We respectfully acknowledge, and pay our respects to the Elders of the Kulin Nation, both past and present, as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School is situated.

Dear Parents/Carers,

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Northern Territory experiencing the breathtaking landscape and the rich culture of the people, it was wonderful returning to the energetic buzz of our students. After visiting a couple of schools and remote communities, I realise how blessed we are here at St John’s.

The commitment of our staff has always been something we pride ourselves on, and this is evident in the time and effort put into  Parent Teacher Interviews, sporting and special events, Masses and everyday lessons.  This pride in our school is also reflected through the children in the way they represent their school and simply in the way they wear their uniform; visitors to our school have often commented on this.

Senior Inter-school Winter Sports:  Competition starts next week, allowing our Grade 5/6 students to yet again display their sportsmanship, resilience and pride.

Masses: Throughout the term, classes will have the opportunity to celebrate a Mass or Liturgy in the Church.  The children get a great thrill in sharing these times with their Parents/Grandparents, so please watch out for your child’s Mass dates.

Car Park/End of Day Procedures: With the reduction in the area needed for our building projects we now have more space available in the car park and can return to pre-covid end of day procedures. Please remind your children of their end of day movements each morning i.e.: meet mum at the car park, going to OSHC etc (Have a backup plan that your child is aware of - if the car park is full you may park elsewhere and meet them at the hall gate).  Please be mindful of last minute phone calls to school regarding pick up arrangements as it may be difficult to get messages to children before the bell sounds.

• Car park gates will open at 3.00pm 

• For the safety of all students, parents/carers are to collect and escort their child/ren from the school gate to their cars.

• Parking within the pedestrian cross is ILLEGAL and creates a visibility hazard for crossing supervision.

• Please do not create an extended lineup on Salmon street or beyond for the car park

• Teacher supervision ends at 3:20pm; the car park must be cleared and  gates will be locked at this time.

Face Mask Recommendation in schools: Refer to letter sent 19/7/22

Rapid Antigen Tests: A reminder that RATs are available from the office should you need them. 

Book Fair:  Thank you all for supporting the Book Fair with sales of over $4,500.00; the commission will allow us to purchase an extensive range of reference materials and books for our new library.

Parent Access Module (PAM): A reminder that a number of families are yet to sign up to PAM and complete their students' medical profiles. Please complete this at your earliest convenience, if you are unable to locate your email requesting you to sign up please type the following URL into your browser: https://pam.stjohnskwr.catholic.edu.au

Student Absence Notifications: Once you have signed up to PAM we request that all student absence notifications be submitted via PAM as this flows automatically through to our attendance roll. Please keep the notes in relation to absences submitted brief, if you need to explain further please follow up with a phone call or email to the office. 

Foundation Enrolments for 2023: If you have a child to enrol for Foundation next year please ensure enrolment paperwork is submitted as soon as possible. Available positions are filling quickly.  Please contact the office for an enrolment pack.

Uniforms: Just a reminder that Winter uniform is to be worn throughout this term. Correct school uniform is required to be worn at all times - if your child is not in the correct school uniform on any given day we ask you to please send a note to your child’s teacher.

Canteen:  Canteen will be closed next Monday 1 August due to our House Athletics.

School Closure Day:  Monday 15 August is a student free day for the purpose of staff professional development.

Regards 

Chris Dortmans, Principal

We are so impressed with the amazing work Junior students have produced these last few weeks.

In Religion all Junior students have discussed and created displays about their focus statement: ‘We must love one another.’ Following this all classes have watched the Disney movie ‘Encanto’ . The hope for our learning is that over the next few lessons students can identify the ways members of the Madrigal Family and our own families show love. Next we will move onto comparing these families with what we hear about Jesus’ family in scripture.

In literacy Foundation students are learning to identify and write words containing double consonants such as ll, ss and ff. They are engaging with procedure texts such as recipes, instructions and science experiments. The Grade 1/2 Classes have developed their spelling knowledge by looking at new digraph sounds  in words such as ‘ow’ and ‘ou’. Students are extending their understanding of procedure texts by looking carefully at how verbs are used to instruct actions.

In Science/Inquiry Foundation students have gathered facts about different types of weather and weather reporting vocabulary. They have closely observed how rain works through a rain cloud in a jar experiment. The Science lessons in Grade 1/2 are covering the biological needs of living things, in particular humans, animals and plants. They need to identify the difference between a want and a need and match objects that suit these.

In Maths, the Foundation classes have practised various addition strategies such as doubles and counting on. They have also been introduced to the measurement of mass through hands-on activities such as lifting classroom items to decide which is heavier and which is lighter. The Grade 1/2 students are practising counting of coins and notes to find a total. As well as learning how to approach worded addition and subtraction problems to identify the necessary solution.

We will be celebrating the Foundation students' first 100 Days of School this Thursday 28th July with lots of activities based around the number 100 and dressing up like we are 100 years old!

Thank you to all families who attended parent teacher meetings. If you have further questions or were unable to attend the meeting please contact your child’s teacher via email to discuss the mid year report.

This week we begin our Year Level novel study sessions. These sessions are designed to enhance student learning in a range of areas of literacy such as reading fluency and comprehension, grammar and vocabulary as well as being an immersive literary experience in which we support students to share ideas and collaborate with peers from their year level to respond to a text.

Year 6 will read ‘Once’ by Morris Gleitzman with Mrs Matthews.

Year 5 will read ‘The Hatchet’ by Gary Paulsen with Mr Stark.

Year 4 will read ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl with Mrs McFarlane.

Year 3 will read ‘James and the Giant Peach’ by Roald Dahl with Mrs Hennessy and Ms Taylor. 

It is nice to be able to mix amongst cohorts once again and with our beautiful new building designed for collaborative learning we will also begin maths groups across our 3-6 levels very soon. 

Starting from this week, all students in grade 3-6 will be working on speech writing for the Lion’s Speech Competition. Each student will deliver a speech to their own class, with selected students going on to represent their class in the St John’s school competition. Two competitors will then be selected to represent our school in the community speech competition, against other local schools. 

The 3/4 given topic is: “A Place, other than in your home state, that you would like to visit”. Tell us why you would like to visit this place, how you would get there, and what you would like to see and do when you get there. (3 minutes) 

The 5/6  given topic is: “Introduce a Famous Person who lived in the 19th Century” eg. Charlie Chaplin, Florence Nightingale, Helen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell, Louis Pasteur. You have been asked to introduce this person at a special event. Tell us a bit about this person, what they did and how they became famous. (4 minutes)

In English, our focus will be on Information Texts, we will also be writing and presenting speeches for the Lion’s Club inter-school competition and enjoying year level novel studies. In Maths, we will begin the term exploring money and place value, as well as introducing the topic of Angles.

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. Avinash  Ph: 03 5997 1510   Fax: 03 5997 2220 Mob: 0451 997 904

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

WEEKEND MASS TIMES: Masses have resumed in line with current guidelines. Please contact the Parish office on 5997 1510 for further confirmation of guidelines if required.