Around the Primary

Dear Parents

Welcome back to the new school year. I hope you have all managed to enjoy some quality family time, had a good rest, lots of fun over the holidays and are now re-energised and looking forward to all that 2013 has in store for us.

It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces and hear happy greetings from parents and children on the first day. We have had a very successful first week with everyone happily settling into their new classes and teachers reporting a very positive start to the year. Congratulations and thank you to parents for sending your children to school in the correct uniform, the children looked very smart arriving at school.

We have some new staff members and a number of brand new families joining us this year. I extend a warm welcome to you all and hope that your time here at John XXIII College will be a particularly enjoyable and rewarding one. Our new Primary staff for 2013 are:
Cayley King (Pre Kindy Teacher), Frances Kwiakowski (Education Assistant), Maggie Crowley (Year Two Teacher) and Kylie Allen (Assistant Principal / Year Three Teacher). We also welcome back Raelene Palmer (Special Needs Teacher) and Lorraine Holmes joining our team as Primary Librarian.

I would ask that you carefully read the newsletter each week and also refer to the term calendar about the special events planned for this term as it serves as a useful guide to the busy term ahead.

Kind Regards

Antoinette De Pinto
Head of Primary

KINDY NEWS

This week students in Kindergarten were each given an Olive Tree sapling. It is a symbol of their new beginning. They will be able to watch their tree grow as they grow. Our hope is that as these students' saplings grow and bear fruit, so too will their lives. In the years ahead, we pray they will discover the God-given gifts and talents (their fruits) through the opportunities offered in their homes and here at John XXIII College. We hope they will learn to care for their olive tree, as they grow in appreciation of Christian promise to care for each other and the environment and deepen their sense of compassion, conscience and competence.

IMPORTANT REQUESTS:

As we begin our busy term it is timely to remind our primary community of the following important requests: -

  1. Please make sure your children arrive at school on time
  2. Please send children to school in the correct uniform
  3. Please read emails and newsletters
  4. Please let us know if any of your contact details have changed
  5. Please inform us of your child's absence from school

Schools are obliged to contact parents of children who have not arrived at school by the start of the school day and for whom we have no explanation of absence. This as you can imagine is a labour intensive exercise. Parents can assist us by making sure we are informed of all absences by 8.30 am. Primary Absentees may be reported by emailing primary.absentees@johnxxiii.edu.au All emails will be forwarded to the classroom teacher. Feel free to leave a message if calling outside office hours by leaving a message on the Primary Reception Phone on 9383 0401.

We understand that at times your child may be late for school for a variety of reasons. These latecomers will be marked absent unless the school is notified.

Primary students should be at school 10 minutes prior to the commencement of the school day. Outside supervision is available from 8.15 am. No supervision is provided before 8.15 am and after 3.35 pm.