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Informer - Term 2 Week 4

From Our Principal...

Dear Families

My brother, when he was still alive, was a Dominican priest. That order of priests have a saying amongst themselves that if you want make God laugh, tell him your plans. My brother was very fond of reminding me of this whenever I was in the middle of organising and planning things. The way I thought they should pan out.

Life and all our plans can change within the blink of a phone call. The acting role that I will be filling for the rest of the term is one that has never really been on my radar, but most of us work for organisations, and at times there are jobs that just need to be done. Stephen Dale, who is our Assistant to the Director – Southern Schools, will undertake surgery and following this, will have a period of recuperation. I will fill his position until the end of the term. Jakki Graham will step into the Acting Principal role for the remainder of the term. This provides an opportunity for a current staff member to step up and experience what the leadership role is like at St John’s. Expressions of Interest have been called for the role of Acting Assistant Principal- Administration and this position will be interviewed later this week.

As Leesa Jeffcoat mentioned in her communication last week, I will be based at St John’s for the remainder of the term. This will allow me to keep in touch with our students and community as well as be a resource for the School Leadership team.

Thank you for the messages and well wishes, they are genuinely appreciated.

Have a good week and hug your kids.

Jamie Emerick
Principal

From Our Acting Principal ...

Dear Families

As with any workplace, schools have a significant number of Workplace Health & Safety requirements to adhere to and we get regular updates that come to us from Catholic Education - Diocese of Rockhampton (CEDR).

We have had recent reminders around the need for risk assessments for any excursion, incursion or when animals are on school sites.

Can I take this opportunity to remind families that no dogs should be brought onto the school site unless there is a current school risk assessment in place for your specific dog. This applies to service dogs as well as family pets.

Please contact the office if you have any queries.

Thank you for your assistance in keeping our community safe.

Jakki Graham
Acting Principal

Implications of Low Iron in Children

Low iron in children is quite common and can be caused by numerous factors such as:

Maternal iron deficiency
Premature babies or low birth weight babies
Inadequate intake in food in early childhood
Excess cow’s milk consumption - this is one of the most common reasons for low iron in infants and toddlers. Excess cow’s milk can affect iron levels by crowding out iron-rich foods in the diet and the casein and calcium in cow’s milk can also inhibit the absorption of iron.
Fussy eating
Gut disorders – such as Coeliac disease, infections, parasitic infections, general inflammation and IBS symptoms.

There are several signs and symptoms that may suggest your child’s iron levels are on the lower end including:

Fatigue
A pale complexion
Frequent infections or slow recovery from infections
Impaired learning, concentration and memory
Behavioural issues such as irritability, short attention span and disruptive behaviour
Sleep issues, particularly restless sleep and restless legs
Feeling weak or dizzy
Headaches

The good news is that you can boost low iron levels in children via a well balanced diet.

Iron comes in 2 forms – haeme and non-haeme iron.

Haeme iron is found in animal products and can be found in foods such as red meat, chicken, pork, fish, eggs, chicken liver (this is the best source of iron out there – sneak it into your child’s diet!)

Non-haeme iron is found in plant foods and while its absorption is much lower than haeme, there are still plenty of plant-based foods that are rich in iron. These include legumes, lentils, green vegetables, nuts and fortified cereals.

You can both enhance and inhibit the absorption of iron. Obviously, it is imperative to increase the factors that enhance iron and reduce or remove the factors that inhibit iron absorbtion.

By adding Vitamin C, beta-carotene, folate and probiotics to your child’s daily diet iron levels should rise. Decreasing the consumption of cow’s milk with meals that contain iron is also effective, as calcium competes with iron for absorption.

Parish News

Parish_News_2023_05_07_5th_Sunday_of_Easter_Year_A.pdf

Athletics Carnival Important Dates

St John’s Athletics Carnival - Friday 2 June (Week 7)

Pre-Carnival Events:

1500m Race Final:

For 2011 – 2014 Students
Students to nominate to Mrs Graham in Week 5
Monday 22 May (Week 6) at 8.45am

High Jump Finals:

For 2011 – 2014 Students
23 & 24 May (Week 6) in HPE

800m Race Final:

For 2011 – 2014 Students (All students to participate)
Thursday 25 May (Week 6) at 8.45am

Discuss Finals:

During HPE Lessons

Library News...

Student Travel Rebates Close 31 May

"Do It For Dolly Day"

St John’s will be supporting the "Do it for Dolly Day" on Friday 12 May.

"Do it for Dolly Day" is a nation-wide day promoting inclusiveness and kindness, bringing our attention to making our world a kinder, brighter place’’, just as Jesus encouraged us to do through His model.

This year, we will have a Free Dress Day on Friday 12 May and we encourage students to wear blue in support.

A variety of activities will occur within classrooms focusing on inclusiveness, kindness and making our world a kinder, brighter place through Week 4 of this Term.

Gold coin donations from students will be donated to the Dolly’s Dream Foundation.

St John's Way Awards

Lost and Found

We have a brand new Footy Boot (Right Foot) in our lost property. It was found in the carpark and may have fallen out of a car. See picture below. Collect from the office.

Also, a St John's size 14 polo shirt was found at East Shores on the weekend and handed in to the office.

Uniform Shop Update

Our Uniform Shop is not run by our school, but through Weareco. As mentioned in our newsletter last week, Weareco are moving the Gladstone Catholic School Uniform Shops to one location at 1/190 Goondoon Street. Their moving timeline is as follows:

Week Beginning Monday 15 May:
- NO SALES this week. Unifom shop is moving.

Week Beginning Monday 22 May:
- Planned opening of Gladstone Catholic Schools Uniform Shop at 1/190 Goodoon Street, Gladstone.

At this stage we have been informed that the planned shop hours from Monday 22 May will be as follows:

Monday - 8.00 am - 11.00 am
Tuesday - 8.00 am - 11.00 am
Wednesday - 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Thursday - 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Friday - Closed

Further information will be communicated in the coming weeks via our newsletter, App and Facebook page.

Stop, Drop & Go

A reminder that all St John’s families using Stop, Drop and Go MUST abide by the following:

Laner Streeet Stop, Drop & Go:
Students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 (and their younger siblings in Prep, Year 1 and 2) only.
J Hickey Avenue Stop, Drop & Go:
Prep, Year 1 and 2 only.

Thank you for ensuring the smooth and safe drop-off and collection of our wonderful students!

Wednesday Fitness

Each Wednesday morning at 7.45am, Mrs. Graham will be running a 30 minute fitness session for any students who are keen. These sessions will help build on the fitness gains already made in HPE and help prepare students to do their best at the Athletics Carnival (Friday, 2 June) as well as improve their own personal health benefits.

All keen and committed students are most welcome! Please meet Mrs. Graham on the oval.

Homework Club - Year 3, 4, 5

Nut Allergies

There are students at our school who are highly allergic (anaphylactic) to all forms of nuts. For this reason, peanut paste, Nutella, muesli bars (with nuts), satay and all forms of nuts are strongly discouraged in all foodstuffs brought to our school.