Dear Parents and Carers,

Last week the Catholic Church celebrated two significant feast days. The Feast of All Saints was celebrated on 1 November, followed by the Feast of All Souls Day on 2 November.

On All Saints Day, we honour those men and women who have led lives of heroic virtue that set an example for all Christians. This feast should inspire us with hope, as many of the saints lived lives that we can relate to. They were baptised, faith-filled people following Christ’s teaching and serving others.

All Souls Day is a time in which we remember those who have died — friends, colleagues, relatives ... those whom we have known ... worked with ... wept with ... walked with ... Many of them are not famous and their statues are not in churches, but their pictures are in our homes and their stories alive in our families, and in us. We remember them with love and celebrate in faith their journey to God, within the communion of saints.

It was a glorious night for the ‘Family Food and Ride Night’ last Friday evening. The weather was perfect and the decision to have all the rides and food available on one side of the school helped to create a true carnival atmosphere. Thank you for the positive feedback received on the new format. As a school social event I, feel that it certainly ticked all the boxes. Most importantly the children had a fantastic time! My thanks and gratitude to our P&F President Therese Ly and Vice President Jodie Maloney for their thorough planning and organisation. They continue to be extremely generous in giving of their time to ensure that such events occur so as to further strengthen the strong sense of community that exists within our wonderful school.

For your planning, the next P&F meeting will be a combined breakfast and helpers thank you to be on Friday 6 December from 7:15 am. Further information will be forthcoming.

PARISH SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM - FIRST HOLY COMMUNION (EUCHARIST)

Congratulations to the following children who made their First Holy Communion on Saturday 26^th October:

OCTOBER - WORLD MISSION MONTH

On Wednesday 30^th October, St John’s highlighted the great work that Catholic Mission does in reaching out and helping the most vulnerable in our world. A beautiful liturgy was led by Year 5 staff and students in which we looked at our focus country, Ghana and how we can, through Catholic Mission, help them.

Students and staff wore mufti socks in our efforts to “sock it to poverty” and classes brought in coins to make Mission coin lines. A total of $1700 was raised for Catholic Mission. Thank you to everyone for your contribution in achieving this truly amazing result!

Our top achieving classes were:

PARISH CELEBRATION - Sunday 24 November

On Sunday 24^th November, the Parish will have its annual celebration day. There will be an outdoors Mass at 10am (this will be the only Mass this day, the Saturday 5pm Mass will be on as normal.) The Parish Celebration will be held on the Evangelist Campus. There will be limited seating so if possible, please bring your own fold-up chairs and tables and/or picnic blankets. After Mass, there will be food and entertainment. There will be a jumping castle, popcorn, fairy floss and snow cones, as well as face painting for the younger children. There will be a free BBQ on the day. If you have a food allergy, please bring your own food just to be safe.

If you have a national dress from another country, please wear it on the day to add to the colour of this celebration. If you have a large flag of your country of origin, please consider offering it to Fr Francis by the 22nd November so that it can be displayed on the day. If you have a small handheld flag please bring it on the day.

Helpers are needed on the Saturday evening from 6 pm to help with set up. Please contact Steve Leonard if you are able to help with this - 0403230872.

For further information, please contact the Parish Office - 42611315

SVDP HAND ME UPS PROGRAM

Recently, a member of St Vincent de Paul spoke to us regarding the results of our recent donation drive.

As you can see the results were very pleasing, with an additional note added to our report - “BRILLIANT result! No landfill! Best bin we have ever got back!” Congratulations St John’s and thank you for your efforts.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

• Friday 8 November – 9:30am Parish Mass - Year 5 attending
• Friday 8 November – 11:00am - Reconciliation - 6R attending
• Monday 11 November – Remembrance Day
• Friday 15 November – 9:30am Parish Mass - Kinder attending
• Friday 15 November – 11:00am - Reconciliation - 6G attending
• Friday 6 December – 9:30am – Mass, SVDP Christmas Appeal presentation & Principal Awards
• Friday 13 December – Whole School Christmas Concert with Andrew Chinn - 1pm - all families are welcome to attend (more details to come)
• Sunday 15 December, 6pm – STAGE 1 (Years 1 and 2) - Stage Weekend Mass with Andrew Chinn

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

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

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:

Get the Compass mobile app

Access student information on the go with Compass mobile app for iPhone & Android phones.

Automatically Update apps

It is important that your mobile device has the most current version of the app. Make sure that the apps are set to automatically update.

iPhone

Go into Settings and scroll until you see iTunes and App Store. Tap on iTunes & App Store. Then scroll down the bottom until you see AUTOMATIC DOWNLOADS. To turn on automatic app updates, tap in the white oval next to App Updates.

Android

Open the Google Play Store app. Tap Menu Settings. Tap Auto-update apps. Select an option: Over any network to update apps using either Wi-Fi or mobile data. Over Wi-Fi only to update apps only when connected to Wi-Fi.

Get Notifications

An app notification is a message or alert sent by Compass to the user. Notifications sent this way do not require the Compass app to be open and messages are displayed on the screen of the mobile even when the device is locked.

iPhone

Go to Settings > Notifications, select the app, and make sure that Allow Notifications is on. If you have notifications turned on for an app but you're not receiving alerts, you might not have Banners selected. Go to Settings > Notifications, select the app, then select Banners.

Android

Open your phone's Settings app. Tap Apps & notifications Notifications. Under "Lock screen," tap Notifications on lock screen or On lock screen. Choose Show alerting and silent notifications. On some phones, choose Show all notification content.

Please see below important information about the Orientation Program for Kindergarten 2020. The purpose of a comprehensive transition program is to ensure a positive and supportive experience for all families.

During the three orientation mornings (compulsory), the children will spend time in the classrooms getting to know their teachers and each other. Parents and carers will attend an information session as part of their induction into life at St John’s.

Kindergarten orientation will commence at 9:00 am on each of the orientation days with the children meeting at the undercover area of the Evangelist Building before moving up to the classrooms. The Year 6 (2020) buddies will also visit the students and join them at morning tea. The children will enjoy a morning of activities in the Kindergarten classrooms, which will conclude at 11:30 am at the Evangelist Building.

The Kindergarten teachers, as well as members of our school community, will provide information about starting ‘Big School’ including uniforms, before and after school care, canteen and the role of the Parents and Friends Association. A morning tea will follow the meeting, providing an opportunity for you to meet other Kindergarten parents.

All children are asked to bring a hat and their morning tea, including a drink, in a small container with their name clearly marked on it and wear closed in shoes (joggers) not thongs or sandals. Please note that St John’s is an allergy aware school, please do not bring any foods that contain nuts, egg, or seafood as we have students with food allergies.

South East Regional Cluster CDF Public Speaking

On Wednesday 23 October, Austin R from Year 5 and Prisha A from Year 6 represented St John's at the regional public speaking competition. Both students competed against 15 other students in their respective age groups and the competition was exceptionally tough. They spoke with confidence and are both commended on the way they represented the school. Prisha came first in the Year 6 competition and we wish her every success as she competes in the grand final to be held November 20 2019. 

On Friday 8 November the new building will be open for inspection by parents and carers from 2:30 – 3:30 pm. All parents and carers are welcome.

On 11 November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after four years of continuous warfare. With their armies retreating and close to collapse, German leaders signed an Armistice, bringing to an end the First World War. In the four years of the war more than 330,000 Australians had served overseas, and more than 60,000 of them had died.

Each year on this day Australians observe one minute's silence at 11am, by observing one minute's silence we pay tribute to the men and women who have served and are still serving in our defence forces and remember those who have died or suffered in conflicts, wars and peacekeeping operations. 

We will remember them. Lest we forget.

The annual Parish Celebration Day will take place on Sunday 24 November. All families are warmly invited to join the celebrations which will have a multicultural theme. 

Celebrations will commence at 10:00 am with an outdoor Mass, at the rear of the church, facing the new school building. Families are encouraged to wear national dress and asked to bring fold-up chairs or picnic rugs to sit on.

Following Mass, there will be food and entertainment including live music, a jumping castle and face painting 

Please note, if you have a food allergy please bring your own food just to be safe.

Stephen Leonard
Parish Pastoral Council

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

School Pickup Zones

Parents and Carers

Lake Illawarra Police District is aware and are investigating numerous fraudulent transactions occurring on Gumtree. Police are urging people to exercise caution when purchasing items online, particularly tickets, mobile phones, and animals (especially dog and birds).

Always use Paypal or comply with the site's policies and guidelines. DO NOT deposit directly into an account or into Western Union. If Seller states Paypal is unavailable, please think twice about your purchase.

If it is too good to be true, it usually is! 

Report all Frauds to Lake Illawarra Police District.  

Kind Regards
Senior Constable Lori Hanley
Youth Liaison Officer
Lake Illawarra Police District
PH: 4232 5329 PH: 4232 5599