July 22nd, 2024: Newsletter #21

Acknowledgement of Country

St. John’s school community respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and emerging. 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, working together towards a reconciled Australia. 

Week 2 Prayer: Grandparents Day

As we gather with our grandparents and special friends, we also gather to celebrate the Feast day of St. Joachim and St Anne, the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus Christ. We honor Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, as saints. We celebrate their joint feast day on July 26. Their love for one another and for Mary is an example to us of how God calls us to live. They also remind us to honor our own grandparents and to thank them for the blessings they have passed down to us in love.

From the Principal

Welcome everyone to the new school week. 

NAPLAN Assessments: Today, families of our Gr 3 and Gr 5 children will receive their NAPLAN assessments, please read through the information contained in the envelope and on the front page of the report. Should you wish to discuss this report, please contact your child's teacher. 

Breakfast Club: Due to tomorrow's Wellbeing Day- there will be no breakfast club this week.

Semester 2 Student Free days: The following dates have been approved by DOBCEL as student free.

• Monday August 19th- First Aid & Child safety training
• Monday October 7th & Tuesday October 8th; Indigenous Education training

We look forward to the week ahead, Ben.

Staff Photos: With the start of the new term and the addition of new staff, we have attached 3 docs below that feature photos of all St. John's Staff and their roles, please glance through these at your leisure. 

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

A very special date on the St. John's calendar for our school community is Grandparents Day. It was our privilege to welcome grandparents and special friends of our students into our school today- we had an amazing turn out! It was heartwarming to witness the special bonds and unconditional love between them all. We hope our special guests enjoyed the afternoon as much as we did, thank you for the important role you play in our students lives.

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Wellbeing Day- Tomorrow

We are looking forward to our whole school Wellbeing Day tomorrow- as part of our commitment to enhancing wellbeing practices. Our Wellbeing team have worked tirelessly to put together a day that will cater for all.  Students are to wear comfortable casual clothes.

Sacrament of Eucharist

The Mass of commitment will be held at 9.00am at St. Pius X Church on Sunday August 4th. 

The Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated on Sunday August 11th, at the 9.00am Mass at St Pius X Church.

Working With Children Check

We encourage parents and guardians to volunteer their time around the school and at events invited by the school, however in line with updated Child Safety legislation, you will need a current Working with Children Check (WWCC), this is a Victorian Government legislation. Working With Children Check's are free and you can apply by clicking the link below.

The next time you are volunteering at school, please allow enough time to sign in on the iPad and upload a copy of your WWCC card. 

Traffic Management

Residents in Russell Street have informed the school that cars have been blocking driveways whilst lining up for to use the Russell Street loop, as you can imagine this causes quiet an inconvenience.

I ask parents to please consider where they are parked while waiting and the impact this may have on residents and other road users. 

Document Updates for Parent Notice

Our Parent/Guardians/Carers Code of Conduct has recently been updated, see below. It has been added to CONNECT in PAM and we ask that you log into your PAM accounts to acknowledge you have read, understand and agree to our revised Parent/Guardians/Carers Code of Conduct. 

Our revised communication guidelines are listed below and are available in knowledge banks in PAM and in forms and documents on the Schoolzine app. The parent channels of communication table is also pinned in our parent community Facebook page.

TheirCare

The following dates have been approved by DOBCEL as student free days. Theircare will operate on these days and are open for bookings now.

• Monday August 19th- Staff First Aid & Child safety training
• Monday October 7th & Tuesday October 8th- Staff Indigenous Education training

We have also inquired with TheirCare around school holiday programs being offered at St. John's but their response has been that there is not enough demand for a program to be offered yet. If parents did want this to occur then I encourage you to speak with TheirCare. 

NCCD

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) takes place every year. The collection is the primary source of funding that we use as a school to support these students.

This collection counts:
• the number of school students receiving an adjustment or ‘help’ due to disability
• the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.

Please read through the attached fact sheet which contains further information. 

St. John's Got Talent

Every second year, St. John's hosts our talent show - St John's Got Talent. Students from Foundation to Grade 6 are invited to do a solo performance or work with a small group of their choice. They can perform any talent they like - singing, dancing, gymnastics, comedy show etc.

The students will have time every Tuesday at first lunch to practice and get themselves organised, with support from myself and some other staff members. All performances will then perform at the Semi-Finals (which takes place over several weeks) and then a small number of performances will be selected to perform at the Grand Final. Families will be notified if their child has made the Grand Final. Children are welcome to wear a costume during their semi-final if they wish, this is not compulsory. It is a very fun time, with many students looking forward to the bi-annual, St. John's Got Talent. 

Any questions, please email me aatwell@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

or Jan Madden at jmadden@sjdenningotn.catholic.edu.au

Thanks, Amy Atwell.

Student News

Over the weekend a number of our students travelled to Mt Gambier to compete in Callisthenics at the Eisteddfod, with some excellent results.

Nala and Macy's team competed in 6 sections and came away with a first, 3 seconds, a third and an Honourable Mention. Placing second over all in their Sub Junior Aggregate. Absolutely amazing girls, well done!

For Ruby, this was her very first competition and along with her team, came away with second place! An incredible achievement Ruby!

Yesterday Bronte competed in her 2nd karate competition. She did extremely well bringing home a 3rd medal, two 2nd place medals and a first place trophy. She’s so proud to see all her hard work paying off. This is awesome Bronte, great job!

Student Awards Term 3 Week 1

Around our School- Term 3 Week 1

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Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Raani M, Finn A, Sonny A, Layker A and Taylor G who celebrate their birthday this week! We hope you have a terrific day!

Save the Date!

We require 2L plastic milk bottles, glass jars of random sizes and newspapers for our upcoming Art show. If you have any of these items at home, it would be much appreciated if you could send them into the office, thank you very much.

Parents & Friend's Social Group

For our next meeting we will be heading to the Cally for dinner on Wednesday 31st July at 6:30pm. All welcome please RSVP closer to the date.

Dennington's Day Out

Applications are now open for our mini entrepreneur stalls at this year's Dennington’s Day Out. If your child is interested and would like to have a stall please register with the below link. 

The next meeting is Wednesday 24th July at 7:15pm. 

There is still time to sponsor, If you or know someone that might be interested please email ddo@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au to enquire about the packages or check out the DDO facebook page. 

Wednesday Treats

Wednesday Treats is back this week. Order forms for next week will head home on a Wednesday this term. Please make sure all EFT payments and order forms are handed in by 3.00pm each Monday as we can not accept late orders.

Roster:

Tuesday 23rd July 9.00am - Emily, Melissa C, Rebecca W, Jo C and Melissa A.

Wednesday 24th July 12.00pm - Olivia, Nicole D and Stephanie N.

Should you have any questions please feel free to contact Taliah Gleeson or Emily McGennan.

Cake Raffle

Each week on a Monday, 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 Monday with a limit of five tickets per student. The Johnnies will make a P.A announcement at first lunch, calling all students who wish to purchase a ticket, to the Library.

The following families are rostered on for Monday 29th July:

Malone, Marsden, Mason, Matthews and McFadyen.

Please drop your store purchased cake into the office with your child's name written on top.

School Sponsorship

A big thank you to O'Brien's Electrical, Joinery by Jarrod, Fry Painting and Carry on Travel who sponsor our school!

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.

Star of the Sea Bulletin

Sunday Mass is held at 9.00am 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

Tuesday 23rd July: Wellbeing Day- students are to wear casual clothes

Wednesday 24 July: DDO Meeting 7.15pm in the Gathering Space

Wednesday 31st July: P & F Social Group Meeting 6.30pm at the Cally Hotel

Sunday August 4th- Eucharist- Mass of commitment 9.00am at St. Pius X Church

Sunday August 11th- Sacrament of Eucharist 9.00am at St. Pius X Church

Monday 19th August: School Closure Day

Wednesday 21st August: Book Week, parade at 9.00am

Wednesday 28th August: St. Johns Art Show from 6.00pm