Issue 3, 28 February 2025

Next week, we will celebrate the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. The 40 days of Lent provides us all with the opportunity to reflect, grow, and grow closer to God. We will do this through deep personal reflection. Our school theme 'Seeds of Hope' beautifully intertwines with the opportunities Lent will provide us. 'Seeds of Hope' symbolises planting the seeds of positive change and nurturing them to grow into something special and meaningful. Through our Lenten practices and commitment to Project Compassion, we sow seeds of hope by working towards a more just and compassionate world.  

Next Friday 7th March is a Student Free Day. Staff will engage in professional learning that is aligned with our College’s strategic directions and annual improvement plan. These days are important for staff to engage in professional learning, which directly benefits your child's education. Dedicated time for staff to engage in targeted learning opportunities allow staff to stay updated with best practice, collaborate with colleagues, and develop new knowledge and skills. This continuous professional growth of our staff ensures high-quality teaching and learning, which ultimately enhances student learning outcomes. Thank you for supporting these important opportunities to invest into our staff.  

Our College Board AGM will be held on Wednesday 12th March at 6:30pm in the Library. Parents/caregivers are welcome to attend. The 2024 School Performance Report will be presented, along with reports from the President, Chairperson, Treasurer and Principal. I encourage parents/caregivers to consider coming along to support the important work that the Board does in its governance of our College.  

We were pleased to be selected as a 2025 SASTA Science Active School. The Science Active School Program is an initiative by SASTA to recognise and promote schools that show a high level of engagement in science education within and beyond the classroom. Science Active Schools support and encourage the professional learning of their Science Educators through their involvement with, and support of, SASTA. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the wonderful work of all of our science teachers, especially Christine Kemp who has worked closely with SASTA for a number of years.  

Each term every student in a Catholic School in South Australia participates in a simple online Classroom Pulse Check In. This Check In survey has been developed to ascertain how students are currently feeling about their experience in school. It is tailored to allow your child’s teacher(s) to check in and provide immediate feedback and support to them. The Check In survey will be carried out during the school day.  

The Check In survey has a range of simple questions about your child’s life at school, their identity as a person and a learner, their sense of belonging, safety, and friendships. For each statement, students will select whether they feel it applies to them “most of the time,” “sometimes” or “not very often”. Students in Reception – Year 3 will have emojis alongside the options to help them identify their feelings. 

We are conscious that life in school has ‘ups and downs’ for all students. This is normal and it’s important that students have the opportunity to develop important skills to navigate these situations and circumstances. Your child’s teachers want to understand how they are feeling so they are able to support your child in meeting any social, emotional, or learning needs that they may have. 

To enable this, the College follows up on any concerns raised in the surveys and provides support as required. Please be assured that, as your child’s primary caregiver, any support required will be communicated and discussed with you.  

A sample of the Check In survey can be found here.  In addition to supporting your child, de-identified data from all participating schools will be used by Catholic Education SA to identify trends to assist in future planning for the support of the learning and wellbeing for students across South Australia. 

NAPLAN Testing will again be occurring in Term 1 for students in Years 3,5,7 and 9. The testing window is open from 12th – 24th March. These tests provide useful data for individual achievement in comparison with national results and are a means of identifying particular needs at each year level. They are, however, one mode of assessment in the overall learning program at Caritas College. In addition to NAPLAN, we also use a variety of other assessment strategies that inform and support our teaching and learning. If you have any questions about NAPLAN please contact the College.  

Teachers are busy planning and preparing to meet parents/caregivers next week for Learning Conversations. These meetings provide a good opportunity for the school to share student growth and achievement. Parent/Teacher Learning Conversations will be guided by the below 5 questions, which reflect our school’s vision for learning and support our pedagogical principles: 

• What is the student learning?
• How are they going with their learning?
• How do you know?
• How can they improve?
• What support are they getting?

We look forward to working in collaboration with parents/caregiver to support the learning and wellbeing needs of all of our students. 

Please note that the online booking system will close from 6.00pm today, Friday 28 February 2025.  For instructions on how to make your bookings, please click here and use the code ptz7j when making your booking. 

Lent is a liturgical season lasting 40 days, reminding us of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness before his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We are called to pray, fast and give alms as part of our Lenten practice – simple acts that allow us to imitate Jesus, who taught us to fast, pray and live in service to others, especially the poor, vulnerable, and marginalised. Many people choose to give up a particular indulgence or habit as a form of self-discipline or practice whilst others choose to take up a challenge. 

Next Tuesday, we marked the final day before Lent, Shrove Tuesday. This is a day when luxurious items were used up in preparation for the fasting that would occur in the days leading up to Easter. Our Senior students are currently donating pancake mixture and toppings, and our year 12 students will make and serve hundreds of pancakes for all members of our community to enjoy. Pre-orders can be done using the QKR! app, with our R-6 students enjoying their pancakes in the morning and our 7-11 and staff being able to purchase theirs during recess. This will formally begin our Project Compassion fundraising campaign for 2025. 

On Wednesday, we will acknowledge the change of the liturgical season with Ash Wednesday liturgies being celebrated throughout the day. It is here, marked with the ashes from last year’s Palm Sunday service, that we are reminded that we are drawn into a time of quiet reflection and contemplation of what lies ahead in our Catholic story. We are called to think about Jesus’ life and suffering and the many ways in which he continually showed compassion and forgiveness to others, right up to the moment of his death. It is also a reminder for us to think about how we can show compassion and forgiveness to others. 

Compassion creates a ripple effect of kindness throughout communities. Whilst we consider how we can give to Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion campaign, we also encourage our students to focus on their gifts that they can offer to others – to create ripples that will improve the livelihoods of our global brothers and sisters, providing hope and support to all. 

By supporting Project Compassion, we can proclaim the faith that is in our hearts and help our brothers and sisters in need by sharing the gifts that we possess. During Lent, we are invited to take up the call to fast, pray and give, in solidarity as a global community. Our commitment to those in need is a direct call to our

 response, beautifully located in our College entrance statement, ‘to act justly, live tenderly, and to walk humbly with our God’ (Micah 6:8).

Throughout the six weeks of Lent, students across the College will learn about the work of Project Compassion and how it helps provide hope for individuals and communities across
the world.

This week we introduce Toefuata’iga, a thirteen-year-old girl in Samoa, who faced frequent early dismissals and missed lessons due to severe water scarcity at her primary school. Teachers often had to leave class to fetch water, impacting health and hygiene for students.

The situation changed dramatically when Caritas Samoa, in partnership with Caritas Australia, installed a 10,000L water tank at her school. With clean reliable water access, attendance and enrolment rose, student's health improved, and parents felt reassured. The new tank lifted financial and logistical burdens, allowing the school community to focus on education, rather than the constant struggle for water.

The 2025 Sacramental Preparation Program will begin in Term 2, with Year 4 students preparing to receive their first Holy Communion. Letters to families of students in Years 3, 4 and 7 should have received an email from the All Saints Catholic Parish advising of dates for family calendars for each sacrament as well as the Parent Information Session, being held on Thursday 20 March, 7:00pm, at All Saints Catholic Church.

If you have a child of Sacramental age in 2025, and did not receive any information from the parish about the program, please contact the All Saints Catholic Church on 8642 2847.

Our 22 new VET students have had a busy start to the year with attending their various RTO locations either in block weeks or every Friday.

This year we have students studying Certificate 2 in Automotive Servicing, Electrotechnology, Construction Pathways, Certificate 3 in Rural Operations, Health Services Assistance, Early Childhood Education and Care.

Our Four School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships have continued in their 2nd year of Hairdressing, Fitness and Heavy Commercial Vehicle Mechanical Technology.

Our RTO's include TAFE SA, EQUALS, RST (Regional Skills Training), Foundation Education and MTA (Motor Trade Association).