Week 11, Term 1, 2025

Dear Families, 

Thank You for Engaging in Parent-Teacher Discussions 

We would like to extend our thanks to all the families who joined us for last week's Parent-Teacher Discussions. Your presence and involvement play a vital role in supporting our students' growth and development, both academically and socially. 

These discussions are an invaluable opportunity for teachers and parents to come together to share insights about student progress, celebrate achievements, and set meaningful future learning goals. By working collaboratively, we can ensure each child's unique strengths are nurtured and areas for improvement are thoughtfully addressed. 

Your commitment to partnering with us in your child's education fosters a sense of community and shared purpose, which is essential for creating a supportive and thriving learning environment. Thank you once again for making time to join us and for your continued dedication to our school. 

Child Safety  

As part of our professional responsibilities and boundaries, schools are asked each year to communicate to their community and make you aware of the safeguarding Children and Young People policy and the Keeping Safe: Child protection Curriculum.  Both documents are available on our school website using the link provided below:- 

https://www.stjotran.catholic.edu.au/community/parent-handbook-policies 

School Board AGM: Reflecting on Achievements and Future Directions 

I would like to acknowledge and thank our dedicated School Board members for their commitment and support over the past year. At our recent AGM, we reflected on the many milestones achieved in 2024, including the launch of the Year 5 and 6 Laptop Hire Program, the completion of Stage 2a of The Learning Street Project, the implementation of a new marketing strategy, and an updated website. We also introduced the Positive Behaviour Support program, with new school values and focused on improving numeracy across the school, expanded extracurricular offerings, built a new sports shed, and upgraded our phone system. You can see we have been very busy! 

Looking ahead, these accomplishments provide a strong foundation as we continue to grow and enhance opportunities for our school community. 

We look forward as a board to continue our strong focus on continuous improvement across the school. 

The Annual Report for 2024 is available on our website: https://www.stjotran.catholic.edu.au/our-school/strategic-plan-and-annual-report 

Uniform Matters: A Friendly Reminder to Families 

As we approach the new term, we’d like to remind everyone of the importance of wearing the correct uniform. The school uniform is a key part of fostering pride, unity, and a sense of belonging within our community. Your support in ensuring that your child comes to school dressed appropriately is greatly appreciated. 

Starting next term, we will transition to our winter uniform, with a two-week grace period to allow for the changeover from summer uniform. During this time, students may wear either the summer or winter uniform as they adjust. 

Please note that the PE uniform will return to being worn on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays next term. 

Thank you for your ongoing cooperation in upholding our school’s uniform standards. 

Traffic: Reminder about queuing 

We kindly remind all Parents and Carers to avoid queuing around the corner onto Magill Road, as it blocks traffic turning into Birkinshaw Avenue. Residents have expressed concerns, and the council has advised that fines may be issued to those causing disruptions. The pick-up zone operates from 3:00pm to 3:20pm, so arriving a little later can help ease congestion and make it easier for you to pick up students safely. Thank you for your cooperation and ongoing support. 

A Note of Gratitude 

As we wrap up a busy and productive term, I want to extend a special thanks to our students and staff for their incredible effort and dedication. This term has been filled with remarkable learning, growth, and achievements that truly highlight the strength of our school community. 

As we approach the term break, I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to reflect, and celebrate the wonderful progress made. Thank you for your unwavering support and commitment to creating a vibrant and enriching educational environment. 

Wishing everyone a happy and safe term break and look forward to seeing you back on Monday 28 April.  

Kind regards  

Adrian Grbin  

Thank you.

A big thank you to our community for your generosity with Project Compassion this year. It has been humbling seeing how families have shared this year. I am also aware that many families may give directly to Project Compassion on line and I thank you for your generosity. A big thank you to Oliver who introduced the Chocolate for Charity fundraiser. All monies from this fundraiser will go to Project Compassion along with the pancake monies collected at the beginning of Lent. The winner/s of the Chocolate for Charity fundraiser was announced on Friday. 

Our journey to Easter.

As we move into the final week of Lent – Holy Week, it has been wonderful seeing our children lead our Holy Week gatherings this week. It has been delightful seeing so many family members able to join us at our gatherings. 

Next term, if you would like to join us for our Easter Community Prayer it will held on Monday at 8.45 am.

A friendly reminder to return your Project Compassion boxes in Week 1of next term. 

Wishing our families an Easter season of hope, love and joy. May it be a special time shared with family and friends.

Annette McCard

APRIM 

Why is fluency important?

Math fact fluency in the early years forms the foundation that children need to complete more complex mathematical work later on. The ability to accurately and quickly recall addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts without using too much brain power is essential because our working memory can only hold up to 7 new things at a time. When we help children move these math facts from their working memory into their long-term memory where they can be effortlessly retrieved, students can use their working memory for more complex tasks.

What are the basic addition and subtraction facts children need to master by the end of Year 2?

There are basic fact strategies related to numbers to 20 that children work on at different stages from Reception to Year 2.

They are:

Count on 1, 2, 3
Facts of 10 (e.g., 1 and 9 make 10, 2 and 8 make ten and so on)
Doubles (For example, double 4 is 8)
Near Doubles
Bridge 10
Use a rule (what to do when adding to a 0)

These also have a related subtraction strategy.

Would you like to know how you can help at home?

Salute is a fun and flexible fluency game. The beauty of salute is that it can be adapted to suit a range of skills and ability levels.

Listed below is an outline on how salute can be played to support building fluency with doubles.

How to play:

Players split a deck of cards (normal playing cards or Uno cards) in half after removing any cards that are not needed for that particular game. In this case only cards 1-9 are needed. The cards are placed in a pile face down in front of each player.
Facing each other, players call ‘SALUTE’ and place their card on their forehead, being careful in the process not to look at the card they have.
Player 1 will look at player 2s card and say “Double your number is ___”. For example, “Double your number is 12”.
Player 2 will then use this information and respond with “Half of ____ is _____”. For example, “Half of 12 is 6”. They then look at their card to see if they are right.
Roles are switched with player 2 now giving the statement “Double your number is___” to player 1.
Repeat the process from steps 2-5 until the game finishes

What a busy term 1 we have had in the sporting realm.

All students participated in Footsteps, year 3-6’s engaging in a UniSA mini lab session, trialling and competing for the SACPSSA Swimming Carnival.

This term junior primary has been focusing on fundamental movement skills (FMS). Reception students have focused on ball skills. They have learned how to control different balls (rolling, throwing, bouncing, kicking, catching and striking). The year 1’s & 2’s has focused on mastering FMS by exploring object manipulation and techniques for rolling and throwing (for accuracy and distance), bouncing and catching.

The year 3 & 4’s has been introduced to sport-specific object control and manipulative skills in sports such as basketball and tennis. They have been introduced to tactics and understanding when and why we choose to pass or dribble the ball in game like situations.

The year 5 & 6’s has been focusing on different leadership skills needed to lead others effectively in a PE setting. They lead the class in pairs in either a warm-up game, main skill or cool down activity. They then had exposure to problem solving games and how to effectively communicate to create a cohesive team.

In week 4 UniSA master students taught our 3 – 6 students team games for a lesson.

Additionally in weeks 6 to 10 all students have experienced weekly Footstep classes. Each week students have learnt different dances. They have been able to develop their spatial awareness, balance and a way to express creativity.

In week 10, 16 students from years 3-6 participated in the SACPSSA Swimming Carnival section 4. St Joseph won the carnival for the second year in a row. All students came home with at least one ribbon with the school winning year 4 and year 6 age group champions and Zara Bairstow individual year 5 champion. All students showed tremendous perseverance and sportsmanship.

Additionally, on the Friday Addison Kerley, Jamie Iarossi and Zara Bairstow were selected to represent the district in the SAPSASA Swimming Carnival. Unfortunately, Zara was unable to compete on the day however congratulations to all three students for being selected and representing the district, we are very impressed with their ongoing commitment to their swimming.

Furthermore, on Friday night, both of our netball Sub junior teams competed in the EDNA Summer netball Grand Final. Both teams showed teamwork and determination. Mrs White is very proud of the time and commitment that all the students, parents and coaches put in to get to play in the grand final and the players should hold their heads up high for the way they represented our school.

Catherine White

PE Teacher & PE Coordinator 

Dear Parents and Carers,

The St Joseph’s School Tranmere Parents & Friends Committee have had a busy term planning out our exciting events for the year ahead.  There is something for everyone so be sure to SAVE THE DATES.  I’d like to already say a BIG thank you to those who have joined the Committee and given up their time to plan and execute the events we have instore this year.

Also, a big thank you to all of the volunteers who have supported Ice blocks each Friday and most recently, our Easter raffle — your enthusiasm and willingness to help continue to make a real difference in our school community.

Our fundraising goal this year is $10,000!  This money will go towards adding a fantastic shade structure in front of the new sports shed—so our children can stay cool during PE and our parents can cheer on from the sidelines in comfort!

Recent Highlights:

The Easter Raffle was a great success.  With an overwhelming amount of Easter themed donations, we had a wonderful mix of chocolate, lollies and craft.  In total, we created 38 beautiful Easter baskets.  Thank you to the school community for the generous donations and the hard work in selling those raffle tickets.  The raffle will be drawn on Thursday 10 April so keep your eye on your phone.  We raised $1,477.00 which is a great start to our fundraising for 2025.  
Ice blocks each Friday continue to be a hit in Term 1 and Term 4.  The children approach the canteen window with such lovely manners and sheer joy in their eyes when they spend their (🙂) money and receive an ice block in return.  We've had great support from parents as well as some of the Year 6 students in the Community & Wellbeing group. This past term we have raised $400 with our final day of sales coming this Friday.  Stay tuned for what’s instore for the winter months.

Please see below for our upcoming events.  Keep an eye out more information coming home soon!

Our next fundraiser is fast approaching with the election day BBQ.  A flyer went home on Tuesday so please register your interest if you can give an hour or two of your time.  Should be fun!!

We’re always looking for new faces and fresh ideas, so whether you can help occasionally or want to get more involved behind the scenes, we’d love to hear from you.  Your support, big or small, helps build a stronger, more connected school community.

Thank you again for your ongoing support!

Warm regards,
Nicole

Nicole Goethals

on behalf of the P&F Committee

St Joseph's School Tranmere