2022: Week 6, Term 1

Principal's Message

Dear JB Parents & Carers,

Our thoughts and prayers have centered on those who have experienced loss of life and property as a result of flooding over the past week. It has been distressing to see the significant impact on communities across the east coast of Australia. Together, we pray for those who have suffered and know that, as a nation, our collective spirit and willingness to help others will come to the fore and life can return to normal for these many thousands of people as soon as possible. 

DROP OFF and DISMISSAL PROCEDURES UPDATE

Thank you for your continued support and patience during our wet weather. It has been very challenging and I value your understanding as we have adjusted some arrival and dismissal procedures at short notice. 

Now the rain has hopefully cleared and we can resume to a reasonable level of ‘normal’, the following arrival and dismissal procedures will be put in place, effective immediately. Some of these procedures have continued from 2021, and are placed here as a reminder. 

DROP OFF

• supervision begins for all students at 8.20am. The Gloucester St gates open at 8.00am, and students arriving between 8.00-8.20am will be placed on the Grandstand (dry weather) or Undercover (wet weather)
• parents will be permitted to walk their children into the school in the event of extreme weather only (determined by the school on the day) at both gates. On normal days, students are to be dropped off at either gate. This now also applies to Early Bird Reading. 
• car drop-off is still available at Gloucester St
• every child must have a raincoat in their bags. Umbrellas are strongly discouraged as they are dangerous in the wind, and get lost easily 
• Gloucester St gates close strictly at 8.45am. Please drive to Mount St (or surrounding streets) after this time and enter via the office

DISMISSAL

• there will be no more Grandstand and drive-through pickup (as per this week’s procedure)
• Gloucester St gates open at 2.30pm each day, and dismissal will begin at 2.45pm. Parents will collect their children from the classroom between 2.45-3.10pm, and the Undercover (Library) from 3.10-3.30pm
• afternoon dismissal will operate for 45 minutes - 2.45-3.30pm. We strongly recommend you take advantage of the lengthy dismissal time and choose your time of arrival that best suits your needs
• Mount St carpark is not for parents. Please do not enter the exit driveway and park in this area. If you choose to use Mount St for dismissal, please use the surrounding streets
• bus procedures continue as normal

Many thanks for your continued support. 

Mr Brendan O'Connor - Principal

Assistant Principal News

Dear Parents, 

Thank you so much for your continued support in this wet weather. It has been great to see the students wearing raincoats to protect themselves and their bags. Where possible, we encourage the use of raincoats over umbrellas for our students. 

Reminder: Family Support Worker

We are very excited to share that we now have a dedicated Family Support Worker for our community here at JB. We welcome Lisa Harris from Catholic Care as a part of our team. 

Lisa is able to offer free confidential support for families going through challenging times. She can help you and your family with issues you may be facing, including some of the following:

• Child behaviour concerns
• Domestic and family violence
• Advocacy and referrals
• Financial hardship
• NDIS
• Traumatic events
• Housing stress

Lisa is available every Friday and can be contacted directly on - 0419 223 677 or via email - lisa.harris@catholiccare.org. 

Please feel free to contact Lisa directly for further information or to make an appointment. 

SMILe Days

As per our last communication, we are thrilled that our SMILe days have been able to return to normal. The parent calendar has been updated to reflect this should you ever need to check. 

Lunch time activities

This term we will see the return of our lunchtime clubs. These are optional for students to attend and include things such as Art Club, Makerspace (STEM activities), Technology Clubs, Film Club and Library. We also have our Activity Room where students can go to play some structured board games, build towers or put on a puppet show (to name a few things!). 

These clubs will run most lunch times and some even at recess. Stay tuned as we share some of the wonderful things the students get up to. 

Facebook

Be sure to like our school Facebook Page - we will be regularly posting some of the exciting things taking place at JB. 

https://www.facebook.com/jbbonnyrigg

Once again, thank you for your continued support and partnership. 

Mrs Natali Tomic - Assistant Principal

2023 Kindergarten Enrolments & Open Day Tours

Kindergarten 2023 enrolments are now open!

Sydney Catholic Schools invites new and existing families seeking enrolment for their Kindergarten child or other grade, to submit an application online via our school website: https://www.jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au/  You may do this by simply selecting the 'Enrol Now' button. Alternatively, paper applications are available from the office.  Any existing family wishing to enrol a sibling can apply online or request a paper application by emailing info@jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au with your eldest child’s name and class and this will be sent home to you. Please note, KINDERGARTEN ENROLMENT APPLICATIONS CLOSE 8th APRIL, 2022 and applications are to be submitted by this date.

Open Day Guided Tours for new families will be held on Wednesday 9th March as detailed below.  

Please share these details with any friends and family who are wanting to join our wonderful community in 2023.   Bookings for the limited Open Day Guided Tours can be made via TryBooking link: https://www.trybooking.com/BXENH

Family Educator

ZOOM- SPaR- A chance each week this term to meet virtually via ZOOM on Monday mornings at 9.30am, to STOP Pray and REFLECT. ALL are welcome to come online and share some catch up time afterwards too! The actual reflection will last no more than 15 minutes- it’s the conversation afterwards that is up to YOU. So make a CUPPA and join us by registering on THIS LINK

Note- No SPARZOOM on Monday 21st March due to an FE meeting.

JB Juniors PLAYGROUP- at this time we can not run a face to face preschooler playgroup, but we hope to resume in Term 2 in some way. You can find some activities HERE

Last week your children were given Lenten calendars with suggestions on different acts of kindness they may perform during this season.

Perhaps this can be a timely reminder to ourselves to GIVE up something or do something that benefits not so much our waistlines as our SPIRIT-

Give up complaining —focus on gratitude. 

Give up pessimism —become an optimist. 

Give up harsh judgments —think kindly thoughts. 

Give up worry —trust Divine Providence.

Give up discouragement —be full of hope.

Give up bitterness —turn to forgiveness.

Give up hatred —return good for evil.

Give up negativism —be positive.

Give up anger —be more patient.

Give up pettiness —become mature.

Give up gloom —enjoy the beauty that is all around you.

Give up jealousy —pray for trust.

Give up gossiping —control your tongue.

Give up sin —turn to virtue.

Give up giving up —hang in there!

God bless all as we continue on our Lenten Journey-

God bless, 

Tina Dunn - Family Educator

Literacy News

Literacy Corner 

Helping your child learn to read is one of the most important ways that you can support his or her education.  Studies show that parental involvement is key to student success.  Children who read outside of school as well as in school, are much more likely to succeed.  No matter how old your child is, no matter where they are in their reading journey, listening to them read out loud provides numerous opportunities.  

Here are a few tips that are intended to assist you in helping your child become a skilled, confident reader:

• Read to your child for at least 20 minutes each day
• Choose books that are interesting to your child and that are ‘just right’ - not too hard, but not too easy
• Talk about reading with your child.  Before reading a book, look at the pictures with your child and ask him or her to predict what the story might be about.  Talk about your child’s favourite books or characters.  Discuss things like how the book made them feel or what they learned from the book.

Early Bird Reading

I am very excited to finally announce that Early Bird Reading is back on in the library.  Early Bird Reading is held in the library every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:20am.  This is an opportunity for children K-6 to come along and spend some time reading or exploring books in the library.  Children enjoy reading with their friends, reading with a buddy or even reading with a teacher.  Children are encouraged to read home readers, picture books, factual books or even lexile books.Why not come along and ‘Start Your Day the Reading Way’!

Teresa Wojtowicz  -  Literacy Coordinator

Writing News

Writing Spotlight - Year 1 

In year 1 students have been learning how to write a procedure. They focused on writing sentences using action verbs and adverbs. Verbs describe things that we do and adverbs tell us when, where or how. The verbs have been highlighted in green and adverbs in blue. 

This week writing came alive in Year 1! They were immersed in the process of making a fruit salad and wrote a procedure describing How to Make Fruit Salad. Below is a co-constructed procedure written by 1 Ruby. 

Daniella Kokkinis - Writing Coordinator 

Numeracy News

Fluency in Mathematics refers to the automatic recall of basic math facts. Students at John the Baptist in Years 3-6 are working hard to achieve automaticity through Numerical Acumen.

Students work through a series of levels to develop their speed and fluency with number facts and are awarded stars and trophies for achieving outstanding results. 

Congratulations to the following students who have already achieved their ‘Gold Award.’

Michael Hobson  - Numeracy Coordinator

Library News

Newman News

Bebras Challenge

In the coming weeks, students in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will participate in round one of the Bebras Challenge. This is a challenge that is conducted by the CSIRO. The goal of the Bebras Challenge is to promote computational thinking skills in a way that highlights student abilities. It provides students with the opportunity to engage in collaborative, creative, and critical thinking. It is currently in almost 60 countries with over 2.9 million students participating each year! Teaching students these computational and problem solving skills is important as we prepare them for jobs that are yet to exist. We wish all students taking part in the challenge the very best of luck!

Mrs Francine Bushby - Newman Facilitator

Diverse Learning

Notes from the Office

2022 SCHOOL FEES

Dear Parents,

As you are aware, your 2022 School Fee Statements have been emailed to you. It would be appreciated if your payments are made by the scheduled dates as listed on your statement.

Payments can be made by BPAY, Compass Parent Portal, Cash, Eftpos or Centrepay.

Please contact the office if you did not receive your statement, or have any queries in relation to your fees.

Your co-operation is greatly appreciated.

2022 ACARA STUDENT BACKGROUND DATA COLLECTION

Parents, please be aware the 2022 ACARA Student Background Data Collection is taking place during March.

ACARA (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority collects student background data (SBD) for all Australian schools.

While you are not required to do anything for this collection, we ask you to ensure our school records are up-to-date and correct.  If you have any concerns or queries regarding the collection you may contact the Principal. More information on the collection of student background data is available on the ACARA website: https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/student-background-data-collection-for-independent-schools. Please also refer to the ADGESE Collection Notice below and the following SCS Standard Collection Notice.

Awards

Congratulations to the following students on achieving their badges:

Freeman Catholic College Open Day

Good Samiritan Catholic College Open Day

Lowes Uniform Sale

Dates to Remember