun because we got to do snorkelling, kayaking and making rafts - Nick

Camp built my confidence and it showed me that I can be independent - Antonio

Being with the Year 6’s was a great opportunity to get along with each other more - Mikayla

Camp was great fun and we learnt so much.  I give it 4 ½ stars out of 5 because of the weather and the bugs! - Iliana

I loved camp so much because it was a fun experience and I got to hang out with my friends for three days. There were so many supersized bugs and they were interesting as well as a dead frog and you could see it’s skeleton - Lily-Ann

Some activities in camp were competitive and I enjoyed competing against the other teams - Mason

Our Year 5 children participated in their three day activities program last week. The children participated in Hip Hop dancing, an excursion to Morialta Conservation Park and to Woodhouse Activity Centre. Over the three days the children participated in many activities that required team work and positive mindset to attempt new and challenging activities.

The 3 Day Activity excursion has taught me about teamwork and cooperation.  I loved working with my friends at Challenge Hill and having fun - Tian

I really enjoyed the huge slide that we kept on putting water on and then we all went down together at the same time. It was so much fun! - Jordan

All the challenges and activities were different and fun. One thing that I learnt is how everyone will cheer you on no matter if you fall or if you made it on the challenges. Also, everyone put their best effort into doing Challenge Hill and if they were scared they would still try - Charlotte

I had an amazing time playing with my friends at the Morialta nature playground. I learnt so much about the surrounding plants and other nature there. It was really fun collaborating with others while I was there and it taught me a lot about working together - Kai

I really the three-day activity was challenge hill. We also had a hip-hop lesson which was lots of fun and we went to Morialta playground. At Morialta, I liked going down the big slide and at a hip-hop lesson I liked how we used lots of teamwork so we could be in time with each other. Something I learnt was how to dance hip-hop and how to stay in beat with the music - Freedom

I would like to inform the community that Catherine Birchmore will be leaving our community at the end of the year. Catherine has been a valued member of the St John Bosco community for the past 24 years. Catherine has been a classroom teacher, specialist Japanese teacher while also managing the role of Religious Education Coordinator (REC). Catherine has been active in leading the community in Religious Education, working in partnership with the parish, school and families to ensure our school has a constant lens of  has been continuous improvement in the area of Catholic Identity. Catherine has also been instrumental in maintaining a relationship with our sister schools St Josephs and the Divine Mercy School in Samoa. Please join me in thanking Catherine for her dedication and passion towards our St John Bosco community.

We have appointed our new Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission (APRIM), Sara Hart. She was selected from a strong field of candidates, Fr Peter and I are extremely pleased with the appointment. We look forward to tapping into Sara’s skills, knowledge and talent next year to ensure our Catholic Identity flourishes within the community. In the coming weeks Catherine and Sara will meet to ensure continuity through the transition.

With some final staffing to be confirmed in the coming weeks, I look forward to announcing the 2021 staffing in our week 8 newsletter.

It is always lovely to have children visit me and share their learning, while I was writing this article I had some of our Reception children knock on my door eager to share their completed books. Our early year’s children engage regularly in book making. At St John Bosco we value the knowledge and skills children bring with them to school.

Lisa Burman an educational consultant explains the benefit of or children engaging in book making. “The Bookmaking Approach to literacy values and honours children’s prior learning, their cultural competence and their dispositions for learning. It uses these to drive learning deeper and to create a culture of thinking, talking and noticing about picture books.

A Bookmaking Approach not only sees children from this competent lens, it empowers children to see themselves as competent writers. It supports children to build strong identities as writers and communicators. This rich pedagogy engages children in language and literacy, motivates them to become deeply involved in their learning and also excites educators when they see children learning to their potential”.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Kate Turner

On Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th November St Maria Mazzarello House Team will be raising money to buy stationery and sports equipment for our sister schools in Samoa by selling Zooper Doopers for $1.00 at lunchtime.                                                            

Congratulations to Eunice and Scarlett who received the Catholic Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist. 

Father Peter celebrated with a special Mass that welcomes these young people into the church as they confirm their Baptism and welcome the gifts of the Holy Spirit into their lives. Over the past term, they have journeyed with Father Peter’s guidance, reflecting on their faith and growing in the knowledge and love of God that they have experienced in their family and our Church.