St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School Clinton eNewsletter

From Our Principal...

Dear Families

As I worked my way through emails and messages over the weekend, I jumped onto YouTube for a bit of inspiration. There are lots of great clips from motivational and educational speakers. I came across a clip from the Canadian psychologist and speaker Jordan Peterson. While not everything he does appeals to me, the title, ‘We are created in the Image of God’, got my attention.

Regardless of our denomination, we all embrace the books of the bible. It is pretty clear in Genesis that we as humans are created in the image of God. A very easy thing to read and write, but when we stop and actually think about the consequences of this very short sentence, there is a lot to take in.

I am no theologian, but if we are all created in the image of God, that has huge implications for the way I speak and act to those around me, for these same people are created in the image of the same God I profess to worship and acknowledge as my creator.

Does the way I speak to my family and colleagues reflect my belief or do I just let the petty annoyances and distractions of life drive the way I treat those around me, especially the one I love the most?

In these very interesting times, some very wise words I read many years ago spring to mind. "in these uncertain times, my days are happier if I give someone a bit of my heart rather than a piece of my mind."

Have a great week and hug your kids,

Jamie Emerick
Principal

APRE News...

Feeding the 5000 - Pancakes on Shrove Tuesday

On Tuesday 1 March, St John’s will be providing pancakes to the students. This is in preparation for Lent which begins on the following day.

We are looking for caring people to prepare the pancakes on the Tuesday morning in the tuckshop. Jess Pailthorpe has offered to coordinate the morning cook up. Please contact Jess on Jessica_pailthorpe@rok.catholic.edu.au and copy Lisa O’Brien in with the email on lisa_obrien@rok.catholic.edu.au .

What we need:

People to cook from 7:15am on the morning (Tuck shop is an essential service)
Electric frypans – please label
Donations of White Wings pancake mix to the tuck shop (NO Green’s Pancake mix please)
Some gluten/dairy free pancake mix
Smiles, love and laughter

White Wings is on special at Woolworths this week for $2!! Please drop pancake mixes into Jess throughout the week.

Sacramental Program Enrolments are Open

Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs

St John the Baptist is supporting a company in South Africa to make wheelchairs from plastic bread tags. What a great way to re-purpose these tags. We will continue to collect bread tags until the end of Term 1, as this started in 2021, and donations will be sent over the holidays. Keep collecting and bring them into the office for Mrs O’Brien (APRE).

https://ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au/

Help For Tonga

The recent Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga, and the resulting tsunami, has caused great suffering and loss of livelihood for many in the community. Father Andrew has spoken with Fr Aliki Langi SM who has described some of the devastation that has occurred:

“The island of 'Atata opposite my village was 90% destroyed by the Tsunami. A man from 'Atata was swept away by the wave and was swimming and hanging on to a tree branch for 28 hours and finally landed on dry land, praise the Lord. Last week the Tongan High Commissioner for Australia, Princess Angelika Tuku'aho residing in Canberra rang me asking me, to ask the people of my village residing here in Sydney to help this island, 'Atata.”

If you can help financially to support the rebuilding efforts and care for those affected, your gift would be greatly appreciated. Fr Aliki has offered to direct any donations to the High Commissioner, Princess Angelika Tuku'aho for the rebuilding efforts. If you would like to help, please bring any donations to the parish office in Herbert St, or log onto CARITAS and view a link to help Tonga at this difficult time.

https://www.caritas.org.au/donate/emergency-appeals/pacific/

Heartfelt thanks.

APC News...

It is hard to believe that we, as a staff, have been back on site for well over a month and that we are about to enter our third week of offical schooling for 2022.

I must say that each and every classroom is looking absolutely vibrant and engaging, and we can't wait for you all to be able to visit for yourselves.

Last week, we celebrated Queensland School Library Week and our own Library is looking a treat.

Book Club will be sent home today and orders will be due on Monday 7 March. For those first-timers, simply follow the directions on the back of your catalogue.

Thank you again for your support with this initiative. With the bonus points that we receive from your purchases, we are able to buy additional material for our Library.

World Poetry Day

We are excited to announce the 2022 St John's World Poetry Day Student Poetry Competition! In celebration of the International Day of Happiness, which falls on 20 March, poetry submissions must be based on the topic of "Happiness" and may use any poetry genre. Student submissions will be accepted by the library until 8:30am Friday 18 March. Category prize winners will be announced on World Poetry Day, Monday 21 March. All submissions will be incorporated into a St John's poetry anthology, which will become a treasured addition to our school library collection!

School Leaders 2022

COVID Guidelines

As we enter the third week of school, our St John's community needs to ensure that we comply with the State government’s Return to School plan. Please remember:

(1) Parent visitors on school sites are to be limited, with exceptions for parents and carers of students experiencing vulnerability, and all students attending Prep or Year 1.

(2) Schools are encouraged to remind their communities of the legal mask wearing requirements.

(3) Students with symptoms or who are unwell should also stay at home. Current guidelines require Students who show symptoms at school to be sent home and provided with RAT test. Please do not send children to school to ‘see how they go’.

(4) Social distancing must ensure the occupant density of 1 adult per 2 square metres is not exceeded.

P & F Meeting Postponed

Guidelines have been released by Catholic Education in respect of the current COVID requirements for our schools. As a result thereof, we as a P & F are impacted by the Guidelines in that we are unable to convene the P & F AGM and General Meeting scheduled for 28 February 2022 in person.

We have rescheduled this meeting tentatively to 14 March 2022 in the hope that a face to face meeting will be allowed and we welcome new members of our community to attend. We will confirm this date after the new guidelines are released the week ending 4 March 2022.

Please tentatively mark your calendars: St Johns P & F Meeting 5.30pm 14^th March 2022.

Monica Erridge,
President, St John's P & F Committee

Week 2 Beep Test Results

Girls - Shana Paterson Year 6 10.9

Boys - Levi Prossliner Year 6 10.10

Special Mention:

Harry Roberts Year 2 8.2

Braxton Attard Year 3 9.3

The majority of our students are improving their Fitness Card results each week which is fabulous to witness. St John’s kids definitely have big hearts and work hard to improve! Super Proud.

PARENT INFORMATION YEAR LEVEL POWERPOINTS

Due to the current Covid restrictions in schools, we are unable to host our start of year Parent Information Evenings.

To ensure we are communicating key information for each of our year levels, Teachers have prepared a comprehensive Power Point for parents.

All Parent Information Year Level Powerpoints are uploaded on Parent Lounge for you to access.

The individual Year Level Power Points include:

Information about what is in store for the year ahead – focus areas in curriculum, homework expectations, routines, behaviours expectations, communication, important dates etc.

While ideally, we would always prefer to meet face-to-face with parents at the start of each year, we hope that the Year Level PowerPoints keep families informed to ensure we begin the year with productive partnerships between school and home.

Please ensure you are keeping abreast of the current Covid guidelines. Any changes or cancellations due to the Queensland Government’s Back to School Plan can be found via https://qed.qld.gov.au/covid19/back-to-school

As always, if you have any queries or questions, please contact us.

ICT Code of Practice – Annual Requirements for All Students

Internet connection at St John’s is provided by Catholic Education – Diocese of Rockhampton. As part of this service, all staff, students and families are expected to be aware of the ICT Code of Practice.

Each year, the ICT Code of Practice needs to be read, agreed and acknowledged by all students in Prep to Year 6.

The ICT Code of Practice has been uploaded onto Parent Lounge for reading and acceptance by parents.

The Prep – Year 2 version must be read and acknowledged with your child and then parents must tick the “acceptance box” on Parent Lounge by Friday 18 February to accept all terms of ICT usage within our Diocesan Schools.

The Year 3 - 6 version must be read and acknowledged with your child and then parents must tick the acceptance box on Parent Lounge. ADDITIONALLY, the hard copy paper Agreement on the last page MUST be signed by parents and student and returned to school by Friday 18 February.

If acceptance is not made on Parent Lounge (tick box) for the ICT Code of Conduct, your child will have no access to ICT at St John’s (including iPads).

Teachers will also go through the ICT Code of Practice to remind students of the requirements under the ICT Code of Practice and due dates.