Term 1, Week 2 2025

Hello Friends

I extend a very warm welcome to you for the 2025 school year. It is great to have our new families in our school community and we welcome back our continuing families for this new school year.

A friendly reminder that our school uniform shop is open on Monday mornings from 8.30am – 10.00am for the trying on of uniforms and ordering. Uniforms can also be ordered online through the school website.

https://www.noone.com.au/school/christ-the-king-school/shop

2025 continues to be a year of transition to the new school uniform and a reminder that students shoes need to be either all black or all white. I can appreciate that sometimes stores are out of stock or out of size however, I remind parents that all black/all white version of school shoes is our uniform expectation.

Sunscreen and Hot Weather

The Adelaide summer is certainly upon us and this is an ideal time to remind parents to apply sunscreen to students before they attend school and this can be topped up in class during the course of the day. Please supply a named water bottle for your child each day. This can be replenished and students are encouraged to drink water throughout the day. We monitor the temperature through throughout the day to ensure that daytime play is safe.

Absenteeism

Please contact the Front Office either via phone/email or Audiri if your child is sick. Students who are absent from school with no explanation, their parents will receive a text message advising of the absence.  For appointment during the day (i.e. dentist / doctors appointments) please also advise the Front Office. 

Communication

Communication regarding class activities, student programs or student concerns should be directed through the classroom teacher in the first instance. Class newsletters are sent home on a regular basis which provides an outline of learning, and, addition to this teachers can be contacted via email regarding any concerns or questions you may have about your child.

Annual General Meeting

The schools AGM will be held on Wednesday 26 February. More details will follow and I encourage you to place this date in your diary and come along.

School Sports Day

This exciting day on the school calendar is scheduled for Friday 7 March. More details to follow, however the event will be held on the Main Oval at Sacred Heart College -Somerton Park campus. Students and staff are always excited and happy to have lots of support from parents and family friends cheering them on the day.  Mark your diary and we hope to see you there.

Parking

It’s important that we play our part in the community and park responsibly and safely when dropping students at school and collecting them at the end of the day. Please remember to refrain from parking across driveways as emergency service vehicles need access to the driveways. Also please make sure that yellow lines and clearways are not parked on or in during the drop off and collection process. Marion Council parking inspectors as well as SAPOL patrols frequent the school and fine offending vehicles. For safety reasons vehicles need to be parked before students exit or enter the vehicle. Please do not stop in the middle of the road and encourage students to exit or run across and climb into the vehicle.

“A new school year means new beginnings, new adventures, new friendships, and new challenges. The slate is clean and anything can happen.” – Denise Witmer

Thanks and Blessings

Matt Perry

Principal

Welcome to 2025!                                                                        

Ahead of us we have a glorious journey of learning and spiritual growth. This year is a special year within the Catholic Church as it celebrates a Jubilee Year. The Jubilee Year is celebrated every 25 years within the church and allows for renewal and celebration. Throughout the year I will share news of the Jubilee with you.

On Friday we will gathered for our Start of Year Mass- 9am, Samaritan Hall. As with all celebrations such as masses, prayer, commemorations each and every member of our community are invited to join us.

Masses are generally celebrated on the 1st Friday of the month in our hall with Fr Michael or Fr Prathap. These celebrations take place in the Samaritan Hall and are a wonderful opportunity for you to gather with our children and staff. Children based masses are supported with music, words on the screen and a gentle introduction to our faith. I encourage you and other family members and friends to join us for mass.

During major Seasons of the church, we gather weekly for prayer- Lent, Easter and Advent. These shorted prayer services generally take place in the hall and revolve around prayer, song and a recognition of events that are being commemorated or celebrated. These usually take place around 9am in the hall and are once again an opportunity for you to sit and take a moment for reflection and song.

When people join a Catholic School they may not have visited a church since their own schooling or are not members of a Christian faith. Attending a mass or prayer may therefore appear daunting but I encourage you to join us and follow along. The children are great guides of what to do and how to join in.

COMMISSIONING MASS

The parish of St Joseph’s will commission our staff in their role as the educators of our community at the parish mass on Sunday 16th February, 10am. All members of the community are invited to witness the blessing and commissioning.

Teresa Pascoe

Assistant Principal, Religious Identity and Mission

OG Holiday Course

In the last week of the holidays Christ the King hosted a week-long course presented by the Orton Gillingham Institute for teachers in South Australia. The institute presented the Yoshimoto Basic Literacy course which is designed for educators to learn how to confidently teach literacy to all students, especially those who have dyslexia.

We had 4 teachers who gave up some of their holidays to participate and now we have 7 staff who have completed this training recently and in the past.

This training not only enhances our teacher’s skills in the classroom, but it is also the focus of one of our literacy intervention programs that supports students across the school.

We thank all participating staff and look forward to them sharing their knowledge with others.

Emma Heinrich

Leader of Diversity and Inclusion

BORROWING PROCEDURES 

Each class has a specific borrowing day when their class teacher will visit the Library with their students. Students and parents are also able to borrow and/or return before school Mon-Thus 8.30-8.45.  

· Students in R-2 borrow 2 books at a time 

· Students in 3-5 borrow 3 books at a time. 

Parents who wish to borrow may do so on their child’s name. (Robyn Dingle or myself will assist parents to borrow over their child’s limit.) 

LIBRARY BAGS                                                               

Each student from Reception to Yr 2 is required to use a library bag when borrowing. A bag capable of holding a picture books is recommended. 

· A lined library 

bag is preferable to guard against leaks, spills and squashed fruit. 

We use a separate bag to the communication bag to avoid any confusion between class books, readers and Library books.  Having 2 separate bags allows parents and students to easily locate and return books etc. to the library and not accidently into the class library and reader boxes. 

HEADPHONES 

Each student from Y2-6 requires a set of headphones. These are used to support individual one to one learning on IT devices, enhances focus, allows online testing to take place and aids the production of creative pieces-recording, filming, editing etc.  

It is recommended that OVEREAR headphones are provided as ‘earbud’ type headphones are uncomfortable (even painful), do not tend to cut out background noise effectively and are easily lost or left plugged into a device. 

Students are unable to use BLUETOOTH headphones in a school setting as the logistic and time of turning on/off Blutooth, finding the matched device and staying connected dramatically decreases the successful testing and learning of the student. 

Teresa Pascoe

Teacher/Librarian