ST JOHN S PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

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1 ST JOHN S PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 28 October 2015 Edition From the Principal Dear Parents, World Teachers' Day Friday, 30th October Every day, our teachers at St John's are making a difference, educating and inspiring young people in our school. World Teachers' Day is an opportunity to acknowledge our teachers and say thanks for the significant contributions they make in our classrooms and communities. Celebrated in more than 100 countries world-wide, World Teachers' Day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1994 to recognise the role of teachers in society. World Teachers' Day is held internationally on 5th October. As the day usually falls during school holidays, Victoria celebrates on the last Friday of October each year. I'd like to invite our school community to get involved and say thank you to a teacher at St John's on Friday. Consider a note or a card with a message to your child's teacher from either you or your child or both. SCHOOL CLOSED - MONDAY, 2nd NOVEMBER A reminder that the school will be closed on Monday, 2nd November. This day has been set aside for staff to focus on Assessment and Reporting. Please note that OSHClub will not operate on that day. MELBOURNE CUP DAY - TUESDAY, 3rd NOVEMBER - SCHOOL CLOSED A reminder also that Tuesday, 3rd November is also a public holiday. The school will not operate on that day. JUMP ROPE FOR HEART DAY 6 th November Next Friday the Student Action Team for Sport is conducting our annual fundraising activity for the National Heart Foundation, All children are asked to wear their sports uniform on this day and donate a gold coin to assist the Heart Foundation with its great work. CAKE ST JOHN S PICNIC 6 th NOVEMBER A flyer will be sent home today asking families to support the cake stall that's being set up for the St John's Parish/ community picnic next Friday evening. I encourage all families to come along next week to be a part of the evening celebrating our community. SCHOOL SPORTS FRIDAY, 20th NOVEMBER There will a change to this year s School Sports with the Sports aiming to finish between 2.30pm and 3pm and children being dismissed from school in the usual way. The Sports will still be conducted at the Heidelberg West Football Ground on that day. A flyer will be going home next week detailing the day's events and as always, we will need parents to assist with each of the events to ensure the day's success. DROPPING OFF AND PICKING UP CHILDREN IN STAFF CAR-PARK Unless specific permission has been granted by myself, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are children to be dropped off or picked up from the staff car park between 8.30am and 4.00pm. This regulation is to ensure the safety of all children and parents who use this area to enter and leave the school. This is a serious matter and I cannot emphasise enough that I expect strict compliance from our community with this school rule! 55 Cape Street, Heidelberg Vic 3084 Ph E. office@sjheidelberg.catholic.edu.au

2 FETE DONATION PROGRAM LUCKY DIP ITEMS A reminder that for this month, as part of our Fete Donation Program, children are encouraged to donate a small item suitable for a Lucky Dip stall. Items should be valued at about $2 and should be wrapped, labelled for a boy or girl and brought into school. SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS CONTINUE STATE FINALS ATHLETICS My congratulations to Anthony C., who qualified for the Victorian State Final for the Discus event. I m thrilled to let you know that Anthony finished third in the Final! Anthony has been an excellent athlete across a number of sports and this result certainly adds to his already impressive number of achievements for this year well done Anthony. Our boy s 4 x100m Relay Team also qualified for the Victorian State Final last Monday. The boys are to be commended on this incredible achievement finishing 8 th. To my knowledge, this is the first time that St John s has had a relay team that has progressed this far. Competing in a State Final in any sport is an outstanding achievement but to do so in a such a competitive event as sprinting against the fastest runners across the State deserves justifiable acknowledgement. We congratulate Patrick C., Anthony C., Josh H., and Frankie P. PRIMARY SCHOOL GOLF Another of our talented athletes, Frankie P. has also achieved outstanding results in this sport in recent times. Frankie tied in first place in the qualifying round of Primary School golf championships and will now be playing at the Regional Championships in November. Well done Frankie and we wish you every success for the future CLASS ALLOCATIONS The staff will shortly be commencing allocating children to the 2016 classes. There are many factors that come under consideration when allocating children. Primarily we seek a balance within each class that takes a number of factors into account. Some of these factors include: Academic and intellectual abilities Social and emotional behaviours Personalities and temperaments Talents and skills Children's friendships and relationships As in the past, the children will complete a list of 'Good Working Partners'. As was the case for last year, this list will now be used simply as another factor for teachers to consider in the general overview of allocating children and will not be a single compelling factor. As mentioned, teachers will consider a broad range of factors when allocating children and I would sincerely appreciate your understanding of the difficulty of this process. Furthermore, it needs to be made clear that placing children in specific classes is a school decision and that children are placed into classes for particular reasons. Please keep in mind when children are allocated to new classes that it is an: Opportunity to make new friend Opportunity to work co-operatively with a number of 'new' children Opportunity to become accustomed to dealing with changes which are a part of all our lives Opportunity for the children to be exposed to the many different values, talents, skills and ideas from and with others. Effective teaching and learning occurs when children feel happy and safe and where individuality is respected and positive classroom relationships are established. 2

3 TERM FOUR CALENDAR DATES I wish to highlight particular dates that should be diarised IMMEDIATELY. These include: School Closure Days: 2nd November (Monday) 7th December (Monday) Other Term Key Events 3rd November (Tuesday) - Melbourne Cup Day 6th November (Friday): Jump Rope For Heart Day (all children to wear sports uniform) 20th November (Friday) - School Sports - School Sports Carnival during school hours 29th November (Sunday) - First Sunday of Advent 4th December (Friday) - St John's Celebration Day 8th December (Tuesday) Carols Night 10th December (Thursday) - Cyber Safety Day with evening Parent Session 14th December (Monday) - Celebration Day for Year 6's - Funfields Excursion 15th December (Tuesday) - Graduation Night for Year 6 END OF TERM 16th December (Wednesday) - Final Day of School pm finish Yours sincerely, Nick Marinelli, Principal Date for Your Diary! Help your child be safe online Cybersafety Outreach Internet Safety Awareness Presentation for parents at St John s Thursday 10 th December 2015 at 7pm More information to come 3

4 RE News - Elizabeth Williamson, Education in Faith Leader November The Month of the Holy Souls November begins with a double feast in remembrance of those who have died. The feast of All Saints is celebrated on November 1 st. On that day we celebrate all the known and unknown saints and martyrs of the Christian faith. Many members of our own families have died and are now with God. We pray for them on November 2 nd, All Souls Day. On both these days we are reminded of all who have lived as faithful Christians. They encourage us to grow in our own faith. Our Christian faith tells us that one day we will all be reunited with God in heaven, because we share in the resurrection of Jesus. Memorial Book Especially through the month of November Catholic Christians offer prayers to remember the dead and to thank God for their lives. You are invited to write the names of loved ones who have died in the Memorial Book, which will be in the school foyer from this Friday. The children will pray for those named throughout November during their class prayer times. The Presence of God in the Universe and in our Lives This is a series of three talks by Sister Mary Dennett RSM BSc MA. Sister Mary, who is currently engaged in leading reflection days on Theology and Science, will speak about the universe that speaks to us of the existence of God. Pope Francis has invited us to reflect on the universe as our common home. The two remaining talks will be at held in the LRC this Thursday, October 29th and November 5th - 7:30 to 9:00pm. This is another opportunity to deepen our faith in our creator God. Class Masses Term 4 (9.15a.m.) Week 4 Thursday October 29th Years 5/6B, 5/6C and 5/6S Week 6 Tuesday November 10th Years 1L and 1T Week 7 Tuesday November 17th Years 2D and P Week 8 Tuesday November 24th Years 4C and 4F Week 9 Thursday November 26th Years PN and PV These mass dates and times are correct at time of publication. Sometimes unforeseen circumstances occur to change these dates/times. 4

5 Italian News Italian Poetry Recital Last week 25 students from Year 5 and 6 participated in our St. John's Italian Poetry Competition. I would like to congratulate all the students on their participation and on the very high standard demonstrated. What a fabulous effort from all the students who took on the challenge of learning a poem in Italian and then recite it successfully to our guest judge Marina Bartolameazzi, an Italian Language assistant and student of languages. The response from our judge was very positive with all the participants achieving a high standard and making the selection process a difficult one. We look forward to announcing the finalists winners in the upcoming weeks. BUNNINGS NORTHLAND TRADE EVENT Thursday 29th October 4-6pm Come and meet celebrity guests, Collingwood AFL legends plus Anthony Rocca and Tony Shaw. All Power- Pass customers have the chance to win a Fornetto Wood Fire Pizza Oven valued at $998. Door prizes & giveaways BBQ Trade supplier demonstrations Jumping castle, face painting & kid s activities STUDENT AWARDS Liam D PN, Isabella M PN, Jaidyn M PV, Sienna M PV, Benji F 1L, Emily H 1L, Sienna A 1T, Joel B 1T, Angus R 1T, Sarah B 2D, Angelina V 2D, Alessia A 2P, Mackenzie B 2P, Adele B 3P, Natalie C 3P, Jorja F 3W, Thomas V 3W, Ella C 4C, Timothy B 4F, Alexander S 4F, Tori M 5/6B, Darcy M 5/6B, Luca A 5/6C, Alison B 5/6C, Lucy B 5/6C, Lucy C 5/6C, Kiran T 5/6C, Ben F 5/6S, Alyssa V 5/6S Oct 28 Oct 29 Nov 2 BIRTHDAYS Zara I PN Panashe M 3P Lucas A 3P Aaron P 2D REMINDER This is the last week for Lucky Dip items to be donated for the School Fete Nov 3 Zoe F 4C Spencer N 1L 5

6 SPORTS NEWS State Athletics On Monday 26 th of October our 12/13 boys relay team ran in the State 4 by 100m relay. Making it to the State Championships is an amazing achievement. They were competing against the fastest boys in Victoria. The boys made it through heats and made it to the final. They finished 8 th. This means that they are the 8 th fastest 4 by 100m runners in the State! How incredible is that! Well done to Patrick C, Frankie P, Josh H and Anthony C on such a wonderful achievement. Anthony C also competed in the 12/13 boys discus and finished 3 rd in Victoria! Congratulations Anthony! We are all very proud of your efforts boys! Division basketball Last week the boy s basketball team played in the Division Championships at Viewbank Primary School. The boys played a very strong game against Watsonia North PS beating them We then faced St Martin s PS unfortunately just going down It was a great effort by the boys and they played some great basketball together. Thank you to Neil Edgar for coaching on the day, your help with basketball this year has been fantastic. Thank you to Mr Marinelli and all the parents who came down and supported the boys. Uniforms Please return any St John s sport uniform you have worn this year including basketball uniforms, football jumpers, hockey and soccer tops and socks. It s very important all uniforms are returned as we are still missing items from Inter school sport Congratulations to our boys and girls softball and the cricket team who all fought tough semi-finals, it was a great morning but unfortunately we couldn t quite get the win. It was a great effort to have 4 out of 6 teams in the finals. We were the only school in our district to have 4 teams competing in the finals, which for a smaller school is just fantastic. A big well done to our boys volleyball team who won their semi-final and played in the Grand Final against Buckley House. It was a very close and intense game with the boys just losing. A big congratulations to the team for coming runners up and to Mrs Armiento (Volleyball extraordinaire) for coaching the boys to the Grand Final. Thank you to all parents who came and supported. Jump Rope for Heart On Friday November 6 th we will be running our Jump Rope for Heart skipping day. Children will be asked to bring along a gold coin donation to help the Heart Foundation. The Sport Student Action Team will be running the day. Children will be asked to wear their house sports colour t-shirt with their school sport shorts/pants and runners. Each class will participate in a variety of skipping activities. 6

7 Maths News - Connie Bandiera, Maths Leader Family Mathematics Challenge 20 Answer 1 and 17 are female -- from clue 1 and 3 5 and 7 are male -- from above Jim did not come 3rd -- from clue 5 17 is not first -- from clue 1 Kim is not first. Record how you do the challenge and then bring it in to school (with your name and class) and post it into the Mathematics Family Challenge Box in the front office by Friday. Rick finished before 7, therefore he must be 5 after Raelene who was first, therefore, Raelene is #1 and first Rick is #5 and second Kim is #17 and third Jim is #7 Family Mathematics Challenge 21 See how many triangles you can draw using any three of the five points on the circle as vertices. For Sale Our Lady of Mercy College Heidelberg Uniform (OLMC) Full school uniform for sale, for new year 7 student beginning next year. Includes everything from summer uniform, full winter uniform including brand new blazer, full sports uniform and school bag. Only been worn for 1 term. Average size of uniform is for about a size 12: Student was 162 cm and slim to average build. Uniform been fully dry cleaned. Looking at 2/3 total price or open to negotiation. If Interested Please ring Virginia:

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10 Hours of Operation: Before Care 6:45am-8:45am After Care 3:20pm-6:00pm Staff: Trent Harkom & Jill El-Khoury Hi everyone, It s Halloween week this week at OSHClub! We ve been doing and are planning a whole bunch of spooky Halloween activities and so far we ve made some amazing bookmarks, some creepy pop -up cards and some pipe-cleaner creepy-crawlies. The children have also been given a tepee with which they can do role-plays, crawl into when they need some other alone time or otherwise just hang out in! Please be aware that as our numbers are increasing significantly (particularly on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays) it is becoming more important for parents to book their children in online or to give more notice for an on the day booking. This gives us enough time to ensure we are adequately staffed and able to provide a quality program for you and your children. If your child/ren are absent from school or other arrangements are made for them, could you please let us know that they won t be attending afterschool care. On the day cancellations/bookings must be made with a phone call or text to the program number on You will not be able to make online bookings or cancellations on the day. Online bookings or cancellations can be made up until midnight the night before. We hope to see you at OSHClub! Enjoy the rest of your week. NEXT WEEKS ACTIVITY Before Care Activities After Care Activities Parent Information Wednesday Thursday Friday Monday Tuesday Halloween Masks Paper Plate Ghosts Halloween Biscuits Halloween paddle-pop stick puppets 10 Paper Pumpkin Lanterns Pupil Free Day Public Holiday Halloween Juice Pupil Free Day Public Holiday OSHC program phone: Coordinator: Trent Harkom Assistants: Jill El-Khoury OSHClub Head Office: All families must be enrolled to attend the program, remember this is Free!! Please create an account online at all bookings and cancellations can also be managed via your online account. For on the day bookings please contact the Coordinator direct at the program.

11 Father Mario s Sermon 25 October 2015 (30 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B) Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 125:1-6; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10: Jesus, have pity on me! Jesus is now at the end of his journey. In the next chapters in the gospel according to Mark we will see Jesus in the city of Jerusalem where he will suffer, die and rise again. Over the past three Sundays we have been presented with the portraits of different persons interacting with Jesus: the rich man, the apostles John and James, and Bartimaeus. There is a stark contrast between these three episodes. The rich man was wealthy and was trying to live a good life; he came to Jesus to see how he could achieve even more. He thought this was his journey. When Jesus invited him to see things from a different perspective: let go of his wealth and become a disciple, the man was disappointed and left! John and James too wanted to know how they could grow out of the new kingdom. They wanted the highest places of authority; they wanted to wield power. They had not yet fully understood who Jesus was and his mission. The son of Timaeus was physically blind; he could not work and had to beg at the city gate to survive. Probably all he owned in life was the cloak he tightly wrapped himself in. Yet he was alert: he had learnt to listen attentively. He had become aware that on his own he could do nothing; he depended on people to lead him as he went from one place to another and depended on people s generosity to survive. All that came to him was a pure gift; he could do nothing to help himself! As he sat at the side of the road waiting for people s generosity, he heard Jesus approaching and cried out: Son of David! Have pity on me! In his blindness Bartimaeus saw who Jesus really was: the promised Messiah, the son of David! His prayer was not What can I do? or How can I get more power? but rather Please have mercy on me. The crowds wanted to shut the blind man up, they are not interested in his plight, but Jesus, full of mercy and compassion, calls Bartimaeus to himself. Compared to the rich man of two Sundays ago, this blind man does something very incredible: he threw away everything he owned. He threw away his cloak, jumped up and went (ran?) to Jesus! Some bible scholars suggest that the cloak may even have been his only piece of clothing, in which case the blind man would have approached Jesus stark naked! He had nothing to hide, he knew who he was and what it meant to be poor, he knew how to beg. He had the greatest gift of all: faith. He believed that the son of David could heal him. While the rich man refused to follow Jesus, because of his wealth, the poor blind man continued on his way becoming a disciple of Jesus; in his poverty he became rich, following of Christ! Throwing off the cloak can also be an image of Baptism; in the early Church catechumens were asked to remove their old clothes and walk naked through the waters of Baptism. On the other side they were welcomed with white clothes symbolising their new life in Christ and their invitation to follow him. (This gospel can also be a good reflection on how to support each other and be Church.) As we reflect on these three stories we are now invited to place ourselves into one of these three categories. Am I too rich to follow Jesus? I do not have to be materially rich; I can also be too rich within myself to have space left for God. Do I follow Jesus for my own gain, seeking some sort of power like John and James did? Am I prepared to throw away my cloak in order to follow Jesus? The rich man s prayer had himself as the subject: what must I do? Same with John and James: We want to ask you to do us a favour! The poor blind beggar knew how to beg: Please Lord, have pity on me! Lord I do need your help today and every day of my life; please Lord, help me! This is the perfect prayer that leads us to God and helps us grow in faith. Let us approach Jesus in poverty and humility so we can be strengthened in the gift of faith. Fr Mario 11

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