Term 4 - Week 4, 2021

Acting Principal's Message

Friday the 29th of October is dedicated to celebrating our wonderful teachers. Here at Mt St John's, we have a wonderful, dedicated team of teachers who go above and beyond every day for their students. Whether it's volunteering out of hours time to support community events, working to all hours of the evening in preparing engaging lessons or running clubs, we have a truly wonderful staff. A simple email or phone call of thanks to your child's teacher can have such a big impact on the wellbeing of the amazing people who love and work with your children every day.
On behalf of our school community, I would like to say, "Thank You and Happy World Teachers' Day" to all of the staff here at Mt St John's.

Warm regards,
Craig Warnes

Acting Principal

Weekly Awards

Abby M - for excellent hearing and recording sounds when spelling new words.

Rory O - for matching words accurately when completing his cut-up story.

Ethan Mac - for your beautiful water-colour painting of 'God is powerful'.

Hayley M - for writing a beautiful prayer on praising God for His creations.

Mia G - for a wonderful learning mindset in Maths, extending your learning with challenging tasks!

Reid G - for brilliant work in reading groups and giving things a go! 

Harry C - for participating enthusiastically in guided reading groups with a noted improvement in comprehension.

Crazy Sock Day- Friday 29th October

Today we are participating in a Diocesan-wide initiative called ‘Socktober’. This is to support Catholic Mission work in Thailand. Children and staff came to school wearing crazy socks and a gold coin donation to support this valuable cause. 

Our Mini Vinnies group also ran a prayer assembly to help us all focus on our personal mission given by Jesus himself.

Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

To help build empathy and build a deeper awareness of the inequality in the world children also participated in several challenges designed by our Mini Vinnies group. 

Firstly they were placed in teams and asked to make a soccer ball using recycled materials. This task was designed to show our children the creativity their brothers and sisters in poorer countries use in order to play, as they use what they have to have fun. These balls will be used in a goal challenge next week when the weather is kinder to us.

They were then placed in teams again and asked to produce 'Thank you' cards. Resources for this challenge were distributed according to the wealth of the country. Children were able to sell their cards to the card authority if they passed the quality control board. They were paid for these cards which meant they could in turn buy more resources.

Children were faced with many challenges as they decided if they were going to help their poor neighbours or not.

On Monday, along with our soccer ball goal challenge, children will also participate in several games which continue to highlight the difficulties that some people in the world face just to survive.

Thank you for supporting this valuable learning with your gold coin donation - we raised $80.

The Mini Vinnies Group

Stage 2 Prayer Assembly

This Monday the Stage 2 class is having a prayer assembly. We will be streaming the assembly and sharing the link through Facebook with our school community.

Mini Mounties 'Big School' Experience

We are VERY excited to be able to hold our Kindergarten Orientation sessions in the coming weeks. These will be held from 9:30am to 11am on Wednesday 20th October, 27th October, 3rd November, 10th November and 17th November.

All children who will be starting Kindergarten in 2022 are welcome to attend. Please call the school on 6657 2552 to confirm your child's attendance.

School Photos POSTPONED

Due to the Level 3 restrictions, which state that external providers not directly related to educational outcomes and support are not permitted on school grounds, our school photos have been POSTPONED to Week 8 – Friday 26^th November 2021.

The order forms which have already been returned will be kept safely at school until this date. A reminder that all order forms MUST be returned before photo day. If you would like a sibling order form, please let us know at school and one will be sent home.

Clarence Zone Sports Nominations - Tennis & Basketball

Clarence Zone is taking nominations for the 2021 Zone Summer Sports in Basketball and Tennis involving students from Year 4 and Year 5. Nominations for Cricket, Softball and Touch Football will be called for in Term 1, 2022.

Please note that due to Covid-19 restrictions, there will be no physical competition at Zone level. Nominations will be assessed on representative history and involvement in regular, strong competition. 

Students who are successful in gaining selection for the Diocesan trial will receive information about the Diocesan trials from their school sports coordinator.

At this stage Diocesan trials will be held in Lismore on; 

-Wednesday 1 December (Tennis) 

-Thursday 2 December (Basketball)

*Please be aware that these trial dates are dependent on Covid restrictions easing and as such may need to be altered or changed at short notice.

If your child would like to nominate, please see Kim for a note.

2022 Enrolments Now Open

We are taking enrolments for 2022. Children are eligible for Kindergarten if they turn 5 by July 31 of that year. All children must be enrolled in school by their sixth birthday. To enrol at Mt St John’s, follow these three steps:

1. Collect an enrolment form from the school office.
2. Return the completed enrolment form to school office.
3. Attend an enrolment interview with your child.

Term 4 School Fees

Term 4 school fee statements were sent home on Wednesday. Term 4 school fees are payable by Friday 12th November, unless you are paying regular direct deposit payments. 
If you feel you will be unable to finalise your 2021 school fees by this date, some financial assistance may be available from St Vincent de Paul - to make an appointment with them, call 0472 718862. You will need to take your school fee statement with you to your appointment.

Several payment methods are available; 

• Regular direct deposit payments (see suggested amounts below).
• Lump sum direct deposit
• Cash
• Cheque

1 student - Term 4 - $276.00

       $46.16 per fortnight (x 25 fortnights)

       $23.08 per week (x 50 weeks)

2 students - Term 4 - $483.00

       $81.28 per fortnight (x 25 fortnights)

       $40.64 per week (x 50 weeks)

3 or more students  - Term 4 – $621.00

       $105.36 per fortnight (x 25 fortnights)

       $52.68 per week (x 50 weeks)

If you would like to arrange a regular direct debit payment from your Bananacoast Credit Union account into the school’s account, the BCU Credit Union in Dorrigo will organize this for you.

When using Internet banking, please use your child’s surname as a reference.

Bananacoast Community Credit Union   BSB no. 533-000

Account no. 3282 0430                 Name: Mt St John’s Primary School

Mathematics Games Video Tutorials

Each week, students are encouraged to play some mathematics games at home to help support their learning at school. Our classroom teachers take students through the homework tasks and to assist families to play at home, we are including a video tutorial in the newsletter. 

Kindergarten - Mathematics Games (see video below)

This week's mathematics game is designed to help children to develop knowledge of numbers that make 10. 

You will need a dice, paper, pencil and counters. Children roll the dice and look at the number rolled. They then need to work out how many more they will need to make 10. When they become good at this, increase the number they need to build to, to 15 or 20. If 10 is too difficult, make the number they need to build to 6. The learning intention of this game is to build instant recall of these number facts. Have fun!

Stage 1 - Mathematics Games (see video below)

Number Target

Select a numeral card from 10-20. Students imagine and predict two numbers to add together to make this number. How many different combinations can be found? Increase the target numbers from 20-30 and beyond. Next challenge - students to suggest 3 or more numbers that add together to make the target number.

Stage 2 - Mathematics Games (see video below)

Doubles Challenge 

You will need: 

• Two dice

• Two players 

• A piece of paper to keep track of the points

Each player gets two dice. They each roll their dice until a double is thrown. The player who rolls the double calls “Double!” and then predicts the total. The opponent checks and proves the total. A correct prediction earns one point. The first player with 5 points wins.

Helpful Hint: If you want to challenge yourself, add more dice or use 10-sided dice.

Stage 3 - Mathematics Games (see video below)

Adding Fractions Challenge

Your child will be provided with a fraction wall to help with simplifying fractions. Your child needs to cut up the cards. Flip one card over at a time and add it to the previous card. Where possible, get your child to simplify the fractions; eg: 4/8 = 1/2. They can use the fraction wall chart for this.

School Facebook Page

Check out our school Facebook page! It is wonderful to be able to share the good news of our school with our families and community. 

Library Day - Wednesday

Library day for all students is Wednesday - please make sure your child brings in his or her cloth library bag on this day. Each student may borrow four books per week. 

Canteen

We are able to re-open the canteen for the next few weeks! There will be a slightly limited menu as we need to use up the stock which was ordered prior to the COVID lockdowns. If you are available to help out in the canteen one or more Fridays, please call Alicia on 0488 280683. Thank you to today's volunteers, Alicia Miller & Amii Francis.

A reminder to place your canteen order before Thursday night each week.

Please note - if you top up your canteen account via bank transfer, the funds will take a week to clear so you will not be able to order canteen immediately. 

Please send your lunch wallets into school and we will keep them here.

Changes to times for Bellingen Drive Thru Testing Clinic

As of Monday 25^th October 2021, the operation of the Bellingen ‘Drive Thru’ COVID testing clinic will be changing. The service will no longer be GP run, but instead will be operated by Sullivan Nicolaides pathology. They will provide COVID testing from 12:30-1:30pm Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). No booking is required – just turn up with medicare card or photo equivalent.

Vision Screening Clinics

School Bus Travel

Applications for student travel can now be made online. Apply here 

School Drive Subsidy

The School Drive Subsidy is available for eligible school students where there is no public transport available for all or part of the journey. If you have to drive your child more than 1.6km to a school bus stop, you may be eligible for this subsidy – go to the link below to apply. 

Instrumental Music With Hazel

We have a music tutor available to teach instrumental music through private tuition. Hazel Buchanan is interested in working with our students. Hazel can teach flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, percussion and bass guitar.

The school owns a flute and a clarinet, which are available for families to borrow long-term at no cost. The payments for lessons are billed each term and paid directly to Hazel. An Essential Element Band Book will be supplied by the school too.

Students wishing to learn these instruments can do so in individual lessons or in small groups depending on the instrument chosen. It is hoped that one day, we can start a small ensemble or band for instrumental students to play together. 

If you are interested in taking up this opportunity, please contact Hazel directly on 0458 572 525.

Lessons will take place on Fridays. 

GLUE

GLUE: "God Loves Us Eternally" (formerly GFS) is held each Wednesday from 3-5pm at the Anglican Hall. Afternoon tea, games, fun worship and craft. All primary kids welcome, as are newcomers. For more info, ring Gwenneth on 6657 2135. COVID-safe practices will apply.

Lego Legends back for Term 4 at Dorrigo Library

Healthy Lunchbox Website

Cancer Council’s Healthy Lunch Box website is your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about packing a healthy lunch box.  For recipes, information and health tips please visit the website below.

Nutrition Snippet

Pink Fundraiser

Oh what a week it's been. I tell you all this running inside or like a drowned rat has me going a little bit crazy! So crazy that for the last weekend of October I'm opening up my PINK Hampers for Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st. 
Get in QUICK as limited orders! Please place your order by Monday 25th October by phone on 0413 459 489 or email aventseasy@gmail.com.
Dont forget to please cheer me on as I finish my 5kms a day. Can you believe I have reached 105kms already... no wonder I'm tired!
https://fundraise.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/fundraisers/corfecrew/fighting-for-mum---
Thank you to everyone who has already supported me and helped raise awareness throughout October - Ashlee Turner.