St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School Clinton eNewsletter

From Our Principal...

Dear Families

Many of you may have seen or read this already. I thought that it it so appropriate for what is happening in our world at the moment that it is well worth sharing again.

The Ukraine & Russia crisis In simple terms for those that have no idea what is going on.
-Ukraine used to be in an abusive relationship with Russia, feeding him, letting him use her car & giving him whatever he asked for until she built up the confidence to call it quits back in 1991
-Since then Ukraine has been working on herself, becoming a strong independent woman with help from friends like France, America, Poland etc. offering her support, loaning her money, & helping her find her way.
-Ukraine has been enjoying being single for 30 years & looking forward to continuing to grow & create new friendships.
-Now Russia being the toxic Ex that it is wants her back, and doesn’t want her meeting new people or creating any new relationships.
-A couple of weeks ago Russia started sitting in the front of Ukraine’s house & when her friends ask him what was he doing there, he said “Oh nothing, just getting a little bit of exercise in, that’s all.”
-After her friends told her that Russia was potentially getting ready to do something bad to her, he said “They’re lying, they just want you to be scared of me & that’s not what it is”
-Yesterday Russia broke into Ukraine’s house, beating her up & “taking advantage” of her while on Livestream & double dog daring any of her friends to do something about it & if they do want the smoke, Russia got that thang on him.

- source unknown

APRE News...

Last Wednesday I was blessed to assist with the Ash Wednesday Liturgy with the Year 5 Eagle’s class. What a wonderful experience this was. The students were reverent, respectful and appeared to consider the Lenten pillars of fasting, praying and giving very carefully. Fasting does not need to involve food or water. In the past, Pope Francis has asked us to fast from anger. The concept of fasting can be tricky for children, but teachers are able to assist them to move their thinking away from food alone. I have included two clips from the liturgy for your interest to explain the three pillars and the meaning of Lent.

Lent is also a wonderful time to celebrate as new people join the Catholic faith. On Sunday, the parish community welcomed new members through the Rite of Election. These candidates had their names included in the Book of the Elect. We have staff, students and other community members who are preparing for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. If you have questions of queries about baptism, confirmation and First Holy Communion, I am always there for a chat. Could I ask that you, regardless of faith background, say a quiet prayer or word of encouragement for this group?

Prayer is needed for so many communities around our nation and the world. To see Brisbane and Ipswich hit again is terrible. My extended family live in the Ballina and Lismore regions of Northern NSW. The devastation there, has been beyond comprehension for families, businesses and schools. People are gathering in many ways to assist with clean ups, evacuation centres and pastoral/practical support.

Trying to imagine what the citizens of Ukraine are experiencing in their war-ravaged country is well…unimaginable. To be displaced from your home, to leave your husband, father, brother, uncle or…. son is a grief that cannot be described. It makes me pause to reflect the lived experiences of members within our school, local, state or national communities who have lived through situations similar to the trauma we are viewing in Ukraine. Pope Francis has asked all people to pray for Peace and Justice in Ukraine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkh-b5L0Rl8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NFPb9jbi0s&t=6s

Sacramental Enrolments

Enrolments for the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion are open until Friday, 11 March 2022. These Sacraments are open to all children who are baptised Catholic and have already completed the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance). If you would like your child to receive these sacraments this year, please collect an enrolment form or contact adfaithsos@rok.catholic.net.au for more information.

Please return your enrolment form to the Parish office.

Vinnies Qld Flood Appeal 2022

To support families and communities impacted by the recent flooding in South-East Queensland. You are encouraged to support this appeal and the wonderful work that Vinnies do in supporting families in need. St Vincent de Paul Inc: Vinnies Qld Flood Appeal 2022.

https://donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-qld/vinnies-disaster-appeal-qld-2022

Thank you.

Shrove Tuesday

We fed the 500 plus!

Thank you to our wonderful St John’s community for your generosity with donations, loans of frypans and volunteering your time. We had lots of action happening in the tuck shop. Students helped with the shake, shake, shake of mixture and our volunteer mums, dads and grandmas kept the pans fired up. It was a warm and deliciously sweet experience for all. A big shout out to Jess Pailthorpe for co-ordinating. Thank you 😊

My New Gallery

APC News...

One key indicator to early reading success is a child’s ability to “crack the code”. Here at St John’s, we believe in explicitly teaching students to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words and make appropriate links between sounds and letters. Over the years, we have been using “levelled texts or readers” (books that are aimed at their varying ability level, containing high frequency words, sentence structures and grammar and predicable stories), “rich texts” (picture books and novels) and decodable texts or readers (books that encourage students to use their knowledge of phonics to unpack the word.

In the last couple of weeks, we have spent a considerable amount of funds to buy decodable texts that will be used as home readers and will support what we have been doing in the classroom. So in the Early Years in particular, keep an eye out for these newbies and as always we encourage you to help us to take care of these resources when they are in your home.

Last weekend was “Clean Up Australia” Day and a group of eager young students helped me to do our bit to clean up our school on Friday. Whilst we were kept busy, it was wonderful to see how LITTLE rubbish there really was. This means Groundsman Mitch is doing an amazing job or better still that we as a collective group are consciously keeping our school clean by putting our rubbish in bins where it belongs. Congratulations to Hamish and Finn from the Year 2 Tree Frogs who managed to collect the most rubbish down at the Nature Playground. Well done, everyone!

Congratulations to Carter Smith from the Prep Turtles who was last week’s “Waste Free Wednesday” winner. It was wonderful to see so many students who had no plastic in their lunch boxes, and I must say a huge congratulations to those mums, dads and carers who go to so much effort in the preparation of your children’s healthy school lunches. I was certainly drooling on my rounds.

Year 1- 6 - Term One - Parent Teacher Interviews - Week 9 (21 – 25 March)

In Week 9 (21 - 25 March) we will host our Term One, Parent Teacher Interviews for our Year 1 to Year 6 families. Prep Interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks; please see your child’s class teacher.

Parent Teacher Interviews are imperative to ensure strong home and school relationships as well as providing a wonderful opportunity to discuss the progress of your child, celebrate successes and set goals for the coming year.

Interview times are OPEN for parents to book on Monday 14 March (Week 8) at 8.00am and will close on Thursday 17 March (Week 8) at 4.00pm.

All Year 1 – 6 Parent Teacher Interviews MUST be booked via Parent Lounge within this timeframe. No bookings will be made from the office or via your child’s teacher.

Interview times can be reserved by accessing your Parent Lounge account via https://402sjg.rok.catholic.edu.au/parentlounge.

Year 5 and 6 Leadership Day

Our Year 5 and 6, students and teachers are looking forward to our upcoming Student Leadership Days, hosted by Luke McKenna’s Team.

Each year level cohort will have a full day of leadership development training using the

"Aspire Higher" model which uses a learning, action, reflection process throughout the day - allowing the students to reflect on themselves and their peers as leaders and team players.

Sessions will be tailored to work in with our regular bell times with the three sessions including:

- Leading with or without the badge- example, influence and kindness
- The Epic Race- active, fast-paced team event, with a focus on A.S.P.I.R.E.
- Knowing me, growing me- understanding my strengths and those of others

The Year 5 Leadership Day will be on Tuesday 22 March and the Year 6 Leadership Day will be on Thursday 24 March.

Year 6 Dingoes Teacher

Ms. Catherine Rooney our Year 6 Dingoes teacher, is scheduled to commence her maternity leave before the end of this term. We are very pleased to announce that Mrs. Julie-Anne Bryce has been appointed as the new classroom teacher for the Year Six Dingoes. Julie-Anne is currently employed within Catholic Education- Diocese of Rockhampton as a relief teacher and worked with Education Queensland for a number of years prior to her own maternity leave and subsequent family.

Julie-Anne has spent a number of weeks at St John’s already this year, both in the Dingoes classroom and in other classes. Now that the appointment has been confirmed, both teachers are working closely with the school leadership team to ensure a smooth transition and consistency in learning for our students. Julie-Anne will be in the classroom from the beginning of Week 7 (March 7), working with Catherine until her Maternity leave commences at the beginning of Week 8.
I am sure you will join us wishing Catherine and Michael all the best for this very exciting time in
their family life.

Things are Getting Back to Normal...

Indications from the guidelines shared with schools over the weekend, show that we can proceed with many of our normal routines, and in particular the following routines will excite our students!

Assemblies and Parades
House Lunches
Parent Teacher Interviews (well maybe the children won’t be so excited by this one!)
Sporting Carnivals etc.

Considering larger gatherings are being reestablished in schools, tomorrow we will begin the day with our first Parade of the year!

Generally, Tuesdays Parades are a short 5-minute gathering and whole school prayer led by our School Captains, tomorrow we will also celebrate birthdays up until 8 March to kick things off!

Our Prep will also join parade tomorrow, so that too will be exciting!

On Wednesday we will have our traditional Wednesday Hymn Practice and at Friday’s Assembly we will introduce our new students to the school in Year 1-6.

Friday will also see our first House Lunch at 10.45am. Jordan House will lead the charge with our 2022 Jordan House Captains Maggie Connor and Max English introducing themselves to their Jordan House mates.

Please be reminded of the format for regular Assemblies and Parades:

Monday – Awards, messages, birthdays, achievements, and prayer
Tuesday – Prayer only
Wednesday – Hymns and Prayer
Thursday – Prayer only
Friday – Assembly item, Australian Anthem, messages, birthdays, achievements, and prayer

Please keep up with ever changing information on our School Ap, your child’s Class Seesaw, the Newsletter, and our Facebook page.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Congratulations to Tyler Watson and Charlotte Rippingale who are starring in this production.

Final Beep Test Results

The last week of Fitness was HOT! But of course, our St John’s kids, dug deep and achieved great results.

Again, we are super proud of our students as they continued to improve their fitness and strength in burpees, sit-ups, beep test, skipping, dips and side jumps and their flexibility in the sit and reach test.

The top scores for the final week were:

Boys - Levi Prossliner Year 6 11.4
Girls - Shana Paterson Year 6 10.3

Special Mention:

Charlie Warrener Year 1           8.1
Brodie Stokes Year 2           8.5
Elle-Jaye Attard Year 5           8.8

Mr. Langdon and Mrs. Graham are feeling confident that the students are fit, strong and ready for the Cross Country in 4 weeks’ time!

Congratulations

Harley Stokes

9 year old Harley competes in the S6 Multi Class division and continued his amazing form, breaking his own QUEENSLAND STATE Records for 50 Free and 50 Back and setting new records in the 100 Free and 200 Free. Big races but was always consistent.

He walked away with runner-up champion boy, 2 silvers and 3 bronze medals in the open multi class division. Congratulations Harley!