Term 1, Week 8 2024

Dear Families

St Joseph’s Feast Day
March 19^th is the feast of St Joseph, spouse of Mary. As a significant figure to the Josephite tradition, we honour St Joseph as a school. Teachers held class prayer services and completed small activities with the students to learn more about his qualities.

Harmony Day
To celebrate the diversity of culture within our school, we held a prayer service within each classroom on Thursday 21^st March. This allowed for intimate discussion and sharing of each student’s cultural heritage.

Walk for Water - Project Compassion
Fr. Denis shared about how his community is supported by organisations like Caritas through Project Compassion and the importance of clean water facilities. This special assembly raised awareness and allowed the children to have a deeper understanding of how we can continue to support vulnerable communities through our donations.

On Friday, we will hold Walk for Water, where students will carry bottles of water and walk laps around the school. This again allows the children to gain a bit of insight as to what other children must do to collect clean water.

Holy Week
This Sunday is Palm Sunday. It marks the beginning of Holy Week, which are the days leading up to Christ’s Passion and Easter. This is very significant in the Church calendar because it allows us the opportunity to contemplate Jesus’ love for the Father and love for all of humankind. As tradition permits, our school will observe this important time with prayer and reflection on the meaning of Holy Week.

Amanda Razon
APRIM

'Thrive' on Thursday
"Thrive" offers a safe and welcoming space for families. It is a space for children to enjoy some activities such as tic tac toe where children can play and parents are free to chat with our School Chaplain and connect with each other. 

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

                                                     May God keep them close.

                              To the family of Evie S in REC BR for her mother, Kate.

                                             "Eternal Rest grant unto her O'Lord,

                                            and let perpetual light shine upon her.

                                                       May she rest in peace."

Statement of Accounts – Instalments due now
School Fee statements were posted out earlier in the year, if you did not receive a copy, please email me and I can check the address we have on file and give you a copy. Thank you to all the families who have set up payment authorities or started making payments via Qkr!, online or at the office.  This is just a friendly reminder that Term 1 instalments are now due and payment options which should already have started and are: weekly x 42 payments, fortnightly x 22 payments, monthly x 10 payments so that fees are completed by early Term 4.  You can divide your balance by the option you wish to choose and pay by Qkr!, Bpay or via the office.  If you wish to set up a direct debit, forms were sent out last year, but it’s not too late so please email me for a new one as soon as possible. 

School Card
This is for families, single parents, or businesses on a low income of around $70,994 last financial year.  Please follow the links below to apply for the 2024 School Card Scheme. These must be completed each school year:

Form A (Income Assessment)

https://online.forms.sa.edu.au/content/forms/af/public/application-for-school-card.html

Form B (hardship, change of circumstances or self-employed)

https://online.forms.sa.edu.au/content/forms/af/public/form-b-hardship-or-circumstance-or-self-employed.html

If accepted, this will allow us to reduce your tuition fees to the lower-income fee, so please apply as soon as possible as it can take 4-6 weeks for approval.

Qkr!
The Qkr! Team has advised us that they have now resolved the issues they were having with Android Phones and users can now download the App from the Google Play Store.

They apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

If you have any queries or if you are having trouble making payments please email me on accounts@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au , phone me on 8218 3304 or come in and see me Monday to Friday 8.00am to 4.00pm.

Jodie Veldhoen
Finance Officer 

Do you have a child who is due to start school in 2026 and have not yet submitted an enrolment form?  

Enrolment Forms can be collected from our school office or downloaded via our website www.stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au

If you have any queries, please contact our office on 8218 3300.

                                               

Insights may be discussed at future School Advisory Board meetings or you may be contacted personally for further follow up!

Please find link here for your suggestions.

Dear St John’s Community,

I hope you are all having an excellent week and your child is enjoying Sport outside of school as much as they are enjoying PE lessons here at school.

As a school we have now commenced the Premier’s Be Active Challenge. All students should now have their booklet and are able to start recording their physical activities. The aim is for students to choose 5 days in the 7 day week and be active for a total of 60 mins per day. This 60 minute period can accumulate over the day at different points, it does not have to be one continuous 60 minute effort. This challenge will run for a total of 10 weeks. Good luck to everyone and I look forward to seeing the range of different activities that students participate in.

Some of our senior classes have had the privilege of expert Lacrosse coaching from a Junior Development Coach from the Glenelg Lacrosse Club. All Physical Education lessons from Years 3-6 currently have Lacrosse as the main focus. The reason behind this is that on April 3^rd we will be taking all Year 4-6 students to the Glenelg Lacrosse Carnival. It is great to see the students learning new skills, being engaged and thoroughly enjoying themselves. We look forward to a very successful carnival day.

Last Friday night the 15^th of March we had 4 of our students taste Grand Final success. A huge congratulations to Lyla G, Addison S, Poppy McG and Frankie P who were part of an undefeated premiership team. The girls play for Glengowrie Netball Club in the Under 9's Division 1 competition. For a Grand Final match they had a very convincing 20-9 victory. Well Done girls, a very proud moment for you all and something you will remember for a lifetime.

In other sport, we had quite a few of our students place successfully at the recent Nipper State Championships on the 17th and 18th March. It is quite an achievement placing at state level, so a huge congratulations to those students involved.

Please feel free to email me at sport@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au if you have any other Sport news that you believe needs to be celebrated. Our students are doing amazing things in the community and these efforts deserve to be recognised.

Have a wonderful remainder of your week.

Sam Putland
SPORT COORDINATOR

We are excited to be holding our annual Easter Raffle. We invite each family to donate an Easter item towards the Easter raffle.  These could include an Easter Egg, Easter items, children’s books, Easter craft items or a gold coin donation.  We would also appreciate Easter gift bags or baskets to display prizes.

These donations will be gathered into prizes, which will be drawn on Thursday 28th March at 2.20pm Assembly time. To celebrate Easter, we are also inviting students to wear a touch of Easter.  This could be bunny ears, a bunny mask, easter socks, easter hat etc… 

We invite you to bring along a gold coin donation which will go towards Project Compassion.  

Ten tickets will be sent home with each family. If you are unable to sell them, please return to the front office ASAP. If you can sell more tickets, please see Bernadette in the front office.  

Please pay for your raffle tickets via Qkr! and return your completed books to school.

In summary:

• 10 Easter raffle tickets ($1.00/ ticket) will be sent home to each family in Week 6.
• Easter raffle tickets need to be returned by Friday 22^rd March (Week 8).
• Wear Easter theme item – Thursday 28^th March (Week 9). Gold coin donation.
• Easter raffle drawn on Thursday 28^th March (Week 9).

Thank you, your generosity is very much appreciated.

SJBCS P&F Team                

This week celebrates National Playgroup week. Join us for coffee and cake on Wednesday from 9am as we celebrate all that is wonderful about being apart of a playgroup community.

In other news Playgroup will be changing days as of next term. We will be running playgroup on Friday mornings from 9am – 10.30am each week of the school term. We look forward to reading, playing, singing, and seeing you there.

Karina Overal
Playgroup Coordinator

If there are any parents able and willing to cover new library books this year, please email mfrench@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au

Scholastic Orders
Scholastic Book Club orders are due by 29th March.

Book Club provides families with an affordable and convenient way to access the best in children's literature to encourage leisure reading. Book Club brings the magic of reading to families by curating the catalogue in age-appropriate sections with a huge variety of excellent quality, affordable books.

LOOK INSIDE  THIS ISSUE OF BOOK CLUB!

Thank you

Maria French
Library Coordinator

All orders for both recess and lunch are to 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

Term 1

Friday 22nd Mar - Jo & Jo Rowett

Monday 25th Mar - Juliie

Tuesday 26th Mar - Jo

Wednesday 27th Mar - Julie & Maria Esteban

Thursday 28th Mar - Jo

Friday 29th Mar - Good Friday 

Monday 1st Apr - Easter Monday

Tuesday 2nd Apr - Jo

Wednesday 3rd Apr - Julie & Neeta Saldanha

Thursday 4th Apr - Jo

Friday 5th Apr - Jo & Cara Finneran

Monday 8th Apr - Julie

Tuesday 9th Apr - Jo

Wednesday 10th Apr - Julie

Thursday 11th Apr - Jo

Friday 12th Apr - Jo & Stacey Arnold

Julie Henschke & Jo Fitzgerald

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 and have completed the volunteers application package.

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 or email Francis Schulz on fschulz@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au .

Year 7, 2026 Intake

For any families that may be considering enrolment at Cabra Dominican College in Year 7, 2026, a reminder that enrolment applications will close on Friday 12 April 2024 (end of Term 1).  Please note that siblings of current students are required to complete an application form.  

Hamra Library currently offer the following drop-in activities:

• A monthly writers' group (4:30-5:30pm every second Wednesday of the month)
• A monthly book club with no set text, just a place to come and talk about books! (4:30-5:30pm last Wednesday of every month)
• Homework club for all-ages study assistance every Monday during term, 4pm-6pm.
• 24/7 access to Studiosity for additional support if they have a West Torrens library card!
• The Australian Refugee Association offers homework support to students from refugee backgrounds who have been in Australia for 5 years or less every Thursday of term - 4pm-6pm
• Lego Club (every 2^nd Monday during term time, 3:30-5pm)
• "Sign Squad" for 12-25 year olds to learn Auslan from a Deaf tutor (Friday 5-6pm in weeks 1, 4, and 8 of each term)

None of these activities require bookings but further information is available via the Hamra Library website on the Activities and Events webpage:

https://www.westtorrens.sa.gov.au/Hamra-Centre-Library/Activities-and-event

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.