Informer Week 10 Term 3

From Our Principal

Dear Families

The school holidays are nearly upon us and like many families, we are making plans and preparing for things to fit in the two weeks as well as planning for term four, the ongoing site meetings, and phone calls from builders. If I learnt anything from my health scare this term, it is we can only operate at full speed for a limited time. The need to slow down and take stock and regather is something that I think we do very poorly as a society.

Christian and Jewish tradition has always maintained the concept of a Sabbath. That time when we slowdown, be still, be with family and refocus.  The reality of the world we live in makes the practicality of stopping and not working every seventh day very difficult. Over the years, I have come to a compromise that works for me. Jesus himself said that the sabbath was made or man, not man made for the sabbath. The concept of not doing any sort of work for a day is not practical, but the need for rest and silence is still there.

The great writer, CS Lewis wrote in the 1940's that the secret to taking humanity away from God is to create so much noise in the world, that they can no longer hear the voice of God in their lives. The world has changed considerably since then and distractions crowd our lives and compete for our time. The challenge for us all is how to find some time in our day when we can slow down, sit in silence and just be aware.

One of my favourite scripture readings tells us that God told the prophet Elijah that he was coming to talk with him. Elijah waited in a cave. First an earthquake came, but God was not in the earthquake. The cyclone came but God was not in the cyclone, next was a fire but the god was not in the fire.  Then a gentle breeze came, and the prophet went out to meet with God.

What are the gentle breezes in our own lives, and do we take time to be aware of them?

Is it the voices of our children, a quiet coffee in the morning with our partner or a cool drink as the sun goes down? Do we have five minutes of quiet in the car or in the morning when we first get up or at the end of our day. Silence is one of those things our world can't seem to tolerate.

Whatever works for you can be your sabbath, but it is a bit like learning to walk. Any skill is difficult to begin with. It is hard and there will be many failures, but the secret is to persevere and keep practicing.

Enjoy the break if you are getting one and stay safe on the roads.

Jamie Emerick
Principal

Friendship

At St John’s, we know that student wellbeing is fundamental to effective and engaged student learning. Pastoral Care is one of the tools we use to support the wellbeing of our students. Pastoral Care links younger and older student across all year levels with Year 6 students leading weekly activities in partnership with teachers. The activities focus on the values of MJR (Making Jesus Real) as well as key aspects of student wellbeing

Experiencing a sense of belonging and connectedness at school plays a key role in boosting academic enjoyment and motivation, ultimately having a positive impact on student wellbeing. A sense of belonging at school not only develops from experiencing positive relationships with teachers but is enhanced through fostering friendships with peers. Therefore, our first pastoral care focus was all about friendship. Through interacting with peers across all grades, students participated in various fun activities that compelled them to consider questions like: Why is friendship important? What does friendship look like? What does it feel like to be a good friend? What does it feel like to have a good friend? Across the board, students came up with answers to these thought provoking questions that speaks to the kindness and positivity that defines the St John’s way. In the true spirit of friendship, students were happy to share their insights with one another, developing knowledge through peer-to-peer learning. Some of these insights are pictured here. What a fabulous example of deep thinking, friendship and St John’s spirit! #stjohnthebaptistcatholicprimaryschool #pastoralcare #friendship #StJohnsSpirit #kindness #wellbeing 

Friendship

FUN RUN!

A few reminders:

• Money and forms are due (either online or to the school office) by Friday 17 September.
• Year 6 students will dress up just prior to the event, Prep - Year 5 students to continue wearing PE uniform as usual.
• Fun Run commences at 2pm Friday 17 September.
• School day concludes as normal at 3pm. 

St John's Way Awards

Swimming Carnival

Tuckshop Special

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Menu

OSHC - Vacation Care

School Holiday Program

2022 Aprenticship & Trainee Program

Rookies 2 Reds

Marriage Encounter Weekend

Worldwide Marriage Encounter invites couples, priests and religious to a Marriage Encounter Weekend to enrich and revitalise your Sacrament.  It gives you the opportunity to grow in your relationship with your spouse or your community.

Virtual weekend via Zoom, 22 October 2021 to 24 October 2021, commencing at 7pm on Friday – concluding at 4pm Sunday.  Contact Julie and Zyg Staszyc: 0437 388 513  Email: sabookings@wwme.org.au

Information website:  www.wwme.org.au

Men Alive

Positive Partnerships

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