Term 1, Week 4, 24 February 2022

Principal Message

Welcome to Week 4 of Term 1. The term is well and truly underway and the busyness of mid-term is upon us.

I have only been here for a few weeks, but I have been reflecting on how blessed I am to have landed at St John's, Mullumbimby. The staff here are so hardworking; the teachers are just amazing in their love and passion for their work in providing a quality education to your children; and the students are just outstanding learners with plenty of enthusiasm.

I have been made to feel very welcome by all members of the community and really can't go past the friendly, inclusive and caring nature that exists in this community. Let's hold onto those great qualities!

Term 1 Class Overviews

Please find links to the Term 1 Class overviews of learning below:

Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) - CLICK HERE

Stage 1 - CLICK HERE

Stage 2 - CLICK HERE

Stage 3 - CLICK HERE

We thank the teachers and support staff for their terrific planning of these learning activities which cater for our diverse student population!

Parish School Forum

We will be holding the First Parish School Forum meeting on 1st March. A flyer outlining the details was sent home with your child this week. Now that restrictions look like easing, it would be great to get the parent community involved in planning some social events both in and out of the school!

We also need to elect a President, Vice-president, Secretary and Treasurer as well as Class Parent Representatives to be organisers of class social events. 

If you are wanting to nominate yourself for any of these positions, please email me at david.bermingham@lism.catholic.edu.au. 

Communication and Marketing

We are after some parents to assist in our communications and marketing strategy. If you have experience in this area or would be keen to be part of a consultative group, please let me know. We would also love some volunteers to be part of the campaign by being interviewed on video about the school. If either of these are of interest to you, I would love to hear from you. 

Family Connect

This week we welcomed Lisa Wood who is our new family connect worker at St John's. Lisa is taking over from Alyce who was at the school in 2021. Lisa is with us every Monday.

Please see the flyer attached below which outlines a list of supports available to parents. This is a fantastic service and we are so lucky to have it here at St John's.

Communication Channels

This year we will be communicating with parents and families in the following ways:

Compass is the official communication channel between school and home. Download the Compass app on your device. You will be given a login code to access your compass account.  Notifications and updates regarding your child or the whole school are available through the compass app.  Pay school fees, pay and give permission to attend events, view report cards and more!  

Facebook is essentially a marketing platform for the school, not an official communication channel. Please like and follow our school Facebook page … St John’s Primary Mullumbimby.

School news, snapshots, photos, events and competitions will be placed on Facebook.

SeeSaw is a digital portfolio. Please download the SeeSaw app for families on your phone / device.  This will allow you to see your child’s work samples from the classroom. These can include writing samples, videos, photos and tasks.

School Newsletters (via Schoolzine)

Paper copies of the newsletter are available from the school office,  electronic copies are emailed to parents fortnightly.  Newsletters will include important information, dates and photos and news of what is happening in our classrooms.

For all apps please turn on notifications to ensure you are kept up to date!

Teacher Meet 'n' Greet

Our Teacher Meet 'n' Greet has been scheduled for Monday 14th March from 4-6pm. Please place this date in your diary. Further communication will be sent out regarding how this evening will be structured. 

Parent Assembly

The Lismore Catholic Schools Parent Assembly is offering a Lenten Program via Zoom for parents across the Diocese. Please find the flyer below with more information. 

Best Wishes,

Dave

david.bermingham@lism.catholic.edu.au

Assistant Principal Message

Students' wellbeing can change moment to moment, day to day, year to year, and can be influenced by what’s happening in a specific moment and the actions they take.

Being able to ‘bounce back’ or be resilient is important for our long term wellbeing. It is especially important for children when confronted with everyday challenges at school and at home.

This year our Stage Two children are working on becoming ‘bounce back’ champions. They use the bounce back acronym along with other strategies to help them cope with setbacks. Here’s what they had to say about ‘bouncing back’ and what it means to them.

David (Year 4): “bouncing back is when you get a reminder ‘step’ from your teacher in class you just calm down and get on with your learning.”

Caleb (Year 3): “if something bad happens, like I fall over, I try not to overreact and I just bounce back.”

Sybella (Year 3): “when something goes wrong, like you might have a little argument with your friends and you are feeling overwhelmed, you can talk to a teacher about it, or go to the library and read a book at break time.”

“Resilience is important for children’s mental health. When you talk about resilience, you’re talking about a person’s ability to cope with ups and downs and bounce back from the challenges they experience. Building resilience helps children and young people to deal with difficulties that are a part of everyday life, but also to develop the basic skills and habits that will help them deal with challenges later in life. Resilience develops through social and emotional learning skills - skills which can be taught like maths and science. And just as maths and science can become stronger with practice, resilience too can be developed. Within your learning community you can create opportunities every day to help children and young people develop their social and emotional skills and grow into resilient adults.” 

This quote is from the Be You Australian Gov’t resource website for youth mental health & wellbeing.

Resources for Parents;

“Bounce Back!” is an acronym for some of the foundational principles of resilience, specifically: this is a useful tool providing language and concepts helping children to develop resilience.

B – Bad times don’t last, and things get better.

O – Other people can only help if you share with them.

U – Unhelpful thinking only makes you feel worse.

N – Nobody is perfect – not you, not your friends, not your family, not anybody!

C – Concentrate on the good things in life, no matter how small.

E – Everybody suffers, everybody feels pain and experiences setbacks; they are a normal part of life.

B – Blame fairly – negative events are often a combination of things you did, things others did, and plain bad luck.

A – Accept what you can’t change and try to change what you can.

C – Catastrophizing makes things worse – don’t fall prey to believing in the worst interpretation.

K – Keep things in perspective. Even the worst moment is but one moment in life.

On-line resources for mental health and wellbeing support;

Resilient Youth Australia: free resources written by our team of resilience experts to support parents in building resilience and enhancing the wellbeing of young people.

Kids Helpline: 24/7 crisis support and suicide prevention services for children and young people aged 5 to 25

Headspace: For older children. Online support and counseling to young people aged 12 to 25

1800 650 890 (9am to 1am daily)

For webchat visit https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace

Compass News- are you having problems with Compass?

Help is at hand! This coming Monday the 28th of February we will have a Catholic Schools Office Compass technician (Greg Dwyer) working out of the hall from 2.00pm until 4.00pm. Greg will be able to help you troubleshoot any issues you may be having with Compass. Please put the date in your diary and we’ll see you there.

Warmest wishes, Greg.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

What does the ANT do?                                                                                                    The acronym ANT stands for Additional Needs Teacher. My role is really about supporting inclusion in our school.  At St John’s we appreciate that all students have diverse learning needs. Inclusion recognises that each child is unique and learns in a variety of ways and at different rates.  Within our school, it is my job to ensure our commitment to respecting and honouring the diversity of each individual is a fundamental principle of learning and teaching.

Meeting the needs of all students is the responsibility of our whole school community. In some cases, children with unique learning needs may require additional support. I work with parents, teachers and students to ensure  every child can access the curriculum and thrive in a safe, purposeful and supported environment. To achieve this different children may need different tools, interventions or adjustments to the learning environment. These will allow them to grow both academically and socially.  It is about equity, which is not the same as equality. Equality is when we provide the same support for everyone. For example, giving every child a pair of glasses.  That sounds fair in theory, however the problem is we are all different. We don’t ALL need glasses to learn!   Each child needs something different to achieve equity.  The image below helps us grasp what can sometimes be a difficult concept that fair does not mean the same. 

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s ability to access learning or thrive socially or emotionally, please make a time to discuss it with their teacher. They can invite me to work in collaboration with you and your child. Together we can plan a way forward that ensures your child’s needs met. If you are accessing support from any allied health services please let us know because they can guide us in our endeavours at the school and classroom level. 

Naomi 

RE NEWS

Opening School Liturgy 

In week three we celebrate the beginning of the school year with a Liturgy. Individual classes prayed together in the Prayer Space, which was the old Stage One classroom. The theme of the liturgy was ‘Let your Light Shine’. Students and teachers prayed for the new school year and asked God to support us throughout 2022 in our learning, friendship and all that we do at St John’s. We also prayed for the new families and students who have joined us this year. Each class did an amazing job at being reverent and all teachers reported that it was a wonderful way to come together in prayer given the current restrictions. 

Opening School Prayer 

God of All Light, We pray that your light will shine ever more brightly in our lives. 

May we feel the warmth of your love, and may others see the light of your Son, Jesus, in our actions and in the way we give of ourselves. 

Help us share the light of Christ with others. 

We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son,

Amen

2022 Sacramental Programme 

RE around the School 

Religious Education is taught in every stage at St John’s and the Catholic Worldview is permeated throughout other learning areas so that our students can experience life through the lens of our Catholic faith which is revealed to us through Jesus’ teachings, showing us the meaning of life and how to live it. 

Kindergarten - Kinder has been exploring the concept of a prayer place and are learning about the Sign of the Cross

Stage 1 - Stage 1 has been listening and responding to the story of Jesus and the children and reflected on the qualities of Jesus, identified in the story. 

Stage 2 - Stage 2 have been learning about the creation of human beings in the second story of creation in Genesis. They have talked about the relationship with human beings and have been  writing prayers of thanksgiving for God’s creation of human life

Stage 3 - Stage 3 has been exploring ‘mission’ and how the mission of Jesus as announcing the reign of God.

Shrove Tuesday 

On Tuesday the 1st of March, pancakes will be sold from the canteen at lunchtime for Shrove Tuesday. We will be selling them for 50c and $1.00. All the money raised will go towards Project Compassion. 

We are seeking donations of cooked pancakes and or toppings, including butter, maple syrup, lemon, sugar, cream and jam. 

Cooked Pancakes can be dropped off to Miss Wells in the canteen before school on Tuesday. 

Kind Regards 

The Mini Vinnies Team 

Ash Wednesday 

What Is Ash Wednesday and What Happens? 

Ash Wednesday is always 46 days before Easter Sunday and marks the beginning of the Lenten season. Lent is traditionally a 40-day fast — a reference to the time Jesus spent being tempted in the desert — that seeks to prepare the heart of the believer for the solemn remembrance of Jesus’ death. It concludes and is followed by a joyous Easter Sunday celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

Ash Wednesday Mass                                                                                                          Students and teachers in years 3-6 will come together in the St John’s Church for an Ash Wednesday Mass on Wednesday the 2nd of March at 1:30 pm. The Mass will be prepared by Stage 2 and led by Fr Michael. 

AROUND THE CLASSES - Stage 2

Over the past two weeks, Stage 2 have been receiving some very strange mail. Postcards have been showing up unannounced! They have been addressed to an unknown person- Zelda. It has sparked a lot of discussion about who could be sending these postcards. It is curious that the dates on the postcards are similar. They are always on the 26th of January but a different year. Stage 2 think it may have something to do with the History books going missing in the library. We will keep you posted on our investigations! 

SCHOOL NEWS

Compass News- are you having problems with Compass?

Help is at hand! This coming Monday the 28th of February we will have a Catholic Schools Office Compass technician working out of the hall from 2.00pm until 4.00pm.  

SCHOOL FEES 

2022 Term 1 School Fees are due on Monday 28th Feburary please arrange to be paid or contact the school to set up a payment plan. Payment can be done via Bpay or Compass pay.  Please use your compass app to access balances.  Statements are emailed each month.  If you have any concerns or queries please contact the school. 

Stage 2 & 3 Camp 

In Week 8 of Term 1 2022, students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will travel to Tyalgum Ridge Retreat for a two night excursion from Monday 21st of March to Wednesday 23st of March. 

The cost of the excursion is $305 per child which includes transport, accommodation for 2 nights, all meals and activities. 

All information about the camp has been sent out on Compass.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Slip Sliding Friday Night Family Movies

FREE Slip Sliding Friday Night Family Movies and giant inflatable FUN is on Friday 18 and 25 February from 5 to 8 pm at the Petria Thomas Swimming Pool in Mullumbimby.

As part of the NSW Government's The Festival of Place, the two family nights guarantees fun for everyone!

Shrek 1 showing on 18 Feb and Shrek 2 on 25 Feb.

Sausage sizzle, hot chips and snacks available at the pool kiosk.

Grab a meal downtown before or after the movie and inflatable fun

Entry numbers are limited - entry on a first in basis and subject to NSW Health regulations.  This is a weather dependent event.

Slip Sliding Friday Night Movies has received $15,000 and is 100% funded by the NSW Government’s The Festival of Place.

For more information about The Festival of Place and its programs  https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/premiers-priorities/great-public-spaces/festival-of-place/in-your-streets