May 20th, 2024: Newsletter #14

Acknowledgement of Country

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

150th Anniversary Celebrations

Week 6 Prayer

2025 Foundation Information Sessions

From the Principal

Welcome everyone to the new week and welcome to the Feast of Pentecost. 

Pentecost Sunday: Yesterday, the Catholic church celebrated the feast of PENTECOST! 

The word Pentecost is Greek and it means "50th day." Fifty days after Easter Sunday, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and their followers, and the commencement of their ministry to spread the news of Jesus. 

It was right after Pentecost that Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, preached his first homily to Jews and other non-believers, in which he opened the scriptures of the Old Testament. 

He also told the people that the Jesus they crucified is the Lord and when they asked what they should do, Peter exhorted them to repent of their sins and to be baptized. According to the account in Acts, about 3,000 people were baptized following Peter’s sermon.

For this reason, Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church — Peter, the first Pope, preaches for the first time and converts thousands of new believers. The apostles and believers, for the first time, were united by a common language, and a common zeal and purpose to go and preach the Gospel.

SO, like the apostles on that day, let’s be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit in us. 

Welcome Tijana and Ella: This week we welcome Deakin 4th Year Teaching Students Tijana Kelly & Ella Rose Grundy in 5/6KP and 5/6NM respectively for 3 weeks, we hope they enjoy their time in our community. Both ladues will reurn in term 3. 

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 May 27th and Monday June 3rd. Bookings for these Conversations opened last Tuesday.

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. 

We look forward to the week ahead, Ben.

2025 Foundation Enrolments

Enrolments for Foundation students for 2025 are now OPEN and close on Wednesday 19th June at 4.00pm.

Online enrolments are now available on our website and can be completed and submitted electronically. 

Under the Enrolment Tab you will also notice an Online Enrolment Form- select this and away you go. A tip with this one is do not use a phone or ipad to complete the form, any laptop or desktop computer will work fine. 

You will also need to make sure you have your child's documentation (birth, immunisation, baptism certificates and any specialist reports) loaded onto your device, either by taking a photo or scanning and uploading as you will be able to upload all of that as well.  

Child Safety

Here at St. John's we are committed to Child Safety and Child Protection. We believe that children have the right to feel safe and be safe. Our staff ensure that all students receive the highest possible standard of care and protection at all times. 

Mrs Kristie Painter is our Child Safety Officer. Over the past couple of months, Kristie and the student captains- Pippa, Charlotte, Jagger and Archie have been developing a children's version of the Child Safety and Wellbeing policy. Kristie and the school leaders visited each year level last week to present this policy and to hold age appropriate discussions around Child Safety. 

Their creation will now be sent to a graphic designer and be proudly displayed in a poster format around our school.

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Spotlight on Specialists

Performing Arts

This term students in the junior school have been participating in five facets of music, dance  and drama each week.  After we have a chat and sing our welcome to class song “Hello My Friend;” a big favourite, we do some movement to different songs and compositions completing actions in time with the music.  Then it’s usually a dance.  Favourite is the Robot Dance and Floor is Lava by “Danny Go.” Lastly its rhythm and beat work with songs on rhythm sticks, drum sticks  or playing the Ukulele.  A popular Ukulele Song this term has been “Toffee Apple.”

The middle and senior class have been concentrating on public speaking through speeches, poems or skits to entertain an audience. Many have volunteered to enter the Warrnambool Speech and Drama competition which began today.  They are presenting poems for two, individual poems, character monologues, news readings and speeches. 

Damien Webster

Wellbeing

Grief and loss are feelings and experiences that everyone will face at some point in their lives. When we experience loss, it can be difficult to understand and accept. If you would like further information about talking to your children about grief and loss, to help them understand what they may be feeling and provide them with the support they need to heal, School TV has some great resources.

School tv link

Singing Lessons at St. John's

Student News

Over the weekend, Evie completed a ballet recital for Graceful Dancer Day where she placed equal 4th alongside her classmates and won Miss Personality for her age group! This is incredible Evie, well done!

Harley and Bella are very smitten with their gorgeous new little baby brother “Billy David Johnson” born 17th May. Congratulations to you all! What a little cutie.

Around our School- Week 5

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Student Awards

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Evie S, Bradly S, Charlotte S and Bonny G who celebrate their birthday this week. We hope you have a fantastic fun filled day!

Parents & Friend's Social Group

Our next general meeting will be held this Tuesday 21st May at 7.30pm. This will be a virtual meeting and can be accessed here:  https://meet.google.com/fth-dtwa-frh
 We welcome all current and new members.

Dennington's Day Out

Planning is well underway for this year’s Dennington’s Day Out. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 29th May at 7:15pm in the Gathering Space.

There is still time to sponsor, If you or know someone that might be interested please email ddo@sjdennington.catholic.edu.au to enquire about the packages or check out the DDO facebook page. 

Wednesday Treats

Roster for this week:

• Tuesday 21st May 9.00am - Taliah, Rebecca B, Jo C, Laura M & Melissa C 
• Wednesday 22nd May 12.00pm - Jess S, Lisa G & Rachel M 

Pizza order forms for next week will be going home tomorrow. All orders need to be in by 3.00pm on a Monday. No late orders will be accepted. If you are paying via EFT please make sure that it is processed by 3.00pm on Monday with your child's name and class as reference.

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

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. All funds raised throughout the year will be donated to the Good Friday Appeal the following year.

All students will have the opportunity to buy a raffle ticket for 20c each Monday 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 next week, Monday 20th May:

Fry, Gara, Gleeson (Kaiya), Gleeson (Sam), Greene (Greta), Greene (Imogen).

Please drop your (store purchased) cake into the front office with your child's name written on top.

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 10.00am 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 21st May: Parents and Friends general meeting at 7.30pm- this will be held virtually. 

Wednesday 29th May: DDO Meeting at 7:15pm in the Gathering Space

Friday 14th June: School Disco