Informer - Term 4 Week 1

From Our Principal ...

Dear Families

Charles Darwin changed the scientific world when he published The Origin of the Species in 1859.  The full title of his work was “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”. Darwin wrote about his research on watching various organisms adapting to the environment around them.

The ability to adapt and change is the key to success for any species.  Change is one of the inevitabilities of our world.  At our staff meeting this morning, we were discussing the server upgrade and the computer changes. At this stage, all looks to have gone smoothly and we have had little in the way of major disruptions of breakdowns. As I passed this information on to teachers, I remarked that we should be back to normal. The comment came back straight away of ‘What is normal’? And in a school, we could probably see what this means.  We have a basic routine, but we respond to each day as it unfolds.  We have visiting specialists, guest presenters, sick teachers, sick kids, sick families, fire drills, traffic and every imaginable disruption and then a few more.

I believe that one of the most important lifelong skills we can instill in our children is that of resilience.   The ability to roll with the punches, bend with the breeze, whatever name you want to give it. More and more we see this inability to cope with the ups and downs of life. The unspoken epidemic of youth suicide in this country and the western world is a sad reminder that many of our children see this as a viable alternative to the issues in their lives.

In 1946 the World Health Organisation listed in its constitution that:

Health is not a "state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being". And nor is it "merely the absence of disease or infirmity".

Similarly today in our own everyday lives, mental health is not about the absence of problems but how we deal with them.  There has never been a time when there wasn’t some form of pressure in people’s lives.  Our response is dictated by our attitude.  At school, we try to focus on resilience and responding positively to the issue of life. 

The story of King George the Sixth and his wife and family shows a great example of dealing with pressure situations. During the Blitz, when bombs where raining down nightly on London, the King refused to be evacuated as did his wife. They endured the nightly bombing and then were visibly present each day during the clean-up and everydayness of life during the war. The message this sent to the people of London was a great morale booster during this time and one that was acknowledged as something that helped people endure a very unpleasant situation.  Do we send a similar message to our kids?  Yes its hard, yes we feel bad, but we will face up to it and not let it overcome us. 

Have a great week and hug your kids.

Jamie Emerick
Principal

Swimming Carnival - Term 4 - Years 3 - 6

• Swimming carnival is Friday 6 October– Week 1, Term 4.
• The carnival starts at 8.40am sharp and students can arrive at the Gladstone Aquatic Centre from 8.10am.
• Students must go to their class teacher to have name marked off the roll, then go to house tents.
• Transport to and from the swimming carnival is the responsibility of parents.
• Student entry is Free, although the pool does charge parents an entry fee.
• All students need their school hat, sun safe shirt, towel, thongs, water bottle and healthy snacks. Sunscreen will be available at the pool.
• All students must wear a swim shirt for marshalling and novelty events.
• Students to wear a sun safe shirt when they are not swimming.
• All students must stay in their house areas throughout the day (not with parents).
• Parent seating is allocated on the Glenlyon St side of the pool.
• The ‘Splash Zone’ is out of bounds for all students except during supervised activities.
• The pool canteen only sells limited snack food. There will only be limited time to access the canteen and we ask that parents only send a small amount of money for an ice-block or similar.
• Students are to bring their own healthy lunches.Students are to see a teacher before going to the toilet, canteen etc.
• The Swimming Carnival concludes at 2.00pm. Students must see their class teacher before going home with their parents.

Swimming Lessons Term 4 - Prep to Year 2

Our Swimming Carnival for our Year 3 – 6 students is on Friday 6 October (Week 1 of Term 4). Please see further information, specifically under the Swimming Carnival for further details.

The Prep – Year 2 Swimming Lesson Block will be in Week 8 of Term 4 – Monday 20 November to Thursday 23 November. Further information will be available throughout Term 4.

This year we will not be participating in Year 3 – 6 Swimming Lessons in Term 4, but instead our Year 3 - 6 students will be engaging in a block of Enrichment Lessons in multi-age groups.

The Year 3-6 students voiced that this is their preference and gave a list of activities they would like to learn more about or be further engaged in.

We took our “Student Voice” to the teachers and we have put together a focus block of Friday weekly lessons. Students will nominate their preferred focus activity late this term and we will get underway in Week 2 of Term 4.

The list of Enrichment Lessons for our Year 3-6 students include: cooking, fitness/bootcamp, maths genius hour (through Smart Games), mosaicking, netball, diamond art, quilling, cross stitch, “paint the cow”, football, drama, dance, STEM activities, yoga, pottery, robotics, basketball, singing, drones, french knitting, chess, graphic art and design, jigsaw puzzles/board games, craft, Minecraft and computer coding.

I think you would agree that this is a fabulously extensive list to suit all interests!

Class teachers, auxiliary staff, the Leadership team and the Inclusive Curriculum team will all be involved in delivering the lessons to and with our students.

P & F Meeting - TODAY

Our next P & F Meeting is TODAY at 5:30pm in the staffroom.  

ALL WELCOME!

Thank You Clean Up Club

Thank you to our Clean Up Club for their  efforts on the last day of school Term 3.  

School Fun Run Prize Ordering

Fun Run prize ordering closes Friday 6 October. Simply visit schoolfunrun.com.au to create / log into your Profile Page, then click on the ‘CLAIM YOUR PRIZE’ button and follow the prompts. If you have any questions, please contact the School Fun Run team on 1800 FUN RUN and they will gladly assist!

Support Caritas

Student Travel Rebates Close 31 October

Volunteers & Bakers Needed: Family Fun Afternoon

Social Justice Competition

Homework Club - Year 3, 4, 5

Tuckshop Special

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Menu

Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs

Here at St. John’s, we pride ourselves on being sustainable and recycling what we can to help God’s creation. Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs is an Australian company that is collecting and sorting bread tags nation-wide. They are creating new products with recycled bread tags that include wheelchairs and reusable food bowls. As of May 2023, they have recycled over 10,000kg of Aussie bread tags (that’s over 10 tonnes of plastic waste)!

How can you help? Please collect any plastic bread clips from home and bring them into your classroom to put into your class’ collection container. There is also a collection container at the front office. Once a fortnight, Year 4 will collect the containers and empty them into our main bin. Once this is full, we will take it to the collection depot in town, where they will be sent away for recycling.

Thank you for helping us to be kinder to our world and for looking after God’s creation.

Catholic Care - Child Behaviour Sessions

Learn to manage difficult behaviour in children aged 2-12 years.  Catholic Care are offering a free, three session program for parents and carers:

Wednesday 4th, 11th and 18 October
10am-12pm
6.30pm-8.30pm (Special Needs Children)

See flyers below for more details.

Music Tutor Update

Please be advised that we are doing all that we can to secure a Music Tutor for the Friday Private Lessons and our School Band.

We are actively advertising on a variety of platforms and have approached a number of private music teachers currently working in Gladstone. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any luck securing anyone for the position, but will continue actively searching.

OSHC Easter Vacation Program

Positions Vacant - Catholic Education