December 16th 2024: Newsletter #40

Acknowledgement of Country

St. John’s school community respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past and present. 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 11 Prayer

The third week of Advent is Joy. This verse is from the story of Jesus' birth. The angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields nearby to announce that a baby has been born in a manger. The angels describe Jesus' birth as "good news of great joy" because he came to be our Saviour! Lord God, may we, your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving. 

From the Principals

Welcome to our final week of the term. We would like to thank our amazing staff, children, parents and wider community for all of your support this term while the two of us have navigated our way through this term. We have had a lot of new learning and we really appreciate everyone who has guided, listened and had patience with us. The job of teaching has never been so complex and our actions so scrutinized. To us it remains a position of incredible importance. So we want to take this opportunity to thank our incredible Learning Support Officers, teachers, administration staff amd maintenance team. Thank you.

We thank our Parents and Friends committee and Dennington's Day Out Committee who have once again, supported our school throughout the year to ensure we have access to additional funds that go directly into the teaching and learning of our school.

Tonight we celebrate the Grade 6's moving out of their Primary school life into the big wide world of Secondary school.  Being a young person in 2024 has never been easier and harder at the same time. So where is the optimism? For us, it is everywhere if we are willing to pay attention. 

Many of this group has represented this school with distinction, humility and considerable skill. We have also seen, first hand, ALL of these children, at different times display acts of kindness, generosity and humour. We witnessed beautiful manners, terrific social skills, resilience to difficulties and behaviors that are wise beyond their years. They and you as their role models have much to be proud of. 

In many ways, Grade 6 is a trial of uncertainty and angst, of trying to figure out who you are, how to stand out and how to fit in. As adults, we have lived this experience to know that Primary school is but one chapter of your life, and that High School presents a whole host of opportunities to grow and make new friends.

We would like to say a very big thank you and goodbye to some staff who conclude their time with us this week. Kaitlyn Lane, Amity Brooks, Eden Anderton, Ruby Couch, Meg Hamilton and Chelsea Quinn have been at our school in the role of Learning Support. We thank them for their energy and appreciate all that they have done. We wish them all the very best for their future endeavors.

This year also sees the departure of Mary Howley who has been one of the most familiar faces we see around the school. Mary goes above and beyond to ensure that our school looks and smells beautiful. In her quiet and gentle manner, she has calmly gone about her job, for close to 10 years, often coming into school, volunarily, over weekends to do additional work. We know that we will continue to see Mary around but now in her role as Grandmother. Thank you Mary.

To any of the families who are moving from St. John's, we thank them for entrusting your child with us and we wish you all the best for the future.

Next year we will be reviewing our uniform protocol so that all families are clear on what is and what isn't school uniform. By mid January, the new bucket hats with a toggle to tighten them, will be available at Lowes. We are purchasing the stock they currently have with the bucket hats and then will sell them on to families at cost. These do not have a toggle. Stay tuned for the first newsletter next year for more details about how to purchase these ones from us. 

Have a peaceful and happy Christmas and summer holiday.

Jan and Amy

Congratulations to Evie, Sam, Michael, Archie, Daniel, Franklin, Lennox, Caleb, Summer-Jayde, Dusty, Hayley, Isla, Lachlan, Sam, Scout, Imogen, Macey,  Imogen, Max, Dexter, Marcus, Jasper, Greta, Charlotte, Lily, Mila, Jacob, Zariyah, Jagger, Riley, Mailee, Caleb, Pippa, Seth, Ray, Brax and Maleah.

We bid farewell to the following families as they conclude their time here at St. John's: Baetz, Bermingham, Bray, Brooks,  Chapman, Curran, Dance, Fedley, Gara, Gleeson, Greene, Greene, Hose, Hynes, Leggett, Noonan, Quarrell, Sachse, Shiell, Speed, Van Der Heyden and Watson. 

School Academic Reports

Reports were realeased on Friday afternoon via PAM as an electronic copy. Please note that paper copies will not be sent home. If you have difficulties accessing the report on your phone, we suggest you use an alternate device ie. laptop

Finance

2025 School Fee Structure

At our recent School Advisory Council meeting we settled on the following fee structure for 2025. 

• Student Levy  $150
• Family fee  $1090
• Building Levy  $240
• Gr 5/6 Camp $350
• Gr 3/4 Camp  $200
• Gr F-4 Swimming $100
• Gr 5/6 Surf Awareness  $100
• Participation Levy  $200

Our fees only make up the difference between the Government (Federal and State) funding we receive and the amount the Government determines as the cost of educating a Primary student. Fees do not mean that we have extra money in our budget to expend on additional resources.

The Family Fee Assistance scheme will be available again in 2025. Families who qualify for the scheme will pay $520 per annum for primary school tuition fees. The discounted fee covers tuition and capital fees only. It does not cover additional charges such as camps, student fees, and excursions.

School Savings Bonus

We have had a few enquiries regarding the School Saving Bonus. Whilst it is available to all governement school students, 

The $400 bonus will be provided directly to each school and the school will apply it directly to your fee account.  The $400 School Saving Bonus is available for each child. That means an eligible family with three school-aged children will receive a total reduction of $1,200 to school fees. 

Families who have had their circumstances change (including new healthcare and concession card holders) and who may be eligible for the Camps, Sports and Excursion are encouraged to discuss this wih us.  These are real cost-of-living supports. Please speak with Sarah Burchell if you have with any questions regarding this or school fees. 

End of Year arrangements

End of Year Mass/Final Assembly - Wednesday 18th December. Families are invited to our end of year Mass at St. Pius X Church at 10.00am (All students will attend and will travel by bus) and our final assembly which will be held at 2.00pm in the Stadium. The Christmas raffle be will drawn at assembly, all students will be given a ticket. Refer to the P & F section below.

Last day of school - Wednesday 18th December at the usual finishing time of 3.20pm.

Parent/Guardian Facebook page - Once school has finished for the year, we will be going through the removal process of families in the group that have concluded their time with us. This is not personal (we will miss you all!!) we just need to make sure we have the right audience for our messages. Also, just a reminder this group is for parents and guardians only, please explain this to other family members who may mention they have requested to join but have been declined.

Beginning of Year arrangements

Our first newsletter will be published on Monday 27th January, in the afternoon. Please read this carefully as it will contain important administrative information.

Our school office will reopen on Tuesday 28th January 2025 from 1.00pm.

All students will commence school on Wednesday 29th January at 8.50am. Foundation students will attend on this day, but then will not attend school on Wednesdays until Wednesday 12th March. To welcome our families, new and existing, The P & F have organised morning tea and the coffee van on the first day of school in front of the Stadium, after school drop off.

As in previous years, Grades 3 - 6 will continues to have specialist classes on Thursday whilst Foundation - Gr 2 have their specialist classes on Friday's. Students are to wear their sports uniforms on their specialist day.

Our complete school uniform is available at Lowes at Gateway Plaza, including school bags, hats and library bags. Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform each day.

Lunchorders and breakfast club will recommence in Week 3 - Week beginning Monday 10th February.

PAM Requests/Medical Profile

Each year, families are required to sign off documention in CONNECT which is in PAM.

These documents- Acceptable Use and Cyber Safety agreement, Local Excursion permission, Media permission, Parent Participation Levy and Parent/Guardian Code of Conduct will be reset at the end of this year and you will be required to log in to PAM from Friday 3rd January to accept them for the 2025 school year. The new DOBCEL enrolment agreement will also be added to the suite of documents. These requests need to be completed by the commencement of Term 1, Wednesday 29th January.

It is also a good opportunity for you to review your child's medical profile and update if neccessary. We can't reiterate enough how important it is for us to have this correct information at hand.

Please check your child's Asthma Action plan- we require a new plan every 12 months signed by a doctor. The holiday break is a good time to get these sorted, before the start of each school year.

CDFpay

Next year we will be going cashless.

We will be using CDFpay for all online ordering such as lunch orders, Wednesday treats, events and fundraising. CDFpay is an app that you will download to your phone. More details including instructions will be provided at the start of the year. 

Wellbeing

Many social media sites, games and apps now come with parental controls. The eSafety Guide has advice on safety features that can be useful for parents and carers, including how to use the settings to protect personal information and report online abuse.

STEM

Moonhack is an international coding event bringing children from across the world together for two weeks of coding! 

This year’s Moonhack was to help us fight climate change! Children coded programs to raise awareness, or create a call to action, to help us fight climate change.

Harvey B, Starla M and Ollie S all chose to enter their projects.  Click on each of the links to play their games on Scratch.

Congratulations to Harvey B who finished in the top 10 in the WORLD!!! 

Theircare

All bookings and questions regarding our outside school provider TheirCare, are to  be made directly to them on 1300 072 410.  Bookings can also be made at https://theircare.com.au/  and selecting St John's Dennington as the booking location.

Theircare also run a number of holiday programs which they are now taking bookings for. Please note these programs are not run here on site at St John's. 

Happy Birthday

Best wishes to Bella J, Summer-Jayde S, Rhiley S, Jaxon B, Olivia R, Skylar C who celebrate their birthday this week! We hope you enjoy your special day.

Week 10!

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Parents & Friend's Social Group

Thank you to everyone for supporting our Parents and Friends in 2024 from fundraising to volunteering. It wouldn't be possible without the support of our school families. 

Please join us on the 29th January for a coffee and slice near the stadium to celebrate the new school year from 9.00am.

Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year and we look forward to seeing you in 2025.

Dennington's Day Out

Do you have a business or know a business that might be interested in sponsoring our Dennington’s Day Out in 2025 please email ddo@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au and we will contact you in the new year. 

Christmas Raffle

This year we are holding the annual Christmas raffle and doing it a little differently! We are looking for families to donate a Christmas item towards the raffle and instead of families selling raffle tickets this year we will be putting each student into the draw for their chance to win. The raffle will be drawn at the final assembly on Wednesday. Donations can be dropped into the office up until tomorrow. Thanks to the families who have already done so.

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

Monday 16th December: Grade 6 Graduation at 6.00pm

Wednesday 18th December: Last day of Term 4 - school concludes at 3.20pm

Tuesday 28th January: School office open from 1.00pm

Wednesday 29th January: Start of Term 1 2025 for all students (no country buses running on this day)

Wednesday 29th January: Welcome coffee and slice near the Stadium at 9.00am

Thursday 30th January: Country buses resume 

Wednesday 5th February: Beginning of school Mass at St. Pius X Church at 10.00am