Informer - Term 3 Week 5

APRE News...

Grandparents Day this Friday 13 August at 8.40am

It’s on again!  We celebrate and welcome our grandparents to our school to acknowledge the continuing importance they are to all our families.  Grandparents are the ones who have passed on the flame of learning and of love giving.  They are the ones who have born the fruits of their love and sacrifices in their extended families. We are blessed to have their continuing roles in the lives of our families, as they bring a richness to family life and an unconditional love that wraps around the whole family unit.  Thank you to all our grandparents for all you have done and are doing for your families in our school community.

To celebrate, we invite grandparents to come to our school this Friday at 8.40am to watch our assembly item and be entertained by our school musicians.  Your grandchildren will then take you on a round tour of our school, including a walk past their classrooms. Finally, your grandchildren will lead you to Paul’s Garden, where they will leave you, as they need to return to their classrooms, and you can partake of morning tea. Please wear a hat as this area is not under cover.

We look forward to seeing many of you join us for this morning.

Be People of Action

God entrusted each of us with the gifts of our own lives and those of others as well as so many others different gifts.   We are not meant to hide these to ‘keep them safe’.  We will not be judged on how well we ‘treasured’ them, but on how our talents bore fruits.  We are asked to take risks and even be the one that is different in order to ‘make a difference’.

How do we do this….by being a witness to the fact that we have come to know who Jesus is and how he modeled to us of how to live our lives.  Every day, we are called to love everyone; not just those who are dear to us.  That is too easy.  But to love those who we might disagree with, who annoy us, or who have done wrong by us.  This is the challenge.  Only by doing this will others recognize us as witnesses of the love of God.

We are asked to be a gift to all those we meet.  Jesus is asking us to be lifegivers to others through our words and actions of love.  It will not be an easy task, but the Lord has sent his Holy Spirit to give us courage and wisdom amongst other gifts, so we are not alone.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The 15 August (this Sunday) is the feast day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This is the main feast of Mary in the Catholic Church and is considered so important that this is a holy day of obligation, meaning Catholics are obligated to refrain from work, relax and attend mass on this day.  It commemorates her death and bodily assumption into Heaven. It is a church dogma that her body and soul was taken to heaven. A dogma is a belief set down by the Pope that is incontrovertibly true.

Mary was the Mother of Jesus, but also the first disciple of Jesus.  As a person like you and me, it is easy for us to identify with her.  She knows and has experienced much of what we go through in life.  As members of a school with a Marist heritage (the Marist Sisters administered our school in its beginning years and the Marist Priests administered our Parish until 2019), we should look to Mary as a guide to help us live in the spirit of Mary.

The Church of Dormition (Mary Sleeping) in Jerusalem at the summit of Mount Zion.

Parenting Tips by Michael Grose

We’ve all received personal advice that makes us jump through hoops before we see any benefits. Get up at 5.00am and run 10 kilometres to get fit. Fast two days a week to lose weight. Take your children on a two-week holiday to build better bonds. So much hard work to implement.

The Japanese concept of Kaizen states that small habits are easy to do as they require no willpower. In time, they become a natural part of what you do, and you’re performing better, in this case parenting better, before you know it.

Following are five micro-habits that will impact positively your relationship with your child. You are encouraged to create your own micro-habits, but this list will get you started.

Greet your child with a smile every day

“Make a good first impression as first impressions count.” There’s incredible wisdom in this saying as your first interaction with someone will set the tone for all the interactions that follow.  Make your first interaction with your child each day a happy, positive one by greeting them with a smile. Make your eyes light up and not only will you put yourself in a good mood, but you’ll establish an atmosphere of warmth for your child at the start of the day.

Point your feet toward your child when they have something important to tell you

Next time you are standing with someone at a party, social or networking event, glance down to see where their feet are pointing. If they are pointed your way, then you have their full attention. If they are pointed elsewhere, then you’d better talk quickly as they’ll soon be heading in the direction that their feet are pointing.

This principle applies doubly to family life. When you know your child has something to say, point your feet toward them and they’ll know that you’re giving them your full attention. If you are sitting and can’t swing your toes around, point your nose in their direction to achieve the same result.

When your child is upset, acknowledge their feelings first

When a child is annoyed, angry, or visibly upset, focus on their feelings before their behaviour. Often, we parent down heavily on behaviour (“Stop that yelling!” “Sit down before you hurt someone.” “That’s an outside noise.”) as we are programmed to control or bring order to a situation. This focus is often ineffective as it’s meeting our needs rather than the immediate needs of the child.

When we focus on feelings first, the behaviour will often improve because you’re meeting a child’s needs, or they finally feel understood. “I can see you’re angry at the moment.” “You seem very excited.” “I get it that your annoyed.”

Refer to good and bad behaviour as a choice

The advocates of respectful relationships rightfully say that all behaviours are a matter of choice, and aren’t driven by others, the environment or substance abuse. (There’s a caveat here for people experiencing severe mental health disorders where choice for many is not a sound option.) Parents can reinforce the idea of choice by consistently referring to a child’s positive or negative behaviour as a choice. “Good choice, sharing your toys with your brother.” “You could make a better choice and come home on time when your visit a friend.”

Look away and breathe when you want to yell.

We’ve all experienced it. You’re at the end of your tether and you ask your child to clean up/help out/stop annoying a sibling and they flat out refuse. Before you know it, you’ve given your child some parenting advice that doesn’t come from any parenting books, only to regret it a few minutes later. Yes, you’ve just turned into a child yourself.

When you are about to get upset with your child step back, look away (taking your senses away from the source of stress) take three or four deep belly breaths through your nose before you speak. These small steps will instantly relax, and help you think from your pre-frontal cortex (the thinking part of the brain), rather than the reactive lizard brain, which is responsible for the fight/flight response. The key is to practise this micro-habit in low or no stress situations, so it becomes automatic when you’re under stress.

In closing

Behaviours become habits become patterns. You practise a behaviour once and it’s just that – a behaviour. Practise it repeatedly and it becomes a habit, which can easily be broken. Keep the habit up for long enough and it becomes a pattern that becomes an entrenched part of the way that you parent.

Michael Grose

Michael Grose, founder of Parenting Ideas, is one of Australia’s leading parenting educators. He’s an award-winning speaker and the author of 12 books for parents including Spoonfed Generation, and the bestselling Why First Borns Rule the World and Last Borns Want to Change It. Michael is a former teacher with 15 years experience, and has 30 years experience in parenting education. He also holds a Master of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting education.

COVID Update...

Please find below a summary of the updated COVID information, provided by the State Government as of Sunday 8 August 2021. Please be aware the amendment to the legislation has not been released, at this stage. It is possible that requirements may change at short notice.

South East Qld Lockdown Lifted

The Queensland Government has announced that the lockdown in the impacted areas of South East Queensland (SEQ) will end at 4pm Sunday 8 August. There are still additional restrictions in place for these areas. They remain classified as Impacted Areas.

• This development means that all students who were unable to attend school last week, due to them (or a member of their household) being in SEQ, can now attend school.
• There are still some restrictions in place. The restriction that still impacts our schools, is that there will still be a requirement (for relevant staff/students) to wear face masks at school until 14 days has passed, since they were last in the impacted area. 

Cairns and Yarrabah Local Government Areas (LGAs) Enter Lockdown

Cairns and Yarrabah LGAs will enter a three-day lockdown as from 4pm Sunday 8 August. These LGAs will be subject to the same restrictions that applied in the SEQ impacted areas, during its recent 8-day lockdown.

This means:

• Impacted student attendance will be restricted to children of essential workers and vulnerable children.
• Impacted staff (who are not unwell) will be required to attend work as an essential worker.
• Face masks will be required, as per the information communicated last week.

Please refer to the Queensland Health website for current updates.

Capricornia Regional Trials - Cancelled

Information regarding the cancellation of the 2021 Track and Field State Championships along with the Capricornia Regional Trials from the Capricornia School Sports - Regional School Sport Officer.

Students from across the state and Region were scheduled to compete at the 2021 Track and Field State Championships along with the Capricornia Regional Trials.

Considering the impact of current restrictions to scheduled district and regional trials in a number of local government areas, the decision has been made to cancel the 2021 Track and Field State Championships along with the Capricornia Regional Trials.

In making this decision, we have considered the impact to students, families and staff, and the uncertainty about what will happen moving forward.  Additionally, consideration of the equity issues for those in lockdown who may not be able to attend regional trials, the workload for staff when there is no further pathway and the increased anxiety for parents, students and staff in moving around the region has been considered.

This decision ensures that we are providing schools, parents and students with timely advice about the cancellation.

We will continue to take advice from the Chief Health Officer and Queensland Health in making decisions regarding the health and safety of students and staff. For further information on current restrictions and the latest Queensland Government updates, visit www.covid19.qld.gov.au.  

I understand that this decision may cause concern for students and families who had planned to attend these Trials and Championships, the decision was made considering student and staff health and safety as a priority.  

Refunds will be provided to all participants. A QRG has been included to assist with the process.

Whilst we appreciate the decision to cancel the Capricornia Trials and the State Championships is disappointing for many, I am sure that you appreciate the reasons and the timely notification of this so please ensure that you communicate to staff, parents and students as soon as possible.

St John's Cooking Club...

Our final week of the inaugural St John’s Cooking Club, saw our eager chefs whip up a great little scroll number!

Much fun was had with sticky dough, but more importantly bellies were rumbling from the delicious smell coming from the oven at the end of the lesson.

A simple flour and yoghurt dough was perfect for our 3 filling choices this week:

1. Ham and cheese
2. Grated apple and cinnamon
3. Banana (with a squeeze of honey)

I have taken great pleasure working with our eager chefs of all ages, each week and I am really look forward to meeting 12 new keen cooks for our 2^nd round of St John’s Cooking Club starting on Wednesday 25 August from 3.00pm – 3.50pm in our tuckshop.

PREP 2022

A reminder to existing St John's families that a Prep 2022 enrolment application must be submitted and completed in full for your child to be considered for Prep in 2022.

School Fees...

St John's Way Awards

OSHC...

PORT TO PARK FUN RUN

Don't forget to Register now for the Port to Park Fun Run! (formerly know as Botanic to Bridge)

Our school’s favourite fun run is back for 2021 and with a new name and course!

Gladstone Ports Corporation’s (GPC) new-look Port to Park FunD Run will no doubt be a wonderful family-orientated community event and we’d love as many of our students and families to participate on Sunday 15 August.

This year, two new courses will wind through GPC's beautiful waterfront parklands of East Shores, Marina Parklands and Spinnaker Park.

The courses have new names too, recognising the language of our Traditional Owners of the land - the Bailai and Gooreng Gooreng nations.  The 9-kilometre Koongo Dash (meaning place of water) starts at 7am for our early risers, while the 3-kilometre Yallarm Family Run (meaning place of shells) will be perfect for those limbering up a little later at 8.30am.

​If you register before Monday 19 July using the code P2PEARLY you can receive a 10% discount.

So get your runners ready and start limbering up!

You can register here at www.gpcl.com.au/port-to-park 

Port to Park is proudly supported by a number of local corporations including Santos GLNG, Smit Lamnalco, Gladstone Regional Council and Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centre.

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Menu

Tuckshop Special

Save The Sea Turtles

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