Dear Parents, 

Across Victoria, psychologists are observing that whilst many children adjusted well psychologically to the first lockdown and Remote Learning, some children are now reporting heightened anxiety, lack of motivation and moodiness, and a general sense of feeling dejected. 

With this in mind, we are introducing optional wellbeing “Check-in” sessions via Google Meet or Zoom each week.  Last week senior teachers trialed sessions with the Gr 5&6 students, where children informally connected, engaged in some meditation and talked about their feelings. Teachers from Grades 3-6 will hold another “Check-in” session next week and Juniors the following week. Keep an eye out for information and links to these sessions on your SeeSaw page.

Whole School Liturgy – Friday 14th August - This Friday we are celebrating the Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary by are holding a live, on-line, whole school Liturgy at 9:30am

This will be held as a ZOOM Meeting.  See link below. You may need to open a ZOOM link.

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/94750300580?pwd=V0VIQWljM2ZCdjhnNHpGdVhUemtNUT09

Please see letter e-mailed to all families on 11 August for further details.

Wellness Day: Friday 21st August - Next Friday, we are declaring a Wellness Day. Teachers will not set tasks for the day instead there will be a story to listen to, a prayer liturgy to share together and a couple of fun activities. This is a day to enjoy each other’s company and to recharge. For children attending on-site schooling please bring a game to play (non electronic) or an activity to complete (Jigsaw puzzle, board game, colouring etc).

Care Monkey Change of Name to Operoo – A reminder that Care Monkey’s name change came into effect this week and is now Operoo. Emails in relation to onsite schooling, will now come from Operoo, at this stage the Care Monkey logo remains on the App.

Father’s Day Stall – Unfortunately we will be unable to run our Father’s Day Stall as we did for Mother’s Day due to the limitations of Stage 4 restrictions.  

Funny Pet Photo Competition – Just for some fun, students are invited to participate in a Funny Pet Photo Competition. Competition will be open from tomorrow and will close at 7pm, Friday 21st August – this will allow last minute pet photography sessions on our Wellness Day. Full details below, this will also be e-mailed to all families and provided to the children via SeeSaw.

Staff Changes - Mrs Peta Barnett will commence parental leave on 24 August and I am pleased to announce that Mr Daniel Stark has been appointed for the period of her leave.

I take this opportunity to welcome Daniel to St Johns. We wish Peta and her husband Callum all the very best for the birth of their first child. 

Regards 

Chris Dortmans, Principal

Students are doing a great job with Remote Learning this Term, the level of engagement has lifted and we thank the Middle and Senior students for their ongoing effort each day. For the next few weeks we will be learning about time in Mathematics and continuing to learn about persuasive devices in Writing.

Thank you to our amazing families for your level of participation with the new set up of family prayer - it is a lovely way for all of us to know we are part of a community, not just individuals at home. Our community of St John the Baptist are all together in solidarity and prayer; even during these challenging and different times. We will be having a Liturgy on Friday to celebrate together further.

Lastly, the Senior students tested out the program ‘Google Meet’ on Friday, a platform for multiple students to log on, see and speak to each other. These sessions went for half an hour and were a trial to see how easy it was for students to access from home. Thank you to those students who came along and participated.

If you have a child to enrol at St John's for 2021 please request an enrolment pack from the office, alternatively these can be downloaded from the website. 

Enrolment forms can be completed and returned either by post, dropped in at the office or scanned (as a PDF) and e-mailed to dohehir@stjohnskwr.catholic.edu.au   

Birth Certificate, Immunisation History Statement and identification for fee payers must be submitted with enrolment forms. 

Interviews will be conducted via phone where possible, we will contact you to arrange interviews as we have time slots available. 

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:  ALL MASSES CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE