July 29th, 2024: Newsletter #22

Acknowledgement of Country

St. John’s school community respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past and present. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on this land and commit to building a brighter future together, working together towards a reconciled Australia. 

Week 3 Prayer: A Prayer for Athletes

From the Principal

Welcome everyone to the new school week.

What a week we had last week with the school celebrating Grandparents Day, Wellbeing Day and then Milo Monkey's birthday- its safe to say the kids needed a quiet weekend to recover! 

Sympathy: Our thoughts are with Summer and Elijah Scott and their family on the passing of their dear Grandmother. We pray for your healing, comfort, strength and peace during this time.

Our love and prayers are also with the family of Louis de Visscher after his grandfather passed away last week, may he rest in peace. 

We also extend our sympathies to Kirsten Thwaites and her family on the passing of their beloved Grandmother. We hope you find comfort in the special memories you shared together.

Breakfast Club: Back on this week. Yay!!!!!!

Semester 2 Student Free days: The following dates have been approved by DOBCEL as student free.

• Monday August 19th- First Aid & Child safety training
• Monday October 7th & Tuesday October 8th; Indigenous Education training

Please note: some classes may have been advised of a closure on September 9th- this is no longer a closure day!

We look forward to the week ahead, Ben.

Sacrament of Eucharist

The Sacrament of Eucharist is typically the third sacrament that is received and is the sacrament of initiation.  We have a number of students preparing to receive this sacrament for the first time. 

Recently, these children gathered with around 80 other candidates from the 6 primary catholic network schools. At this Parish Formation day, they were able to experience imaginative prayer and analyse modern artwork displaying Eucharistic themes.

The next part of this process is the Commitment Mass, being help in our Church, St. Pius X, on Sunday August 4th, at 9.00am.  The sacrament will be celebrated on Sunday August 11th, at 9am. Please remember these students in your classroom prayers over the the next few weeks.

Support for our Families

The generosity of our school community has always been outstanding and we are again asking for more help for many of our families experiencing hardship. This initiative aims to provide meals to those requiring some assistance, enhancing our strong and compassionate community.

If you are able to assist by providing the school with frozen meals which we can distribute as required, then we would greatly appreciate your support.

Please speak with Ben van de Camp if able to assist.

Book Week

On Wednesday 21st August, we will be celebrating book week. Our Parade will be held at 9.00am in the Stadium. Parents/family members are most welcome to come along to the parade.

The theme this year is 'Reading is Magic. Students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character but there is no expectation that new items or costumes are purchased. There will be some dress up items provided on the day for students who would like to borrow something.

Wellbeing

As part of our committment to Wellbeing and ensuring everyone in our school community feels safe, supported and secure we held a whole school Wellbeing day last week. It was wonderful to see everyone joining in and embracing new learning experiences. Our Wellbeing team did a remarkable job and worked tirelessly to put this day together; we commend them on their efforts, the day was a huge success.

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SPECIAL REPORT:  Eating Anxiety

The complexity of eating anxiety stems from a combination of social, psychological, and environmental factors. Young people may develop this anxiety due to social pressures related to eating in front of others, fears about body image, or due to more ingrained issues such as eating disorders. Additionally, cultural norms or dietary restrictions can also play significant roles.

This Special Report will help you understand how best to support a child experiencing anxiety around eating.

Little Learners Love Literacy Program

Our Foundation/Grade 1 students celebrated ‘Milo Monkey’s Birthday Surprise!” last week after learning the alphabetic code. Each week they have met one of his friends as they learned all of the letters of the alphabet through the Little Learners Love Literacy program. Students came dressed as their favourite Little Learners Love Literacy characters and enjoyed party food and games. The day was made extra speical by a guest appearance from Milo himself!

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Traffic Management

Residents in Russell Street have informed the school that cars have been blocking driveways whilst lining up for to use the Russell Street loop, as you can imagine this causes quiet an inconvenience.

I ask parents to please consider where they are parked while waiting and the impact this may have on residents and other road users. 

Document Updates for Parent Notice

Our Parent/Guardians/Carers Code of Conduct has recently been updated, see below. It has been added to CONNECT in PAM and we ask that you log into your PAM accounts to acknowledge you have read, understand and agree to our revised Parent/Guardians/Carers Code of Conduct. 

Our revised communication guidelines are listed below and are available in knowledge banks in PAM and in forms and documents on the Schoolzine app. The parent channels of communication table is also pinned in our parent community Facebook page.

Mini Olympics

On Wednesday 31st July our school leaders will be hosting a Mini Olympics for students  from 1.50pm - 3.10pm. Students will be grouped in house colours and activities include egg and spoon, three legged race, throw and bob and straw javelin. 

Students are to wear their sports uniform to school on this day.

Hooptime

For the past two weeks interested students from Grades 3-6 have been participating in Hooptime (basketball tri outs). The teams have now been chosen and we are fortunate enough to be able to send ALL students who tried out in Grades 3 and 4. There will be 5 teams including; one all star boys, 2 x future mixed teams and 2 x rookie mixed teams.

In the 5 /6's we are able to send one all star boys team and one all star girls team. Unfortunately, under the instruction of Basketball Victoria (who oversee and organise the hooptime draws) we are not permitted to enter any more teams as they are already at capacity.

The 3/4 Hooptime competition will be held on Monday 12th August at the Arc stadium in Warrnambool. The 5 /6 Hooptime is on Friday 16th August, also in Warrnambool.

More information will be sent out in the coming weeks on PAM to families of the students involved. Thank you to Mr Harrington who has been extremely busy during his lunch breaks taking tri outs. Any questions about hooptime, please direct them to Margie Smith PE Teacher: msmith@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

Judo at St. John's

Last week students across all year levels participated in Judo in their P.E lessons.

Kano Judo are now offering lunchtime sessions at St.John's.  For further information please contact Mohan directly.

Hands on Learning

TheirCare

The following dates have been approved by DOBCEL as student free days. Theircare will operate on these days and are open for bookings now.

• Monday August 19th- Staff First Aid & Child safety training
• Monday October 7th & Tuesday October 8th- Staff Indigenous Education training

We have also inquired with TheirCare around school holiday programs being offered at St. John's but their response has been that there is not enough demand for a program to be offered yet. If parents did want this to occur then I encourage you to speak with TheirCare. 

St. John's Got Talent

Every second year, St. John's hosts our talent show - St John's Got Talent. Students from Foundation to Grade 6 are invited to do a solo performance or work with a small group of their choice. They can perform any talent they like - singing, dancing, gymnastics, comedy show etc.

The students will have time every Tuesday at first lunch to practice and get themselves organised, with support from myself and some other staff members. All performances will then perform at the Semi-Finals (which takes place over several weeks) and then a small number of performances will be selected to perform at the Grand Final. Families will be notified if their child has made the Grand Final. Children are welcome to wear a costume during their semi-final if they wish, this is not compulsory. It is a very fun time, with many students looking forward to the bi-annual, St. John's Got Talent. 

Any questions, please email me aatwell@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

or Jan Madden at jmadden@sjdenningotn.catholic.edu.au

Thanks, Amy Atwell.

Student Awards Term 3 Week 2

Around our School- Week 2

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Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Michael D, Ella R, Mia F, Eli K, Oliver H and Harvey T who celebrate their birthday this week! We hope you have a terrific day!

Save the Dates!

We require 2L plastic milk bottles, glass jars of random sizes and newspapers for our upcoming Art show. If you have any of these items at home, it would be much appreciated if you could send them into the office, thank you very much.

Our Diocesan Community

Parents & Friend's Social Group

Join us this Wednesday 31st July at the Cally for dinner at 6:30pm. All welcome! Please RSVP by Tuesday to Emily McGennan (or the school office) if you can make it. 

Dennington's Day Out

Applications are now open for our mini entrepreneur stalls at this year's Dennington’s Day Out. If your child is interested and would like to have a stall please register with the below link. 

The next meeting is Wednesday 24th July at 7:15pm. 

There is still time to sponsor, If you or know someone that might be interested please email ddo@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au to enquire about the packages or check out the DDO facebook page. 

Wednesday Treats

Order forms for next week will head home on a Wednesday this term. Please make sure all EFT payments and order forms are handed in by 3pm Monday as we can not accept late orders. Should you have any questions please feel free to contact Taliah Gleeson or Emily McGennan.

Roster:

Tuesday 23rd July 9.00am - Taliah, Laura M, Rebecca B, Lacey and Jodie D

Wednesday 24th July 11:45am - Eylse S, Jess S and Mel B

Cake Raffle

Each week on a Monday, families are rostered on to bring in a cake which will then be raffled and drawn out at assembly. All funds raised throughout the year will be donated to the Good Friday Appeal the following year.

All students will have the opportunity to buy a raffle ticket for 20c each Monday with a limit of five tickets per student. The Johnnies will make a P.A announcement at first lunch, calling all students who wish to purchase a ticket, to the Library.

The following families are rostered on for Monday 5th August:

McGennan, McInerney, McKay and McLean.

Please drop your store purchased cake into the office with your child's name written on top.

School Sponsorship

A big thank you to O'Brien's Electrical, Joinery by Jarrod, Fry Painting and Carry on Travel who sponsor our school!

Would you like to advertise your business in our school newsletter? Businesses can advertise for only $100 a year and will have a business card sized listing in every school newsletter.

Please contact parents@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au for more information.

Star of the Sea Bulletin

Sunday Mass is held at 9.00am at St. Pius X Church. School families are always welcome. 

The Parish office can be contacted on 5562 2231 and this weekends bulletin is featured below. Other information and contact details can be found on the Star of the Sea South West Coast website: https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/parish/southwestcoast/ 

Community Notices

Upcoming Events

Wednesday 31st July: P & F Social Group Meeting 6.30pm at the Cally Hotel

Sunday 4th August: Eucharist- Mass of commitment 9.00am at St. Pius X Church

Sunday 11th August: Sacrament of Eucharist 9.00am at St. Pius X Church

Monday 12th August: Grade 3/4 Hooptime

Friday 16th August: Grade 5/6 Hooptime

Monday 19th August: School Closure Day

Wednesday 21st August: Book Week, parade at 9.00am

Wednesday 28th August: St. Johns Art Show from 6.00pm

Friday 30th August: Father's Day Breakfast