Around The Primary

Dear Families

We have had a busy week at school with our Years 3 and 5 students completing NAPLAN assessments in Reading, Writing, and Conventions of Language. Next Tuesday 19 March, the students will complete the Numeracy assessment. Our staff have done a wonderful job reminding students that these assessments are important and just a regular part of the school curriculum. While we want our students to do well, do their best, slow down and take their time, we also want to support those who may be worried or anxious. NAPLAN is just one example of the assessments used throughout the year and our teachers use a range of data when reporting on student progress. 

On Tuesday, our Year 4 students visited ‘Sculptures by the Sea’ and participated in Focus Tours, where tour guides helped our students to discuss, think and learn about many of the sculptures in the exhibition. Some of the tour guides are sculptors themselves and all of them had a fountain of knowledge to share and spark the students’ interest in sculpture. All the tour guides and some members of the public had such positive feedback about the students’ engagement, participation, and excellent behaviour. We are so lucky to experience art on an international level in our own local community and I’m sure the students have been enriched and inspired by this excursion.  Mrs Blaauw (Art Specialist) is now busy planning follow-up activities.  Many thanks to Mrs Blaauw for coordinating this excursion and to all the volunteers who helped and supported the students on the day. 

An important date is this coming Monday, 18 March, when teachers and parents/caregivers come together to discuss your child’s progress. Children are not required to come to the interview; however, all families are encouraged to discuss their child’s future goals with them at home after the interview. Just a reminder, please wear your parent badge to these meetings.

We are now entering the fifth week of Lent, and this is a good time to remind your children about the promises they have made in preparation for Easter. We hope you enjoy this clip as students share some special words about Lent and Easter. 

There is still a lot to do this term and with your support, we look forward to making it as fun, calm and engaging for your children as we can.

Kind regards

Antoinette De Pinto

Head of Primary 

Dates to Remember

Please check the College Website to note all the important Primary school events for your family calendar. http://www.johnxxiii.edu.au/view/for-parents/calendars 

By subscribing to the College calendar, you are automatically alerted when details of an existing event are changed.  

Keep Students Safe

Parking and Driving

• Slow down around the College and drive safely.
• Be aware, be courteous and be responsible.
• Drop your child off and pick them up in designated pick-up areas
• Always take extra care in 40km school zones.
• Observe and adhere to all regulatory signage and follow all parking signs - these help keep your child as safe as possible.
• Never double park - it is illegal and puts children at risk.
• Model safe and considerate pedestrian and driver behaviours.
• Always give way to pedestrians particularly when entering and leaving driveways.
• Please make sure you carefully read the parking signs before you park your vehicle.
• Vehicles on the College campus must be parked within marked bays at all times.
• Vehicles may not park in no parking areas, no stopping areas, access ways or any area not officially set aside for parking, including verges, gardens and pathways.
• Please use the John XXIII College car parks only. We need to respect our neighbours, as parking, even if for five minutes during morning or afternoon pick-up is causing inconvenience.

Playgrounds

• Due to our duty of care and responsibilities, Pre-Kindy to Year 6 students are not permitted to use any of the play equipment before or after school. 

Maths Week Fun

In celebration of Math Week, our classroom teachers prepared some extra special Maths activities for the students. From scavenger hunts to life-sized (well, almost!) battleships, it was wonderful to see the students’ love of Math shining as they engaged in many different games and challenges.

We played 'Game of Life' during Maths week.  It was a challenging game because you had to use addition and subtraction.  It was a lot of fun and it felt like you were in real life!

Hugo Palmer 4G

In Maths this week we learnt about Numero and it was so much fun! We are practicing our Numero skills for a tournament that we will play against 5B later this term. It was enjoyable for everyone involved, especially playing against each other, and practising our number skills. Naomi Nikoloski 5G

This week in Year 6, we had bucket loads of fun in Maths. We were learning about integers, and we made a number line that had to include negative and positive numbers. Then we had to create a word problem and ask other people to solve it. Some classmates even got to draw pictures, that matched the problem such as under the sea, temperatures or valley of hills. Another fun filled task that we completed was a life size game of battleships! It was amazing and we learnt so much about cartesian planes, and about coordinates and we really enjoyed it. Killian Collins 6G

Talea Standing

Primary Assistant Principal 

Girls’ Day Festival 

Students across Primary celebrated hinamatsuri – Girls’ Day festival which is celebrated in March in Japan. It is a festival celebrating the health and happiness of daughters in the family. Students enjoyed completing the craft activity depicting the Emperor and Emperess of Japan.

Sensai Rowson

‘KAYA’

On Wednesday, Indigenous educator Dylan Collard visited our Kindy and Pre-Primary students. 

As we sat around the fictitious campfire, Dylan told traditional stories to the students introducing them to the Noongar language. We learnt that 'Kaya' means hello and we will be encouraging the children to use this greeting in the classroom. 

During the session each child held their own soft toy animal and we all tried to say its name in Noongar language and clap out the syllables in the word! A fun incursion where everyone including the staff learnt something new.

Cayley King

Early Years Leader

NAPLAN

Week 2 Testing Schedule

Sacramental Program – Students in Years 3, 4 and 6

Parishes have begun enrolling for their Sacrament Programs and parents are encouraged to enrol their child in their ‘home’ parish. 

The program is family-focused, parish-based, Catholic school-supported. This means that parents are respected as first educators in the faith of their children. 

The family is supported by the College Religious Education program. In Year 3, students are taught the content for First Reconciliation; in Year 4, the content for First Holy Communion and in Year 6, the content for Confirmation. Students celebrate these sacraments in their parish. 

Each Parish has a unique Sacrament program. As they become available, details from the parishes located nearest to the College will be updated on the College website. 

Parents often have questions about the Sacrament program, so don’t be afraid to ask:

• Your parish priest or Sacrament Coordinator
• The Archdiocesan website
• Email Mary-Anne Lumley mary-anne.lumley@johnxxiii.edu.au or phone 9383 0513.

Sport Update

It has been great to see so many students and parents at cross-country training.  It is a great way to start the day and to help get prepared for the Interhouse Cross-Country Carnival which will be held in Term 2 on Thursday, 9 May.

Please see the table below for Term 2 Extra-Curricular Sports on offer:

If you have any queries about anything sport-related, please contact me via email: steve.williams@johnxxiii.edu.au 

Steve Williams

Primary Sport Coordinator

Music Update

Pre-Primary Music

The Pre-Primary students have enjoyed seeing, hearing and playing the harp! Students discussed the different parts of the instrument, and explored the different sounds made by smaller and longer strings. The students shared what they imagined when they heard the harp playing, including unicorns and rainbows.

Palm Sunday Mass at St Joseph’s Church Subiaco

Wanju Voices will be singing at the 9:00am Mass at St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco on Palm Sunday, 24 March.  We look forward to seeing many families join us for this special occasion.

Rehearsals

Choir and instrumental ensemble rehearsals for next week are provided below:

** Wanju Voices rehearsal on Wednesday is only for students attending the Palm Sunday Mass at St Joseph’s.

Music Photos

Music group photos will take place on Tuesday, 19 March. Please refer to the Music page of the newsletter for further information regarding the schedule.  

All students involved in choirs, bands and orchestras are required to wear their school uniform (not sports uniform) on this day. 

Catholic Performing Arts Festival

Entries into this year’s Catholic Performing Arts Festival open on Tuesday, 12 March and are open to all students who learn an instrument/voice through the College or with external tutors. Students learning through the College will have their applications to perform managed through the Music Office, while those learning externally can submit and return an online application.

A calendar detailing categories, performance venues and dates is available online. Please contact the Music Department with any queries music.secretary@johnxxiii.edu.au 

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

Catherine Haydon

Primary Music Teacher

Extend After School Care

Please refer to the PDF providing information regarding Extend services in Term 2 and ‘The Link Community Hub March’ edition.

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.