Dear Parents/Carers,

Recently I had the privilege of attending a retreat for Principals in our diocese, the focus of which was on the theme of living a contemplative life. Like others, I entered the retreat under the assumption that this would be a solitary, quiet, reclusive exercise based on my only experience with contemplative living, being that of orders of religious people shutting themselves off from society. How wrong I was! 

Contemplative living is about staying within the chaos and colour of everyday life while being able to find time to ground ourselves, to slow, to consider, to refresh so that we can keep going as the best version of ourselves. And when we are the best version of ourselves, we are giving to others the best version of God. So, how to slow down and ground ourselves when we have a family to look after, work to attend to and all the activities in between? It is about deliberately using the moments (2-5 minutes here and there) when we find ourselves without distraction (we could still have people around us), and we allow ourselves to walk more slowly, eat more consciously, sit/stand with more awareness of where we are. God is in all our moments, and we become more aware of His presence when we are more present! 

Winter School Uniform

All children are asked to wear the winter school uniform from next Monday 10 May. This will continue through until early September.

P & F Meeting

The next P & F Meeting is being held next Tuesday 11 May 9.30-10.30am in the hall. All are welcome to attend. There will be an option provided for you to participate via Zoom.

Wishing you a safe week, and a very special and blessed day to all of our mums this Sunday.

Paul Moroney
Principal

Congratulations to the following Students on receiving a Good Samaritan Award for week 2

KB - Breanna-Rose P

1B - Shreejal N

2B - Marcus

3B - Asha D

4B - Adriana S

5B - Sarah M & Theo A

6B - Brooke H

K-6B - Ryder B

Happy Birthday to the following students and staff who are celebrating

their birthday this week, 2nd May - 

Before and After School Procedures

The safety of our students is of the utmost priority at all times. This is especially important during our before and after school procedures.  Due to the large volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic during this time, there is an increase to potential harm.  We cannot sacrifice our safety procedures for the convenience of some.  Your support with following these procedures is essential and we thank the many parents and carers who constantly comply with these requests.

We would like to remind you that the school gates are opened at 8.15am and teacher supervision begins at 8.30am, 30 mins prior to the bell.  We understand that for many working parents, you may be pushed for time when dropping your child off to school on your way to work.  At St John’s we are very fortunate to have before and after school onsite run by Aspire.  Currently there are a significant number of children that are being dropped off at school prior to 8.15am and left outside the school gates and office area, which is unsupervised. If you need supervision for your child prior to 8.15am we ask that you access our before school facilities.

We know that many parents access the kiss and drop zone in the mornings.  This is an ideal option for students who can independently get out of the car by themselves with their school bag and close the car door behind them.  If your child is unable to do this by themselves the kiss and drop zone is not the appropriate method of drop off and we ask that you find a park and walk your child into the school grounds.   When utilising the kiss and drop area of the car park in the morning, we ask that you remember the following:

1. Parents must remain in the car at all times.
2. Students must exit the car via the left doors only.
3. Parents and students must not access the car boot.  
4. Bags need to be with the students, ready for a quick and smooth exit from the car.
5. Students may only exit the car when it has stopped parallel to the kiss and drop sign.

Delays in exiting the car at kiss and drop causes a backup of traffic, not only in the car park, but in the surrounding streets.  We remind you that when exiting the car park, you must turn left. Please show courtesy to all users by following these procedures.

Unfortunately we do not have a pick up zone available after school.  Parents are asked to park their cars and come into the school grounds to pick up their children.  There are very few car parking spots available, so we ask that you avoid using this as your first option.  If you do opt to drive into the car park and there is not an available parking spot, we ask that you continue driving, rather than double parking.

We are always looking for ways to improve and ensure the safety of all, so if you have any ideas or feedback you would like to provide we would welcome you to do so via email info@sjctdow.catholic.edu.au  

Thank you once again for the many parents, grandparents and carers who consistently support the school by following these requests. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Sale on 6th-7th May! For Zero & Rewards Members only || Shop online & instore

CEO have updated the food sharing policy due to the easing of Covid restrictions. Children are now able to share individually wrapped food items with their classmates on their Birthdays, this would included things like Lollipops, individually wrapped lollies etc.

We also need to be mindful of Children & teachers with food allergies & intolerances

There is still the option of purchasing Zooper Doopers from the canteen, These are now available to purchase through Flexischools lunch 2

Thank you for your understanding with this matter

     

If your child is away from school it is important to let the school know as soon as possible with a specific reason, e.g. what type of illness they have, If you are filling in a note on the Compass app, please add an explanation in the details/comments box .

Do not enter into compass if they are going to be late or leave early, that needs to be done from the school end.

It is really important to keep your child at home if they are unwell, this will help with the spread of illness. In the current COVID 19 climate ,if you child displays cold/flu symptoms, your child will be sent home and you will need to get a medical clearance and a negative covid result and be symptom free before your child can return to school 

If your child has a covid test, please notify the school when they have the test and as soon as you get your results please forward these on to the school.