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Informer Term 2 - Week 8

From Our Principal

Dear Families

This week we will undertake our School Improvement review. It is an opportunity for our school to take some time and engage with an external review team to look at curriculum delivery at St John’s. The process gives us a document much like a report card that details the findings in 9 key curriculum domains. From this, we receive a list of commendations and recommendations that the team believe we should both continue doing and areas where we can improve.

Bill Gates was very fond of saying, "We all need someone who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve".

The review is a chance for us to acknowledge the many great things that happen at our school and find opportunities to improve. The team will be spending time in classrooms and with teachers over the coming days and a draft report will be presented to staff on Thursday afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our carnival on Friday. As we grow each year, there are always challenges, but we continue to look at our processes and events. Some things can stay the same, some things need to be tweaked and adapted for the growing number of children. We are all very grateful to Mrs McVean, Mr Langdon and the grounds staff for the effort that went into making it a great day for our students.

Have a great week and hug your kids.

Regards,
Jamie Emerick
Principal.

School Improvement Team Visit

During Week 8, St John’s will participate in a School Review – which is a five-yearly review of the school’s progress against its Strategic Plan and the School Improvement Tool (SIT). This is where three external reviewers visit the school to talk to staff and students about the school’s progress. As part of the review the team will consider evidence associated with our school improvement journey. They will then provide a report that details commendations and recommendations for the next school improvement plan.

Our strategic plan continues to focus on two major priorities:

Improve reading, writing and numeracy
Ensure all students have pathways to success

Members of the review team will be talking with staff, students, parents and community partners over two days – Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 June.

School Photo Days - Thur 13 & Fri 14 June

School photo payment envelopes were sent home with your child last week. Orders may be made online, directly with MSP photography. If you place your order online, you do not need to return the photo envelope to school.

If you choose to pay cash, please complete the envelope and return to the school office on or before the photo days.

Please see school photo timetable below.

Athletics Carnival - That's A Wrap!

The 2024 Athletics Carnival was a wonderful example of great sportsmanship, team spirit and strong competition. House Captains did a fantastic job of provoking team spirit and war cries were heard all day long.

Records were pushed, teams cheered and hearts beat very fast throughout the day, both from exertion and excitement!

It was great to see our Preps participate in their first Athletics Carnival and a little sad for our Year 6 students who participated in their last St John’s Athletics Carnival.

A big shout out to all of our parents and grandparents who came to support and cheer everyone on; you certainly added to the excitement of the day and it was a wonderful example of our school community spirit.

The Athletics Carnival would not have run as smoothly as it did without the commitment of all staff, volunteers, and friends who lent a hand on the day. And of course to our students, who were fabulous examples of great competitors - running fast, cheering hard and putting 100% into every event – we thank you!

As always, the Athletics Carnival serves two purposes – an opportunity for our students to participate fully in a variety of athletics events and put their HPE skills into practice, as well as selection for the Gladstone Athletics Trials.

Those students born in 2014, 2013 and 2012 who placed first or second in a championship event have now been selected to represent St John’s for the Gladstone trials. Notes were sent home today with information regarding this next level of competition. If you have any questions regarding Gladstone Athletics, please contact Mrs McVean.

Congratulations to our 2024 Age Champions – they all showed great all-round speed, strength and huge doses of effort!

One record tumbled at Friday’s Carnival – Braxton Attard set a new record in the 100m (14.32 secs). Other records were broken in the lead up to Friday's Carnival. Please see photos below.

The Age Champions for 2024 were:

2012
Layla Elkins and Nash Young

2013
Penny Hale and Tolu Kaka

2014
Edwina Slean and Braxon Attard & Haine Attard

2015
Savannah Blake and Harrison Roberts/Charlie Warrener

In addition, congratulations to the mighty Cummins team for winning the overall total points and being named the 2024 Athletics House Champions.

The placing for the four houses were 1^st Cummins, 2^nd Wallace, 3^rd Jordan and 4^th Philps.

And finally, a big shout-out to Wallace House who were awarded the Spirit Award for their great cheering and enthusiasm throughout the day!

Fitness Club

Learn To Pray

St John the Baptist Feast Day

We are very fortunate to have St John the Baptist as our school’s namesake, as he is someone we can all truly look up to as a role model. John was not swayed by public opinion. Nor did he care about what the general populace was doing. Rather, he was a man who followed his own convictions, and even though this went against what the current trend was, he was courageous enough to stand up and say his piece. He wasn’t afraid to be seen as being different, such was his commitment to what he believed.

His intention was only to spread the word that people needed to change their wrongful ways in readiness for the coming of the Messiah. His conviction did win him many followers and this inevitably ended with his death at the hands of Herod.

We can all take a lesson from his courage and his commitment to what he believed was necessary and right. As members of the St John the Baptist community, may we too strive to mirror these traits and be the hands, the feet and the voice of Jesus in today’s world…in our school, workplace and home.

All families are Welcome to join us for our St John the Baptist Feast Day Mass on Friday 21 June at 11:40am in Nazareen Place (Multi-purpose Shed).

"Boys and their magnificent flying machines"

Congratulations to the St John's Spitfires:

Fabian Royston
Haine Attard
Hudson Brown
Bailey Pimm
Ryan Van Deudekom
Hayden Anderson

These boys won the recent Interschool Paper Wings Competition. Not only did they record the longest air time, but one member, Fabian Royston, designed a plane that flew the longest distance.

Great team effort. Well done boys!

St John's Awardees

Chores For Children - Triple P

Chores_for_Children_Triple_P.pdf

Library News

This week in our Library we are working on World Environment Day activities.

In 1972, the UN General Assembly designated 5 June as World Environment Day. The first celebration, under the slogan “Only One Earth” took place in 1974. In the following years, WED has developed as a platform to raise awareness on the problems facing our environment such as air pollution, plastic pollution, illegal wildlife trade, sustainable consumption, sea-level increase, and food security, among others.

This year’s World Environment Day campaign focuses on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience under the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration.” The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the 2024 World Environment Day global celebrations.