Term 3, Week 6 2022

Dear Families

Welcome to Week 6. We trust that you are all well and have made it through the winter months! It was great to be able to celebrate Book Week with the various activities and a dress up parade. Although the weather wasn’t our friend, we thank all the parents and families who were able to come along and see the children in their costumes. It was a busy week filled with short-listed book activities, buddy classes, book ‘tastings’, artworks, creative library spaces and a general love for reading! Thanks to all the staff for their efforts – it was greatly appreciated by the children.

Learning Conversations
Thank you to the parents and caregivers who were able to make a time to meet with their child’s teacher this week. These learning conversations are a valuable opportunity to connect and share your child’s learning, achievements, and future goals. If you were unable to attend, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange an alternative time. We value the opportunity to meet and work with families for each child.

Chaplaincy
As part of the circle of care developed to support our school community, we are pleased to announce that Ms Mary Aquilina has been appointed to the role of School Chaplain. Through her work, Mary will support the spiritual, social and emotional wellbeing of students and the broader school community by providing pastoral care services. Mary will work closely with Amanda, our APRIM and Sarah our school counsellor to provide this support. Mary will work in the Chaplain role every Wednesday and Thursday for the remainder of the 2022 school year. We congratulate Mary on her appointment. 

Father's Day
The annual Father’s Day stall will be held this Friday, 2nd September. All classes will be given the opportunity to visit the stall, and for each child to select a purchased gift for Dad. 

Many thanks to the Parents and Friends for their work in coordinating the stall.

This Friday afternoon we will be celebrating Father’s Day with a Sausage Sizzle. We especially invite all Dads, Grandfathers, Uncles, Brothers and Father Figures to come into the school at 3.00pm, collect their children and enjoy a sausage as you head off for the weekend.  Of course all members of the school community are also welcome.
 
This is also an opportunity to meet the School Board & Parent and Friends members who will be hard at work cooking and serving the BBQ.
 
We look forward to seeing you Friday afternoon on the courts and sincerely hope all dads enjoy their special day on Sunday  

Coffee Van
As you may be aware the ASAP Coffee Van is onsite each Wednesday morning for parents to purchase a hot drink.  It has come to our attention that parents are buying hot drinks for their child or sending money for children to purchase one.  Unfortunately due to the risk of children handling hot drinks in the yard at play time, we ask that parents refrain from either purchasing or supplying money for a hot drink.  We thank you for your cooperation.

Numeracy
The role of mathematics plays an integral part to the development of each child. Its aim is to develop competent and effective users of mathematics, who are active numerate citizens. What children need to achieve each year is outlined by the Australian Curriculum. These achievements include content and skills they need to be able to demonstrate competency in across different strands. These strands include number, algebra, measurement, space, statistics, and probability. These strands are explored through a variety of explicit teaching, student led opportunities, and problem-based learning tasks.

Underpinning the content and skills, the curriculum also outlines proficiencies that children need to develop to aid in their mastery of their mathematics learning. These proficiencies are interrelated and progressively develop throughout the year levels. The following provides some information around each proficiency.

Understanding - provides opportunities for children to gain a wide knowledge of concepts and procedures and how these can relate to each other and that they are interconnected. They build their conceptual understanding and how they can turn the ‘unfamiliar’ to the ‘familiar’. Children work on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind content, strategies and ideas, and they begin to apply these in a variety of situations.

Fluency refers to the ability for children to develop, practise and consolidate their skills by choosing appropriate procedures and carry these out flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately. They have good recall of facts, operations, and rules and when they need to apply these in a variety of situations. Children have a sound foundation of learning that they use to apply knowledge and understanding of concepts more readily.

Problem Solving relates to opportunities that invite children into working with problems that they initially don’t know the answer to. They often involve multistep procedures and rely on children to make decisions about what may be the best strategy, skill or operation that would suit the need. Problems may have one valid solution or more open ended with multiple correct answers. Children make critical choices to identify the problem, formulate possible solutions and apply their understanding to solve these. Problem solving opportunities provide students with meaningful learning to use mathematics to solve both mathematical-based and real-world contexts.

Reasoning – highlights the importance of thinking and explaining mathematically as critical components of the competent mathematics learner. Children work on their reasoning through their ability to explain their thinking, identify and names strategies, justify what has been chosen, draw inferences from conclusions and transfer learning from one context to another. They are reasoning when they are reflective of the choices they make and how to improve. Often reasoning is shared through observations, conferencing, questioning and discussions and is used to identify concepts understood and areas for future learning.

Mathematics is also embedded across other curriculum areas where teachers bring in opportunities for students to use skills and understandings in other subjects. By intentionally including these, children develop their understanding that mathematics isn’t a separate subject but has relevance to everyday life. Some examples include measurement, trends and graphs in Science, computational and algorithmic thinking in Digital Technologies, patterns and spatial reasoning in The Arts, dates, calendars and timelines in HASS and angles, percentages and ratios in Health and P.E, just to name a few. It are these additional opportunities to practise mathematical concepts that aid in the develop of children to be capably numerate.

The Australian Curriculum website has links to parent resources for those wishing to explore the curriculum further.

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/parent-information/

Best wishes for the week ahead, 

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

Confirmation and Holy Communion
Last Sunday a group of children from our school celebrated their Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion. It was held at the 10am Mass and was presided by the Vicar General, Fr Dean Marin and Fr George Nader. It was a lovely celebration for the children and their families after months of preparation.

Please continue to pray for the children and that they will continue to grow in their faith journey.

Tonti Ifediora 3B

Orlando Tripodi 3B

Josephine Bryans 3WD

Ruby Kennedy 3WD

Lucas Carman 4P

Lily Introna 4A

Allyn Mejorada 4A

Kai Juanta 5C

Isabella Tripodi 5C

Mary MacKillop
This term our Social Justice leaders have been awarding Mary MacKillop stickers to two children at each whole school assembly. The stickers are to acknowledge those children who have displayed acts of kindness and the values of Mary MacKillop throughout the week.

Faith Facts
Have you ever wondered why people bend on one knee when they enter the church? Click here to find out more.

Amanda Razon
APRIM

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

                                                       May God keep them close.

                      To the family of Riley (5F) & Liam (2S) O'Brien for their great grandmother.

                                             "Eternal Rest grant unto her O'Lord,

                                             and let perpetual light shine upon her.

                                                       May She Rest In Peace."

Congratulations to Sylvia (Year 6R Teacher) & Stefan Roussos on the birth of their baby girl, Penelope.

We wish you all the best with your new arrival and hope to see you around the school soon!

Statement of Accounts
A statement of accounts was sent home recently via post.  

Could you please ensure that your current method of payment is sufficient so that your account will be in a zero balance by the final payment date of the 25^th November 2022.

If you have changed your address recently please inform the office as soon as possible.

Online payments
When making payments online could you please ensure you list your reference number from your Statement of Accounts eg 9063…….. followed by your child’s surname.

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. 

Qkr! Notifications
Please ensure that you have your notifications on for Qkr!  Notifications are sent out when items are closing to ensure you don't miss out.  See instructions below regarding turning on notifications.

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 
Bursar/Finance Officer 

Sports Teams - Term 4

The Term 4 Registration form for School Sports Teams is now available.

We encourage children to take part in out of hours school sport.

Please register your child even if they have played another sport or are continuing in the same sport. You can register for multiple sports if you wish.

As always, every team will require an adult coach / manager. You must have completed the appropriate Catholic Police Clearance and Volunteer paperwork. This is available from the school Front Office.

Please note: Volunteer Clearances can take 6 to 8 weeks.

Click here to access the Term 4 Sport Registration form.

Year 5/6 Baseball Carnival (Adelaide Baseball Club) held Wednesday 24^th August               

56 students from Year 5 & 6 represented St John the Baptist Catholic School at the Adelaide Baseball Club Annual Primary School Baseball Carnival (Western Schools Area). The day was brilliantly organised and all the students enjoyed themselves immensely.

Sport Carnivals - Term 3 2022

SAPSASA Airport District Athletics Carnival

• Selected team - Thursday 1^st September (Week 6)

SACPSSA Touch Carnival               

• All Years 4 – 6 - Friday 9^th September (TBC) (Week 7)

SAPSASA Tennis Carnival

• Years 3 & 4 - Wednesday 21^st September (Week 9)

Sport Carnivals - Term 4 2022

SACPSSA Come & Try Day

• All Year 2’s - Tuesday 15^th November (Week 5)

SACPSSA Athletics Carnival

• Year 3 – 6 Squad - Wednesday 30^th November (Week 7)

SPORTS DAY 

Sports Day will be held at the Coastal Districts Little Athletics Centre on Bowker Street Reserve on Friday 21^st October (Week 1, Term 4).

SACPSSA

“The South Australian Catholic Primary School Sports Association (SACPSSA) aims to promote the philosophy of good sportsmanship, teach students how to win well and lose graciously, and foster companionship between competitors while promoting a healthy active lifestyle.”

Please note.

Hard copy permission / information notes will no longer go home for Sports Carnivals.

ALL notes will be online via the Qkr! App

In the Qkr! App you will be asked to –

• Give permission for your child to attend
• Volunteer to help at the carnivals (without your help the children would not be able to participate)
• Pay the costs for registration and transport and sign

Paul O'Dea
PE & Co-curricular Sport Co-ordinator
podea@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au

Congratulations to Tomas in Year 6 who participated in the SAPSASA State Soccer Carnival in the Airport Boys Team at West Beach.

After a big 3 days of Football (Soccer) the Airport Boys Team and coaches were proud to take out the Division 1 competition with an undefeated run.

Boys Div 1 Results

🥇Airport

🥈Western

Amelia in Year 6 was selected in the Airport District Football (Soccer) GIRLS team to participate in the SAPSASA State Carnival for the metro districts at West Beach.

The girls were placed in 3^rd position at the conclusion of the carnival.

The students in the Catholic Schools Music Festival will be performing on Wednesday 28th September at the Festival Theatre at 7.30pm. 

If you would like to attend, tickets may be purchased via Ticketek. Please see the flyer here.

If your child is going to be in Year 5 or 6 next year and is considering participating in the Catholic Schools Music Festival, I encourage you to attend with your child.

It is a wonderful evening of entertainment from many Catholic Schools throughout the state.

For any enquiries, please email acaruana@stjohnpl.catholic.edu.au.

Antonietta Caruana
Choir Trainer 

Parenting and supporting tweens and teens can be tricky. A lot of parents find it hard to manage relationships at this age. As a children's counsellor, I have noticed one of the recent and significant issues tweens (8-12 years) are facing is understanding social and emotional aspects of friendships. I highly recommend checking out the work of Michelle Mitchell. She has fantastic webinars where parents and children sit together and learn together. Some more information about Michelle is below, as well as a link to her website.

Michelle Mitchell began her career as a classroom teacher but soon discovered a special interest in wellbeing. In 2000 she quit teaching and established a harm prevention charity, called Youth Excel. Over the next 20 years, Youth Excel continued to grow and expand. The Youth Excel Centre was established – a multi-disciplinary clinic offering psychology, counselling, and mentoring for children and teenagers. Today Michelle uses her experience to write and speak in schools, community events and through media. Her best-selling parenting and children’s resources, including the highly popular Everyday Resilience Journal, have sold over 100 000 copies worldwide and have been translated into several languages.

Join her community and check out her resources at https://michellemitchell.org/

Sarah Byrne
Counsellor

Premier's Reading Challenge
Premier's Reading Challenge forms are due this Friday.  Congratulations to all those who have completed the challenge so far.

If you need support in completing the reading challenge please ask a member of the library staff.

Book Week 2022 
Thank you to all the staff and community who supported our students throughout Book Week.

If you haven't already, please see our Facebook page to enjoy some images of our celebration.

The library team were very busy in the lead up to Book Week and led by Mrs Gauro spent a happy and very busy Friday afternoon decorating the library space.  The make-over was inspired by the poster and theme of 'Dreaming with eyes open.....' with an Australian outback theme complete with a bird soundtrack.  Feedback given by many students was that it was 'awesome'.

We have since had requests for background soundtracks to continue....    Watch this space.

The students enjoyed 3 short-listed books through Story Quest presented to the whole school by the Perform! actors focussing on self-esteem, resilience and how being different can be wonderful in Blue Flower.  We were introduced to scientific contributions of Indigenous scientists and engineers prior to and since European settlement in The First Scientists.  And stopping destruction of the natural environment where people are too busy to see beauty in the world in the wordless book The Boy and the Elephant.

The Book Parade excitement level was high and it was great fun to see all the many and varied costumes which reflected the students' interests in books.  Special thanks to those families and friends who supported, encouraged and helped create the many different characters and to those who braved the rainy weather to watch the meandering parade.

Miss Baker's Reception class held their very first whole school assembly on Tuesday afternoon. The students proudly showcased their Book Week activities on the book Amira's Suitcase - a thought-provoking tale about friendship and hope.

Our Indigenous Art paintings using symbols were created by our upper primary cohort and their teachers. Thank you to our guest artist Mackey who taught and guided us through our creations.  The canvas produced by our Year 5 & 6 students is now proudly displayed in the library.

Some of the younger classes enjoyed scratch art of boomerangs and maps of Australia revealing Indigenous symbols & their special meanings. 

The Reception students created dot paintings on hand cut-outs which are all decorating our library.  Many books were read and discussed during the celebrations of Book week.

We are pleased to have been able to acquire new novels for our middle primary students.  These were selected and chosen from a vote by our Year 3 students in the Book Tasting session with Rebecca from the Pegi Williams Bookshop.  The popcorn was an added surprise!

The fabulous short-listed books are a wonderful addition to our library, now catalogued and available for the studens to borrow.  

The Book of the Year 2022 winners were:

   Younger Readers category - The Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr

   Early Childhood category - Jetty Jumping by Andrea Rowe & Hannah Sommerville

   Picture Book category - Iceberg by Claire Saxby & Jess Racklyeft

The Book Week Library Team
Rose Gauro, Maria French, Paula Gill, Katie De Leo &  Ethan Miller

Due to the School Hall being required for School Photos on Wednesday 7th September we will be unable to hold our weekly Playgroup session, I will miss you all.  

We look forward to seeing you again on Wednesday, 14th September.

Karina Overall
Playgroup 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 3

Friday 2nd September - Maria Esteban & Julie

Monday 5th September - Julie

Wednesday 7th September - Julie

Friday 9th September - Daniel Stephenson & Julie

Monday 12th September - Michelle Politis & Julie

Wednesday 14th September - Neeta Saldanha & Julie

Friday 16th September - Megan Kloeden & Julie

Monday 19th September - Julie

Wednesday 21st September - Julie

Friday - 23rd September - Melissa Gorgone & Julie

Monday 26th Septmber - Julie

Wednesday 28th September - Julie

Friday 30th September - Maria Esteban & Julie

Julie Henschke & Jo Fitzgerald

School Photos will be on Wednesday 7th September by MSP Photography.

Envelopes for payment will be sent home closer to the date.  Payments can be made online or if you are choosing to pay cash, please ensure that the correct monies is placed in the envelope as we are unable to give change.

Family envelopes will be available in the school office upon request and need to be ordered prior to the photography day.

All students Reception to Year 6 are required to wear their sports uniform.  Please refer to our uniform guidelines here regarding uniform expectations for photos including hair and jewellery.

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.

Madhavi Nawana Parker is director of Positive Minds Australia, and an established author, counsellor and speaker. She has provided young people, families and schools with tools to develop resilience, confidence and wellbeing through counselling, professional development and parent workshops. The session will be facilitated online and in person. The event will be limited to 150 places in person, with the online platform unlimited.  The details of the event are in this flyer and below:

Date:   20 September 2022 @ 6:30 – 8pm. Location:   

St Thomas School and Preschool 10 Ruston Street Goodwood SA

Cost:  Free Registration:

Registrations can be made via the Registration Centre.    

Year 7, 2025 intake
Enrolment applications for Year 7, 2025 intake are open. Enrolment applications will close at the conclusion of Term 1, 2023.  A reminder that siblings of existing Cabra students are required to submit an enrolment application form.

Year 7, 2024 intake
For families seeking enrolment who have not yet submitted an application, please ask them to contact the registrar directly on 8179 2429.  Late applications are now being placed onto our waitlist which will be monitored regularly until commencement of the school year in 2024.

Principal’s Tours
For future tour dates and the registration link please click 2022 Principal's tours

We have an amazing op shop which stocks children’s clothing size 0000-5yo. All clothing is extremely affordable, and all proceeds go directly to helping South Australian children living in disadvantage. We are open regularly every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10-2pm BUT we are also open the first Saturday of each month – which is THIS Saturday the 3^rd of September.

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.