June 23rd, 2025: Newsletter #20

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 10- Feast of St. John the Baptist

From the Principal

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

3 Way Conversations: This week we offer our formal conversation opportunities for staff to meet with parents and students.

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.

If you feel you would benefit from also having a conversation that just involves adults then feel free to arrange with your child's teacher an alternate time to catch up. 

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). 

Changes to the Reporting of Maths: In accordance with changes made by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, we will reporting on the new Maths Curriculum which had been rolled out in Victorian schools over the past two years, staff have been teaching to this in 2025 and will be reporting on this too. 

The most significant change to the report is that instead of reporting to Number and Algebra, Measurement, Space etc - we will now just report to 'Mathematics' which will include all aspects of the maths curriculum. The assigned level will be a culmination of all areas of mathematics taught, with a greater weight on Number & Algebra to reflect teaching within the semester, in alignment with the curriculum. This will be effective in the Semester 1 report for 2025 so look out for this when our reports are released on June 30th.

Student Travel on Country Buses: Only students that are registered for travel on their designated country bus are able to use this service. Bus travellers must only travel to and from their approved bus stop. The Country bus service is not to be used by any students to attend sports training/work or social purposes, Parent/Carers are to make their own arrangements in this regard.

Reminder to bus travellers that it is a condition of travel that seatbelts must be worn at all times (where fitted).

Term 3 Student Free Days: Please note the following dates will be student free in Term 3 to enable staff to particpate in professional development. Theircare will be available on these dates for students that require care. 

• Monday August 4th
• Monday August 25th

2025 Term 3 Assembly Roster: Monday June 30th- Leadership

Enjoy the week ahead, Ben. 

St. John's Feast Day- Walkathon Cancellation

We warmly invite our school community to join us in celebrating the Feast Day of our Schools Saint, St. John the Baptist, tomorrow 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, and then we will return to school by bus.

Students are to wear their sports uniform. A BBQ lunch will be provided for all students.

Due to the weather forecast, we will not be holding our walkathon, a new date for this will be arranged. 

Dental Van

In great news for our community, Teeth on Wheels will be visiting our school in August, there will be consent forms sent home tomorrow via the classrooms and further advertising also.  Please keep an eye out!

Lowes 20% Sale

Sporting Events- Regional Soccer

What an amazing journey these girls have been on in the past few weeks, from playing in our winter sports to then taking on the Division level to then qualify for the Regional tournament held last week in Ballarat was simply amazing. Their support of each other, love for the game and genuine excitement was outstanding and they are great role models for our entire student body. 

Thanks to Narelle Marsden and the many parents who have supported them over this journey. 

Wellbeing

Sleep

Students today have extremely busy schedules, with ever increasing responsibilities at school and at home. Many kids, especially adolescents, are going to bed later and later and are at risk of sleep deprivation. This affects three areas of a child’s development: psychological, physiological and psychosocial. All three are essential to a child's growth, learning ability and overall wellbeing. Sleep is vital to a child’s overall development and is as important as diet and exercise.

Sleep also strengthens a child’s immune systems and supports their ability to function properly on a daily basis. Children who do not get enough sleep show increased levels of aggressive behaviour, are less attentive and are much less active. Trying to catch up on sleep on weekends is not the answer and can still lead to severe sleep deprivation.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn about the importance of sleep and how sleep deprivation can have adverse effects on a child’s health and wellbeing.

DigiTech- CyberSafety

Keeping your kids safe on Roblox 

Roblox is a gaming platform filled with various games and experiences and is very popular with young users.

It is available on smartphone, PC, tablets and gaming consoles. Roblox offers endless ways to play and interact with others in a vast virtual world filled with user-generated material.  Please click on the link below to learn how to keep your kids safe online.

STEM

Student News

Darcy, Noah and Amber competed in the BMX State Series in Sunbury over the weekend, all doing incredibly well in their individual classes. Thank you for sharing your photos with us, your passion for the sport is evident and we wish you well for future competitions!

Student Awards- Term 2, Week 10, 23rd June

Miss Buwalda - Freyja G for always being a thoughtful friend who goes out of her way to help classmates return to the Green Zone.

Miss Dwyer - Lyrah C for making some wonderful progress when reading and writing, and showing a keen interest in learning. Keep up your fantastic work, Lyrah!

Mrs Archbold - Elias W for the effort he has made in group work this week. 

Miss Kissick - Dylan Z for her consistent efforts in trying her best across all learning tasks. Keep up the amazing work Dylan!

Miss Lucas - Parker K for always being so cheerful and putting in 100% effort in all his learning!

Mr Hynes - Lilith L for having such a positive attitude in daily math learning sessions. Awesome!

Miss Ryan - Indi L for her amazing efforts with her narrative writing. 

Mr Harrington - Levi B for showing such great results in Numeracy this term and showing such fantastic maturity.

Miss Kelly - Noah S for your brilliant independence and fantastic efforts in Maths this week. Amazing work Noah!

Miss Moloney - Lawson C for your use of technology in writing time, demonstrating confidence in building your sentences.

Mrs Mugavin -  Nikson S for confidently using Read & write everyday to write an Information Report on James Cook. 

Miss P -  Jackson P  for his positive attitude in all areas of his learning!

Mr McInerney - Billy F for consistently showing great leadership qualities around the school each day

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the following students who celebrate their birthday this week: Mykaeli P, Rylee H, Cooper S, Kennedy W, Harmony B, Charlie S, Lyrah C, Piipa C and Tobias T.  We hope you have a fantastic day!

Around our School- Week 9

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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. 

Dennington Day Out

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

We are now looking for volunteers to help for Wednesday treats in Term 3. If your able to help please fill out the volunteer form and return to the office by this Friday.  Should you have any questions please feel free to contact Emily McGennan.

This weeks treat is “Potato Cakes” - Orders close tomorrow morning, Tuesday 24th June at 8.30am.

Roster:

Tuesday 24th - Melissa C, Kiri Mc and Paige H.

Wednesday 25th - Jacinta B, Mel B and Sarah M.

Next weeks treat  to finish off the term (Wednesday 2nd July) is Hot Dogs in bread for $2.50 each. Gluten Free Hot Dogs are also avaliable for $2.50 each.

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

Orders for next week will be open on CDF Pay this Wednesday 25th and will close Tuesday 1st July 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 Our noimiated charity, Backpacks Beds. 

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 30th June:

Kenny, Kertland (Zivah), Kotwica, Kufa and Laird.

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

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. John's 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

Monday 25th August: School Closure Day