Term 2, Week 10, 29 June 2023

Principal Message

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

Thank you for another fantastic term - I can't believe that we are already halfway through the year!

It has been a very busy term, with plenty of celebrations and event which make our community great:

Stage 2 & 3 camp, Tell them from me surveys, Sacramental program - reconciliation, Catholic schools week - living our mission, Anzac Day, Trivia Night, Report Cards, Parent-Teacher Interviews, Cross country, Athletics carnival, Introduction of Story Dogs, National Reconciliation week, Mini Vinnies fundraisers.... and much more! No wonder everyone is tired!

I hope that you all have a safe and relaxing mid year break and enjoy this beuatiful winter weather! See you when Term 3 starts on Tuesday 18th July.

Upcoming Dates

Please find below a list of dates savers below of events that are occuring this term. 

• Friday 30th June - Pupil Free Day (Staff PD Day)
• Monday 17th July - Pupil Free Day (Staff PD Day)
• Tuesday 18th July - First Day of Term 3
• Wednesday 30th August - Cyber Safety event for Parents @ 6pm

St John's External Review

On June 20th-22nd, we had a panel consisting of Lismore Catholic School office staff, peer principal and a Review Chair from ACER (Australian Council for Educational Research) conducting a review on the school. 

The school review is an opportunity to reflect on current practices and progress made towards improving the quality of teaching and learning and subsequently, student learning and wellbeing outcomes. The review team worked closely and collaboratively with our school staff, students and parents to identify existing strengths and provide recommendations to inform the school’s next improvement cycle.

Thank you to each of you for your important contributions made to the External review panel. We eneded up with SO MUCH to celebrate about St John's. On Friday we will gather and start to celebrate and discern our affirmations, commendations and we have some great recommendations which will form the basis of our 3 year strategic cycle starting next year:

1. Collaboratively build a framework of positive behaviours for learning underpinned by the school’s mission, vision and values.  Consideration should be given to ensure that this framework is characterised by:

• approaches and practices that are fit for purpose and proactive
• data-driven strategies 
• A focus on building a common language and understanding of expectations
• attention to pastoral care and wellbeing 
• alignment for students between positive school behaviour, Catholic values and learning habits 

2. Continue to build a professional learning community as a way of being. Ensure that:

• time and structures are privileged for collaboration and induction
• multiple opportunities are available for staff to received feedback on their pedagogical and pastoral care practices
• teacher capacity is built through a distributed leadership model 
• the continuity of learning is prioritised across the teaching team 

3. Focus on student engagement through a continued emphasis on high quality pedagogies and targeted differentiated strategies, which are mapped carefully against the curriculum to ensure continuity and the right level of challenge.

St John's Cyber Safety Workshop - AUGUST 30TH

Please find below a flyer with information about a Cyber Safety Parent Workshop with Brett Lee from Internet Safe Education.

Brett will conduct a session with our Stage 3 Students in the afternoon and the Parent session will take place in in our Hall.

I have personally attended a number of Brett's sessions as a parent and educator and found them extremely practical. Brett Lee founded internet safe education in 2008 and has been working tirelessly in schools to educate parents and students about technology. Brett has worked as a Queensland police Officer for 22 years, 16 of those as a Detective in the field of Child Exploitation. In the 5 years prior to his retirement from the QPS, he was a specialist in the field of internet child exploitation investigations. This experience gives him great insight into how to keep kids safe online. 

Kind Regards, 

Dave Bermingham

Week 9 Awards

Week 10 Awards

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Celebrating Success: Empowering Writing Growth with the Assessment Waterfall Chart

We hope this newsletter finds you well and proud of your child's accomplishments this term! Today, we want to take a moment to express our appreciation and acknowledge the wonderful efforts of our dedicated teachers in utilising the Assessment Waterfall Chart to enhance your child's writing skills. This was very much a part of our school improvement plan and our recent school review team were impressed by how well teachers and students are using this.

Our teachers have embraced this innovative tool with enthusiasm, and the progress we've witnessed this term is truly commendable. The Assessment Waterfall Chart has played a significant role in empowering our students to become more confident and proficient writers. Let's take a moment to celebrate the growth and achievements we've witnessed together.

Through the Assessment Waterfall Chart, our teachers have:

• Cultivated Writing Engagement: By implementing the Assessment Waterfall Chart, teachers have fostered a sense of engagement and excitement around writing. Their dedication and support have created a nurturing environment where writing is valued and encouraged.
  
• Customised Instruction: The Assessment Waterfall Chart has allowed our teachers to tailor their instruction to meet the individual writing needs of each student. By identifying specific areas for improvement and recognising their strengths, our teachers have provided targeted guidance and support.

• Nutured Growth Mindset: Our teachers have fostered a growth mindset among our young writers. By emphasising the importance of progress and effort, they have created a safe space where students feel comfortable taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them.
  
• Provided Valuable Feedback: With the Assessment Waterfall Chart, teachers have been able to provide timely and constructive feedback to guide students' writing development. This feedback has helped students refine their skills and deepen their understanding of effective writing techniques.

The positive impact of the Assessment Waterfall Chart on your child's writing progress is evident:

• Increased Confidence: Through targeted interventions and supportive feedback, students have gained confidence in their writing abilities. They now approach writing tasks with greater enthusiasm and belief in their capacity to express themselves effectively.
  
• Improved Skills: The Assessment Waterfall Chart has facilitated significant growth in students' writing skills. Areas such as organisation, clarity, creativity, and grammar have shown noticeable improvement thanks to the support and guidance of our teachers.
  
• Enhanced Self-Expression: Students are now expressing their thoughts and ideas more confidently, both in writing and in verbal communication. The Assessment Waterfall Chart has provided them with a framework to develop their unique writing voices.
  
• Ownership of Learning: Through regular progress monitoring and self-reflection, students have taken ownership of their writing journey. They set goals, monitor their progress, and actively seek opportunities to enhance their writing skills.
  
• I was exceptionally proud of our students, from KIndergarten to Year 6,  as they explained to the review team how they use the  Assessment Waterfall Chart  in their classroom. Well done teachers  and students!

Leader of Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

NAIDOC 2023 @ St John’s

Aliya King our Indigenous Education Worker (IEW) has been busy planning some fabulous NAIDOC celebrations for our school on Wednesday 19th of July in week one of next term. All parents/grandparents and family members are invited to attend all or part of the day.

Please read through the information below. We’d love to see you on the 19th!

Children are invited to wear NAIDOC mufti on the 19th! Any colours of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags.

NAIDOC celebrations-Wednesday 19th of July                                                                                                            9 - 9:30/10:       Assembly (morning tea with Koori kids/family and special guests)                                    Aunty Larissa ‘Rissa’ Smyth to do Welcome to country                                                                                            9:30/10 - 10:10: Fruit Break                                                                                                                                                     10:10 - 10:50:   Rotation 1 (20 minutes) and Koori Game (20 minutes)                                                              10:50 - 11:20:    Lunch                                                                                                                                                        11:20 - 12:         Rotation 2  (20 minutes) and Koori Game (20 minutes)                                                            12 - 12:40:         Rotation 3  (20 minutes) and Koori Game (20 minutes)                                                              12:40 - 1:20:      Rotation 4  (20 minutes) and Koori Game (20 minutes)                                                            1:20 - 1:50:        Recess                                                                                                                                                              1:50 - 2:30:        Rotation 5  (20 minutes) and Koori Game (20 minutes)                                                          2:30 - 2:50:        Back to class and home                                                                                                                          The activities include;                                                                                                                                                              Face painting, Story telling, Native plant talk, Dharmabul- bread making & tasting, Painting

There is also a poster competition for all children. The early years will be colouring and the older children will be designing and making their own poster based on this year’s theme. Seven Gift bags have been donated by the Koori Mail Newspaper in Lismore which will be given out as prizes. 

This years Theme: For Our Elders                                                                                                                                    Across every generation our elders play, and continue to play, an important role and have an important place in our communities and Families. They are cultural knowledge holders, trailblazers, nurturers, advocates, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and they are our loved ones. 

They are the ones who pick us up in our low moments and celebrate us in our high ones, they cook us a feed to comfort us and pull us into line, when we need them too. 

They guide us and pave the way for us to take the paths we can take today. They guide us, not only through generations of advocacy and activism, but in everyday life and how to place ourselves in the world. 

We draw strength from their knowledge and experience, in everything from land management, cultural knowledge to justice and human rights. Across multiple sectors like health, education, the arts, politics and everything in between, they have set the many courses we follow. 

The struggles of our elders have helped us to get to where we are today and help us navigate our way forward in life. The equality we continue to fight for is found in their fight. Their tenacity and strength has carried the survival of our people. 

It is their influence and through their learning that we must ensure that when it comes to future decisions making for our people, there is nothing about us - without us. We pay respects to the elders we have lost and to those who continue to fight for us, across all of our nations and we pay homage to them.

Thanks Aliya!

I’d like to thank Aliya on behalf of all the staff and children for all of her wonderful cultural work here at St John’s. Her skills, talent and passion for her cultyreare a great asset to our community. In the photo below you can see Aliya with Ella and Avalon (left) in front of the beautiful St John’s 2023 Reconciliation Week mural.

Leader of Mission

Accendere Spiritual Retreat Day

Last Friday the Stage 2 students enjoyed the Accendere spiritual retreat which was held in the hall. Miss Riley O’Leary led the retreat with the support of Felicity Guinea and five year 9 Ministry students from St John’s Collage Woodlawn. Peer-to-Peer Ministry is an essential feature of the Ministry program at our Catholic high schools in the Diocese. 

Accendere means to ‘switch on’, kindle to catch fire, light to strike, to produce/spark the flame. All the activities were about Friendship. For kids we show love to others by the way we treat others, especially our friends and the students in our class and school. It’s about accepting and including others, like Jesus did.

Scripture theme ‘And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.’  John 13: 34-35 

It was a wonderful day of fun and laughs and the Stage 2 students loved spending time with the year 9 students who were fantastic role models and great inspiration for faith formation. 

Leader of Sport

As the term draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the incredible achievements and sportsmanship displayed by our students in the Cross Country, Zone Cross Country, School Tennis Program, and Athletics Carnival. It has been a busy term with multiple sporting events, though the children's determination, sportsmanship and teamwork has not faded.

Although the final house points from the Athletics carnival were incredibly close, I would like to congratulate Williams on taking out the Cup! The Carnival was a successful day filled with exciting track and field events, along with a K-2 novelty carnival. 

This term children have been participating in Tennis skill sessions each Friday with Coach Sophie. The program provided opportunities for beginning students to learn the basic skills of tennis, while others were able to refine their techniques. As a staff, we are proud of the commitment and willingness to “have a go” that the children demonstrated throughout the sessions. 

Moving into term 3 we have the Zone Athletics Carnival on Friday the 28th of July and a Stage 3 Gala Day later in the term. Notes will be going home before the end of term with those students who will be representing St John’s at the Zone Carnival. 

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the parents and families for your continuous support. Your commitment to helping set-up, run, attend the events and cheer from the sidelines fosters a positive sporting culture among the St John’s community. 

Have a happy and safe holiday!

Laura McEvoy. 

SCHOOL INFORMATION

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"

Our Birthday people:-  

 Isaac, Savannah G,

Our birthday people who will celebrate over the winter holidays

Cynthia, Vander, Charlie, Hudson, Avahlia & Jack 

BOOKFAIR - Save the date

We will be holding our annual Book Fair in Book Week 6                                 21st - 25th August. Please put the dates into your calendar.                                            The theme this year is "Read, Grow, Inspire". 

Lost Property

It is getting colder! Lots of jumpers being handed into the office with no names.  Please make sure all clothing is labeled,                                        Second hand jumpers to purchase for $5.00  

COMMUNITY NEWS