Informer - Term 4 Week 6

From Our Acting Principal...

Thank you in advance to our families for your support for the remainder of the 2021 school year. On Friday, you would have received an email from our Principal, Mr Jamie Emerick, informing you that he will be taking extended leave to ensure his return to St John’s in 2022 sees him in better health.

I know you will join us in our prayers for Jamie’s improved health and return to us next year.

In the meantime, I assure all families that I will continue to work hard and steer the St John’s ship in the right direction!

I am not one for flowery words or overly profound statements! I am more a practical kind of lass, giving facts, reality, and direct information; so, the next month of newsletters will be somewhat along these lines!

Term Four is a beast! It’s tiring, exhilarating, frustrating, rewarding, reflective and euphoric! And let me tell you, all these feelings can be experienced in one day by students and staff alike!

There is so much that we will get through this term; so much to celebrate, "put to bed", pray for, look forward to and move on from.

As we finish up our Year 4-6 Swimming, we will begin our Prep – Year 3 Swimming and as we welcome back our Year 6’s from camp, we will wave-off our Year 5’s to their camp.

We will have a Wet Day, Spirit Night, Year 6 Farewell Evening, End of Year Mass, End of Year Awards, 2022 Prep Orientation, Report Cards, Class Placements, 2022 Student Leadership elections, Meet the Teacher, Planning Days, end of year cleans and classroom moving (and that’s just off the top of my head!). So, if you are anything like me you will need to make lists and add to the calendar on the fridge!

Some key dates:

• Year 5 Camp = 10 – 12 November
• Prep – Year 3 Swimming = 22 – 25 November
• Spirit Night = Wednesday 24 November
• 2022 Prep Orientation = Monday 29 November,
• P-2 Wet Day (maybe some time for Yr 3 – 6 if they are lucky!) = Tuesday 30 November
• Report Cards “live” = Wednesday 1 December,
• Class Placement letter home = Wednesday 1 December,
• Year 6 Farewell Evening = Thursday 2 December
• End of Year Mass = Thursday 2 December
• End of Year Awards = Thursday 2 December
• Meet the Teacher = Thursday 2 December
• Classroom cleaning = Week 9
• Classroom moving = Week 9

Message From Jamie

APRE News...

The Great 10c Challenge – Friday 19 November

Momentum is building and kids are getting excited!  How far can we get?  Can we line our 10c coins up all around the red court line in Nazarene Place?

You can help us reach our goal by suggesting ways in which your child(ren) could contribute to this fundraising.  Perhaps they could be encourage to do without tuckshop for one week and convert that money to 10c coins to bring in.  Maybe they could earn a few coins by doing an extra job around the house.

You could start your own challenge at home and then bring in the proceeds to school.

It all goes to a very worthy cause; the kindergarten in Bangkok run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.  These sisters provide a venue that brings little ones off the streets and gives them safety and security.

MJR focus – Being the Spirit of Jesus

Being the Spirit of Jesus is essentially about being a good person.  Being a good person is easy if we recognize that Jesus is in every person that we encounter every day.  Every person!  The great saint Catherine of Sienna said “All the way to heaven…is heaven!”  Treating everyone with the dignity that every human being is entitled to is a great start to being a good person.  When we do this, we are being just a Christ modelled in his life.  Sometimes this is hard.  We need to forgive even when it seems impossible. Making good decisions will eventually lead us into making the right choices.  Habits are easy to establish if we make a conscious effort in the beginning to practice something. 

Start small and decide to concentrate on one thing e.g. saying encouraging things to others, rather than focusing on what they have done wrong or haven’t done!  It becomes easier the more we practice it.

Being the Spirit of Jesus is just that…. making the right choices.  When we habitually do this, we will stand out as being a witnesses of God’s goodness within us, that spills out to others.

Dates to mark on your calendar

24 November – Spirit Night 5pm start

2^nd December – End of Year Mass, Yr 6 Awards and announcement of 2022 Band, House and School Captains – 11.40am

2^nd December – Yr 6 Farewell Evening – dinner, disco, powerpoint presentation. Presentation of Yr 6 Book

Did You Know?

This year, we have supported many causes with our fundraising.  Below is a quick rundown of who we have supported and the funds transferred to them.  We thank all in our school community for your generosity in giving to help others in need.  As a school, we will always encourage thinking of others rather than self and seek to respond in whatever ways we can to help others.  This is our calling as Christians.  We are all one body.  When one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts.

Caritas – this is an ongoing collection of money, starting with Project Compassion during the Lenten season and then children contributing small amounts regularly to help make a difference to someone, somewhere.

The Marist Sisters in the Philippines  -  $550.55 ( We support the Marist Missionary Sisters because we are a school with a Marist heritage and it’s important we don’t forget our founder and what they put in place that continues on today.

Allanah and Madelaine Foundation - $261.15

Day for Dolly - $468.15

PNG Covid Appeal - $400.00 (organized by the Mercy Sisters)

RSPCA - $1000.00

Cancer - $417.00

Catholic Mission (Crazy Sock Day) - $515.55 (with more to come from our 10c Challenge)

Thank you again for your generous support of all these worthy causes.  Our monies will certainly help make a difference in some way.

Remembrance Day 2021

It is hoped that all children come to understand that the characteristics of courage and resilience evident in our brave servicemen and women are the same characteristics that they can call upon to ‘be the best that they can be’.

Our soldiers died protecting our freedom.  We are truly the lucky country and we owe it to those who have died defending this freedom, to make the most of our lives….to be the best that we can be.

On Remembrance Day, we honour our war dead with the solemn ritual of a minute’s silence.  This silence holds together the honour of the dead and our conviction to work for peace for all, in their name.  Rituals are very important in helping us understand the movements of our heart.  Our hearts grow deeper through the repetition of rituals (which is why our Eucharistic rituals are so valued – the greatest ritual of all).  When we do something over and over again, the memory adds layer upon layer of significance.  It is important then, that we honour the sacrifices many made through the Remembrance Day ritual and we each make our pledge in our heart to strive for peace.

PLEDGE OF REMEMBRANCE

For younger students

Australian soldiers – hear this pledge – your flag flies in the sun
And now we take a minute to remember what you’ve done

When you went away to battle, you were proud as proud can be
And you did it for your country, yes, you flew the flag for me

Now we live our life with freedom when we work and when we play
For that, my heart says ‘Thank you’ on this very special day

And as we go, we take the words that sing Australia’s song

“I am young and I am worthy, I am brave and I am strong
In the face of any challenge, I will strive to rise above
I deserve this opportunity to live, to learn, to love
I can truly make a difference; my path is up to me
And this is my commitment – be the best that I can be.”

Written by Rupert McCall

St Vinnies Christmas Hamper and Giving Tree

We have started collecting for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper.  Please consider adding some extra non-perishable food items to your grocery shop and sending these along for our Christmas hamper donation box.  This box will be in the front Administration office.  All goods are sorted by the St Vincent de Paul volunteers and made up into small family Christmas hampers.  These are delivered locally to those in need to brighten up their Christmas day.

The Christmas Giving Tree   Our tree is up!  Please take a gift tag for a specific age level from the tree or send an envelope along with our child and the Admin ladies will put a tag inside.  Then purchase an appropriate gift for a child of this age.  Please don’t wrap gifts.  Just sticky tape the gift tag to your gift and place under the tree.  Just for your information, I am told there is always a shortage of donated gifts for teenage children, so please consider purchasing for this age level to help fill the gap.  Gifts or a gift vouchers are accepted.

The St Vincent de Paul volunteers tell us each year, what a difference these gifts make to those who receive them.  It tells them that someone cares and that means so much to them.

Thank you in advance for your generous donations

Families Leaving

As we have many students on our waiting list and our total enrolment drives many aspects of our school (staffing, budget, class sizes and structure) it is important that we try to be as accurate as possible in predicting the school enrolment for 2022. If you know that you will be leaving at the end of the year could you please notify the office as soon as possible? Your assistance with this matter is greatly appreciated.

Booklists

You know the school year is concluding when the 2022 Booklists are prepared!

As always, we try to ensure the smoothest and most cost-effective way for purchasing booklist requirements.

We allow families two options for filling your child’s 2022 booklist requirements:

1. Using Office National Gladstone as a pre-priced online (and in-store) option.
2. Take your child’s 2022 booklist to a newsagency of your choice.

The 2022 Booklists have been uploaded onto Parent Lounge.

Year P - 3 Swimming Program

Congratulations Harley

Harley Stokes, 8yrs swims in the S6 division of the Multi Class Swimming category. He has fantastic determination and as result at last weekend's Beef City Meet in Rockhampton he has established 4 x Queensland State Records for S6 Multi Class for 10&Under Boys in:

50 Backstroke - 2:01.70

50 Freestyle - 1:29.00

100 Breaststroke - 3:56.31

100 Freestyle   - 3:16.54

The really, really exciting thing about this is that he still has 2 more years in the same age bracket to improve those times even more. Knowing his determination, it is extremely exciting looking forward for him and I'm sure we will all follow him closely.

St John's Way Awardees

2022 Instrumental Music

2022 Instrumental Music Testing Open

Testing for the 2022 Instrumental Music Program will be taking place in the next coming weeks,
starting Friday.
Lessons are offered during school hours on a Friday, on Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone (Alto or Tenor),
Trumpet, Trombone, Euphonium and Percussion. Group lessons are available.
If your child is in Grades 2-5 this year, and you would like them to be tested for the program, please fill out the form here: ➡️ http://bit.ly/STJ2022EOI

For any questions relating to the program, please feel free to email greenroomlearning@gmail.com 

Kind Regards,

Chelsea Elvery
Instrumental Music Coordinator

OSHC Vacation Care Program

COVID Is Coming-Get Vaccinated NOW!

Tuckshop Special

Volunteer Tuckshop Roster

Tuckshop Menu

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