Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome to the new school year. I trust that the holiday break was enjoyable and that you are excited about the year ahead. It has been a settled start to the new year, with lots of smiles and the sharing of holiday experiences. My sincere thanks for your effort in ensuring that your children are wearing the correct school uniform, particularly the sport shoes and are equipped ready for the school. Our focus during the first days of school has been to revisit our non-negotiable expectations of being Respectful, Responsible and Safe and establishing procedures and practices for our daily operation, ensuring a successful transition back to school for all children.

A warm welcome also to the 14 new students and their families who have commenced at St John’s this year as well as the 84 Kindergarten students who will commence ‘Big School’ tomorrow. While families may feel a little overwhelmed with all that comes with new beginnings, I’m confident that you will feel welcomed and that your experience will be positive and supportive. If at any time, you require clarification on any school-related matter, please don’t hesitate and contact the school office.

As you are aware, bushfires have had a devastating impact across NSW, particularly on the south coast and areas on the outskirts of Sydney, in areas within our diocese and in neighbouring dioceses. Many staff and members of our Catholic school communities have been personally impacted by this terrible situation which continues as they begin the arduous process rebuilding their lives. Words are simply not adequate and I’m sure that either directly or indirectly you know of families that have suffered terribly by the bushfires that have engulfed NSW. Our thoughts and prayers remain with all who have been impacted by the bushfires.

Therefore, on Friday 5 March, we will be having a fundraiser for St Vincent de Paul’s bushfire appeal, with our theme being HOPE. All students will be encouraged to come to school in their brightest colours, emphasising the brightness of our future. Students are asked to bring in “loose change” (preferably gold coloured!). Each class will use their loose change to make a message of hope for either the people who have been affected by the recent bushfires or for the firefighters and emergency personnel who are working tirelessly to protect lives and property. We will then be participating in a hope-filled dance! More details will be forthcoming.

Stage 2 of the building project continues to be on schedule, with a completion date of the end of May forecast. This week, builders commenced Stage 3, refurbishing and upgrading of the administration and staffroom facilities. As previously communicated to parents/carers, the school administration has been temporarily relocated to the front desk in the library for the duration of this work. It is a very exciting time for our school and by the middle of the year, we will have completed this enormous undertaking and will be enjoying beautiful new learning spaces and facilities.

A reminder, Parent/Carer Information Sessions commence tonight and continue tomorrow evening. I’m hopeful that they will be well attended and I look forward to seeing you. 

Yours sincerely
Andrew Heffernan (Principal)

HISTORY OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST SCHOOL AND PARISH

This term, each grade will begin the year with a unit of work that looks at the history of our school and parish, our vision, motto, core values, school prayer and school song, St John the Evangelist and our role models that we have for our houses - MacKillop, Ward, Joseph and McCabe.

After reviewing our school prayer this week to understand it more deeply, 5B have written their own version that they will be using as their class prayer:

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for all of your wonderful gifts, especially learning, each other and for life itself.

May the Holy Spirit be in us and help us to be more like Jesus.

Keep us safe today and always as we strive to bring your peace and joy to others.

Bless the sick, the poor and those in need. Help us to show them your love through our generosity and kindness.

Amen

PRAYER FOR RAIN

We continue to pray for all communities in need of rainfall, that God’s bountiful rain will once again bring life to our parched land and extinguish the many bushfires around our country.

STAGE 1 WEEKEND MASS (with Andrew Chinn) - Sunday 16 February

Once a term, we invite particular year groups to attend the Sunday 6pm Mass. Andrew Chinn, a well known singer and musician, attends this Mass, leading our singing with the children. All families are encouraged to attend this Mass, but particularly our Kinder and Year 6 families this term. Our school staff and parish catechists will also be commissioned at this Mass. We hope you can join us.

PARISH SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

An outline of the Penance (Reconciliation) Parish Sacramental Program for 2020 has been sent home as a hard copy on Tuesday to students in Years 3, as well as digitally attached to this newsletter. All parents and carers of students in Year 3 are asked to indicate on the note whether their child is intending to make any Sacraments this year and then return the slip to school as soon as possible. This helps greatly with our planning for the number of Masses/liturgies that are to take place. Please take particular note of all dates involved in the Sacrament. Enrolments for the Sacrament of Penance begin very early this year – the weekend of February 8^th and 9^th.

We are still awaiting our Confirmation dates for this year from the Bishop’s Office. As soon, as we receive this information, a note will go home to Year 6 families and then dates of First Holy Communion will also be able to be set.

VINNIES BINS

This year we will continue our Tuesday “Earn and Return” day.

A reminder that the blue Vinnies bins will only be brought out each Tuesday morning before school. There will be bins on both campuses that will be monitored by our Mini-Vinnies members. We are asking families to send in any containers that are appropriate (no glass) on this morning. Each container we return will earn 10c for SVDP.

Items that could be brought in:

• Cans (e.g. soft drinks)
• Cartons (e.g. small flavoured milk cartons)
• Juice boxes or poppers
• Recyclable water bottles

However, they must…

• Be in good condition (not be crushed or broken)
• Be empty
• Have the label and barcode attached

Milk, juice and cordial containers that are 1L or more, can not be put in the Earn and Return bins.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

• Friday 7^th March - Whole School Mass 9:30am (Commissioning of our Year 6 Student Leaders)
• Saturday/Sunday 8^th/9^th February - Reconciliation Enrolment Weekend at Mass
• Thursday 13^th February - National Apology Anniversary
• Friday 14^th February - Year 5 attending 9:30am Parish Mass
• Friday 14^th February - 6B attending Reconciliation
• Saturday/Sunday 15^th/16^th February - Reconciliation Enrolment Weekend at Mass
• Friday 5^th March - fundraiser (loose change day) for the SVDP Bushfire Appeal 

PARISH CHRISTMAS 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

On Friday 7 February, there will be a whole school Mass at 9:30 am at which the 2020 student leaders will be officially inducted. All parents and carers are warmly invited to attend Mass in our parish Church.

Dates for Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics Carnivals

• 21 February - Primary School Swimming Carnival
• 5 March South Coast Swimming
• 9 March Diocesan Swimming Selection Trials
• 3 April - Cross Country Carnival
• 8 April - Cross Country Carnival - BACKUP Date
• 5 May Diocesan Cross Country Carnival
• 26 May Diocesan Cross Country - BACKUP Date
• 2 July - Athletics Carnival
• 11 August South Coast Region Athletics
• 18 August Diocesan Athletics Selection Trials

Primary Swimming Carnival

St John’s Primary Swimming Carnival will be held on Friday, 21 February. Attendance is compulsory for all Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 students. Novelty events will be run on the day. Each primary grade attending one session. Primary non-swimmers are included in these activities.

Entry is also open to Year 2 students who will be turning 8 this year to compete in 50 metre events. Year 2 students must be very competent 50 metre swimmers. Students compete in their age group for freestyle and for all other strokes compete in junior (8, 9 & 10 years), 11 years and senior (12 & 13 years) categories. We look forward to a great day of participation, fun and sportsmanship.

Permission and entry notes will be sent home with students next week.

Congratulations Gianni

Over the weekend Gianni represented his club APLA at regionals, this year was held at lake Illawarra athletics club, Gianni outperformed himself, getting PB in Discus and 60m hurdles, Gianni came home with 3 medals, silver in Discus, bronze in the 60m hurdles and 200m sprint, under 8 don't go to state, so the medals he received are state medals.

Mrs Michelle Atkins
Sports Coordinator

There have been some minor changes to sports uniform days for Term 1. These changes only impact on 1 Green and 1 Red. Beginning next week the sports uniform days will be: 

• Tuesday - Year 3, Kindergarten, Gunyah 1 and 1 Green
• Wednesday - Year 5, Year 6, Gunyah 2 and 1 Blue 
• Thursday - Year 4, Year 2 and 1 Red
• Friday - whole school.

Parents and reminded that in regards to the administration of medication at school, the Catholic Education Office policy states the following;

• A ‘Request to Administer Medication Form’ MUST be completed for all medication (prescription or Over-The-Counter).
• Prescription medication is to be provided to the school in the original container with the pharmacy label attached to the container.
• Action Plans (Asthma and Anaphylaxis) MUST be updated on an annual basis or following a medical episode, or as requested by the school.
• For medical conditions that meet the Student with Disability Criteria under Nationally Consistent Collection of Data definition and/or where there are safety concerns for the student regarding their health (such as diabetes, chronic asthma, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis) the school will engage the support of the Catholic Education Office to ensure that appropriate supports and plans are in place to meet the individual needs of the student.

Parents and carers are reminded that the area surrounding St John’s is designated as a School Zone. Police and Council Rangers constantly patrol the area and they will have no hesitation in prosecuting drivers for driving offences.

All NSW school zones are sign-posted with regulatory signs that list the operating times of the school zones. 

For the safety of all, please ensure that you adhere to the signage and following the directions of our School Crossing Supervisor.

Full list of School Zone offences are available from the RMS website.

The P&F Annual General Meeting will be held in the Year 6 Classrooms on Tuesday 25 February at 7 pm. The primary purpose of the P&F is to provide an opportunity for parents to be involved in the school through social events, fundraising and support for school initiatives.

At the meeting, all positions will be declared vacant and an election will take place. If any parent wishes to nominate themselves or someone else for any of the positions, please complete the form (link below) and return it to the school office by Friday 22 February addressed to the Principal. I look forward to seeing you all at the meeting.

School fees have been invoiced to families and they are available to view in the Compass Parent Portal.  We anticipate that school fee statements will be issued by email within the next 10 days.  We apologise for the delay in distribution of statements, which was unanticipated and due to system issues.  For your information payment requirements are as follows:

• For families who pay annually, payment in full is due on 28 February 2020.
• For families that have submitted a Request to Pay by Instalment or who previously had a School Fee Agreement in place, a schedule of the required payments and the due date will be issued with school fee statements.  The first instalment payment will be due on 28 February, 2020.  Parents may commence payments earlier if they wish, however, it is important that any existing regular payment is equal to the instalment amount provided on the schedule and that payment is made on or before the due dates on the schedule.  Reference should be made to the Request to Pay by Instalments on the school’s website for conditions relating to payment in this manner. 
• For families who have a Fee Concession in place, you will be contacted prior to your review date to complete annual documentation and arrange an interview with the Principal.  If you have a current payment plan in place, and you are unable to increase your payments to meet your 2020 school fees, you may continue to make these payments until your next review date.
• Parents should be aware that our new accounting system will send automatic reminders for overdue payments.

The following documents are available on the school’s website for the information of families:

• Diocesan School Fee Management Policy
• Diocesan Frequently Asked Questions
• Diocesan Request to Pay by Instalments
• Information regarding school Fees at our school

To the following students who celebrated their birthday in January, and the students celebrating their birthday in February — we wish you a very happy birthday and hope you had/have a great day.

GROUP 1:  3rd – 7th February

GROUP 2:  10th – 14th February

GROUP 3:  17th – 21st February

GROUP 4: 24th – 28th March

Dear Parents/Carers,

The best gift any parent can give a child is the love of books and the joy and benefits of independent reading for fun. Children who read at home, or are read to, have a head start on reading success in school.

Our school is participating in Scholastic Book Club this year. Up to twice a term, during the school year, we will send home a Club catalogue with a different selection of books offered for all ages.

You’ll find award-winning books and bestsellers, as well as old and new favourites. We recommend them because the books span a wide range of children’s reading levels and interests and because they are inexpensive (some books cost as little as $2).

It is easy to order. The Book Club LOOP platform for parents allows you to pay by credit card. Your child’s order is submitted directly to school safe and sound and the books will be delivered to class. You can place your child’s order at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. 

Each order helps earn free books and teaching materials for our classrooms, however there is never any obligation to order. We know of no better way to encourage reading than to allow children to choose the books they want to read. 

Sincerely,
Book Club Organisers