St John the Baptist Koo Wee Rup Newsletter

19 May 2021

From the Principal

Principals Report

Dear Parents & Guardians

Confirmation: Congratulations to Chad Bethune, Chloe Borthwick, Cooper Cox, Tara Van Den Heuvel, Clay Hester, Kooper Herbert, and Madeline Mulcahy who will make their Sacrament of Confirmation this  Sunday, 23rd May at St John's Church.  

Congratulations also to some of our past students who will be making their Confirmation on Sunday 30th May: Matilda Smith, Patrick Noble, Aaron Stewart, Charlotte Emmanuelli, Olivia Aulich, Lucius Di Pietro and Luke Mure. 

Mothers Day Breakfast: Thank you to all of the wonderful Mum’s and family member’s that came to Mother’s Day Breakfast. It was fantastic to see everyone enjoying their bacon and eggs, a fruit juice or cup of tea.  A huge thank you to the staff for the time and effort in making everything run so smoothly.

Pie Drive: A reminder that all order are to be collected on Thursday 20 May between 2:45 and 3:45pm from the rear of the hall. 

Catholic Education Week: May 21st - 27th: This year, Catholic Education celebrates its bicentenary of educating children and young people in Australia.  Next week is particularly significant as we celebrate Catholic Education Week in our Diocese.  

This year’s theme for Catholic Education Week, “Faith in the future - I have come that they may have life and have it to the full,” is a combination of a quote from John’s Gospel and the theme for the bicentennial celebrations of Catholic education in Australia.

Catholic Education Week also overlaps with National Reconciliation Week,  therefore during the week, we will be celebrating a whole school liturgy to commemorate both.

Swimming: Our whole school swimming program commences next week with all classes swimming every day.  The children are expected to wear bathers underneath their sport uniform, bring a change of underwear and towel in a swimming bag. Please ensure all items of clothing are clearly labelled. It has been necessary to amend the order our grades swim each day follows:  

11:45am to 12:15pm - 34H & 34K

12:15pm to 12:45pm - 56M & 56S

12:45pm to 1:15pm - 12B & 45M

1:15pm to 1:45pm - FD & FK

1:45pm to 2:15pm - 12H & 12W

Classes will travel by bus to the venue leaving school 45minutes prior to their swim time and returning approximately 45minutes after the end of their lesson. Please see the event in Operoo for full current details.

School Disco: The Friends of St John’s are running their annual School Disco on Thursday 10 June, this event is for St John’s students only. Please see full details below, tickets will go on sale by the end of the week. 

School Closure Day: As we prepare for the start of our building project, we need to relocate 3 classrooms, furniture and resources. Therefore, Friday 11 June will be a student free day. This will allow staff time to start moving items across to the portable classrooms.

Friends of St John’s Meeting: June 15th, 9:15am Staffroom.  It has been quite some time since our last meeting. We welcome new parents who would like to be involved in fundraising for the benefit of our students. If you cannot make this meeting but would like to be involved in some way, please email the school, principal@stjohnskwr.catholic.edu.au and we can add you as an apology.

Regards

Chris Dortmans, Principal

Junior News

It is already halfway through Term 2 and our Junior students have been hard at work in their classrooms!

Students in the Junior levels have been engaging in our Religion Unit ‘Prayer’ for the last 5 weeks. Foundation students have explored what prayer is, reciting different daily and afternoon prayers such as the School Prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, The Classroom Prayer, personal prayers and guided prayer meditations. They have investigated the Bible, identifying that it is a sacred book of stories about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

In Grades One and Two, students have been learning where and when we pray and the different ways we can pray, such as saying prayers, singing and listening. Students have examined the bible and discussed the Old and New Testament sections, what is contained in each section and who wrote the gospel stories.

Thank you to the parents who gave their support at the Whole School Cross Country Event! It was a cold, but successful day full of great experiences for our students.

Don’t forget that swimming commences next week, we ask that all students come with their bathers on underneath their uniforms so they are ready to swim as soon as we arrive at the pool.

 Next week Junior teachers will also not be sending home readers, as we undergo a reorganisation of our take home reader system. Instead of readers, teachers will be sending home literacy games to play with your child that practise the literacy skills we have been learning in the classroom.

Middle/Senior News

Firstly, a big congratulations to our Grade 3 and 5 students who completed their NAPLAN testing last week. All the teachers are very proud of the way you approached the tests with a positive attitude and all tried your best. Well done!

We have so much to look forward to over the next couple of weeks. We continue to pray for our Grade 6 students preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation this week and are so pleased to welcome back last year’s (now year 7 students) who are able to return for this special occasion. We pray that the Holy Spirit fills you with joy.

The House Cross Country was run at school level last week. This, once again, was a great display of sportsmanship and resilience. Congratulations to the students who made it through to represent our school at district level this Friday. We wish you all the best and know that, whatever the results, you will do us proud.

Swimming week is next week and it will be a busy one! A reminder to wear your bathers under your uniform each day (you may wear sports uniform all week) and bring your other belongings in your swimming bag.

Along with all of the extra-curricular activities mentioned above the learning in the classroom continues! We will wrap up our unit on Persuasive writing and move on to exploring Poetry in English. In Maths, we will begin our unit on Shapes. Please remember to read and record your reading in your diaries each night.

School Disco

Dates

Term 2 
Fri 21 May - District Cross Country (Qualified Competitors only) 
Sun 23 May - Sacrament of Confirmation (Grp 1), 9:30am
Fri 21 - Thu 27 May - Catholic Education Week 
Mon 24 - Fri 28 May - Swimming Lessons (Whole School) 
Thu 27 May - Class Mass - 9:15am - 3/4H & 3/4K 
Sun 30 May - Sacrament of Confirmation (Grp 2), 9:30am 
Thu 3 June - Class Mass - 9:15am - FK & 5/6M
Tue 8 June - Scienceworks Excursion (Whole School), 4pm return
Thu 10 June - Class Mass - 9:15am - FD & 5/6S
Thu 10 June - School Disco, 5 - 7:30pm
Fri 11 June - School Closure Day
Mon 14 June - Public Holiday (Queens Birthday) 
Tue 15 June - Friends of St Johns Meeting, 9:30am in Staffroom (All welcome) 
Tue 15 June - Board Meeting, 6pm 
Fri 18 June - District Interschool Sports, Grade 5 & 6 only 
Thu 24 June - Term 2 ends, 3:10pm finish
Fri 25 June - School Closure Day
Thu 28 October - Whole School Musical - Madagascar Jr

Uniform Shop

The uniform shop is open on Monday and Thursday 2:30 - 3:15pm, parents may attend the uniform shop in person, due to density limits only one person will be allowed in the shop at a time. 

Online is still the preferred method of purchasing uniform unless you need to check sizing. 

If you need to exchange an item please e-mail Belinda at uniform@stjohnskwr.catholic.edu.au with details and return the item via the office (please ensure it is unwashed with tags still attached) and your name is attached to the item returned. Exchanges will be processed on the next uniform shop day. 

For Uniform ordering through CDF pay—Visit https://stjohnskwr.cdfpay.org.au  or scan QR Code. (Guidelines for setting up your CDFpay account can also be found on Skoolbag).

As we are a ‘Sun Smart School’ we also require the children to wear a school hat from September to April with the ‘No Hat-No Play’ policy strictly enforced during 1st and 4th terms.

School uniform guidelines are available in the Parent Information section of Skoolbag, on our website or a hard copy can be obtained from the office. 

School Banking

School Banking - Banking day is Wednesday's - banking should be handed in through the classroom and will be returned the same day.   

If you are wishing to set up a new school banking account please visit: www.commbank.com.au/schoolbanking

Birthdays - 12 May to 26 May 2021 - Ryder Kenneth, Jasper Craven, Lacey Craven, Blayde Ord, Chelsea Williams, Antonio Pace, Jackson Henning, Olivia Barker, Mackenna Barker, Linkin Stokes & Jacinta Ventura.

Koo Wee Rup Catholic Parishes in Partnership

Including the communities of:  St Joseph’s Iona,  St James Nar Nar Goon,  Holy Family Maryknoll,  St John’s Koo Wee Rup and St Mary’s, Lang Lang

Administrator:  Fr. Peter Kooloos  Ph: 03 5997 1510   Fax: 03 5997 2220 Mob: 0438 622 766

Baptism Enquiries: Carmelina De Cesari   Mob: 0401 911 092   carmelinadecesari@gmail.com

WEEKEND MASS TIMES:  

St Joseph's, Iona - Sunday 11am Holy Family, Maryknoll - 2nd Sunday, 8am 
St James, Nar Nar Goon - Saturday 6pmSt John's, Koo Wee Rup - Sunday 9:30am
St Mary's, Lang Lang - 3rd Sunday, 8am

St John the Baptist Koo Wee Rup