Dear Parents and Carers,

The Diocese of Wollongong has produced a wonderful, short video entitled 'Its Who We Are", narrated by Bishop Brian Mascord, it describes who we are as Catholics in the Diocese of Wollongong. 

It highlights the good works of our church agencies and the many faces of the people of the diocese. Bishop Brian Mascord reminds us that, Together, we are one in Christ, seeking to be bearers of his saving love

It is the vision of our diocese that everyone encounters the love and mercy of the Father through Jesus Christ, be accompanied by a community of believers and be equipped to share that encounter with others in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In celebrating the good works of our diocese, I encourage you to view the video. I'm sure that you will be surprised by how many lives are impacted positively by the wonderful people and works of the diocese that happen every day and often go unnoticed. 

Click here to watch the video (2mins 42 seconds)

Click here to find out about the making of the video

Last week, I wrote to all families advising of the arrangements for the relocation of classes, in preparation for the commencement of Stage 2 of our building project. With Stage 1 almost complete, the process of strategically relocating classes will take place from Tuesday 3 September – Thursday 12 September.

Students in Yrs. 4 – 6 will occupy the new building with Yr. 4 on the ground floor and Yrs. 5 – 6 on the first floor. Moving days for the Evangelist Campus will take place on the following days.

• Tuesday 3 September – Yr. 6
• Wednesday 4 September – Yr. 4 & Yr. 5

Students in Yrs. 1 – 3 will relocate to the Evangelist Campus on the following days.

• Tuesday 10 September – Yr. 3 & Yr. 2
• Wednesday 11 September – Yr. 1

Kindergarten will move to the Library and Mini Hall with the creation of three individual learning spaces.

• Thursday 12 September

Stage 2 of the building project will commence on Monday 16 September, with contractors taking possession of the current K-3 building. There will be no access to the building, including the canteen and hall for the duration of the refurbishment work.  Demolition work will take place during the upcoming student vacation, necessitating the need to have the building emptied and classes settled, prior to the end of Term 3.

The Director of Schools has granted two additional pupil free days, allowing teachers to set-up classrooms and establish new procedures and practices for the daily operation of the school. Parents and carers should contact the school if the supervision of their child/ren cannot be arranged.

For us all, the temporary arrangements will require a high degree of patience, and I thank you in advance for your support and understanding. Please be assured that every effort is being made to provide a smooth and seamless transition, with minimal impact on the students and their learning. Positive conversations with your children will assist greatly in supporting those who find change challenging. It is an extremely exciting time for our school community and there are many working very hard to achieve the desired outcome of new learning spaces and facilities for all students K-6.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you require further clarification.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Heffernan
Principal

St Vincent De Paul — Vinnies Collection Drive

Thank you to the many families who were able to bring in one item of quality second-hand clothing OR one quality second-hand book for our St Vincent de Paul donation drive (thank you to those who were able to donate more than one item too). Our Mini Vinnies team have been very busy collecting all the donations and going through them to ensure that they are suitable to give to SVDP. It has been very apparent that families have followed our saying:

If you’d give it to a mate, it’s okay to donate! This really reinforces that we are considering the dignity of each person in need.

St Vincent de Paul will now look at our donations and let us know how much money our donations will raise for them and whether any of our donations will go to landfill, as they are not suitable to give to the poor.
 

Parish Sacramental Program

First Holy Communion (Eucharist)

Enrolments have begun for those children in year 3 or above that have made their First Reconciliation and would like to make the Sacrament of the Eucharist. A Parent/Carer Information Night is on Thursday 5th September at 6 pm.

It is expected that one person attends this meeting. If you have not enrolled your child yet and would like to, your last opportunity to do so is this coming weekend at any of the weekend parish Masses.

All relevant dates for Communion were attached in our last newsletter.

Fathers' Day — Sunday 1st September

Prayer for Fathers

God of Abraham, Moses and Aaron;
of Zachary, father of John the Baptist,
of Joseph, foster-father of Jesus, listen to our prayer:
Bless all who ‘father’ and protect new life in any way,
these ‘fathers’ who teach and guide,
who encourage and lead.
Invite them to the table of your eternal feast,
these ‘fathers’ who work hard to provide for the life that has been entrusted to them.
Embrace them warmly in the intimacy of your love,
these ‘fathers’ who lift up with strength those who are helpless and dependent.
Bless them today with all good things:
with health, with laughter, with joy and with love,
with pride in their ‘children’ and with the support of many friends.
May all ‘fathers’ who have protected and guided the life of others
be themselves held securely one day in your strong embrace,
there, for all eternity, to rejoice with their families and friends.
Amen

Happy Fathers’ Day!

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary — Sunday 8th September 

On Our Lady's birthday, the Church celebrates the first dawning of redemption with the appearance in the world of the Saviour's mother, Mary. The Blessed Virgin occupies a unique place in the history of salvation, and she has the highest mission ever commended to any creature. We rejoice that the Mother of God is our Mother, too.

Dates for your Diary

• Friday 30th August - Parish Mass - Celebrating Fathers’ Day - 9:30 am
• Monday 2nd September - Prayer for Creation Liturgy - 11:00 am
• Thursday 5th September - Sacrament of Holy Communion - Parent/Carer Information Night - 6:00 pm in the Church
• Friday 6th September - Parish Mass at 9:30 am  Year 6 
• Friday 6th September - Reconciliation - 4B 
• Saturday 7th September - Stage 2 Mass with Andrew Chinn - 5:00 pm
• Saturday 7th and 8th September - Sacrament of Holy Communion Commitment Weekend

Stage Weekend Masses (with Andrew Chinn)

Please join us to celebrate the Eucharist

A reminder of our stage weekend Masses for Terms 3 and 4. We are lucky enough to have Andrew Chinn, a well-known singer and musician, come along and play with us.

• Term 3 - Saturday, September 7, 5:00 pm - STAGE 2
• Term 4 - Sunday 15 December, 6:00 pm - STAGE 1 (Years 1 and 2)

Of course, all families are always very welcome to join Father Francis for the celebration of the Mass.

Parish Celebration of the Eucharist

A reminder of weekend Parish Mass times for St John the Evangelist, Dapto.  Fr Francis loves to see our families there.

• Saturday Vigil 5.00pm
• Sunday 9.30am
• Sunday 7.30am
• Sunday 6.00pm

Prayer Intentions

We pray for all families in our school community who are in need of our prayers.           
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.
St John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Kylie Crowe
Religious Education Coordinator

Congratulations to these students who came in the top two for their field event at the Diocesan Athletic Selection Trials on Tuesday 20 August at Beaton Park. They will now represent the Wollongong Diocese Primary School Athletics team to compete in the 2019 NSW Mackillop Athletics Trials at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre, Homebush on Monday 16 September. What a fantastic achievement and we wish them all the very best.

• Riley Curren - 2nd Junior Discus
• Matilda Powell - 1st 11 Years High Jump
• Charli St Clair - 2nd Junior Shot Put

Michelle Atkins
Sports Coordinator

SPB4L is an evidence-based framework that emphasises school-wide systems of support for all students and staff. These include proactive strategies for defining, teaching and supporting appropriate student behaviours. Positive behaviour supports are implemented for all students, across all school settings, by all staff, at all times. This continuum of support ensures students’ academic and social outcomes.

All student behaviour expectations are founded on our three school rules that are:

At St John’s there is an ongoing commitment to the professional development of staff. Throughout the school year staff engage in professional learning aimed to further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in providing quality learning experiences to support the needs of students in their class and the school.

Therefore, teachers across the school will attend professional learning opportunities as a requirement of their employment. Every attempt is made to ensure consistency with replacement teachers, but this is a daily challenge and at times the availability of casual teachers, across the system of schools, impacts on our efforts.

The following staff will be attending professional learning:

A reminder to all students that the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2019 will conclude on 30 August 2019. All reading records must be completed online by this date. If your child has misplaced their username or password please contact Mr De Battista.

For students to complete the challenge and to ensure they receive a certificate, the students will need to read the books as set out in the challenge:

*K-2 students can read the books on their own, with someone or someone can read to them.

For books in a series on the PRC booklist - you can read any two from a series as PRC titles. Any others read from the same series after this will count towards your personal choice books only. Please complete your entries as soon as possible so they can be validated to ensure you are eligible to receive your certificate. More information can be found on the Premier’s Reading Challenge Website.

Last week we celebrated Book Week with the theme; “Reading is my Secret Power”.  It was a wonderful week of celebrating the joy of books and the importance of reading for both learning and enjoyment. At St John's the students participated in competitions, literacy activities, they visited Dapto library and thoroughly enjoyed the character parade as well as the special book week assembly.

Congratulations to the following students who were placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd for their artwork — Reading is my Secret Power. Their artwork is displayed in the school library and the students placed 4th to 6th in their class are displayed in Dapto Library.

Congratulations to Maddison G (6B) — Outstanding Achievement

Book Club - Issue 6 has been handed out to students. Please have your order in by Monday 9 September  2019. Don't forget, you can order online at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or by using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. 

There are great rewards and promotions exclusive to ordering through LOOP.  If your child is handing their Book Club order in at school, please ensure to include their name and class.

On Thursday 29th August the P&F will be holding their Father’s Day Stall for the children to purchase a gift.

If any parents are available to help on Thursday 29th August to help sell the gifts this would be greatly appreciated.

The Chill Out & Read initiative (where all schools worldwide had access to 26 titles simultaneously) finished on the 15th August. Huge congratulations to our DoW ACEN students … officially announced by Overdrive as number one in the WORLD for the most checkouts!

St John's Dapto is the second-largest borrower of books from SORA in the Diocese of Wollongong — well done.

School Banking — next Tuesday 3 September

Remember, Tuesday is School Banking day and students should bring in their weekly deposit.

For every deposit made at school, students will receive a silver Dollarmites token. Once students have individually collected 10 tokens they can redeem them for an exclusive School Banking reward item in recognition of their regular savings habits.

School Banking is also a great fundraiser for our school. Our school receives a Regular Savers Contribution of $5 for every 10 deposits processed per student as well as an Annual Contribution which is based on the number of students who made at least one School Banking deposit in the prior year.

If your child has lost their book, they can bring their money to school in a sealed envelope with a note on the next School Banking day. We will issue them with a replacement.

Thank you for supporting the School Banking program at St John’s. We would also like to thank the wonderful parents who volunteer as our School Banking Co-ordinators and process our banking every week.

If you would like to know more about School Banking, please ask for a 2019 School Banking program information pack from the school office or visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking

To the following students who are celebrating their birthday in September — we wish you a very happy birthday and hope you have a great day.

Have you considered volunteering your time at the School Canteen? The Canteen is run by parents, carers, friends and volunteers, with all profits going back into the school.

The Canteen requires volunteer helpers for:

• Thursday 29 August
• Wednesday 11 September
• Thursday 12 September

If you are able to volunteer your time, please email Dana Norris norrisd02@dow.catholic.edu.au

Please ensure all uniform items, particularly jumpers and sports jackets, are clearly labelled with your child’s name. Labelled items handed in will be returned to their owner.