Please go to our school calendar on the website or SZapp for more details.

Thank you to our staff and students for their outstanding flexibility in adapting today's Athletics Carnival to be held at school after assessing Charnwood Oval as being unsuitable.

Congratulations to all of our students on their achievements today and thank you to the Year 5 and 6 teaching team for organising the event. Having the school Athletics Carnival at the same time as the Olympics is very motivating!

Thank you to Vernonica Sammons who helped with the set up and 800m this morning and to Michael Rix and Rochelle Irvine who helped with the preparation and distribution of the special lunches.

Thank you to the students from SFX who were an enormous help at all of our events. They were outstanding.

Changes in School Apps: Are your details correct at school?

Next term we are launching a new school app called COMPASS. COMPASS is a new student management program being introduced throughout our entire catholic system of schools. Parents will be able to:

• view the school calendar
• notify of absences 
• email teachers directly
• receive student reports (there will be no printed reports anymore)
• follow notifications for the school, year or class
• book parent-teacher interviews
• provide consent for excursions

Some of the benefits include that all information about absences, late arrivals and early pickups will be automatically added to the attendance system rather than manually added by staff; sick bay, parent-teacher discussion notes and other communication will all be kept together for easy access; parents with shared care arrangements will be able to equally check in and access relevant student information; parents will be able to access nearly everything they need from one portal through both an app and a web based portal on any device.

In short, it will replace a lot of what we currently do in SZapp. We will still use Schoolzine (SZapp) to maintain our website and our Newsletter.

What do I need to do now?

1. We are preparing our family, parent and student data for upload into COMPASS. Please make sure that we have your latest email address and contact number. Please send through any updates to FrontOffice.SJAPS@cg.catholic.edu.au. 
2. In a few weeks we will send out a notification to all parents on how to access and register for the COMPASS portal/app. We will use your current email and phone numbers to do this. There is no need to download anything at present until you hear from us.

We'll lead you through the transition process so please don't worry too much. Just make sure your contact details are correct with us.

Hats On!

Well done everyone on remembering to wear hats on Monday! Our new school hates with the school name look fantastic as well. Students are welcome to wear their old hats for the time being. Hats must be either the new or old school hat. These are specifically designed for sun safety in a school environment and other hats are not permitted.

I hope there is plenty of sun and fun for people this weekend!

Athletics Carnival

What a great way to be in the spirit of the Olympics by participating in our own St John the Apostle Athletics Carnival today. The Athletics Carnival was a big success. Even though we were unable to have our carnival at Charnwood, the Year 5 and 6 teachers did a wonderful job of organising to have it at school. A big thank you to the Year 5 and 6 teachers for all of their organisation. 

The school spirit was in full force. In the morning, while I was helping run the 800m races, there was a large proportion of students who stopped playing before school and stood around the perimeter of the race course and cheered the participants on. It was such a nice way to start the day and I was very proud to see the support and school spirit of so many students. Well done to all of the students for participating and for cheering each other on!

Learning Journeys and Donations - A Reminder

Learning Journeys will take place in Week 6. To ensure we abide by COVID restrictions we will have a number of options for parents and families to attend. Learning Journeys will run at the following times in Week 6:

Tuesday (17 August) - 3:15-4:30pm

Wednesday (18 August) - 8:30-8:50am and 3:15-4:30pm

Thursday (19 August) - 8:30-8:50am 

Learning Journeys are an opportunity for families to visit their child's classroom and see what they have been learning about. Children prepare for the visit. They show parents different pieces of work they are proud of and discuss with their families what they have been learning. Learning Journeys are a fantastic celebration of your child's learning, growth and achievements.

Alongside our Learning Journeys, the Community Council will run a fundraiser event. The Fundraising Committee have sent out two notifications requesting donations for a hamper raffle we will be running in Week 6. We will have raffle tickets available to purchase during the Learning Journeys. If we are unable to run Learning Journeys due to a change in COVID restrictions, we will have an online option to purchase raffle tickets. 

We have already received a number of donations for the hampers. Thank you to the families who have already donated. We are still looking for non-perishable, new items. Below are the themes for each hamper for each year group:

Kindergarten - Pet hamper (eg. chews, pet toys, pet treats, food, leads etc.)

Year 1 - Baby hamper (e.g. wraps, clothes, nappies, rattles, baby toys, wipes etc.)

Year 2 - Kids Toy hamper (e.g. puzzles, fidget toys, board games, balls etc.)

Year 3 - Snack/movie night hamper (eg. delicious treats, chocolate, chips etc.)

Year 4 - Pamper hamper (eg. bath salts, candles, body products etc.)

Year 5 - Parents hamper (eg. wine, beer, chocolates, nuts etc.)

Year 6 - Home hamper (eg. tools, cleaning products, Bunnings gift card etc.)

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check 

This week I have been completing the Year One Phonics Screening Check with each of the students in that year. 

Phonics knowledge and skills are essential for learning to read and write. To be effective readers, students need to learn how to blend sounds together in words quickly so that they can read and understand the meaning. 

About the assessment 

The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a quick assessment that tells teachers how each Year 1 child is progressing in phonics. Each child is asked to read 40 words aloud. These words include 20 real words and 20 nonsense words. The test normally takes a few minutes. 

Phonics is important for students who are learning to read. This screening check observes how each child can read words with different letter combinations. The main purpose of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is to provide the Year One Teachers with information which will allow them to plan for learning. 

Why is phonics important? 

To be successful readers, students need to learn the code for the English language - the sounds represented by individual letters or different letter combinations - and the skill of blending these sounds together to read words. 

It is important for students to develop quick recall of the sounds represented by different letters and letter combinations, to support successful reading. 

Developing blending skills, which is the ability to blend together sounds to read words, is also important. Beginning readers need to learn how to blend sounds together in words quickly and fluently, so as not to disrupt the flow of reading and their comprehension of the text. How will I support my child? 

Children need frequent opportunities to practise and apply their developing phonics knowledge and skills. You may like to try some of the following activities at home with your child: 

• Encourage your child to play games with letters such as bingo, snap or scrabble. Support them to say the correct sound represented by individual letters and different letter combinations.
• Practise blending the sounds in simple, one syllable words together. For example, by first pointing to each letter in the word cat and saying each individual sound ‘c-a-t’, then reading again by blending all the sounds  together ‘caaaaat’, and finally reading the word nice and fast ‘cat’. When your child is confident with blending 3 letters together, support them to blend and read 4 letter words like frog (f-r-o-g, fffrrrog, frog). 
• Model being a word detective and point out special letter patterns found when reading with your child. For example words with a ‘ch’ sound on the end are sometimes spelt with the letters tch, like the words match, catch and hatch.
• Support your child’s reading success by providing them with plenty of opportunities to practise their phonics knowledge and blending skills by reading decodable books together. Decodable books are written using words with letters that your child has learnt. Ask your child’s teacher to suggest decodable books with the correct phonics focus for your child.
• When reading books encourage your child to look at the words and ‘sound out’ any unfamiliar words, blending those sounds together, from left to right, to read the word. This is the best strategy and more helpful than looking at the pictures to guess the meaning. 

Catholic Life and Reflection

During the last few weeks I have spent a lot of time at Mass.  Sometimes for lovely reasons (First Communion and Sunday Mass) and other times for sad reasons. 

Regardless each time it brought great comfort to be engaged in scripture and reflection. So I was looking for a way to engage daily.

I use the YOUCAT resource for planning and stumbled across an app: YOUCAT daily. You can also look at it online here. https://www.youcat.org/daily/

A few days ago the story of Jesus walking on water (Matthew 14: 22-33) was followed by this quote. 

“I am convinced that there is an area in the life of every Christian where God Calls us to do something special with him, something we could never do without him. But it is up to us whether this actually takes place. Because here is the problem with the whole thing: If you want to walk on water, you first have to get out of the boat.” Christopher Kreitz

It really struck a chord with me. Vulnerability and risk taking is always an area I am curious about.

I shared the quote with a friend.  She sent me back an “LOL” and “What if I like the boat?” We both had a good giggle at that.  But it is a fair point. Safety, security, stability is so much more desirable than the risk of stepping out into the unknown.  

Faith, especially in uncertain times, is the stepping out of the boat and knowing that Jesus is with us. That we are surrounded by Him in our family, friends and those people in our lives who are there for us. 

God bless,