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,

As we near the end of Term, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank families for their resilience and support during this term.  

New Building: Classes have settled into the new building and are enjoying the larger learning spaces. The hired portable classrooms are being removed and construction of our outdoor learning and gathering spaces will commence. I thank parents, students and teachers for their patience and flexibility during construction of the new building, however the long term gains are remarkable and an asset for all.

School Photos: Photos ordered prior to 7 June have been received and will be sent home with students on Thursday 23 June. Orders can still be placed via the Schoolpix website, if you have misplaced your order form please use the search function to find your child or contact the office for your order codes. Photos orders placed now will incur a shipping fee. Miscellaneous Group photos (ie. School Captains, Social Justice Leaders etc) are now available to purchase, students in these groups will receive order details on Thursday. 

Thursday 23rd June: (Tomorrow)

• Beanie Day: Don’t forget St John’s Beanie Day in support of Leukaemia Foundation and Breast Cancer Network Australia - Along with their school uniform, students can wear a Beanie of their choice to school on Thursday for a gold coin donation in support of these charities.  

• St John the Baptist Feast Day falls on Saturday this year, so tomorrow we celebrate St John’s Feast Day with a Whole School Mass at 9:15am, parents are welcome to attend. Students will be provided a sausage sizzle lunch on this day. 

• Canteen Closed Thursday: Due to the sausage sizzle lunch  provided on this day the canteen will not be open for lunch orders. 

• Semester One Reports are being sent home. These reports are prepared by your child’s teachers and represent their professional opinion, informed by data from testing. The Parent Teacher Meetings to be held on Monday 18th & Tuesday 19th July, are an important part of the reporting process and will allow you to discuss the report further with your child’s teacher. 

• School Disco: Our school Disco will be held on Thursday 23 June from 4 - 6pm, tickets sales via CDFpay have closed - if you have forgotten to purchase you can purchase at the door. Please note that this event is for St John's students only, tickets will not be issued, instead, students will be checked off a list as they arrive. 

School Closure Days: A reminder that Friday 24 June and Monday 11 July are school closure days. Term 3 will commence on Tuesday 12 July. 

NAIDOC Week 3rd - 10th July: This is an important event that helps build positive relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. It enables a deeper understanding of our differences and similarities. Included in this newsletter is a Special Report and a link to SchoolTV which you might have an opportunity to watch over the holidays.

Staff on Leave: Mrs Bernadette Hance will be on leave for the first two weeks of Term 3. Mrs Anna Hughes will remain full time in the 1/2H class for these weeks. I myself will also be away on leave for the first two weeks of next term.  Ms Danielle Kemp will be Acting Principal in my absence. 

Parent Access Module (PAM):  Recent changes to programs used by St John’s give us the opportunity to provide parents with one point of access for a number of functions currently serviced by the Skoolbag & Operoo Apps as well as some additional functions. Parents will receive further information shortly in regard to the rollout of PAM and are requested to sign up over the holidays to ensure that we can continue with the planned migration of functions over to this platform. 

We wish our families a safe and enjoyable holiday period and look forward to seeing you all again in Term 3.  

Regards 

Chris Dortmans, Principal

It has been a very exciting end of Term 2 for the Junior students. There has been lots of excitement around this week’s school disco and St John the Baptist Feast Day!

Foundation students have completed all the 26 Letters of the alphabet from their Little Learner’s love Literacy Book, ‘Milo The Monkey’s Birthday Surprise!’ To celebrate, this week they had a real birthday party with games, cake and decorations! Grade 1/2 students have finished up their learning with an author study on Nick Bland and a range of his books! They have also finished their inquiry investigations of what Koo Wee Rup was like in the Past and the Present.

Over the holidays please take the time to rest and enjoy being together as a family. If you choose to continue with some holiday homework please work with your child to practise reading their readers and practising their M100W (Golden-Amber) or spelling words. This term we learnt all about money, to practise maths skills at home over the holidays you can set up a pretend shop or work through some money maths using coins and notes, adding together and finding change after purchasing items.

Have a safe and restful holidays! We look forward to seeing you all return for Term 3!

The final week of Term Two has arrived and it’s safe to say this one really has flown!!

The buzz around all the grades this week is Project Presentations and it has been so lovely to learn about each other’s cultures as well as seeing children discover their own family story. We thank all families for their support at home in answering the questions and helping with posters etc. The end results are truly incredible. 

Congratulations to the Grade Three students who made their First Holy Communion on Sunday. This is such a special time for children and families alike and we so appreciate being able to have the whole family in the Church to celebrate together again. 

Another congratulations, this time to the Grade 5 and 6 students who competed in the District Inter-School sports at Bunyip last Friday, particularly the mixed netball team who have won their way through to the next level! All students competed well and gave their all. Sometimes it is not until we spend time around other schools that the exemplary behaviour of the St John’s students come to the fore. All of the teachers in attendance agree that we are so proud of the way our school ‘Walks the WALK’ not only at school, but when we are out in the community representing our school as well.  

We are fortunate to be able to finish off the term with a fun day on Thursday, we celebrate the Feast of St John the Baptist (please come along to Mass at 9:15am if you can), we have our Beanie Day Fundraiser, Sausage Sizzle lunch and Disco after school - so much joy packed into one day! 

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.