2022: Week 2, Term 2

Principal's Message

Dear JB Parents and Carers

Welcome back to Term 2! We hope each family was able to enjoy a happy and holy Easter break, with a renewed sense of optimism in the joy of the Risen Jesus. 

We look forward to our Mother's Day Liturgy that will take place THIS FRIDAY, followed by the opportunity to share lunch with your children and engage in their learning for the remainder of the afternoon. It promises to be a fun day! Looking forward to seeing you. 

As we move into Week 3, a reminder that all students will be wearing FULL WINTER UNIFORM from Monday. Full details are included in the newsletter. It is also very important that students bring their hat to school each day. It is a mandatory part of their uniform, and needs to be worn as soon as they enter school each morning. Please ensure your child is ready for this winter uniform transition by next Monday. 

There are lots of announcements in this week's newsletter. Thank you for taking the time to read through. 

Brendan O'Connor  Principal

Assistant Principal News

Dear Parents, 

Mother’s Day Liturgy, Picnic Lunch and Open Classrooms

A reminder that this Friday is our Mother’s day Liturgy, Picnic Lunch and Open Classrooms. 

The day will run as follows with an approximate guide of times for you. 

11:20 - Liturgy in the church 

12noon - Picnic Lunch (Sausage Sizzles will be sent to the eldest child’s classroom) 

12:40 - Address from Mr O’Connor to parents on the Undercover 

12:50 - 1:20pm - Open Classrooms 

We hope to see you all on Friday and wish all in our community a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. 

Winter Uniform

A reminder that all students are expected to be in full winter uniform from the start of Week 3. Our uniforms are available for purchase from Lowes, we also have a large selection of 2nd Hand Uniforms which can be ordered through the office or purchased at our clothing pool sale. 

Clothing Pool Sale - Additional Date 

Back by popular demand… our clothing Pool will be open this Friday 6th May from 10:30-11am just by the playing field near the Gloucester Street Carpark. 

Our parent volunteers will be there selling all WINTER & SPORT items only. 

Parents are invited to come along to the clothing sale and then move up to the church where we will gather for our Mother’s Day Liturgy. 

All items are $5, with the exception of anoraks which are now only $10 and ties which are $2. 

Please bring correct money with you as this is a cash only sale. 

Sibling Interviews - Kindergarten 2023

Our Sibling Interviews for Kindergarten 2023 will be held on Friday 20th May. At least one parent and the student enrolling are to attend the interview, which will be held in the library. The Gloucester Street car park will be open for your convenience. 

9:15-10:15am: Siblings (A-K Surname)

12:00-1:00pm: Siblings (L-Z Surname)

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email through to info@jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au

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

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. 

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

Natali Tomic  Assistant Principal

Family Educator News

Parent SPaR

Each Monday morning at 8.50am we meet in the gallery to Stop, Pray and Reflect on a different theme. This usually lasts about ten minutes.

It was wonderful this week to welcome  parents back for our Mother’s Day reflection. “You’ve got this in the Bag!” was a great success and mothers received a gift of a tote bag with a prayer attached. All are welcome each Monday for the SPaR followed by a cuppa and conversation.

JB Juniors- FUN FOR PRESCHOOLERS!

Dates for this Term

Tuesdays fortnightly-  3rd May, 17th May, 31st May, 14th June and 28th June.

This Playtime group begins at 8.50am on Tuesday Morning in the demountable classroom on the top playground. We share a prayer, a story/craft and playtime.

It is open to children aged 0-5 years. Parents are responsible for the supervision of their children at all times. We finish approximately 10am. 

Please let gate staff know you are attending this event when entering the grounds.

Celebrating Motherhood

There are many great examples of Mothers in the Bible- none so blessed and graceful as that of Mary! Imagine that in saying YES to motherhood, this one young woman made such an impact on our world. She truly is the Mother of the Church!

Let us celebrate Motherhood this coming weekend, in all its amazing and unique forms! 

There are women who ‘mother’ other people’s children, those who have lost their children and those who long for their own child. There are many mothers no longer with us.

Let us celebrate and remember them all.

Proverbs 31: 25-31

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.              

When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.                                    

She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness.          

Her children stand and bless her.

Her husband praises her:

“There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”   

…reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

God bless Mothers!

Tina Dunn  Family Educator

Parish Matters- because it DOES!

Communion lessons begin next week for those children who made their Reconciliation last term.

Communion Sacrament Commitment Masses will be held this weekend of 7 or 8 May. 

You can attend any of the regular parish masses this weekend on Saturday 5.30pm  or Sunday 8am, 10am and 5.30pm.Children will be asked to fill out a commitment sheet and bring it forward during the mass.

Children’s Liturgy

We are in need of more Children’s Liturgy leaders- parents, or students studying teaching, catechists- if you would like to share the Word of God with children at 8am Sunday Mass, please contact Angela Galdas on 0410 964196.

Literacy News

Literacy Corner Term 2 Week 2

Welcome back to another exciting term of Reading and Literacy at JB.  Many of our students returned to school with amazing Easter Reading Challenge entries.  We had videos, movies, paper mache easter eggs, posters, board games, books, passports and many other creative entries.

Overall, we had over 400  entries that all demonstrated the strong literacy skills used at John the Baptist.  On Monday we celebrated class winners as well as overall winners.  Each class winner received a book prize and overall winners were awarded a voucher to spend at Hoyts.

Congratulations to all participants and winners!

Overall Infants winner: Luca DeBoucherville

Overall Primary winners: Oleen Abouna, Isabel Tantiyasawatdikun, Savannah Toma, Maria Toma, Marina Toma

Overall winning class with most returned entries: 2 Emerald

This class has won an ice cream buffet party as a class reward!

Lexile Reading Program

During our Week 2 School Assembly we also celebrated the achievements of those children who have excelled in their Primary Reading Achievements.  Lexile Medals were awarded to one student per class who read the most words during Term 1.  Congratulations to all our students who continue to demonstrate motivation and efforts towards this program.

A class trophy is also awarded each term to the class in the grade that read the most words during the term.  Term 1 Champion Classes are as follows:

3 Gold 4 644 889 words read

4 Emerald 3 754 778 words read

5 Ruby 3 866 535 words read

6 Gold 6 822 590 words read

Remember: READ! READ! READ!

Teresa Wojtowicz  Literacy Coordinator

Writing News

Year 4 Writing

Last Term, Year 4 learnt how to write an imaginative text to entertain the reader. They focused on different figurative language features like similes, metaphors, idioms and personification. A narrative includes an Orientation with a sizzling start, Complication including a pebble, rock and boulder and a Resolution. 

Here is an excerpt from Jacob Pisani’s writing task based on the next chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Out of nowhere Wonka appeared. He said, “If you throw this lolly into the lake it will disappear, but the lake will never come back. Just throw it in''. So he did, then the whole chocolate lake disappeared, even the chocolate fountain. “Even though Rome wasn’t built in a day, you should always try new things,” said Wonka. Okay I’ll try to make a new lake and a factory…………….

Here are some more samples of Year 4’s work.

Newman News

Bebras Challenge

Last term teams of Year 3,4, 5 and 6 students participated in round one of the Bebras Challenge. This is a challenge conducted by the CSIRO 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.

The results are in! What a fantastic effort from all teams involved. Our school received 3 High Distinctions, 25 Credits, 29 Merits and 5 Participations. Congratulations to all the students - their perseverance in training for the challenge and application of problem-solving skills are a credit to each of them!

Well done to the following students:

Mrs Francine Bushby  Newman Facilitator

Library News

Numeracy News

Mathematics is everywhere, and everyone can be good at it! 

Being positive about Maths can help children develop their mindset and succeed in Mathematics.

Talking about Maths at home

Children can:

• Collect important dates and mark them on a calendar
• Time how long does it take us to travel to school
• Estimate how far you’ve travelled, the distance to your destination, and how long it is going to take
• Find the arrival time: e.g. If it is 4:38 pm now and it will take us 15 minutes to get there
• Help you to make a travel plan using timetables
• Read the public transport maps to follow along with each stop
• Read car and house prices in car yards and real estate agents’ windows
• When driving, spot number plates with the number zero on them. Change the number to 1 when they have spotted five car number plates with the number zero. Work their way up to the number 9. Spot number plates with digits that equal 10, 20, 55, 17 using different operations (+ – x ÷ )

Michael Hobson  Numeracy Coordinator

Religion News

Notes from the Office

ENROLMENT PERIOD FOR 2023 KINDERGARTEN IS NOW CLOSED.

Please be aware the enrolment period for Kindergarten 2023 has now closed. If you have a sibling due to commence Kindergarten in 2023, please urgently contact the office to discuss the possibility of placement.  Applications can still be submitted, however, will be placed on a Waiting List and may be considered should second round offers become available.

Enrolment applications may be completed and submitted online via our school website: https://www.jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au/ or sydcatholicschools.nsw.edu.au. You may do this by selecting the 'Enrol Now' button. For our existing families wishing to enrol a sibling, you will be taken to your child/ren's Compass dashboard where you will find 'Family & Enrolments' under your settings options. 

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.

Awards

Congratulations to the following students on achieving their badges:

Lowes School Uniform Sale

Dates to Remember