March 11th, 2025: Newsletter #7

Acknowledgement of Country

St. John’s school community respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders as the traditional custodians of the land on which we learn, pray and grow. 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 7 Prayer - The Season of Lent

Lord, your commandment of love is so simple and so challenging. Help me to let go of my pride, to be humble in my penance.

I want only to live the way you ask me to love, to love the way you ask me to live.  I ask this through your Son, Jesus, who stands at my side today and always.

In this Season of Lent we especially pray for Pope Francis as he battles his illness.  Give him strength and peace.

From the Principal

Hello everyone, welcome to another week at St. John's.

Last Wednesday the children and community were invited to join us in our Ash Wednesday Liturgy. The children helped to set the Sacred Space, they did the readings and prayers and the choir sang two beautiful hymns. It was a respectful and interactive liturgy.

Project Compassion: This week the Season of Lent begins. A key focus during this time is the act of giving. A program that we support at St. John’s is the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allows Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.

We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through your prayer, fasting and almsgiving by supporting Project Compassion. We have been given an amount of Project Compassion boxes to distribute to families for their donations, these will be sent home tomorrow. If you don't receive one please feel free to drop some coins off at the office or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: lent.caritas.org.au    

At the end of this term, we will invite all families to return their project compassion boxes to school as part of our Easter Liturgy. Saint Oscar Romero is our inspiration for Project Compassion, so in his words let’s “Aspire not to have more, but to be more.”

Sympathy: Our love and prayers are with Coralie Hiscock and her family on the passing of Coralie's mother Jan. We are thinking of you all at this difficult time, may Jan rest in peace.

New Portable arriving: This Wednesday the 12th of March we have our new portable arriving. As there will be many trucks and cranes, we are closing the Russell Street Loop and Car Park for all of Wednesday. The two points for drop off and pick up will be either at the Coghlan's Road loop or from the Netball Courts at the Dennington oval. 

New Library borrowing system: Our school library has just changed over it's library system from Destiny to Oliver. We are excited by the capabilities of this new system however we are in the process of setting up the children and teachers onto the system. Once the staff have been trained in the use of this system it will mean Library borrowing can commence from Monday the 17th of March. If your child comes home with an overdue book/s from last year, the new system will have a picture of the book on the list to help find it at home.

School Closure Days: Our first School Closure day for the year will take place on Thursday April 24th, DOBCEL have determined that we must take this day to particpate in a PD day for all staff relating to the DOBCEL 2035 Strategy.

Enjoy the week ahead,  Jan and Amy.

Learning and Teaching with Jan and Amy

Emmanuel College Opening Evening

Lions Eye Care Health program

The Lions Eye Health Program is offering Free Vision Screening for St John's Primary School for Foundation, Year 3 and Year 6 students.

If you would like your child to participate in this vision screening program or wish to know more about the program, please complete the form that is being sent home today. These forms are due back this Friday. 

School Photos

Annual school photos were taken by Arthur Reed Photos last week.

To view the images of your child and order photos, you will need to first register online.

1. Go to https://order.arphotos.com.au and enter the 2025 image code for your child (from their personalized flyer) 
2. Tap on ‘Add another child’ to enter the image codes of any siblings
3. Fill in your email and mobile details and then review all details before confirming your registration

That’s it! When 2025 photos are ready, you will be notified by email and SMS.

Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you do it again each year using your child’s new image code to link their photos for the current year with your contact details.

To ensure you are ordering school photos for the current year, please wait for notifications that 2025 images are online before placing orders.

In the webshop you can view photos and customize your photo package; Choose ANY layout, ANY image and purchase multiple digital image downloads.

All photo orders will be sent directly to the address you provide when ordering. 

If you have any issues with the registration or ordering process, please contact Arthur Reed's customer service team directly for assistance, 03 5243 4390

Wellbeing

Neurodiversity

Neurodiversity emphasises the natural variation in how an individual's brain functions and how they perceive and interact with the world, leading to diverse ways of learning and communicating. While most young people are neurotypical, some exhibit variations in brain development, such as ADHD, autism or dyslexia, making them neurodivergent.

Embracing neurodiversity involves accepting, celebrating, and supporting neurodivergent children and adolescents without attempting to change or treat their differences. Using respectful language, challenging unhelpful attitudes, avoiding assumptions, and actively promoting inclusivity can help embrace neurodiversity effectively.

Acknowledging the unique ways neurodiverse young people do things and then adapting tasks and activities to ensure their full participation will encourage them to develop strategies that feel natural to them. It will help improve their mental health, wellbeing and sense of self. By recognising and nurturing their strengths, parents and caregivers can contribute to building an inclusive and compassionate society where all young people can thrive.

Learning more about neurodiversity, equips caregivers with insights into effective communication techniques, educational strategies, and parenting approaches tailored to the specific needs of their neurodivergent child.

March 17th-23rd is Neurodiversity Celebration Week

Join us for an exclusive session with two of Australia's leading experts in youth wellbeing and cybersafety, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg and Susan McLean. Gain invaluable insights on how to empower young people to navigate the online world safely and responsibly. 

Physical Education

For the first five weeks of Term our Sport focus for the whole school was practising the activities and events involved in Sports day.

For the past few weeks the juniors have been focusing on perceptual motor program (PMP) skills including:hand eye coordination, foot eye coordination, balance and fitness. They have also been focusing on stopping promptly at the whistle and lining up with bubble space.

The years 3-6 students for the past few weeks have been focusing on teamwork games in order to develop skills in: communication, listening to each others ideas, turn taking and leadership. They have also been focusing on moving safely in the space and being mindful of those around them.

Margie Smith

Performing Arts

Over the past few weeks our music students at St. Johns Dennington have been busy exploring the art of storytelling through sound and movement! In the junior years, students have embraced mime and used action and song to bring stories to life, building confidence and creativity.

Meanwhile, our upper primary students have been exploring the elements of songwriting—crafting beats, writing lyrics, and learning how different parts of a song come together. Across all year levels, students are regularly showcasing their skills in performance, rehearsal, and attentive listening, making the music room a particularly expressive space. We can’t wait to see—and hear—what they create next!

Nick Palmer

National Ride2School Day

Next Friday 21st March is National Ride2School Day!

We will have staff at the former Dennington Post Office in Drummond street on this day from 8.10am for a 8.20am departure to walk to school.  Please consider joining in- it is a wonderful way to start the day.

Foodbank

The St. John's community has a wonderful tradition of supporting families in need. The "Food Bank" is one where families come together to provide a meal for families within our school who are in need of support (for example, a new arrival, family illness or bereavement).  If you are aware of a family requiring support, please contact the office.

If you are willing to help out during the year, please contact Ben van de Camp and we will reach out when the need arises.  Thanks in advance. 

2025 Sacramental Program

In 2025 the Star of the Sea Parish are offering families, who have baptised Catholic children to have their children receive Sacraments as relevant to the child's grade level. The program is very child centred, and provides all families with the opportunity to support the child as they receive the sacrament.  

As an initial registration point, we ask all families who wish for their child/ children to participate in the Sacramental program to register their interest by completing the registration form linked here:https://forms.gle/3JXvKKsmtcKgfEs38

The key dates for these sacraments in 2025 are: 

Reconciliation (Grade 6)

• February 18th- Parent information meeting, 7pm at St Joseph's Church (students and their parents).
• March 24th- Reconciliation Education Day at Emmanuel College (students only).
• 3rd April- Reconciliation celebration, 6pm (students and their families)

Confirmation (Grade 3)

• April 29th- Parent information meeting, 7pm at St Joseph's Church. 
• May 11th- Presentation of candidates at Mass.
• May 12th- Confirmation Education day
• May 27th- Confirmation celebration 6pm

Eucharist (Grade 4)

• July 29th- Parent information meeting, 7pm at St Joseph's Church. 
• August 5th- Eucharist Formation Day (school supported)
• August 10th-Presentation of candidates at Mass
• August 24th- Celebration of First Eucharist 

If you have any questions or would like to chat about this further please contact Grace Lucas at school or send an email to glucas@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthday this week: Lincoln D, Levi B, Freyja G and Reggie M. We hope you have a fantastic day!

Student News

Nellie competed in her first ever swimming event in Timboon last weekend. She came first in the 7&U Kickboard Race. This is fantastic Nellie, well done!!

Harper and Zahli visited Yayoi Kusama's exhibition on Saturday. They loved every minute and thought it was amazing!!

Around our School- Week 6

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Parents and Friend's Social Group

Our next meeting will be on Monday 24th March at 7.00pm in the Gathering Space. Everyone is welcome, we always look forward to seeing some new faces. Hope you can make it.

Shrove Tuesday

A shout out to Woolworths Dennington for donating all our pancake toppings, plates and trays, Sungold milk for the milk donation & Chris Clarke for mixing up all the pancake mix thank you. 

Thank you to all our volunteers that helped cook up over 20kg of pancake mix last Tuesday. Days like this wouldn't be possible without our volunteers. Please make sure you log your time on the tile in the SZapp to go towards your participation points.

Dennington Day Out

Dennington Day out committee meeting will be held on the 18th March at 7.00pm in the Gathering Space. Our committee is still looking for new volunteers to join. 

Parents and Friends Social bowls

Book the babysitter and join us for a fun night out on Saturday 29th March from 6:30pm til late at the Dennington Bowls club $10 per person includes bbq and game. Drinks at bar prices. Please RSVP by Wednesday 26th March.

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. Please download the roster below.

All funds raised throughout the year will be donated to various charities. Please drop your store purchased cake into the office with your family name written on top.  If there is no assembly on your rostered day due to a school closure or event, please drop your cake in the week after.

All students will have the opportunity to buy a raffle ticket for 20c 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 for:

Monday 17th March: Boyle, Bridgman, Brooks, Byrne, Cahill, Cain, Dwyer, Cameron and Campbell.

School Sponsorship

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.

A big thank you to O'Brien Electrical & Plumbing, Fry Painting, Carry on travel, King Cole Fruit Supply and Total Landscapes and Design that sponsor our school!

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 18th March: Lions Eye Health Program (Gr. F, 3, 6)

Monday 24th March: Reconciliation Formation Day - Emmanuel College

Monday 24th March: Parents and Friends meeting at 7.00pm in the Gathering Space

Saturday 29th March:  Parents and Friends social lawn bowls at 6:30pm

Wednesday 2nd April: Family Wellbring Evening at 6.00pm - 7.30 in the Shared Learning Space

Thursday 3rd April: Reconciliation Sacrament

Friday 4th April: Last Day of Term 1

Monday 21st April: Easter Monday Public Holiday

Tuesday 22nd April: First Day of Term 2

Thursday 24th April: Closure Day - Southern Zone Collaboration Day (DOBCEL determined date)

Friday 25th April: ANZAC Day Public Holiday

Monday 28th April: Confirmation Parent Meeting (7.00pm St Joseph's Church)

Thursday 1st May: May Races Public Holiday