Term 1, Week 8, 23 March 2023

Principal Message

Dear Parents, carers and members of the St John's community,

What a blast the last two weeks have been. Our students are engaged in great learning and we have had plenty to celebrate!

In week 7 we decided to celebrate Harmony Week, as well as Wellbeing Week. Harmony Week is a celebration that usually occurs 20th-26th March and it recognises our diversity and brings together community members from all different backgrounds. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. The 2023 theme for Harmony Week is EVERYONE BELONGS. 

Wellbeing week is always celebrated in Week 7 as this is usually the time of term where students need a bit of a 'brain break' and a reminder for us all to re-focus on our wellbeing and re-establish good habits leading into the last part of the term. 

Thank you to Greg, Ellie and Felicity for organising the week and to the rest of the staff for their help in contributing to this occasion. 

Last Friday we also celebrated St Patrick's Day - Thank you to our Kinder parents and Mrs Bailey for organising our 'Green treats' extravaganza. The treats were sold at lunch and recess to raise money for Project Compassion. It was a great way to end the week, with funds raised going to a great cause. 

2023 School Annual Improvement Plan

It is my pleasure to share with you the 2023 St John's School Annual Improvement Plan (SAIP). Data collected through the Parent, student and staff Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Surveys in 2022, as well as student learning data, have informed our direction for this year. I welcome any feedback or questions that you may have.

To view the 2023 SAIP, please click on the link below. 

Feast of St Joseph

The Solemnity of St. Joseph is usually celebrated on March 19, but has been transferred to March 20 since the liturgy of the Lenten Sundays take precedence. This is an important Feast for us to celebrate as the Sisters of St Joseph founded our school. 

As we know, St Joseph has two feast days. On March 19 our veneration is directed to him personally and to his part in the work of redemption, while on May 1 we honour him as the patron of workmen throughout the world. 

St Joseph is invoked as patron for many causes. He is the patron of the Universal Church. He is the patron of the dying because Jesus and Mary were at his death-bed. He is also the patron of fathers, of carpenters, and of social justice.

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that by Saint Joseph's intercession your Church may constantly watch over the unfolding of the mysteries of human salvation, whose beginnings you entrusted to his faithful care.  Amen

Upcoming Dates

Please find below a list of dates savers below of events that are occuring over the next few weeks. 

• 15th-27th March - NAPLAN Testing Window (Yrs 3 & 5)
  
• Saturday 25th March - State Election (Parent Forum running BBQ)
• Tuesday 28th March - Information Night for K-2 families InitiaLit & the new K-2 English
• Wednesday 29th March- Confirmation
  
• 2nd April-7th April - Holy Week
• 3rd April-5th April - School Holy Week Celebrations
• Wednesday 5th April - Last Day of Term 1
• Thursday 6th April - Pupil Free Day 
• Monday 24th April - Pupil Free Day 
• Tuesday 25th April - ANZAC Day
• Wednesday 26th April - First Day of Term 2
• 26th April-28th April - Stage 2 and Stage 3 School Camp
• Tuesday 9th May - School Photo Day

This year we will also have the following ongoing items:
​- School Newsletter will be available every two weeks starting in week 2. Link will be posted on Compass.
- School Assembly will be on Monday afternoons from 2:20pm onwards. Every second week will be an opportunity for each class to share learning that has occured and it would be great to have all parents attending!!

• Week 2 - Kindy
• Week 4 - Stage 3
• Week 6 - Stage 1 MacKillop
• Week 7 - Pupil Free Day
• Week 8 - Stage 2
• Week 9 - Stage 1 Carthage

Volunteers needed!!

The Parent Forum is running a BBQ for the election this weekend. They require volunteers to assist on the day, as well as donations of baked goods to be sold. 

If you are able to volunteer on the day, please add your name into the SPREADSHEET for a particular time period. If you are able to donate baked goods for sale, please drop them into the school office on Friday 24th March. 

Please remember that proceeds from such events, go straight back into the school! Also, from this particular event, a percentage of proceeds will also be going to the Mullumbimby Community Centre. 

Please support this great cause, where possible. 

Tuning into Kids - 6 free sessions for parents

A fantastic opportunity is on offer for St John's parents next term. Tuning in to Kids® is an emotion-focussed parenting program. It provides parents and carers with skills in emotion coaching, which is about recognising, understanding and managing their own and their children’s emotions.
When children develop these emotional skills they are better able to negotiate the ups and downs of life. To date over 100,000 parents have attended Tuning in to Kids® programs in Australia alone.

For more information or to register, please see the flyer below. Registrations close on Friday 24th March

To Download the 2023 Parent handbook, please click the link below.

Kind Regards, 

Dave Bermingham

Effort in Learning and Spirit of Jesus Awards Week 7

Assistant Principal

Around the Grounds- What are students learning about writing? In teaching and learning, we have something known as ‘the third teacher’. You may be mistaken for thinking this is the third person in the room. However, it is simply the walls that are ’talking’.  Our teachers regard the learning environment as a living space or entity that invites, provokes, and responds to learning. It is a space where students can find out information for themselves about the following key questions:

1. What am I learning and why? (Learning Intention)
2. How am I doing? (Success Criteria, things I need to include in my writing)
3. How do you know? (feedback, bump it up walls)
4. How can I improve? (Goal Setting)
5. Where can you go for help? ( being willing to improve, open to new learning)

The photos will show what this looks like in the classrooms at the various stages throughout the learning journey. It starts very simply in Kindergarten and becomes increasingly complex by Stage 3. The walls are there to teach. They are referred to as a source of learning every day, in every classroom. 

Early stage 1

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Leader of Pastoral Care/Student Wellbeing & Inclusion.

Harmony & Wellbeing Week

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all those people who were involved in making our Harmony & Wellbeing Week so successful last week. In particular I’d like to thank Matt and Ele at Spice it Up Thai who provided the scrumptious Pad Thai that the children enjoyed last Thursday free of of charge. Aliya King our (IEW), Felicity Guinea and our Year Six leaders all helped out with the Harmony handprinting activity while Mrs O and Miss O ran the funky disco.

What a great week, what a great school!!!

Best regards, Greg

Harmony Day Bubble Blowing

Harmony Day Disco

Harmony Day Drumming

More Harmony Day Drumming

Harmony Day Thai Food

Year Six get a Taste of High School Life

Last week all Year Six students at St John’s attended a high school taster day at Mount St Patrick’s High School in Murwillumbah.

When we arrived we were whisked away to the science labs. We had to wear lab coast and goggles and we got to use the Bunsen Burners to conduct an exciting experiment. One has to be very careful with Bunsen Burners…to turn the Bunsen burners on safely there was one tap for you to connect to the Bunsen burner which contained gas. You put the Bunsen burners under a wire sheet and then you turn the gas on and then hold a lighter in the Bunsen burners and then it ignites.  We used the bunsen burners to heat up purple cabbage in water. We waited  about 7-10 minutes and then we got a dropper/pipet to  the pucollect some of the purple cabbage water. After we had got our test tubes we went to a teacher and got acid, base and water all in separate  test tubes, and then we put the purple cabbage water into each of these test tubes. After we had put the purple water in the test tubes it resulted in three completely different colours. Acid resulted in pink, the base was green and obviously the water was purple.    

Later on we went to the TAS (Teachnical and Applied Studies) department and made these really cool keyring. We made these key chains by putting a big strip of acrylic in a laser cutter to cut the shape of our keyrings. After we cut our keyrings we put them on top of really thin strip of hot metal that heated and softened the acrylic for us to then make into keychains. We used a vice to fold our keyrings in half so we could then put a symbol of the Mount St Patricks logo in the middle.

After TAS we went upstairs and went to the food tech lab and got to decorate our own cupcakes with MnMs, marshmallows and icing. We were split into two teams to see who could make the coolest looking cupcakes. After we finished decorating, we got to eat our cupcakes. Yay!

It was a massive day of fun and joy. Everyone loved getting a taste of high school and they liked what they tasted!

Written by Seb and Katie (Our School Captains)

Year 6 Visit to Mt St Patrick's

Year 6 Visit Mt St Patrick's

Welcome Aliya King- new IEW(Indigenous Education Worker) @ St John’s

We are very excited to have Aliya King working here at St John’s this year as our Indigenous Education Worker. Aliya is working on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and spends some time in every classroom over the two days supporting students with their learning. She will also be running Koorie Cultural learning session on Wenesday afternoons for our Koorie students. In addition to this Aliya can share her cultural knowledge with students and assist teachers to build in and integrate Indigenous cultural perspectives into units of learning for the classroom. Last week Aliya did a fabulous job sharing her story with the children as part of Harmony week celebrating cultural diversity in our community.

Once again, I’d like to welcome Aliya. She has already made a really positive impact through her work with students and staff at St John’s.

Aliya has written a short biography below.

Jingi Walla, Ngay Gulla Aliya King. 

Hello, My name is Aliya King and I am the Indigenous Education Worker here at St. John’s Primary School. 

I am a proud Widjabul-Wyabul/Minjunbul woman. I was born and raised in Lismore on Widjabul-Wyabul country. My connection to the Widjabul-Wyabul people comes from my Dad and my connection to the Minjunbul people stems from my Mum. 

I have just recently graduated from St. John’s College, Woodlawn at the end of last year. My interest in working in schools came from my own experience as a student, showing me the importance of supporting the ongoing legacies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student and providing all student with the same education opportunities as I did. 

Boogelbeh

Thank you 

AROUND THE STAGES

Stage 2

ST JOHN'S ARTWORK

St John’s students have produced artworks that have been chosen for the Diocese of Lismore, Catholic Schools Office Student Art Display. Artworks will be displayed in the Catholic Schools Offices at Presentation House Lismore, Clarence Regional Office, Coffs Harbour and Invercauld House Lismore. They may also be included in a booklet to be produced by the CSO that showcases the artistic talent of students in the Diocese. Congratulations to all students whose work has been chosen for inclusion in the Art Display.

Student Artwork

SCHOOL INFORMATION

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"

Our birthday people are:

No birthdays  

Piano Lessons

Piano lessons in 2023  at St John’s, during school hours and after school.
Enquiries please call Daniel Holland 0401 071 667

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS PARENT ASSEMBLY

COMMUNITY NEWS

Brunswick Heads Cubs & Scouts 
Join us for camping, canoeing, abseiling & outdoor fun to develop a sense of
adventure and achievement. Scouts promotes an understanding of camp craft
and the environment, team skills, and organisational abilities.
For girls and boys aged 8-14. Scouts NSW is an approved provider of the
Active Kids rebate. 
We are also seeking adults (over 18) interested in becoming volunteer
Scout/Cub Leaders. Organise and run weekly nights, go on camps, and help
our youth be positive, active citizens.
Training is free, industry accredited and includes options to learn kayaking,
campfire, abseiling etc. No experience necessary but you do need to be
enthusiastic!
Email  scouts2483@gmail.com  to find out how to join or to enquire about
becoming a Scout or Cub Leader.