2023: Week 2, Term 2

Principal's Message

Dear JB Parents & Carers

REFLECTION - GOSPEL

Prosperous countries of the world search for a way to increase their prosperity. Poor nations search for a way to raise their standard of living. Many countries and peoples search for peace in their countries and lives. Scientists search for ways reach outer space. Medical experts search for the way to cure cancers and diseases. It would seem, often, that our whole life is a search for something. We never feel quite fulfilled. There is always something we seek.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled - Trust in God still, and trust in me.” If only we could remember to use these words each and every morning and live by them. We live in troubled times - times of violence, time of injustice, times of economic difficulty, times of relational difficulties - so many things with which to cope.  “Do not be troubled.” Jesus never failed a promise he made. "Trust in God still, and Trust in Me.” And Jesus said: “I am the Way I am the Truth, I am the Life.” If only our world and ourselves really knew it - it is that for which our hearts are searching.

LATE FATHER JOHN LANGTRY 

YEAR 1 GRADE PARISH MASS - THIS SUNDAY 10.00am

We look forward to welcoming our Year 1 families to our Parish Mass this Sunday - of course, all families are welcome!

MORNING DROP-OFF

A reminder that the preferred location for morning drop-off (prior to 8.20am) is the Gloucester St Gate. The Mount St gate is unsupervised until the gate opens at 8.20am. There are large numbers of students gathering unsupervised in front of the Church each morning before 8.20am, and there have been some reported incidents. We want to ensure all students are safe at all times. Supervision is kindly provided before school by Mrs Tomic and myself before the school officially opens at 8.20 on Gloucester St. We appreciate your support. 

KINDER 2024 INTERVIEWS

Mrs Tomic and I are well underway with our interviews for Kinder 2024 students and their familes. We have been overwhelmed with the number of applications! Interviews will take a number of weeks, and families will be informed by the end of term. 

JB BUILDING UPDATE

Our project is moving along rapidly (as many of you see each day). We are very pleased with progress so far. With continued good weather, it seems very likely that all works will be completed before the end of term. 

AMADEUS UPDATE

Our Amadeus program is moving along wonderfully. It is vital that students bring their instruments on their day so they do not miss out on instruction. Years 3-4 have their program on Monday, while Years 5-6 is each Friday. 

MOTHER'S DAY MORNING TEA and LITURGY - NEXT FRIDAY

We look forward to inviting all of our mum's to our special Mother's Day breakfast and class liturgy next Friday morning, beginning at 7.30am. All details are provided in today's newsletter. We look forward to seeing you!

With my best wishes for the week ahead. 

Mr O'Connor  Principal

Assistant Principal News

Facebook & Instagram 

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

https://www.facebook.com/jbbonnyrigg

https://www.instagram.com/johnthebaptistbonnyrigg/ 

 Mrs Natali Tomic  Assistant Principal

Religion News

PRAYER PLACES & REGINA CAELI

The Pope Francis students led the school in the setting of the Easter Prayer places in classrooms and now lead the school daily with the Regina Caeli. 

Prayer Places & Regina Caeli

ANZAC DAY SERVICE

The service for the ANZACs was led on Wednesday 26th by our Pope Francis students. The whole school stopped and  remembered their sacrifice. Together, we prayed that the gift of peace, given to us by these brave people will be treasured and protected for generations to come.

Anzac Day Service

EASTER JOY

On Thursday 27th April, the school community together with parents and parishioners celebrated with great joy, the Resurrection of Jesus. The deep sadness of the Crucifixion and the Veneration of the Cross was replaced with joy and hope and we all joyfully sang as one “Alleluia, he has risen! Alleluia he’s alive”! 

The Student Leadership members and the Pope Francis Award students proclaimed the Word, led the Prayers of the Faithful and served as Altar Servers. Thank you parents and parishioners for joining our celebration of the Eucharist.  

WEEKEND MASSES

Grade 1  - Sunday 7th May                                                                                              Grade 2 - Sunday 21st May                                                                                            Grade 5 - Sunday 4th June.                                                                                         

All parents are welcome to come to these Masses.

Thank you.

God Bless. 

Mrs Jansen  Religious Education Coordinator 

Family Educator News

Family Educator  Term 2 Week 2

Remember to keep checking the calendar for Masses and events so you don’t miss out on anything!

Mondays- from 8.45 am Coffee and SPaR (Stop, Pray and Reflect) 

SPaR is on again each Monday morning inTerm 2. Come along for a cuppa and catch up in the demountable classroom. We will look at Mary and motherhood this month.

Wednesdays- 9am-10am JB Juniors Playgroup for 0-5 years

Playgroup is on each Wednesday, first thing in the morning after the bell goes! I look forward to seeing you all!. We pray and play and usually have fun making something FUN and easy for all ages! 

Term Dates- May 10, 17, 23, 30

Mother’s Day Breakfast-

An invitation for all our mums, grandmothers and the wonderful women in our lives to come along and celebrate Mother’s Day with a light Breakfast on Friday May 12 from 7.30am, followed by a classroom visit and Liturgy. See the invite attached or register HERE if you have not already done so.

A novena for May and Mary Help of Christians

Please consider being part of the Rosary Crusade to Our Lady Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia since 1844.

This Rosary Novena Crusade is said for the very important and necessary conversion and sanctification of Australia. (Don't forget to include your personal intentions too!)

They are seeking to arrange a pledge of 100,000 participants to pray the Novena of Rosaries to Our Lady Help of Christians, 9 days before the feast of Mary Help of Christians which is on 24 May 2023.  

This novena which commences on 15 May 2023, and concludes on 23rd May 2023, requires participants to say a prayer each day to be said before the rosary is recited on these 9 days.

The target is to reach 100,000 participants by 15 May and with your help and support, this can be possible. Please take a look at  THIS LINK

All the prayers will be sent to you for each of the nine days. YOUR INTENTIONS can be included too!

May and the month of MARY-

As we enter into the MAY-hem that is this month- we also remember the serenity and grace of Mary- a humble girl who said YES to possibly the most important request of all time- to be the Mother of God.

We pray with MARY and we ask her to take our requests to her son- who else has so much influence but a mother! Remember- we do not worship her- but we do certainly pray to her!

In SPaR this week we made blue and white crystal bracelets with a small miraculous medal on each-and a Rose charm. I asked the people present to challenge themselves everytime they look at the bracelet on their wrist-

Where was the YES moment in my day? When was I called to BE MORE or to DO MORE and how did I respond? Where was the time I should have shown more FAITH? 

If a young girl can show so much faith- perhaps we are called to show a little more ourselves. Enjoy the month!

God bless.

Tina Dunn  Family Educator

Parish Matters- because it does!

 JB Spring Fair on October 22nd!

 SAVE THE DATE – 22nd October 2023 JB Spring Fair Your Parish! Your Fair! – offers food, fun, FREE jumping castle, music, market stalls and entertainment bringing the Parish Community and their families together after Covid.

 This Fair is designed for our community and celebrates the delights of our Parish. WANTED: Volunteers over 18-year-olds are very welcome. One or two hours of your time to volunteer would be greatly appreciated.

FOOD: Currently confirmed food stalls by our Parishioners are Holland, Italy, Philippines, and Vietnam. We need more food stallholders. Are you interested in Marketing your service or products at our Fair. Stall $25 per spot. Please contact: Sharon 0410 494 700 (after 5:30pm) or Susan 0419 606 683 (after 3pm). 

Bulletins can be found here

JB Social Group Outing- 

We have planned a relaxing day trip for Thursday 18 May to the Nan Tien (Buddhist) temple at Wollongong.

We will be travelling by coach, stopping along the way at a scenic lookout for morning tea. At the temple there will be plenty of time to leisurely explore the various pavilions and stroll the expansive gardens. Following our visit we will proceed to the nearby Fraternity Club for lunch. The club bistro menu caters for a variety of food tastes. 

The cost will be $25 per person for the coach and morning tea. IF there is a difficulty making this payment please see Father Dominic and we might be able to assist with the costs. Lunch is at your own expense.

We will be departing from the Western Sydney Parklands Plough & Harrow entrance off Elizabeth Drive. There is plenty of all day car parking available. When you enter the Parklands you immediately come to a “T” intersection, turn right and head towards the car park. People will need to be assembled by 8.45 am as the bus will depart at 9.00am. We should return around 3.30pm to 4.00pm. It is hoped to be back before school pick up is finished.

For all enquiries and to ensure we have the numbers to proceed can you please contact Valerie Buhajiar on 0417 244 285, and advise number attending and your contact phone number by Tuesday 9 May. Full payment will be required to be made to Leanne in the parish office by Friday 12 May.   

Literacy News

Word Mania

Word Mania competition is now complete! We are eagerly awaiting the results and are quietly confident that our students have demonstrated amazing skills.  

The warm-up round proved that JB are serious contenders in the Word Mania competition.

Special mention goes to Year 2 for placing in the top 10, Year 3 for placing 2nd, Year 4 for placing in the top 10 and Year 5 for placing 3rd overall in Australia and New Zealand. Congratulations on such fabulous achievements! 

Easter Reading Challenge

This week we congratulated all our class winners for the Easter Reading Challenge. As always the entries were absolutely amazing and it took a team of judges to work out the winners! All class winners were presented their book prizes to celebrate their fabulous work. You can see many of the winning entries on display in the library now. Keep up the amazing work in reading everybody!

A further congratulations goes to Chiara Serra from 4G who was our major prize winner in the primary competition.  We hope you enjoy your prizes everyone

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge

The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge is well underway! Students in K-2 will participate in the challenge throughout Term 2 during class time and receive a participation certificate at the end of the year.

Students in Years 3-6 will have the option of participating in the challenge. In order to be eligible, students must read 20 books. These can be a selection of at least 10 books from any of the K-6 PRC lists, and a maximum of 10 personal choice books. Students will log books they have read directly onto the site as they read them. Remember, any book that appears on the PRC list can be included. For a list of books on the challenge, please visit https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/booklist/home.html

Thank you!

A big thank you to the parents who have dedicated their time to cover a large number of books for use in our classrooms: Michelle Agostino, Melissa Talimdzioski, Lisa Ferreri, Cassie Lewis, Tania Corvelo, Aline Sabbouh, Carmelina Lagana, Connie de Boucherville, Teresa Vartuli, Seba Touma, Robert Tamayo, Zdenka Kesten, Laura Shamoon, Teresa Serra, Julie Lipari, Nicole Azzopardi, Nicole Borg, Kristy Thi Vu, Benjamas Hannarong.  

The support of these parents means that we are able to efficiently put wonderful books in the hands of our students.  If you would like to volunteer to cover books please send an email to info@jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au We can then send home books and contact for you to cover in the comfort of your own home.  When you have finished you just send the books back to school.  Thanks in advance for all your support.

Lexile Champion Winners

Congratulations to all our primary students on their hard work in Lexiles last term. Each term we celebrate the students with the highest Lexile word count. 

The class champions for Term 1 are:

A further congratulations to the winning classes:

6 Gold, 5 Silver, 4 Ruby, 3 Emerald.

Early Bird Reading

Congratulations to all the students who attend Early Bird Reading each morning. We have many eager students who visit the library daily. After reviewing Term 1 attendance and participation, assistant principal awards have been awarded to Massimo Mura, Joshua Mandic and Isabelle Haddad. These students have shown outstanding dedication to the early bird program and the further development of their reading skills.

Remember: READ! READ! READ!

Teresa Wojtowicz/Francine Bushby  Literacy Coordinators

Numeracy News

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Welcome back to Term 2. 

Mathematical fluency is the combined ability of students to recall mathematics facts and concepts without thinking, their number sense, flexibility of thinking, appropriate and efficient responses to problems, the accuracy of their answers, and their understanding of representations in mathematics.

The Numerical Acumen Challenge continues this term. Students Years 3-6 are encouraged to practise their skills and fast recall of facts. The Semester 1 challenge has 50 days remaining! Students are encouraged to continue building their knowledge and confidence. 

Congratulations to the following students who have completed more than 2 hours of practice over the last week! Keep up the phenomenal work!

Michael Hobson & Daniella Kokkinis  Mathematics Coordinators

Sports News

Sports News

Primary Athletics Carnival

On Monday 24th April, our Year 3-6 students enjoyed a fun-filled day at Campbelltown Athletics Stadium.  We congratulate all the students on their athletics skills, sportsmanship and enthusiasm on the day. 

We congratulate Red House who were our overall winners on the day with 850 points, followed closely by Blue with 741 points, Purple with 716 points and Yellow with 490 points.

A special congratulations to the following students who will represent JB at the upcoming Conference 4 Championships.  Well done, Alexia Asonitis, Lucas Giorgis, Oleen Abouna, Cove Trajcevski, Chloe Davino, Patrick Brcic,  Martina Brcic, Antony Rakvin, Merel Alhadaya, Daine Trajcevski, Veronica Markhani, Savior Yaco, Emilia Bruzzese, Luca Corvelo, Siana Tatian, Massimo Marando, Talia Cavicchia, Alessandro Rafoo, Allegra Lentini, Ethan Mitri, Eliana Bayoudh, Antonio Macnamara, Evelia Abdal, Giuseppe Brunetta,  Andre Lalic, Gianluigi Vaccari, Santana Rodi, Giselle Blanda, Jessey Pashley, Jazel Esho, Josh Pashley, Severio Rofael, Adrian Al-Giorgees, Alana Tripodina, Mia Kewilahuo and Alvin Yousif.

A special mention to all of our amazing parent helpers on the day.  Thank you Mr Liberatore, Mrs Chetcuti, Mrs Corvelo, Mrs Care, Mrs Lavorato, Mrs Gorgees, Mr Borbe, Mrs Mandic, Mr Tamayo, Mrs Ferraro, Mr Nguyen and any of the other parents who helped out in some way throughout the day. We couldn't have done it without you.  You truly are the best.

Frances Oliverio  Sports Coordinator

Wonder Recycling Rewards 2023

John the Baptist has joined the Wonder Recycling Rewards Program 2023.

 Please collect your bread bags of any brand and return them to the school recycling box outside our school office.  We will then earn reward points that can be used to purchase sports equipment for the school.

What bread bags can be recycled?

If the bag has contained bread of some sort and is a soft plastic, then it’s a bread bag and can be recycled.

Do the bread bags need to be clean?

Bread bags should be as free from crumbs as they can be to keep the recycling process free from contamination (there is no need to wash them).

When does the program end?

We can collect bread bags up until July 7.

Frances Oliverio  Sports Coordinator

Amadeus Reminder

Please remind your children to bring their instruments on their specified day. 

Many children are leaving their instruments at home.

Lost School Uniforms

Dear Parents,

We have numerous items of clothing collected everyday, they are placed in our lost property basket in the office.  Each day, all labelled items are returned to the child's classroom.  Items which  which are unlabelled go to the clothing pool.  

Please ensure over the holidays you re-label any clothing your child is able to remove at school as markings can fade over time.  

Parents, should you wish to make a purchase of good quality second-hand clothing at any time, a reminder you may do so via your Compass Favourites link via the Clothing Pool Order Form.

Alternatively, you can call the office and place an order via telephone, email info@jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au or complete the form below and return it to the office with your child.  

Notes from the Office

APPLICATIONS FOR EXTENDED LEAVE – TRAVEL

Any families planning or considering family travel for 10 school days or more must apply with an Application for Extended Leave – Travel, at least 4 weeks in advance of your child/ren’s intended leave. This application must also be accompanied by copies of travel documentation. 

Application forms are available from the office. For your convenience, please feel free to call or email us on info@jbbonnyrigg.catholic.edu.au and we will be happy to send this home with your eldest child.

Of particular importance, any family intending to take leave from June and NOT returning to school By Friday 4th August, 2023 must complete this process as a high priority.  Please forward your application by Friday 2nd June, 2023.

We thank you for your prompt co-operation.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Parents, a gentle reminder regarding the importance of informing our school of any changes that may occur to your family’s personal details such as an address, mobile numbers, emails, emergency contacts, etc. For your convenience, these details may be updated via the Personal Details Form available on your Compass Favourites links.

Of equal importance and in the best interests of your child/ren, we ask if there has been a new event or update in relation to your child’s health, once again, we ask this information be provided at the earliest. A Student Health Information Form is also available on your Compass Favourites link, to assist you in this process.

SCHOOL FEES

Your 2023 school fee statements have now been emailed to you. Please contact the office if you have not received your statement as yet. It would be appreciated if your payments are made by the scheduled dates as listed on your statement.

Payments can be made by CompassPay, BPay, Cash, Eftpos or Centrepay.

Your co-operation is greatly appreciated!

Awards

Congratulations to the following students on achieving their badges:

Dates to Remember