June 16th, 2025: Newsletter #19

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. 

Prayer Week 9

When was the last time that we heard the wind of your Spirit roar through this place?
When was the last time your fire lit up this room?
When was the last time we took you at your word and met together in expectation of your Spirit filling this place, and these lives with your Glory and Power?

Lord, you challenge us with Pentecost. 
Do we believe that this was a once in eternity experience, never to be repeated?
That the Holy Spirit was poured out on your followers for a single purpose, and ended His work at that instant?

Lord, as we meet together, and celebrate once again the memory of that first Pentecost,
may it be for us as it was then a moment of empowerment, an awareness of your Glory in this world,
a life changing experience.

From the Principal

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

3 Way Conversations: In term 2 we offer our formal conversation opportunities for staff to meet with parents and students, these sessions will take place on Monday June 23rd and Tuesday June 24th. Bookings for these conversations opened last Wednesday and instructions on how to book a timeslot were included in the email.

To make a booking, please log into your PAM account, select the appropriate teacher and the appointment time. If you have any issues making your booking, please contact the office.

These conversations are important in building the relationship between home and school and assisting your child with their learning. Where possible, we encourage both parents (where appropriate) to attend these interviews as well as the child who will spend part of the session talking through 

To ensure that the 3 Way Conversation process runs smoothly, can I ask that parents take note of the following;

• If you have mutliple children, please do not schedule back to back appointments, if you arrive late at your appointment, the time does not start from when you arrive but when your appointed time started. 
• Each appointment is scheduled for a 15 minute window, and the teacher will start to wind it up at around the 12 minute mark. If you feel before hand that you need aditional time please feel free to contact your child's teacher to arrange a separate time. 

Bookings for these 3 Way Conversations will close at 4pm on Wednesday June 18th. 

Academic Reports: Our staff are busily preparing Semester 1 Academic Reports which will be distributed on Monday June 30th via the Parent Access Module (PAM). 

Farewelling Students: This week we will farewell Ollie and Kiara White who are moving away from town, we wish them and their family well as they enter a new stage in their life journey. We also recently farewelled Alexis Eversteyn who has tranferred into another Warrnambool school, we wish her a smooth transition.  

Term 2 Assembly Roster: Monday June 23rd- Leadership.

Enjoy the week ahead, Ben. 

Foodbank & Support Options

At St. John’s, we are proud of our strong tradition of caring for one another. One way we do this is through our Food Bank initiative, where families volunteer to provide meals for others in our school community during times of need—whether it’s  supporting someone through illness or offering comfort during a time of loss.

We’re currently inviting families who are willing to donate a meal—either homemade or store-bought to support this important initiative. These meals make a real difference to those receiving them. If you are able to make a donation please contact our Pastoral care Leader Jasmine - jkoch@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

If you and your family are experiencing hardship or a difficult time, along with supplying you a meal, there are also other support services available that Jasmine can assist you with. Please do not hesitate to reach out to her. 

We are also aware of two organisations where support can be provided also; 

• 'Fitted for Work' is a place in Melbourne that helps people get brand new clothes if they are trying to get a job or struggling. 
• Ask Izzy https://askizzy.org.au/ is a website that then links users to many groups that provide support in various manners, including housing and food.

Hands on Learning

If you think the program would be a good fit for your Grade 5/6 child, please complete the google form listed below. This should be done by 4.00pm Tuesday June 17th.

If you have any questions regarding the program please contact Damien Webster: dwebster@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au or Amber Dowd: adowd@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

Learning Walk

We invite parents and carers to a Learning Walk through the Grades 3-6 classrooms to see learning in action this Friday June 20th at 9.00am.

This learning is supported by a range of assistive technologies. During this learning walk you will see students using the Read&Write program to help make learning more accessible and support independence.

You'll have an opportunity to watch how it is used and ask any questions you might have. Please RSVP to Ben if you are interested in attending: principal@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au 

Fire Carrier Walk-a thon/St. John's Feast Day

We warmly invite our school community to join us in celebrating the Feast Day of our Schools Saint, St. John the Baptist, on Tuesday 24th June at St. Pius X Church. The celebration will begin with a whole school Mass at 10:00am at St Pius X Church. Students will travel to St. Pius X Church by bus.

As part of our FIRE carrier covenant, we are also holding a walk-a thon. Following the Mass, students will walk back to school in their house groups for a shared whole-school snack and a range of classroom activities to honour the life and mission of St John the Baptist. Students are to wear their sports uniform on this day. Parents/Guardians and family members are most welcome to walk back to school with us. 

If you do not wish for your child to participate in the Walk-a Thon after Mass, you will need to collect them from St. Pius X Church at 11.00am and drop them back to St. John's at 12.30pm as there will not be any staff at school during this time. Please email your child's classroom teacher if you plan on collecting your child from St. Pius X Church.

You are invited to donate a gold coin and all proceeds go to the Opening the Doors Foundation. This activity is also part of NAIDOC week celebrations.

This is a special day for our school community, and we look forward to sharing it together in faith, reflection and celebration.

What is NAIDOC week? - Click here

Opening the doors foundation -  Click here

Sporting Events

Our girls soccer team competed at Divisions in Warrnambool last Friday. With great determination they drew one game and won the next, qualifing for the next round being held in Ballarat this Wednesday. We are very proud of you all and wish you all the best!

STEM

NCCD Information Sheet

Wellbeing

School Anxiety 

Anything that takes children and teens away from their important adults comes with the potential for anxiety. For even the bravest of hearts, this can cause more distress than it deserves to, especially in relation to school. 

Unfortunately, as hard as it is, supporting any avoidance of school will make anxiety bigger. The amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for anxiety, only learns from experience. Once it has associated school with threat, this will continue to drive anxiety until there have been enough experiences of that anxiety giving way to calm.

The move towards brave behaviour and away from anxiety is a process, and not always a smooth one. Our kids need us to see them and hold a safe place for them, but they also need us to believe in them and to sometimes lead the way. An anxious brain is a magnificent, powerful brain – and so strong. When anxiety is involved, the need for our kids to avoid or flee can be seismic, but our belief in them can always be stronger.

Read more from psychologist Karen Young below and contact our Pastoral Care Leader Jasmine if you would like further information.

Student Awards- Term 2, Week 9, 16th June 2025

Miss Buwalda - Isla B for a fantastic effort when writing sentences. Well done on being a brave writer, Isla. 

Miss Dwyer - Rylee D for her creativity and ability to work with her peers during Let’s Explore. Well done, Rylee! 

Mrs Archbold - Danyl Subin for his quick recall of phonemes and his willingness to have a go when decoding unfamiliar words.

Miss Kissick - Ryder B for his fantastic decoding in our reading groups. Keep up the great work Ryder!

Miss Lucas - Oliver H for working hard to make positive choices, listen respectfully, and stay focused on your learning. Keep it up!

Mr Hynes - Harper F  for always being such a caring and supportive learning partner in all learning sessions! Brilliant!

Miss Ryan - Turam C for showing great perseverance and trying his best to complete tasks.

Mr Harrington - Joey R for showing such resilience and determination during Literacy lately. Keep up the good work!

Miss Kelly -  Ruby R for your constant positivity and always being excited to learn. Great work Ruby!

Miss Moloney - Lincoln T for showing creativity and passion during Inquiry lessons. Keep up the good work!

Mrs Mugavin -  Jaxson F for your creativity and awesome designs during Inquiry this term.

Miss P -  Levi B for the wonderful growth you have shown on your Lexile test.

 Mr McInerney - Jensen L for your excellent growth in Lexile over the semester.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthday this week: Bonnie E, Ryder R, Coby B, Ryder B, Davina C and Isabelle C.

 We hope you have a fantastic day!

Student News

Eloise & Sophie had a wonderful Melbourne adventure over the weekend. They went to see Beetlejuice the musical and were lucky enough to meet the cast after the show. They met Eddie Perfect (Beetlejuice), Karis Oka (Lydia), Elise McCann (Barbara) & Erin Clare (Delia). 

Around our School- Week 8

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Parents and Friend's Social Group

Our next Parents and Friends meeting will be a dinner at the Cally Hotel from 6:30pm on Tuesday 1st July.  We will take RSVP's closer to the date.

Disco

We hope all those that attended the School Disco on Friday night enjoyed their time. Thank you to Ali for all your organising and to our volunteers for giving up your Friday night, without you all we wouldn't have been able to have events like this, so we appreciate your time.

Dennington Day Out

Join us tomorrow night (Tuesday) 17th June for dinner at the Cally for our next Dennington Day Out meeting. Dinner from 6:30pm.

Do you have a child that might be interested in holding a mini entrepreneurs stall at this years DDO? Make sure your following the Dennington Day Out Facebook page for the expressions of interest google form that will be posted in the coming weeks. 

Dennington Day Out Sponsorship Proposal for 2025 is now available if you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring this years event please contact ddo@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au

Pie Drive

To finish off the term we are holding a pie drive, its a great way to fill the freezer before the school holidays start. 

Orders can be placed via the CDF Pay app or you can send in your paper copy with cash to the office. Orders are due back on Thursday 26th June and orders will be available for collection at school on Friday 4th July (Last day of term 2)

Wednesday Treats

With only two more weeks left for this term, we will be sending home our next call out for next term's volunteers. Please keep an eye out for it. Should you have any questions please feel free to contact Emily McGennan.

This weeks treat is “Dim Sims” - Orders close tomorrow morning, Tuesday 17th June at 8.30am.

Roster:

Wednesday 18th June - Theresa G, Lana I & Jacinta B

Next weeks treat (Wednesday 25th June) is Potato Cakes for $2.00 each. Gluten Free Potato Cakes are also avaliable for $2.00 each.

$2.00 each - Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Chocolate Milk & Strawberry Milk.

Orders for next week will be open on CDF Pay this Wednesday 18th and will close Tuesday 24th at 8:30am.

Please remember:  This year there will be no paper order forms going home; orders are required to be placed online via the CDFpay app. Each Wednesday the order for the following week will be uploaded to the app.

Orders will close at 8:30am each Tuesday so please make sure you get your orders in on time as we can not accept late orders or cash this year.

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

Cake Raffle

Each week at Assembly we draw a cake raffle for students. The money raised goes to various charities like Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne.

School families have been assigned a week to bring in a cake. There is no obligation or pressure for you to do so, it is only if you wish to. If you have been assigned a week that is unsuitable and you would like to bring a cake in another week, please contact the office and an alternate date will be arranged.

If you choose to, please drop your store purchased cake into the office with your family name written on top. 

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 on for Monday 23rd June:

Irvine, Jenkins, Johnson, Keane and Keirl.

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, Total Landscapes and Design and Hiensch Haulage 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 17th June: DDO Meeting at The Cally Hotel at 6.30pm

Friday 20th June: Learning Walk at 9.00am (RSVP's essential)

Monday 23rd June - Tuesday 24th June: 3 Way conversations Gr F - 4 and 5/6NM

Tuesday 24th June - Wednesday 25th June: 3 Way conversations 5/6KP

Tuesday 24th June: St. Johns Feast Day/Walk-a Thon

Monday 30th June: Academic Reports released via PAM

Tuesday 1st July: P & F Meeting at The Cally Hotel at 6.30pm

Friday 4th July: Term 2 concludes at 2.20pm

Monday 21st July: Term 3 Commences at 8.50am

Tuesday 22nd July - Wednesday 24th July: Grade 3/4 Camp

Monday 4th August: School Closure Day 

Monday 18th August: School Dance Concert