January 27th, 2025: Newsletter #1
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.
Welcome Back!
We look forward to seeing all of our students on Wednesday 29th January. We hope you all had a wonderful restful break! Foundation students will commence on this day, but then will not attend school on Wednesdays until Wednesday 12th March.
This is not a full newsletter but includes some important information before we commence our school year.
To celebrate the beginning of the new school year the P & F have organised morning tea and the coffee van on the first day of school for parents/guardians in front of the Stadium, after school drop off.
Parents/Guardians of Foundation students and new students to the school are then invited to lunch at Rafferty's on Wednesday at 12.00pm. If you are able to attend please RSVP via the post in the Facebook Community page or email parents@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au Younger siblings are welcome to come along.
Please refer to the flyer below.
Term 1 2025 Arrangements
Assembly's will remain on Monday's at 2.30pm in the Stadium. Our first assembly will be held on Monday 3rd February and we welcome parents/guardians and family members to attend. Each week, families are rostered on to bring in a cake (store purchased) which will then be raffled and drawn out at assembly. Proceeds of the cake raffle are donated to various charities. Students of families rostered on will be called to the front to draw the raffle ticket. Cakes are to be dropped into the office with your child's name written on the top. The cake raffle will commence at our first assembly on Monday 3rd February. Families rostered on the first day are McGennan, Fechete, Finnigan, Serra and DeBono. A complete roster will be available in our next newsletter.
On Wednesday 5th February we will hold our Opening School Mass at St. Pius Church at 10.00am. All students will attend and families are invited to come along. Foundation students do not attend school on this day but are very welcome to join in. Parents/guardians of students in Grade 1 - 6 will receive a permission request through PAM at the end of this week. We will be offically inducting our student leaders on this day.
Lunch orders are available to purchase from Morriss Road Takeaway on Tuesdays and Fridays. All orders are to be placed through CDFpay. There is no need to write your order on a bag and drop it in to school or the shop, orders that you place on the app will go directly to the shop and then delivered to school. The close off time for ordering is 9.00am on the day. Lunch orders will commence in Week 3, on Tuesday 11th February.
Breakfast Club will continue this year and will run weekly on a Tuesday morning from 8.15am - 8.45am in the Library. Breakfast Club gives students the opportunity to eat a wholesome, nutritious breakfast with their peers along with fostering positive impacts such as physical and mental health, social skills and concentration. Breakfast Club will commence in Week 3, on Tuesday 11th February.
For drop off and pick up after school, students with surnames ending in A-J are to use the Russell Street Loop and students with surnames ending in K-Z are to use the Coghlan's Road Loop. The loops are designed for a quick drop off and pick up, if your child requires assistance getting in and out of the car, please park in the car park at either end of the school.
2025 School Fee Structure
In 2025, our school fee structure, as approved by our Governing Authority DOBCEL is;
- 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.
It is an expectation that school fee accounts are finalised by Term 4 each year. It is a good idea to plan how you are going to pay your fees now as it is never pleasant for us, or you, if we have to chase up school fees at the end of the year. We offer a variety of payment methods including direct transfer and EFT. We also offer direct debit for families each fortnight as an option to pay school fees. Direct debit is a good way to spread the cost throughout the year. School fee statements are emailed out in Week 3 each term. if you do not receive your statement please let the office know asap so we can update your email address.
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. If you are a new family to St. John's or an existing parent/guardian and your circumstances have changed, and you have a valid health care or concession card you will need to complete a Camps, Sports, Excursion Fund form from the office and provide a copy of your card.
New families and new applicants that qualify for the Camps Sports & Excursion Fund will also be eligible for the School Savings Bonus. The $400 bonus will be provided directly to the school and will be applied 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.
Please speak with Sarah Burchell if you have with any questions regarding school fees.
CDFpay
We are now using CDFpay for all online ordering such as lunch orders, Wednesday Treats, various events and fundraising activities. CDFpay is an app that you download to your phone.
- In the app store search for CDFpay
- Create a new account
- When searching for our school, start with our postcode of 3280 and our school will come up in the shortened list to select from
- You will need to add each of your children and select their 2025 classroom. Please make sure this is correct, as this is where the lunch order will be delivered to.
If you need any assistance please contact the office but it is important to note that due to privacy restrictions associated to this app, we can not add students or amend your account for you in any way.
School Communication Channels
Newsletter: Our newsletter is published weekly on Mondays and is distributed directly to all families via schoolzine and email. The newsletter carries the bulk of our news and information about what is happening at St. John’s. It is the main way parents/guardians can be informed about coming events, student and teacher achievements. It is important for all families to read the newsletter each week.
Schoolzine App: This App is the simplest way to receive short messages, reminders, or emergency information direct to your mobile phone. The Schoolzine App can be downloaded free from either Apple App Store or Google Play and then once installed, search for ‘St. John’s’ Primary School Dennington’.
Facebook: Facebook allows us to share many of the wonderful stories about what’s happening at our school including individual and team achievements.
As a parent/guardian, we encourage you to also join our closed Facebook community - St John's Dennington School Community. This page is for reminders and notices. If you have a direct question that requires an answer from staff please email your child's teacher or call the office on 5562 5362 rather than posting in this group. Please note that this group is for parents/guardians only and requests by other family members will not be accepted.
Email: Parents are welcome to email staff with questions or to request a time to meet. Please note that staff will only respond in school hours. Staff emails consist of first inital and surname@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au eg Jan Madden - jmadden@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au
Seesaw: Homweroom teachers use this app to send photos of students work and what is happening in the classroom. They will send out invitations via email to join this group. All questions regarding this app are to be directed to your child's homeroom teacher.
PAM Requests/Medical Profile
If you haven't already done so, please log into your PAM account and sign off on the following documentation for the 2025 school year.
Acceptable Use and Cyber Safety agreement, Local Excursion permission, Media permission, Parent Participation Levy, Parent/Guardian Code of Conduct and enrolment agreement. These requests need to be completed by Wednesday 29th January.
Families of Foundation students will also need to complete their child's medical profile. For existing students it is also a good opportunity for you to review their medical profile and update if necessary. We can't reiterate enough how important it is for us to have this correct information at hand.
Uniform
Our uniform is available to purchase at Lowes at Gateway Plaza. Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform each day and please label every item of clothing, including shoes!
Staff will be vigilant in ensuring students are in correct uniform each day and will be contacting parents when children are wearing incorrect pieces of clothing or footwear.
On non specialist days, children must be wearing shoes that are all black (whether it be leather or runners).
Sports shorts (Blue with the school logo) should only be worn on specialist days.
As in previous years, Grades 3 - 6 will continue to have specialist classes on Thursday whilst Foundation - Gr 2 have their specialist classes on Fridays. Students are to wear their sports uniform on their specialist day.
All students must wear a hat when they are outside as per our Sunsmart policy. Students without a hat will play in the undercover quiet area. We do not provide spare hats.
Please also note hair that touches the shoulders must be fully tied back (Partially tied up hair is not permitted) and jewellery should be limited to studs or sleeper- necklaces or bracelets should not be worn.
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.
Parents and Friends Social Group
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 28th January: School office reopens from 11.00am
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 and lunch at Raffertys Tavern for Foundation/new families at 12.00pm.
Thursday 30th January: Country buses resume
Wednesday 5th February: Beginning of school Mass at St. Pius X Church at 10.00am
Thursday 6th February: Family Picnic from 5.30pm
Tuesday 11th February: Lunch orders and Breakfast Club commence
Monday 24th February: Whole School Athletics Carnival at BrauerAnder Park
Tuesday 4th March: School Photo Day