Week 4 Term 3 2021

The sunshine over the last couple of days has been glorious, there is a sense that Spring is just around the corner. It was wonderful to see the array of team colours within the school last Friday for Wear your Team Colours Day. As a community we raised over $200.00 for St Vincent de Paul, well done everyone. This week is Catholic Schools Open Week. You may have noticed Vangeli, one of Reception children advertising our school within the community. Unfortunately, many of the state wide activities to celebrate Catholic Schools Open Week have been cancelled or refined to comply with the current restrictions. Our new Reception children have eased into school life now after a wobbly start to their schooling journey. The resilience and patience of the young children and their families is to be commended. It is wonderful to see the newest members of our community interacting with each other and their older peers, confidently exploring the school yard during outside learning.

COVID-19 Restrictions

I thank the community for their continued careful and patient approach to the South Australian COVID-19 restrictions over the past few weeks. We will continue to be proactive within the community by encouraging regular hand washing, mask wearing, social distancing and unfortunately at this stage restricting parents and friends onsite. As always, the health and wellbeing of children, families and staff remain our priority. It is clear to me that, as has been shown by recent national events, complacency continues to be our enemy, so I ask that you maintain the high standards which have been achieved since 2020 and continued into 2021. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Living Learning Leading Perception Surveys

All Catholic Schools in South Australia are in the process of completing the CESA Living, Learning, Leading Perception Surveys. The surveys are a product of a collaboration between Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) and Curtin University and are focussed on examining the understanding of the vision and extent to which CESA's Living, Learning Leading Framework is taking place in schools as perceived by the children, families and staff. I encourage all families to take five minutes to complete the survey. www.NSIPartnerships.com.au  I thank you in advance for completing the survey.

Pupil Free Day

On Friday 20th August we have a Pupil Free Day where the staff of St John Bosco School will come together to nurture their Spiritual and Faith journey. We look forward to sharing with you, reflections on our day together. Our OSHC will be open, for families requiring care for their children on the Pupil Free Day. Please contact our OSHC Director, Mirella Tsimiklis to secure your child’s booking. mirella.tsimiklis@sjb.catholic.edu.au

Trees for Life

It was wonderful to see the endeavours of our senior children were recognised in this month’s edition of The Southern Cross. The article titled ‘From little things big things grow’ outlines how the children took their classroom learning to the next level and embarked on nurturing seeds into healthy plants to rejuvenate fire affected land in the Adelaide Hills. This is a great example of how our children co-construct their learning alongside their teacher to assist our wider community. Well done girls we are extremely proud of you. You can access the article from the following link

https://indd.adobe.com/view/bc9ce9c0-2443-4bd6-9b0d-c1d69536dcba

Playgroup

We are excited to announce that in the coming weeks we will be introducing a weekly Playgroup session for children aged between 0-5 years. We have two Early Childhood educators that have been busily preparing the learning environment and planning an exciting program for the youngest members of our own St John Bosco community and beyond. Stay tuned for further information.

Attendance and Absentees

I would like to remind families that learning begins at 8:45am each day. It is important that children are in class and ready to begin their day at 8:45am. We have a number of children arriving late every day and this is unsettling for themselves and their peers.

If you child is absent it is important that you notify the school through the absentee line            8249 4900, you will be prompted to select option 0 for absentees. Please leave your child's name, class and reason for absence. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in these matters. You can also notify the school of your child's absence through school stream.

Wishing you a wonderful week

Kate Turner

ReLat

This week the Year 4 children have participated in the ReLat (Catholic School Religious Literacy) practise test. 

ReLat is based on general religious knowledge,that children who have progressed to Year 4 in a Catholic school have explored in the Crossways Religious Education Curriculum and supported by participation in school prayer and religious life.

The questions are designed to reflect knowledge and understandings from religious themes such as: the life of Jesus, Liturgical seasons, prayer in a Catholic School and Social Justice.

Made In The Image of God (MITIOG)

A Parent Information Session for the Made In The Image Of God Program will be held on Wednesday 25th of August at 2:30pm in the library. The Made In The Image Of God Program is the Human Sexuality Program for SA Catholic Schools. This program is taught to support and complement the role of parents in teaching their children about human sexuality and the values that prepare children for life. We look forward to seeing you at the session.

Bookweek August 21st - 27th

Annually as a community we celebrate Book Week with a dressup day.  Children come to school on Tuesday 24th August, dressed as a favourite book character or embracing the theme of the year. With this year’s theme being Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, at this stage parents and friends are not extended an invitation, hopefully things change.

In the lead up to Book Week we have some special events to look forward to.  Beginning tomorrow, Thursday 12th August, we have Jenny Williams (author) and Mark Williams (not related) from the Premiers’ Reading Challenge come to visit our children.

During Week 5 we begin our annual Scholastic Book Fair which will be held in the library. Opening times of the Fair will be forwarded closer to the event to enable the school to plan for the current COVID restrictions, we are mindful families love to attend the fair and purchase books for their children.

Thursday 26th August Perform Education will entertain our children with a performance in  the library at 9:00am with this year’s theme being Bigger, Better, Brighter.

Also, on Thursday, the Little Big Book Swap will be hosted in the library.  Children can bring in a book that is still in good condition but no longer one that is read at home along with a gold coin to swap for another book.  Money raised will go the Literacy Indigenous Foundation.

School Stream is a school communication platform designed to deliver information to school communities. 

Don't miss out on important school information. Instantly receive alerts, messages, updates and event reminders to your smartphone.

Please download this APP as it is our main source of communication directly to parents and caregivers for all information about our school including emergencies.