Around The Primary

Dear Families

Today was certainly a fantastic, fun-filled Friday celebrating John XXIII Day! Our whole school community commenced the day with Mass in the St Louis Sports Centre. 

We were blessed with beautiful winter weather to be outside, and the students embraced the opportunity to be involved in the range of activities on offer. They had lots of fun with friends and staff at the mini fete, superbly organised by our Years 5 and 6 students. The proceeds raised through the stalls will go to Mary Ward International and Jesuit Missions.

Our excited students also demonstrated great school spirit at the various incursions and enjoyable experiences, such as, petting farm animals, building Lego creations, participating in a danceathon and a soccer competition.

A big thank you to all the staff and students involved in the preparation of the Mass; the fantastic and innovative fete stalls; and the various activities throughout the day.

We look forward to hearing the wonderful performances of students at the upcoming Music Eisteddfod on Sunday, 4 August and Monday, 5 August. 

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.  

Art Competition Winners

Congratulations to the following students whose artwork has been chosen to be printed as one of this year’s Principal’s Christmas cards! Students have been presented with a certificate and a gift voucher to Jackson’s Art Suppliers for their wonderful efforts.

Ravi Spiccia – Kindy Gold

Harvey Knox – Year 2 Gold

Elizabeth Cawley – Year 5 Blue

Olympic Hero!

There was great excitement in Year 1 on Thursday when we had a visit from our very own Olympic Hero, Stuart Reside!  Stuart is Banjo’s Dad (1G) and he gave us a wonderful talk about his Olympic experience and rowing for Australia. We learnt all about being an Olympian and the importance of teamwork and being resilient. Mr Reside brought in his Olympic Bronze medal and inspired all the Year 1 students with his story. The students were very excited to be able to try on his winning medal.  What a fantastic morning!

Cultural Exchange

On Thursday, students in Year 5B were very lucky to have the Japanese exchange students visit during our Japanese lesson.  Students interacted in both English and Japanese. Students chatted together, played games and made an origami crane.  We also sang our favourite song in Japanese which our visitors loved! 

Rowson sensei

Book Week

The theme for Book Week 2024 is ‘Reading is Magic’. We will be celebrating Book Week this term during Week 6, commencing 20 August with lots of fun and creative activities. 

Here are a few of the exciting events to note in your family diary. Please email sasha.cattapan@johnxxiii.edu.au with any questions.

Book Week Poster Competition 

Students are invited to enter a poster based on the theme of ‘Reading is Magic’ Students are to write their name and class on the back of the poster and hand into the Library front desk by Friday, 16 August.  Please refer to PDF for competition details. 

Book Week Parade

On Tuesday 20 August, students who would like to be part of the Book Week Parade may come dressed for the day in a costume inspired by a character from a book. Families are welcome to come along to the parade in the library courtyard at 9:00am.  Students also have the option of wearing their sports uniform on this day. 

Book Week Guest Speakers 

Award winning author of the ‘Lintang Series’, Tara Moss will be visiting our Library on Wednesday, 21 August to speak to our Years 4 to 6 students, and illustrator and visual storyteller Aska, will be visiting on Thursday, 22 August to work with our junior students.

Sasha Cattapan

Primary Library Teacher

Sports News

It was a sad moment when I received an email from School Sports WA on Wednesday afternoon cancelling the Years 3 to 6 Cross Country Carnival.  The decision was made to preserve the grounds at McGillivray Oval because of the damage the large amount of rain and the high number of runners and spectators would cause.  It is understandable that our runners are disappointed as they have put so much time and effort into preparing themselves for the race.   

Cross-Country training has now finished, and we move on to Athletics!  Our Years 3 to 6 students are learning and practicing the different track and field events in their PE lessons and sport sessions.  Athletics training will provide more opportunities to learn and develop their skills in preparation for the Interhouse Athletics Carnival.  Training is on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, 3:30pm to 4:30pm meeting outside the gymnasium.  

Term 3 Clubs

Please see below details for our extra-curricular sports clubs on offer this term:

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

Music News

Primary Choir and Instrumental Ensemble Rehearsals

A reminder that, with a number of performances coming up during the term, it is essential that students attend all ensemble rehearsals. If your child is unwell, please email the ensemble director. 

Music Eisteddfod 

The annual Music Eisteddfod will be held from Sunday, 4 August, to Monday, 5 August, with Primary and Secondary students performing in various categories and venues across the College. Please see the Music page of this newsletter for session times and locations. Tickets are not required for audience members, and all are welcome. We look forward to hearing the wonderful performances of students at this special event.  Please contact the Music Department with any queries via email music@johnxxiii.edu.au

Olympic Practice Challenge

Instrumental students are taking part in an Olympic-themed practice challenge this term. Students (along with their tutors) enter goals onto a goal-chart each week. These are ticked off when achieved. Students reach bronze, silver and gold medal status as they achieve five, eight and eleven goals respectively. If your child takes instrumental lessons outside of school and you would like an Olympic-themed goal chart, please email catherine.haydon@johnxxiii.edu.au

Primary Musical

The Year Four students are entering their final week of rehearsals for ‘Feathers Fly,’ the Musical written by Ms Cattapan. The dress rehearsal for grandparents takes place on Friday 9 August, with the matinee for the primary school, and evening performance for families on Monday 12 August. Best wishes to all!

Save the Dates

Please save the following dates for choral performances this term. Further information regarding performances will be emailed directly to families.

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

Catherine Haydon

Primary Music Teacher

Keeping Safe - Child Protection Curriculum

It is a requirement under The Registration Standards for Non-Government Schools that all students receive a protective behaviours education. At John XXIII College our staff are trained and deliver the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC) across all year groups. 

Keeping Safe is an evidence-based child safety curriculum. This term across the Primary school we are exploring the third Focus Area of the Keeping Safe Program: 

Recognising and Reporting Abuse

Topics: Privacy and the body; Recognising abuse; Secrets; Cyber Safety (older years)

• Students continue to explore the concept of privacy, with an emphasis on public and private (e.g. locations and personal information) and safe and unsafe touching. Students use anatomical names for sexual/private body parts and understand that their whole body is private. They learn the meaning of consent, what it looks like, sounds like and strategies for giving and not giving consent.
• A range of developmentally appropriate situations are presented to children to help them identify physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect, and what to do if they or someone they know is experiencing abuse. Students gain an understanding of domestic and family violence and explore strategies and support networks to keep themselves safe.
• Students learn strategies to remain safe in the digital and online world. They learn about media classifications of video media and computer games and explore the use of photographs and images.
• Children develop an understanding that while many secrets can be fun and exciting, some secrets are unsafe to keep. It is important for children to recognise unsafe secrets and tell a trusted adult about them.

Important Email Address Reminder

The @cewa email domain is no longer active and any emails sent to this domain are not forwarded or received.  All staff have designated email addresses with the email addresses generally follow a pattern – the first name followed by the surname and then @johnxxiii.edu.au eg: firstname.surname@johnxxiii.edu.au 

New College Phone System

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our services, we have transitioned to a new Unified Communications/Telephony System to streamline our voice and video messaging and enhance the overall experience for parents and staff.

With this new system in place, we ask for your attention when leaving voice messages. After recording your message, please ensure to press the hash key (#) at the end of your message before hanging up. This step is essential as it signals the system to send your message successfully. Failure to press the hash key will result in your message not being delivered.

We understand this is a slight change from our previous system, and we appreciate your cooperation in adapting to this new process. Your messages are important to us, and we want to make sure that they are received and addressed promptly.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Containers for Change 

Thank you to all the families that have been donating their recyclable containers to the College fund. The member ID number has changed recently for the College to C11452850.

If you are donating your 10c Containers under the College account, you will have to start using this number.  All of the money raised from your donations goes to Caritas or Lifelink.