Informer - Term 3 Week 7

From Our Principal...

Dear Families

I spoke on Assembly today about the importance of time. There is a great story attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte when he  offered one of his aides anything he wanted but he also told him that the only thing he couldn’t give him was time.   Time is such a precious commodity, but one we don’t always make the best use of.

The choices that we make and the way we use our time say a lot about what we value.  Do we commit time and our presence to the things that we say are important? One thing I have learnt as a parent is that if you want your kids to tell you the big things in life you need to listen to the small things. This can be particularly challenging when you have an eight-year-old following you around the house telling you in great detail about the little thing that happened in their day.

I have said before that our kids are particularly good at knowing what we value. As responsible adults, the pressure is on us to develop the relationship that allows our kids to verbalise how things are traveling in their lives.  So many of our society live in a world where they feel no one listens or cares.  Mother Teresa, a saint in our church who lived and worked in the slums of Calcutta, was widely quoted as saying “ the poorest person in this world was the one without a friend.”

We all love our kids and we continually provide and support them, but do they know we really listen?

Have a great week and hug your kids.

Jamie Emerick
Principal

APRE News...

Did You Know

When we travel overseas, we visit the historic landmarks, museums and beautiful castles and cathedrals.  Have you ever taken the time to visit the beautiful building of St Joseph’s Cathedral on one of your visits to Rockhampton?   This magnificent piece of architecture has stood on this site for over a century and each of the 10 bishops since, have put their mark in some way on its continued construction. The land was purchased in 1877 and construction began on 11 June 1894.  The stone was quarried from Stanwell, just outside Rockhampton and over the years, many things occurred to halt or slow the completion of this building.  Some completed parts were later also found to be unstable and had to be subsequently torn down and replaced.

When Bishop Higgins arrived in 1899 the cathedral only had 3 walls but within two months, a temporary wall was constructed.  This wall was to remain until 1980 when, expert advice revealed this wall to be unsafe and threatened the whole structure. It was decided then to remove this wall and finally complete the cathedral with the addition of the back wall and weekday chapel.

The priceless stained glass windows were made in the UK. With the outbreak of WWII, the then bishop, Bishop Hayes was fearful of damage to the windows and ordered them removed. They were railed to the nearby Neerkol Orphanage and buried to keep them safe and later returned after the war.  In 1987, it was deemed that the stained glass windows were extensively damaged from the elements of nature and in need of repair, so they were sent back to the manufacturers in England, where each piece of glass was taken out and the lead replaced.

In 2009, a conservation program was started due to the movement of the building and the deterioration of some parts of the structure.  These restoration works were finally completed in 2013. 

When next you visit Rockhampton, it is well worth a visit to see the sandstone construction, the black and white chequered Italian floor, the magnificent wooden arches forming the ceiling and the absolutely beautiful hand-crafted leadlight windows.  Come and sit in awe of its beauty, knowing that those who donated money and worked to construct this, were building this to worship the God they loved.  It’s a cathedral we can be proud of and we feel drawn to be a part of the ceremonies that take place within.

St Joseph's Cathedral - Rockhampton

MJR – Becoming Givers of Encouraging Words

Being Counter Cultural in today’s society of put downs

We’ve all heard some terrible stories of how our youth are being exposed to very hurtful comments from their peers. This is very upsetting not only for the individual children but their families as well. And it seems as though it is getting worse. From politicians to reality shows on TV, sport, internet, etc., we witness others trying to break a person’s spirit. It is having a detrimental effect on our society.

We should be counter cultural as Jesus was in His time. One of the wonderful corner stones of MJR, is Encouragement. What is needed is a much bigger emphasis on every person being more encouraging in their world at home, school, work and wherever they recreate. Everyone should all look at ways they can be givers and to use gentle hand and feet in caring ways to help others.  I have listed below 14 words and encouraging phrases, that may be helpful. Every person, no matter their age should be encouraged in some way each day – this is how we grow as people.  Reflect on what small ways we can ‘make someone’s day, every day’. What small compliments can we make on a daily basis to family/friends at home, school, work or where we go to relax.

When we make someone’s day using a compliment or an encouraging word, we make them feel good about themselves, and we become happy as well. It’s a ‘Win Win’. We grow as a person as we BECOME GIVERS OF ENCOURAGING WORDS. A wonderful habit to develop in all of us.

Star of the Sea Parish Feast Day – 12 September

Great celebrations are planned for this special day in the parish calendar.  Mass will be celebrated first, followed by entertainment, games and lunch.

Organisers are calling for anyone interested in showcasing their talents on the day for entertainment.  Entertainment will be between the hours of 9.30am and 11.00am.  If you would like to perform e.g. sing, play a musical instrument, dance, please send an email to donna_mason@rok.catholic.edu.au.

Fathers Day Stall 2021

Notes were sent home last week for the St John's Father's Day stall which will be run on Wednesday 1^st September 2021. Each class will be called to come in and pick out a gift/s to the value of $5.00 for their loved ones. Should you wish for your child to participate can all forms and correct money be sent into the office IN AN ENVELOPE by Friday 27^th August 2021.  

Fun Run

St John's Fun Run 2021 is coming! Each year the St John's Fun Run culminates in a fun-filled afternoon where the school oval hums with music, active smiling kids and a true sense of St John's spirit as students walk, jog or run to raise funds for their school. Students have each received a fun run sponsorship booklet this week detailing information about fundraising and prizes. Sponsorship from the St John's Fun Run provides important funds that are used to directly benefit our students. The school leadership team calls on student voice to determine how the funds should be spent by liaising with the Year 6 cohort to tap into their ideas. In previous years, the Fun Run has helped to fund a wide range of student benefits including playground equipment, cold water student drinking fountains and sporting equipment. We are especially excited to announce this year that every student who participates in the Fun Run will received a bonus pair of sunglasses and a sweat band in a suite of funky flouro colours to really put the FUN into Fun Run! A special thanks goes out to Mr Langdon for modelling the hot pink sunnies during PE this week, much to the delight of our students!

#stjohnthebaptistcatholicprimaryschool #funrun #fundraiser #stjohnsspirit

St John's Cooking Club

Our 2nd round of Cooking Club starts this week Wednesday 25 August 3:00pm to 3:50pm for those students who have been notified. Happy Cooking!

Swimming Carnival

St John's Way Awards

GISMA Workshop

Gladstone Independent School Music Association Workshops 

Earlier this term, over 100 Instrumental Music students attended the annual GISMA Music Workshops at Chanel College. St John's students represented a third of the entire workshop attendees!  These hardworking musicians spent their time in intense band rehearsals and tutorials, with their hard work culminating in a spectacular showcase for parents and friends on the Friday night.  All St John's musicians should be incredibly proud of the amazing sounds they created from their efforts over just a few short days. Well done to all!

GISMA

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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.

World Science Festival

Looking for something fun to do with your children next weekend? If you would like to attend the free World Science Festival Queensland - Gladstone Community Day at the Entertainment Centre on Sunday 29 August, please make a booking by visiting... www.worldsciencefestival.com.au/gladstone 

Healthy Lunch Box Challenge

St John's is literally putting the health into Health & Physical Education lessons this week as we focus on learning what makes a healthy lunchbox. Classroom conversations have revealed that St John's kids have a wealth of knowledge about healthful eating, so this week, students have been challenged to help out with lunchmaking ensuring that their lunchbox is filled only with healthy foods. Featured here are some of the key themes and suggestions that have been offered by students from Prep to Year 6. We are all excited to see the healthy lunchbox creations that appear over the next week!

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Menu

Tuckshop Special

QLD's Single-Use Plastic Ban

Single-Use Plastic Ban in Qld

From September 1 2021, certain single-use plastic items will be banned in Qld, including plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, plates, bowls and expanded polystyrene cups and containers. 

As many community groups provide takeaway food and drink as part of their community and fundraising activities, this may affect how you operate. As such, your group may benefit from information on how to comply with the new bans.

To help you prepare, the Qld Government has contracted the Boomerang Alliance* to conduct a series of early evening forums across the state to answer your questions on:

• What items are included in the ban?
• What alternative products can be used?
• How can my organisation adapt to comply with the ban?

We would like to invite you to your local forum which is listed below. For venue information and to register, please follow THIS LINK to our Eventbrite page.

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