OUR COLLEGE PRAYER

Lord, you gave our founders a sense of vision and action.

As members of the John XXIII College Community, we pray for:

Competence to do our work well

Conscience to live in truth

Compassion to open our hearts to those in need, and

Commitment to respond to God at all times.

May our happiness come from the joy of serving others.

As we plan for tomorrow and live our lives today, may we seek justice.

Pope John XXIII Pray for us

Ignatius of Loyola Pray for us

Mary Ward Pray for us

Dear Parents

Welcome back to the new school year!

We have had a very smooth and settled start to the term and staff have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the children’s holiday adventures. It has been great to see lots of healthy lunchbox options and to watch happy children catching up with their friends. The students have been very positive and keen to engage in class learning programs.

Fun Family Picnic

All families are warmly invited to our Annual Family Picnic on Saturday, 23 February on the Primary oval. We really hope to see as many of you as we can for a relaxing family evening. Hospitality is so important in our community and we encourage everyone to reach out to one another in friendship, particularly to new families to our school at this special event.

Parent Information Evenings

This is also a great opportunity to come together as a community and receive all the information you need for your children to have a really great start to the year.

All Parent Information Meetings will take place in the classrooms.

Monday 18 February

Year 1 – 6pm

Year 2 – 6pm

Year 3 – 7pm

Tuesday 19 February

Year 4 – 6pm

Year 5 – 6pm

Year 6 – 7pm

For any parents who may be feeling a little anxious for themselves and/or their children, please trust us. Your children are in very good and experienced hands and we are here to support all families. Please do not hesitate to contact myself or come into the front office if you have a question or concern.

The staff and I are looking forward to a productive and fun year with your delightful children.

Kind regards,

Antoinette De Pinto

Head of Primary

As this is the first newsletter of the year, it is timely to remind our Primary community of the following important requests: -

Please make sure your children arrive at school on time.
Please send children to school in the correct uniform, with appropriate hair-styles.
Please read emails and newsletters.
Please let us know if any of your contact details have changed.
Please inform us of your child’s absence from school.

Attendance

Schools are obligated to contact parents of children who have not arrived at school by the start of the school day and for whom we have no explanation of absence. This as you can imagine is a labour-intensive exercise. Parents can assist us by making sure we are informed of all absences by 8.30 am. Primary Absentees may be reported by emailing primary.absentees@johnxxiii.edu.au All emails will be forwarded to the classroom teacher.

We understand that at times your child may be late for school for a variety of reasons. Parents need to bring their children to the office if they arrive after 9.00 am. Latecomers cannot go directly to the classroom after the bell – they must visit the office first. These latecomers will be marked absent unless the school is notified.

Appointments

Students required to leave the school grounds to attend appointments must be signed out at Administration by a Parent/Guardian and obtain a green slip (not returning for the day) or pink slip (returning to school) which is to be handed to the teacher. Teachers will not be able to release students to a Parent/Guardian unless they have been given a slip.

If your child has a recurring OT or Speech appointment please send an email to primary.absentees@johnxxiii.edu.au advising of the date/time of the appointment.

It is important to note, that if your child is receiving extra tutoring, these sessions need to be booked before school, lunch-time or after-school.

Supervision

Primary students should be at school 10 minutes prior to the commencement of the school day. PrePrimary – Year 6 classroom doors will be open from 8.35 am each day. Outside supervision is available from 8.15 am.

No supervision is provided before 8.15 am and after 3.30 pm. Primary students are not permitted to play on any play equipment before or after school. All gates will be locked at the end of the school day.

It is also important to note the all PreKindy, Kindy and PrePrimary children must be collected by an adult at the end of their session.

Drop Off and Pick Up

Students from Year One to Year Three are encouraged to use the ‘loop’ off Mooro Drive for drop off and pick up. Families are issued with a ‘Family Name’ sign, which is to be attached to the visor and be clearly visible to enable staff on duty to efficiently identify family cars. Please email Tracey McGann in Administration Tracey.Mcgann@cewa.edu.au to obtain additional cards.

Students from Year Four and above are required to use the Main Car Park (entry off John XXIII Avenue) for drop off and pick up (unless they have a sibling in Years 1-3).

Any students remaining at school after 3.30 pm will stay in Front Administration until they are collected. Parents will then need to park their car and come and collect their children from Administration.

Visitors Sign In

To fulfil our ‘duty of care’ requirements, all parent helpers and visitors are required to ‘sign-in’ using the iPads located in the front office or the Early Companions Centre. Although this procedure may appear a burden, the safety of our students is always of paramount importance.

Healthy Foods

As the staff have been on duty at recess and lunch time this week we have seen some fabulous examples of food that really gets children's brains ready for learning. Thank you to all the parents who have set their children up so well for a full day of learning by packing a healthy lunch box. As we are an ‘Allergy Aware’ school, please do not put any products containing nuts (including Nutella) in your child’s lunch box. We ask that you help us educate the children on the importance of not sharing food with other children and washing hands after eating.

Special Request

We request that dogs not be brought into the Primary School. Despite the very best behaviour of our furry friends, there are many children who remain frightened of dogs and we also have children that are allergic to dogs.

TERM DATES & CLOSURE DATES

Term 1 4 February – 11 April

12 April Pupil Free Day (Parent/Student Interviews have been scheduled for this day)

Term 2 30 April – 5 July

Term 3 24 July – 27 September

Term 4 15 October – 12 December

Pupil Free Day (Catholic Day) 26 August

Dates to Remember Week 2 2019

Tuesday 12 February Yrs 3-6 Swimming Training

Thursday 14 February Wanju Voices 7:30am

Primary Singers 8:05am

Yrs 3-6 Swimming Training

Friday 15 February Yrs 4-6 Swimming Trials

PAL Meeting 2:00pm (Exhibition Centre)

PRIMARY SCHOOL COUNSELLOR

I look forward to continuing my role as Primary Counsellor this year. In this role I hope to compliment the work done by both parents and teachers in developing children’s social and emotional skills and resilience. My goal is to help children develop communication and problem solving skills that enable them to; establish healthy peer relationships, engage fully in school and reach their full potential. I also recognise that life can present sad and challenging situations and offer my intervention to help children cope with these difficulties and enable them to enjoy being children again . I know that it is not unusual to feel overwhelmed or worried about your child and you are welcome to contact me anytime for a chat, coming to see me does not have to be a last resort. I am available at school, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and in the morning on a Thursday. Pop in anytime to my office in the lower primary quadrangle or I can be contacted by phone on

9383 0469 or by email: anne.murphy@cewa.edu.au . The beginning of the year can be stressful for some children. Parenting ideas offers some useful advice in the article attached to help children cope with returning to school for anyone interested.

Anne Murphy

Primary Counsellor

Uniform Shop

New sports shorts for boys