Around The Primary

Dear Families 

Celebrating the Magic of Reading

Book Week is always a highlight of the Primary School calendar, and this year was no exception.

The 2026 Book Week theme, "Symphony of Stories," came to life as our library was transformed into a magical wonderland and our students participated enthusiastically in a range of activities including a poster competition, storytelling and a special visit from author, Sean E Avery. 

Our celebrations concluded with the much-anticipated Book Week Parade, where students and staff showcased an impressive array of costumes inspired by their favourite book characters. From fairy tale characters to dinosaurs, the parade was filled with creativity, colour and plenty of laughter.

Thank you to Ms Cattapan, Mrs Redfern and the library team for organising such a special week. Their creativity and enthusiasm provide students with a wonderful opportunity to celebrate books and be reminded of the power of reading to inspire imagination, curiosity and lifelong learning.

We are now looking forward to another special community event as we welcome fathers and father figures to our Fathers' Day Mass on Friday 4 September. We hope many of you can join us as we gather to celebrate and give thanks for the important role fathers and father figures play in the lives of our students. 

Kind regards,

Antoinette De Pinto

Head of Primary 

Fathers’ Day Mass

We are delighted to host a Mass dedicated to fathers and father figures on Friday 4 September.  Please RSVP for adults attending (not students) to the Fathers’ Day Mass by Wednesday 2 September via this link  https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1611011 

As part of this celebration, we would like to incorporate a photo display.  Families are kindly requested to email one photo of Dads with their children (or a family photo) to nancy.petsos@johnxxiii.edu.au. 

It is important to email the photos in JPEG format and in the subject of the email, include the family/student name. All photos need to be received by Monday 31 August. 

Photos received after this date will not be able to be included on the display or slideshow. 

Submitting a photo is entirely optional — families who do not wish to participate are not required to do so.

Please note that by choosing to submit a photo, you are providing explicit consent for that photo to be displayed during our Mass celebration and shared in the College newsletter, regardless of the publishing permissions you have recorded in Consent2Go. This consent applies to this specific occasion only and does not alter your existing Consent2Go preferences in any way.

Dates to Remember

Please check the College Website to note all the important Primary school events for your family calendar. https://www.johnxxiii.edu.au/view/for-families/calendars By subscribing to the College calendar you are automatically alerted when details of an existing event are changed. 

Japanese Immersion

Last Friday, the Year 5 students were immersed into Japanese culture enjoying a dining experience at  the Japanese restaurant ‘Tsunami’ in Mosman Park. 

There was lots of delicious food to choose from including teriyaki chicken, miso soup, chicken and avocado sushi and rice as well as, sukiyaki which was a hotpot with beef, udon noodles, tofu, cabbage and mushrooms. It was all absolutely delicious!

Sensai Rowson

Primary Japanese Teacher

Primary Sport

SSWA Hockey Championships

We had a great day of hockey on the astroturf at the Perth Hockey Stadium on Thursday. It is always so pleasing to see our students playing their best, working as a team and celebrating together.  Our first team finished the competition runners up to a very strong team from St Stephen's.  Well done to all the players involved. A special thank you to Sarah Thompson for her assistance with the trials and coaching. 

Athletics 

Athletics season is ramping up, and the Years 3 to 6 Interhouse Athletics Carnival on Friday September is getting closer!  Pre-carnival events will take place in PE and Sports sessions in the coming weeks - if weather does not permit the events will be rescheduled.  

Coach Matt from Beasts Fitness will be back at Athletics training for the next two Tuesdays to help our preparations. 

If you have any queries about anything sport-related, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email: steve.williams@johnxxiii.edu.au  

Steve Williams

Primary Sport Coordinator 

Primary Music 

Ensemble Rehearsals 

Book Week – A Symphony of Stories!

Our Music lessons have had a Book Week flavour this term. Pre-Primary students have enjoyed singing the story of ‘The Silly Postman’ and Year 1 students have been practising their mini-music performance of ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’. Year 2 students have been singing the story of ‘There’s A Hole in My Bucket’ and creating their own lyrics, and Year 3 have been enjoying singing a musical version of Dr Seuss’ ‘Green Eggs and Ham.’ Year 5 students have been playing the ukulele and composing their own lyrics for verses of ‘Take a Look, in a Book’ and Year 6 students have been performing their own Book Week parody arrangements based on a sea shanty. The whole Primary school enjoyed participating in the Book Week song and game during the costume parade.

Catholic Performing Arts Festival

Congratulations to Wanju Voices and Primary Singers who performed beautifully at the Vasto Club on Wednesday in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival. The choirs received excellent reports from the adjudicator and glowing comments from the conductors of other performing schools. A special thank you to the families who were able to attend this event to support our students. 

Save the Date

Please note the following performance dates for instrumental ensembles and choirs.

If you have any queries regarding Primary Music, please contact me via email: catherine.haydon@johnxxiii.edu.au

Catherine Haydon

Primary Music Teacher

Community Garden Care and Maintenance Day

When: Saturday, 5 September   Time: 8:00am 9:30am   

Meeting Point: Behind the Science Garden at B8

We invite all interested parents, students, and alumni from the John XXIII College community to join us for a Community Garden Care and Maintenance Day to help our native Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos thrive.

This is a wonderful opportunity to give back to our environment through planting, weeding and caring for our existing garden beds. All tools will be provided—just bring yourself, along with comfortable clothing, closed footwear, a hat and sunscreen.

Participating students can count this time towards their Christian Service-Learning (Roncalli Service) hours.

Together, we can nurture our shared environment, strengthen our campus surroundings, and set a positive example for future generations.

Register: Community Garden Care and Maintenance Day – Fill out form

Extend After School Care 

Please click on the following link to find out about After School Care offered by Extend, including hours of operation, fees and how to book - John XXIII College - Extend

The team at Extend can be contacted via email: support@extend.com.au or call 1300 366 437.