Informer Term 2 Week 10

Prep 2022

APRE News

St John the Baptist – the man

Who was this very special man in the bible?  John was the cousin of Jesus.  When Mary found out she was expecting, she was also told that her elderly cousin was expecting.  Mary went directly to her to help her in her pregnancy.  Elizabeth was pregnant with John.

John’s father, Zachariah, was a high priest, so John, as the son of a priest was, according to tradition, automatically a priest.  John felt a calling to prepare the way for the Messiah, that everyone had been waiting for.  He recognized that many people were not living as God had intended and he was calling for them to repent and change their ways.  As a sign of this commitment to change, John was baptizing people in the River Jordan (hence our House colour called ‘Jordan’). 

John was a very humble and committed man. As a priest, he could have had quite a comfortable life, but he chose to live simply, in the desert wearing skins and eating locusts.  His mission was what was important to him.

He wasn’t interested in drawing attention to himself, but rather, informed all that one more important than he, was to come and they needed to prepare.

John was beheaded, losing his life because he had the courage to speak out when people were living wrongly and in sin, which included him speaking out about the actions of King Herod in marrying his brother’s wife.

We can learn much from John the Baptist and mirror in our own lives the virtues he modelled – commitment, perseverance, courage.

Our school is very fortunate to have such a great man as our patron saint and model.

Home

I was reading an article recently from a charitable organisation talking about how so many people in the world are displaced, having to leave/flee their home because of safety threats, natural disasters or financial hardships.  It made me think how lucky I am to have a beautiful home with all it’s conveniences.  Living in Australia, we take this luxury for granted but it does us good to stop and give thanks for what we have. 

A home gives us shelter, safety, comfort, a place to relax, to store our possessions and to fill with good memories living in it as a family. This is the great Australian dream…to own our own home.  Today that is even harder for people to save for the required deposit amount so they can get ‘into the market’ and purchase their own home.  Those on low incomes find it almost impossible to reach this dream.

We have so much!  Others have so little!  What can we do to help those in any of these situations? What can we do to encourage more affordable housing for low-income earners?

Did You Know

The land for our school was originally bought from a developer whose first name was John.  He agreed to sell the land to the priest negotiating with him at that time, for such a bargain, on the condition that the school be named St John’s.  The terms of this sale were so good that there was no hesitation in agreeing with this.  The name “St John the Baptist” was formally decided on prior to the opening of the school.

Feast Day

Feast Day Mass

Everyone in our school community is warmly invited to help us celebrate our feast day by joining us at our Feast Day Mass.

When:  Friday 25 June, 2021

Time:  11.40am

Where:  Nazarene Place, St John’s School

After the mass, our eldest and youngest students will cut our Feast Day cake and students will all have a piece to eat.

The afternoon session will be games rotations, organized and run by our Year Six students.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Free Dress Day

This Friday is free dress day, but the cost of this privilege is a gold coin donation to be given to Caritas, a Catholic fundraising agency.  Caritas does amazing work all over the world to help upskill those in needy communities develop sustainable practices to improve their quality of living, while also spreading the Word of God through their actions.  We are happy to support their life-changing practices for so many.

Please ensure your child is wearing closed-in shoes and sunsmart clothes on this free dress day.  School hats are still to be worn, not caps.

Parish News...

Key Dates - Week 10

Our last week of Term Two is very busy!

Mon 21 June - AFL competion and Year 1 Fire Visit

Thurs 24 June - Report Cards ''live'' on Parent Lounge, Prep Church visit and excursion, Robotics competition

Fri 25 June - Free Dress Day, Whole School Beep-Off, Feast Day Mass (11.40am) and Feast Day games from 1.30pm

Construction

And Up It Goes……..

Construction of the new Administration Block and Year 5 and 6 Classrooms has taken off in the last few weeks. Our estimated move in date is mid-late September. Exciting times!

OSHC - Vacation Care Bookings

OSHC is now taking vacation care bookings. Places are limited so get in quick.

St John's Way Awards

Tuckshop Specials

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Menu

Australian National Busking Comp...

GISMA Music Workshop

Dear Parents and Gardians, 

The Gladstone Independent School Music Association is proud to announce we will be returning this year with our annual workshop.

The 23rd Annual GISMA Music Workshop will be from 26th-30th July 2021. Details regarding registrations are to follow.

What happens at the GISMA Music Workshop?
The workshops provide an opportunity for all students who play to mix with students from other schools and work with experienced tutors and conductors. The students receive intensive music tuition from local and visiting tutors, coming together to work with our visiting conductor.

Who can attend?
Students  who learn woodwind, brass or percussion instruments are eligible to register. Students can be from our school’s music programs or learn privately.  Unfortunately strings are not part of the GISMA bubble due to no previous programs involving strings, though it is being considered as an option to expand our net in future years.

Why are the GISMA Music Workshops important?
Music has been proven to be extremely beneficial to those who take up an instrument. Workshopping with students provides them with a unique performing experience where intensive focus on playing can:

• Accelerate the students’ progress on their instrument
• Instill confidence in the students’ playing ability and self-worth
• Motivate and affirm the reason they play music
• Long lasting positive effects are seen every year by Instrumental Music teachers, and most importantly the students have fun learning and playing music

Kind Regards,

Chelsea Elvery  

GISMA Secretary

GISMA Concert

The Gladstone Independent Schools Music Association would like to extend an invitation to you and your families to attend our workshop concert.  The concert is a culmination of the hard work our students have put in during the week at their workshop under the baton of Nathan Cahill - our guest conductor from Bundaberg.

The concert will be held Friday 30th July 2021 at 7pm, Marian Centre Chanel College, 11 Paterson Street.

The cost of the concert is by gold coin donation.  Raffle tickets will be available for purchase on the night of the event.

We would like to thank the following for their support to date leading up to our workshop:

- Regional Arts Development Fund

- Gladstone Physio & Fitness

- Physioshop (Boyne Island)

Kind Regards,

Leanne Christensen | President

Holiday Camp

Drakes Fundraiser

Art Competition

St John's SZapp...

We have added 3 new ‘Tiles’ to our St John’s SZapp. Please note that they are still under construction, but we will be looking at adding the following content very soon. Please see instructions below to download the app if you haven't already.

1. P & F – this will raise the profile of the P&F by including a contact information and details of when meetings usually held. The tile will also include the names of current committee members and any upcoming events.

2. Parent Feedback – The opinions of our school community and we would like to use this tile to gain feedback on specific areas from parents. Surveys and responses can be collated or exported from the tile for future consideration.

3. Uniform Requirements – this tile will include simple images of expected uniform requirements for all students at St John’s.

Please also note that we are aiming for the Seesaw tile be live in Week 10. This will replace Dojo as a communication tool for teachers and parents. In Week 10, a unique QR code will come home with your child so you are able to register. Further information will be communicated with you over the next week.

Our St John’s App Is Live!

We are very excited to announce that the St John’s is live and ready for parents to download to their devices.

Please follow the instructions step-by-step for downloading the St John’s App. The one-off St John’s set-up passcode is 8892.

Additionally, to download the St John’s App to your iPad, laptop or PC, please follow the following link - https://stjohnclinton.schoolzineplus.com/subscribe

Once you have downloaded the App you will see we now have a one-stop-shop for all information you need to stay informed at St John’s.

In the top banner you will see Home, Feed and Manage.

Home will take you to the tiles and Feed will take you to alerts/messages (as Dojo did).

The latest ‘feed’ will be displayed on the home screen above the tiles.

The ‘’tiles’’ we have used are as follows:

• Parent Lounge – takes you straight to the Parent Lounge sign-in page
• Latest Newsletter – each week the newsletter will be uploaded to this tile
• Website – takes you straight to our website
• Forms and Documents – in this tile the following documents have been uploaded – simply tap on the link:
  

Parent Handbook
School Uniform
Behaviour Management
Fees and Levies Schedule
ICT Code of Practice
Tuckshop Menu

• School Calendar – all key dates for the upcoming term (continually updated)
• Tuckshop – takes you straight to the online tuckshop log-in page
• OSHC – links to required forms
• School Contact – takes you straight to our phone contact
• Facebook - takes you straight to our Facebook page
• Seesaw – Our new ‘Dojo’’ – please note that this is still a work in progress
• Newsletter Archive – each weekly newsletter will be archived to this tile for referral where required
• Subscribe to Newsletter – please note that all existing families will be automatically uploaded to this new platform. This tile is for new families in the future

While we feel we have covered all bases, things can be overlooked so we look forward to your feedback or suggestions on information that would be a benefit to be included. As always your feedback is valued; please email Jakki Graham at Jakki_graham@rok.catholic.edu.au