General Information
Information which you need to be aware of
BOOK WEEK PARADE THIS FRIDAY
Book Week is an annual national celebration of children's literature, Australian authors, and illustrators organised by the Children's Book Council of Australia. This year it runs from August 22 - 28 with the theme "Symphony of Stories." At St John’s we have a range of activities to do with the students throughout the week, culminating in a Book Week Parade this Friday 28th August @ 9:15 am. Our Book Week parade is a fun opportunity for students to dress up as their favourite book character.
TERM 3 SAFETY DRILL
In line with the school’s safety procedures and policies, we hold regular safety drills. These enable the school community to practise efficiently evacuating or locking down an area of the school. Our Term 3 drill took place yesterday and was very successful.
100 DAYS OF PREP
On Friday 7 August, our Prep students celebrated the exciting milestone of 100 Days of School! The day began with a colourful parade in the Hall, where students proudly showcased their creative 100 Days costumes to the school community. They then enjoyed a fun-filled disco before returning to their classrooms to take part in a variety of 100 Days-themed learning activities.
It has been wonderful to see how much our Prep students have grown and achieved since the beginning of the year. We are incredibly proud of the progress they have made and sincerely thank our families for the time, effort and creativity they put into helping students create their fantastic costumes.
As you browse through the photos below, you'll see just how imaginative our Prep families were in celebrating this special milestone. Congratulations to our Prep students on reaching 100 days of learning, growing and having fun!
DISTRICT ATHLETICS
Congratulations to the 48 students who represented St John’s at the District Athletics on Thursday 13th August. The students are to be commended on their sportsmanship and efforts on the day. We have 13 students who have progressed through to the Division Finals, which will be held at the Newport Athletics Track on 10th September. These students will receive a note outlining the day’s schedule in the coming week.
SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
Congratulations to the Year 6 students who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Saturday 8th August. This year the celebration was a combined Parish affair, and thanks goes also to all those involved in the organisation of the day, including staff from all our sister Parish Primary Schools and staff from MacKillop College, who hosted the event.
PREP EXCURSION
On Tuesday 18 August, our Prep students visited the Museum of Play and Art (MoPA) in Geelong as part of their General Studies unit on materials and construction. Through hands-on play, students built structures, explored sensory exhibits, dressed up and painted a life-sized car. It was a fantastic day of active learning and creative exploration!
MACSSIS ANNUAL SURVEYS
Each year all Catholic schools survey students, parents and staff. The data collected through the survey process provides us with valuable feedback and guides the school’s future direction. Students from Year 4-6 will be completing an online survey over the next few weeks. The surveys are conducted by an outside agency, which selects 80 families to complete a survey. The selected families will have their survey log in details emailed nex week, please call the office if you have any issues accessing your survey. A reminder to the 80 families selected that surveys need to be completed prior to Friday 18th September.
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
We will be holding our annual St John’s Book Fair during the upcoming Parent Teacher Interviews. Scholastic Rewards is a program created by Scholastic as a way to give back to schools. Whenever families purchase items through Book Club or our Book Fair, St John’s earns reward points. These points are then used by the school to offset the cost of reading materials and classroom resources that we purchase from Scholastic.
CHILD SAFETY - BEING KIND ONLINE
All St John’s parents have access to our own Online Safety Parent Hub. The Hub provides a wealth of online safety resources, such as digital parenting guides, app reviews and articles. These have been developed by a team of leading digital safety and wellbeing experts. Parents also have access to free parental control tools to help keep children safe while using their personal devices.
This week we draw your attention to a great article, written by online safety expert Dr. Nicole Beurkenson. The article explores different ways we can explore with our children, the importance of being kind and online. It also looks at ways we can help our children to react when they are confronted with unkindness when online. This article links nicely with the Online Safety Lessons the students did earlier in the term, with Inform and Empower. Below is the link to the article: