Week 7 June 5th, 2023: Newsletter #17

Acknowledgement of Country

St. John’s school community respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and future. 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.

Week 7 Prayer

From the Principal

Hello everyone, welcome to another week of learning, living and loving at St. John's.

Semester 1 Academic Reports: On Monday June 19th all families will be able to access their child's Semester 1 report- this will be accessible through PAM- we expect them to be released at 2.30pm. 

The report is a formal summary of your child's academic progress and will complement the conversations had between teacher student and parents throughout this term. Should you have any questions regarding the report then please contact your child's teacher or the specialist subject teacher where relevant.  

Enjoy your week, Ben.

School Arrival

We all run late occasionally and we appreciate there may be situations beyond your control but it is extremely important students aim to arrive at school on time each day and and are in classrooms seated ready to learn by 8.55am.  Important messages, morning tasks and the roll all take place betwen 8.55am - 9.10am, being present at this time helps set up the students learning for the day.

All students arriving late must sign in at the front office.

Breakfast Club - Returns Tomorrow!!!

After a short hiatus, our much loved Breakfast Club will commence tomorrow and run weekly on a Tuesday morning in the temporary location of the Library.  All students are welcome to attend, no need to rsvp.

It will run from 8.15am and students are to enter the building via the external Library door. 

Our Wellbeing leader Jasmine Koch heads breakfast club alongside her team of trusty assistants. They look forward to cooking up a storm with students in the morning!

Meet and Munch

During our 2nd Lunch eating block we are mixing groupings across classes to encourage students to mix within various social scenarios, this is a key focus as part of our ReLATE program. Staff are also sitting down with students, chatting and enjoyng their meals hence the name Meet and Munch! The students are really embracing this initiave as there is nothing better than sitting down, having some nice food and a chat!

Year 5/6 District Winter Sports

On Friday we were lucky to have our Grade 5/6 students competing in the Winter sports against other schools in the district including Allansford, Kings College, Cudgee, Merrivale, Merri River, Nullawarre, Woodford and Warrnambool West. 
Students competed in AFL, Netball, Soccer and TBall. St. Johns students had been training hard for the event and we were lucky enough to take out the overall win in the Netball and Football to progress to the next round this Friday- well done Mr Mac and Miss Miller who were our superstar coaches. Congratulations to all students who demonstrated fantastic sportsmanship throughout the day! 

Warrnambool Eisteddfod

Congratulations to all of our Grade 5/6  students that performed at the Warrnambool Eisteddfod last week. Students competed in Speech and Drama; categories including “Poem For Two,” “Speech Written By Competitor” and “Recital in Costume.”  Their preparation was outstanding, they enjoyed themselves and many received high placings in their categories. 

Special thank you to Damien Webster and Maleiah Mugavin for her help coaching the children.

Great work and applause for Hugh M, Jacob D, Max H, Charlotte S, Dusty B, James D, Riley S, Alice R, Chloe K, Alice D, Scout V, Indianna M, Elly-May O and Mila N.

STEM

Last week in STEM Foundation students designed and created pencil holders for our workbenches. They did a fantastic job and they really brighten up the area.

We also learnt about how sound is made and had a blast building instruments and forming a band!

Week 6 in Review!

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Important School reminders

Russell Street Crossing: If parents and children are needing to cross Russell Street then it must be done at the supervised pedestrian crossing. This is the only safe place to do.

Parking: Please refrain from parking in the designated disability car spaces in the carparks if you do not have a sticker displayed on your vehicle. It is important these spaces are reserved for families that need them.

We also ask that if you have to hop out of the car to assist your child into the car that you park your car and collect them rather than hold up the loop. 

Entering the School Buildings: All visitors during the school day must enter via the front office. This includes children late to school.

Student Messages: Please ensure change of pick up arrangement messages etc are received by the office ideally by 3.00pm and no later than 3.10pm to allow office staff adequate time to pass them on to students.

Student News: If you have some exciting news you would like to share with our school community we would love to hear about it. Please email admin@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

Parent/School Communication: When contacting school staff please refer to our Communications Guidelines for the appropriate processes, this can be found under the forms and documents tab on our schoolzine app and in the Parent Information tab in PAM.

Parent Participation Levy: Please ensure you record the activity and the amount of hours you volunteered your time for on the following form - Parent Participation Levy Activity Record

2024 Foundation Enrolments

Enrolments for 2024 Foundation students close on Friday 16th June at 4.00pm.  

Online Enrolments: All enrolments are now to be completed online and submitted electronically, we no longer offer hard copy enrolment forms. For this process, go to our school website and select the Enrolment Tab. 

Under the Enrolment Tab you will notice Apply Now - select this and away you go. A tip with this one is do not use a phone or ipad to complete the form, any laptop or desktop computer will work best 

You will also need to make sure you have your child's birth, immunisation, baptism certificates and any specialist reports loaded onto your device, either by taking a photo or scanning and uploading as you will be required to upload this documentation. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the office. 

Covid 19 Management

 It is recommended that rapid antigen tests (RATs) are used by students and staff if they:

• • have symptoms of COVID-19 infection, no matter how mild
  • are a household or close contact of someone who has COVID-19
  • are a social contact of someone who has COVID-19.
• The Department of Health recommends that all Victorians report their positive RAT result via the online form or by calling 1800 675 398.
• Principals are no longer required to inform their school community of a positive case associated with the school.
• Staff or students who are positive are strongly recommended to stay home and isolate for a minimum of five days.
• Symptomatic students or staff should not attend school, even if failing to test positive on a RAT or PCR.

Close Contacts: Children who are household clsoe contacts can continue to attend school provided they are symtopm free and test negative daily. This should occur while household members are in isolation. 

Masks: Staff and students who wish to wear a mask will continue to be supported to do so. Masks are available from the administration office for anyone wishing to obtain one. Any staff or students who are  close contacts are recommended to wear a  mask indoors.

RAT Kits: RATs are available for all Victorians from council sites. Individuals can obtain two free packs (10 tests) for themselves and two free packs (10 tests) for each household member. People with disability and their carers can get up to four free packs (20 tests) in line with existing RAT distribution for people with disability. The RATs are available at the Civic Centre (25 Liebig Street) and the Archie Graham Community Centre (118 Timor Street). We also have RAT tests available from the front office.

Medically At Risk Students: Students who have chronic health conditions, especially affecting the respiratory system ie Asthma, must have up to date health support plans. Families who are unsure about the status of their child’s plan should make contact with teh school administration office.

General Illnesses: As we approach the winter months we encourage all families to be cautious when sending children to school who are still symptomatic with contagious diseases such as cold, flu etc.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Rhys C and Levi L who celebrate their birthday's this week! We hope your special day is amazing. 

Student Awards- Week 6

Parents and Friends Social Group News

Meeting

Our next meeting will be held Tuesday 13th June at 7.00pm where we will discuss fundraising ideas for next term and would love to see more new faces come along.

Pie Drive

Keep your eye out for the note coming home today. It is important that any payments into the bank account is set at only 1 transaction per order form with the reference of the students name and pie drive. Please do not hand out bank details to multiple family members. Keeping it at 1 transaction per order form makes it a lot easier for our treasurer to balance. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Wednesday Treats

Look out for notes coming home this week looking for parent volunteers for Term 3.

This week's treat is Hot dogs!

Tuesday helpers: 8.45am - 10.30am  Emily, Nicole, Kirrily, Rebecca and Laura

Wednesday helpers: 12.00pm - 1.30pm  Elyse, Melanie and Kim

Next week's order forms will be sent home on Tuesday. Order forms are due back each Monday by 3.00pm. No late orders will be accepted after this time.

Dennington's Day Out!

This year’s ‘Dennington’s Day Out’ will be held on Sunday 12th November.  For further information, or to discuss the Corporate Sponsorship packages below, please contact ddo@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au 

The next meeting will be held on next Wednesday 31st May in the gathering space at 7pm. Come along to be part of Planning our HUGE annual event!

Student Disco  

Below is a link to the student disco. Don’t forget to send the money into school in an envelope labelled Disco or deposit into bank account with the description of your child’s name and disco.

                   Cake Raffle

Each week on a Friday, 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 Friday. The Johnnies will come around to the classrooms during the day to write out tickets and collect money. 

The following families are rostered on this week:

Marsden, Maher, Maclean and Lyles.

School Sponsorship

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.

A big thank you to Fry Painting, O'Brien Electrical Warrnambool, Brownies Shed, Tubbie & Rayz Indoor Batting house and Carry On Travel who sponsor our school!

Star of the Sea Bulletin

Sunday Mass is held at 10.00am 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

Friday 9th June: Division Winter Sports (Selected Grade 5/6 students)

Monday 12th June: Public Holiday

Tuesday 13th June: Parents and Friends Social Group Meeting at 7.00pm in the Gathering Space.

Friday 16th June: Student Disco

Monday 19th June: Student Reports released

Friday 23rd June: End of Term 2. School concludes at 2.30pm.