Term 3, Week 2, 22 July 2021
Principal's Message
Well we have begun the Term with some restrictions due to the growing number of Covid cases in the state. We are certainly praying for these numbers to drop quickly but more importantly for the health and well being of members in our society who are battling covid. I am so appreciative of our school community for your adherence to the guidelines especially with parents unable to be onsite at present during level 2 restrictions.
On a brighter note we have made great progress with the plans for the new build. They will be submitted to council in the very near future all going to plan. I have included some pictures below taken from a 3D video which will be uploaded to the website. So keep an eye for it.
We also have our new playground being installed over the next holidays. The final plans for the playground are attached.
We farewell Jacki Coward our Canteen Manager. She has been an amazing asset to our school community and we wish her well for her new job. This Friday will be her last day. Given this announcement it was timely to review the school's financial commitment to the cost of running the service of a canteen two days per week. As you might imagine with the school population the canteen will never make enough profit to cover the cost of employing a canteen manager. As such it runs at a significant loss. So upon review the canteen will drop back to opening one day per week which will be Friday. As of week 3 the canteen will only be open on Fridays. The Canteen Manager position for Fridays is currently being advertisied on the Catholic Schools website.
New Building 2022
New Playground
Assistant Principal's Message
Heal Country-NAIDOC 2021
Student Leaders Shine as St John’s Celebrate NAIDOCOn Monday we opened our NAIDOC week celebrations with a beautiful gathering by the flagpole. Harley Black the school’s Indigenous Education Officer set the mood with a moving Welcome to Country. This was followed by short talks about ‘connecting to and healing country’ from Harley and Anastasia Elliot our school counsellor and finally we heard from our school captain Tanesa Browning. Tanesa’s talk was a real highlight and the whole school listened intently while she spoke. She showed great courage and leadership to speak so openly about her ‘connection country’ amongst other things she communicated that special feeling she has when she is ‘on country’ as well as referring to her grandfather and his story. It was very challenging for the children to hear that Tanesa’s Grandpa was not comfortable telling people he was Aboriginal when he was a young man as it would have invited discrimination.
All of the children had a chance to think about and discuss their favourite places and how they might be able to ‘care for country’.
There is a great photo in this week’s Echo taken just before the opening ceremony. Follow this link.
The opening ceremony was followed by a wonderful NAIDOC bush tucker feast which featured, baked barramundi, kangaroo stew and damper with bush spices. Once again Jacki and her team in the tuckshop did an amazing job preparing such a delicious meal for our students.
Today all of the children participated in Indigenous games from diverse Aboriginal Countries all over Australia from the Kabi Kabi people of Queensland to the Noongar peoples of Western Australia. Our children were organised into six vertical groups and each group had a Bundjalung animal name.
Booninge- echidna Junbung- platypus
Bubayeh- sea turtle Guruman- kangaroo
Jullum- fish Gabul - carpet python
The games (Buroijin, Kai, Gorri, Weme, Noongar -Wana and Puth) were enjoyed by all of the children and the student leaders were simply outstanding in the way they supported and encouraged the younger children. If you’d like to have a closer look at the games you can follow this link.
WOOL
Do you have some old wool lying around at home? Wool is still desperately needed for our school weaving project which will become part of the Brunsick Nature and Sculpture Walk. Please send in any wool you may have to the office. Many thanks Greg
Naidoc Week
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Professional Learning for Staff
Last Monday the staff engaged in further professional development in the area of Mathematics. The day was a continuation of our previous learning. Staff decided to use student data to plan for explicit teaching; monitor student growth, assess their impact as teachers and decide what students need for further growth.
During our investigation we identified place value as an area we wanted to focus on with our students. We spent time exploring the challenges for our students; developing a deeper understanding of place value and exploring ways to improve our teaching and learning in the classroom. We planned activities which encouraged our students to make connections between the quantity, number name, numerical symbol and multiple ways to represent and interpret numbers using visual and concrete representations, with a major focus on the number line as one visual representation.
Teachers have actively engaged students in the classroom with many of the activities we investigated and students are enjoying some of the new learning opportunities.
Mathematics Learning
RE NEWS
Making Jesus Real
The next fortnights MJR (Making Jesus Real) value is ‘Belive in yourself’. In classes, students will be discussing the value of having a growth mindset. It is to recognise that we all can grow and improve our abilities and that if we work hard things can always get better.
Families are encouraged to use the following questions sometime over the next two weeks (around the dinner table) to keep the conversation going.
1. What things in life are really easy to do and take no effort at all?
2. What things in life are challenging or tricky?
3. So how do you handle challenging situations?
SPORT NEWS
Tweed Zone Athletics: The Tweed Zone Athletics carnival that was scheduled for Friday the 23rd of July is now scheduled for Friday the 6th of August. For those children who returned permission slips there is no need to do another slip. If however you have not returned a permission slip please myself or Tundra for a new note. Important to note that we will need parents to transport children to the carnival so we will need parents to car pool and help one another out on the day as we did so well for the Tweed Zone Cross Country.
Elective Sport: Last week the children voted firstly on their preferred sports for this term and the four sports listed below were chosen. The children then had a chance to choose their favourite sport from this list. Elective sport commenced on Thursday of week two. It is very exciting to hear that Sam and Tanesa are keen to help run the touch footy and do the refereeing. What great leadership and initiative.
Elective Sports Groups 2021
Oztag/Touch Footy Stage 3 - Mrs Bottle Sam Referee, Tanesa Referee, Luke, Hazel, Oscar, Tinks, Louis, Ivy, Lola, Phoenix, Bella, Daniel, Noah and Max
Gaga Ball - Mr Flint Ryder, Colt, Aliza, Isaac, Antonia, Jack, Xavier, David, Hudson, Leila, Lulu and Mirabai
Oztag/Touch footy Stage 2 - Mrs Loane Vander, Quinn, Seb, Evie, Katie, Marley, Chase and Joey
Tennis - Miss Wells Eva, Will, Banjo, Tommy, Phoenix, Mia, Nina, Mikayla, Omar, Kodi, Shanti-Rose, Ali, Isla
CANTEEN NEWS -
Our Naidoc week bush tucker feast was a great success, with lots of our students ordering the tasty lunch and dessert. Thank you Mr Flint for making his delicious kangaroo stew and lemon Myrtle tea, and thank you to our wonderful volunteers for all their help!
This will be my final week as our school canteen manager- I have made the very hard decision to take on a new job. I will miss working in our wonderful school community, and feeding our amazing children!
The special events and fun days have been highlights throughout the year- it has been a joy to be a part of them all!
I feel so blessed to have had this experience, a huge thank you to all who have supported my role along the way.
To all the fantastic volunteers who have helped out, a huge thank you. Keep coming in and being a part of the team- providing fresh, tasty food for our children and staff!
Our veggie garden is thriving, the freezer is still full of the frozen treats and I will pass on recipes for our favourite tasty snacks.
Stay well and healthy! Jacki 🌿
The Family Connect Service
St John’s Primary School is excited to welcome Alyse Parham and The Family Connect
Service to our school community.
The Family Connect Service is a prevention and early intervention service that connects
families who need a helping hand, to the support services and community resources which
can assist them with the challenges and demands of family life.
Family Connect works with families to look at what challenges they are facing and what their
support needs are and then find the most appropriate services to meet their needs. Family
Connect is being delivered by Social Futures.
Alyse Parham from Social Futures will be at St John’s on Fridays. Alyse hails from Alaska,
USA and came to the Far North Coast 8 years ago. Alyse has a background in family and
group therapies working with children and people with disabilities and their families. Alyse is
a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers.
You may see Alyse in the grounds Friday mornings and afternoons.
If you’d like to know more about the Family Connect service, Alyse can be contacted directly
on 0429 216 841 or at alyse.parham@socialfutures.org.au
You can find more information about The Family Connect Service and Social Futures at
https://socialfutures.org.au/families-and-children/family-referral-service/
Parenting can be a tough gig…..
And here at St John’s we are offering more services to
families
St John’s Primary School have had Alyse from The Family Connect Service in our school
community since the beginning of May. We are pleased to announce she will be here for
Term 3 supporting our families.
The Family Connect Service (FCS) is a service that connects families who need a helping
hand, to the support services and community resources which can assist them with the
challenges and demands of family life. The FCS works with families to look at what
challenges they are facing and what their support needs might be to find the most
appropriate services to meet their needs.
Feel free to call Alyse on 0429 216 841 or Email alyse.parham@socialfutures.org.au or come in and see her at our school on Fridays.
SCHOOL NEWS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Our birthday people
Jack, Chase, David & Felicity
Lost Property
Please make sure that your child's property is clearly labelled with their name.
Piano Lessons
Piano Lessons are now available with Daniel Holland. Daniel is Conservatorium trained and has extensive teaching experience to students of all ages, from beginner to advanced.
Lessons are available here at our school on a Thursday, during or after school.
Please phone Daniel directly for more information. 0401 071 667
COMMUNITY NEWS
Enjoy playing tennis in Term 3
Red Hot Tennis
Riverside Tennis Club Mullumbimby
Enrolments now open
Ph: Justin 0403 841 241