Informer Term 4 - Week 3

From Our Principal...

Dear Families,

As we prepare for our 2025 Class arrangements, we invite you to notify us of any important information that should be considered for our class composition by completing a 2025 Student Information Form.

These forms are available from the school office and are designed for parents to formally communicate any important information in relation to their own child, for class placements in 2025 in regard to social, emotional, physical or learning concerns.

Please be aware that these forms are not to request a specific class or teacher, but rather to inform the Principal formally of any relevant concerns that relate directly to your child.

All information included in the 2025 Student Information Form will be treated confidentially.  As always, requests will be considered by the Principal but, as you would understand, many factors need to be considered when forming classes and teachers’ professional judgement is vital in this process as well.

Please be aware that classroom teachers are not the only professionals involved in finalising classes for the following year.  Teachers also meet with Inclusive Curriculum staff and the Leadership team to finalise these lists.  If you have previously submitted a Student Information Form, this information is not carried forward and needs to be submitted on an annual basis.

Please do not put requests to teachers directly.  Only those submissions made to the Principal will be formally considered.

2025 Student Information Forms must be returned to school in an envelope addressed to the Principal no later than close of business on Monday 21 October.

Regards,
Jamie Emerick
Principal.

Is Your Family Leaving St John's?

P & F Meeting - TODAY

Our P & F Meeting is on TODAY at 5.30pm in the staffroom.

ALL WELCOME!

Supporting Kids With ADHD Webinar: 14 Oct

A Few Lunchbox Considerations

Nutrition for Kids (www.nutritionforkids) is a great Australian website which contains tips recipes and often free things!

A trend we have seen over the last few years is the bento box style lunchbox. While the little compartments allow packing a variety of foods, we are noticing more and more that these little boxes within the lunchbox are getting filled with highly processed and/or foods with lower nutritional value. And one of the biggest trends is these lunchboxes are sometimes 50% larger than a lunchbox 10+ years ago.

While a variety of food groups is great, the volume of food has certainly increased, which is often far more than our student's little tummies require.

As Nutrition for Kids states, ‘a nutritious lunchbox makes sure your child doesn't go hungry throughout the day but more importantly, it's vital in providing your child with all the nutrients they need to thrive’.

Nutrition for Kids outlines some common lunchbox tips.

Packing new foods - don't pack new foods! Even the most adventurous eaters can feel confronted with foods they haven't seen or tried before in their lunchboxes. Save unfamiliar foods and new recipes for after-school snacks, dinners or weekends.

Packing too much - it might be tempting to fill your child's lunchbox to the brim with options, but it can result in food being untouched or half-eaten and children not having enough time to let off steam through play, rest their brains and engage with their peers.

Large portions can overwhelm a child and lunchtime breaks aren’t that that long; 1^st break = 15 mins to eat and 25 mins to play and 2^nd break = 10 mins to eat and 10 mins to play.

Overfilling with refined carbs - Nutrition for Kids reminds us that carbohydrates can easily take over a school lunchbox and while they have a place in the diet as an energy source, too much can leave a child unfulfilled and hungry.

This is particularly the case with refined carbohydrates like white bread, wheat pasta, chips and biscuits. On top of that, you have simple sugars added in, often in high volumes, which can lead to over-stimulation and energy slumps later in the day.

Forgetting the protein - protein is a nutrient that often gets neglected in lunchboxes. Protein helps keep children feeling full, satisfied and focused. Protein can be easily added in sandwich/wrap fillings, homemade snacks, dips etc.

Using leftovers - leftovers are a fabulous lunch option.  Most leftovers from dinner contain carbs, proteins and fats and are usually better the 2^nd day and are fine cold too! Remember that you can use a thermos too to keep leftovers warm.

Pack together - where you can, children should be involved in lunchbox prep. It is a great learning opportunity to converse about where foods come from, and what is healthy and sometimes food etc. Your child can direct you as to what’s enough to keep them energised until 3pm and options that they mostly enjoy and won’t cause wastage.

Bars of Steel
Ingredients
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 egg
Splash of apple cider vinegar (optional)
3 tbs melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Good sprinkle cinnamon
1 cup steel cut oats
½ cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ - 1 cup grated apple (peel on)

• Sometimes I will add coconut flakes to be fancy or flaxseed meal or psyllium husks (if there is a bit of constipation going on!)

Get Going……..

1. Simply throw all of the ingredients into a bowl and combine.
2. Pour the mix into a greased cake tin and bake at 180 degrees oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden and start to come away from the edge of the tin.
3. Allow to cool and slice into squares and enjoy!

Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival Nominations

While our Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival is not on until Thursday 21 November this year, we will be asking students to nominate for their events in the coming weeks.

Our Swimming Carnival has both competitive races (students need to nominate) and novelty events (across pool, kickboard, Splash Zone, inflatables) which students do not need to nominate for.

Our carnival has many heats, catering for varying ability levels and children do not need to be competitive swimmers to enter any of the 25m events.

Students will self-nominate at school, supervised by their class teacher, via a google form on their iPads. Students can nominate in the following events.

100m freestyle
50m freestyle or 25m freestyle
50m breastroke or 25m breastroke
50m butterfly or 25m butterfly
50m breastroke or 25m breastroke

After the students have self-nominated for their races, the draft program will be displayed for checking and adjusting where required. If you have any concerns or questions, please see your class teacher, Mrs Graham or Mr Langdon.

Catholic Mission Month

Socktober is celebrated at St John’s every year. October is historically Catholic Mission month and the focus in 2024 is on Mongolia. The plight of Mongolia’s homeless will be highlighted this year with Catholic Mission working to help people with food, shelter and safety.

Fast Facts from Mongolia:
-  3.3 million people live in Mongolia
-  74% of children from vulnerable backgrounds do not complete secondary education
-  1 in 4 Mongolian people experience food insecurity
-  Mongolia experiences one of the coldest winters in the world with temperatures plummeting to -40 degrees celsius.

Crazy Sock Day & Day for Daniel - Friday 25 October

On Friday 25 October St John’s will hold their annual Crazy Sock Day. Students are encouraged to wear flamboyant and colourful socks to raise awareness for Socktober. This year the focus is on Mongolia and the homeless. Please bring along a gold coin donation for the day.

Some Year 5 students are creating colourful bracelets to sell. They will be on sale Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (23-25 Oct) from Nazarene Place for a gold coin.

On this day we also promote the importance of child safety. Students are encouraged to wear a splash of red with their crazy socks and PE uniform for Day for Daniel. 

Queensland School Sport

Congratulations to our students Tolu Kaka and Braxon Attard who represented Capricornia at the recent Queensland School Athletics State Championships.

Library News ...

Hello!

In week seven (when our years six students are away on camp) our school is going to be hosting an Author in Residence!!

Sami Bayly is a young Australian author and illustrator who is currently based in Newcastle, NSW. She loves all things weird and wonderful and enjoys painting realistic flora and fauna.

After studying a bachelor of Natural History Illustration at The University of Newcastle, she has published 6 books, four of which we carry in our library collection.

Her latest two books, however, are in a newly released series about animal evolution stories. They are, How We Came To Be - Surprising Sea Creatures and How We Came To Be - Creatures of Camouflage and Mimicry, which we will be adding to our collection at a later date.

St John's Way Awardees ...

Learn to Pray...

Signing Club

Chess Club....

St John the Baptist Chess Club practice has changed to every Wednesday first break with Father Peter and Mrs Milic in the Music room. Chess club is open for students year 2 to year 6. Come for training games or just to have game for fun. Please email Mrs Milic, Irene_Milic@rok.catholic.edu.au for further information.

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Ordering Information

The following information will ensure the efficient ordering of tuckshop for your child/ren:

• Tuckshop must be ordered online via QuickCliq www.quickcliq.com.au  Orders will not be accepted at the Tuckshop or Office.
• Orders must be placed by 8:10am. Tuckshop can be ordered weeks in advance. Simply click on the day/s that tuckshop is required.
• QuickCliq operates very slowly at very busy times i.e. close to 8:10am.  During these times the system may boot you off and require you to log back in. Late orders put a lot of pressure on our tuckshop staff and volunteer helpers.
• If you miss the ordering cut off time, your order will be transferred to the following day.  You will be notified of this on the screen.
• Parents MUST check confirmation email to ensure the order has been processed for the correct food on the correct day.

If you have any problems with the online ordering system please contact QuickCliq via 1300 11 66 37, or email: support@quickcliq.com.au

Our tuckshop operates every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (first and second breaks).

Tuckshop Menu

Flute Recruiting For 2025

Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) 2024 National Parent Survey

Uniform Shop Hours

GRC Disaster Preparedness Video

In preparation for natural disaster season, the Gladstone Regional Council (GRC) has released a short music video to help you get prepared.  Please access link below:

https://youtu.be/FioY-u-rtsc?feature=shared

All Girls Cricket

Basketball Summer Season

Star of the Sea Church Centenary Art Competition