Term 2, Week 7 Friday 13th June 2025

It has been wonderful to return to school last week after my time of leave.  I was fortunate to spend some time on the Aussie Camino, walking in the footsteps of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.  It gave me a renewed sense of admiration for Mary MacKillop; she was a strong, independent leader who always had the interests of the children and the love of God at the heart of everything she did. A huge thank you to Belinda Elliott and Maria Iovino for supporting in various leadership roles during this time. 

As always, it is a busy time at school and there are lots of activities going on inside and outside of classrooms. You may have noticed that our new carpark is almost complete.  This is the first stage in a few building activities planned for the rest of the year.  Firstly, the old house on 9 Eldon St will be demolished.  This will become a temporary building site office for our builders.  Over the holidays we are having a transportable delivered to our current staff car park space. This will be a temporary staffroom.

Our current staffroom will be converted to a classroom for Ms Cekavicius’ Reception class.

Ms Ventura’s Reception class will move back into the classroom next to Ms Leonardi.

The 2 new Foundation classes will be in the end rooms (next to the uniform shop).

All of this moving is to enable us to build the long-awaited new toilets in our current spare room downstairs. New toilets have been identified as a priority for our community and we hope to have them completed by the end of the year.  I thank everyone for their patience and flexibility during more building works!

Teachers are busily writing Semester 1 reports.  These will be distributed on the last day of term.  Your child’s assessment is planned with the Australian Curriculum and Performance Standards.  The comments about your child’s learning link to these performance standards.  You will have the opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher early in term 3 and information about how to book these conversations will be send with the reports.  We hope every parent/carer is able to make a time to meet.

As the weather gets colder, please remember that we have school jackets and beanies as a part of our uniform.  The classrooms are warm and extra, visible (colourful!) layers under t-shirts or long-sleeved tops are not part of our uniform. 

We wish Matthew Harrison all the best as he embarks on a 3-week study tour with Catholic Education SA.  Kylie Rivera and Rebecca Braidwood will be supporting leadership in Matthew’s absence.

Thank you for your continued support,
Kelly Campbell

Dear Families

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, and it gave you some time to rest and relax.

Water Safety Program – Thebarton Aquatic Centre
This year students from Reception to Year 5 will participate in Water Safety Lessons at the Thebarton Aquatic Centre. We were lucky to secure a booking at Thebarton, given many schools are looking for a new swimming venue with the Adelaide Aquatic Centre still under construction.

Consent Forms and information will be sent home to families this week. Please return all 3 notes/slips to your child’s teacher as soon as possible.

Water Safety Lessons

Years 3, 4 & 5: Tuesday 22 July to Friday 25 July (Week 1 Term 3)

Reception, Years 1 & 2: Tuesday 29 July to Friday 1 August (Week 2 Term 3)

Perhaps the upcoming school holidays will provide an opportunity for you and your child/ren to check they have everything they need for swimming, including bathers, towel, goggles (if needed), bag (etc) and for our younger children, some time to practice getting changed independently.

If you are a registered volunteer, with all relevant Catholic Clearances, your help would be appreciated. Please indicate your availability on the return slip.

Best wishes for the weeks ahead – keep warm!

Belinda

Last Friday, on our Student Free Day, our entire staff participated in a Cultural Awareness Day with Steven Warrior, a proud Kaurna, Narungga, and Kokatha man from Kuma Karru. We engaged in a rich and meaningful workshop that deepened our understanding of the foundations of Kaurna culture, continuing our journey of reconciliation and supporting the development of our whole-school Reconciliation Action Plan.

The day enhanced our cultural learning through a comprehensive exploration of key aspects of Aboriginal culture, including:

• Land and Diversity
• Kinship and Responsibilities
• Death and Dying Processes (traditional and contemporary)
• Spirituality and the Spirit World
• Colonisation History and Timeline
• Current Statistics of Aboriginal People

We concluded the day by learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and protocols, and how these new understandings, adapted from the Art Gallery of South Australia can be applied in the classroom with our students. Each staff member created a personal artwork inspired by Betty Muffler, a Pitjantjatjara artist and renowned ngangkari (traditional healer), focusing on a place of personal significance and connection to Country.