Dear Parents

Wow! What a busy time it is at this stage of the school year! We hope you are all managing to stay calm and happy amidst it all, as we are also aiming to do.

We are now in the Season Advent – a time of patience and expectation as we await the wonderful event that took place over 2000 years ago in the little town of Bethlehem. The challenge for us all is to support our children amidst the hustle and bustle, to slow down… to listen with our hearts… to try to act with kindness, gentleness and integrity.

The Kindy, Pre-Primary and Year 1 nativity plays and Christmas liturgies have brought much joy to our school community this week as the younger students shared the wonder of the very first Christmas – the birth of Jesus.

On Thursday evening we also hosted our Music Soiree in the Primary amphitheatre and this is always a very special musical event and this was no exception.

Over the next week students and teachers are finishing off the year and we are of course also busy preparing to farewell our wonderful Year Six leaders.

In regards to next year, we cannot stress enough, the importance of downplaying who your child’s teacher will be and which of their peers may or may not end up in your child’s class. While staff have once again worked very hard on creating class lists that take a myriad of factors into account, in the final analysis, all children need to learn to navigate their way through different teaching styles and different class make-ups.

It was great to see so many excited and happy faces at the end of the day as the children shared the good news of who their teachers and classmates were going to be. Our job as significant adults in a child’s life, is to model confidence in their ability to work through any perceived worries or challenges and to let them know we are all here to support them.

Everyone is welcome to come along to our End of Year College Mass next Thursday, 12 December at 9:00am in the St Louis Sports Centre.

Kind regards,

Antoinette De Pinto

Head of Primary

Students are welcome to wear a Christmas themed t-shirt and accessories with their College sports shorts on Thursday 12 December!

Semester Two Reports

Semester Two reports for Pre-Primary to Year 6 students will be available through the College’s online communication platform ‘SEQTA ENGAGE’ from 3:30pm on Thursday 12 December.

Instructions

i. Please login to your SEQTA Engage account at: https://parent.johnxxiii.edu.au

ii. Click on the REPORTS link located on the menu at the left side of screen

iii. Select Student

iv. Select 2019P, 2019 S2

Mobile Devices

*It is also possible to download the SEQTA Engage App from your provider (e.g. Google Play Store; Apple App Store) if you wish to do this.

Classroom Teachers 2020

Mrs Amanda Kounis	Pre-Kindy B	Mrs Cath De Campe	Pre-Kindy G
Mrs Emma Distante	Kindy B	Mrs Cayley King	Kindy G
Mrs Claire Peirce	Pre-Primary B	Miss Hannah Kolbusz	Pre-Primary G
Ms Maggie Crowley	Year 1B	Mrs Sonia Thomas	Year 1G
Mrs Jessica Edwards	Year 2B	Miss Lauren Nish	Year 2G
Mr Dustin Fromm	Year 3B	Miss Jacqui Cooney	Year 3G
Mrs Teresa Fontaine	Year 4B	Miss Claire Dernie	Year 4G
Mrs Sonja Goss	Year 5B	Ms Jacqui O’Connor	Year 5G
Miss Georgia Gillen	Year 6B	Miss Chelsea Hubbard	Year 6G

Dates to Remember

Monday 9 December	PKG 2020 Meet & Greet
Tuesday 10 December	Year 6 Farewell Mass & Morning Tea TMEC Year 6 Big Day In Kindy Vision Rechecks
Wednesday 11 December	Year 6 Big Day Out
Thursday 12 December	Last Day for Term 4 PP-Year 9 End of Year Mass

2020 Primary Term Dates

Term 1 Starts – Monday 3 February	Term 1 Ends – Thursday 9 April
Term 2 Starts – Wednesday 29 April	Term 2 Ends – Friday 3 July
Term 3 Starts – Wednesday 22 July	Term 3 Ends – Friday 25 September
Term 4 Starts – Tuesday 13 October	Term 4 Ends – Thursday 10 December

2020 Pupil Free Dates

Term 1 – Staff Return	Thursday & Friday 30-31 January
Term 1 – Parent Teacher Student Interviews	Friday 3 April
Term 2 – Staff PD Day	Monday 28 April
Term 3 – Staff Conference	Monday & Tuesday 20-21 July
Term 3 – Catholic Holiday	Monday 24 August
Term 4 – Staff PD Day	Monday 12 October
Term 4 – Staff Week	Friday 11-Wednesday 16 December (Staff Christmas Lunch)

Save the Date - 15 February 2020

3D Printing

This term the Year 4 students have been learning about 3D modelling and design. We started by exploring the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and making 3D shapes out of paper and blocks. We then moved to the digital design, using an app Shapr3D. We learnt how to use different tools such as extrude, intersect and offset. We then planned, created and modified our designs before they were ready to print. We were very fortunate to learn about 3D printing and enjoyed making our designs. Cara Bradley and Edward Brown 4G

Solar Cooking

Year 5 students have had the perfect weather this week for testing their solar ovens.

PAL 2020 Coordinators

A very warm welcome to our Primary PALs for 2020.

KG	Rochelle Fennessy, Mimi Vujcich, Kathryn Horlin & Jemma Fleay
PP	Kelly Edward, Sacha Free, Bianca Cloghan & Philippa Chapple
Y1	Renee Bowers, Jane Douglas, Mimma Nikoloski, Vanessa Reside & Amanda French
Y2	Cate Young, Emma Smith, Jessica O’Hara, Jessica Parker & Kristy Paolucci
Y3	Elle Rohr, Rachel Hurley, Caroline Di Costa & Ari Anning
Y4	Linda Rogers, Melanie Stephenson, Hayley Wibrow & Helen Crawford
Y5	Liz Blaxell, Kylie Chamberlain, Gosia Barley & Jo Cooney
Y6	Kevin Hewitt, Jackie Walsh, Mary Jane Thomasz & Prudence Wever

Sports Update

PP-Year 2 Swimming

The Pre-Primary to Year 2 Swimming Program was a great success with lots of progress made by the students. We finished on Tuesday with some fun games and jumps!

Keep swimming over the holidays but remember to be sun smart and slip, slop and slap!

Primary Picnic