Week 8 Term 1 2021

Principal's Message

With the relaxing of covid restrictions now allowing us to have parents on site, it was great to be able to invite our yr 6 families to join us for our St Patrick's Day mass. Stage 2 have already jumped on this opportunity and they have invited families to join them at the end of term for a celebration of learning followed by an afternoon tea. Please note that if you do come on site the usual processes are in place including signing in via the office. There is now an ipad for electronic sign in and sign out purposes. We also ask that you maintain social distancing of 1.5m and sanitise upon entry. Of course, if you are unwell please remain off site.

At the end of the lovely celebration of St Patrick's Feast Day we inducted our year 6 leaders. This year being the first year in a long time since we have had elected positions. As such it gives me great pleasure to announce our Captains for 2021:

School Captains: Tanesa Browning and Omar Bradbury

School Vice Captains: Nina Haslam & Max Nugent

Sports Captains: Katinka Howard & Ali Ryan

Congratulations to these students and to all the year 6 for starting off the year as very responsibile leaders enthusiastic to contribute to our school community.

Term Dates - to note for your diary

• Wednesday 31st March last day of Term
• Thursday 1st April is a Staff Development Day (pupil free)
• Term 2 begins 19th April
• Wednesday 5th May is a Staff Develeopment Day (pupil free)
• Friday 25th June is a Staff Development Day (pupil free)
• Monday 12th July is a Staff Devleopment Day (pupil free)
• Monday 1st November is a Staff Development Day (pupil free)

Next week, not only will our Stage 3 students be heading off to camp but I am also off to Coffs Harbour for a Principals Conference. I would encourage the Stage 3 students to take their old clothing as it looks like it could be wet, regardless they will have a ball. We wish Stage 3 safe travels and hope they have a wonderful experience.

Blessings for a great week ahead,

Renay

Our New School & Sports Captains for 2021

Principal Awards Week 6

Assistant Principal Message

 The Ability to Bounce Back

Resilience is the quality that allows a person to cope or ‘bounce back’ reasonably well when things ‘go wrong’ or difficult situations arise. All children encounter everyday challenges such as tackling a difficult learning task, making mistakes or, falling out with a friend.As such all children require the skills and attitudes that enable them to ‘bounce back.’

The ‘bounce back’ statements below  from the Bounce Back program (written by Helen McGrath & Toni Noble) outline very clearly the skills and attitudes required to be able to ‘bounce back’. They are a fabulous guide for the teaching of resilience and a great reference for children to see how to cope when they’re struggling.

For Younger there is a simple version of the ‘bounce’ statements.

Bad feelings always go away again.

Other people can help you if you talk to them.

Unhelpful thinking makes you feel more upset. Think again.

Nobody is perfect - not you and not others.

Concentrate on the things that are still good when things go wrong.

Everybody has unhappy times sometimes, not just you.

For the older children ‘bounce back’ stands for the following skills and attitudes.

Bad times don’t last. Things always get better. Stay optimistic..

Other people can help if you talk to them. Get a reality check..

Unhelpful thinking makes you feel more upset. Think again.

Nobody is perfect - not you and not others.

Concentrate on the positives (no matter how small) and use laughter

Everybody experiences sadness, hurt, failure, rejection and setbacks sometimes, not just you. They are a normal part of life. Try not to personalise them.

Blame fairly. How much of what happened was due to you, to others and to bad luck or circumstances.

Accept what can’t be changed (but try to change what you can change first).

Catastrophising exaggerates your own worries. Don't believe the worst possible picture.

Keep things in perspective. Look at the big picture.

Naplan Practice tests

Naplan practice test will be held next Tuesday 23rd March for children in Years 3 & 5. These tests are simply run to ensure that the system works and enable the children to become familiar with the online testing platform.  Year 3 will complete an naplan omnibus, Year 5 will complete an naplan omnibus and online writing test. 

Chess Club at St John’s!  

Dear Families and Students,

Hi, our names are Louis Jones and Max Lorkin and we have decided to form a chess club at St John’s with some help from Mr Flint. We are really excited about the chess club and look forward to having lots of children enjoy playing chess here at St John’s. 

Each Friday there will be lunchtime and recess Chess Club in the Stage 2 classroom. 

We are also busy organising our first chess competition- see information below. It will be an on-line event, run by an organisation called Interschool Chess.com (please check out their website sometime).

The chess tournament is an online competition where players of all skill levels can join us to compete against each other. The games will be managed by trained chess coaches and all participants will get some coaching and feedback from the coaches after they have played. 

There will be a cost associated with the competition because we are using the services and coaching from the Interschool Chess group.

Price: It is $12 per player Kids Unlimited provides all resources and coach. 

DATE: Tuesday the 30th of March - term 1 week 8 

More information about the tournament will be coming home in a letter.

Teaching & Learning

Learning through Play K-2 

This term our teachers and teacher assistants in ES1 and S1 have participated in professional development which will enhance their understanding and skills in delivering play based learning which research supports as an age-appropriate approach to learning. At St John’s we believe that teaching and learning must emphasise skills and ‘learning how to learn’ with links throughout the day to the content and knowledge covered by the NSW Curriculum. 

Students require empowerment, ownership, engagement and motivation as key criteria with which to learn and sustain learning and other skills for life. Teachers have developed an inquiry approach based on Walker Learning. We have an emphasis on building relationships and providing a more personalised program for our students.

Four one hour investigation sessions are intentionally planned each week. Investigations involve active, hands-on investigating allowing the children the freedom to explore and construct learning based on their own interests whilst working alongside their teachers who provide guidance, support, direction and spend time questioning and engaging with children to expand their thinking. Formal instruction in literacy, numeracy and other subjects are linked to investigations and often provide a springboard into explicit teaching during the day. 

Every day of investigations will involve two to three focus children, a reporter and a photographer. Each investigation begins with ‘tuning in’ where the teacher, through discussions with these children, sets up the learning for the day and makes links to prior learning. During investigation time, the teacher works individually with the focus children, reporter and the photographer. They also scaffold for children who need support or extension. Reflection time is where the teacher makes explicit links to the concepts and skills the students are learning through their conversations with the focus children, reporter and the photographer. 

This year we are also participating in a project through Monash University in creating Conceptual Playworlds to develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the early years. Our Kindergarten class is participating in this program and Ellie Bailey and I began our training yesterday. Here is some information from Monash University.

What is a Conceptual PlayWorld?

The Conceptual PlayWorld is an evidence-based model of intentional teaching developed by Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer at Monash University. Based on her extensive research and experience of working with young children, educators and families, Marilyn's model values children’s play and stories in their learning of STEM concepts (i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

A Conceptual PlayWorld is an imaginary scenario created by an educator where young children are invited to go on imaginary journeys, meet and solve challenges, and learn STEM concepts – all while playing.

A Conceptual PlayWorld can be inspired by a children’s book or a fairy tale story, and it can be set up in an average classroom, or even at home. Imagination is the limit!

This imaginary world enables educators and families to deliver play-based programs for young children where they get to experience and live through concepts that would otherwise be difficult to explain.

(Monash University, Victoria)                                                                                                                                                    You can log into this website (https://www.monash.edu/conceptual-playworld/about)   to view some Playworlds in Action but we will share photos as our playworld unfolds next term. We are really excited about this opportunity. 

RE NEWS

St Patrick’s Day Celebrations                                                                            On Wednesday we celebrated the Patron Saint of the Lismore Diocese- St Patrick. St Patrick was declared the Principal Patron of the Diocese of Lismore by Pope Benedict XV in 1915.

The Stage Three students along with Mrs Loane and Mrs Bottle lead us through a beautiful liturgy. Thank you for your preparation in making this Mass a meaningful celebration. 

They also ran a fundraiser by baking ‘green treats’ and sold them at the canteen.  Raising just over $200 for Project Compassion.

St Patrick's Day Mass

Stage 3 St Patrick's Cake Stall

Project Compassion at St John’s                                                                    For over half a century, generations of Australians have participated in Project Compassion, making it one of the nation’s longest-running charity campaigns.

Throughout five decades of natural disasters, conflicts and crises, Caritas Australia has worked alongside vulnerable communities with the generous support of Australians. Project Compassion has also helped with access to education, health services, agricultural training and through programs that reduce maternal and infant mortality. 

This year, CARITAS have presented five stories from people striving to ‘Be More’ – just a few amongst the millions who have been helped through Project Compassion.Please go to https://lent.caritas.org.au/ to view these stories. 

At the beginning of the Term some students took home Project Compassion boxes. If you have a box at home could you please return it to the office by Friday the 26th of March. 

Year of St Joseph                                                                                                          In 2020, the Vatican announced that this year (December 8, 2020 - December 8, 2021) would be a year dedicated to St. Joseph, husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ foster father, Joseph was described as a craftsman in the Bible. This was translated into ‘carpenter’ in English. He made lots of things including buildings, but unlike carpenters in Australia where we have lots of trees and wood, it is believed he worked mainly with stone. Jesus too would have worked with stone. He often talks about stone in his parables.

Pope Francis prayer to Saint Joseph:                                                                      Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.        To you God entrusted his only Son;                                                                            In you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man.                        Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life.  Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. 

Amen.

Sacrament of Reconciliation                                                                             Please keep the following students in your thoughts and prayers as they participate in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time this Sunday after Mass at St John’s Church 

Hazel Beaton, Luke Beaton, Tommy Jackson, Banjo Bailey  & Harper Bailey 

STAGE 3 NEWS

Buddies 2021

In stage 3, the year six students have had the opportunity to have a kindy buddy.  We have enjoyed having the opportunity to have the responsibility to be a buddy. One of the reasons we enjoyed being a buddy is because we like that our buddies look up to us and we show them what is the right thing to do and what not to do in our St Johns community. The best part of going back to school after Christmas break is getting our buddies. It is so fun to get to know our buddies and get to know what they enjoy, they also love scissors, paper, rock. We love at the end of the day when they show us the art they've done in class.  By Ivy, Lola, Isla, Lulu

We do buddies every Friday afternoon where year 6 go and see their kindy buddies in the kindergarten room. The buddies love it when we come over and they have a massive smile on their face because they really enjoy us coming over and doing activities. It is the best to see a smile on their faces. By Sam, Noah and Oscar

Buddies

Incitare 2021

The theme of the day was “How to provoke one another to love, good deeds and encourage one another”.

At the beginning of the day we talked about the theme and enjoyed icebreaker games where we mixed with students from other schools. After that, we split into different small groups and completed activities led by the year 10 leaders.

At lunch, we played handball and chatted with our new friends. At the end of the day we got to plan a liturgy to celebrate our experience.

We created posters and prepared a prayer space. We also got to write and present the prayers of the faithful. 

Throughout the day we were encouraged to make a difference in the world. We had a great day and on the way back we enjoyed an ice cream. Hazel took the longest to eat! After exactly 46 minutes later,  she was finished!

Year 5 start to stage 3

Yr 5 is a big step up from Yr 4. The work here is really challenging and what we found is the workload is a bit hard when you start, but once you get the tactics it becomes easier and so much fun.

When it comes to maths the problems have become harder but the working out that we have learnt makes it a whole load quicker and easier. This year we have had to do way more activities and meet much more people. We have the opportunity to go for brain breaks after a long session of hard work. Everything we do, even the hardest work, is made enjoyable. We like the time limit we have in all subjects to make our brains think faster. The teachers have been extremely helpful and supportive especially for the year fives. By Luke, Shanti, Leila, Mia and Kodi.

Leadership 2021

We are enjoying being St Johns leaders and fulfilling the jobs and responsibilities our school and community needs. Anyone can approach us at any time to ask for help or advise. We treasure this opportunity and thank the staff for giving us the chance to represent our school. Mrs Condon and the school leadership team are going to meet very soon and discuss ways that we can make this school a better place for everyone.  By Nina, Tinks, Max and Ali 

Stage 2 Celebration of Learning

SPORT NEWS -

Our Birthday People

Our Birthday People

Savannah B  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

REMINDERS

Thursday 1 April is a Pupil Free Day

Monday 19 April School Resumes for Term 2

Wednesday 21 April Cross Country to be held 

COMMUNITY INFORMATION