Newsletter 19 2021

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

As we enter the season of Advent we are all reminded to prepare our hearts and minds for the birth of Jesus. Advent is also a time to celebrate ‘light’ in the midst of adversary and uncertainty. How apt that today we celebrated our end of year thanksgiving Mass, where we gave thanks for all the opportunities, learning and friendships we have enjoyed this year.  We also farewelled our Year 6 students and staff who are leaving St Raphael’s School: Jeanette Archer, Amanda Rugari, Ashleigh Berhendt and Sarah Edson. Jeanette leaves us to enjoy a new phase in her life of well-earned retirement, Amanda, Ashleigh and Sarah leave our community to join other school communities, both in Victoria and in Adelaide in 2022.  All these wonderful educators have left their mark on our school community and we are the richer for that.  We wish them well as they leave us to begin their new journey, wherever that may lead.

Christmas Gathering

We look forward to welcoming you all tomorrow evening as we celebrate the end of this year with a school performance. Students have been working hard to prepare their concert item and I am sure you will be delighted with their performance. A special thank you to Amanda Rugari for her organisation of the evening.

End of Year Assembly

We will be hosting our last assembly for 2021 on Friday 3 December at 9:00 am and parents/caregivers are invited to attend.  A special part of the Assembly will be our farewell to Mrs Jeanette Archer who will be retiring. Please RSVP here if attending.

Whole School Transition

On Tuesday 7 December students in Year 1 to Year 5 will be involved in a transition visit with their 2022 teacher/s. This is an opportunity for students to meet their new 2022 teacher and spend some time in their new learning space.  Please see below staffing appointments for 2022.

2022 Staffing Appointments

Leadership Team

Principal                                               Mia Harms
AP Director of Learning                       Marianne Farrugia
APRIM                                                 Kelly Manera

Teaching Staff

Reception                                            Louise Rowson
Year 1                                                  Elizabeth Bello
Year 2                                                  Vanessa Gentilcore
Year 3                                                  Kelly Davies/Julie Purdie
Year 4                                                  Clare Deverson
Year 5                                                  David Monti
Year 6                                                  Anthony Sicari

Inclusive Education                          Angela Keam
Performing Arts                                 Amanda Flynn
Physical Education                           Hannah Reid
Japanese                                            Reena Aftab

Finance Officer                                  Damian Emery

Marketing and Communication        Katrina Tucker

ESOs Curriculum Support                Deborah Parker and Wendy Davey

ESOs Administration                         Denise D’Alessandro and Wendy Davey

OSHC Director                                    Anne O’Connell

WH&S                                                  Wendy Davey

School Counsellor                             TBA

Building Refurbishment

Due to the unavailability of some building materials, the building project will not be completed by the end of this term as previously communicated. At this stage the refurbishment is due for completion mid December 2021. Whilst this is disappointing, we will look forward to moving our senior students into the new learning space on our return next year.

Semester 2 Reports

On Monday 6 December Semester 2 Reports will be sent home. Parents/caregivers are encouraged to make an appointment with their child/ren’s class teacher if they wish to discuss their child/ren’s report.

School Closure

Our school year concludes on Thursday 9 December at 3:10 pm. Teachers will return on Friday 10 December for a Professional Learning day and the Office will be open on this day. School resumes on Monday 31 January 2022 and the Office will be open the week prior, Monday January 24 2022 to Friday January 28 2021.  

I wish you all a very Blessed Christmas and a hope filled New Year.

I look forward to your return in 2022.

With every best wish,
Mia Harms
Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Well, here we are in Week 8 and as I reflect on the full and productive year we have had at St Raphael’s School, I cannot believe it is nearly coming to an end. Although there is a week and a half left of the school term and a month before we conclude 2021, we have actually already begun a new year – that is the new liturgical year that commenced on Sunday, the first day of Advent! The Church always begins its new year by journeying through Advent, the four week long season of preparing for Christ’s coming at Christmas. Although Christmas decorations and the shopping season is in full swing, there is wisdom in the season of Advent teaching us to take time to prepare. To be patient, to slow down, to give thanks for our blessings and to wait for Jesus’ arrival with hope, joy and happiness in our hearts!

Early Years Nativity Liturgy

On Friday, Father Denis joined our Early Years learners for a Nativity Liturgy. The children sung and read beautifully and our echo Nativity reflection focussed on a porcelain Nativity scene that highlighted some of the characters who were in the stable that night in Bethlehem. At the end of the echo mime, the letters M-E-S-S-I-A-H were spelled out revealing the true gift at Christmas, the birth of our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

End of Year Thanksgiving Mass

Today we came together at St Raphael’s Church to celebrate the Eucharist at our End of Year Thanksgiving Mass. We were able to reflect and give thanks for the wonderful year of learning and belonging we have experienced in 2021. We farewelled our graduating Year 6 students as well as teachers and students leaving our community. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours!

I share some words of wisdom taken from our first reading today which can hold us all in good stead no matter where our paths may lead us.

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”

Graduation Retreat Walk and Mass

Next week our Year 6 students will experience their final days with us at St Raphael’s School. They have been an outstanding cohort of young people, full of energy, kind hearts and have displayed excellent leadership qualities. Anthony and I will be leading a retreat style reflection walk along Linear Park in the city on Monday. There will be opportunities for prayer, reflection and affirming each other as they conclude their journey with us. We hope for it to be a meaningful and connected day. Next Wednesday evening at 6pm we will celebrate a Graduation Mass for our Year 6 students and their families, followed by a gathering back at school. We will miss this wonderful group of students next year and wish them all the best for their secondary studies and beyond!

Sacrament of Reconciliation

It was a pleasure journeying with four of our St Raphael's School students and a number of young people from the Parish over the past months as we prepared our young people for their Sacrament of Reconciliation. Last Thursday evening, the children and their families celebrated their First Reconciliation with Fr Denis and Fr Tony. It was an intimate and meaningful liturgy, where the children spoke with our priests about their sins and asked for forgiveness and peace. As a symbolic gesture of washing away their sins, each child placed a stone in a bowl of water before saying their prayers. We congratulate Georgia, Mia, Elaine and Leo from St Raphael’s School and look forward to reconnecting next year when they prepare for their Confirmation and First Eucharist.

Message of thanks

I wish to offer my final thanks to the students, staff and parent community of St Raphael’s School for making me feel welcome this year! I have enjoyed getting to know everyone and am thankful for the year experienced together. I would also like to acknowledge the wonderful Parish community, including Fr Denis, Fr Tony and Fr Patrice who have celebrated Mass, liturgies and special events with us, Pauline and Sue and the Parish office team who are so accommodating and supportive. I look forward to the new opportunities and initiatives the new year will bring!

I wish all our families and staff a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! May you reconnect with loved ones and enjoy some down time over the summer holiday break!

“Remember that the best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.”

Peace and blessings to you all,
Kelly Manera
Assistant Principal Religious Identity and Mission

Explicit phonics program

Recently, all of our students in Reception to Year 3 have undergone some assessments to ascertain their progress across the year in relation to our explicit, multi-sensory approach to reading and spelling. As you will be aware, our students engage each morning in explicit, teacher directed lessons where they learn all the skills needed to decode words including letter names, sounds, blends and spelling rules.  Those students who have needed extra assistance in this area have engaged in our intervention programs – MiniLit and MacqLit. We are very pleased to note that each of our students have shown significant growth across the year in all aspects, with 83% showing growth in excess of, or significantly in excess of, typical growth expected for 1 year. This is an outstanding result and a credit to students, families and especially teachers who have worked hard to both learn and implement this approach to teaching.

We are currently looking at our assessment results to establish the starting point for each of the cohorts next year, including which aspects (sounds, blends, rules) need revision, and which are already embedded in students’ reading and writing. This means that our students can continue on next year from where they left off, ensuring that the learning is meeting their needs.

Marianne Farrugia
Assistant Principal - Director of Learning

Reception and Year 1 students have been working on their understanding of beat and coordination by learning some traditional dances, as well as action songs and line dances.

Year 2 and 3 students have been learning skills in pantomime and improvisation. They have been presented with a variety of individual and group scenarios to respond to, using exaggerated body movements.

Year 4 students have been learning skills in improvisation and recorded their own monologue as a space captain, reporting back to Earth.

Year 5 and 6 students have been recording a variety of audition videos, with the Year 5s creating a commercial for an invented product and Year 6 students recording a script. 

Choir and ukulele ensemble have each rehearsed a Christmas song for the Christmas Gathering and look forward to sharing it with their families. Choir is made up of Year 4 and 5 students who are having a trial before deciding if they will commit to the Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir in 2022.

Amanda Rugari
Performing Arts Coordinator

Our learners took part in the Little Scribes Mini-Writing Festival. They attended live interactive video workshops and completed writing and illustrating tasks in class. Our Year 3 learners were so inspired by this festival that they each wrote and illustrated their own books titled ‘Death Island’’ and these books are published online.

Please follow the individual links in our blog post to read each of our learners' books.
Congratulations to all our published authors and illustrators.
 

Thank You!

As 2021 draws to a close I would like to take this opportunity to thank the parents in our school community who have dedicated their time and effort to coaching / supervising / managing out of school hours sports teams throughout the year.

SOCCER: Diego Dominguez
CRICKET: Matt Pike

Thanks also to all those parents who supported the above-named coaches by helping out with scoring, running the line and organising the students on game day. Without your willingness to take on these responsibilities our out of hours school sports programmes would simply not function – much appreciated! Finally, many thanks to those parents who have assisted at carnivals throughout the year, either as a coach/manager or official.

Cricket Medallion Presentation

Participation medallions will be presented to all of our Year 2 - 6 school cricketers (Master Blaster and C Grade) who have represented our school in Terms 1 and 4 at Assembly (9:00am start) this coming Friday 3 December. You are most welcome to attend.

Sports Day 2022

The date for Sports Day in 2022 is Thursday 31 March (Term 1 Week 9). As per this year, Sports Day will be held on the school site. The event will be held in school hours, during the first half of the school day, concluding by lunch time. Parents/caregivers are most welcome to attend to support and cheer on the students. Students can be dismissed at the conclusion of Sports Day for families wishing to take their child/ren home and remaining students will be supervised by teachers as per usual. OSHC will also be in operation before and after school. We are beginning to plan for this event and we look forward to this wonderful day. Put the date in your diary!

Water Safety Lessons – Grades

All students from Reception – Year 5 have received their ‘Record of Development’ from the Water Safety Program they participated in last week at Unley Pool. Please note that your child has been given a ‘grade’ from their instructor for the various aspects they practised/attempted during the program. Those grades do not correspond to the A,B,C,D,E you will find in their school reports. For the Water Safety Program, the reporting grades are:

A – Effectively
B – Frequently and independently
C- Supported by the instructor or assisted with a flotation aid

Also, Benchmark 1 applies to students in Reception – Year 3 and Benchmark 2 applies to those students in Year 4/5.

Holiday Clinics

Please click here to see information regarding Holiday Sports Clinics available during the holidays.

My Final Sports Report

As I head into retirement at the end of next week, this will be my final ever Sports Report at St Raphael’s School, after 16 years as the PE Teacher. I have to say I am presently feeling very emotional, as I reflect on all my enriching years of teaching at this treasure of a school. So many wonderful students, families and staff members that I have had the pleasure to be connected to during my time at St Raph’s, will give me a plethora of memories that I will always hold dear in my heart.

Jeanette Archer
PE Teacher and Sports Coordinator