Dear Parents/Carers,

This weekend our Church celebrates the ascension of Jesus, an indication that we are beginning to move out of the season of Easter. Remembering his ascension reminds us that we cannot limit God. While he came to us in the flesh of the person of Jesus, we cannot limit God to any one place. His ascension is not about His leaving, rather that He is within us and in all that we do.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 and Year 5 students are participating in the NAPLAN tests this week. It seems that many educators and commentators have various opinions about these tests with regard to their effectiveness. 

In their current format, NAPLAN provides parents with a snapshot of how their child is performing in some areas of literacy and numeracy. Once they complete them up to Year 9, the results can provide an indication of their progress over time. The results also provide schools with data which can be useful in determining some overall strengths and areas for improvement. State and Federal governments also use the NAPLAN results to assist them with policy development and planning for education.

Some important things to be aware of with NAPLAN:

• It is only one form of assessment done on one day
• It does not assess all aspects of literacy and numeracy
• Its intention was never to rank schools
• it does not measure so much more about children - creativity, motivation, leadership, curiosity, reliability etc.
• Teachers gather a range of other assessment data during the course of the year

Vegetable gardens

I would like to pass on my thanks to the P & F who, at their meeting yesterday, agreed to pay for the recent upgrade to the vegetable gardens. This support by the P & F is very much appreciated.

Before and After School Procedures

Today on Compass we distributed a clear outline of our procedures for dropping off and picking up children each day. The procedures aim to keep the carpark area as safe as possible because it is the main location for the children walking into and out of school. Thank you to the many parents who comply with our procedures. 

Wishing you a safe week, 

Paul Moroney
Principal

Happy Birthday to the following students and staff who are celebrating

their birthday this week, 9th May - 15th May

Winter Uniform

Just a reminder to our parents that all students should be in their full Winter uniform now.

Girls have the option of wearing either navy pants or the tunic with their blue shirt and girls tie.  Girls who opt to wear the tunic can wear it with either navy stockings, short or knee high socks.

Full Uniform is available at Lowes Macarthur Square

 Our clothing pool will be open Friday 21st at 8.30am  A big thank you to our parent volunteers for assisting us with our clothing pool!

  

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

KR - Antony A

1R - Georgia S

2R - Holly C

3R - Hermione K

4R - Zane H

5R - Laken H

6R - Tessa S

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE 2021

This year, St John’s will be participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. This is not a competition, but a challenge to each student to read, to read more, and to read more widely. At St John’s, we promote the importance of reading, and by participating in the Premier’s Reading Challenge, students will continue to develop their love of reading. The school library has a big selection of Premier’s Reading Challenge books on display, with the PRC ID on the book cover for students to add to their online Student Reading Record.

Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers will read 30 books to their class during class time, and these books will be logged as a class.

Year 3 to Year 6 students will read 20 books from the PRC Booklist however, 5 of these books can be Personal Choice books. Students will be required to complete their online Student Reading Record at home, using their user ID and password, by 20th August 2021. All Year 3 to Year 6 students will receive their user ID and password in Week 7, unless the school has been contacted and the student will not be participating.

At the completion of the Premier’s Reading Challenge, all Year 3 to Year 6 students who have successfully read and logged their books, and all Kindergarten to Year 2 students who have participated, will receive a certificate. Certificates have the student's name and school printed on them. Due to child protection issues, names are no longer published on an Honour Roll on the Premier's Reading Challenge website. For further information, go to the Premier’s Reading Challenge website at https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html

We hope that as many students as possible will participate. If you do not wish for your child to participate in the Premier’s Reading Challenge, please contact the school on (02)46251171 or email info@sjctdow.catholic.edu.au by Friday 28th May 2021.

Thank you for your support and encouragement of reading.

Mrs Sharon Burnett

SSO Librarian

CatholicCare National Families Week Webinar Series

To celebrate National Families Week CatholicCare is running a five-part webinar series to celebrate family and make the most out of family life. Each webinar will have a different focus. 

Family Resilience
Understand what a resilient person and family looks like, and how you can build resilience within yourself and your family.

Family Values
Understand what values are and why they are important. By identifying our family values we can better understand and connect.

Family Connection
With our lives so busy we can struggle to keep connections within our family, learn why connection is important and how to sustain or build family connections

Family Self-Care
Learn why self-care is so important and how looking after ourselves, has a flow-on effect on the whole family.

Family Mindfulness
Learn what mindfulness is and the benefits it provides, not just for ourselves, but also the benefit it has on our family.

See the link here to register: https://dowcatholic.zoom.us/webinar/register/6016202622065/WN_GZrZMh1VQJaNNlkTsRaBOA

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.