Around The Primary

Dear Families 

Every child deserves to feel nurtured and empowered—especially in their friendships. We are using the URStrong Friendology Curriculum as part of our Health program to teach our students engaging and practical ways to understand, build, and manage healthy friendships. This is an essential foundation for personal wellbeing and academic success.

URStrong is an internationally recognised friendship skills program that teaches students how to manage social dynamics with confidence and kindness. 

The program supports students to build strong and respectful relationships, resolve conflict with empathy, identify healthy friendships and to stand up for themselves and others.

As part of the The Friendology Curriculum students will learn the Four Friendship Facts:

• No friendship is perfect
• Every friendship is different
• Trust and respect are essential
• Friendships change—and that’s okay

During the month of November, we are focussing on the importance of kindness in friendships. Let’s work together for the remaining weeks of the school year to model acts of kindness and encourage the children to be kind at home and at school.  Here are some conversation starters to have with your children:

• What do you think kindness looks like at home? 
• How do you feel when you are kind to someone else?
• Can you think of a time when a friend did something kind for you? How did it make you feel? 
• How can you make someone feel welcome in your classroom? 
• Have you ever seen someone who was left out of a game?  How can you be inclusive at school?
• Why is it important to be kind to someone who might seem different from you? 
• What’s one way you can show kindness to a sibling, classmate or teacher?

Acts of kindness make schools happier places to be, and small actions can make great impact collectively.

Kind regards

Antoinette De Pinto

Head of Primary

Year 5 Assembly

In English, the Year 5 students have been learning how to make their stories more interesting.  At today’s Assembly, they creatively shared some of the techniques, including personification, alliteration, hyperbole, simile and onomatopoeia.

Special thanks to Mrs Haydon, Mrs Reddell, Mrs Standing, Miss Allen and Mrs Fontaine for planning and preparing this fun and informative presentation with the Year 5 students.  

Musical Showcase

This week the Year 1 students presented wonderful performances for their parents, grandparents and peers.  Each student had the opportunity to sing, speak, act, dance and demonstrate some of their music skills learnt this year.  Special thanks to Catherine Haydon for preparing the children for their mini musical, ‘Somewhere in Australia’. Special mention to Ms Exten for preparing the headbands and props. 

2026 Term Dates

The 2026 Term Dates have now been published and are available to view on the College Website - Parent Information | Term Dates | John XXIII College 

Dates to Remember

Please check the College Website to note all the important Primary school events for your family calendar - Calendars | John XXIII College 

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

Superstars 

Well done to all the students who received a certificate at today’s Assembly:

Special Achievement

Congratulations to Elizabeth Cawley for achieving a High Distinction and receiving the Best in School Award for the Upper Primary Division in the Australian Maths Competition.  Elizabeth placed in the top 3% of Year 6 students across the region. Well done, Elizabeth!

 Parents as Partners

Special thanks to Amy McGregor (Primary Convenor) and all the parent coordinators for their fantastic contributions throughout the year. They have done a wonderful job of organising family and parent events throughout the year, as well as, coordinating volunteers for various events. 

Wellbeing Weekly

Helping Your Child Navigate the Internet Safely

From 10 December, the Australian Government will introduce world-first social media age restrictions to protect young Australians during a critical stage of their development. Under these new rules, most social media platforms will prevent children under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts. This change aims to reduce exposure to harmful content, cyberbullying, and addictive design features.

To help families prepare, the eSafety Commissioner’s Social Media Age Restrictions Hub offers practical resources, FAQs, and conversation starters. You can visit the hub here: esafety.gov.au/social-media-age-restrictions-hub

Here are some simple strategies to ensure your child’s online experience supports their wellbeing:

Set Clear Rules

Agree on time limits and which sites or apps are appropriate. Explain why these rules exist - focus on safety and balance.

Use Parental Controls 

Enable filters and monitoring tools on devices and browsers. Keep software and apps updated for security.

Teach Digital Literacy

Show children how to recognise reliable sources and avoid scams. Discuss what personal information should never be shared online.

Encourage Open Communication 

Make sure your child feels comfortable telling you if something online makes them uneasy. Avoid punishment for honest mistakes—focus on learning.

Model Good Behaviour 

Demonstrate healthy screen habits yourself. Share positive ways to use the internet for learning and creativity.

If you have any queries, please contact me via email: natalie.alach@johnxiii.edu.au 

Natalie Alach

Primary Counsellor 

Sports Update

Pre-Primary to Year 3 Swimming Program

We’re excited to announce that our swimming lessons for students in Pre-Primary to Year 3 will commence on Monday, 24 November. Enrolment forms have been sent home this week and must be returned to your child’s class teacher by Monday, 10 November. In addition to the paper form, an electronic consent form will be emailed to all parents next week—please ensure both are completed to secure your child’s participation.

Our swimming program provides a strong foundation for water safety and skill development. These early years lessons are designed to prepare students for the Beach Swimming Program in Years 4 to 6, where they further enhance their swimming abilities and gain vital beach awareness skills that could one day save lives.

We’re proud to share that our program is achieving outstanding results. Hamish from Rare Indigo Management has compared our students’ progress with national data from Royal Life Saving Australia’s recent report on children’s swimming and water safety. The findings are encouraging and affirm the impact of our approach.

Please take a moment to view the infographic included, which highlights key insights from the report and showcases the success of our Primary swimming program.

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 

Year 6 Swimming Club Training  

We would like to invite our Year 6 students to join the Wednesday afternoon Swimming Club training at the College Pool from 3:30pm to 4:30pm.  The training is a great chance for students to get a taste of swimming in Secondary and help prepare for the 2026 Secondary Interhouse Swimming Carnival.  So come on down to Swim Club every Wednesday for the remainder of the term.

All abilities and experience levels are welcome. There will be something for everyone, so this is a great way to end the day especially as it is warming up!! 

Jessica Pillera

Head of Sport, Secondary 

Music 

Rehearsal Times

Please see below for rehearsal times for next week -

Primary Instrumental Recitals – Monday 1 December

The Primary Instrumental Recitals are an exciting opportunity for students to show off their hard work from throughout the year. This performance opportunity is open to students who learn an instrument at school or privately. The Recitals will be divided into groups based on student year groups and the number of entries with families invited to watch the performances. Timetables will be emailed in due course. 

Students who learn an instrument at school do not need to complete an entry form as they will be entered by their tutor. Students who wish to perform but have external lessons should use the below to enter. Entries are due by Wednesday 19 November.

Save The Date

Please note the following music performance dates for this term:

Communications regarding these performances will be issued closer to the dates of the events.

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

Catherine Haydon

Primary Music Teacher

Sacramental Certificates

Parents are requested to email a copy of their child’s Sacramental Certificate (Reconciliation, Eucharist or Confirmation) to Mrs Petsos in Primary Administration, nancy.petsos@johnxxiii.edu.au, for our College records.