Term 1, Week 6 2022

Dear Families

It is hard to believe that we have already reached the mid-point of the term, in many ways it seems like just the other day we were preparing for a hybrid model to begin our year – something we had never seen before! We understand that this has been an interesting and challenging start for everyone in our community. However, through all of this, we have seen resilience, flexibility, and positivity as we all manage the current ever evolving situation. Please remember to look after each other and yourselves.

Staffing
We would like to inform you all that David Ascoli has resigned from his position as Education Support Officer, with his last day being the 18^th March. David commenced his employment at St John the Baptist Catholic School in 2018. We thank him for his commitment and contribution to the school during this time and in particular his positive impact on the learning and wellbeing outcomes of the students at the school. We wish David all the best for his future endeavours and know he will be missed by all.

Baby News
We are thrilled to announce that Sylvia and Stefan Roussos are expecting their first child later in the year.  I am sure you will join us in congratulating Sylvia and Stefan on this wonderful news.

Assessments and Reporting
Each term, teachers upload a collection of learning tasks and rubrics to Seesaw as a way to provide feedback to parents and guardians on student achievement and progression. These rubrics include details of the curriculum, achievement standards, task requirements, success criteria, student achievement and future learning goals. They may relate to an individual task or summary of a learning area. Alongside these more formal assessment posts, your child’s teacher will also include formative assessments through the means of works samples, comments, photos and written feedback. Please take the time to view these posts and assessments and follow up with your child’s teacher any questions you may have regarding their learning so that we can continue to work in partnership with you.

Learning Dispositions
At St Johns we incorporate into our teaching programs five Learning Dispositions through the characters of; Persistent Percy, Engaged Eva, Collaborative Clive, Reflective Ruby and Resilient Rowan. In Terms 1 and 3, teachers provide parents and guardians a Personal Responsibility Rubric via Seesaw which reflects different skills and traits based around these dispositions. In the Upper Primary years, students also have an opportunity to reflect on these themselves through self-assessments. Building these Dispositions into our daily learning helps to build a common language and importance around these critical lifelong skills. 

Teaching and Learning
This year staff have continued their work on how we utilise the data we collect from assessments and testing and what this means for teaching and learning programs at the school, cohort, class and individual level. This includes reviewing data sets from standardised testing, reflections on student work samples and observations, and discussions and moderation of student achievement. As a school we are also continuing our professional learning on our practice in Literacy to ensure what we provide students is underpinned by contemporary evidence-based research and remaining reflective of the needs of each student. The staff have all worked diligently to begin to embed these changes into their literacy block.

Learning Conversations - Parent Teacher Interviews
During Week 9, our Learning Conversations are scheduled for Tuesday 29^th and Wednesday 30^th March. As with all school events currently, we will be guided by the directives from SA Health in relation to the format that is able to take place. Please keep an eye out for further correspondence via email regarding these important conversations.

Removal of QR Codes 
SA Health have advised that schools are no longer required to maintain COVID-Safe QR codes for the checking in of adults attending the site. Therefore, all QR Codes have been removed from around the school.

The schools will now revert to the usual registration process for anyone on site outside of pick up and drop off times, that is to sign in and out through the front office.

Student Permissions 
We ask that attention be given to the returning of signed student permission notes including Photograph/Film/Artwork Consent Form, ICT Acceptable Use Agreement, Local Walks Consent Form and BYOD Parental Consent Form (for Year 3 and above).  The classroom teachers have been busy following up outstanding forms.  We ask for family support in the prompt return of overdue forms.

NAPLAN
Students in Years 3 and 5 will undertake NAPLAN testing in Literacy and Numeracy in May of this year.  The Privacy collection notice for information that is collected prior to students participating in these assessments can be found here.  If your child is in Year 3 or Year 5 please read the information in the link above and contact Jo Livingstone if you have any further questions.  Specific information regarding participation in the NAPLAN tests will be sent home closer to the date.

Blessings

The Leadership Team
Todd LaForgia, Jo Livingstone, Michael Cimarosti & Amanda Razon

A massive thank you to the families who so generously contributed to our Shrove Tuesday pancake morning. Your donations of pancake mix and everything else surrounding the day was well received and enjoyed by the children. It is a reminder of how supportive our community is and how willing we are to give, please know that it is much appreciated.

We have now begun our Lenten journey which began on Ash Wednesday. It was wonderful to see the children’s prayerful attendance at each of the class liturgies. Despite not being able to come together in a shared space as a community, we were able to unite spiritually through our liturgies across the school.

Commissioning Mass
Each year we celebrate the Commissioning of the staff and Year 6 leaders of St. John the Baptist Catholic school within a Parish Mass. Due to the current COVID-19 requirements, we are minimising the number of people gathering within an enclosed space, which means we must limit the number of people attending our community events. 

The commissioning of staff and Year 6 students is an important event in our community, however this year they will be held on separate occasions. The staff commissioning will be held on Sunday 20^th March at the 10am Mass and the Year 6 leaders will have their commissioning during school hours at a whole school assembly. This date is yet to be finalised and further information will be communicated.

Lenten calendar
Your child would have brought home a Lenten calendar to enrich the journey towards Easter. You will find the interactive version pdf file through this link.

Prayers during Lent
Our Year 6 students have come together to think of the needs of our world and knowing the power of prayer, we made a space for our prayers to be visible by creating a prayer wall. All students are invited to tie a coloured ribbon onto the mesh wall as a prayer intention where each coloured ribbon represents something different that they can pray for (e.g. yellow for Ukraine, blue for the floods around Australia, etc). Once our wall is filled we will send it to the church where we can unite our prayers with the parish.

Another important world issue that we face is the conflict in Ukraine. As a community we offered up special intentions for Ukraine during our Ash Wednesday liturgies, particularly as this current world issue is one we cannot close our hearts from. So, we unite ourselves in prayer for especially for the people in Ukraine and in knowing that there are families within our community who are directly affected with family members caught within this turmoil.

As a community we pray,

Loving God, we pray for the people of Ukraine,

for all those suffering or afraid,

that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,

for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world that in this moment of crisis,

we may reach out in solidarity to those in need.

May we walk in your ways so that peace and justice

become a reality for the people of Ukraine

and for all the world. Amen.

Adapted from https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Prayer-resources/A-prayer-for-Ukraine

Faith Facts

This week’s faith fact is on Lent. Click here to find out more!

Amanda Razon
REC

Our prayers are with those who have recently lost loved ones.

May God keep them close.

To the family of Chloe Barnett (5F) for her Nanna Margaret

"Eternal Rest grant unto her O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. 

May she rest in peace."

Statement of Accounts 

Please note billing for the 2022 School Year has occured and statements were posted.  If you have not yet received your statement please contact me via email pmarks@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au.  

Early Bird discount closes Friday 11th March. 

Whether payment is by Direct Debit, Scheduled Transfer etc, could you please ensure that instalments made will result in your account being at a zero balance by the end of Term 3 2022.  

If your address or any other details have changed, please notify the front office as soon as possible.   

Fee Remission 

Families who have previously received fee remission will be required to complete a new fee remission form with the following documentation attached: 

• Your most recent tax return(s) – private and/or business as applicable 
• Your most recent pay advice(s) and /or other form of income if applicable 
• Your Centrelink statement receiving Centrelink or other special benefits 
• School Card approval (if applicable) 

Please contact Pam Marks, Finance Officer, for the above form or arrange a time to meet. 

School Card 

Please follow the link to apply for the 2022 School Card Scheme. 

The School Card Scheme provides low income families attending a non-government school with financial assistance for school fees (materials and services charges). 

Once School Card has been approved the discount will applied to your account, previously this has been at the end of Term 1.

We ask those families whose circumstances may have changed or are experiencing difficulties to please contact Todd LaForgia or myself at your earliest convenience via email: pmarks@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au

Pam Marks 
Finance Officer 

Out of Hours School Sport
Out of hours school sport has finally started - this week (Week 5).

Unfortunately, due to the number of children and coaches in isolation only 2 teams managed to play.

• STJB Warriors - Year 5/6 Boys
• STJB Seagulls – Rec, Yr. 1 & 2

Hopefully, we can get more teams playing in the upcoming weeks!

Please find below the teams and coaches for the Term 1 season. We have

•  7x basketball teams playing at Wayville
  1. STJB Warriors coached by Matt Wilson
  2. STJB Clippers coached by Tanya Rafanelli
  3. STJB Wizards coached by Hilary Sadler & Sam Hastwell
  4. STJB Bulls coached by Lucianna Introna
  5. STJB Jazz coached by Megan Stokes
  6. STJB Lakers coached by Tanya Rafanelli
  7. STJB Magic coached by Michelle Politis
• 2 x Master Blaster (Cricket) teams playing at Glandore Oval
  1. Year 2 Master Blaster coached by Warren Mitchell
  2. Year 3 Master Blaster coached by Michelle Politis
• 1 x Tee ball (Baseball) playing at Adelaide “Angels” Baseball Club - Seagulls coached by Adam Keegan
• 1 x Netball team playing (mostly) at Cabra College - Allstars coached by Michelle Politis

I would like to thank all of our parents / coaches who have gone out of their way to help our children.

Sports Day 
As previously communicated, the St John the Baptist School Sports Day has been postponed to Term 4. Further information will be disemminated closer to the date.

Terms 2 & 3 Sport 
The Terms 2 & 3 Registration Form will be coming out shortly via email.

If you would like your child / children to be part of one (or more) of our school sports teams you will be able to register online. The sports available during the winter terms are –

• Basketball
• Volleyball
• Netball
• Soccer
• Aussie Rules Football

Please remember, we are always looking out for new coaches.  If you are interested please contact me at the email below. 

Sport Carnivals

The following carnivals / trials will occur this term –

SACPSSA Swimming trials Yr. 3 - 6    Friday 18^th March (Week 7)

SACPSSA Cricket Carnival Yr. 5 & 6   Wednesday 9^th March (Week 6)

SACPSSA Swimming Carnival Yr. 3 – 6   Wednesday 23^rd March (Week 8)

SAPSASA Lacrosse Carnival Yr. 4 - 6  Friday 25^th March (Week 8)

For your information:
SACPSSA stands for South Australian Catholic Primary School Sports Association.

SAPSASA stands for South Australian Primary School Amateur Sports Association

Kind regards,

Paul O'Dea
PE & Co-curricular Sport Co-ordinator

podea@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au

Please be reminded to update your Qkr! app in order to update your child's class.

Currently due to COVID restrictions no cash will be taken over the counter at the canteen for iceblocks.  Iceblocks can still be ordered via our Qkr! app.   

Canteen orders close each canteen day (Monday, Wednesday & Friday) at 9.00am.

Healthy Canteen (Tuesday & Thursday) orders close on Mondays at 12pm.

Canteen Roster

     Friday 11th March - Dove Lin & Beth Tamm

     Monday 14th March - Adelaide Cup Holiday

     Wednesday 16th March - Julie

     Friday 18th March -  Lucianna Introna, Victoria Thurston & Julie

     Monday 21st March - Davina Cimarosti & Julie

     Wednesday 23rd March - Toni Stevens & Julie

     Friday 25th March - Melissa Gorgone & Julie

Julie Henschke & Jo Fitzgerald

When we moved back into the school library at the end of last year it gave us the opportunity to sort out our resources.

We were pleased that we were able to donate excess resources to South Pacific School Aid.  This volunteer organisation is located in Underdale and is the focal point to collect, repair and then donate books and other items to less fortunate schools and communities around the world.

Thank you to our Year 3 students who sharpened the coloured pencils left over from the classrooms at the end of 2021.

This week we were notified that our books and stationery are on their way to the Divine Mercy School in Samoa.

The Library Team

The Premier's Reading Challenge has begun this year.  Classroom teachers now have the Student Reading Records for each student.  A letter will be sent home to Junior Primary students regarding how to complete the Challenge.  For further information please go to www.prc.sa.edu.au.  The Challenge finishes on 9 September 2022.  

NAME:  Megan Pratt

ROLE AT ST JOHNS & YEARS OF SERVICE: 
Year 4 Teacher.  First year at St Johns, but have had around 17 years teaching experience across other schools.

FAVOURITE COLOUR: Pink

FAVOURITE FOOD: Thai or Italian

SPORTING TEAM YOU SUPPORT:   Adelaide Crows 

HOBBIES & INTERESTS:  Art and creative activities, going out for dinner and events 

3 WORDS TO DESCRIBE ME: Caring, creative and hardworking

BEST ADVICE I’VE BEEN GIVEN:  If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've always got.

FAVOURITE HOLIDAY SPOT: New York or anywhere in Italy

FAVOURITE SEASON: I like all seasons - they all bring something new to do!

We are looking for students to participate in the Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir (CSMF).  If your child is in Years 5 or 6 and would like to participate please contact Antonietta Caruana on acaruana@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au for further information.

CSMF Choir practice is on Wednesday mornings at 8.15am.

Antonietta Caruana
CSMF Choir Trainer 

St John the Baptist School provides a safe environment for all while valuing the partnership between school and home.

As a Catholic community, we welcome and value volunteers. To be able to volunteer, and/or attend at other times throughout the school year, we ask that you hold a current Catholic Police Check (parents/caregivers attending excursions, reading in class, helping in class, attending community events), a current Responding to Risks of Harm, Abuse and Neglect in Education and Care for Volunteers certificate, have completed the volunteers application package and your COVID vaccination certificate.

A Catholic Police Check for volunteers is free for our current parents and caregivers. Application Forms are available in our school office.

This process ensures we maintain a child safe environment. To avoid disappointment, we encourage you to apply for a Catholic Police Check through the school office as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at the school office on 8218 3300.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the St John Community for the many wonderful memories that I will take into my next role as Regional Director. I would like to personally thank Jo, Todd, Pam, Kylie and Bern for their daily assistance in helping me to fulfill my role, their faces always smiling and their voices always happy.

They say, “You learn something new every day”, and this is no more evident than here. I have learnt many new skills that I never thought I would. I am proud of our OSHC, and I am honoured to have led this service for the last two years. The children and their families always make my mornings and afternoons enjoyable.

Jordan has been an amazing person to work with, he too has learnt many new skills and is still learning every day. He is looking forward to starting formal study to further his understanding of working with children. This is something he would not have dreamt of doing before he started working in OSHC. He is staying on to assist families and children with the smooth transition to another Coordinator.

I would like to thank everyone – and you know who you are – from the quick chats in the mornings to the lengthier conversations about the needs of certain children and what we can do together to enable children to feel safe and comfortable not only in OSHC but the entire school community.

Thank you to every teacher for including me in professional and casual conversations and allowing me to feel a part of the openhearted community that is this school. It has made me feel respected and included in the school community.

Thank you for having me and I wish you all the best as you grow in the faith of God and let Him lead your way.

Thank you,

Diane and Jordan

sastjohnbaptist@oshccampaustralia.com.au

040 5436 293 ( During OSHC times)

Please find information below regarding online safety tips and free parent webinars to support childrens positive experience online.  

One in five young people will experience bullying online.  Examples of cyberbullying include sharing photos of someone to hurt or humiliate them, sending abusive messages, creating fake accounts in someone else's name to trick or humiliate people and spreading rumours about someone.  For more information and support visit the eSafety website.  Everyone deserves to feel safe online.

Top tips to assist:

• Do not respond - often responding will make things worse
• Screenshot evidence - this can assist in reporting the matter to the police
• Report and block - you can report through the platform that you are using
• Talk to someone - reach out to friends and family for support along with many online support services.

Other resources regarding online safety for young people are available at:

• The Carly Ryan Foundation
• Think U Know
• Kids Helpline
• Headspace

The links and information that are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only.  They do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by St John the Baptist Catholic School of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organisation or individual.  St John the Baptist Catholic School bears no responsibility for the accuracy legality or contact of the external site or for that of subsequent links.  Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.