4 May Newsletter

Principal’s Message – Kate Ferguson

During the Easter holidays we joined with Global Christian community to recognise and celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that we are Easter people, that we are people of hope. It is a hope which is faith filled and knows what it is to live in the presence of God; to walk with Jesus; and to believe in what might otherwise not be believed.  

Throughout the Easter season we are reminded of the hope that we have in our faith and the hope that springs from our interactions with each other, the wider community and creation.

As we go about our day O God,
As we strive to walk with Jesus as people of love,
Remind us that we are the face of Christ,
Who is with us always. 
 
May your grace, mercy and peace,
Bless us, keep us and transform us all,
This day, now and forever.
Amen

Kids Mass

The Regional Kids Mass is taking place on Sunday 7th May at 6pm at St Joseph’s, East Maitland.

At Kids Mass we are striving to create a regular Eucharistic celebration that is welcoming to families, including those with young kids: A Mass that is relevant while still being reverent. Our focus is outreaching, to make a place in our church for all young people.

 At the Sunday Night Mass every week, we aim to provide a welcoming and accepting atmosphere, “younger” Mass music, a regular BBQ after Mass, and a place for everyone to meet Jesus. The regional Mass is held at St Joseph’s East Maitland each Sunday night at 6pm.

 The first Sunday of each month, KIDS MASS, is especially focused on little people. We look forward to seeing you there!

 ANZAC Day

Thank you to the families who were able to join us on ANZAC Day. This time of remembrance was a great opportunity to join with the Maitland community to recognise the sacrifice made for our freedom.

Thank you for our students for representing our school with such pride:

Thank you to our staff Renae Carmody, Olivia D'Accione and Stacey Whiting for organising our participation.

Term Calendar

This week your student will be bringing home a calendar of events for term 2. This is correct information at the time of printing but please continue to check Compass for updated information. This past fortnight, class teachers have also emailed home an overview of the learning ahead for their class. We look forward to sharing students learning with you throughout the term.

Uniform

As the mornings are getting cooler, students are starting to wear their school jumpers to school. Please ensure that your students name is easily identifiable on all uniform pieces.

From Monday 15^th May, students will be asked to wear their winter uniforms. A reminder that the P&F Second Hand uniform shop is open on Mondays 8.30 am to 9am.

Review of our School Homework Policy

As a school it is important to review our school policies to ensure that they continue to align with our school mission and vision. Throughout term 2, the homework policy will be reviewed by staff, parents and students.

I invite all parents and careers to complete the short questionnaire to assist the school with this review which can be found at: https://forms.office.com/r/tzceUu1T2U or through this QR code:

This link will be open until Friday 19^th May 2023.

I look forward to keeping you aware of the information that is received as well as the final documentation.

Assistant Principal’s Message – Stacey Whiting

School Reports 

Formal school reports are provided twice a year to communicate with parents and carers student achievements. Our Semester 1 report will go live on Compass during Week 8 and three-way conferences will take place during Week 9. Parents and carers will have an opportunity to meet with their child and class teacher to discuss their child’s learning and future goals.  Semester 2 conference times will be booked via Compass and we will advise when bookings are open. Please note that if you wish to have a few minutes without your child at the meeting, please let the class teacher know and this can be arranged.  

At St John the Baptist we follow the Catholic Schools Office reporting format which is outlined below.  

KEY LEARNING AREAS  

Descriptors for all Key Learning Areas  

Detailed descriptors within the strands of each Key Learning Area have been included to provide parents with more information about what their child is learning and what the teacher is reporting against. They include content and/or skills within the strands, and when read with the grade given by the teacher, provide a clear picture for parents on how their child is tracking.  

The inclusion of descriptors allows for changes to the content within syllabus documents by the government to be included when they happen.  

Overall Achievement Grade  

The Overall Achievement grade is no longer part of the Key Learning Area grading. Grades are given against the more detailed descriptors within each Key Learning Area. This change provides parents with a clear picture of their child’s achievement in the different sections within each Key Learning Area.   

Achievement against the standard in each Key Learning Area is recorded using a five-point scale of words rather than letters. Feedback suggested that the words – Limited, Basic, Sound, Thorough and Extensive, hold more meaning for parents than the previous A-E scale used. An explanation of the five-point scale can be found in the ‘Information for Parents/Caregivers’ section of the report.  

Areas of Strength and Development  

Teacher comments on ‘Areas of Strength’ and ‘Areas for Development’ in Religious Education, English and Mathematics are an important aspect of student progress in these Key Learning Areas. Teachers will focus on two areas of strength and one area for development in each report. These comments provide an opportunity to celebrate what a student is doing well and to identify goals for the following semester of learning.  

Standard comments have been developed from the NSW syllabus documents and are aligned to the Literacy and Numeracy Progressions used by all educators to support teaching and learning. Religious Education comments have been developed from Diocesan syllabus documents. These standard comments are used by teachers to provide consistency of feedback and language across Diocesan schools.   

Bus Travel and Code of Conduct  

Students who travel to and from school on buses are expected to abide by the NSW Transport Bus Code of Conduct. It is every student’s responsibility to behave in a manner that ensures the safety and comfort of passengers and drivers. Please see below the expectations and responsibilities of students which align with our Positive Behaviour for Learning framework. 

Students will: 

• Use safe hands and feet 
• Make good choices at all times 
• Accept responsibility for your actions 
• Use kind words and actions 
• Listen and follow instructions 

If an incident takes place on the bus and your child’s safety is at immediate risk, students are to report it to the bus driver. Parents and carers may also lodge concerns to the bus company. If there are other issues that can be managed at a school level, please contact the school and we will follow up the incident and consequences will be in line with our school behaviour policy. All incidents will be documented on Compass. In the coming weeks, we will send home a “Code of Conduct” for any students who travel to or from school on the bus. Please click on the link below to view Transport for NSW Code of Conduct for students, bus drivers, school principals and parents/guardians for further information.   

Religious Education – Chris Sheridan

Welcome to Term 2 and the Life-Giving Season of Easter.

We are now in the 4th Week of Easter. In our classrooms we have been speaking with the children about the events of Easter, much like the two disciples who encounter Jesus on the Road to Emmaus.

We are exploring the Christian Scriptures – The New Testament - to gain insights and an appreciation for what the gospel writers wish to pass on to the followers of Jesus Christ.

May the risen Christ watch over and guide each of us as we work, play, rest and look after one another, both near and far. Amen.

We especially invite the parents and carers to join Year 2 and Year 4 for Mass in St Mary’s Chapel next Thursday at 10:00am. We’d love to see you there.

In the last few weeks of last term, Year 6 organised the Zooper Dooper  Caritas Fund raiser - Zooper Doopers on Mondays (no canteen days) for 50 cents each. The students loved this and collectively they raised $159.35 bringing the Caritas total for Term 1 to $1152

Sports Report – Sara Murdoch

Athletics Carnival

Our Athletics carnival will be held at Maitland Athletics track on Friday the 9^th June (Week 7). I will be sending out entry forms via COMPASS next week. All entries must be done via COMPASS.

Gymnastics

All of our students will be participating in a 4-week gymnastics program starting in Week 7 until week 10.  All classes from K-6 will be attending 1 hour of gymnastics a week over that period. Your child’s Class Teacher will be in touch closer to the time to inform you when your child needs to wear sports uniform.

Canberra

Our Year 6 Students have recently undertaken, an education tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion and will be used for various end of year activities for Year 6.

 First stop – Mt Ainslie

Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)

Rock climbing fun!

Parliament House

War Memorial

Year 6 Retreat

Year 6 had a great day at our Year 6 Retreat. We used the day to relax, reflect, pray and contemplate how we can best live out Year 6 had a great day yesterday at our Year 6 Retreat. We used the day to relax, reflect, pray and contemplate how we can best live out Gospel Values to strive to live like Jesus and carry out the mission of the church. Students particularly enjoyed the hands-on activities that focused on listening, encouragement, team-building and cooperation.

Thanks for the amazing day Year 6 😀

Year 6 Retreat

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The Big Vegie Challenge

On March 30^th St John the Baptist students participated in Vegetable Week celebrations by taking part in The Big Vegie Challenge.  We joined about 100 000 students from roughly 450 schools across NSW to crunch on a variety of vegetables.  A huge thank you to Woolworths, Pender Place for their very generous donation of vegetables.  It was great to see so many students eating healthy, fresh vegetables and trying new vegetables for the first time!

Well done to all of students who entered the design a mascot competition!  The following entries were selected as the best designs and are in the running to win the top prize of having their mascot printed on totebags for their whole class!

Rosie Frize's entry in The Big Vegie Crunch Mascot competition has been chosen as a runner up!  As a result, the school wins a $250 vegie voucher. Congratulations Rosie on your winning entry 'Bethany the Beet'. 

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Book Club

Issue 3 of Book Club closes Monday 15^th May.

Thank you for your orders in Term One, this enabled us to purchase a variety of new and popular books for our students.

Students can access our Library Catalogue anytime via Compass under School Favourites.

Wonder Recycling Rewards for Schools

This term our school is participating in the 'Wonder Recycling Rewards for Schools' program. It is a fun and easy program where recycling efforts will earn our school reward points for new sporting equipment.

Simply bring in any empty bread bags to school and place in the cardboard box near the office.

Here are some tips:

•  Any bag that has contained bread of any sort and is soft plastic, is classed as a bread bag and can be recycled. 
  
•  Bags should be free of bread crumbs and ensure no contamination of other products has occurred.
•  The more bags we collect, the more rewards our school will get.
•  Ask friends and family to keep their bread bags.
•  Use an empty bread bag, then collect a bunch of other bread bags inside, and send a bag full in to school!
•  Collection will run all term.

Thank you for your assistance with this fantastic rewards program.

Tania Kranias

Class Merit Awards

Canteen

P & F News

We hope all students, staff and families had a restful break over the holidays. We thank everyone for their ongoing support with a great start to the year. We raised over $2000 from the Easter Raffle- well done!

Mother’s Day Stall

Wednesday 10^th May. $5 per gift. Limited extra gifts are available.

If you can lend a hand (approx. 9-11am), please contact the committee. Please confirm you have your required volunteer paperwork completed with Lesley in the front office.

Uniform Shop

Open Monday 8:30-9am in school hall.

We are asking for donations of approved uniform items in good, clean quality condition (no rips, stains etc).

We thank our dedicated uniform shop volunteers for their time and efforts in sorting and washing donations ready to sell.

Contacting the P & F Committee

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any assistance via executive@pandf-maitlandsj.com

We welcome any suggestions, feedback, offers to volunteer with events or general enquiries

Dates for the Diary

Term 2

Mother’s Day stall - Wednesday 10 th May (week 3)
Mother’s Day raffle - Friday 12th May (week 3)
Meeting – Wednesday 24 th May @ 9:30am (week 5)
Athletics carnival morning tea - Friday 9th June (week 6)
PJ day/cake stall - Wednesday 28 th June (week 10)

Term 3

Thompson’s pie drive - TBC (week 5)
Meeting - Wednesday 9th August @ 9:30am (week 6)
Father’s Day stall - Wednesday 30th   August (week 7)
Father’s Day raffle - Friday 1st   September (week 7)

Term 4

Meeting & 2024 AGM - Wednesday 8 November @ 9:30 am (week 7)
Christmas Family Night - Tuesday 5th December (week 9)
Christmas Fun Day - Friday 8th December (week 9)