General Information

NAPLAN 

As mentioned in the media, last week’s Writing Assessment was impacted nationwide by technical difficulties.  Our 3s were able to complete their assessments without difficulty on the day, however our Year 5s were unable to log on, but successfully completed their Writing Assessment the next day.  The remainder of the Naplan schedule has been completed smoothly, with our Year 3s and Year 5s sitting their final test today.  Year 3 or Year 5 students who were absent from school last week may be given the opportunity to complete the assessment they missed in the next few days.

DONUT TREAT DAY 

Our Parents & Friends will be holding their next treat day on Monday 30th March.  Orders open tomorrow with Donuts costing $1.  All monies raised through the Treat Days are going towards new Cubby Houses for the playground.

TWILIGHT SPRINTS

It was wonderful to see so many families join us last Friday for our Twilight Sprints.  The evening was a terrific opportunity for families to socialise with each other and for the kids to have some fun.  A big thanks to Mr Geisler for overseeing all the races, including the very popular parent heats which were run at the end of the evening.  Thanks also to all the staff who supported the school community on the night.  Congratulations to the families of our three Raffle Winners: Zoe Cisneros, Ezra Tekle and Matilda Grieve.  

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

There are 335 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne that educate around 150,000 students and employ more than 20,000 teachers and staff.  This week schools around Melbourne are celebrating Catholic Education Week. This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools everyday.  As part of this celebration all Catholic schools in the archdiocese are invited to send representatives to a special Mass which is celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral.  Mr Geisler and Mrs Baldwin will be taking 10 of our Year 6 students to represent St John’s at the Mass this Friday 20th March.

YEAR 6 EXCURSION TO PARLIAMENT 

On Friday 6th March our Year 6s were privileged to visit the State Parliament. As you can see from the images below the school had impressive access to the various chambers of parliament. The students also visited the Old Treasury building. 

HISTORY IN YEAR 1

This term, the Year 1 students have been learning about celebrations and commemorations as part of their General Studies lessons. As part of this unit, the students have been exploring why certain days are important and how people remember special events and people from the past.

Recently, Mr. Trigg visited the Year 1s and shared some very special information about ANZAC Day and why it is such an important day of remembrance. He explained to the students why Australians and New Zealanders commemorate this day each year and why it is important to remember those who served their country.

Mr. Trigg brought along some incredible family artefacts for the students to see. These included medals and a diary belonging to his great-grandfather, dated 1942. The students were fascinated to hear the story behind these items and had the unique opportunity to carefully look at and hold them.  Look through the images below for a glimpse of some of the war medals:

ANZAC DAY DAWN SERVICE

Our local RSL branch will once again be holding a Dawn Service on 25th April.  If there are any families who will be attending this service and would like to represent St John’s, could you please contact the office.

CHILD SAFETY - SCREEN TIME TIPS

As part of our ongoing commitment to child safety, we have an Online Safety Parent Hub. The Parent Hub provides a wealth of online safety resources such as; digital parenting guides, app reviews and articles.  These are developed by a team of leading digital safety and wellbeing experts. Plus, families have access to free parental control tools to help keep children safe while using their personal devices.  Content on the hub is constantly updated and added to, so parents should try to get into the habit of visiting this regularly especially as new online social media platforms and games are released.

We draw to your attention this newsletter, a short article by online safety expert Taryn Wren, with some great tips on creating Screen Routines.  The article explores:

• Age-based screen time guidelines
• Effective screen time boundaries
• Troubleshooting screen time challenges

ASSEMBLY LIVE STREAMS

Each Friday the students gather for a whole school assembly in the Hall.  This event is usually streamed to our Vimeo channel.  Families can view the assembly by clicking on the link which is sent through via our nForma Parent App.