2024 Term 1 Week 5 Newsletter
Prayer Focus
From the Principal
Visit from St John Paul College
Staff and student leaders from St John Paul College (SJPC) will attend our Coffee & Conversation on Friday, 8 March, 9.15am-9.45am, to speak with parents who may be interested in their child attending SJPC in Year 7.
Stage Parent Representatives
Thank you to the Parent Representatives from each Stage group who are volunteering to support their fellow parents. These Stage Parent Representatives will be commissioned during the liturgy at Assembly on Friday, 8 March at 10.30am.
Attendance Focus
Make getting students to school on time every day a top priority.
Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school and themselves. Ensuring that students arrive at school on time every day is crucial for their academic success and wellbeing. Parents play a crucial role in instilling the importance of punctuality in their children. Here are some strategies for parents to make getting students to school on time every day a top priority:
- Establish a consistent routine. Set a daily routine that includes specific times for waking up, getting ready, having breakfast, and leaving for school. Consistency helps children develop good habits.
- Model punctuality. Children often learn by example. Demonstrate the importance of punctuality by being on time for family events, appointments, and other commitments.
- Limit or have no screen time in the morning. Minimise distractions such as excessive screen time in the morning. This helps your child stay focused on getting ready for school without unnecessary delays.
Celebrating Student Attendance
Every school assembly we are celebrating student attendance at school. At the end of each term, we are celebrating those students with 95% attendance with a recognition certificate. Parents can help through scheduling non-urgent appointments outside of school hours, and teaching their children to arrive at school on time.
Caroline Lewis
Principal
Faith & Mission
Lent and Project Compassion
During Lent we support the Catholic Aid Agency, Caritas, through Project Compassion. Money raised through various fundraisers over the Lenten season will help the poor and vulnerable by providing financial assistance, education, training and community support. So far we have raised $255 (donations from Pancake Day).
The Year 6 Social Justice and Environment Mission Team will be running an Easter Raffle and Easter Egg guessing competition and families are asked to donate easter eggs and treats which will be made into prize hampers. Tickets will go on sale in Week 7, with the raffle drawn on Thursday, 28 March at the Easter Hat Parade.
You can also support Project Compassion by placing donations in the Project Compassion box sent home on Ash Wednesday, by visiting the website below or by calling 1800 024 413.
Lenten Retreat
Please see the attached flyer for information about a Lenten Retreat at St Augustine's Church.
Katrina Ryan
Assistant Principal Mission
All Things Learning & Teaching
NAPLAN School Calendar
NAPLAN online takes place in Week 7 this Term. Below is the national assessment timeline and we have also included the timetable for our school.
Students do not need to be computer experts to take the NAPLAN test online. Making sure students have computer skills is part of our school curriculum, and our teachers will ensure your child is familiar with the online format.
To see the types of questions and interactive features of NAPLAN Online, visit the public demonstration site. Both you and your child can explore the questions together. Walking through this site and exploring how questions may be presented goes a long way towards easing any fear around ‘what things may look like'. At school we expose the student to examples as well, so that on the day the students are familiar with the format of what they will be presented with.
NAPLAN is a point in time reference. It is just one aspect of the school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance. What it does provide is additional information about students’ educational progress which the school, system and government use to see how educational programs are working.
For more detailed information on NAPLAN please refer to the document below.
Michaela O’Shea-Miller
Acting Assistant Principal Learning and Teaching
Parent Forum
Bunnings BBQ
The Parent Forum are running a Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser on Sunday, 17 March.
We are looking for donations of cans of softdrink and bottled water. Please bring all donations to the school office.
We are calling for volunteers across the day, 7.30am-3.30pm. If you would like to volunteer, please click on the link below.
Thank you for volunteering!
Parent Forum Meeting
The next Parent Forum Meeting will be held on Monday, 18 March in the CLC (library) 6.30pm-7.30pm, zoom link below.
Yarrow Wade
Parent Forum President
Canteen News
Following are a few friendly tips for assisting your child with using the Canteen:
- Place a recess order on Flexischools to save your child having to line up
- If ordering snacks for your child to eat at lunch time, please ensure they have lunch food in their lunch box, as snacks are not provided until play time.
- Please let your child know if you have placed a lunch and/or recess order so they know to collect their order from the Canteen.
Birthday treats are now available on Flexischools. You can order a 'birthday bundle' for your child's class to celebrate your child's birthday. Orders must be placed a week ahead. Options include Splits, Fruit Ice Sticks, Cupcakes and Cookies.
We would love more parent helpers in the Canteen. If you would like to volunteer in the Canteen on a Wednesday or a Friday, 9am-11am, please click on the link below.
Caroline Burbridge
Canteen Supervisor
Gold Token winners
Well done to all Token recipients, especially the Gold Token token winners this week!
Certificate of Recognition recipients
Congratulations to all the Certificate of Recognition recipients. Keep up the great work!
