Around The Primary

Dear Parents

Happy World Teachers' Day!

Today is World Teachers’ Day and I take this opportunity to thank all our staff for the wonderful contributions that they make to the students’ learning, faith development and well-being. 

Our Junior Primary Athletics Carnival was a huge success yesterday! We were greeted with perfect weather and a tremendous turnout of parents and grandparents to cheer the children along. The students have enjoyed learning the team games, as well as preparing for the running events.

It was great to see our young students in action on the oval - they should be so proud of their efforts! There were also so many acts of great sportsmanship, with students encouraging and congratulating each another.

Congratulations and thank you to Mr Williams for coordinating another wonderful sporting event. Our Carnivals are such a huge success due to a combination of enthusiastic staff, parent support and children who genuinely try do their personal best! We are fortunate to have this trifecta at John XXIII College!

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

Term dates for 2022 have also been updated on the College Website Parent Information | Dates | John XXIII College

Counsellor's Corner

This term in the Keeping Safe Curriculum we focus on the fourth area:

Strategies to stay safe

• Younger children learn to know their home phone number and who to trust with this information
• Supportive networks are reviewed, and children learn about community services which can help like 000.
• Students learn a range of problem-solving strategies using relevant age-appropriate scenarios.
• Assertive communication, persistence and resilience are all explored in this process.
• Persistence is reinforced so students understand that they need to keep telling until someone listens and takes action.

If you would like more information about the Keeping Safe Curriculum or have any concerns, please get in touch by email anne.murphy@cewa.edu.au or phone 9383 0469 (Monday to Thursday).

Mrs Anne Murphy

Primary Counsellor

5G Roar & Snore

Last Thursday and Friday Year 5G went on a Zoo Camp. We participated in lots of activities.  We went on a night safari and enjoyed seeing the baboons, giraffes, gibbons, turtles and orangutans.  A highlight was when we saw a gibbon do a backflip.  Another highlight was when I saw a baboon staring at me and scratching its armpit!  It was also cool when a tiger walked up to the glass right next to us!  I saw my favourite animal, the Hamadryas baboon, and I am doing my information report on it.  In my opinion I think the Year 5 Zoo Camp was the best camp I’ve ever been on.

Jack Turner 5G

The Zoo Camp was one of the best highlights of my school year.  The night walk was so awesome, I saw rhinos, spotted dogs and baboons, but the most memorable was the hyena because it woke up out of nowhere and chased a rat! The teachers were so kind and helpful. 

Olivia Pronk 5G

Scitech Challenge Day

Last Thursday the Year 5 GATE students attended the Scitech Challenge Day with other Catholic schools. This year’s challenge was to ‘Create a new Perth Attraction’.

The students worked in teams of four to define the problem, ideate, design a prototype, share their ideas with other students, iterate and finally explain, sell their idea and prototype with students from other schools and judges.  Both of our teams’ designs were amazing!  Well done to Grace Czajko (5G), Matteo Desiati (5B), Kiran Finn (5G), Nicholas Maroni (5B), Felix McGinty (5G), Charles O’Toole (5G), Alessio Torre (5B) and Layla Travis (5G).

Team ‘Dubs Only ’won with their design ‘Parents Retreat’.

‘The Double-Sided Getaway for parents who would like to get away from their children and stress for a while.' 

By Team 'Dubs Only'

‘The Smart Team’ came up with another fabulous attraction for teenagers in Perth called ‘The Aquarium Skate Park’ 

Mrs Tara Purcell

GATE Teacher

Sport Update

Congratulations to all the Kindy, Pre-Primary, Year 1 and Year 2 children for their amazing efforts at the Junior Primary Athletics Carnival on Thursday!  They should all be very proud of their efforts and all the practice they did leading up to the big day.  Thank you to all the parents and loved ones who came along, cheering on our young athletes and making the carnival such a special event.  To the parents who helped out on the finish line, your time and support was greatly appreciated.   

Next week tennis lessons will begin for PP – Year 4 students.

Mr Steve Williams

Primary Sport Coordinator

Music

Year One Mini-Musicals

Congratulations to the Year One students on their wonderful performances of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff.’ The students performed to an audience of Pre-Primary students and parents who were treated to joyful singing and percussion instrument accompaniment as the students showcased the skills they had learnt during the term. 

Primary Choirs

Wanju Voices, Primary Singers and Chapel Choir are being treated to a guest conductor for the next three weeks. Mrs Josephine Ferguson-Allen will be running rehearsals with the students as they prepare for performances at the Primary Soiree and Presentation Night. Please direct any queries to Mrs Haydon via email catherine.haydon@cewa.edu.au

Primary Instrumental Recitals

The Primary Instrumental Recitals will be held during Week 7 and are an exciting opportunity for students to showcase their hard work from throughout the year.

This performance opportunity is open to students who learn an instrument. Students are invited to play one piece in the appropriate recital category (ie either a solo or group piece). Students may perform in multiple categories (for example, piano and strings) if they learn more than one instrument. These recitals will be divided into groups based on student year groups and the number of entries. Family members are invited to watch the performances. The dates for these performances are as follows: 

Timetables will be emailed to participants at the start of Week 7. 

Entry forms must be returned to the Music Department by Tuesday 16 November. Students who learn an instrument at school will be given further information by their tutors who will also complete entry forms for their students.  For students who learn outside of school, parents should contact Mrs Bouhlas in the Music department via email music.secretary@johnxxiii.edu.au for an entry form or further information.  Students who require an accompanist will be provided a school accompanist. A copy of the accompaniment music with the performer’s full name, class and instrument must be handed in to the Music department by Tuesday 16 November so that rehearsals can be scheduled with the accompanist in the week leading up to the recital. 

We look forward to celebrating the dedication and talents of the primary students at these special recitals.

If you have any queries regarding Primary music, please contact me via email catherine.haydon@cewa.edu.au

Mrs Catherine Haydon

Primary Music Teacher